The Fruit Of Joy Series

Martin Clark said every church should have a humor committee because there are more funny

things that happen in church than in a zoo, for people are funnier than the animals. God made man

to be the only creature on earth who can laugh because of his sense of humor. Christians need a

sense of humor to deal with the reality that they are so fallible. If all the mistakes pastors make were

compiled in a book, it would make the unabridged dictionary look like a postage stamp in

comparison.

One of the funniest mistakes I have ever read about was of the young pastor who just moved into

the parsonage next to the church. On his first Sunday they were having communion. So he and his

wife poured the grape juice into the little cups, and they thought they were ready. But when it came

time to serve, the pastor saw that they had not poured enough cups for the size of the congregation.

He leaned over the front pew and whispered to his wife, "Run next door and get that bottle of grape

juice out of the refrigerator. If you run fast enough you can be back before the deacons serve the

cups." She batted out the side door and flew to the parsonage. She did not bother to even switch on

the lights. She just grabbed what she thought was the bottle of grape juice, and tore back to the

church. What she had was a bottle of green persimmon juice.

The young pastor, with complete faith in his wife, did not bother to read the label. He just

uncapped it and poured its contents into the cups for himself and the deacons. It was perfect timing,

for just as he finished, the deacons were marching down the isle with their empty trays. The pastor

then served the deacons and led the congregation in drinking the juice. Suddenly his lips began to

pucker and he knew he had a problem. He leaned over and wheezed, "deacon Jones will you please

lead in closing prayer." Deacon Jones was having his own problems, and was barely able to smack

his lips and get out, "Please excuse me!" The pastor surveyed the situation and could see none of the

deacons were able to pray. The congregation had no idea what was going on, for they had perfectly

normal grape juice. Finally the pastor motioned all to stand and said, "Well, friends, let's whistle the

doxology and go home."

Murphey's law has not been repealed for the church. Even in the most solemn and sacred

moments Christians leaders provoke laughter by their slips of the tongue. Billy Graham in a

message in Atlanta roared out, "David slew Goliath and then he turned around and killed him."

Another pastor prayed, "Oh Lord, make us more offensive--I mean Lord, put on the offensive."

Another introduced the new music director with these words, "We are delighted he is coming to lead

us in our sinning." At a testimony meeting on the campus of a Christian college a tearful freshman

concluded his personal testimony with what he thought was a sincere request. He said, "Please pray

I'll not be found sleeping with the five foolish virgins when Jesus comes." At every homecoming

since, this is remembered as a choice moment of laughter.

There is no end to the laughter producing goofs of Christians, but my point in sharing these is to

make it clear that this sort of laughter is not what we are dealing with, as we consider the fruit of the

Spirit, which is joy. You do not need the Holy Spirit to see the humor in life. This is a gift God has

made available to all men. The non Christian can have as good a sense of humor as the Christian.

Jews have always been the major contributors to the world of comedy. So Christians do not have a

monopoly on laughter. Laughter is a universal gift.

But joy is something else. Joy is much deeper, for joy is based on love and not laughter. Joy is

the feeling that even if I blew it, and made a blunder that everyone laughed at, I am loved and not

rejected for my mistake. That is a good feeling that lasts after the laughter quickly passes away.

Laughter is momentary, but joy is a state of mind that is permanent. Joy makes you happy even

when there is nothing funny to laugh at. We see this all through the New Testament. This was the

joy of Jesus. He is about to go to the cross and suffer on a level we can never comprehend, yet He

says to His disciples in John 15:11, "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that you