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JOY

Love, joy, and peace—the first three on Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit—are like a triplet. They come together. Jesus linked them very closely in his farewell conversations with his disciples:

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. (John 14:27, emphasis mine)

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. (John 15:9-10, emphasis mine)

I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John 15:11, emphasis mine)

And, to continue the picture, joy and peace are like twins. They come together as a pair even more often than love, joy, and peace come as a triplet. And Paul is particularly fond of the two words, joy and peace. This is the kind of thing he loves to say:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Rom 14:17, emphasis mine)

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. (Rom 15:13, emphasis mine)

In fact, Paul speaks of joy twenty-one times and peace forty-three times in his letters! But we can see in those verses in Romans that for Paul, joy and peace are not just incidental byproducts of the Christian faith. They are not just happy feelings. Look at what else he says about them in just those few verses above—it’s an impressive list.

So it’s not surprising that he includes joy and peace in the fruit of the Spirit! These words are not just describing a cheerful, contented emotional state. This is something profound and at the heart of our Christian life and witness.

Let’s think first of joy. What brings you joy? What makes your eyes sparkle? What makes your heart leap up and down? What gives you a glow of pleasure and makes you smile, laugh, or whoop out loud and throw your arms up in the air for joy and want to hug everybody around you?

When I ask myself that question, four things come to mind very quickly, and each of them connects with something very true about Christian joy as the fruit of the Spirit. These four things bring me great joy (even if I don’t do all the things I just mentioned—though sometimes you might just see me behaving like that!): having a family, having a feast, having a faith, and having a future.

Joy is having a family. Joy fills me when I’m with my family sharing the love that binds us all together, or with close friends when I just enjoy being in their company for a meal or a drink. Or when I open our front door and see the happy faces of our grandchildren, jumping up and down with excitement. Or just when I’m out for a day with my wife. (If you think that is unfair to those who don’t have a family, just wait a moment).

Joy is having a feast. This sort of joy springs up when I get really good news, particularly if it was unexpected or anxiously waited for. Then joy turns to celebration. I remember when the telegram arrived to say that I’d got a place at Cambridge, after all the study and anxiety. Or the day (place and time etched in my memory) when I asked Elizabeth Brown to marry me, and she said “Yes” (not that there was much anxiety—we’d been going together for years). Or the joy of getting news that a loved one had come safely through a surgical operation or recovered from serious illness. Or the news that our daughters were pregnant, and then the news (in each case) that a healthy baby was born and all was well with them both. When there’s really good news, we celebrate it with joy, as we do for birthdays and anniversaries. Many cultures celebrate such moments by having a great party-meal. We mark moments of joy with food and drink.

Joy is having a faith. Sometimes I am filled with intense joy when I am in church worshiping God with other Christians. Mind you, there are other times when that can be a rather miserable experience (unfortunately). But there are moments when the words of the Scriptures or the music and words of certain hymns and songs are so rich, when they remind me so powerfully of what God has done to save me, that my heart almost bursts with joy. I know deep down that I could not be what I am, or where I am, apart from the forgiving grace and daily embracing love of God. And when the worship, especially the music, reminds me of that, there are times I cannot sing because my eyes fill up with tears of joy and my voice is choked up with gratitude to God.

Joy is having a future. I often bubble up with joy when I’m out enjoying God’s creation. I love the pleasure of being alive in God’s world. I feel joy in just being able to run or walk out in the open air, or go for a swim in the sea or a lake. It’s a joy that, for me, is stuffed full of gratitude to God. This is God’s world and I love it and enjoy it—as God meant us to—and as the Psalms celebrate with great joy. But there is another part of that joy, and it is knowing that this creation we now enjoy so much is only the womb—the groaning womb—of the new creation. So we look forward, not just to “going to heaven,” but to our resurrection bodies in the new heaven and earth that God is creating. What joy that will be! And it will be forever! Wow!

All four of these reasons for joy in ordinary life are true in even greater ways of the joy that fills the life and heart of a Christian as the fruit of the Spirit. Let’s take them in turn.

