Tending the Garden for a Good Harvest: Joy

Galatians 5:22-23 But the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

What brings you joy? I asked that question on Facebook and got a lot of personal responses: friends and family, especially one’s children bring joy. One of my high school classmates responded that when her daughter comes to her and says, “Mommy, I love you” when she doesn’t want anything: that brings her joy. Others told me that life itself brings joy: when we consider how fortunate we are, it brings joy. Still others responded that serving others brings joy. And finally, there were two responses that struck me because I knew their situations. One friend, whose sewers had backed up and filled their house with raw sewage, forcing them out (with three children, including a newborn), said, “knowing that God will take care of me.” Another friend, whose mother just lost her battle with cancer, responded “the end of suffering brings me joy.”

Joy can be defined this way: 1: the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires : delight 2 : a state of happiness or felicity : bliss 3 : a source or cause of delight

As I thought about joy, something struck me. How joyful are we as a society? According to Charles Barber in his book Comfortably Numb, “Sales of Prozac hit $2 billion dollars in 1998. By 2002, more than 11 percent of American women and 5 percent of American men were taking antidepressants, which amounts to about 25 million people.” We as Americans believe that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are inalienable rights; we should be free to chase after joy in whatever way we need to. The Bill of Rights doesn’t guarantee us the right to happiness; only to pursue it.

Although we are absolutely free to pursue happiness, why are we such a joyless society? Why doesn’t joy grow easily in our gardens?

Here’s a problem: we seek after well-being, success, good fortune, and the prospect of possessing what we desire, but we have defined all of these things selfishly. What is well-being? What is success? We seek after what we as individuals want, but is that really what we need? Will that really ease the ache in our hearts?

As many of us suffer through a joyless life, let me first differentiate between a lack of joy and depression. Depression is often a medical condition requiring professional and often pharmaceutical treatment; the quote about Prozac was in no means meant to demean or belittle people who are working their way through depression. We would never belittle someone who is on medication for diabetes or high blood pressure; we’ve got no right to do so with someone who is clinically depressed.

That said, there are many who suffer from something worse than depression: these are those for whom their only joy is circumstantial. Now we all know that circumstantial joy is great. We all have those joyful moments when everything works out right. One of my favorite memories was a sudden-death win in the U16 soccer championship in Kokomo: I can still vividly remember my coach charging on the field to bear hug me. Most of us have had those wonderful moments, but unfortunately they don’t last. That coach died two years ago after a long struggle with bad health. The circumstantial joy died long before.

You can liken circumstantial joy to a wedding day: everything is sunshine and roses on that day and then there’s a wonderful honeymoon, but then comes day-to-day life and it’s not nearly as easy as you thought it would be and loving in sickness, in poverty, and in the tough times isn’t as easy as it looked from the standpoint of premarital counseling.

When our only joy is circumstantial, we are in for a rude awakening.

You see, we all have deep longings that will not be fully satisfied in this world. Remember what I said about our pursuit of happiness? Many of us don’t know how to truly pursue joy because we don’t know the source of joy. So instead of pursuing joy, we pursue “feel good.” You know what that’s about. You do everything you can to avoid any unpleasantness. You drink to mask your inhibition because it’s too unpleasant to be socially awkward. You keep busy because it’s too unpleasant when you slow down enough to introspectively look at your life. We were made for God – and until we are face-to-face with him, our longings will not be fulfilled.

Or have you gotten to the point of life where you aren’t even pursuing joy anymore? And, even worse, instead of full of joy, you’ve made it your mission to be a killjoy. If you were here for the awesome Peter Mayer Group concert, he sang a song about “The Onion” – the person who sucks every bit of joy out of any room. Maybe you just want your way. Maybe you just want control. Maybe you just want to pursue happiness – your own happiness in whatever way you want to. Maybe you’re just so unhappy and you won’t be happy until everyone else is as unhappy as you are.

If this is you, I submit this to you: the Fruit of the Spirit is not optional in the life of a Christian. None of it is. So are you full of joy? What would others say if they were asked that about you? If I asked your spouse? Your children? Your neighbor? If you are not, then you might want to evaluate your relationship with Jesus.

The truth is this: we are all thirsty; some of us are just moving in the wrong direction in response to the thirst. And as Dr. Larry Crabb says in his book Inside Out, “There is no worse pain for fallen people than facing an emptiness we cannot fill.”

Did you hear that? We cannot fill that emptiness. But Jesus does. He says “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of Living Water will flow from within him” (John 7:37-38). Then there is this parenthetical note: By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. Now we have been given the Holy Spirit, and He is within us a spring of Living Water, the source of joy.

Jesus’ words require something of us, however. We have to admit our thirst. We have to admit that we want more! He said, “If you are thirsty…” We have to admit that the joy we find in circumstances doesn’t satisfy our souls. We have to also acknowledge that we have deep longings in our souls that will never be fully satisfied until heaven.

Can you face the hidden sin in your heart that makes it clear how thoroughly undelightful you are? Can you face the pain of disappointed longings and the guilt of terrible sin, and instead of letting it crush you, admit that you are thirsting for more? Let that thirst “drive you to consider the gospel of God’s grace in a new way. Only then will Christ enter your life deeply and change you from the inside out, instilling in you a growing awareness of His relentless, unfailing love and a sustaining hope for a better day” (Inside Out).

