JOY SHARED IS JOY MAGNIFIED
1 Pet 1:6-9
6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
One of those songs that has seemed to have fallen by the wayside in our Christian library of music is “Joy Unspeakable”. Written by Barney Warren in 1900 it carried with it a message of exhilaration.
The 4th verse of that song seems to carry the theme implied by Peter which he shared in the scripture we just read.
I have found the joy no tongue can tell,
How its waves of glory roll;
It is like a great o’erflowing wee,
Springing up within my soul.
The Bible talks about Joy and the important part that it plays in our Christian life.
Let me jump back to the book of Nehemiah for an illustration. In Nehemiah 8 the people have asked Ezra to bring out the law of the Lord and read it to them. Nehemiah the governor is present as it is read throughout the entire day. Notice what happens.
Nehemiah 8:1-10
1 all the people came together as one in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the teacher of the Law to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel.
2 So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
4 Ezra the teacher of the Law stood on a high wooden platform built for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah and Maaseiah; and on his left were Pedaiah, Mishael, Malkijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah and Meshullam.
5 Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up. 6 Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.
7 The Levites—Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan and Pelaiah—instructed the people in the Law while the people were standing there. 8 They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear[a] and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.
9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.
10 Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Even though the conviction that came forth from reading the law brought a spirit of repentance and grief, Nehemiah instructed the people to remember the Joy of the Lord is their strength. It does not say the sorrow of the Lord, or the brokenness of repentance is their strength but the JOY of the Lord is their strength.
People will only serve God under condemnation for so long before they start searching for something that leads to a merry heart.
Solomon writes in the book of Proverbs these words.
Proverbs 17:22 seems to sum it up nicely.
A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones. NKJ
The very foundation of praise is built on two principles, brokenness and joy. You may ask how these two pieces could ever fit together in one puzzle. Brokenness reflects the human condition and joy reveals the dimension of God. I am not talking about a smile, I am talking about jubilant worship which cannot be contained. To the worshipper it provides liberty of spirit and glorifies God. Notice this event which takes place in Luke 19.
Luke 19: 37-40
Peshitta Holy Bible
When he approached the descent of the Mount of Bayth Zaytay, all the crowds of disciples began rejoicing and praising God with loud voices for all the mighty works that they had seen.
38And they were saying, “Blessed is The King who comes in the name of THE LORD JEHOVAH; peace in Heaven and glory in The Highest.”
39But some of the Pharisees from among the crowds were saying to him, “Rabbi, rebuke your disciples.” 40He said to them, “I say to you that if these would be silent, the stones would be crying out loud.”
The worship expressed here is not a chanting type of worship, it is the kind of worship David expressed when the Ark of the Covenant was brought back to the house of the Lord in 2 Samuel.
2 Samuel 6:14 NIV
14 And David danced before the Lord with all his might, wearing a priestly garment.[a] 15 So David and all the people of Israel brought up the Ark of the Lord with shouts of joy and the blowing of rams’ horns.
I remember when I was pastoring in Plymouth WI the many times that during our worship a spirit of Joy would come upon our congregation. People would start to laugh and the joy would spread throughout all those present. No one could put their finger on what they were laughing about only that the Joy of the Lord had filled the house. Galatians the fifth chapter talks about the fruits of the Spirit. Love, Joy, Peace being the first three. On those days someone had reached out their hand and plucked some Joy from the tree of life and everyone shared in the wonderful flavor of this marvelous gift.
I am not talking about a joy that is worked up, I am talking about spontaneous joy that originates from a thankful heart. As I was reading my Bible the other day I came across something that stuck out to me and I thought it was rather strange. It is found in Matthew 9.
Matthew 9
NIV
27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
30 And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
31 But they, when they were departed, spread abroad his fame in all that country.
As I read this I had to stop for a moment and scratch my head. As many of you know who have followed my blog I have a vivid imagination and as I pictured this event in my mind I marveled at Jesus’ request of these two men.