Joy Is Having a Family

Let’s go back to those verses in Romans (quoted above), where Paul prays that his readers would be filled with joy and peace. The Christians at Rome were a mixture of Jews who had come to believe in Jesus as Messiah, and Gentiles who had come from a completely “outside,” pagan background. And Paul has spent two chapters (Romans 14 and 15) telling them to accept and welcome one another, because God in Christ had accepted them and made them into one people. Then Paul quotes several Old Testament texts that called on the Gentiles to praise and rejoice in what God has done (Rom 15:9-12). The second quotation says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people” (Rom 15:10, quoting Deut 32:43).

Why did Paul tell the Gentile Christians at Rome to rejoice? What did they have to be joyful about? They should be filled with joy because they were now included in a whole new family—they belonged to God’s own people (“rejoice with his people,” emphasis mine). They were no longer far away, outside in the cold, but included. They had a whole new set of relationships because of the Lord Jesus Christ and his reconciling death and resurrection.

Paul made this point even more emphatically to the Gentile Christians in Ephesus. First he reminded them of what they used to be, before they came to faith in Jesus: “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world” (Eph 2:12).

They were alienated in every possible way. They did not belong to the people of God and they knew nothing about the love and redemption and covenant promises of the God of Israel. They had no relationship with God or God’s people. They did not belong to the family of God. Not a very joyful place to be.

But Paul says that now things have completely changed: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. . . . Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household” (Eph 2:13, 19).

Those who were far away have been brought near. Those who were on the outside have been brought in. Those who were excluded from the family are now included as family members. The Gentiles have become not only citizens of God’s people (a political metaphor), but members of God’s household (a family metaphor). And a little later Paul will add that they have also become the place of God’s dwelling through the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:22; a temple metaphor). That is surely a good reason for joy! Christian believers, no matter what their background or circumstances, get a whole new family through belonging to Christ.

Maybe, earlier on in this chapter, you didn’t like the way I started my list of things that give me joy by mentioning my family. We all know that there are so many people who, sadly, have very little joy, or no joy at all, from having a family. There are all kinds of reasons for that: cruel parents, marriage breakups, lonely singleness, bereavement, feuds, hatreds, and even persecution by non-Christian family members. But when people belong to Christ, even if they do not have the joy of a vibrant and loving human family, or even if they endure the pain of a broken and abusive family, or loneliness, or bereavement—when they belong to Christ they have the joy of a new family among God’s people. This does not mean that everything is nice and rosy suddenly. It does not necessarily mend all the brokenness or fix all the problems. But there is a joy in belonging to the family of God through Jesus Christ in the midst of the sorrow and pain and struggle of a dysfunctional or missing human family. This is a joy that is deeper than just feeling happy because everything is going well. It is a joy that comes from knowing you are part of a family you can never lose, part of the oldest family in history, the largest family on earth, and your family for all eternity. These family relationships are created and shared because Jesus brings the joy that is the fruit of the Spirit.

Two stories filled with joy can illustrate this. When the Prodigal Son in Jesus’ parable returned home, he was embraced and welcomed back into the family by his father—even though he had effectively renounced his family by going off with his inheritance to a far country. And there was great joy and celebration. Jesus told this story, along with the one about the lost sheep and the lost coin, to make the point that the joy of being found and brought back is shared not just by the animal, coin, or boy, but by God and the angels in heaven (Lk 15:7, 10). There is joy in heaven, not just on earth!

And then there was the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. As a eunuch, he could obviously not have a family, sons and daughters of his own. But he had come to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel, just as Solomon had prayed foreigners would do (1 Kings 8:41-43). And he had purchased a scroll of the book of Isaiah. He was reading the verses that we now call Isaiah 53, about how the Servant of the Lord would be slain for our sins. Philip explains that passage to him and leads him to faith in Jesus. But I like to imagine that Philip then pointed the Ethiopian to the nearby passage that we find in Isaiah 56 where God had made a promise to eunuchs, who could have no children:

To them I will give within my temple and its walls

a memorial and a name

better than sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name

that will endure forever. (Is 56:5)

In other words, even if they could not have a family of their own, God would bring them into his own family, whose family name would never die out.

