5. A Joyful Life
5
A Joyful Life
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Philippians 4:4
Joy is the spontaneous, exultant response of the Christian’s heart to the Lord when it is moved by what God is, what God says in His Word, or what God has done or is doing. Happiness is not the same as joy, because happiness depends largely on happenings. Joy can come even in the midst of sorrow. The English word happen comes from the old word hap, which is connected with luck and chance, words that people who believe in God’s wise and loving providence should avoid. The Lord “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17), and He can make all things work together for our good and His glory (Rom. 8:28).
If you go searching for joy, you won’t find it, because joy is the by-product of abiding in Christ and His Word, obeying Him, and seeking to serve and glorify Him. Jesus used the birth of a baby to illustrate the miracle of Christian joy (John 16:20–22). The mother experiences pain as she delivers her child, but once delivered, the same baby that caused the pain now brings joy! It’s a miracle of transformation, not substitution. The Lord commands us to be joyful, and if we are not joyful we are disobedient and have nobody to blame but ourselves. There are many spiritual keys to the joyful Christian life and the Holy Spirit helps us to find and use the right one for each situation.
The Joy of Jesus
In a message I gave some years ago at a summer Bible conference, I mentioned that Jesus experienced many joys during His earthly ministry. After the meeting, I was confronted by a feisty elderly lady who accused me of being a heretic. “Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief!” she shouted. I tried to show her the passages that mentioned the joys of our Savior, but she refused to read them, turned her back on me, and triumphantly marched away. The Father wants us to become more and more like His Son, and that includes experiencing joy. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy . . .” wrote the apostle Paul in Galatians 5:22. Not to be joyful, even in times of pain and sorrow, is to grieve the Spirit of God.
When the Seventy returned from their ministry journey and told Jesus what had happened, “Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit” and praised His Father for the victories they had won over the devil (Luke 10:17–24). In the upper room, Jesus said, “These things have I spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). Had Jesus never manifested joy, this statement would have perplexed the disciples. Jesus prayed that His joy might be fulfilled and manifested in His disciples (17:13), and the Father answered that prayer. Yes, Jesus experienced sorrow, pain, and death, but He also experienced joy.
There were several spiritual resources that enabled Jesus to endure the cross, and one of them was “the joy that was set before Him” (Heb. 12:2). What was that joy? Verse 24 of the epistle of Jude gives the answer: “[He] is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” Anticipating His future joy with His glorified church in heaven enabled Jesus to endure Calvary’s pain and shame. What a joyful occasion it will be when He presents us to His Father! No matter what our trials may be today, the best is yet to come. “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). Looking ahead to the glories of our heavenly home is a sure cure for the sorrows of a troubled heart (John 14:1–3).
The Joy of Believing God
In spite of the fact that Paul was a prisoner in Rome when he wrote to the Philippians, his letter is saturated with joy. When God’s children live in God’s will, they will experience the joy of the Lord regardless of their circumstances. Paul was especially joyful because of the Philippian believers’ “progress and joy of faith” (Phil. 1:25). “I am convinced that I will remain alive so that I can continue to help all of you grow and experience the joy of your faith” (NLT). It is a joyful challenge to live by faith and to grow in faith. We enter God’s family when we trust Christ for our salvation, but that’s only the beginning. As God’s children, we live by promises and not by explanations. Knowing that our Father loves us, plans for us, directs us, cares for us, and gives us the privilege of serving Him, we rest joyfully in His perfect will. It’s the joy of faith!
But this joy of faith fills our hearts only when we submit to the Lord, trust Him, and give Him our best. “My heart rejoices in the Lord,” sang Hannah after giving her firstborn son to serve in God’s tabernacle (1 Sam. 2:1), and when Mary yielded herself to the Lord to bear the Messiah, she sang, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:46–47). When we give ourselves and our sacrifices to the Lord, the song of the Lord is sure to follow. “When the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord also began” (2 Chron. 29:27).