Now for just a moment imagine the magnitude of this handicap. These two were blind and as the Bible says they followed Jesus crying out for mercy and healing. They could not have accomplished this feat by themselves; they needed someone to lead them where Jesus traveled. It does not say whether these two had been born blind but we do know the implications of blindness whether it be short term or long term. Work was hard to find and they may have had to beg to survive day by day. As you can see they were desperate for deliverance from this condition. They no doubt believed that Jesus could heal them or they would not have been so persistent.
When Jesus stopped what He was doing and touched their eyes they were opened and they could see. Maybe it was the first time they had seen the beauty of creation or the face of someone loved. How totally overwhelming to say the least. What stands out is what Jesus asked them to do. “And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it.
Let no man know it.” Lets see all your life you have walked with a guide stick and been led by others. You have been on the downtown corner begging alms for so long everyone is on a first name basis with you. How do you disguise such a miracle, how do you quench the emotional explosion of happiness that erupting from your heart. It would be like asking a bird not to sing, or your heart not to beat. Jesus understandably was trying to control the magnitude of His popularity so that he could finish His work here on earth. For the greater his popularity the greater the envy of those in religious authority. Their hatred for Christ was already boiling over and they wrung their hands every time another miracle was proclaimed on the streets of their cities.
Let’s look at another example on this topic in Mark.
Mark 7
NIV
32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.
33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue;
34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened.
35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain.
36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;
37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
This is a very similar example. This man is deaf and no doubt because he could not hear his speech was affected. This man has many who cared deeply about him for as we read we find that they pleaded with Jesus to put His hand upon him and grant him what He had done for countless others.
Jesus spoke the words be opened and immediately his ears were opened and his tongue loosed. In this case Jesus charges not only the man but those who had brought him to tell no man.
Maybe in your lifetime you can remember an event so powerful that it caused you to jump for joy and shout at the top of your lungs in gratitude. I am not talking about receiving a birthday gift or something material. I am thinking of something that changed your life.
There are two things that come to my mind immediately, one is physical and the other one is spiritual. Let me tackle the physical one first.
It was around 2006, I had just moved into recovery at the hospital after having my gallbladder removed. It was when I stood up that all of a sudden I had a severe pain in my head. I was on the verge of passing out when they rushed me into the emergency room and then from there in for an MRI.
I remember the concern on the doctor’s face when he shared the results. Steve, he said we found something in your brain that concerns us and we want to immediately refer you to a Neurological surgeon. I was fortunate to be placed in the hands of the head of neurology at St Luke’s hospital in Milwaukee. This Doctor was very well respected and experienced. After the examination and more scans he told me that surgery had to be done soon and that this mass had to be removed. The surgery would involve cutting into my skull and delicate brain surgery. I was told after the surgery to expect seizures as part of the recovery. To say that I was terrified of what lay ahead would be an understatement. I prayed fervently for God’s intervention.
My fellow pastors surrounded me in prayer and when the time came the doctor wanted to do just one more scan to make sure of his plan of attack.
I well remember coming into his office with my wife and brother that afternoon. He placed the pictures on a lighted background and stared for quite some time and then abruptly went to his office phone and called the radiologist. You see the doctor was upset at the fact that this growth was not there. That’s right it was no longer present in the scans. We had the previous scans with it present and this one without it.
I remember him looking at me with a strange look on his face and telling me that there was no need for a surgery at all. He could not seem to understand that the great physician had already operated and his services were no longer needed.
Can you imagine how we all felt as we laughed and patted each other on the back and praised God for what He had done as we left his office. Could you imagine the doctor telling me not to share what had just happened and keep it to myself. I have not stopped talking about it all these years later.
My next example is of a spiritual nature. This takes place when I am a 20 year old young man. I have started attending a pentecostal church. It is not a large church but those present were totally sold out to the Lord Jesus. This is possibly my second time in attendance. The previous week I had been baptized and my life had dramatically changed, Spiritually I was still incomplete, the drinking glass of my life was clean but it was still empty. From the beginning I was infused with hope for the future. It was knowing that God loved me and had been waiting so long for me to acknowledge His hand upon my troubled life that made me look forward to what could be and not what had been.
