Words: 1207
Time to read: 6 minutes
If we will indeed be known by our fruits, then we should carefully observe the fruit which we should be producing. The Apostle Paul gives us a list of 9 fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5. I understand that this is more of a cluster rather than individual fruits–all should be present at all times. But the order is interesting and important.
We notice first and foremost that we are to live out the fruit or evidence of love. This is not a dispassionate love that is boundlessly heaped until we exhaust our capacity but rather a love that is compelled and replenished by the Holy Spirit. It’s more than a mere kinship, it’s a true, everlasting love. The same that Christ has for us in dying on the Cross in His substitutionary death. This ought to be the first fruit by which we are known.
The second is joy–the theme of my writing. I aim to discover the basis of joy, explore its biblical precedent, and show how our society today–or more precisely, God’s people–is falling ever so short of its mark despite its loftiest attempts.
I have heard several definitions of what joy is. Perhaps the pithiest and most enduring: Jesus. Others. You. I would not argue with that definition. It’s catchy. It’s cogent. Certainly, as we will see, this is the working formula for attaining and maintaining a joyous spirit.
But why does that acrostic work? I find it intriguing what Daniel Webster had to say in his 1828 edition dictionary, “the passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; that excitement of pleasurable feelings which is caused by success, good fortune, the gratification of desire or some good possessed, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exultation; exhilaration of spirits.” Did you notice the end of that definition? “Excitement of pleasurable feelings which is caused by…a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire…” This interesting turn of phrase reminds me of what the Apostle Peter wrote of Christ in his first epistle, “Whom having not seen, ye love…” We have a decided and rational hope in possessing Christ. What a glorious prospect! But Peter was not done in his exuberance. “now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory…”
In his writing at the end of his colorful life and ministry, Peter is simply expressing what he had personally experienced with Christ. Imagine going from being an abject fisherman to just a few years later preaching and more than 3,000 people trusted Christ! What joy! What glory! But certainly, it had not always been so for this Galilean. He was given to stunning vicissitudes and a capricious spirit in the most crucial moments. He had looked into the burning eyes of the Saviour just moments after vehemently denying Him in His decisive hour and seen nothing but love. He had heard the tender voice of the Master probing his heart and volition with the earnest yet tender, “Loves thou me, more than these?”
Peter was looking at a mess of fish that he had just taken from the placid waters of the Galilee. He had fruitlessly toiled all night distraught over his personal failure, distressed over the news that Christ’s body was not to be found, and certainly frustrated with his inability to catch fish. Perhaps they mulled over the events of the past week. What could it all mean? A triumphant entry. A malevolent betrayal. A horrendous death. A mysterious disappearance—and then just as seemingly mysterious—His reappearance. Perhaps they had a sense of terrible foreboding, awaiting the rebuke they were certain was to come. Or perhaps they rued the day that they came to know this meek man from Galilee. Whatever their frame of mind, they could not dwell there long as Jesus challenged them to draw the nets and cast them on the other side. With one call to the boat, Jesus dispelled any doubts they had as to who this Man was waiting on the shore. As John emphatically stated, “It is the Lord,” Peter was left with no other recourse but to make his way to the side of the One he had so vociferously denied. Now over a roaring fire, the disciples timidly ate their freshly caught and cooked fish and bread no doubt wondering at His presence and marveling at His unrequited love for them.
In the final analysis, it was the first of the Spirit’s fruits that had spurred Peter to feed the flock of God. Jesus had always loved Peter–he could now obviously see this. Now as he takes up his calamus, Peter is gazing over the years of faithful and fruitful service to his Lord. He’s exhorting a group of discouraged, down-hearted believers dispersed throughout the moribund Roman Empire and exhorting them to take heart. “Though you have not seen Christ you love Him! Though you’ve never laid eyes on Him, you rejoice! And not just mere happiness but inexpressible joy and overflowing with His glory!” He’s simply remembering that morning all those decades before on a distant seaside.
In this benediction, we find the key to unlocking joy in our hearts today. While we are so often tempted to jealously gaze at passing pleasures of the world we would do well to remember that this life is simply that—passing. We have not seen Christ because He is not here but is soon to appear. We cannot gaze upon Him now as He is at the right hand of the throne of God making intercession for me with my Father. He has promised His return; therefore, we have an excitement of possessing what we love and desire. We are admonished in our love for Christ. So much of our joy readily slips away by mere default. Our hearts must again be challenged by the words of our Lord, “Loves thou me more than these?”
Our hearts are divided between the reality of eternity and the existence of the here and now. We find ourselves torn between the joy that is heaven and the horror that can be in this life. We are pulled every which way by work, appointments, busyness, and demands of this life that we too often lose sight of the joy that awaits us. We begin to look and care for the things of this life and begin to contemptuously gaze upon what should be the object of our affection. We can easily despise the simple joy that is Christ. We offered such alluring temptation in self-satisfaction and instant gratification. The pride of life. And while it entices us on a momentary basis, all the while our Lord beckons to us in a meek and quiet voice, “Lovest thou me more than these?”
There is no doubt our lives are full. Perhaps our life has even become an unspeakable wretch, but nothing can replace or exchange the pure joy and simple contentment that can only be found in Christ. No amount of material possessions can buy it. No amount of earthly wisdom can explain it. No amount of carnal pleasure can surpass or even replicate it. It is truly joy unspeakable and full of glory.