WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.800 Galatians 5 and 22, but the fruit of the spirit is joy. 00:00:09.800 --> 00:00:17.000 We're trying to practice saying it like Cory, but I can't do it. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:18.000 Joy. 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.000 No. 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:26.199 Now it suggests that I should begin tonight by dealing with what somebody this morning called 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:33.039 the elephant in the room, which is the question that might be in some of your minds. 00:00:33.039 --> 00:00:43.120 Why have they chosen that miserable old person to do the talk on joy? 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:45.000 I volunteered. 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:50.640 We were sitting around a table, a group of us, and Derek was looking for volunteers to 00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:57.399 take one of these fruits, and I said, I'll do joy. 00:00:57.399 --> 00:01:00.320 And he went pale. 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:03.399 And he said, I think I'll do that one. 00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:06.960 And I said, no, I can do that one. 00:01:06.960 --> 00:01:12.760 And the strength that sort of drained out of him, and he didn't really argue, so he just 00:01:12.760 --> 00:01:14.359 left it. 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:24.680 So please don't blame Derek for the fact that this grumpy old man is doing joy. 00:01:24.680 --> 00:01:30.719 Now this is the second in the list of the ninefold fruit of the spirit. 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:35.719 I came across somebody this week calling this our nine a day. 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:40.719 Christians are called every day to seek that the Holy Spirit might cultivate these nine 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:46.200 qualities which make up his fruit. 00:01:46.200 --> 00:01:50.640 Now I'm supposed to begin with a definition. 00:01:50.640 --> 00:01:57.200 My favorite definition story, nothing to do with joy, which I read recently is from the 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:03.960 Bruins joke book, which I think is actually the only book I've read this calendar year. 00:02:03.960 --> 00:02:07.879 And I read it in black wells. 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:17.000 So anyway, the Bruins joke book, the brainy one asks a younger sibling, define the difference 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:25.599 between ignorance and apathy, a dinnaken, a dinnaker, which is actually an accidental 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:31.599 definition of the difference between them. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:34.400 Now I went to the source of all wisdom this time. 00:02:34.400 --> 00:02:39.920 I don't know Tim Keller, but I hear him quoted every week here. 00:02:39.920 --> 00:02:44.360 So I thought, you know, a desperate effort to feel I belong. 00:02:44.360 --> 00:02:50.640 I went to a book called Galations for You, and Keller talks about joy. 00:02:50.640 --> 00:02:57.080 And he says, first of all, it's not a matter of natural temperament when someone has just 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:02.080 always been bubbly and extrovert by nature. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:09.840 And then he defines joy in this way, a delight in God for the sheer beauty and worth of who 00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:11.680 he is. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:18.240 A delight in God for the sheer beauty and worth of who he is. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:23.960 And he says that its opposite is hopelessness or despair. 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:30.040 Then he also says that its counterfeit is an elation that is based on just experiencing 00:03:30.039 --> 00:03:32.679 blessings, mood swings. 00:03:32.679 --> 00:03:39.879 So you feel joy when God is giving you what you want, and you never have that joy otherwise. 00:03:39.879 --> 00:03:43.039 It's all based on circumstances. 00:03:43.039 --> 00:03:47.120 That's what he calls the counterfeit. 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:51.560 Now I want to do three things tonight. 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:56.359 Maybe we'll have to skip over one of them largely. 00:03:56.360 --> 00:04:05.840 But I want, first of all, to think about the joy of God, then secondly, the joy of Jesus, 00:04:05.840 --> 00:04:10.320 and then thirdly, the joy of the Christian. 00:04:10.320 --> 00:04:15.080 So I want to begin with divine joy, just for maybe five minutes or so, and ask you to think 00:04:15.080 --> 00:04:18.680 with me about this. 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:24.560 Now, this may give apoplexy to some of the theologians among us. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:30.519 I don't know, but I'm just using the language that the Bible uses rather than theological 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:31.519 language. 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:35.800 I think it's important to begin with this, because we're talking about the fruit of 00:04:35.800 --> 00:04:38.519 the Spirit. 00:04:38.519 --> 00:04:46.279 The fruit of the Spirit who is himself God, and this Spirit who is God communicates joy 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:48.279 to us. 