I’ve had some happy days in my life. I was very happy when the Denver Broncos won Superbowls in 1997 and 1998. I was happy they day I married Kristi, and of course when my kids were born I was happy. Last Friday night when Jared came home from the hospital from his last chemo treatment, I was ecstatic. NO MO CHEMO! Some of you came and shared in his homecoming and we are extremely grateful for you. That was truly a happy moment, we’ll never forget it, and that moment will always be a significant memory marker for us. You’ve had happy moments too. Everyone can relate to these kinds of happy and fun experiences.
But I’ve had sad days, too. I’ve experienced anger, doubt, insecurity and even frightened moments. I’m sure you have too. As human beings we experience a wide range of emotions during the day. Most of the time, our emotional reactions are defined by situational experiences. For example, if our boss compliments us, then we feel happy about ourselves, we experience a boost to our confidence. But then we get home and we are confronted by an unhappy spouse who angrily says something to us, and all of a sudden our happiness and confidence from work fades away. Every day our emotions range from anger, to happiness, from frustrated to confident, from bitterness to elation, and while most days are probably not this dramatic, much of this depends on personality, too, but you get the point that our emotional state can change quite a bit, even during the course of a day.
If Joy were an emotion, if the Biblical word “joy” was defined as happiness, then it would be impossible for us as human beings to experience joy in the way that God defines it. Simply because we don’t always feel happy; But Spiritually, we can always experience joy, no matter what situation we find ourselves.
Paul speaks to this in Philippians 4:12-13, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ,who gives me strength.”
Paul isn’t just discussing how to be content. Paul is sharing his experience with the Spiritual power of Joy, he’s sharing in a practical way what this power helps him do. The power of Joy enables Paul to be content in every situation. How do I know? Because a few verses earlier Paul says this, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!” Philippians 4:4. The strength of Christ that Paul is discussing here is the Power of Joy. Spiritual Joy is a gift from God, a power that is provided for every follower of Jesus.
We’re talking about Spiritual Joy this morning and the first thing I want to discuss is what is it? What is Spiritual Joy? The first place we need to look is Galatians 5:22, “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “ The first thing we should notice is that all of these words are included in one singular fruit. The word isn’t plural, it’s singular. There is one fruit of the Spirit.
We discover this same analogy of bearing fruit in the teaching of Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4
We have a tendency to look over the list of the fruit of the Spirit and line item each of the gifts. For example, I’ve been in Bible studies or discussions on this subject and folks will talk about each of these as singular items. I used to have a similar understanding, I would say something like, “I think I do a good job with love, goodness, maybe gentleness, but, I admit I really struggle with patience.” We leave a study of these fruits believing that this is the Scripture that teaches us that we have growth areas.
Believe me, I have areas in my life I need to improve. Like Paul, I too have “thorns” constant and lingering struggles in my life that I’m constantly seeking the Spirit of God to deliver me from. And like Paul, I praise God for His mercy, grace and love for me in spite of my flaws. “God’s grace is sufficient in my weakness.” I know you can relate, you’re not perfect either. But this particular verse, Galatians 5:22 is not about areas where we are confident and areas where we need to improve. Paul teaches us something profound about the Holy Spirit.
It’s not you that produces the results of the fruit of the Spirit. It’s the Holy Spirit that produces these gifts in your life. In other words, if you say, I’m pretty good when it comes to kindness, gentleness, and love, but I kind of struggle with self-control, you’re basically saying the Holy Spirit isn’t doing His job. I can guarantee you the Holy Spirit is doing His job. “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. “ Paul is defining these as gifts of power.
Paul teaches us that the Holy Spirit produces these results in our lives. So my question is, what kind of person do I need to be to have this power in my life? Paul explains, “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division,envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:16-21
If I choose to deny Jesus in my lifestyle, then the results of my life will be defined by my human nature. If I choose to live with Jesus and allow the Holy Spirit to guide me then the Holy Spirit will provide gifts, powerful gifts, and the results of this power will be evident.
When I need love, love is there for me. When I need Joy, the Holy Spirit produces it. When I need peace, I can rely on His power. When I need patience, I will pray for this result. When I need kindness, the Holy Spirit shows up and when I need goodness, I will have it. When I need self-control, I will open up my heart and mind to the power of God. In this context these are the fruit of the Spirit, what the Holy Spirit produces for us and in us.
This is what Spiritual Joy is. It’s a gift, a resource of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live a life on this earth with hope, contentment and confidence.