Pastor Tamel had finished a very moving and anointed message and as was the custom of those present everyone came around the small altar to pray. I had grown up in a very traditional church and this type of prayer was new to me. Actually my prayer skills were terribly lacking or near nonexistent. It was not the fault of my previous pastors, it was my attitude.
I remember kneeling on the floor and bowing my head and saying to myself, “how will I ever be able to pray like those around me.” They were exuberant and seemed to know just what to say. It was then that someone tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear to turn my head and look at my sister in law who like myself had just started attending. I did not know alot of these people around me very well at all, but I certainly knew Liz.
There she was with the biggest smile and tears running down her face, they were tears of joy. The man next to me then leaned down and said in an excited voice your sister in law just received the Holy Spirit. I had no idea what he was talking about, all I knew is what I was seeing and I wanted whatever she had just experienced.
I laugh when I think of my rudimentary prayer that evening. I took my attention off of those around me and started talking to God like He was standing right in front of me. I was desirous for this experience, I had not had much joy in my life, matter of fact my life up to that point of baptism had nearly and literally ceased to produce any happiness. There had been too many terrible decisions that I had made in life.
I was desperate for that kind of joy and peace. I started to call out His name, the name of Jesus. It was then the strangest thing happened. I felt a peace come over me and emotion started to cascade down on me like water pouring down from heaven. I started to cry, not tears of sorrow. They were like rain drops falling from clouds full of happiness. My lips started to stammer, which I immediately felt I had to shut down. I felt like I was losing control and I did not know whether I could trust what was happening to me. It was almost overpowering. It was then a voice spoke inside my mind and brought back a recent memory where I had taken a pill from a friend at work that was supposed to be awesome. I trusted my friend that it was not dangerous. That night I nearly got fired from my job. God seemed to ask me if I could trust Him as much as I had trusted my friend that night at work. After hesitating for a moment I decided that I could absolutely trust God with my whole life and being. I decided to surrender to this experience if it was important to God it was important to me. The more I praised Him the greater the experience. Soon I was talking with words I could not understand, all I know is this, that the more I yielded to what was happening the greater the flow of Love, Joy and Peace. It was like all the fruits of the Spirit falling from the tree at one time. Peace, joy, and love raining down from heaven. It was energizing. No one had taught me about this experience. It was like being born again. When I came down to earth I cannot express in words how I felt. I, a card carrying introvert, was hugging everyone around me. I was laughing and full of joy. I loved these people like I had never loved before. Men women children I saw them in a different and radiant way. I could not tear myself away from where I was, I wanted to stay there forever.
It was then that the first test of this experience and its power came. As I stood there a lady approached me, she was crying and kept apologizing to me. It was then she told me that my beautiful maroon 66 mustang had just been t-boned in the parking lot. It was done by accident.
Before that service that car was everything to me. It really was one of the few things in my life that was not tarnished. What happened next let me know that what had happened that night was more than just speaking in an unknown tongue; this experience had changed my heart as well. I held her as she wept and told her not to worry that it was just a car.
Where did the old Steve go, the one who would have been so upset. I praised God and rejoiced that night that God had given me such a special and powerful gift. I remember telling this lady that it was just a car and meant it. This experience and this influx of emotion did not stop that night. I continued in my job working in assembly putting together large steel boxes which held large transformers. I was singing and joyful and people were wondering what I was taking.
At work I could not keep silent about what had happened to me. People were amazed at how it had changed me. One person asked if I had any of that Holy Ghost to sell. Thinking it was like angel dust which was a name for a narcotic that was popular at that time.
That was the old me, I never needed drugs after that. The Spirit of God was beginning to guide me in this new way of life and it seemed that I talked to God all the time.
You see when you receive something of great value you cannot help but share it and rejoice in it. This is seen clearly in Mark the 7th chapter.
Mark 7:24, NIV: “Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret.”
There was a magnetism that drew people to where He was. When the Spirit of God is operating in your life you will not need to worry about finding people to witness to, they will seek you out wherever you are.
Jesus could not keep the people away for even a short time as others watched the Joy expressed in the healings and deliverance He provided for others. It spread like a sweet smelling fragrance.
Joy is the sugar of the kingdom, with it you can turn the most bitter of circumstances into something sweet and appealing.