The joy of believing leads us to the joy of answered prayer. “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full,” said Jesus (John 16:24). Prayer is energized by faith, and faith is strengthened by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). There are long prayers of praise and confession in the Bible as well as brief “emergency prayers” such as Peter’s “Lord, save me” (Matt. 14:30–31). It isn’t the length of our prayers but the strength of our faith that makes the difference. As I review more than six decades of ministry, my heart still leaps for joy as I recall how God has answered prayer—and still does! How grateful I am for those who prayed and taught me to pray! My four years of ministry with Youth for Christ International was like a graduate course in prayer. “According to your faith let it be to you” (9:29).
The Joy of Serving God
If we are serving the right master, in the right way, for the right purpose, and with the right attitude, we will serve joyfully and never think of quitting. For the Christian, Jesus is the right Master, building His church is the right purpose, laboring in faith and love for His glory is the right way to do His work, and joy is the right attitude, because it is a privilege to serve the Lord. There are times when the enemy opposes us, our strength begins to fail, and we feel like quitting; that’s when we should rejoice in the Lord and keep right on working. “Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing” (Ps. 100:2). “Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh. 8:10). God sent the Jews into captivity because they had lost the joy of the Lord and had begun to serve dead idols. “You did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart for the abundance of all things” (Deut. 28:47).
A remnant of Jews had returned to their land after the Babylonian captivity and were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah the governor. The work was not easy and the enemies around the city did all they could to frighten the workers and interrupt the work. Ezra the scribe came to the city and taught the people God’s Word, and this encouraged them to keep on working. He pointed out that it was time for them to celebrate the feast of tabernacles (Lev. 23:33–44) and to rejoice at what the Lord had done when He delivered their ancestors from Egypt. Their God had done wonders for them in the past and He would not abandon them now. They should rejoice in the Lord, for “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” The people obeyed God’s word, celebrated the feast, and “there was very great gladness” (Neh. 8:17).
No matter what tasks the Lord gives us, whether temporary or permanent, there are two things we can expect: the enemy will oppose us and the Lord will give us enough wisdom and strength to complete the work for God’s glory. Paul’s greatest desire was to finish his race with joy (Acts 20:24)—and he did! “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). When Jesus came to earth, He came as a servant, and He expects us to be servants. Paul frequently called himself “the bondservant of Jesus Christ.”
In one of his essays, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote, “Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.” We serve a day at a time, and “as your days, so shall your strength be” (Deut. 33:25). We may go out with weeping, but God promises that the seeds we sow will one day produce the harvest (Ps. 126:6; John 4:35–38).
The Joy of Finding the Lost
If Luke’s Gospel were a newspaper, chapter fifteen would be the “Lost and Found” column. It tells us about a shepherd who found a lost sheep, a woman who found a lost coin, and a father who welcomed home a lost son. The chapter also emphasizes the joy of the people who recovered what had been lost. The shepherd rejoiced (and the sheep probably did too!), the woman rejoiced, and so did the family, except for the elder brother. Certainly there is joy in our hearts whenever people put their faith in the Savior. Philip found the lost Ethiopian treasurer and led him to Christ, and the man “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39). Paul and Silas led the Roman jailer and his family to Christ and joy came into their home (16:34). Peter called this “joy inexpressible and full of glory” (1 Pet. 1:8).
Jesus has commissioned His church to declare the good news of salvation to all nations, and our motive should be that of Paul: “For the love of Christ constrains us” (2 Cor. 5:14). The witness of some believers is motivated by guilt (“It’s my job!”) and others by pride (“I got another one!”), but the only motivation that the Spirit seeks is our love for Christ and for lost sinners. Our Lord came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10), and He is pleased when we are alert to opportunities for witness. If we are yielded to the Spirit, He will guide us and enable us to plant the seed.
The Joy of Worshiping God
Worship is the most important ministry of the individual Christian and of each local assembly of believers, for everything we are and everything we do flows out of worship. Believers who ignore worship are like vehicles without fuel or gardens without sun and water. We may have gifts and abilities that impress people, but if we don’t worship God and receive the Spirit’s power, we can do nothing (John 15:5; Acts 1:8). The early church waited in prayer for ten days until the Spirit empowered them at Pentecost, and then they gave their public witness to the lost and three thousand people were saved (Acts 1–2).
