The Fruit of the Spirit
How to Enjoy Your Joy
(Joy)
Galatians 5:22
We are studying the fruit of the Spirit and Galatians 5:22 gives us the list. Last week we looked at love. Today we come to joy. Now keep in mind, this list is not nine different “fruits”, but one fruit comprised of nine different aspects, much like a cluster of grapes.
And the list provides us with two things: First of all, it provides us with a snapshot of the character of Jesus. Every one of the nine finds its ultimate fulfillment in the life of Christ.
The other thing we have here is a reminder of what God seeks to produce in us through the Holy Spirit. Since he lives in us and since He is just like Jesus in character and nature, and since it is God’s design for us to live under the control of the Spirit, then this is what we should expect to see in the life of a born-again believer.
So a good way to evaluate our Christ-likeness is by honestly evaluating ourselves in life of this list of nine qualities.
Now, I want you to think about something:
There is something that we all do, whether we are little babies or senior adults, that doctors say is such good medicine that it relieves stress, can cure headaches, fight infections, and even alleviate hypertension.
In fact, when we engage in this activity, there are well documented physical affects, many of them akin to modern exercise. Muscles in the abdomen, chest, shoulders, and elsewhere contract; heart rate and blood pressure increase.
In one burst of this activity the pulse can double from 60 to 120, and systolic blood pressure can shoot from a normal 120 to 200. Once we stop this activity, heartbeat and blood pressure also dip below normal, which is a sign of reduced stress. Now what this physiologically beneficial activity is, is laughing.
Laughter is good for you, and laughter is healthy. Solomon knew that. He said: “a merry heart does good like a medicine” (Prov. 17:22).
But, as you know, we don’t always feel like laughing. The reason we laugh, generally speaking, is because something makes us happy, but we don’t always laugh because we are not always happy.
But for the Christian who is rightly fellowshipping with God and others, there is a quality of life that goes beyond laughter and happiness and it is that characteristic of the fruit of the Spirit called joy.
Now there is a tremendous difference between joy and happiness: You cannot be happy without being joyful. But you can be joyful without being happy.
Happiness is external. Joy is internal.
Happiness depends on outward circumstances. Joy depends on inward character.
Happiness depends upon what happens to you. Joy depends upon who lives within you.
Happiness is based on chance. Joy is based on choice.
The word “happiness” comes from an old English word “happ”, which literally means “chance.” It corresponds to the Latin “fortuna”, which means luck. And when that is our attitude, then when things happen the way we want them to happen, then we are happy. But if they don’t happen the way we want them to happy, we are unhappy. Happiness is temporary and fickle. Joy is permanent and settled.
That’s why one of the greatest and most attractive qualities both a church and a Christian can have is joy. I want our church to be known as “the fellowship of joy” because i want people to find joy when they come to this church.
Dr. Vance Havner once said: “the man of the world is not laughing at Christians who 'get happy’ over being saved, half so much as he is disgusted with us big-church folks who are showing no evidence of a dynamic transforming experience that makes us love what once we hated, and hate what once we loved.”
Unfortunately, the world has caricatured Christians as being primarily purveyors of doom and gloom, prophets of sadness and sorrow, who condemn any fun as being sin. In fact, someone once gave this definition of a Puritan: “a person who suffers from the overwhelming dread that somewhere, sometime, somehow, someone may be enjoying himself.”
Well, I want you to know that Christianity is to be nothing less than a festival of joy. C. S. Lewis said:
“joy is the serious business of heaven.”
We should be in joy, and we should enjoy joy all of
the time. The words joy and joyful are used 250 times in the Bible. The word “rejoice” is used 200 times in the bible. So over 450 times we are told to be joyful and rejoice.
We should so rejoice that we can rejoice over our
rejoicing. If you get around God at all, you’re going to be full of joy, because “in his presence is fullness of joy.” Psalm 5:11 says: “but let all those rejoice who put their trust in you; let them ever shout for joy, because you defend them; let those also who love your name be joyful in you.”
A joyless Christian is a slander against Jesus Christ. Billy Sunday wisely and rightly said: “If you have no joy in your religion, there is a leak in your Christianity.”
Do you know why Jesus said all the things He said and taught all He taught? He tells us in John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.”
The simple truth of that is when you get Jesus you get joy, joy inexpressible and full of glory. You show me a Christian who is never happy and always upset and griping and making others miserable and I will show you a believer who is out of fellowship with God.
They may try to cover it up and serve it away and put on a face, but somewhere back in the life of that Christian, if they are a Christian at all, once you get all the layers peeled off and the truth exposed, you will find an unconfessed sin or a bitter spirit or a rebellion against the Lordship of Jesus Christ. The only thing that robs us of our joy is distance between us and the Lord.
And I don’t care how much you say you love Jesus and all that, if you’re never happy, you’re not right with God and you’re just as well to confess why and get it out of the way so you can enjoy the joy that is your to enjoy in the first place!
