The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
JOY
Spring 1991 faculty preaching series on the fruit of the Spirit, Assemblies of God Theological Seminary
By John C. Katter, D.Min.
The apostle Paul listed nine dimensions of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22,23. Joy was placed second in the qualities that comprise the harvest of the Spirit. It follows love and precedes peace. William Morrice says, "The fact that joy (chara) comes second in the list shows the prominent place that it had in the thought of the Apostle Paul with regard to the Christian personality."1
First Corinthians 13 makes it clear that love (agape) is essential for the gifts of the Spirit to function properly. And in Galatians 5, love comes first among the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit is a product of growth. Love grows. Joy grows. Peace grows. The Holy Spirit energizes and superintends this growth process in the lives of Christians.
The word joy (chara) also means gladness or happiness. A similar word is rejoice (chairo), which also means be glad and is an expression used commonly in Greek salutations. The word joy now has the meaning of "intense happiness or great delight, that which gives rise to this emotion or on which the emotion centers, the outward expression of the emotion."2
The theme of the epistle of Galatians is Christian freedom. Regardless of the circumstances of life, believers should be able to rejoice or have joy in the freedom that is in Jesus Christ. This joy is a kind of fruit which needs careful cultivation in both the cognitive and affective dimensions. Joy is "feeling what you believe."3
My thesis in this presentation is that joy is a vital dimension of the fruit of the Spirit in the lives of Christians. Joy has both cognitive and affective aspects. It rests on knowledge, faith, and hope. It is something to be expected and experienced. It involves the totality of our being, not simply knowing or having. Let us look carefully at three main points.
Christians have joy because of their place in Christ.
Joy is linked with the central message of the gospel, the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. In Luke 2:10 the angel said, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people." People who believed in Jesus and received Him by faith experienced a new birth. This is a work of the Holy Spirit. This spiritual experience is marked by joy. Sins are forgiven. A right relationship with God has begun by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8). An inward state of joy is present.
The parable in Matthew 13:44 illustrates the supreme value and joy experienced when one finds the hidden treasure of the kingdom of heaven: "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and for the joy over it he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field."
In Romans 14:17, Paul says, "The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." The believer in Christ is graciously given these precious qualities and needs to cultivate a continued life-style of growth. The apostle John says, "No one takes your joy away from you" (John 16:22). The joy of a Christian does not depend upon other people or the circumstances of life. The believer can sing with meaning the words of a song, "I’ve got something that the world can’t give, and the world can’t take it away." This joy is in Jesus.
Paul found his place in Christ. Whatever the change, the challenge, the circumstance, or the crisis, he learned to rejoice. He came to know that his sufficiency was in Jesus Christ alone. Joy is an expression of confident faith grounded in a love relationship with Christ. It is gladness in God, contentment with excitement and exuberance in communion with the Lord. At times joy can even be ecstatic. The believer who knows and feels this joy has a buoyancy, a bounce, and a sense of balance that is beautiful.
Romans 8:31–39 describes well the Christian’s security in the love of God in Christ. When this love is both known and felt, the joy in one’s place in Christ can grow. There comes a radiance in the personal relationship with the Lord that is real and even romantic, in a spiritual sense. I ask you two questions at this juncture: (1) What do you know about your place in Christ? and (2) How do you feel about it? There is joy in salvation. There is joy in knowing Jesus. The words of a chorus express this well:
Joy, joy, I have found joy.
Joy, joy, I have found joy.
I’ll sing it, I’ll shout it,
Tell others about it,
Till no one can doubt it
That I have found joy.
The Holy Spirit helps Christians grow in the development of joy. It also takes human effort in order to cognitively learn and emotionally experience this fruit of the Spirit. The process will last a lifetime.
The second main point I want to make is:
Christians have joy because of their purpose in life.
God has not created people without a purpose. We can know His plan and grow in our understanding of the meaning of the purpose He has for every one of us. When we align our wills with the will of God, He gives us His joy.
The gospel of John emphasizes a "fullness of joy." In chapter 15 the context of fruit-bearing involves abiding in Christ, keeping His commandments, and continuing in His love.
Jesus states the purpose of this teaching in verse 11, "that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." In chapter 16 Jesus encourages the disciples to pray in His name, and He promises they will receive, "that your joy may be made full" (verse 24).
In Romans 15:13 Paul prays, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Joy does not stand alone. In this verse it is linked with believing, hope, and peace. A believer’s purpose in life includes, many qualities. My focus in this message is mainly on joy.
Even in the midst of pain and suffering, Paul knew well that a believer can have joy. He experienced disappointment and deep sorrow. Still, he wrote, "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:l0). In the next chapter Paul says, "I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction" (7:4).
