Joy

[00:00:00] This audio sermon is provided by AnabaptistSermons.com and may be freely copied and distributed. You may not sell or edit this sermon. Our prayer is that you would be blessed by this ministry. I want to speak on joy. Things are changing fast and we have no idea what's around the corner. But one thing about joy is not something that anybody can take from you. You can give it up, but no one can take it from you. [00:00:35] It has something that you have to give up yourself. It's not something that can be taken from mankind. And as I think of joy, I think across the places that I've been, some of the people that I've met. One, I had an uncle, his name was Phil Eichhorn, and the man was crippled. And a lot of you probably remember Daniel. You'd remember him. He always had a smile on his face. When he got up to preach, he would probably wait 30, 40 seconds before he started preaching. And he always had a huge smile on him. But as far as life goes, material-wise, he was a poor man. Health-wise, he didn't have much. But this wasn't something that could be taken from him. [00:01:21] Joy is something that God gives us. It's not something that can be taken. It can be relinquished, but it can't be taken from us. I have been in Romania. I've seen joy there. I remember a crippled man that was laid in bed probably for six, seven years. And one day he was healed. He didn't have a perfect walk, but he had a huge smile on his face. He knew who his God was. And there was another man there that I ran a combine with him. [00:01:53] Just the most pleasant guy. Even though we couldn't talk, he always had a smile on his face. Then you meet other people that have a lot of finances and they have a nice body and everything is fine. Very unhappy, but it just boils down to choices. And God gives us those choices. For my first reading, I'd like to turn back to Leviticus. Chapter 1, verse 3. It's amazing how much God even talks about joy in the Old Testament. [00:02:31] These first couple of verses are not going to talk much about joy, but it's something that leads to joy. In verse 3, If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish, He shall offer it of His own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle, the congregation before the Lord. And here we notice a voluntary thing. If we're going to come to God, we must do it on voluntary. As you look through the Strong's, there's a number of them. There's probably over 20 listings of voluntary or free will. [00:03:04] And God asks that if we come, we bring the best, and we do it of our own free will, and we do it voluntarily. Let's turn up to Deuteronomy chapter 16. This lists three of the feasts. And as we look into Jewish culture, there was a total of 12 feasts, including 12 institutions. That was including the year of Jubilee and also the Sabbath. But there was 12. This is a listing of three. [00:03:36] I'll just start here reading in verse 10. And thou shalt keep the Feast of Weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee. Here again we notice that if we're going to come to God, it's going to have to be freewill. And this Feast of Weeks would represent the coming of the Holy Spirit coming into our lives. In verse 11, And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son and thy daughters, [00:04:08] and the servants and thy maidservants and the Levite that is within thy gate, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there. Here God is asking that if we come before him, we're supposed to come rejoicing. That includes everyone of our household. And I think the male is responsible to do this, but everything under his hierarchy is to be rejoicing in God. And I think it's our responsibility as Christians in our homes to see that things are done joyfully. [00:04:43] If it's not done joyfully, there's something wrong. God is a God of emotions and God does have a spirit of joy to him. And I think we as his people also need to have a sense of joy. And if we are in a situation of responsibility, I think it's also our calling to see that our people are joyful. Joyful. And joyful is a whole lot more than happiness. If you flip up to James 1, 2, it says, Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that they're trying your faith. [00:05:16] Work with patience, therefore let patience have her perfect work in you, that you may be perfect and tired and want of nothing. Here it talks about joy when you fall into changing things, things that are difficult. And as we live in this world, we might face some real trying times. But there is no reason to walk around with the long faces. God asks us, according to verse 10, to rejoice. Verse 12, And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt, and thou shalt observe to do these statutes. [00:05:49] We as Christians, one great reason for joy is that we remember that we came out of the world. We all as Christians have come out of Egypt. And Egypt is a type of bondage, is a type of slavery. It says it offers a lot of satisfaction in life, but it offers bondage and it's a robber of peace. We are to remember when we come before God that we are brought out of Egypt and we have a reason to rejoice. Not only in this life, but the life to come. Verse 13, And thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine. [00:06:26] Now this Feast of Tabernacles would probably be a little bit earlier in this time of the year but it's a time when people gathered booths and made temporary dwellings to dwell in and it