Now just in case you doubt that you have any reason to be joyful, I want to help you with that today. In the first chapter of 1 Peter, the Apostle Peter gives us some great insight into what we have to enjoy as believers.
First he reminds us
I. There Is Joy in Salvation
Verses 2, 8-9
In verse 2 Peter calls us the “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the father.” That is, we have been chosen to be a part of the family of God. And then he goes on to talk about the end or the result of faith, the salvation of our souls and how because we are believers we are full of this indescribable joy.
Listen: There is no greater joy than the joy of being saved, knowing that you are saved, and knowing what you have because you have been saved. Far too many Christians are not enjoying their salvation; they’re just enduring their salvation.
Isaiah said: “therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).
There are two words in the bible that are first cousins: joy and grace. The Greek word for joy is chara. The Greek word for grace is charis. Both words come from the same root. For the grace of God always produces the joy of God. Grace is the root of salvation. Joy is the fruit of salvation.
Have you ever stopped to think of what is true of you if you are saved? Have you ever thought about the benefits package that comes with salvation? I jotted down just a few, and it certainly is not an exhaustive list, but think about it. Because of salvation:
According to 1 John 1:7, all of your sins are forgiven and because of that full and final transaction called justification, I have been adopted into the family of God.
That means I now possess eternal life and I cannot die. It doesn’t matter what the world does to me. They can’t touch me because I am securely held in the hand of God.
In every moment of my life, whether I realize it or not, I am never outside of the care and presence of God because He lives within me through the persona dn work of the Holy Spirit.
He has promised to never leave or forsake me. And according to Romans 8, everything that happens to me God has designed to ultimately bring good to my life.
If I have a need, all I have to is pray because God is listening and eager and ready and able to answer my prayers.
Plus, when my life is over here, God has guaranteed me a home in heaven and one of these day, I’m going home to spend eternity with Jesus in the beautiful place He has prepared just for me.
Now you tell me, as a Christian, why in the world are you miserable and unhappy and lacking in joy?
We, above all the people in the world ought to be filled with joy!
We are to rejoice in the joy of salvation!
Here’s the second thing:
2. There Is Joy in Sanctification
Notice how Peter continues in verse 2
There is not only joy in being saved, there is joy in living like your saved.
Now I want to teach you something about salvation, and how it is related to sanctification.
Verse 4-5
We are kept by the power of God. That means there is no one and nothing that can rob you of your salvation.
However, there is someone and something that can rob you of the joy of your salvation. That someone is you and that something is sin.
Sorrow cannot rob you of your joy. Sickness cannot rob you of your joy. Suffering cannot rob you of your joy. But the one thing that can rob you of your joy is sin, and the only kind of sin that can rob you of your joy is your sin.
Remember what David requested of God after he confessed his sin with Bathsheba and asked God for forgiveness? Psalm 51:12 tells us he asked God to “restore to me the joy of your salvation.”
Listen: The very first thing that goes out the window of your heart the moment you close the curtains on obeying God is the joy of your salvation.
If you have no joy, then try confessing your sin and giving yourself without reserve to the Lord. Open every door, let Him have control and cooperate with Him in the process of changing you to be like Jesus.
There is joy in sanctification.
3. There Is Joy in Service
Verse 2
Peter says we are not only elect, we’re not only sanctified, but we’ve been sanctified “for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.”
I will tell you some of the most miserable people I’ve ever known are those who claim to be Christians and never serve in any way.
They want the church to be open and cleaned up and ready to receive them in case they decide to come, but don’t ask them to do anything or be involved in anyway. And I don’t really know why they even like to come because nothing’s ever right when they get there. The temperatures wrong; the kind of music is wrong. The length of the sermon is wrong. Everything’s wrong. Except for them. . .
They are miserable and they like to make it miserable for everyone else. That’s why they will try to get you to stay after Sunday School and listen to all your gripes about the church and the pastor and the staff and the ministries. They just like to get you off by yourself and spill their throw-up all over you.
The other miserable group I’ve witnessed is those who try to serve away their lack of fellowship with God.
They aren’t right with God, but if they just do a little more or read the Bible more maybe they’ll feel better. But they’re miserable because the joy is not in the service itself, but it is in the Lord. And if you aren’t right with God, you will never have His blessing on your service.
But I will tell you there are some people who are just a joy to be around and watch as they serve the Lord! They give and serve out of the overflow of their time with God and as they express the joy of the Lord, it becomes contagious to others. They aren’t spilling throw-up, they are splashing joy!
Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said: “I cannot be happy unless I am doing something for God.”
Now keep in mind that this is a series on fruit- bearing. We are talking about the fruit of the Spirit.
In a similar vein of thought, Jesus said in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.”
