Joy

How equipped would you be without your coach being present?

Imagine that you are on a winning athletic team with eleven other players. Imagine the sense of grief, loss, and desperation you would feel if just days before a big game, your dearly loved coach were taken from the team that he had spent countless hours with for the last three years. To make the situation seem more hopeless and to make you feel more helpless, imagine there are no assistants, no other coaches, and no one to be with you for the championship game. All you have is the memory of what the coach taught, the knowledge of plays he passed along, and the skills he helped you develop. How equipped would you be?

What if, by some strange, unexpected, unexplainable turn of events, the coach could come back, not just in the locker room or in team huddles on the sidelines, but in some mysterious, miraculous way he could become noticeably present inside each player on the team? So every play, every pass, every point scored is what this skilled, strong coach is able to do through each and every player on the team. That sounds like a team with an unfair advantage. As strange as that might sound, it is an analogy of what Jesus is wanting his twelve disciples to understand as he speaks to them in an upper room on the last night before his death. This is detailed in John 14-16.

Imagine how hopeless and helpless the disciples must have felt as Jesus spoke of his leaving.

In John 14:18-20 (NIV) Jesus said, "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

Jesus said in John 16:5-6 (NIV), "Now I am going to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' Because I have said these things, you are filled with grief. But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you."

In John 16:17-20 (NIV) it says, "Some of his disciples said to one another, 'What does he mean by saying, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,' and 'Because I am going to the Father'? They kept asking, 'What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying.' Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, 'Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, 'In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me'? I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices."

Jesus said in John 16:28-31 (NIV), " 'I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.' Then Jesus' disciples said, 'Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.' 'You believe at last!' Jesus answered."

Do you see their progress in this journey from unbelief toward belief, from grief to joy, from the agony of defeat, disillusionment, and despair to the thrill of victory? At the heart of this discourse is Jesus' teaching about the Holy Spirit. In John 14:17 (NIV) Jesus said of the Spirit, "The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you." The Holy Spirit's presence is internal, not external. His presence is not some vague or vapid presence, but the very presence of Christ within us as Jesus said in John 14:19-20 (NIV), "Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you."

When Jesus left the earth, his Holy Spirit came to live in us.

Though infinite in nature, yet incarnate in flesh, Jesus could only be at one place and with one person or a group of people at any one time. Yet his parting words to his disciples at the end of what we know as his great commission in Matthew 28:20 (NIV) he promised, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." How would that be possible? It is possible as a result of what he promised here in John 14:16 (NIV), "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever."

In his book called "His Indwelling Presence" Norman Harrison observes, "...this indwelling Spirit, one with our spirit, is more than a presence with us. He is a molding, transforming power. To the end of Jesus' ministry, taught of him though they were, his followers... remained unstable, cowardly and undependable. When, however, the Spirit was come, these same men became at once the embodiment of fidelity, courage and conviction. True, Jesus had left them, but his Spirit within made them as new men. So does he desire to work in every believer."

The Spirit and joy.

Let me illustrate this. In John 15 as Jesus challenges his disciples and us to be fruit bearing disciples, he teaches us the lessons of love. John 15:9-10 (NIV) says, "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love."

John 15:12-13 (NIV) says, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." My confession to you is that I can't always love like that in my own strength. That command seems impossible at times.

He also instructs us in the importance of abiding joy. John 15:11 (NIV) says, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." John 16:20-22 (NIV) says, "I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy."

And John 16:24 (NIV) says, "...your joy will be complete."

Jesus said in John 17:13 (NIV), "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." My confession to you is that I don't always have that joy in my own strength.

Jesus also teaches us the practice of peace. In John 14:27 (NIV) he says, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." And he continues in John 16:33 (NIV), "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace." My confession to you is that I don't always have that kind of peace in my own strength.

What is the connection between living by Holy Spirit and being led by the Spirit?

What is the connection, the common denominator with what Paul writes later in Galatians 5:22 (NIV) about living by this Spirit and being led by this Spirit? "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...." The Holy Spirit is living out in us and through us the lessons of Jesus, enabling us to win the war within.

Jon began this series last week by looking at the first listed fruit of the Spirit, love. In a private conversation that I promised to make public, he acknowledged that of all the expressions of the Spirit's fruit in our lives, joy is the most abstract and the least definable. So he lets his father-in-law pinch hit this week to share the most difficult message in this series!

In my experience, joy and peace and the Holy Spirit are almost inseparable. To have peace is to have joy. The absence of peace is the absence of joy.

Paul puts it this way in Romans 14:17-18 (NIV). "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men." Paul prays this in Romans 15:13 (NIV), "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Songs of joy.