represents that God is going to come to dwell with mankind. We are here only for a short time but the main point is that God is going to dwell with mankind and he's going to make our abode with us. This is another reason to rejoice. [00:06:58] In verse 14, and this is also to observe in the Feast of Tabernacles, And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservants, and thy maidservants, and the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow that are within thy gates, is the same as the other one where to rejoice. Verse 15, Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the places which the Lord shall choose. Because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in thine increase and all the works of thine hand, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Here we notice rejoice coming up again. [00:07:30] That we would rejoice before God. Three times a year shall all the males who appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, in the feast of tabernacles. And again now the feast of unleavened bread, I didn't come across that one yet. But this is the time that when the Jewish people would go through their houses, they would set aside a week that they would put all leaven out of their house and they would keep searching. The last day they would get a goose feather as a ritual. [00:08:03] They would go through all the cupboards and any cracks they could find. They went through the thing of sweeping it out, cleaning everything out of leaven. What God is showing mankind that to have joy you need to be rid of sin was what God was pointing to that we needed to take great care to get rid of sin. If there is one thing in things that will rob a Christian of joy, it is sin. Sin is a great robber of joy. That is the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty. [00:08:37] And we're supposed to bring an offering, but I think as we bring an offering, we're supposed to come with joy. I think God wants to see a smile on our face when we get together. We should not be a people of long face. We should be a people of joy. If I would take you back to the Anabaptists and the times that they lived under, when they was facing death, They didn't know what they were going to do for an occupation, what they were going to do for their children, where they were going to sleep. [00:09:11] One thing that had been noticeable was their smile on their face, I think. And I really believe that their face done more testifying than their preaching did. And I think it probably does the same thing for us. What our faces show to the world, what do we have inside here? What we have in here is going to show on our face. And God is asking here that we don't come before him empty. And to have joy, we're going to have to have the Holy Spirit living in our lives. [00:09:43] And we talked a little bit about the Feast of Weeks. It represents the coming of the Holy Spirit. And this is one of the fruits of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy. That is the second one of the list of the fruits of the Spirit. And as you take the list of the fruits of the Spirit and you go into the deeds of the flesh, there is two for every one of the lists of the Spirits. And the opposite of joy is uncleanness and lasciviousness. I think these you will find will be the greatest robbers of joy. [00:10:19] And uncleanness would have to deal with morals, sexual purity. The next one is lasciviousness, and that is just a driving loss for things. That might be materially, but it would have a tendency leading toward immorality. And if we're involved in these things, this is a very great robber of peace, I mean of joy. God also experiences joy. As we talked a little bit about, God is a God of emotions. You know, God has emotions such as love, joy, anger, and also humor. [00:10:56] I think God has these emotions. In Zephaniah 3.17 it says, The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save thee. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing. Kind of brings out some of the emotions that God has. God does have joy and he joys over his people as we get together this evening. I think God smiles with approval as we get together and study his word and we enjoy each other's fellowship. [00:11:31] And I think it brings a sense of joy. As we look into the world and we see the turmoil out there, it can be depressing and discouraging. But we as Christians have a whole lot more to look forward to than what the world has to offer. Often people get joy and happiness mixed up. Now the word happiness has a real word and that is hap. You get such words as happen, happenings, haphazard, hapless, and happenstance. You know, as a Christian, let's not get our joy and happiness mixed up. [00:12:05] Sometimes we might not always have the biggest smile on our face as if we just won the lottery or something. But there's a deep underlying joy. It's something that is foundational. It's based on something. Not just something like happiness. Happiness can be just happenstance. If something good happens, we'll be happy. If something bad happens, then we're unhappy. That should not be the Christian's life. That has just a lot of ups and downs. [00:12:35] But we as a godly people, I think, are more even-keeled and have a solid foundation to rest our joy upon. As we think of happiness, it's not something that's enduring. If you look to Hollywood, some of the people with the most beautiful bodies, some of the richest, and the fame, everything that the