# 9 Joy March 25th, 2009
Growing up in the old line Protestant church of my family, we frequently sang this Hymn
JOY UNSPEAKABLE Words & Music:, 1900
I have found His grace is all complete,
He supplieth ev’ry need;
While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed. Refrain
He supplieth ev’ry need;
While I sit and learn at Jesus’ feet,
I am free, yes, free indeed. Refrain
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Full of glory, full of glory,
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told.
Full of glory, full of glory,
It is joy unspeakable and full of glory,
Oh, the half has never yet been told.
I have found the pleasure I once craved,
It is joy and peace within;
What a wondrous blessing! I am saved
From the awful gulf of sin. Refrain
It is joy and peace within;
What a wondrous blessing! I am saved
From the awful gulf of sin. Refrain
I have found that hope so bright and clear,
Living in the realm of grace;
Oh, the Savior’s presence is so near,
I can see His smiling face. Refrain
Living in the realm of grace;
Oh, the Savior’s presence is so near,
I can see His smiling face. Refrain
I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
How its waves of glory roll!
It is like a great o’erflowing well,
Springing up within my soul. Refrain
How its waves of glory roll!
It is like a great o’erflowing well,
Springing up within my soul. Refrain
The hymn comes from 1 Peter 1
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer
grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth
than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though 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, 9for you are receiving the
goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Honestly, I am not joyful now. The trials I face at every turn, the trials of those
around me, and the evening news just make me even more morose. I am not sure I have
ever experienced what Peter and Barney Warren wrote about. Joy has been on my mind
for over a month now; which explains why you have not received an installment from
me in that time. You see, I know what Paul wrote:Galatians 5 22But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness
and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Peter says if the Holy Spirit is alive and unfettered in my life those fruits should abound.
So I have been looking up Joy verses. The reference part of my bible points to hundreds
of passages with the word and I have not looked at all of them, by any means, but
I am already finding common ground. Here are some of them:
1. It is a shared experience. Usually referred to in the context of a communal celebration. Is it hard to be joyful alone?
2. It can only come from God [ Ecc. 5:18 God deals out joy in the present, the now.] [Gal 5:22] There is no secular source. Pop culture can not synthesize it. Medicine and science can not replicate it.
3. It is a source of strength. Armies and peoples were joyful together and the shared experience made them fit, equipped them for their purposes.
4. It may not be sustainable apart from the body of Christ-his church. See #1
5. What joy looks like and feels like may be unique to each of us.
This is all I know right now, like I said, I am not joyful right now so don’t look at me
to answer your questions on joy. I had a taste of something last Sunday that may be
close to joy. It may in fact be God’s Joy for me. I have a little private “deal” with God
that we share every once in a while. Some of you know about it. I call it a Dividend
check. You remember dividends don’t you? We used to get them from our stocks
in companies that made a profit. You remember when companies used to make a profit
don’t you? Well, anyway, I made an investment is God’s company some time back and he
taps me on the shoulder on some Sundays and says, “Look around you. You invested in
these peoples’ eternity with me. Was it worth it?” No matter how battered I am that
Sunday from that week of life or how many scars are fresh on my heart, each
time it happens, the weight and weariness slip off my back. “Worth every Penny!” is my
reply and something akin to an anointing with a warm oil on my forehead is the symbol
that comes to mind from my early Christian traditions. See number 5 above. If you are
like me right now and Joy is a foreign, distant, alien concept, then I pray that you can
find your Joy, your dividend in the middle of what you face as you pray for me.
Maybe a future episode can be more conclusive and authoritative on the subject.
# 10 April 11, 2009 JOY 2.0
A couple weeks back Joy was the subject and there was an allusion to a possible sequel. This is that sequel and even though there is absolutely no presumption of this being “conclusive and authoritative”, this one is just a bit further down the road towards understanding.