A healthy tree is a fruit-bearing tree, and the only happy tree is a healthy tree. A healthy tree is a tree that does what a tree ought to do, which is bear fruit, and the same thing is true of a Christian. If you are healthy you will bear fruit; the fruit of good works.
A psychologist at Stanford University was studying the effects of productivity on our happiness. As a part of that study, he hired a man who was a logger.
He said: “I will pay you double what you get paid in the logging camp if you will simply take the blunt end of this ax and just pound this log all day. You never have to cut one piece of wood. Just take the end that is blunt and hit it as hard as you can, just as you would if you were logging, and you will get double the money you’ve been making.
This man worked for half a day and he quit. The psychologist asked him: “Why did you quit?” The logger said: “Because every time I swing an ax I need to see the chips fly. If I don’t see the chips fly it’s no fun.”
I am convinced that there are many Christians who are taking the dull end of their ax, simply banging away on logs that are of no heavenly good. They are producing no fruit and because of that they have no joy. Listen: “ain’t nobody got time for that!”
We need to discover the joy of service!
4. There Is Joy in Suffering
Verses 6-7
Now this one catches us off-guard. And I will admit this is very hard to explain. It is very hard to understand but the light of God’s joy shines even in the midst of the darkness of suffering. You read through the bible you will find this was the common experience of every disciple.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 7:4, “i am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation.”
James said, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials.”
Hebrews says of Jesus it was “for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross and despised the shame”.
You see, joy cannot be taken from you by what happens to you. But joy can be taken from you by how you respond to what happens to you.
Dr. R. A. Torrey was one of the great Bible teachers of the 20th century. He and Mrs. Torrey went through a time of great heartache when their twelve-year-old daughter was accidentally killed.
The funeral was held on a gloomy miserable rainy day. They stood around the grave and watched as the body of their precious little girl was lowered into the ground.
As they turned away, Mrs. Torrey said: “I am so glad that Elizabeth is with the Lord and not in that box.”
But even knowing this was true, their hearts were broken. Dr. Torrey said that the next day he just went out walking by himself. The grief was just so overwhelming. He said, as he was walking down the street, his heart broke apart all over again as he thought about the loneliness of the years ahead without the presence of his beautiful precious daughter; about the heartbreak of an empty house, and all of the other painful memories he had.
He was so burdened by this that he looked up into the heavens and asked God to help him. He said: “Just at that moment this fountain, the Holy Spirit that i had in my heart, broke forth with such power as I think I had never experienced before, and it was the most joyful moment I had ever known in my life.
Oh how wonderful is the joy of the Holy Ghost! It is an unspeakable glorious thing to have your joy, not in things about you, not even in your most dearly loved friends, but to have within you a fountain ever springing up, springing up, springing up, always springing up three hundred and sixty-five days in every year springing up under all circumstances unto everlasting life!”
My friend, this world can take many things away from you. It can take not only your most precious possessions, it can also take your most dearest relationships. But there is one possession it cannot take from you, and that is eternal life. There is one relationship it cannot take away from you and that is your relationship to Jesus Christ.
That’s why the final experience of joy is so essential because many will never learn
5. There Is Joy in Surrender
Verses 15-16
There is no greater joy than that of being fully, totally and completely surrendered to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
According to most everyone who has commented or written on his life, one of the most joyful Christians that has ever lived was the founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth. Someone once said to him: “Dr. Booth, would you please tell us the secret of your great joy?” William Booth said: “It is very simple. I never say 'no’ to the Lord.”
Have you ever said “no” to the Lord? When you did, you forfeited the joy of surrendering, in absolute trust, to God.
If you were to take a fish and place it on the beach, you would watch his gills gasp and his scales begin to dry up. Question: As that fish lays there dying, is that fish full of joy? Absolutely not.
Well, how would you give that fish joy? If you covered him with a mountain of cash, would that make him joyful? No. What if you got him a beach chair, some sunglasses, and a coca cola, would that fill him full of joy? No. What if you bought him a brand new wardrobe of name-brand scales and gills, would that fill him full of joy? No.
Do you know how to fill that fish full of joy? Just put him back in the water. Do you know why that fish can never have joy on the beach? Because he wasn’t made for the beach, he was made for the ocean.
There are a lot of God’s people trying to find joy on this old earth. Like some kid at Christmas, they have to have every new gadget that comes along. They are deep in debt trying to keep up with the neighbors or buy their kids attention.
They can never be satisfied or content with what they have, so they change jobs and styles and spouses, but they always come up empty and wanting more. They are dying on the beach of life and don’t have enough sense to just jump back in the water.
Others are without Christ altogether, looking for something to make sense of life. You will never have joy on this earth unless you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You were made to know him. You were made to love him. When you give your life to Jesus, Jesus will give everlasting joy to your life.
So jump on in! The water’s fine! God welcomes you into His presence where there is fullness of joy!
Let’s pray.