There is no joy like the joy of worship. “Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. Praise the LORD with the harp; make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings. Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy” (Ps. 33:1–3). Worship is God-centered and focuses on His glorious attributes and ministries, His wonderful works, His infallible words, and His precious Son. True worship brings joy to our hearts, and as our hearts express our praise it brings joy to the Lord. A worshiping believer hears the hills and mountain rejoicing (Isa. 55:12), for heaven and earth declare the glory of God. Yes, there are occasions when our worship is solemn, perhaps even silent; but ultimately our tongues must express what our hearts experience. “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him and bless His name” (Ps. 100:4).
I have traveled enough in this world to know that Christians in different cultures express their worship in different ways. The main thing is that our worship come from sincere hearts of love and is controlled by the Scriptures and the Spirit (Eph. 5:18–19; Col. 3:16). If my own daily private worship pleases God, then my sharing in public worship should please Him also. If I am to glorify God in public worship on the Lord’s Day, I must be in a “worship mode” every day and all week long. How sad it is that some of God’s people attend public worship unprepared. This grieves the Spirit and affects the whole body. We should go “to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise” (Ps. 42:4). “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You, and my soul, which You have redeemed” (71:23).
Some Christians like to blame their low spiritual state on what they call “dull worship at church,” but often the dullness is not in the worship but in the worshipers! By their own neglect, they “have become dull of hearing” (Heb. 5:11) and can no longer discern the voice of the Spirit in the music, the prayers, the Scripture readings, and the message from the pulpit. I heard about a church member who, after the service, told the pastor, “Your sermon was over my head.” Quietly the pastor replied, “Let’s ask the Lord to raise your head.” God’s warning about the dullness of hearing that accompanies undisciplined living is repeated seven times in the Bible! You find it in Isaiah 6:9–10, Matthew 13:14–15, Mark 4:11–12, Luke 8:9–10, John 12:37–41, Acts 28:25–27, and Romans 11:8. Are we getting the message?
The Joy of Being Forgiven and Forgiving Others
David expressed this truth after the Lord had forgiven him for committing adultery, scheming to murder the innocent husband, and covering it all up for nearly a year (2 Sam. 11–12). “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit . . . I acknowledged my sin to You . . . and You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Ps. 32:1–2, 5). “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. . . . And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 1:9; 2:1). As our heavenly High Priest, Jesus can keep us from sinning if we come to the throne of grace for help (Heb. 4:14–16). But if we do sin, Jesus our Advocate intercedes for us and gives us forgiveness when we repent and confess.
In the life of a Christian, there are three aspects of forgiveness that must be distinguished, the first of which is final forgiveness. We received that when we trusted Jesus to save us. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7; see Col. 2:13–14). But after we are saved, we still have the ability to sin, and if we do it breaks our communion with the Lord and we must seek fellowship forgiveness (1 John 1:5–10). If our sins have brought public disgrace to the church, we also need family forgiveness (1 Cor. 5). If anyone has sinned against us and sincerely asks for forgiveness, we must forgive them. “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you” (Eph. 4:32).
Those of us who have been forgiven must also be forgiving. An unforgiving spirit can hinder my praying (Matt. 5:21–26; 1 Pet. 3:7) and give the enemy a foothold in my life (Eph. 4:25–27). “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear [me]” (Ps. 66:18). When we forgive others, it takes the burden from our minds and hearts and enables the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us. Forgiveness breaks down walls, builds bridges, and heals wounds. King David knew this, and that’s why he prayed as he did. “Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. . . . Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (Ps. 51:8, 12).
Forgiveness brings freedom, and freedom brings joy.
