This morning we begin with a musical experiment. I need three volunteers to see if we can get these glasses of water to “sing.” (Select volunteers).
As our volunteers rubbed the top edge, the water vibrated. You could hear the vibrations that came across as sound. If you would have looked closely, you could have seen sound waves in the water. This effect is called resonance. It is as if the finger found the hidden song, if you will, in the glass.
Psalm 92:4 says, “You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! I sing for joy because of what you have done.”
The Psalmist says, “I sing for joy.” What makes people sing for joy? A couple of things come to mind. One thing that makes people sing for joy is a feeling of accomplishment that comes at the end of a class or a project at work or school. The pressure is off! We stand back and look at what we have done and there is relief and joy that we did it!
Another area that can make us sing for joy is family. It’s fun to watch parents having fun with their kids. There is laughter everywhere and when you look into the eyes of both parents and kids, there is the gleeful delight of joy in both sets of eyes! The late Arthur Ashe shares such an experience in his memoirs, Days of Grace, “As I sat in an armchair watching my little daughter dance and my wife’s face sparkle with life and joy, a wave of emotion like one of the waves of the ocean a few feet away from us washed over me, and I started to cry.
I cried quietly, but Jeanne turned her face and saw me. The smile left her face and then it quickly returned... because she knew at that moment I was happy. She knew I was crying not only out of sorrow but also out of joy, and that the joy was so powerful that it hurt. My joy was that there I was, on the beach under those stars listening to that music and watching the two people I loved more than anyone or anything in the world, and I did not want that feeling of perfect joy ever to end.”
Joy is such a great and positive emotion why would anyone say, “whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy?” Trouble and joy in the same sentence, the same closeness of thought? No way!
What is joy? Why is it important? Why is listed in Ephesians 5:22 and 23 as one of the Fruits of the Spirit?
Joy is a stable and ever present attitude in the midst of life. It is more than happiness. It is more than laughter. It is closely related to peace and hope. The story is told of a well-known preacher of another generation who as a child was greatly influenced by the joyful face and attitude of a well-known missionary of that day to the extent that he wanted to be just like him!
Joy is an important “Fruit of The Spirit” because joy is central to the Christian faith as we see in Paul’s affirmation, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say again - rejoice!” When Paul wrote the preceding statement, he was in jail for sharing Christ! And a jail is not a joyful place. The joy that he expressed, however, was not a put on. It was real, and it was a joy that was not subject to the circumstances that Paul found himself in.
Elsewhere in the Bible, he writes, “We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and broken. We are perplexed, but we don’t give up and quit. We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.” Joy is one of the things that kept Paul going.
But it was not a joy that was based on circumstances; it was a joy that was based on the power, the person, and the purposes of God! We need to remember that joy, along with love, and the other nine qualities listed on our beautiful banner that was done by Grace Gillespie (thank you Grace!) are the result of the Holy Spirit working in our lives because they are qualities that God expects each one of us as His followers to exhibit in our daily lives. Therefore, the joy of which we speak is a joy that transcends as it overcomes and works through the difficult circumstances of life.
How does joy take root? How do we get joy to grow in the soil of our souls and lives?
Pastor Brian Bill in his sermon, Journeying To Joy, offers six ways for joy to take root in our lives. I mention three of them this morning:
First, we need to recognize God as joyful. He quotes Zephaniah 3:17, “For the Lord your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exalt you by singing a happy song.”
Zephaniah was a prophet during the reign of King Josiah and a book bearing his name appears toward the end of the Old Testament. Prophets were usually not known to be joyful people. But, in this segment, Zephaniah speaks of the joy that comes from God as He comes to deliver his people!
God rejoices! God gets joyful! And joy can take root and flourish as we constantly remind one another of this truth.
Bill also says, “Release your problems to the Lord.” In our main text for this morning, we read that as a result of challenges to our faith, our endurance has a chance to grow. And this endurance, as it is able to grow, will give us the opportunity to mature.
What kind of endurance is James speaking of? A physical endurance, perhaps? How about an emotional endurance? What about a spiritual endurance? Definitely!
And joy is a characteristic of this endurance. Notice James did not say, “Be happy when you encounter difficulties.” Happiness is a circumstantial thing.
All of us have moments when we are not happy. But, there can be a joy present when a difficult circumstance arises because the “joy of the Lord” can be our strength.
Releasing our problems to the Lord can enable joy to take root in our lives and grow because God begins to share our burdens that can keep joy away. A good Bible example is that of Nehemiah.
Nehemiah followed God through the difficult task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem that had decayed following many, many years of neglect. He had to defend his work against people who antagonized him and those who worked with him. He had to be on the lookout for those who threatened him and those who had returned to rebuild the walls. He had to deal with frustrated workers who were mortgaging their properties to have money to eat because the pay was small.
Through all of this, Nehemiah kept releasing his problems to the Lord. An example of this is found in Nehemiah 4: “Hear us, O God, for we are being mocked!”
Success came. The walls were rebuilt. The people rejoiced! They celebrated! And in chapter 8 Nehemiah says to the people as the celebrated in worship, “Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!”
Finally, Bill suggests, we must remain close to Jesus. As we have entered fall and the crops are harvested, I am reminded of the discipline that farmers in our county, and elsewhere as well, must have for harvesting to take place.
One of the ways that discipline is expressed is through the constant observation of the fields and the crops. A good farmer pays attention to the health of the soil and the emerging crop. Neglect cannot happen if a good harvest is to take place. Granted a lot of things are out of a farmer’s hand – rainfall amounts and temperatures for example. But, the discipline of staying close to what is happening is essential no matter what happens.
The same holds true for us in terms of seeing the fruit of joy take root. The circumstances of life are out of our hands. There is only so much that we can do. But, for joy to take place, we must remain close to Jesus. Obedience is a critical component for the fruits of the spirit to take root in us.
Obedience is the hallmark of our commitment to the Lord. We cannot afford to be causal about our relationship with Him and expect that these fruits, these character qualities, will be abundant in our lives.
We have to pay attention to the condition of our soul and our relationship with Christ. Regular scripture reading and prayer, along with attendance and involvement in the life of church and ministry, creates the conditions by which this fruit, and all the other fruits as well, can grow well and strong in our lives.
This morning I ask not are you happy, but do you have joy, the joy of Lord? Do you have a contentedness that comes from a close and passionate relationship with Christ that results in joy being expressed by you in your words, deeds, attitudes, and decisions?
The sound generated by our musical experiment came from resistance generated by the finger’s movement around the top of the glass. In the devotional guide, “Tasting the Fruit of the Spirit,” (published by Group Publishing), where this experiment is printed, listen of the application to joy:
“Joy is like the hidden note in the glass. Joy is tuning in to what God is doing around you, seeing the world through his eyes, picking up on his delight in us as his children. Anyone can find happiness for a while… Happiness depends on what is happening to you. Joy is different; joy goes deeper. Joy is when your whole being sings because you have caught a glimpse of God at work. Joy can creep up on you and surprise you in unexpected places.”
Because God loves us, He wants us to be joyful. Joy is a critical fruit for us to have in our characters because it serves as an antidote to all the cynicism and despair that surrounds us on a daily basis. Let the joy of the Lord be your strength this day and everyday. Amen.
(Opening illustration is from Tasting The Fruit by Group Publishing)
