Fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23 Joy

Glass Grapes and the Fruit of the Spirit When it comes to joy, the glass bead that our world promotes is happiness, hedonism, and self-interest – and that a long way off from the biblical ideal for joy. Joy is not something to put on or conjure up, it is a gift of the God through His Spirit.

The Difference between Happiness and Joy LINE OF HAPPINESS LINE OF JOY PAIN FUN The world teaches that the key to joy is to get more ”stuff”. ENTERTAINENT HEARTACHE SICKNESS FAMILY SUCCESS MONEY

King Solomon writes of this in the book of Ecclesiastes – he mentions that he kept his heart from no pleasure! “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun ... To the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God.” (Ecclesiastes 2:11 and 26) Paraphrase: all of my chasing after happiness resulted in emptiness and futility, for it is God who gives joy to those who please Him.

We use happiness and joy as interchangeable words, when in reality they are not the same thing. Happiness is a feeling, while joy is a gift of God. Happiness is based on what is happening. The Hebrew word casts joy as relationship with God. The Greek word for joy means “surprise gift”. Joy then is a surprise gift of relationship with God, an unexpected experience of God’s presence with us. The key to joy is to focus on God’s provision of joy available through His Spirit, in His church and the lives of other followers True joy comes from engaging in relationship with the God of the universe, His Son and His Holy Spirit.

There is an interesting connection in scripture between joy and the Holy Spirit - where the Spirit is present, there is joy; where there is joy, the Spirit is present. We see it in Christ’s nativity and throughout the book of Acts; the disciples were described as “filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52).

Joy and Baptism Notice the description of Jesus in Luke 2:40 – “he is filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him”. What is he filled with? “When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Luke 3:21-22) The words from heaven communicate an identity as God’s child, and expression of love and a possessing of the favour of God.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness …”. (Luke 4:1) What is Jesus now filled with? Baptism communicates externally an internal reality; though we were once full of sin, by faith in Jesus, we are now full of the Holy Spirit. “… don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:3-4) Having died to our old nature and having been buried under the water, we are raised to new life in Jesus through His Holy Spirit, which means we produce the fruit of the Spirit.

“So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” (Romans 7:4-6) Baptism communicates clearly a shift from belonging to law, sin and death to a belonging to Jesus.

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children Now if we are children, then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:14-17) It’s almost as if in our baptism, God looks down on us and says “You are my [son or daughter], whom I love; with you I am well pleased”. Does that not spark within you a sense of joy?

Joy acknowledges the difficult circumstances of life, but offers us perspective for those moments. “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2) Sometimes to experience the joy set out before us, we have to endure the scorn of the cross; to share in Christ’s glory, we must also share in His sufferings. It is in those moments that we need to lean heavily on the Spirit, keeping in step with Him. “For we know, brothers and sister loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 1:4-6)

In the face of suffering, the Thessalonians received the gospel message – the good news - with joy given by the Spirit. Recall Solomon’s conclusion: God gives joy to those who please Him. The good news is that God finds pleasure in us when we place our faith in Jesus and become imitators of Him. If you want to produce and experience joy, place your faith in Jesus and imitate Him, through obedience to the Holy Spirit. Allow God to grant you a willing spirit so that your joy may be restored. In this way, you bring pleasure to God who then gifts us with joy through His Spirit, joy that we can then give to a hurting and needy world.