June 20, 2004 What is Christian Joy All About?
There are two kinds of people that want to be happy in this world. Christians and unbelievers. There are two forces that want happiness. God and Satan. Within these two realms of good and evil, both experience joy and both experience sorrow. Yet the WAY in which they experience joy and sorrow - and the reasons for their joy and sorrow are completely opposite. Consider the story of Haman, for instance.
Haman boasted to (his friends and family) about his vast wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored him and how he had elevated him above the other nobles and officials. . . . But all this gives me no satisfaction as long as I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate.” His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a gallows built, seventy-five feet a high, and ask the king in the morning to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go with the king to the dinner and be happy.” This suggestion delighted Haman, and he had the gallows built. (Es 5:11-14)
Haman had riches, fame, and honor which made him somewhat happy. But as long as “that JEW Mordecai” would not bow down to him or give him the honor he felt he deserved - he wouldn’t be completely happy. The ONLY thing that he felt would make him ultimately happy would be the death of Mordecai and all the Jews along with him.
This is a true sign of evil - taking joy in the suffering and death of God’s people. Satan says, “When I see the temporal suffering of humans who finally escape us, I feel as if I had been allowed to taste the first course of a rich banquet and then denied the rest.” (C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters - page 39) Satan must have enjoyed putting Job’s children to death with a mighty wind! (Job 1) He must have enjoyed putting those boils on Job’s skin and watching him suffer in agony for days on end. Satan was happy to see Peter weeping bitterly at his sin of denying Christ. He was overjoyed when Job cursed the day he was born. He was ecstatic when Sarah was angry with Hagar for having the child she couldn’t bear. But like Haman, Satan still isn’t completely satisfied until he sees us spiritually dead and burning in hell. 1 Peter 5:8 states that “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
God and His angels, on the other hand, find pleasure and joy in the exact opposite things. God’s Word says that, I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. (Lk 15:7) God’s Word says that He - wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:4) So when Jesus went into Jerusalem and realized all of those who were lost - without faith - without comfort - he cried out - O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. (Matthew 23:37) God primarily finds joy in saving people through the blood of His Son. There’s nothing that makes him happier than seeing you at comfort with Him - feeling confident to pray to Him - rely on Him - trust in Him for your salvation. And if He is able to give you more without hurting your faith - it makes Him glad to do that as well.
So here we sit in the middle of this world with two powerful forces seeking joy over us. One side - the weaker of the two - wants you to miserably burn in hell. The other side - our powerful LORD - wants you to be happy in heaven. So you would think that those on the way to hell are miserable - while those on the way to heaven are happy. I could understand why unbelievers are unhappy - couldn’t you? I mean, they’re born in sin and the devil has control over them. Their happiness revolves around temporary things like sex, material goods, and whether their favorite teams win or lose. They have no comfort of knowing where they go when they die. They’ve only got temporal things to live for - things that come and go like fame, health, acceptance, and temporary items. But more often than not, it appears to be the exact opposite. The unbelievers are living seemingly carefree and fun lives, while the Christians are the biggest complainers and the most disgruntled - complaining about the country, their health, their marriage, their children, and everything else. What about you? Do you find yourself constantly unhappy? How can that be? You’re sins have been paid for. You’ve been baptized. You have the Holy Spirit in you. You know that through faith - not by works - you’re going to heaven. You know you’re holy in God’s sight by the blood of Christ. On top of all this, you have plenty of food on your table. You have plenty of clothes. You have a roof over your head. You have a church to freely worship in. Yet how many of you are joyful? How many of you have a smile on your face most of the time? What in the world is the matter? What’s wrong with you?
What’s wrong with you is that you’re falling for the same temptation that Satan offered Adam and Eve. It’s the “God is withholding something good from you,” temptation. Adam and Eve had everything they needed. They knew God loved them. They were holy. They had plenty of food to eat. They were perfectly comfortable. They even had an opportunity to show their love and appreciation to God by not eating of a Tree that God told them to. What more could they have asked for? Nothing. They were happy. But Satan convinced them to be UNHAPPY with what they had. He made them think that God DIDN’T want them to be happy. He told Eve that when they ate of that forbidden fruit, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Ge 3:5) With the taking of that one fruit, Eve traded the fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness - for the fruit of the flesh - experiencing evil. He got her to bite on the lie that she needed more to be truly happy and complete - and that she could get that happiness APART from God.
That is the same temptation that Satan uses with YOU. He whispers in your ear, “it’s not enough to know that Jesus loves you. It’s not enough to know that your sins are forgiven. It’s not enough to do what God asks you to do. If God really loved you - He’d give you more.” So you say to yourself, “yeah, I’m happy with God, but I’ll be really happy once I get married. If God could just give me enough money to pay off my debts, I’d be happy. If I could just find a new job, I’d be happy. If I could just have a drink, everything would be alright. If I could just find a church that had more people my age, then I’d be happy.” The devil gets us to put joy off until we get what we want. Once our joy is based on anything in this world - even as simple as a piece of fruit off of a tree - we’re basing our joy on a temporary condition. Like Jonah and the vine, sooner or later, that condition will go away and you’ll end up sad again, but Satan will be happy. More often than not, even as Christians we end up miserable because our priorities are just plain messed up.
Does this mean that all sorrow is sinful? Do we have to walk around with a constant smile on our faces? Consider the following passages:
• Lot, a righteous man, was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) (2 Pe 2:7-8)
• John 11:35 Jesus wept.
• Genesis 6:6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain.
If angels rejoice over sinners repenting, couldn’t we assume they also sorrow over believers that fall? Sorrow is also a part of God’s life in heaven! When he sees us living under sin - and when he sees the devil get the best of people - and when He sees us give in to temptation - God grieves over this.