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:55.439 Now I suggest to you that the divine Spirit is communicating joy from the God who is himself 00:04:55.439 --> 00:05:07.039 joy, from the personal God and the passionate God who is the joyful God, the blessed God. 00:05:07.039 --> 00:05:10.039 Four things about the joy of God. 00:05:10.039 --> 00:05:13.079 Just quickly sketch them, as I said. 00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:18.439 First of all, God has joy in himself. 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:22.039 He has joy in his own holiness. 00:05:22.039 --> 00:05:30.399 God knows himself totally and exhaustively, and he can find nothing to spoil his happiness 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:31.399 in himself. 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:39.519 I mean, we know sin and failure and disappointment and tension and struggle with ourselves, and 00:05:39.519 --> 00:05:41.199 they spoil our joy. 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:45.120 But God knows none of these things in himself. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:52.920 And he also has joy in himself in his fellowship, perfect communion from all eternity. 00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:59.599 The perfect fellowship, the intimate fellowship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, loving one 00:05:59.599 --> 00:06:06.599 another and serving one another, this blissful communion that has always been. 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:17.600 Though God never needed anyone else for his joy, his joy in himself is perfect. 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:20.840 Then he has joy in his creation. 00:06:20.840 --> 00:06:27.879 There was joy in his making of it, where he looks at each stage and says, that's good. 00:06:27.879 --> 00:06:32.760 Then he looks at the whole thing and pronounces it very good. 00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:38.360 Then there's a day of rest and satisfaction when it's all made. 00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:43.480 And I think he also has joy in his upholding of it. 00:06:43.480 --> 00:06:51.839 The end of Psalm 104, a Psalm that's lyrical about the wonders of the natural world, says 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:59.279 in verse 31, May the Lord rejoice in his works. 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:07.599 May the Lord continue to rejoice in the beauty and variety and rhythm of this world that 00:07:07.599 --> 00:07:15.479 he has made, this blue planet and this green planet which God enjoys. 00:07:15.479 --> 00:07:26.159 We know that the heavens declare the glory of God to us, but does God not also rejoice 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:32.680 in the display of his own glory that the heavens declare to those who see? 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:37.040 So God has joy in what he has made. 00:07:37.040 --> 00:07:43.320 Then thirdly, he has joy in his servant's son. 00:07:43.320 --> 00:07:48.800 You think of the delight of the Father who in the Old Testament speaks of the servant 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:52.720 in whom my soul delights. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:59.600 And then you have the joy of God expressed at baptism and transfiguration as Jesus hears 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:05.920 the words from heaven, with whom I am well pleased. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:12.200 The Father had total pleasure in his Son and what his Son was doing. 00:08:12.200 --> 00:08:18.760 Every aspect of the character of Jesus and the obedience of Jesus and the mission of 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:26.039 Jesus, the Father was thrilled with and in all that Jesus was and was doing, there was 00:08:26.039 --> 00:08:32.039 nothing in his life ever to grieve the Holy Spirit. 00:08:32.039 --> 00:08:36.519 And God is pleased with the work of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection and the 00:08:36.519 --> 00:08:45.120 ascension are a sign of the pleasure and joy of God in the achievement of his own Son. 00:08:45.120 --> 00:08:47.519 It was all very good. 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:50.480 Joy in his servant's son. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:54.960 And then fourthly, joy in his people. 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.079 Joy for one thing in conversion. 00:08:58.079 --> 00:09:03.600 God rejoices when anyone becomes a Christian. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:06.519 Now you'll want a verse for that. 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:10.759 Luke 15 and verse 10. 00:09:10.759 --> 00:09:17.679 Joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. 00:09:17.679 --> 00:09:24.120 Joy in the presence of God over one sinner who repents. 00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:29.399 Now you look at the commentaries and they talk about the joy of the angels or the joy 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:31.480 of heaven. 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:38.439 But the point of the verse is that in the presence of the angels was a Jewish way of 00:09:38.440 --> 00:09:41.280 speaking about God. 00:09:41.280 --> 00:09:45.880 It was ultra-reverent language for God. 00:09:45.880 --> 00:09:51.720 So when you said there is something in the presence of the angels, you were talking about 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:53.680 God. 00:09:53.680 --> 00:10:01.080 So the joy in the presence of the angels is God's joy over someone repenting. 00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:06.560 And that interpretation fits into these two little stories in Luke 15 that Jesus has told 00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:12.439 about the woman looking for her coin and the man looking for the lost sheep. 