The second thing I want to discuss is how do I find it? Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-19, “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. Do not stifle the Holy Spirit.” In other words don’t take the gifts that God is providing you to help you, to empower you, and to enable you to live a life as a follower of Jesus and ignore them. You can’t always be joyful unless you are possessed by the Spirit; you certainly are not going to think prayer 24/7 or have an attitude of gratitude in every situation without the power of God showing up and providing that gift for you. Spiritual Joy is a gift. You can’t earn it, you can’t work on it, you can’t improve it…you experience Spiritual Joy when God provides it to you. And since the Holy Spirit lives in those who are followers then God promises the gift of Joy will always be present in genuine Jesus followers.
Spiritual Joy is different from the human emotion we define as an extended period of happiness. As human beings we find it easier to reflect on emotion because it’s what we know. Everyone knows what it feels like to be happy. But I’m convinced that when it comes to the approximately 7 billion people living today that only a small number of us have experienced Spiritual Joy. First it’s impossible without a relationship with Jesus to experience these gifts of the Holy Spirit. So all the people on our planet who have placed their faith in other gods, themselves, or religions other than Jesus; they live without the Spirit’s influence. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:21-22, “It is God who enables us, along with you, to stand firm for Christ. He has commissioned us, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised us.” God tells us that the Holy Spirit identifies us as belonging to Him. The Holy Spirit is our Spiritual I.D.
The second reason that I believe there are only a few who have experienced Spiritual Joy is based on the words of Jesus himself. “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.” Matthew 7:13-14
And then Jesus speaks about the fruit thing again
“A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” Matthew 7:17-20
Only a few ever find the narrow road that leads to life. This isn’t an easy thing to talk about. Just because there are a lot of folks who say they believe in God, or even claim to be a Christian person, doesn’t mean they are. We can’t live the life we want to live and at the same time claim that we love God. If you want to discover Spiritual Joy the only way to do that is to make a choice to love Jesus with all of your heart, soul, strength and mind.
Jesus said that you can identify people who are genuine followers. You can look at their actions. But, in the end, I’m not the judge of whether or not someone is a genuine follower of Jesus. I know how to play church. I grew up in church. My dad was a preacher. I know how church people want me to act. And for years as a young person, I played a game. I acted like I was supposed to around the church folk, but, when I was at school, or with my friends, I acted differently. Everyone at church thought I was the model Christian kid. I led singing, I knew the Bible, I led our Bible bowl team to championships, I prayed in public and even preached a couple of times. I knew how to play the game. But I was no genuine follower. When I went to college, and I went to a Christian college, I was still playing the game. Around those I thought went to church regularly, I acted churchy, but around my friends, I was completely different. I didn’t attend church much the first few months in college, but when I went to lunch in the cafeteria I would dress in church clothes so everyone would think that I had attended somewhere.
You could call me the consummate hypocrite. The Christian Rock Band DC Talk on their album “Jesus Freak” feature a track called “What if I Stumble” The first line of the song says, "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips then walk out the door and deny him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable." According to DC Talk I was an atheist making machine. I acknowledged Jesus but I denied Him with my lifestyle.
All that changed on a mission trip to Germany. I love mission trips because of what the experience did for my life and what I’ve witnessed on mission trips with others too. I’ve seen multiple atheist making machines go on mission trips and come back completely changed. I went to Germany as an actor and I returned as a sold out Jesus freak. God does that. A mission trip, especially one that takes you out of familiar ground, places you in a position to rely on the strength and power of Jesus, maybe for the first time. There isn’t anyone else to do the work. And through the experience of doing Jesus work, engaging in His mission and His priorities, He speaks into your life. I was changed by that experience. Many folks I know have been transformed through similar experiences.
This is why I believe many people haven’t experienced Spiritual Joy. Only those who are devoted and genuine followers of Jesus experience the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
I hope you experience Spiritual Joy. The book of 1 John concludes, “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts” If you allow anything to take God’s place in your heart then you won’t experience the power of God in your life.
Colossians 2:12 says, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
This is the Spiritual gift of Joy. Any human being can endure the worst of situations, even torture and death, without a relationship with Jesus, but, it is Jesus who provides the power of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control...this gift is not just the characteristic of a Jesus follower. This Spirit gift is power that provides supernatural ability to not only endure but to experience hope; to know in your soul the reality of heaven.