And a little later, God adds that when he brings eunuchs and foreigners to worship him and belong to him then, “these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer” (Is 56:7).

Well, this Ethiopian had been to the holy mountain and to the temple, God’s house of prayer. But it was when he heard the good news about Jesus, trusted in him, and was baptized by Philip, that Luke tells us, “he went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39, emphasis mine). He went back to Africa, to his job in the government of the Queen of Ethiopia, but he now had a new family because he belonged to Jesus. So he went back with joy. In fact he not only took the gospel with him to Africa, but he was the first person in the book of Acts from outside the Jewish nation in the land of Judah and Samaria to become part of the multinational family of God in the Messiah Jesus. What joy that is (especially if you’re African)!

Joy Is Having a Feast

Joy, as part of the fruit of the Spirit, is a New Testament word, of course, and as we’ve seen, Paul uses it a lot. But it is also prominent in the Old Testament. In fact, the people of Israel were commanded to rejoice and be joyful! So many of their songs in the book of Psalms call on the people to celebrate, sing, rejoice, praise, give thanks, etc. Joy is very much in the air (alongside some very serious lament and protest too, of course, since life could sometimes be as tough for them as it can be for us).

There were three annual festivals in Israel—Passover along with the Feast of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), and the Feast of Tabernacles. You can read about them in Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16. These were opportunities for all of the people to have some holiday, since they were told not to work (in addition to the regular weekly Sabbath day, of course). But more than that, they were told to rejoice. “Rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name” and “Be joyful at your festival” (Deut 16:11, 14). God’s overflowing blessing each year should produce overflowing joy—with celebration, eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

The Old Testament has no embarrassment about celebrating the good gifts of God. Whatever God gives is to be received with thanksgiving and joy. That could include: the gift of the law; the annual gift of harvests; the word of God through the prophets; the building of the temple; a new king; and all the ordinary gifts of everyday life, such as work, love, marriage, beauty, nature, bread, and wine. There is so much to give thanks for, so much to give us joy. I wonder if, as Christians, we sometimes become so spiritual that we forget to take real pleasure in the ordinary gifts of God and don’t allow ourselves to be filled to overflowing with joy.

However, having affirmed that point very strongly, we should notice that in the Old Testament the earthly joy of feasting together as an act of joyful thanks to God is protected and purified in two ways.

Joy must be morally clean. God warned Israel not to be tempted by the kind of debauched “joy” of the Canaanite festivals, which included sexual immorality, drunkenness, gluttony, and idolatry. They had two terrible object lessons about where that kind of sinful “joy” could lead. First, there was the wild orgy that happened at the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses was on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments (recorded in Ex 32–34). And the second was in Moab, when they were tempted into immorality at Baal Peor on the advice of the pagan seer Balaam (Num 25; 31:16). By contrast with such sinful excess, Israel’s feasts were to be full of fun and food, but not full of drunken immorality. They were to be occasions that the whole family could enjoy together without embarrassment (Deut 16:14).

Are we able to celebrate our joy as Christians like that? We will, if we follow the example of Jesus himself, who was able to enjoy a good party, a wedding banquet, and eating with his friends (including many people that nobody else would eat with). “The Son of Man came eating and drinking,” he once said, when people contrasted him with John the Baptist and criticized him for eating with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners (Mt 11:19). Jesus could enjoy a good feast of food and drink without condoning sin and immorality.

And that is the message of the rest of the New Testament too. The Bible does not forbid drinking wine, but it does forbid drunkenness (1 Cor 5:11; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:18; 1 Pet 4:3). It does not forbid enjoying our food, but it does condemn gluttony (Prov 23:20-21; Titus 1:12). It does not forbid humor and laughter, but it does forbid “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking” (Eph 5:4)—the sort that is filthy or hurtful to others. The Bible gives us abundant room and reasons for joy, but warns us against letting celebration sink into degradation.

Joy must be socially inclusive. God commanded the Israelites to have their festivals, to take time off, to have great parties with lots of food and drink—but he also told them to make sure that nobody got left out. This is emphasized twice in Deuteronomy’s instructions for the festivals.