00:10:12.439 --> 00:10:17.599 Because you notice in each story when the person finds what they're looking for, they 00:10:17.599 --> 00:10:21.279 invite others to rejoice with them. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:28.799 So the picture is of God rejoicing over a repentant sinner and inviting the angels to 00:10:28.799 --> 00:10:33.399 rejoice with him that someone has come home. 00:10:33.399 --> 00:10:38.639 And then we don't have time to think about God's joy in our own Christian lives, but 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:48.159 we read often about God having pleasure in his people and God rejoicing over his people. 00:10:48.159 --> 00:10:54.199 And we know how God is well pleased with what we offer him through Jesus Christ. 00:10:54.199 --> 00:11:01.120 And God looks at us and has pleasure in us in the work that he's doing in our lives 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:07.679 as we reflect his own Son and are more and more conformed to the image of Jesus. 00:11:07.679 --> 00:11:15.080 So God rejoices in people coming to know him and he rejoices in people growing more like 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:16.840 Jesus. 00:11:16.840 --> 00:11:24.000 And in the amazing words of Zephaniah, not a book we often read, Zephaniah 3.17, the 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:27.919 Lord will rejoice over you with gladness. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:30.960 He will quiet you by his love. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:35.680 He will exalt over you with loud singing. 00:11:35.680 --> 00:11:40.920 It's like the joy of a parent in a child. 00:11:40.920 --> 00:11:45.080 God loves his children. 00:11:45.080 --> 00:11:52.759 So divine joy, God having joy in himself, joy in his creation, joy in his servant's son, 00:11:52.759 --> 00:11:56.680 and joy in his people. 00:11:56.679 --> 00:12:05.639 I believe that all of that is important for our gospel, because for many people this universe 00:12:05.639 --> 00:12:15.479 is cold, impersonal, unfeeling, and doomed. 00:12:15.479 --> 00:12:23.799 But we say in the gospel that there is joy at the heart of the universe, that behind 00:12:23.799 --> 00:12:31.439 the universe, before the universe, and still behind the universe, and in the future of 00:12:31.439 --> 00:12:38.000 the universe there is joy at the center of everything. 00:12:38.000 --> 00:12:47.240 And what we want to do is connect people up with the ultimate source of joy that is there 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:50.079 at the heart of the universe. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:58.160 To connect people up with God is to connect people up with eternal joy, and so then we 00:12:58.160 --> 00:13:03.759 can have joy, the joy of the Lord. 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:06.200 So the joy of God. 00:13:06.200 --> 00:13:12.720 Secondly, I wanted to think about the joy of Jesus. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:15.680 Let me just begin this and move on. 00:13:15.679 --> 00:13:21.679 I think it's important to also think about the joy of Jesus and connection with our theme, 00:13:21.679 --> 00:13:30.199 because it's often been said that the ninefold fruit of the Spirit is a ninefold description 00:13:30.199 --> 00:13:32.599 of Jesus. 00:13:32.599 --> 00:13:40.240 Because in his incarnate life on earth, Jesus was the ultimate man of the Spirit, and the 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:46.799 beauty of the human life of Jesus is through the work of the Holy Spirit. 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:51.240 Think of it, Jesus never grieved the Spirit. 00:13:51.240 --> 00:13:54.399 Jesus never quenched the Spirit. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:57.720 Jesus was always filled with the Spirit. 00:13:57.720 --> 00:14:06.480 Jesus always kept and stepped with the Spirit, and so the Spirit bore his perfect fruit in 00:14:06.480 --> 00:14:10.000 the perfect life of Jesus. 00:14:10.000 --> 00:14:15.879 As I once heard somebody say about the fruit of the Spirit, it's a beautiful picture, isn't 00:14:15.879 --> 00:14:16.879 it? 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:22.440 And Jesus sat for this portrait. 00:14:22.440 --> 00:14:26.960 Jesus sat for this portrait, and that includes joy. 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:31.759 Now, of course, we normally think of Jesus as the man of sorrows. 00:14:31.759 --> 00:14:36.559 He experienced all the sorrows associated with human life, and he experienced all the 00:14:36.559 --> 00:14:44.639 special, intense sorrows, the unique sorrows associated with sin-bearing. 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:50.239 But while he was the man of sorrows, he was also the man of joy. 00:14:50.239 --> 00:14:56.279 Now, I don't think now I have time to work through this topic, but there were four things 00:14:56.279 --> 00:14:57.519 as well. 00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:04.000 One, his joy in life, because he wasn't a hermit or an ascetic. 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:10.080 Two, his joy in communion with Abba, with the Father. 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:16.440 Three, his joy in mission, in teaching and healing and feeding and delivering and forgiving 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:20.840 and raising and all the rest of it, what joy that would have given him. 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:29.480 And fourthly, his joy in anticipation of what lay beyond, for the joy set before him, he 00:15:29.480 --> 00:15:33.320 endured the cross. 00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:38.040 And I just refer you to one verse in the Joy of Jesus that we had read earlier and ask 00:15:38.040 --> 00:15:42.120 you to think about it in its context perhaps later. 