JOY
Gary Giddings – Broken Arrow, OK
Lk. 2:10-11, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” These were the words that the angel spoke to the shepherds the night Jesus was born. It is interesting that God gave this announcement of joy to such lowly, common workers like shepherds. God wants all people to know and experience the joy of knowing Jesus as Savior.
According to Webster Dictionary, the basic definition of joy is ‘The passion or emotion excited by the expectation of good.’ This is something that we all can be excited about: Jesus our Savior has saved us from our sins. BELIEVE, RECEIVE Him into your heart, and you will BECOME a child of God! We have joy because we have acquired the goodness of God through Jesus, we live with the expectation of more of God’s goodness through Jesus. Consider the Grace & Glory song, Joy, Joy Is Mine, my Savior divine – Comes to abide with me, with me, Comes to abide, ever to abide, My own loving Savior abideth with me.
The presence of Jesus in our heart gives us never-ending joy. No one and nothing can give us joy like Jesus. We like to have fun, but joy is better. A sister in the Lord told me years ago that fun is spoken from the lips, it is shallow. But joy is spoken from deeper within and resides deep within us. I want to look at each of the FOUR VERSES of the song, ‘Joy, Joy Is Mine’ [song credits to Mrs. J.H. Knowles and Mrs. J.F. Knapp].
1) He has come! He has come! My Redeemer has come, He has taken my heart as His own chosen home; At last I have given the welcome He sought, He has come, and His coming– all gladness has brought.
Rev. 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Jesus doesn’t want to enslave us; He wants to love us. To “sup” to “dine” with Him. We have fellowship and communion with Him when we give ourselves to Him. Jn. 15:10-11, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” First we welcome Jesus into our heart, and then we make Him welcome on the throne of our heart as we obey God’s Word. God showed His love to us by GIVING us His Son Jesus. We show our love to God by OBEYING Him. Obedience to God opens the way for us to experience His love and joy.
2) He has come! He has come! My Love and my Lord, Every thought of my being is swayed by His Word; He has come, and He rules in the realm of my soul, And His scepter is love, O blessed control!
Hab. 3:17-18, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” Jesus comes to rule in the realm of our soul, and He rules with love. Even if all things seem to fall apart, it is because of His unending love we can rejoice in the Lord. We may not understand it all, but we TRUST Him. 1 Pet. 1:6-8, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:” We can rejoice in the Lord, even when circumstances aren’t so great. Why? God is working in and through us to be the people that He wants us to be. It is our honor to praise Him when times are tough. After all, things will change, but God and His promises will not change! He will see us through and give us greater joy than we had before. Remember, joy is the expectation of the good coming.
3) He has come! He has come! O happiest heart, He has given His Word that He will not depart; No trouble can enter, no evil can come To the heart where the God of peace has His home.
Heb. 13:5-6, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.” This is the happy heart of joy, when we live according to the promise that God will always be with us. We may feel afraid when certain things happen to us or to others. But God is greater than whatever may be trying to threaten us. Our body is God’s temple and He takes care of us!
2 Cor. 1:8-10, “For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us;” The Apostle Paul is our “pattern racer” he learned to trust God in very difficult times, not ourselves. We don’t deny our feelings but we learn to look to the One who is the Deliverer, our Lord Jesus Christ.
4) He has come to abide, And holy must be The place where my Lord deigns to banquet with me; And this is my praise, Lord, since Thou art come, Made meet for Thy presence my heart as Thy home.
Jn. 15:4-5, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” A relationship of love between Jesus and each one of us. We love Him because He first loved us. Because His love is never-ending and His love never wavers, we learn to trust Him more and more. Continued trusting, we abide, remain, dwell in Him. This relationship has a business side to it in the sense that if we don’t trust Him in a practical way, we won’t experience the joy of this relationship. But God is patient and longsuffering and He assures us in times of trouble. 1 Pet. 3:15, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:” Sanctify means “to make holy, purify or consecrate” (Strong). We are to separate ourselves FROM the world and UNTO Jesus. Our lives can’t be joyful in the true sense of the word without Jesus ruling and reigning in our heart. We can’t be involved in sinful things and still have a good relationship with the Lord. We must walk in the light, and this light is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, the chorus:
Joy! Joy is mine, my Savior divine – Comes to abide with me, with me, Comes to abide, ever to abide, My own loving Savior abideth with me.
No one can take this joy from you, only as you allow someone to take it. But we are learning to TRUST our Lord and Savior in all things and to be the people that God wants us to be. With His joy in our heart, we can continually worship and serve Him all the days of our lives.
