Life Unexpected: The Joy of the LORD is My Strength
Anthony Connington
Part 1 - The Father’s Joy In The Son
Part 2 - The Word Gives Joy
Part 3 - A Joy Restored
Focus: Through Christ we can partake in the life of God and share in the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:17
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
We can have joy in the Holy Spirit
PART 1: The Father’s Joy In The Son
What does it mean to have joy, a true joy that lasts. A joy that can be experienced no matter the unexpected curveballs life throws our way.
First, let us define what joy actually is and is not.
Joy is not the same thing as happiness, though they are often associated together. There are subtle and important differences between the two.
Happiness is a very good thing to experience and it feels amazing when you have it. Unfortunately, on this side of eternity, being happy is only a temporary experience. It is a fleeting emotion that comes and goes and is never constant in our lives.
Joy is similar in that it too is expressed at times as an emotion. However, unlike the emotion of happiness, joy is much more than just an emotion.
“Joy is closely related to gladness and happiness, although joy is more of a state of being than an emotion; a result of a choice” –The Lexham Bible Dictionary
“Joy is a state of delight and well-being that results from knowing and serving God…Joy is the fruit of a right relation with God, It is not something people can create by their own efforts.” –Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary
Joy is something that is best defined outside of ourselves.
Joy comes not by the pursuit of enlightenment and gaining knowledge and wisdom. Nor is Joy found in seeking your own happiness, personal pleasure, and fulfillment. Instead, true joy is found in giving your life away to God and surrendering yourself to His Lordship.
True and lasting joy is only found in God Himself.
God is not a cosmic killjoy as some have claimed. In fact the word joy appears over 150 times in the Bible and if you include the words joyous and joyful that number exceeds 200 times.
The word “rejoice" also appears in the Bible over 200 times.
The fact that these words are mentioned so often shows us that God is in the business of giving and receiving joy. This comes from his very nature, He is a God of Joy.
Psalm 16:11
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Joy is best defined in God. God Himself is the very definition of Joy.
Let's take a moment and look at this from another angle, the perspective of the Trinity.
Here are a few passages that describe the relationship between the Father and the Son.
Isaiah 42:1
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.
This passage is speaking about the future messiah to come. The word “soul” here is speaking of God’s essence and fullness of being. All of God takes great joy and delight in the messiah.
Later we see this same type of language exemplified at the baptism of Jesus.
Matthew 3:16-17
When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”
God the Father is fully pleased and delights in His beloved Son.
This is how the Triune God relates within Himself, full of delight and joy for one another. The Father perfectly expresses delight, and joy to the Son, the One in whom He is well pleased. The Son relishes in and fully shares and enjoys that same joy with the Father. The Holy Spirit then proceeds from both the Father and Son as the perfect expression of that same joy He shares with the Father and the Son.
Michael Reeves says it best when he writes…
“First, if there is nothing more precious to the Father than (the Son), there cannot be any blessing higher than him or anything better than him. In every way, Jesus himself must be the very great reward of the gospel... He is the treasure of the Father, shared with us. Sometimes we find ourselves tiring of Jesus, stupidly imagining that we have seen all there is to see and used up all the pleasure there is to be had in him. We get spiritually bored. But Jesus has satisfied the mind and heart of the infinite God of eternity. Our boredom is simple blindness. If the Father can be infinitely and eternally satisfied in him, then he must be overwhelmingly all-sufficient for us. In every situation, for eternity.” –Michael Reeves, Rejoicing In Christ
Do you see it? That same joy can be ours through the Holy Spirit. We see this in Jesus in one of Jesus' prayers, He invites us to partake in that same joy.
John 17:24-25
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”
This prayer shows us that Jesus desires to share with us the same intimacy and joy He has with His Father.
Through the Holy Spirit, the Father shares His Son and the Son shares His Father with us.
Through the Holy Spirit we are invited to partake in that same love and joy the Father and Son share together.
“To be indwelt by the Holy Spirit is to be indwelt by the Joy of God in God. To be full of the Holy Spirit is to be overflowing with God’s Joy in God. We are not left to our own limited personalities. We are given divine assistance to enjoy what is infinitely enjoyable. God the Spirit is our indwelling ability to enjoy God” –John Piper
The true meaning of joy is to partake and share in the Joy of God that He has within Himself. To know the Joy of God in God. This is to know God, to experience His joy.
The question needs to be asked, how can we practically do this, share in the joy of God?
PART 2: The Word Gives Joy
We partake in the Joy of God in God through receiving His Word
The Old Testament prophet says it best when he says…
Jeremiah 15:16
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
When we eat and take in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit imparts His joy to us. This Joy that we receive then becomes a great strength to us.
No matter the unexpected things that come our way, the Word of God is our guiding light. The Word of God will sustain you and bring you great joy even in the midst of life's most difficult moments.
We see a great example of this in Nehemiah. The people had returned to Jerusalem after their exile in Babylon but things were not what they used to be. Things had changed. For many this was a grievous thing. Although the temple was rebuilt, it was not restored to its former glory. The walls were just rebuilt, the city was just beginning to heal, and things were not as some had remembered. Then Ezra begins reading the Law and we see this brings comfort, joy, and strength to the people.
Nehemiah 8:1-3
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.
Nehemiah 8:9-12
And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
The people were grieved because they were not as they once were. They were starting over and rebuilding their lives and identity in God after the exile.
When we hit the reset button in our own lives, it is God’s Word that will become our strength.
The Joy of the LORD is my strength comes from a deep relationship with God and is given to us through the Word of God. By faith we receive this Word and then choose to live and share in the joy of God.
But what happens if our joy is stolen from us?
What if we feel like we have lost our joy?
What do we do to begin this rebuilding process like they did in Nehemiah's day?
Where do we start?
PART 3: A Joy Restored
To answer these questions, let's take a look at Psalm 51:1-12
Behind the scenes of this song is a story, the story of David
Here is King David’s darkest moment in his life. He has just murdered his good friend Uriah, taken his wife by force, got her pregnant, and then shortly after the baby is born God kills the infant as a judgment against David’s sin.
David’s world is turned upside down. Things are not as they are supposed to be and it is because of him. All of this is his fault.
Psalm 51:1-12
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.6 Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right[b] spirit within me.11 Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
The Father reconciles us to Himself by joining us to his incarnate Son, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is through this reconciliation we can now partake in the joy of the LORD.
Second City Church - Pastor Rollan Fisher