Joy --what a powerful emotion that word defines. And we're in that season of the year in which "joy" is the emphasis. "Joy to the world; the Lord is come. Let earth receive her king." Oh, we'll hear --and sing --those words a lot in the next few days." Let's study about this very Christian emotion today. What do you say?. Stay tuned.
A hearty welcome to you, my friend. We're glad you've joined our Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way to become a Christian and to live the beautiful Christian life. His is the best way to live life here that's ever been introduced to the family of man. That means the Christ way to live is different from any other way. A Christian doesn't have to be apologetic about believing and living differently. Of course, he's different. There just has to be a difference between, good and better and better and the best, and since the Lord's Way is the best way to live this life, the smallest compromise with any other way, dilutes it and renders it --w-e-l-l --not so good --maybe good alright, but not better or best. That's true with hamburgers or furniture polish or laundry soap or automobiles or anything else, even faith. Say, we're glad you're with us. It's our prayer that we'll both be blessed.
And today we're studying about Christian joy. A dictionary definition of the word "joy" as a noun is "the emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires." In the case of the Christian, it'd salvation and eternal life. My Webster's dictionary doesn't define joy as a state of happiness and doesn't even give happiness as a synonym for joy. It defines "happiness" as a state of "pleasurable satisfaction." So, there's a difference between joy and happiness. The word "joy" is found 165 times in the King James Version of the Bible, but the word "happiness" doesn't appear there at all, not even once. I thought, to avoid any misunderstanding, it'd be good to define what we're studying about before we begin.
While I'm thinking about it, let me remind you that this program is different in several ways from most other religious broadcasts. For one thing, we're closed captioned for the hearing impaired. Another thing; you don't hear us pleading with you to send us money, because we're sponsored on this station by churches of Christ and individual Christians right here in the broadcast area of this station. And you know what? These people'd dearly love to have you attend their Bible study classes and worship assemblies. Why not do that? If you need help locating a nearby congregation, or knowing more about them and the times of their meetings, let us help you. Write us, In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or our e-mail address is Searchtv@aol.com. If you prefer, you may use our toll-free telephone number to call and talk to someone here. That number is 1-800-321-8633. Ken Helterbrand's will lead us now as we sing.
We're studying about "joy" today --not "happiness" necessarily, but joy: "The emotion that's evoked by a state of well-being." Surely, with that definition, the Christian, --one who's been cleansed of the guilt of all past sins, and by the grace and calling of God stands justified before Him, ought to be living a life that's filled with "joy."
You may've heard the story of the lady in Galveston, Texas who owned a parakeet named "Chippie." One day while she was cleaning the bottom of Chippies cage with the canister vacuum cleaner with no attachment, the telephone rang. She turned to pick it up and as she did she heard the horrible sound of Chippie being sucked into the vacuum. Quickly, she turned the vacuum off, hurriedly opened it, and found Chippie --stunned as you might well imagine --b-u-t still alive, and covered with dust. So she grabbed him up and ran into the bathroom, turned on the faucet and held him under the water to wash him off. When she'd finished, she used her blow-dryer to send a blast of hot air onto Chippie to dry him off.
A day or two later someone asked her how Chippie was doing. "Well," she said, "Chippie doesn't sing much any more. He just sort of sits and stares." Chippie had "lost his song." Many people, too, have been battered by life and have lost their song. Life does get difficult at times, and I'm sure there are people who feel like they've been run through the vacuum, covered with dirt, hung under the faucet and blasted with a giant burst of hot air, who like Chippie, see no reason at all to sing a song of joy.
The inspired psalmist pictures God's Old Testament people so, as they're held in captivity. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down," he said, "yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song; and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion." But how, he asks, "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" (Psalm 137:1-4).
Isaiah tells of a time when war and privation had taken away the song of the people of Moab. "Gladness is taken away, and joy from the plentiful field. In the vineyards there will be no singing, nor will there be shouting...", he said in Isaiah 16:10.
Americans have more leisure time, more money to enjoy leisure, and more opportunities to indulge in fun than any people ever. To many, it might seem that Americans should be the most joyful people on earth, but it isn't so. For example, you've probably noticed the gloom in the faces of people in an elevator, or at an airport, or even in the supermarket or shopping mall. Have you noticed the scowl on the faces of so many of our youth, who're blessed more than any generation ever in our nation's history --in a material way.
Well, perhaps we need to know that real "joy" is not there. We need to know what real "joy" is all about. It's commonly mistaken for mere fun, or hilarity, or laughter. It's more than that. We usually think of the fellow who is hilariously funny as an unusually joyful fellow, and speak of him as such. And joy isn't spawned in the rides at a fun park, or in the cheering section at the ball game. It's really more than that; it's a quality of character. It isn't carnal, it's spiritual in nature. It's called the "joy of the Lord" in Nehemiah 8:10. The Scripture we red at the beginning today in Galatians describe it as "fruit of the Spirit." "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control" (Gal. 5:22-23). Did you notice that it appears second in the list of nine characteristics of a spiritual life? I'm not sure the Holy Spirit put them in numerical order as a matter of priority, but I noticed (did you?) that in that catalog, joy is sandwiched in between love and peace, as though there may be a very close relationship there --with love on one side and peace on the other and joy right in the middle. I'm of the persuasion there may've been a reason for it!
So, if we're searching for joy at the fun park or at the State Fair or at an athletic contest, we'll probably be disappointed. If we're looking for it in outward circumstances, or physical conditions, it isn't there, my friend. Real joy is in a right relationship with God, the Father, and transcends all the hardships and disasters, or excitement and success that life deals to us. Christian joy lies in the firm belief that God is, and that, come what may, He's present and He cares, and He'll never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5). It's only in this context that such admonitions as that found in James 1:2-3, really have meaning. Perhaps you recall the words of James: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." A person finds joy in all that God does through Him and by Him and for Him.