And rejoice before the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. (Deut 16:11, repeated at v. 14, emphasis mine)

In other words, Israelite family members were not to enjoy a big feast while all the servants did the hard work. And they were to take particular care to include those who did not have land of their own to harvest (Levites and foreigners), and to include those who did not have families to provide for them (orphans and widows).

One concrete example of this principle in action is found in Nehemiah 8. The people of Israel had returned from exile to Judah. Nehemiah had led them in rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Then he led them in a great occasion of covenant renewal. As part of that, Ezra read the law aloud to the people and the Levites translated and explained it to them so they could all understand it. When the people began to weep (probably because of conviction of their sin and failure), Nehemiah and Ezra encouraged them not to weep, but to rejoice on this great occasion of returning to the Lord and his covenant. Nehemiah told the people to go and enjoy party food and celebrate! But, he added, make sure you provide for those who don’t have any food and drink of their own. Nobody should be left out. “Nehemiah said, ‘Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength’” (Neh 8:10).

Jesus made the same point to his disciples. In fact, he made it while at a meal, and he probably embarrassed his host when he said this. He warned them not to have a party for their close friends and neighbors only, but also to invite those who usually didn’t get such invitations—the poor, needy, and disabled (Lk 14:12-14). I have to confess that I think this is one of the clearest commands of Jesus that many of us regularly ignore. I feel convicted of my own failure even as I write this.

It is a sad fact that festivals like Christmas and Thanksgiving can be among the loneliest times of year for those who are elderly, or strangers in a community, or those living on their own without families, or those who are literally homeless.

So the joy that is the fruit of the Spirit, if we think of it in the light of the Bible, can include the sheer joy of eating and drinking together. Joy is a feast. No wonder Jesus used that picture to describe the future that we will enjoy with him in the new creation, in the messianic banquet. But our feasting needs to reflect the joy of the Holy Spirit, and so it will be clean and wholesome and not tainted with immorality, greed, gluttony, or excess. And it will be inclusive, making sure that all those who belong to the family of God are included, and not just those we happen to like.

Joy Is Having a Faith

The word gospel, as I’m sure you know, simply means “good news.” And good news brings joy just by being what it is—good! So if the biblical gospel is the best and greatest good news the world has ever heard, then there is no greater joy than knowing and believing the gospel.

The gospel tells us the great truths of what God has done through Christ to save the world, because of his love and grace. In the gospel, God promises us forgiveness, eternal life, and a future filled with hope for the whole creation. And these are things that can never be taken away, because they are rooted in who God is and what God has done. And they are simply brimming over with joy! How can we not be glad when we know the good news and believe it?

We could take a lot of time at this point just enjoying the vast scope of the biblical gospel and thanking God that by his grace we have come to put our faith in Christ. That’s because the gospel is not just a formula or a mechanism to get to heaven, but is the good news of the whole Bible story of all that God promised and accomplished through Christ. Even a summary of it should bring us joy, as for example, from a statement known as The Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action from the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, in Cape Town, South Africa, in October 2010:

We love the story the gospel tells. The gospel announces as good news the historical events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. As the son of David, the promised Messiah King, Jesus is the one through whom alone God established his kingdom and acted for the salvation of the world, enabling all nations on earth to be blessed, as he promised Abraham. Paul defines the gospel in stating that “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter and then to the Twelve.” The gospel declares that, on the cross of Christ, God took upon himself, in the person of his Son and in our place, the judgment our sin deserves. In the same great saving act, completed, vindicated and declared through the resurrection, God won the decisive victory over Satan, death and all evil powers, liberated us from their power and fear, and ensured their eventual destruction. God accomplished the reconciliation of believers with himself and with one another across all boundaries and enmities. God also accomplished his purpose of the ultimate reconciliation of all creation, and in the bodily resurrection of Jesus has given us the first fruits of the new creation. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.” How we love the gospel story!