Let’s start by looking back at the conclusions listed the last time:
1. It is a shared experience. Usually referred to in the context of a communal
celebration. Is it hard to be joyful alone?
2. It can only come from God [ Ecc. 5:18 God deals out joy in the present, the now.]
[Gal 5:22] There is no secular source. Pop culture can not synthesize it. Medicine
and science can not replicate it.
3. It is a source of strength. Armies and peoples were joyful together and the
shared experience made them fit, equipped them for their purposes.
4. It may not be sustainable apart from the body of Christ-his church. See #1
5. What joy looks like and feels like may be unique to each of us.
All of these points are still valid so let’s add some knowledge, wisdom or insight from
John the Baptist when he speaks of his joy at hearing the bridegroom’s voice [Jesus]
“That joy is mine and is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less”
John 3:29. Then the Christ had the same kind of words at the last supper. “I told you
this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete”. John 15:11
Both of them were nearing the end of their time on earth, the end of their ministry,
their mission was nearing completion. John would soon be beheaded but he got to meet
the One he had been proclaiming. Christ had joy just hours before the great test,
the ultimate test, before him. These two give us some more insights:
6. joy is in doing what you were called to do and doing it in complete obedience to
your master. Joy is found in doing the right thing at the right time and in the right
way [righteously].
7. Joy can be found in the walk of those coming up behind you. They get it! My life is
not in vain because my kids, my friends, my company or church have learned enough from
me to carry on the work even if I will not live to see the promise.
8. Joy is deliberate, disciplined and steadfast. Sissy’s don’t have Joy. Warriors have
joy. The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Dallas Willard in Renovation of the Heart has even more to add.
9. Joy is a pervasive sense of well-being even in the middle of specific suffering and loss.
10. Joy is our first line of defense against weakness, failure and a diseased mind.
11. Joy is not passive. It comes from actively looking at the greatness and goodness of
God and what he will do in our lives. Psalms 92:4 “For Thou, O Lord, has made me glad
by what Thou hast done. I will sing for joy at the works of Thy hands.”
12. Joy inseparable from Love, Peace, Faith and Hope.
Right after I sent the prior Episode about Joy out into the electronic highways I received two immediate return ‘pings’ from two Missionary friends; one serving in Bolivia and one serving stateside in a underground work to Muslim countries. My Bolivian buddy reminded me that the building he had just conducted a funeral in was paid for with money from my zip+4 and the matriarch being laid to rest was the mother who had prayed her son into the Kingdom. The same son who travels into the mountains to preach to the Indians in jeeps paid for by money from the same address. The stateside servant let me know how many mission works had been established recently and how his service had been made possible as a result of similar donations.
So with the help of the Baptizer, The Christ, Dallas Willard and two missionary friends, let me add to the list:
13. The Love of God is the unending energy supply for my Joy. Moving from unlovable
to being loved is the start of Joy. If you don’t live in a constant awareness of his love,
Joy will be a struggle.
14. Hope is the eager anticipation to see what God has in store. Joy is sustained by what
you have placed your Hope in. Perhaps if Joy has faded your Hope is in the temporal.
Hope is the strength to stay Faithful.
15. Faith is the substance and evidence of what is in store. I can’t see what my hope is
n but I have proof of its existence by my Faith.
16. Peace. This is the blanket we wrap ourselves in when the storms rage all around us.
This unreasonable presence is possible because of 13-15.
a. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the
world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.
b. Peace is the result of a life where Love, Joy, Hope and Faith are all at work in unison.
17. If I want Joy then Love, Hope, and Faith will get me there and Peace will be right
behind.
Joy is a lot tougher, more hardy and stubborn than it appears at first. In the end Joy
may boil down to what God has done through your life and almost nothing about
the degree of difficulty of your life. I wish you Joy.
JOY VERSION 3.0 January 20015
According to James MacDonald, in is book When Life is Hard, "Joy is a supernatural delight in the Person, purposes and the people of God."
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