Yet there are some people that think that being a Christian means we should never have sorrow. They think that when their children die they should just smile and say, “oh, that’s ok, their in heaven.” They think that when mothers abort their children we should just shrug it off and say, “oh well, God will work it out for good.” They think that Christian children should always be singing, “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart.” Did they never see Job mourn and complain? Did they never hear Jesus cry? How can Christians rejoice when they see fellow Christians fall into grievous sins? How can you cheerfully look at yourself when you witness the lustful and vengeful thoughts that come out of your brain? How can we be joyful when we’re suffering terrible headaches or cancerous destruction? These are not joyful things. These are things to cry over. We shouldn’t feel guilty because we’re sad. Even Jesus wept.
What’s worse than this, is that I’ve heard Christians actually use joy to sin. They excuse the fact that they are divorcing their spouse for no good reason by saying, “God wants me to be happy.” I’ve heard people in the name of God say that they God wants them to have homosexual relationships. What? God wants you to desert your spouse and children just because you selfishly don’t want to put up with them anymore? God wants men marrying men? That’s God’s will? If you think that’s what God wants for you to happy, then you’ve got the wrong Bible and the wrong god, my friend. If you think that just because God wants you to be happy that He wants you to sin or that you’ll never suffer - or if your goal in life is to never have sorrow - you’re living in a dream world.
Even though King David had all of the riches of the world, honor, fame, power and even more than one wife - the devil convinced him that that wasn’t enough. His sinful flesh bought into the idea that the only way he could be happy would be to have sex with Bathsheba - his neighbor’s wife. With that one sin, David became the most miserable creature on earth - trading the lasting fruit of joy for the temporary fruit of the flesh in sex. He said, I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. (Psalm 6:6-7) David felt miserable - and he should have. Not only did he slap his neighbor in the face, he slapped his God in the face. Worse than that, he even tried to cover it up. But his conscience would not be covered - not even with the blood of Uriah. If you’re sinning, you should feel sorrow. When you suffer the consequences of living in a sinful world, there’s nothing wrong with crying about it.
After Nathan came and uncovered David’s sin, David prayed a different prayer. He said to God - Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (Ps 51:10-12) David went to the only person he knew had the power to restore his joy - and that was the Holy Spirit. He asked God to create a pure heart in him and restore to him the joy of salvation. He wanted the Holy Spirit to assure him that his sins were forgiven - that God really did wipe away his sins - that he could start fresh again - then he could have joy again. You see, joy isn’t something that we can produce in ourselves. Misery and unhappiness isn’t something that can be fixed with surgery. You can’t teach joy like you can teach a dog to roll over. Real joy doesn’t come from losing weight or buying a new car. It’s a fruit of the Spirit. It has to come from God.
In Psalm 42, the Sons of Korah had a good way of restoring their joy. They did it by asking themselves a question. They asked in vs. 5-6, Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? When you really find yourself upset and sorrowful about something - pause for a moment and ask yourself, “what am I so upset about?” Is this really worth getting worked up over? For instance, about a week ago I was trying to open our silverware drawer, and a fork or a spoon kept on getting stuck on the ridge of the cabinet. The first time I pulled, it stuck. The second time I pulled a little harder, and it stuck. After two pulls, I was really beginning to get a bit upset. The third time I pulled with some more force, and my wife gave me a look that said, “calm down.” Now, if I would have stopped after the first pull, I could have said to myself, “what are you getting so disturbed about? Is it really worth your time and effort to get upset about this?” Of course not. Sometimes there are things worth getting upset about.
But sometimes there are things worth getting upset about. So what else should we do? Psalm 42 continues - Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. David said, “restore unto me the joy of your salvation.” Lamentations chapter three states, I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (La 3:19-23) The only place we can find a lasting joy is in the Lord’s great love and salvation. The writer to the Hebrews encourages us to - "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (12:2) As Jesus had to sorrowfully experience the hatred of the Jews and the Roman soldiers crucifying him for no reason, he hung in there for the joy of knowing that He was dying for the sins of the world. When you find yourself getting depressed - fix your eyes on Jesus! Remember - He died for you! He rose from the dead! He promised you that when you die you end up in heaven! He promises that all of this is working out for good. This was the only place David could find joy - knowing that his Savior would die for his sins. When you see Christ, then ask yourself, “why are you downcast, O my soul? Is there any reason for me to be upset over my health when I know I’m going to heaven? Is there any reason for me to think it’s the end of the world just because I can’t get a date?” Of course not. The key to joy in the midst of sorrow is going back to the Gospel again and again and remembering the big picture - heaven is ours. This is what Peter was talking about when he wrote what Christians do - 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. (1 Pe 1:8-9)
Relief pitching ace Donnie Moore couldn’t seem to find any joy after losing an AL championship series game a few years ago. There was no way that circumstance was going to change, since he thought joy depended on circumstance and he had no chance of changing that circumstance, he had no hope for joy. He shot his wife then killed himself. He took the Judas approach, and the devil was happy.
Compare that to Dave Dravecky who lost not only a game, but a career, a livelihood, his pitching arm and his shoulder. Did his circumstances change! He knew his joy depended on Jesus, not circumstances. Even though his career had to change, his Jesus didn’t change. Now he’s busy rebuilding his life, and God is happy. See the difference? Take your pick. Oh, when things go your way, take it! Thank God for his blessings and enjoy them! But forget about finding joy in your circumstances. Find your joy in Jesus. Before you know it, you’ll find a deep and lasting joy in your circumstances, even when the sorrows of living in this sinful world come your way. Amen.