You see, there is more than circumstantial joy, and circumstantial joy is only a tiny taste of true joy, the joy that is a Fruit of the Spirit. That joy is an eternal joy, a joy that is above and beyond all circumstances. In Luke 6:22 & 23 we read these words of Jesus: Blessed are you when men hate you… 6:23 rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets. This isn’t circumstantial joy; it is joy in the face of the circumstances. The Apostle Paul wrote the book of Philippians when he was imprisoned. In it, he says again and again, “rejoice in the Lord.” (“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again; Rejoice!” Philippians 4:4). And he wrote this while in chains.

This is what we sing of when we sing, “The joy of the Lord is my strength” (which comes from Nehemiah 8:10b). This joy is what sustains us, even in horrible circumstances. Because no matter what the circumstances are, God never changes. Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Because of who God is and how His love overflows for us, we can be certain of the eternal reward He has for us, completeness in His presence. And that presence is a joy-filled presence. Did you ever wonder how God can promise a eternity in which “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4). How can he promise that? Because being eternally directly in His presence will fill us with joy!

But this isn’t to say that joy is out of our reach right now. Larry Crabb gives us this morsel: “Consider what is available in this life: a change of character that enables us to taste enough of God now to whet our appetite for the banquet later.”

The Holy Spirit’s presence in us necessarily changes us, changes our character from one that follows the sinful nature to a person who looks like God the Father. And as we experience this transformation, we begin to taste little bits of God, which should just point to how wonderful it will be to experience Him in His fullness.

All of those things that bring us joy? Family, children, even the end of suffering? They are only tiny foretastes of God’s eternal joy. And Psalm 19:8 tells us that The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. Following God is the recipe to experience His joy, because as we obey his commands, we become more like Him – more Christlike.

1 Peter 1:8-9 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Salvation is the goal of our faith; what does it look like? It looks like joy. Unspeakable joy like you’ve never even experienced before. Even the greatest joy you’ve ever experienced pales in comparison. Again, if you don’t have the Fruit of the Spirit, either the God of the universe who raised Jesus from the dead isn’t powerful enough to overcome your problems, or the problem lies with you. Maybe nobody ever told you that you’re supposed to be the vessel of the Holy Spirit, that God himself is supposed to live in you. Maybe you didn’t know that He has power to overcome. Maybe you’re wigged out because you came from a pretty conservative church background where you’re always wary of televangelists who seem to use the Holy Spirit or you’ve seen reports of some really weird stuff. I’m here to tell you that we’re not going there! There are some things we can know for certain about the Holy Spirit. We know that He is a Person, and He is characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

But this Fruit isn’t only for us. We don’t just receive joy just to make us feel better in bad circumstances. It also brings God joy. A major reason for our joy is to bring God joy! When God created the world, he pronounced everything good. But he pronounced humanity “very good.” We brought him great joy. He sees us as creatures of great worth, he loves us, and we bring him joy.

And in 3 John 1:4, John writes this: I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. It hurts to know a friend, neighbor, or co-worker who doesn’t know the Lord, who doesn’t have the hope of heaven. Even worse is to be unsure of the salvation of your child. One of the hardest parts of being a pastor is doing funerals for people who don’t know Jesus, and I can’t imagine how a family member gets through it. But here on earth there is no greater joy than to know that your children are walking in the Truth.

This is God’s attitude about us. It brings Him great joy when we walk in the Truth. In Luke, Jesus puts it this way: there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10).

How can we feel joy? This is all about the Holy Spirit. Some of you have never really experienced joy because you have never let the Holy Spirit indwell you. You’ve experienced circumstantial joy, of course, because God is always calling to you, showing you that there is something more, there is something good and pure and perfect out there. That’s part of His Prevenient grace, grace that goes before Him. Think about it, though. The God who created everything… the God who walked this earth in the Person of Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life and died on the cross for our sins and rose again… that same God, in the Person of the Holy Spirit lives within us! How awesome is that?!

When Jesus was about to be crucified, he tells his disciples that soon God will send them the Holy Spirit. In John 16 this happens: ¹⁷Some 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'?" ¹⁸They kept asking, "What does he mean by 'a little while'? We don't understand what he is saying."

¹⁹Jesus 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'? ²⁰I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. ²¹A 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. ²²So 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. ²³In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. ²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

It all has to do with the Holy Spirit. We often just want to pull out the Holy Spirit whenever we need him, especially when we want him to do something for us, to help us on our way. We’ve got our way mapped out, and we just need a little Holy Spirit to get us over the hump. That just doesn’t work. And that’s not living a Spirit-filled life. And that’s no way to receive joy. But when we not only know the Holy Spirit but are also controlled by Him, then we will ask in Jesus’ name. Every desire of ours will match with God’s desire; our hearts will look like His – and when that happens, God will joyfully say, “I’ve just been waiting for you to ask!” This is what it looks like when we are led by the Holy Spirit. And (Romans 15:13) 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.