We were talking about Chippie, the bird who'd lost his song. He just sort of sits and stares. Think a moment about the songs of joy you know. Are there any such songs being written today? W-e-l-l, --perhaps you can name one or two, but most of us will have trouble thinking of any. How many joyful songs being can you think of that're being sung by people in the work place as you go about your work, people around you, are they humming or singing songs of joy (peace)? Most of the popular songs nowadays are sad, or tragic, --or dirty. Where are all the joyful songs in America?
Despite the fact that some people say they don't attend church on Sunday because "it's boring," there are more songs of joy in hymn books than any place else in the world. In other words, Christians sing more about their joy than anyone else. The reasons? Well, they're many of them. When the world became intolerable, the psalmist said, for example, he was not dismayed: "God is our refuge and strength," he sang, "a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved" (Psa. 46:1-2). Remember now, the book of Psalms was Israel's songbook, so we know, from all the songs and hymns of joy, they hadn't lost their song. For today's disciple, the untrammeled life is life in Jesus Christ. We shouldn't fear or worry about tomorrow when our light and life is Jesus Christ, God's Son. He counselled his people not to worry (Matt. 6:25-33). Why? Because God is working in His world and in the lives of His people. To worry would be to show a lack of trust in the heavenly Father.
Every year at Christmas time the old standard songs of joy are sung again and again and again, over and over. Among these, few rank higher than "Joy To The World," (which incidentally is just as appropriate in July as in December. But, why should there be joy in a world like ours over the birth of a baby some two thousand years ago in a small town like Bethlehem in Judea? All around us there's war and strife and starvation, inhumanity toward others, evil leaders, serial killers, rapists, and oh, just a whole host of other wrongs. How can anyone sing a song of joy in a world like ours? "Joy To The World" tells it all. It says "Joy to the world --"The Lord is come!"
But someone might charge Christians with not caring about the rest of the world, as they meet together to sing their songs of joy. Is it true that Christians are so busy preparing for the next life that they ignore the evils in this life? No, no not at all. Significant things are happening in church these days for those who need a song of joy. As a matter of fact, "God's kingdom is not food and drink, (meaning, it isn't about physical necessities; it isn't about the stock market and jobs and all that), but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17 McCord). Look at that triad again, will you? --righteousness and peace and joy.
It's interesting that the short New Testament letter of Paul's to the Philippian Christians which consists of only four chapters, only 104 verses, sometimes called "the epistle of joy," the word "joy" is found six times, and the word "rejoice" ten times. The message is "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Be joyful. And yet, Paul wrote the letter in and from a Roman prison cell; imprisoned unjustly --by the way-- for preaching Christ, the prince of peace and joy.
Have you lost your song? In the fifty-first Psalm, King David described what's left of his life following his shameful sin with Bathsheba and the subsequent sin of the cover-up that consisted of the murder of her husband. Here he pleaded earnestly with God for his mercy . . ."blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. . .Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. . .wash me, and I shall be as white as snow. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me." Then he said, --Listen now: "Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. . .Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." David wanted his song of joy back, --the joy that had been lost by sin. Few things can rob us so completely of our song as sin. We must be sure that our joy is not lost because of sin; and if it is that we seek God's pardon at once. Perhaps David's prayer of confession and repentance could be your prayer. If you are not a child of God, would you submit to the will of God in repentance? "...Now God commands all men everywhere to repent" (Acts 17:30). And would you follow that repentance by being baptized for the remission of your sins, that you, too, might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, just as those three thousand souls did on Pentecost day? Then you can rejoice as others, who've humbly bowed to the will of God for your life? Oh, I hope you will. God bless you to this end.
In this program, I've tried to show you that real joy isn't found in material circumstances, but spiritual values and a right relationship with God. What's sometimes mistaken for genuine joy is mere fun, hilarity and --or laughter. Joy is fruit of the Spirit of God in the Christian. There are more songs of joy in the hymn book than any other source. Look again at that dictionary definition of "joy." It's "the emotion evoked by well-being, success or good fortune, or the prospect of possessing what one desires." Now apply that to the Christian and his hopes and desires. A Christian has forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ. The emotion that's evoked by that thought just has to fit that definition of joy. The prospect of possessing eternal life surely ought to summon a joyful spirit, don't you think?
But I must sound the same warning that W. Phillip Keller does in his little book, A Gardener Looks At The Fruits Of The Spirit." On page 101 he speaks of "Counterfeit Joy." And here is what he says, "Out of a sense of solemn responsibility to the reader I must state here that there is such a thing as counterfeit joy. It is one of the calamities of Christendom that often people will pursue pleasant sensations believing implicitly that the gratification of sensual desire is to know the joy of the Lord. This is a dreadful delusion that frequently leads the victim to even deeper despair and dismay.
"It is perfectly possible," he says, "to produce the illusion of joy in crowds by the use of emotional mood music, 'soul' songs, so called; syncopated rhythms; a swinging beat; all can generate deep emotional responses assumed to be joy.
"The same is true of sensationalism in preaching --the use of sentimental stories or over-dramatization of a person's delivery. Reliance is placed upon sensuality rather than upon the Spirit of God to convict, enlighten, and convert the soul." He's right. This sort of a hand-clapping, foot-stomping, hallelujah pep-rally is better defined as manipulation. True biblical joy is of the Lord. It's a still, quiet inner working of God that empowers a person to overcome all the evil the world can hand out, and keep on singing.
Well, I'm glad you were with us for our study today and I pray very sincerely that you've been blessed by it. We're here to do all the good possible, and we pray we'll do no one any harm at all.
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