Paul learned that his purpose in life included times of imprisonment. In Acts 16:22 and following, Luke described the occasion of Paul and Silas at Philippi. As a result of proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were violently disrobed, beaten with rods, and thrown into prison. And their feet were fastened in the stocks. Paul and Silas could have chosen to gripe. But they chose to grow-in joy. Others may have decided to have a pity party, but they decided to pray. Some may have decided to swear, but they chose to sing. A harvest of joy is possible—even in prison. The other prisoners were listening to them, and so was God. Their singing did not awaken the jailer. The earthquake did that. And as a result of the joy and testimony of Paul and Silas, the Philippian jailer was saved, baptized, and rejoiced greatly. His whole household came to believe in God.
Life’s music for the Christian is not in a minor key. Even in the painful realities of life, such as bombardments from enemies or betrayal by close friends, joy can prevail in our suffering when we both know and feel God’s purpose in spite of our present pain.
Years later, Paul wrote the epistle to the Philippians while he was incarcerated in another place. His expression of joy and admonition to rejoice come to a climax in this letter. Words of joy occur 19 times.
Paul learned to be content in every circumstance (Philippians 4:11). He kept the joy growing in his own life. And he exhorted the believers by saying, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!"(Philippians 4:4).
James 1:2 says, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." This involves a cognitive reckoning, a way of thinking. The trials, tests, or temptations believers face are part of a process God purposes for our maturity (verse 4). In time, the Christian can learn to feel joy too, along with pain, suffering, and grief.
Peter commended his suffering addressees when he wrote, "You greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8). And he exhorted them to "keep on rejoicing; so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation" (1 Peter 4:13).
This leads me to the third main point.
Christians have joy because of their perspective of eternity.
The New Testament clearly teaches believers to cultivate an eternal perspective. This life is not all there is. We are called to look ahead, as the songwriter says,
With eternity’s values in view, Lord,
With eternity’s values in view.
May I do each day’s work for Jesus,
With eternity’s values in view.
Joy is tied to hope, and hope always relates to the future. Paul admonished Christians in Rome to be "rejoicing in hope" (Romans 12:12). The believer should look forward. Jesus did this. The writer to the Hebrews encourages Christians to run the race, "fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God" (Hebrews 12:2).
This calculated, Christlike perspective, is essential. It brings into focus and into feeling part of what is yet to be fully experienced in eternity. Many have caught this vision and have drawn upon biblical truth to affirm cognitively and feel emotionally enough joy to get them through the dark tunnels and death valleys of life. In a sense, they borrow from the beyond, the life to come in heaven, and radiate in earthly life the joy of Jesus who is physically with God the Father but spiritually present within them. Jesus said to His disciples, "Lo, I am with you always" (Matthew 28:20).
Stephen exemplified such joy when he was stoned to death, as recorded by Luke in Acts 7:54–60. No doubt he had an eternal perspective. He felt the gnashing teeth and the pain caused by the stones his persecutors hurled at him, but he also experienced something else: "Being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God" (verse 55).
The New Testament church had plenty of problems, yet the people were joyous Christians. They learned that an eternal perspective is more than nice. It is necessary. The realities and rewards of heaven are true. When tested and tried, Christians have triumphed as the fruit of inward joy has grown and manifested itself outwardly for other people to see. Some of their persecutors later on have been saved; for example, Saul of Tarsus who was present when Stephen was stoned to death.
When everything around us in this world today seems to be falling apart, Christians can grow in joy. We know God is in control. He knows the number of hairs on our heads, and He cares for each sparrow and for every human soul. God is guiding the future. What a joyous assurance we have. The words of the song are uplifting, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste of glory divine." The best is yet to come for the believer. We get our perspective of the future from the eternal Word of God. We sense and feel His presence in our hearts. He is with us in our pain and suffering. He gives us joy, His joy. It grows.
In 2 Corinthians 4:17,18, Paul says, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Jesus Christ is our primary role model. In life and in death He had joy. Working for God is joyous when one walks with God. Life has a tremendous variety of experiences. Non-Christians have moments of joy; too. But three things make the joy of a Christian’s life unique: (1) One’s place in Christ; (2) One’s purpose in life; and (3) One’s perspective of eternity. You can grow in what you know and how you feel in these three areas. Joy is both cognitive and affective. It is "feeling what you know." It includes knowledge and emotion. It involves facts and feelings. It takes human cooperation with the divine Holy Spirit to produce joy. With this combination, we can continue growing and apply Paul’s exhortation in Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" Such joy is a harvest of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
The words of the chorus are true, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." Thank God for this joy!
Let us go, glow, and grow in this fruit of the Spirit!
Endnotes
1. William Morrice, Joy in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1934) .114.
2. The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (New York: Lexicon Publications, 1989).
3. Arthur H. DeKruyter, Journey into Joy (Carmel, New York: Guideposts/Fleming H. Revell Co., 1985), 135.
4. New American Standard Bible, from which all biblical quotations are given in this article.