world would say should make people happy. And as you look into their setting, they're the ones with the greatest rate of suicide is Hollywood, you know, that's, that is sad. But as you look into the church, the true church of God, will you ever find suicide? You know, it might happen here and there, but it is, it'd be very, very rare. [00:13:23] As a whole, those that truly know God are always joyful. It is always joyful. If you're not having joy, there's a reason behind it. And Habakkuk read something in Habakkuk 3.17. It's kind of interesting. It says, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from the field, And there shall be no herds in the stall, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. [00:13:58] Here Habakkuk is saying, if everything is taken from me, everything is wiped away, I'm still going to have joy. I'm going to rejoice in the God of my salvation. You know, God wants us to be happy. I think God is a God of joy, and it should just be a natural thing that we as people are happy, but we need to base our happiness if it makes God happy. If it doesn't make God happy, a lot of times it will not make us happy, even though it might seem as a chain on your feet, you can't do what you want. [00:14:36] But I think God wants us to have joy, and that's the reason he sets boundaries. But joy should be the foundation of happiness. I would like to turn to John 15 verse 11. This is what Christ said. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is something that Christ gave us. He came to reconcile us back to God and to cover that sin that we could never pay Him. [00:15:09] It doesn't matter what happens in life. And joy can't be taken because of happenings. You know, Isaiah, if we base our joy on the things around about us, we're going to be going up and down. But if we base our joy upon what Christ has done for us, that is something that is solid and is not going to be changing. Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord shall be your strength. And as you think of Nehemiah coming out of Babylon and seeing all the walls knocked down for, I don't know how many years, well over 50 years. [00:15:46] And at that amount of time you will have trees and stuff growing in the walls and the rocks. You'll have vines and just a huge mess. But Nehemiah said, the joy of the Lord shall be your strength. In a short amount of time they had the walls built. And joy is a great motivator. If you don't have joy, your work is going to lag, everything is going to be lagged. But if you have joy, I can see a picture of Nehemiah, the person that has joy. It's not based on happenings around here. [00:16:17] He can face the most trying times and he can pick up pieces and he has a hope and he goes on. As we think of joy, I'm going to list a few people here. Joseph, Daniel, Paul There was a man, I don't know if you're familiar with this name or not, Richard Wurmbrandt He had passed away probably 10-15 years ago He was born in Romania and he spent 17 years of his life in prison [00:16:50] I'll ask you the question If any of these men would not have joy, would they have been successful? You know, all these men faced some real dire things. You think of Joseph in Egypt in the prison, taken from his family. The setting wasn't making for a happy setting, but I think he had his basis to base his joy on. He knew who God was. Daniel, also taken from his family, in a foreign land, strange language. [00:17:24] He faced obstacles that was unbelievable, but Daniel went through a number of kings and he stood at the end, died of old age. The others all was killed with a sword. You think of Paul, think of an angry young man thinking that he had it all together. He met Christ on the Damascus road and a man that also faced much jail time. But as you read Paul's letters, you hear a lot of joy. [00:18:00] Not what Nero was doing or the happenings around him, but Paul was a joyful man. And if you take the opposite of this, think of the young rich ruler in Matthew 19 or Luke 18. You know, Christ asked him to forgive, give up all his things, and he walked away sorrowful. And the man's life was probably a sorry ending also one. You know, it's not the things around us that brings joy, but it's who we know. [00:18:33] Joy is the gladness of heart. What are some of the things that must happen to experience joy? One thing I think is gratitude. Just gratitude for regardless whatever it is. In 1 Thessalonians 5.18 it says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will of Christ Jesus concerning you. It says in everything give thanks. I quoted you James 1, 2. It talks about divers temptations or trying times. [00:19:03] We are to rejoice in this. Here Paul is saying that we are to give thanks, for this is the will of Christ Jesus concerning you in everything. Not just the good happenings, but this is also the bad. And Jesus said this one thing, for the sense of joy, blessed are they that mourn. This might seem like an opposite, but in Matthew 4, it says blessed are they that mourn. It's part of the Beatitudes. But I think one thing for a sense of joy, we need to come to the point where we see who we are. [00:19:39] And come to Jesus Christ as a sinner, being repentant and having a walk with him. I'll draw your mind back to Jacob. As he crossed the Brook Jabbok, he met a being there that he wrestled with. And I think it boils down, was he going to do it his way, or was he going to do it God's way? And I think, I know that Jacob gave up, and he was