The Joy of Suffering for Jesus
I once heard a preacher say to his congregation, “If you want to get rid of all your problems and burdens, give yourself to Jesus!” I wanted to stand up and say, “And you will be given a whole new set of burdens and problems!” After all, Jesus did say, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33), and Peter wrote to Christians in his day to “[cast] all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7). He told them that a “fiery trial” was coming and that they would suffer for being Christians (4:12–16).
I have a feeling that the church today will be facing a fiery trial that will separate the sheep from the goats and the real disciples from the counterfeits. The early church suffered greatly at the hands of godless people and yet they rejoiced that they were “counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). Peter told the suffering saints to rejoice in times of persecution because that’s the way the world treated Jesus. When the world starts to treat us as it treated Him, we have been promoted! Peter told them to trust the Holy Spirit to help them and show them ways to glorify God (1 Pet. 4:12–16). Genuine Christians are like light and salt, and the unsaved don’t like to have their evil words and deeds exposed and condemned by the walk and witness of the people of God.
But I wonder if the church today is prepared for the fiery furnace? If we are not prepared, we will not be able to witness to the lost or maintain our Christian joy in the midst of pain, false accusation, and possible imprisonment and death. As you read 2 Corinthians 6:1–10, ask God to examine your heart and show you how to prepare.
The Joy of Living in and by the Scriptures
Most of my life, I have been privileged to devote myself to the Bible, the Word of God; for this blessing, I praise the Lord. A few days after I was saved, I visited the public library for Bible study helps and found a study Bible on the shelf. I had never seen one before! I don’t know how long the book had been there, but I was the first person to take it out.
I have read through the Bible many times in various versions, I have studied it personally and in the seminary classroom, and I have taught it to church congregations, ministerial conferences, and seminary classes. I have meditated on Scripture daily in my early morning devotional time and have sought to obey it the rest of each day. I read other books, of course, but I test them by what the Bible says. Over the years, I have written many commentaries on the Scriptures and on biblical themes.
I say all this only to assure you that I love God’s Word and rejoice at the privilege of sharing it with others. The world offers nothing to match the joys God’s people receive from their personal adventures with their Bibles. It’s the joy of a starving, fainting traveler who sits down to eat a nutritious meal. Moses told the Israelites that “man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3). When Satan tempted Jesus to turn stones into bread, our Lord defeated him by quoting this verse (Matt. 4:1–4).
The Word of God is spiritual food that gives life, strength, and spiritual health to God’s children who feed upon it. God’s Word is compared not only to bread but also to milk (1 Pet. 2:1–3), solid food (Heb. 5:12–14), and honey (Ps. 19:10; 119:103). If you can’t make a meal out of bread, milk, meat, and honey, you have probably been starving with the prodigal in the far country (Luke 15:11–24). We all need to follow the example of Job, who said, “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12), and of the prophet Jeremiah, who wrote, “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart” (15:16).
The Word of God is not a luxury; it is a necessity. It is light in the darkness to guide the pilgrim (Ps. 119:105, 130), and medicine for the sick and afflicted (107:20). The Word of God is seed (Luke 8:11) that produces fruit when it is planted in good soil and patiently cultivated. It is water that makes us clean within (Eph. 5:25–28) and a treasure that enriches our lives for time and eternity (Ps. 119:14, 72, 127, 162). The Bible is also a sharp living sword that always defeats the wicked one when wielded by faith (Eph. 6:17; Heb. 4:12). There are other metaphors for the Bible, but these examples bear witness to the necessity and the enjoyment of living in the Word of God. Until we come to the place where we enjoy the Scriptures and delight in them, we will never really know God’s power in our lives (Ps. 119:16, 111, 162, 165). “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart” (19:8).
The Joy of Giving
Paul was gathering a love offering from the Gentile churches to assist the needy Jewish believers in the Holy Land, and the church in Corinth had been slow in responding. Paul devoted chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians to encouraging the Corinthian believers to keep their promises, and he used the generosity of the Macedonian churches to challenge them. He told the Corinthians “that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of [the Macedonians’] joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality” (2 Cor. 8:2). That is quite a formula! A great trial of affliction + deep poverty + God’s grace = abounding liberality and joy. The Macedonian churches were responding to the grace of God in their lives (v. 1), for the grace of giving produces in us the joy of living, and we want to give more!
Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35), and He Himself set the example we must follow. “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). God’s people are to be channels, not reservoirs. Sir Winston Churchill said, “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” Covetousness and selfishness clog the channels of blessing God wants to open for us, and we are the losers.
Jesus first gave Himself as a servant and “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), and then He gave Himself as a sacrifice for our sins by dying on the cross (Gal. 1:4). The Macedonians “first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God” (2 Cor. 8:5). Until we give ourselves wholly to the Lord, the “joy formula” will not work for us! Ananias and his wife Sapphira secretly calculated and hypocritically counterfeited a gift for the Lord, and the Lord took their lives (Acts 5:1–11). God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17), and enjoyment must always lead to employment as we share with others what God gives to us.
“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38). If you like these terms—start investing!
The Joy of Anticipating Heaven
I think it was British playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan who said, “Happiness consists in having someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.” Every true believer has Jesus and His people to love, the work of the Lord to do, and a home in heaven to anticipate. Unfortunately, we don’t usually talk about heaven unless somebody is terminally ill or has died. The fact that we don’t discuss heaven as frequently as we should may indicate that we’ve gotten comfortable in this world and don’t have too many service scars. Whenever God’s people have confronted the enemy and contended for the faith and their lives, the prospect of eternity in heaven has encouraged and empowered them.
Christians are supposed to “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2). Whether we go to heaven by way of the “Upper-taker” when Jesus comes or by way of the undertaker when we die (and we prefer the former), come what may, we have Christ’s promise of a home in heaven (John 14:1–6). We have been “sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance” (Eph. 1:13–14). Paul’s inspired words to the believers in Thessalonica make this very clear (1 Thess. 4:13–18).
But heaven is much more than a destination; it is also a motivation. Knowing that we will be in heaven with Jesus ought to make a difference in the way we live right now. For one thing, the assurance of heaven replaces the fear of death with the joy of the Lord. When loved ones die, God’s people grieve, but not “as others who have no hope” (v. 13). There is coming a day of resurrection, reunion, and rejoicing in the heavenly city—and it will last forever!
The assurance of our heavenly home and our future likeness to Jesus should motivate us to live godly lives as we wait for His return. “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). It should also motivate us to witness and seek to lead others to Christ. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19–20). Anticipating our heavenly home ought to make us faithful in our work and our witness, knowing that Jesus will reward us one day. When we face opposition and persecution, we know that the ultimate victory will be ours. “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11–12). The Old Testament patriarchs did not have easy lives, and it was their faith in God’s promised heavenly city that helped to keep them going (Heb. 11:13–16). The future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord.
I could go on, but let me close with this almost forgotten joy: the joy of sharing your joy with others. Elizabeth shared her joy with her neighbors and relatives (Luke 1:57–58) and Mary’s joy has blessed God’s people around the world for centuries (vv. 46–55). Joys shared are joys multiplied, while sorrows shared are sorrows halved. We should be so excited about our joys in Christ and so determined to share them that we would never be caught complaining and criticizing like the people of the world. Read Luke 15 again and see how the shepherd, the woman, and the father all shared their joy with their friends and neighbors. Even though Paul was a prisoner in Rome, in danger of being executed, he rejoiced in the Lord and invited his friends in Philippi to rejoice with him (Phil. 2:17–18).
An Important Question
When Paul wrote to the troubled churches in Galatia, he asked them this question: “What has happened to all your joy?” (Gal. 4:15 TNIV). Whenever we lose our joy in the Lord, we make it easier for the enemy to attack us. We become critical and difficult to live with, and this makes it harder for us to do God’s work as we should and to encourage others. The absence of a joyful heart is a symptom of deeper problems that must be solved. When we start the day discouraged and downhearted, we are asking for trouble. We should be saying, “This is the day the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:24). God’s compassions are new every morning (Lam. 3:22–23), and no matter what happened yesterday, we can make a new beginning today.