Rev. David G. Bostick
03-08-09
What gives you joy? Think back to the last time you felt a real joy in your life.
We have been talking about the foundation of the word Christian. The third foundation stone is the work of Christ as Consummation. Consummation is concerned with the coming kingdom, and the coming kingdom has three characteristics; hope, joy, and victory. Today we consider joy.
Before we begin our discussion of joy we need to do a quick review of what we learned about hope. This is important because in a discussion about the consumation of the Kingdom of God, hope and joy are inseparable. We learned seven important things about hope. (See last weeks sermon for details, 03-01-09.html.)
Once hope becomes a reality in our mind and is evident in our actions and attitudes, it brings us joy. Today we want to look at the charateristics of joy, there are three of them.
Joy is different from hope because hope looks forward to a future event or circumstance that we wish for. Joy on the other hand refers to the reality of something rather than the desire for something. Sometimes joy is experienced before the moment of reality because the fulfillment of hope is seen as inevitable. In the Complete Word Study of the Old Testament the description of the Hebrew word simhah shows this distinction. 8057 simhah: A feminine noun meaning joy, rejoicing, gladness, pleasure. It refers to the reality, the experience and manifestation of joy and gladness. It refers to a celebration of something with joyful and cheerful activities. (CWS-OT) A good example of this is seen in the account of the Angel appearing to the shephards on the hillside to announce the birth of Messiah.
Luke 2:9-10 (NIV)
[9] An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
[10] But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
The joy the Angel speaks of here is a joy that is to come in the future, it is beyond the announcement of a child being born. The joy the angel speaks of is an indication of hope in two ways.
First, it is an indication of the hope that all of Israel has had in looking forward to Messiah.
Second, it is an indication of hope in that they need not be terrified about this manifestation of God's announcement, for it is the fulfillment of prophecy about the Messiah.
So this good news of great joy comes out of Israel's hope for Messiah. This is joy flowing out of hope.
It is also a joy that flows on toward success and victory. It is a joy that looks forward, beyond present time, into the future where victory is finally and completely accomplished. It is a joy that will only be complete when the Messiah's tomb is empty. But it is also a joy that is experienced in anticipation of this future event. That brings us to our topic for today; The characteristics of joy.
There are three important characteristics of joy.
The dictionary defines euphoria as, "a feeling of well-being or elation" (Merriam-Webster). There are many examples of this kind of joy in the Bible. A few weeks ago we talked about the Ark of the covenant being taken by the Philistines at Ebenezer. They soon returned it to Israel and it was taken to Abinadab's house where it remained until it was finally taken to Jerusalem by King David. A great illustration of euphoric joy is seen in King David as he brings the Ark into Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 6:12-15 (NIV)
[12] Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.
[13] When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.
[14] David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might,
[15] while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
If you read the verses that follow this account of David's overwhelming joy you, will read about how his wife Michal was very displeased with his dancing. I have often heard these verses used as a prooftext to discourage dancing among church members. But this is not about weather we should dance or not, this is about the euphoric joy that a man had for his God. I am sure most of us can think of times in our lives when we became euphoric with joy. I hope all of us have experienced that kind of joy in our personal relationship with God.
By transitional I mean that joy is the natural transition between hope and victory. Paul made this clear in...
1 Thessalonians 2:19 (NIV)
[19] For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes?
"When He comes", is a clear statement of victory. Hope, then joy, then glory in the presence of Christ. This is the path we take from questions we face about what will happen after we die. Those questions lead us to a hope we can have in eternal life. And hope in eternal life gives us an assurance of the moment of victory when we will be in the presence of Christ. That transition between hope and victory is Joy.
Jesus told a parable that shows joy as a transitional state between hope and victory. It is found in...
Matthew 13:44-46 (NIV)
[44] “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
I want to point out two of the characteristics of hope that we talked about last week.
~ First, hope has conditions. The man sold everything he had to obtain this treasure.
~ Second, hope gives direction and focus. After finding this treasure, the man knew what he had to do to obtain the treasure and he set out to do it with steadfast focus on obtaining the treasure. This is a good illustration of joy that comes before a final victory. It is a joy that has great anticipation for something very close at hand.
I said that joy is the implication of change. When you read the dictionary definition of implicate you get a sense of what I mean by that statement. implicate - to entwine, involve; to involve as a consequence, or natrual inference, to fold or twist together, to bring into intimate or incriminating connection, to involve in the nature or operation of something. (Merriam-Webster) Paul illustrates this in his letter to the Roman church.
Romans 15:13 (NIV)
[13] May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Look at how Paul expresses the idea of joy here.
Joy implies change in that it brings us from hope, to joy, to peace, and all of these flow out of our trust in Christ. This change is so dramatic that Paul says that we can "overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit".
So joy is euphoric, it is transitional, and it implies change in the life of the believer. Last week we looked at the stroy of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, getting ready to cross the Jordan river to take possession of the land that God has promised them. We looked at the hope that Rahab and her family had in a scarlet cord that was tied in the window of her house. We also saw the hope that Israel had for victory because they discovered that all the people in the promised land had a great fear for them. But there is a message of joy in that story as well.
Joshua 3:5-8 (NIV)
[5] Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
[6] Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.
[7] And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.
[8] Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.’”
Joy begins with anticipation, and anticipation must be acted on or it soon fades away. Can you imagine the joy they were experiencing as they took the first steps of action to go in to conquer the pormised land? After hundreds of years of hope that one day they would go across the Jordan and into the promised land, today is that day.
Joshua 3:9-13 (NIV)
[9] Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.
[10] This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites.
[11] See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.
[12] Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.
[13] And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
Anticipation must be modeled by leadership. They had heard about the great miracles that God used to free them from Egyptian slavery but most of them did not remember them. Now, today, they would see the Jordan river stop for them. It is the leaders that would walk to the edge of the flooded river and step in. It is the leaders that would take that first step of faith in anticipation of the joy that all of them would experience as the river dried up so they could cross over.
Joshua 3:14-17 (NIV)
[14] So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them.
[15] Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge,
[16] the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
[17] The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
Can you imagine the joy they feel as they think about what has just happened. God has brought them into the promised land with a great miracle. God has promised that He will deliver the land into their hands. Their anticipation of victory has brought them great joy this day. From hundreds of years of hope, that one day, God would keep His promise to Abraham and give them a land of their own. To the joy of experiencing the first steps of that journey into the promised land. To the anticipation of the victory that will one day be theirs when they have defeated their enemise and posess all of the promised land.
Israels Hope has turned to joy, and will one day become a complete victory. You and I are on this same journey from hope, to joy, to complete victory.
Victory implies a battle.
Eschatology is where all of us are headed.
CWS-NT - Complete Word Study of the New Testament. CWS-OT - Complete Word Study of the Old Testament. - Both the CWS-NT and the CWS-OT are parts of the AMG Complete Word Study Dictionary - Based on the lexicon of Edward Robinson (as revised by Alexander Negris and John Duncan), with constant reference to and citations from the works of John Parkhurst and Hermann Cremer.
Merriam-Webster, Inc. Merriam-Webster 11th collegiate Dictionary. 2003
Morris, Henry M. III. 5 Reasons to Believe in Recent Creation. Dallas: Institute for Creation Research, 2008.
NIV - The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). Cedar Rapids: Laridian, 2003.
The Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. The NIV Center-Column Reference System, copyright © 1984 by Zondervan.
NIV – The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV). Grand Rapids: 1984
Vine, W.E., Unger, Merrill F., White, William Jr. Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, © 1984, 1996.