00:15:42.120 --> 00:15:45.680 Luke 10 and 21. 00:15:45.680 --> 00:15:56.000 In that same hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father. 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:02.320 An explicit reference to the spirit, joy of Jesus. 00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:10.320 Jesus exulting in the spirit and the joy that came to him from the spirit, he returns 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:14.920 in prayer and in praise to the Father. 00:16:14.920 --> 00:16:19.440 So we have the joy of Jesus right through his story. 00:16:19.440 --> 00:16:26.240 But let's come thirdly to the joy of the Christian, which I guess is what I should be talking 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:29.120 about mostly. 00:16:29.120 --> 00:16:35.399 And I want again to sketch a few reasons for joy according to the Bible. 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:38.200 All of these connected with the work of the spirit. 00:16:38.200 --> 00:16:45.480 So if I don't remember in each case to say this is about the ministry of the Holy Spirit, 00:16:45.480 --> 00:16:52.120 I think you'll all know anyway that all of these topics are from the spirit. 00:16:52.120 --> 00:17:00.679 First of all and particularly, joy and forgiveness, the joy of the gospel, the joy of coming 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:09.359 to know a Savior in all the beauty of His grace and mercy and pardon and peace. 00:17:09.359 --> 00:17:15.319 In Luke chapter 2, when the news of the birth of Jesus is announced to the shepherds, the 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:24.000 angel says, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for unto 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:30.399 you is born in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. 00:17:30.399 --> 00:17:41.119 The birth of Jesus is announced as good news of great joy because he is the Savior. 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:47.879 And the relief and joy of forgiveness is the testimony of the whole Bible. 00:17:47.879 --> 00:17:54.519 I mean the Psalms are full of it if we had time to go through their testimony. 00:17:54.519 --> 00:17:58.239 The prophets are full of it as well. 00:17:58.239 --> 00:18:01.359 Let me just read one verse from Isaiah 61. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:05.359 I will rejoice greatly in the Lord. 00:18:05.359 --> 00:18:12.799 My soul will exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. 00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:16.719 He has covered me with the robe of righteousness. 00:18:16.719 --> 00:18:23.199 And in the New Testament, when Jesus preaches forgiveness and people experience it, joy 00:18:23.199 --> 00:18:25.199 follows. 00:18:25.199 --> 00:18:31.439 And then when his people in the book of Acts preach forgiveness and people experience it, 00:18:31.439 --> 00:18:34.119 joy follows. 00:18:34.119 --> 00:18:42.079 Peter in Acts 8, the story of Philip the Ethiopian, he responds to the good news about Jesus and 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:47.559 we're told he went on his way rejoicing. 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:53.319 Or the Philippian jailer in 16, he asks, what must I do to be saved? 00:18:53.319 --> 00:19:00.079 He's told to believe in Jesus and he and his family are baptized and we're told that 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:03.799 they were all filled with joy. 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:13.480 And this is our basic reason for joy, that God has come to me and God has forgiven me 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:15.680 all my sins. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:23.639 And God has forgotten all my sins, all because of the perfect work of Jesus. 00:19:23.639 --> 00:19:31.079 And God has declared forgiveness over my life and God has promised that he will never go 00:19:31.079 --> 00:19:35.480 back on his gospel word to me. 00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:43.639 That's the most profound reason for our Christian joy, that our sins are forgiven for the sake 00:19:43.639 --> 00:19:45.279 of Jesus. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:54.359 And that gospel joy is offered to anyone and everyone who will trust in Jesus. 00:19:54.359 --> 00:20:00.559 Now, some of these people read about joy and galatians here and they've read the first 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.599 part of the book. 00:20:02.599 --> 00:20:10.559 They're surprised that Paul, who writes about joy, isn't always so joyful as he speaks to 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:16.960 these Galatians and the things he says to them, no messing about the gospel. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:23.919 And they say, why is this man who's calling for joy speaking this kind of way to these 00:20:23.919 --> 00:20:26.399 people? 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:35.600 Because there is a heresy in Galatia that is saying Jesus plus and it's robbing people 00:20:35.600 --> 00:20:39.280 of their joy in Jesus alone. 00:20:39.280 --> 00:20:44.960 And Paul is angry because people are being robbed of their joy. 00:20:44.960 --> 00:20:50.160 And hearing about this heresy is robbing him of his joy. 00:20:50.160 --> 00:20:55.440 So he's not angered because he's an angry man. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:21:02.200 He's angry because people aren't enjoying the fullness and free-ness of the gospel as 00:21:02.200 --> 00:21:05.720 they should in Jesus alone. 00:21:05.720 --> 00:21:07.680 And he won't have it. 