We love the assurance the gospel brings. Solely through trusting in Christ alone, we are united with Christ through the Holy Spirit and are counted righteous in Christ before God. Being justified by faith we have peace with God and no longer face condemnation. We receive the forgiveness of our sins. We are born again into a living hope by sharing Christ’s risen life. We are adopted as fellow heirs with Christ. We become citizens of God’s covenant people, members of God’s family and the place of God’s dwelling. So by trusting in Christ, we have full assurance of salvation and eternal life, for our salvation ultimately depends, not on ourselves, but on the work of Christ and the promise of God. “Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” How we love the gospel’s promise!

The joy that is generated by our faith in these great truths and promises can be present in our lives, even when there is suffering, loss, bereavement, illness, or accident, and even in situations of persecution and martyrdom. Such things, whether trivial or terrible, cannot and do not take away the inner joy that is the fruit of the Spirit.

In the Old Testament, the book of Psalms is called, in Hebrew, “The Praises.” And yet the single largest category of “praises” within it consists of laments! That is, people were bringing before God their personal pain, their experience of injustice or oppression, physical or verbal attacks, life-threatening illness, etc. Their songs are totally honest about these things. They did not pretend that everything was fine and try to look happy anyway (the way we may feel pressured to do in church). And yet, by bringing all their suffering into the presence of God, they were able to turn back to hope, praise, and even joy, because of their unshakeable faith that God was sovereign and would never abandon them. That kind of joy can cope with the pain, because it is the fruit of faith in the living God.

Think of Habakkuk. His country was facing a devastating invasion that might destroy everything. He was trembling with fear at the prospect (Hab 3:16). But even in such circumstances he knew he could trust in God and rejoice in him—with this remarkable affirmation of faith:

Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will be joyful in God my Savior. (Hab 3:17-18)

Jesus told his disciples to rejoice when they were persecuted—an astonishing command, but when the time came, they actually did (Mt 5:11-12; Acts 5:40-41).

Then think of the apostle Paul. Some of the times when Paul wrote most enthusiastically about joy in his letters were when he himself was chained up in a stinking Roman prison, sometimes after a flogging. He would have been cold, hungry, weak, and in great pain. Yet he had the joy of the gospel of Christ within him. One time, he and Silas were singing psalms in such circumstances (Acts 16:25)! Even in terrible personal suffering, Paul could rejoice in the gospel, and tell others to do the same. And when Peter wrote to Christians who were already suffering a lot under persecution, his opening chapter rang with “inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Pet 1:6-9). So, in the New Testament, the joy that is the fruit of the Spirit, the joy that comes from having faith in the gospel, is a strong, robust joy that is not wiped out by suffering.

Now at this point, we do need to be careful. We need to distinguish between, on the one hand, Christians who are suffering the ordinary struggles of life and may need some encouragement to hold on to their joy in the midst of their troubles, and, on the other hand, Christians who are suffering the illness of clinical depression. Depression can be a real and devastating illness and there are physical and psychological causes that need wise and professional medical care, just as for any other illness. So if we have a Christian sister or brother who is suffering from that kind of medically diagnosed depression, we should not come along with a happy greeting, telling them to “cheer up, snap out of it, and be joyful in the Lord.” That can be very insensitive, and indeed it may add to their suffering, for “being joyful in the Lord” is exactly what they long to do, but can’t. Loss of joy in life is one of the worst symptoms of depressive illness. And getting joy back is not just a matter of “trying harder.” Depression is an illness, not a failure or a weakness.

And yet, at the same time, I know a number of Christians who suffer from depression, including within my family, and they testify to the fact that they still have their underlying assurance of the truth of the gospel and the love of God. They know that God can be trusted, even when life is at its darkest. And knowing those things deep down means that they can know joy as an objective fact or truth, even when they don’t have joyful emotional feelings. Poet and hymnodist William Cowper suffered terribly from depressive illness, and it was out of that experience that he could write lines such as,

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust him for his grace.

Behind a frowning Providence,

He hides a smiling face.

That’s why joy, Christian joy as the fruit of the Spirit, is not just an emotion, but flows from the exercise, in our minds and wills, of faith in God’s promises in Christ.

Joy Is Having a Future

The fourth thing I mentioned that brings me joy is being out enjoying God’s creation. And of course we can and should celebrate creation with joy! The Old Testament psalmists did it with great energy and beauty, as for example in Psalms 65 and 104. But the Bible doesn’t only talk about human beings rejoicing in creation. It tells us that the whole of creation itself rejoices and praises God. I don’t know how this happens, or how God receives such joy and praise from the non-human creation—but the Bible says that he does.