So where do we turn to see this quality of abiding, sustaining joy? How about songs of joy?

There's Beethoven's classic ninth symphony known as the "Ode to Joy" with the familiar words written by Henry Van Dyke.

Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love. Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heaven reflect Thy rays. Stars and angels sing around Thee, center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, flowery meadow, flashing sea. Singing bird and flowing fountain call us to rejoice in Thee.

Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blessed. Wellspring of the joy of living, ocean depth of happy rest! Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, all who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other, lift us to the joy divine.

Mortals, join the happy chorus, which the morning stars began; Father love is reigning o'er us, Brother love binds man to man. Ever singing, march we onward, victors in the midst of strife. Joyful music leads us Sunward in the triumph song of life.

Just hearing that inspires a sense of joy!

There is the well-know gospel song written by Oswald J. Smith, "Joy in Serving Jesus".

There is joy in serving Jesus, As I journey on my way, Joy that fills the heart with praises, Every hour and every day.

There is joy, joy, Joy in serving Jesus, Joy that throbs within my heart; Every moment, every hour, As I draw upon His power. There is joy, joy, Joy that never shall depart.

Serving Jesus is a source of joy!

Then there's the old camp song: I've got a joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Down in my heart, down in my heart. I've got a joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart. Down in my heart to stay.

And I'm so happy, so very happy. I got5 a love of Jesus in my heart. And I'm so happy, so very happy!

Is it joy or is it happiness?

That's where it gets confusing. Is it joy or is it happiness? Or is there any difference? As we celebrated this week our Independence Day we were reminded, "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."

Many are pursuing happiness, but like the elusive butterfly that they never catch, they never find what they are searching for. This is true even of Christians. I was on a Christian website this week and saw an advertisement for a book called "Climbing Happiness Hill". I have not read it and have no idea what the author says and I have no interest in reading it. The title exhausts me and the thought wears me out. If I were to publish on the topic, I would focus on joy rather than happiness. My book would be called "Skiing Down the Snow-capped Slopes of Joy Mountain". Do you see the difference? Would you rather climb a hill hoping to find happiness and when you get there realize it is still out of reach, on the next hill, or would you rather experience the exhilaration of being on the mountaintop of joy and knowing that experience will stay with you through the twists and turns, dips and valleys, as you live each and every day? I would find that far more inviting and invigorating!

Surprised by Joy.

To clarify the difference between joy and happiness, I turn to "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life", the closest thing we have to an autobiography of the 20th century author and apologist C.S. Lewis. This book is not about his unconventional, unexpected marriage later in life to Joy Davidman Gresham, but about his journey from atheism to Christianity in his early life.

In the preface he writes: "This book is written partly in answer to requests that I would tell how I passed from Atheism to Christianity. How far the story matters to anyone but myself depends on the degree to which others have experienced what I call 'joy'."

So how does Lewis define joy? He speaks of, "an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again. I doubt whether any one who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasure in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and pleasure often is."

Joy is not to be equated with happiness or pleasure. It far exceeds both of them. It is an experience beyond our human power to produce, but once we have experienced it, we want it to last or at least to experience it again.

Then began C.S. Lewis' journey from atheism to theism as he writes: "I had been ...wrong in supposing that I desired Joy itself. Joy itself, considered simply as an event in my own mind, turned to be no value at all. All the value lay in that of which Joy was the desiring. And that object, quite clearly, was no state of my own mind or body at all. In a way, I had proved this by elimination. I had tried everything in my own mind and body; as it were, asking myself, 'Is it this you want? Is it this?' Last of all I had asked if Joy itself was what I wanted; and , labeling it 'aesthetic experience,' had pretended I could answer Yes. But that answer too had broken down. Inexorably Joy proclaimed, ' You want... something other, outside, not you nor any state of you.' I did not yet ask, Who is the desired? only What is it?'

Joy is not an event or an aesthetic experience. It is an encounter with an object outside ourselves. Lewis' journey from Atheism to Christianity is a movement from asking "What is it I desire?' to "Who is the desired?' Lewis came to realize that before he could even name God as the object of his longing, God first desired him. He finally "admitted that God was God." He discovered the object of his Joy, in the person of Jesus Christ, the myth who became his master. The object of his Joy was not merely a religion or a philosophy, but rather, a real person. That can be your experience as well.

The object of our Joy should be Jesus Christ.

Listen to Lewis' conclusion in "Mere Christianity", which was first delivered in a radio address. "I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him; 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic-- on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg-- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

Make Christ your Lord and you too will be surprised by joy. "Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart when the King is in residence there." (Anonymous)