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:18.920 He wants people to enjoy the pure gospel of Jesus, where everything is in Jesus and nothing 00:21:18.920 --> 00:21:24.680 else and no one else can add anything to the work of Jesus. 00:21:24.680 --> 00:21:32.680 The Christian finds his or her joy in Jesus, in the gospel of Christ. 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:38.840 Now sometimes we lose our joy because of our sins. 00:21:38.840 --> 00:21:46.600 And I want to say to you that joy is recovered through repentance. 00:21:46.600 --> 00:21:51.640 Again the Psalms, a couple of references, Psalm 32. 00:21:51.640 --> 00:21:57.800 The Psalmist in Psalm 32 is miserable in most of the psalm when he's silent about 00:21:57.800 --> 00:22:00.960 his sin in the earlier part of the psalm. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:05.240 He says when I was silent, well, everything was wrong. 00:22:05.240 --> 00:22:13.800 But everything changes when he stops trying to cover up his sin and he confesses his sin 00:22:13.800 --> 00:22:19.520 and he recovers his joy in the Lord. 00:22:19.519 --> 00:22:26.200 And in Psalm 51, you know, David's great penitential psalm, David's great sin is now 00:22:26.200 --> 00:22:37.519 acknowledged and his great longing is expressed in verse 12, restore to me the joy of your 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:43.240 salvation and uphold me again with a willing spirit. 00:22:43.240 --> 00:22:47.200 Restore the joy of your salvation. 00:22:47.200 --> 00:22:53.279 He'd had a very serious and dramatic sin and therefore he'd had a very dramatic sense 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:57.000 of loss in his joy. 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:05.200 He's come back to God and he wants to know the joy restored as God bathes him in his 00:23:05.200 --> 00:23:09.200 forgiveness once again. 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:15.039 And I want to say that that's a general principle in the Christian life. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:22.960 In the daily Christian life, that repentance is the way back to joy. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:31.680 We repent every day and so we experience the joy and peace of the gospel afresh because 00:23:31.680 --> 00:23:41.279 the blood of Jesus goes on cleansing us from all our sins, so joy and forgiveness. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:48.000 Then there's joy and worship in the Bible and in the ministry of the Holy Spirit. 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:55.160 As in worship, we celebrate the wonder of the God of the gospel who has been so gracious 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.799 to us in Jesus. 00:23:57.799 --> 00:24:03.599 We want to celebrate him and in that we're called to rejoice. 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:11.079 Now joy is a very prominent theme in communal worship in the Old Testament. 00:24:11.079 --> 00:24:18.319 For example, we could have looked at the festivals of Israel, these occasions of celebration, 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:21.679 community, party time, festival joy. 00:24:21.679 --> 00:24:28.679 It's almost a definition of these feasts in Deuteronomy when God says, you shall rejoice 00:24:28.679 --> 00:24:31.480 before the Lord your God. 00:24:31.480 --> 00:24:33.159 That's what it means to worship. 00:24:33.159 --> 00:24:39.359 To get together, have a party and rejoice before the Lord. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:43.799 Again, we could have looked at the Psalms full of joy and corporate worship. 00:24:43.799 --> 00:24:52.559 I think one thing that's very important about joy in the Psalms is that they give us a reason 00:24:52.559 --> 00:24:54.159 for joy. 00:24:54.159 --> 00:25:02.959 The Psalms never have a chorus, just four lines where you're told to repeat this ten 00:25:02.959 --> 00:25:07.000 times, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy, joy. 00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:12.720 The Psalms are, rejoice in the Lord who is this, that and the other. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:16.640 Rejoice in the Lord who has done this, that and the other. 00:25:16.640 --> 00:25:20.000 Rejoice in the Lord who will do this, that and the other. 00:25:20.000 --> 00:25:23.559 It's always reasons for joy. 00:25:23.559 --> 00:25:25.720 So it's never irrational. 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:32.759 It's never just try and make yourself be joyful for no good reason. 00:25:32.759 --> 00:25:39.119 Rejoice in the Lord because of who he is, because of what he has done, because of what 00:25:39.119 --> 00:25:40.440 he will do. 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:43.599 He deserves our worship. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:50.960 The New Testament too, the New Testament church was born in worship and in joy. 00:25:50.960 --> 00:25:56.440 Remember at the end of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus ascends to heaven and we're told, and 00:25:56.440 --> 00:26:02.680 they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy and we're continually in the 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:05.920 temple blessing God. 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:11.360 And they have a Lord's day to celebrate the resurrection with joy and we could go through 00:26:11.360 --> 00:26:18.320 every aspect of their worship in the New Testament and connect every element of it with joy. 00:26:18.320 --> 00:26:24.920 But I think above everything else, something you find in several places, especially towards 00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:31.000 the end of Hebrews and in the book of Revelation, find it in Paul as well, was that New Testament 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:37.319 church's sense of when they worshiped, they were joining with the worship of heaven. 