going to do it God's way. It says that, you know, the angel touched the thigh, and he walked different. [00:20:12] Jacob was a different man, and I would also suggest that he had a different look on his face. Before he was meeting Esau with anxiety, stress, how was he going to face this? How was this all going to be played out? Once he gave his will to God, seeing who he was, that he was totally hopeless, I think Jacob could go on with joy and a stress-free life. That's one of the things of Foundations for Joy. Another one is giving. It says it is more blessed to give than to receive. [00:20:44] This is taken out of Acts, but it's the quote of Christ. It is more blessed to give than to receive. A person that is always wanting people to give to him will never be a joyful person. He will always want more, but a person that is giving will find joy, regardless how much you have. The next one is service. Let's turn to Matthew 20, 25-28. But Jesus called them unto him and said, You know that the princes of Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. [00:21:23] In other words, the Gentiles, unbelievers, if you're great, you have somebody under you. You have authority over people. This is what you strive for. But here's what Christ said, But it shall not be so among you. But whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. I would draw your attention to the face of Christ. As you picture him, how do you picture him? You're probably not an ecstatic person, but a man of joy. [00:21:57] Regardless of the circumstances that were coming, there was a peace about him. He was not a depressing person to be with, but a person that you spent much time with, you felt lifted up, you felt lifted up in your spirit. That is one of the people that we need to be in. And then another one would be Holy Spirit. In Acts 13.52 it says, And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit. As we are filled with the Spirit, automatically joy will come. If you do not have joy in your life, do you have the Holy Spirit? [00:22:32] I don't think the two can be separated. I'll ask the question, does the Christian have sorrow? I don't think that we're always going to be an ecstatic people. You know, there's things going to come into our lives such as death or something like this that we wonder about. But I think there's still a sense of peace and happiness about that person regardless what he faces. And the people that he is with can also sense that peace about him. [00:23:03] In 2 Corinthians 7, 10 it says, for godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of but the sorrow of the world worketh death now there's two different kinds of sorrow here now godly sorrow worketh repentance and there's going to be times in our life that we are going to grieve and it's a normal part of the human experience if there's death or there's a brother that walks away from Christ there is a sense of sorrow [00:23:34] But it's not where it destroys us. You know, it's not that long we're back on our feet, but worldly sorrow, hey, work is death. Death, as we think of depression, self-pity, a victim mentality, and bitterness. So this is how the world views things, and it will come in to destroy you. In death or loss, there is a grieving which is good, and that's just typical for Christians. We weep with those that weep, and we rejoice with those that rejoice. There's a story I would like to read. [00:24:08] This one here happened in the 1930s. He was a wealthy man. He was a Jew. His name was Viktor Frankl. He lived in Austria in the 1930s. As you know what happened, as Hitler's army came marching through, he being a Jewish man, faced a lot of consequences. And he was a neurologist. He worked on brains. He was a very smart man. [00:24:38] He had a beautiful wife. He had a row of children. He was a contented man. But as time progressed, the Nazis came, and as a Jew, he was rounded up. He was hauled into a boxcar, and he was sent back to Germany. There they took everything from him. He lost his wife. He lost his children. They took everything. They shaved his head and they took his clothes and they gave him prison garb. [00:25:09] And he stayed in a room with nine other men. He had a bed six foot by eight foot where the nine people stayed and they had two blankets and deprived of food. And Viktor Frankl said he found joy there, more than what he had in his previous life. You know, it's amazing. It is a lot of just what you think. And I don't even know that Viktor Frankl was a Christian. [00:25:42] It doesn't say that he was a Jewish man. He might have came to that. But he gave a number of things that if you do, you're not going to be happy. I'll just read some of what he says. You constantly suffer from feelings of anger and bitterness toward others and life in general. Don't be a robber of joy. And picture yourself in his situation. You know, he was facing death, but he found joy there. You're always struggling with perfectionism and feelings of never measuring up. [00:26:15] You see other people as barriers to your joy. Remember what I said, joy can never be taken from you, but you can relinquish it. You are obsessed with your appearance, clothing, jewelry, makeup, and body shape. If you're obsessed with that, it won't be for your joy. You suffer from excessive shyness. You have difficulty experiencing meaningful relationship with others. [00:26:50] That's probably one thing that Victor experienced in that tight quarters was relationship. You feel stressed