But at the same time, we know that creation in its present state is not how it will fully become by God’s power. The earth is cursed because of our sin—though one day that will be removed (Rev 22:3). And the whole of creation is frustrated in its purpose of bringing praise and glory to God (Rom 8:20). But not forever! The Bible tells us that God’s plan of redemption includes the whole creation. It is not that we will some day be saved out of the earth, but that we will be saved along with the whole creation. That is the combined message of Romans 8:16-24.

This is a biblical truth that goes back to the Old Testament also. Isaiah tells us that God is already busy creating a new heaven and a new earth, and the way he portrays it is filled with wonder, joy, satisfaction, and safety (Is 65:17-25). In the light of that great hope, some psalms look forward to the whole creation rejoicing together, when God comes to put things right.

Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad;

let the sea resound, and all that is in it.

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them;

let all the trees of the forest sing for joy.

Let all creation rejoice before the LORD, for he comes,

he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness

and the peoples in his faithfulness. (Ps 96:11-13)

Psalm 98 ends the same way, but adds the rivers and mountains, clapping and singing for joy!

Paul tells us, in that amazing survey of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son, that the whole of creation (“all things in heaven and earth”) have been created by him, are sustained by him, and have been reconciled to God by him through the blood of his cross (Col 1:15-20).

The joy of creation is Christ-centered from beginning to end, and the means by which we are saved (the cross of Christ) is the means by which also creation will be restored. Surely that multiplies our joy by the number of grains of sand on the shore and stars in the sky!

And the Bible ends, not with us going up and away to some other destination, but with God coming down to dwell with redeemed humanity in the new creation (Rev 21:1-5). And with that prospect, John tells us that in his vision,

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying:

  “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

  be praise and honor and glory and power,

  for ever and ever!” (Rev 5:13)

So then, since we are destined to share the joy of creation, and since creation is destined to share in our joy (when both we and it are finally redeemed by God’s grace), then we can experience that joy now as we anticipate it. Joy is filled with hope for a wonderful future for the whole creation, including ourselves.

A Final Thought

If joy is an essential feature of the life of Christians who are filled with God’s Spirit and bearing the fruit of the Spirit, why then is it so often missing in our lives? Why are Christians so miserable so often?

Maybe because we simply forget. It’s easy to get tired and irritable and then to fall into self-pity. And self-pity is the great enemy of joy. We need to make ourselves remember the great truths of the gospel from the Bible itself. We need to go over them in our minds until we realize how inconsistent it is to say we believe such wonderful gospel truths, and then still go around filled with misery and feeling sorry for ourselves and spreading gloom on all those around us. Speaking personally, I find that I need to speak severely to myself along those lines quite often, for I am easily tempted to feel down and sorry for myself. Then I repent, remind myself of the gospel of God’s grace, and pray for the joy of the Spirit to bear fruit in my life and thinking.

Or maybe it’s because we are suspicious of joy. Life is a serious business, we may say. And so it is. We may think that Christianity is more than just having a laugh. And so it is. But that doesn’t mean we should not have hearts that are filled with joy when our lives are filled with the Holy Spirit. After all, the Bible shows us very clearly that God not only wants us to be joyful, but actually commands us to be! It sounds strange to say that “joy is a duty,” but it is a happy duty! Paul was happy to repeat the command, so let’s obey it! “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4).

Questions

  1. What are the main reasons for great celebrations of joy in your culture? Can Christians enter into them, or are they contrary to the Bible’s teaching? In what ways?
  2. Has the gospel transformed any of your culture’s festivals into occasions for Christian joy?
  3. Is there a difference between joy as the fruit of the Spirit and ordinary cheerfulness and happiness? If so, what makes that difference?
  4. Do you know of examples of people (including possibly yourself) who have suffered greatly and yet still showed joy in their faith—even if they died for it?

Watch a video from Chris about joy at ivpress.com/cultivating-joy.