00:26:37.319 --> 00:26:40.839 It was a very real sense that they had. 00:26:40.839 --> 00:26:47.200 When they worshiped on earth, they were adding their voices to the chorus around the throne 00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:54.039 in heaven and they felt connected with that world of doxology and joy and so they were 00:26:54.039 --> 00:27:00.519 able to worship on earth because they were part of a church on earth and in heaven that 00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:07.079 was celebrating the same God and worshiping the same lamb in the midst of the throne and 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:17.559 rejoicing in the same spirit that God had done so much for his church, militant and triumphant. 00:27:17.559 --> 00:27:23.000 Another theme for us is joy and fellowship. 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:31.759 We often hear that there's such a problem in our society of loneliness and isolation. 00:27:31.759 --> 00:27:39.599 The Bible says very early on, it is not good for a man or a woman to be alone. 00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:46.440 And recently I read somebody who'd done some research in this country saying that the loneliest 00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:50.079 place to be is the city. 00:27:50.079 --> 00:27:58.839 So many people around, but so many people in teeming cities feeling isolated and alone 00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:02.799 and the church is called to offer community. 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:11.480 Now the New Testament Christians found joy in fellowship and they also welcomed other 00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:18.319 people in to their fellowship and looked for them to find joy too. 00:28:18.319 --> 00:28:22.799 I mean this is true from the very, very beginning. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:32.240 The church after Pentecost acts to 46 and 47 and day by day attending the temple together 00:28:32.240 --> 00:28:39.679 and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts and 00:28:39.679 --> 00:28:43.399 the Lord added to their number. 00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:49.240 The New Testament church, people loving to spend time together and sharing food, sharing 00:28:49.240 --> 00:28:54.320 their homes, sharing worship together and wanting other people to hear and wanting other people 00:28:54.320 --> 00:28:58.000 to come in and wanting other people in their homes and wanting other people to enjoy the 00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:02.920 same joy of the same gospel and the same community together. 00:29:02.920 --> 00:29:09.640 It's there from the very, very beginning as they rejoice with those who rejoice and then 00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:12.680 mourn with those who mourn. 00:29:12.680 --> 00:29:19.799 So go back to Galatians, very important context as we've seen already previous weeks of our 00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:26.680 text on the fruit of the Spirit to see the enemies of fellowship. 00:29:26.680 --> 00:29:35.120 In Galatians 5 verses 19 to 20 you have the works of the flesh and there are 15 works 00:29:35.120 --> 00:29:40.640 of the flesh and eight of them are to do with relationships. 00:29:40.640 --> 00:29:50.640 Enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy. 00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:53.840 Why are these so horrific? 00:29:53.840 --> 00:29:57.880 Because they are fellowship killers. 00:29:57.880 --> 00:30:06.480 They are murderers of fellowship and therefore of the joy that fellowship should bring. 00:30:06.480 --> 00:30:14.039 They make a congregation miserable and they rob a congregation of its joy. 00:30:14.039 --> 00:30:22.839 And Paul hates the things that spoil fellowship and so that rob us of the joy we should have 00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:31.839 together in community, sharing and loving and serving one another, joy and fellowship. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:38.839 Then there's also the theme in the Bible of joy and obedience. 00:30:38.839 --> 00:30:48.319 For example in Psalms 19 and 119 where the psalmist rejoices in the Scriptures, the book 00:30:48.319 --> 00:30:50.019 of the Spirit. 00:30:50.019 --> 00:30:56.399 If you read these sections or the whole of Psalm 119 you'll see that his joy is found 00:30:56.399 --> 00:31:00.119 in putting the book into practice. 00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:05.919 It's not just a joy in knowing the book or reading the book. 00:31:05.919 --> 00:31:12.159 It's a joy in listening to God as he reads the book and putting that book into practice 00:31:12.159 --> 00:31:13.959 to the glory of God. 00:31:13.959 --> 00:31:17.399 I'm not going to say anything more about that theme of joy and obedience. 00:31:17.399 --> 00:31:21.839 There's a lot about it through the whole Bible and in the teaching of Jesus. 00:31:21.839 --> 00:31:30.159 But just to apply it in terms of our own reading, I felt guilty during the week. 00:31:30.159 --> 00:31:35.119 I'm not sure if I'm at the same stage that everybody's at with these daily readings. 00:31:35.119 --> 00:31:41.599 But beginning to get into Leviticus and I read two or three chapters of Leviticus. 00:31:41.599 --> 00:31:49.240 I was doing two days reading together and I was sort of glad to tick and tick the Leviticus 00:31:49.240 --> 00:31:55.640 readings and I thought, I've done them and by the end of the next week I'll have done 00:31:55.640 --> 00:31:56.640 Leviticus. 00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:01.000 It's not the way to do it. 00:32:01.000 --> 00:32:02.880 We are to read these chapters. 