Joy Series

July 25, 2020

Last week we identified LOVE as the core of the fruit in a Victorious Christian Life. Today we will examine JOY.

• Psalm 33:1-4 - Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. 2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. 3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. 4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

• Zephaniah 3:17 - The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

Psychologists and neuroscientists have done research into the anatomy of joy. They’ve mapped the pleasure centers in the brain; they’ve isolated “joy genes” in our DNA; they’ve identified the chemicals that stimulate pleasurable feelings; they’ve studied identical twins in order to explore environmental factors. One bit of research actually involved tickling rats in order to understand the physiology of laughter. Even after all the research, Joy remains an elusive and difficult term to get a hold of. How do you pin-point JOY? How do you define JOY?

According to Webster’s Dictionary JOY is: “a feeling of great pleasure and intense happiness.” Pleasure and happiness about what - a new house, a new car, a new baby, a favorite song on the radio, an unexpected gift? Worldly joy tends to be based on external events - it happens TO us. But this “feeling” is fleeting – guaranteed when the good and pleasant thing goes away so does the “feeling”.

While worldly joy is tied directly to external circumstances, Christian Joy is deeper – it’s internal – it’s produced IN us. Now, I’m not being naïve. Christians don’t always walk on the mountain tops with the sun shining on them the soft breezes blowing through their hair.

In this life we will have tribulation, trouble, difficulty and trials. Things won’t go as planned --- The storm WILL rise --- The winds WILL blow and the waves WILL crash against our lives…. Guaranteed! {John 16:33}

Question --- Can your life be devoid of the “feeling” of pleasure and happiness and STILL be filled with joy?

• Isaiah 12:2-3 - Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore, with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

• Habakkuk 3:17-19 - 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, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to go on the heights.

• James 1:2 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

• 1 Peter 4:12-13 - Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13 - But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

Even in the darkest days, when sadness, grief, and loss threaten to overwhelm us, God’s JOY is there. External circumstances can’t touch JOY because the source of JOY is God. JOY speaks of something beyond circumstances. It is something the world has no ability to give to us and no power to take away. JOY helps us see past today to a future when everything will be made right again.

• Luke 6:22-23 - Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven….

• 1 John 1:2-4 - The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete.

• Revelation 21:1-5 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 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." 5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."