much of the time and can't relax when you're not busy. You're in constant conflict with others, trying to bend everyone else's to your will. You feel that you're a right in almost all situations. Be a robber of joy. If you find yourself always comparing yourselves with others and judging others by your personal criteria, be a robber of joy. You experience an inability to trust God or even believe that he exists. [00:27:25] If you experience one or more of these symptoms, much of the time you will have to admit you don't have joy. And this is what that man wrote them. You know, as we think of the world that we live in, we have no idea the things that we're going to be facing 10, 15, 20 years from now. But that should have no jurisdiction on the joy that we experience. Regardless of what mankind does to us, there's no reason that we don't have joy. [00:27:57] And it's so incredible that as you read of martyrs gone, it always speaks of their face, their singing as they went. Just a deep sense of joy. You know, as we think of the world that we live in, I just want to encourage you to, joy never has to be taken from you. If tonight you experience what Victor did, would you have joy in the morning yet? [00:28:31] If you don't, it's something that you relinquish. The biblical recipe for joy is gratitude, humility, forgiveness, faith, hope, patience, love, and a serving's heart. If you want to get rid of your joy, try this. Resentment, anger, fear, worry, materialism, greed, jealousy, complaining, and pride, and unforgiveness. [00:29:04] If you want to get rid of your joy, try any of these. You'll wake up tomorrow morning a different person. Your joy will be gone if you practice these things. It will rob you from it. But let us be as a godly people. Gratitude. Just, you don't know how Victor experienced this, how to say that he was grateful. But the sun comes up for every man, the sun sets for every man. And sometimes it's a beautiful picture of what God paints. We can be thankful for that. We can be thankful for our relationship with God. [00:29:39] There are so many things that we can be grateful for. It's not the negative things that we want to focus on. Focus on the things that are going for you and be grateful for them. Youth, lay up a good foundation for life. Follow the biblical principles. Love, humility, forgiveness, faith, hope, patience, love, and a serving heart. There is going to be a day coming when we're going to stand before an almighty God. [00:30:12] You know, as we read a little bit in the Old Testament, God wants the people that are rejoicing people, free will, voluntary, want to serve him. And I think a lot of this boils down to just a plain thought pattern. In Philippians 4.8, Paul gives us a list of things to think about. And Paul was a man that faced great obstacles in his life. He was a complete changed man from the angry young man that he was, young ambitious man. [00:30:45] This is his recipe for it. This is finally Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things. You know, I think, or I know that it's a thought process. If we think negative, we're probably going to react negative. In Proverbs 23 it says, [00:31:16] As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. You know, if Victor could face these trials and have joy, why can't we in America face more joy? And a lot of times I think that we're getting involved in materialism, greed, jealousy, some of this list here, complaining, pride, and unforgiveness. Let us not practice those things. Let's practice the biblical principle and think good things. [00:31:49] It's just, I know how my mind works. If I keep anger or resentment towards somebody, I start thinking revenge and I start playing things in my mind how I can get even with that person. And that's, it's not good and it will eventually get you. We need to be a people to renounce those things. I think it is the trick of the enemy to bring thoughts of revenge into our mind how we need to keep things equal. [00:32:20] Well, if somebody has done something bad to us, things need to be settled, but that is not the life of the Christian. As we think on those things, we will play them out. Solomon said, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. As you think of ill will and resentment, you might think that you can keep it under cover, but there's times in your lives and situations will pop up that you will do things that you wish you never would have done. And I think it boils right down to a thought process. [00:32:54] If we entertain things, regardless of what the immorality or revenge or anger, sooner or later in life, it will win over us. Billy Sunday says this, If you have no joy in your religion, there's a leak in your Christianity. You've got a hole someplace that your joy is slipping out and it needs to be plugged up. Proverbs 4.23 says Keep the heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. [00:33:25] I think it's I know it's Christ dwelling in us but we are free agents and we can let our mind think about what we want to. We can entertain thoughts and we can play it through our mind but if we do this it's not going to bring joy. We need to think things of how we can help other people, what we can do for them to make them experience joy, how we can lift them up. [00:33:57] Like I said, you know, Jesus came as a servant. You know, he is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. If he came as a servant, we as disciples, should we not also be serving one another?