00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:05.599 We are to tick that we've read them. 00:32:05.599 --> 00:32:11.120 But above everything else we're to try every time we read to take something out of that 00:32:11.120 --> 00:32:18.160 reading that's relevant to our daily lives and put it into practice. 00:32:18.160 --> 00:32:26.360 It's not suing Leviticus but maybe next Sunday Derrick or Corey will read the passage from 00:32:26.360 --> 00:32:33.400 Leviticus that encourages all as a community to come together and enjoy bacon rolls, we 00:32:33.400 --> 00:32:34.840 shall see. 00:32:34.840 --> 00:32:37.160 Joy and obedience. 00:32:37.160 --> 00:32:40.120 Then there's joy and service. 00:32:40.120 --> 00:32:43.960 Now again, this is connected with the Holy Spirit. 00:32:43.960 --> 00:32:50.720 The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts with which we serve God. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:57.480 We've heard from Derrick tonight of the joy that they experienced in serving just for a 00:32:57.480 --> 00:33:00.640 brief time in another country. 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:06.680 We all know something of that joy even here in our own lives, in our own church community. 00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:13.880 The joy, the satisfaction of knowing that I am using my gifts and serving Jesus. 00:33:13.880 --> 00:33:21.120 Is whatever I'm doing in my home, in my work, in my community, in my church, that I am serving 00:33:21.120 --> 00:33:22.760 Jesus. 00:33:22.760 --> 00:33:27.720 It's a wonderfully satisfying thing. 00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:35.560 Sometimes of course the service is very difficult and actually the joy comes afterwards like 00:33:35.560 --> 00:33:38.640 the Psalmist in Psalm 126. 00:33:38.640 --> 00:33:41.000 His service is done in tears. 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:46.480 It's such hard work and a lot of it is so heartbreaking. 00:33:46.480 --> 00:33:55.200 But then afterwards comes the joy of harvest time and God through what he wept about is 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:59.960 bringing joy to his heart as the harvest comes home. 00:33:59.960 --> 00:34:08.840 So we find joy regularly in our service, but sometimes the joy is after the service is 00:34:08.840 --> 00:34:10.840 done. 00:34:10.840 --> 00:34:18.200 Then there's joy and creation in the gifts of God's creation, good things to be enjoyed. 00:34:18.200 --> 00:34:26.720 No Christian should ever be ashamed or embarrassed about enjoying the good gifts of our Father 00:34:26.720 --> 00:34:29.640 in his world. 00:34:29.640 --> 00:34:35.640 If you want to connect this with a Holy Spirit, let me read just one paragraph from 1 Timothy 00:34:35.640 --> 00:34:37.640 4. 00:34:37.640 --> 00:34:39.680 Listen to how it begins. 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:47.279 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith. 00:34:47.279 --> 00:34:53.519 Then it talks about the teachings of demons, liars. 00:34:53.519 --> 00:34:56.919 What do these demonic preachers say? 00:34:56.919 --> 00:35:03.279 They forbid marriage and they require abstinence from foods that God created to be received 00:35:03.279 --> 00:35:04.799 with thanksgiving. 00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:11.160 But everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received 00:35:11.160 --> 00:35:13.039 with thanksgiving. 00:35:13.039 --> 00:35:21.240 And over the page Paul says, God richly provides us with everything to enjoy. 00:35:21.240 --> 00:35:28.320 So the Bible is talking about God's gifts to us in the physical, material creation 00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:34.480 and in the gifts of marriage and the food and feasting and the rest. 00:35:34.480 --> 00:35:42.960 And to deny these things or to be ascetic about these things is to grieve the Spirit 00:35:42.960 --> 00:35:49.880 who expressly says that to have that kind of attitude to the created order is the teaching 00:35:49.880 --> 00:35:52.320 of demons. 00:35:52.320 --> 00:35:57.079 Or we find joy in creation and ourselves being personally creative. 00:35:57.079 --> 00:36:04.440 We're made in God's image and like God we can have pleasure in unsatisfaction and accomplishment. 00:36:04.440 --> 00:36:10.720 But that's a theme all in its own joy and creation I guess. 00:36:10.720 --> 00:36:17.480 And then there's joy and sorrow, which I need just to mention. 00:36:17.480 --> 00:36:21.200 I don't want to say too much about suffering and sorrow. 00:36:21.200 --> 00:36:29.639 So the New Testament does connect them and cause us to find joy even in suffering. 00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:34.879 Maybe that's a theme for another time because it's such a big issue. 00:36:34.879 --> 00:36:41.119 But I have a horror of the kind of teaching on joy, some of which I've read over the 00:36:41.119 --> 00:36:50.199 last couple of weeks, that almost denies sorrow to Christians, that casts suspicion 00:36:50.199 --> 00:36:56.639 on the Christianity of someone who's going through the dark tunnel of depression in a 00:36:56.639 --> 00:37:04.960 place where they find no joy and out of which they fear they will never emerge. 00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:11.559 And I just want to say that the Bible has a big place, especially in the Psalms, for 00:37:11.559 --> 00:37:13.480 lament. 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:22.679 We are not called to smile all the time and sorrow is real and lament is given to Christians 00:37:22.679 --> 00:37:27.960 so that we can sing it in the dark and difficult times. 00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:30.359 But you can have joy even in sorrow. 00:37:30.359 --> 00:37:37.279 Let me tell you a story I'm almost done, which horrified me when I heard it from a friend 00:37:37.279 --> 00:37:38.279 a year or two ago. 00:37:38.279 --> 00:37:45.679 He had been in another church and come to the free church and he was talking about the 00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:50.839 church he'd been in and something that had happened a little before. 00:37:50.840 --> 00:37:56.480 Somebody had been leading the service before somebody else preached just like we're doing 00:37:56.480 --> 00:37:58.600 tonight. 00:37:58.600 --> 00:38:05.559 And this man said as he introduced the morning service, now here we are filled with the joy 00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:12.240 of the Lord and I'm not going to start till everybody here shows me on their faces that 00:38:12.240 --> 00:38:13.880 they're full of the joy of the Lord. 00:38:13.880 --> 00:38:18.600 So let's see you all smile. 00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:23.880 And there was a row of people here and everybody else was smiling but they weren't. 00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:27.159 And he said, oh we've got one row at the front. 00:38:27.159 --> 00:38:29.199 They're not smiling yet. 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:31.400 We're not going to start till they're all smiling. 00:38:31.400 --> 00:38:34.519 So all of them smiled except one. 00:38:34.519 --> 00:38:40.599 And he said, there's still one person not smiling, one person without the joy of the 00:38:40.599 --> 00:38:44.839 Lord, let me see you smile. 00:38:44.839 --> 00:38:47.599 And the guy managed some half-hearted grin. 00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.599 He said, okay let's start the service. 00:38:51.599 --> 00:38:58.079 After the service they found out that that row of people had come back to their hometown 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:00.239 for a funeral. 00:39:00.239 --> 00:39:07.279 And the man who was struggling to smile had just beddied his mother two days before. 00:39:07.279 --> 00:39:10.920 And he had the trauma of all of that plus he was the person who was dealing with all 00:39:10.920 --> 00:39:16.440 her affairs and would continue to deal with that until everything was sorted. 00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:20.639 And he couldn't smile, he couldn't grin. 00:39:20.639 --> 00:39:29.119 He was very, very close to his mother and he was deeply, deeply distressed by her death 00:39:29.119 --> 00:39:36.519 and the pain of the cancer and of the dementia that she'd been through in her final months. 00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:40.760 He was exhausted with the grief. 00:39:40.760 --> 00:39:45.400 That's no way to say in church, let's see the joy of the Lord. 00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:52.200 But interestingly that man when he bore test me later on about it said, but I had a deep 00:39:52.200 --> 00:39:54.840 joy at the same time. 00:39:54.840 --> 00:39:58.039 He said I knew that my mother was a Christian. 00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:01.200 I knew that she had gone to be with her Lord. 00:40:01.200 --> 00:40:06.079 I knew that she was now free from pain and the dementia. 00:40:06.079 --> 00:40:12.400 I knew that she was now with my dad who had gone before and they were together in heaven. 00:40:12.400 --> 00:40:18.039 And he said I knew that I would meet her one day in the future and so on. 00:40:18.039 --> 00:40:24.559 So he had all kinds of reasons for deep joy even in the sorrow. 00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:31.519 But he couldn't obey the call to just smile and laugh and pretend to be happy. 00:40:31.519 --> 00:40:34.680 And I think that is just cruel. 00:40:34.680 --> 00:40:42.360 So we call for having a joy in God but we're also realistic about the difficulties of life. 00:40:42.360 --> 00:40:51.519 But we seek to find a deep and lasting joy in the Lord himself and in the gospel. 00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:54.760 Lastly I was going to talk about the joy of heaven. 00:40:54.760 --> 00:40:59.519 But I guess heaven is a good place to finish. 00:40:59.519 --> 00:41:05.120 Maybe finish with this verse also which was read earlier from our Nehemiah reading. 00:41:05.120 --> 00:41:10.160 The joy of the Lord is your strength. 00:41:10.159 --> 00:41:14.599 Find our joy in God himself. 00:41:14.599 --> 00:41:23.879 And in the gospel of our God is what gives us strength and it will always make us strong. 00:41:23.879 --> 00:41:24.879 Amen. 00:41:24.879 --> 00:41:34.359 Well, I'm going to ask you to bow in prayer just for a few seconds. 00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:42.000 As I read a prayer to you which is only three sentences, John Stott used to pray this three 00:41:42.000 --> 00:41:47.160 sentence prayer when he woke up every morning, first thing. 00:41:47.160 --> 00:41:48.440 It's a morning prayer. 00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:50.079 We can pray it tonight. 00:41:50.079 --> 00:41:52.120 You can pray it tomorrow morning. 00:41:52.120 --> 00:41:53.519 Here it is. 00:41:53.519 --> 00:41:55.760 Let's pray. 00:41:55.760 --> 00:42:01.720 Heavenly Father, I pray that this day I may live in Your presence and please You more and 00:42:01.720 --> 00:42:03.920 more. 00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:10.800 For Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow You. 00:42:10.800 --> 00:42:16.680 Holy Spirit, I pray that this day You will fill me with Yourself and cause Your fruit 00:42:16.680 --> 00:42:18.760 to ripen in my life. 00:42:18.760 --> 00:42:27.039 Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 00:42:27.039 --> 00:42:30.039 Amen. 00:42:30.039 --> 00:42:34.840 That's truly a wonderful Trinitarian prayer to begin every day.