Fruit of Joy
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November 01, 2015 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23).
Anyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior receives the gift of the Holy Spirit and can be born again as God's child. And, to the extent that they live according to the desires of the Spirit, namely as they follow the truth by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they can bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Now let's look into the fruit of joy.
1. Fruit of joy: to rejoice and be glad in any kind of situation
Spiritual joy is not just being joyful and glad.
Even unbelievers rejoice when they experience something good, but this is only momentary. When they are faced with hardships, their joy and gladness disappear. But if we bear the fruit of joy as one of the fruits of the Spirit, we can rejoice and be glad in any kind of situations or circumstances.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." To rejoice always and give thanks in everything is spiritual joy.
Joy is one of the standards by which we can check whether we are leading a proper Christian life. Some people take the way of the Lord with joy and happiness in every moment of their lives. But some others may appear to lead a diligent life in faith, but do not have enough joy or thanks stemming from the center of their heart. They just do their God-given duties as if they were fulfilling some responsibility. And, if they face any unexpected difficulties, they lose the peace of mind and their heart is shaken by nervousness. I urge you to check if you rejoice from your heart when you are faced with difficult situations.
In fact, just the grace of salvation is more than enough reason to rejoice always. Just thinking that we are saved from the fire of Hell and that we can go to Heaven should give us reason for inexpressible happiness. The joy of the 'first love', when we first accept the Lord, is very great. Even if we don't have anything to eat tomorrow, or even if we are so tired after working hard, we will still have praises on our lips. Even if we are persecuted or suffer unjust hardships in the name of the Lord, we are just happy just thinking of Heaven.
In the reality of things there are not very many people who can keep this joy of first love in their heart. After some time, this joy gradually disappears, and even when such a person thinks about the grace of salvation, they don't have the same emotions as before. In hardships, they first begin to sigh and moan in their sufferings. Why do they change this way? It's because they have flesh in their hearts. One of the characteristics of 'flesh' is that it changes. One who has a fleshly nature might have overflowing joy at one moment, but it can change any time and that joy he experienced can disappear in an instant.
2. In order to bear the fruit of joy
1) We should cast off flesh
When others are blessed and praised, if we do not have the characters of the flesh called 'envy and jealousy' we can rejoice as if we were the ones receiving the blessing and praise. On the other hand, to the extent that we have envy and jealousy we will feel discomforted when others seem to do better than we do. We might lose joy and get discouraged because we have a sense of inferiority.
Also, if we do not have the natures of flesh called 'anger' and 'resentment', we will always have peace even when we are mistreated or suffer damage or loss. We become resentful and disappointed because we have flesh in us. Because of this our hearts are heavy-laden. We may feel pain and even feel victimized when we think we are facing greater disadvantage and damage compared to others.
Moreover, to the extent that we have flesh we cannot have spiritual faith. That is why we tend to grow even more worried about not being able to rely on God. Those who are running their own businesses will be prosperous in all things with overflowing blessings if they can clearly hear the voice of the Holy Spirit and follow it. But if they have greed, impatience, and fleshly thoughts, then they have difficulties. The more flesh we cast off from our hearts, the more spiritual joy and thanks will come into us.
2) We should follow the desire of the Holy Spirit in everything
We do not seek the joy of this world, but instead we seek the joy that is brought by the Holy Spirit which comes from above. We can feel the joy and fullness of the Spirit only when the Holy Spirit in us rejoices. We can have joy especially when we worship God, pray to Him, praise Him with all our heart and practice the Word of God. When we realize that we have been changed by the truth, we are extremely happy and thankful.
In your everyday life, you can always choose between the desire of the Holy Spirit and the desire of the flesh. If you choose the desire of the Holy Spirit every time, then the Holy Spirit will rejoice in you, and thus you will also be filled with joy. In 3 John 1:4 is recorded, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." As written, God rejoices when you practice the truth, and He gives you joy in the fullness of the Spirit.
For example, suppose the desire to seek your own benefit and the desire to seek the benefit of others collide with each other and this status goes on for some time, eventually you will lose joy. If you follow the flesh and seek your own benefit, you cannot have spiritual joy, though you may get what you wanted for the moment. You may also feel mentally unsettled. On the other hand, if you decide to seek the benefit of the other person, although it seems you experienced some loss, you will have joy from above because the Holy Spirit rejoices. Only those who actually have had such joy can understand this feeling. It is the happiness which the world can never give or know.
The same goes for everything. If a person who used to judge others with his own standard changes and begins to understand others with goodness, he will have peace to the extent that he thinks in goodness. When we 'die' to ourselves in this way in an attempt to make others comfortable, we can experience the peace and joy. Furthermore, you can always enjoy this peace and joy if you remove the feelings that somebody else has a personality that is 'different' and conflicts with yours or feelings of disliking a certain person. As you keep following the desire of the Holy Spirit, your spiritual joy will increase and your heart will change into the truth. To that extent, you will bear the fruit of joy, and you will have a spiritual glow on your face.
3) We should sow the seeds of joy and thanks diligently
The farmer has to sow the seed and work hard to harvest the fruit. Likewise, in order to bear the spiritual fruit of joy we have to look for the things to be joyful and thankful about, and then offer up thanks to God. If we have faith, there are so many things to give thanks for every day.
First, we have the joy of salvation which can never be exchanged for anything. Also, the good God is our Father. He protects His children who live in the truth and responds to whatever we ask. Furthermore, if you keep the Sabbath and give full tithes during the year, you won't face any misfortunes or accidents for the year as well. If you keep His commandments and are faithful to Him without committing sins, you will always have overflowing blessings.
Even if you get into some difficult situations, you know the ways to resolve them. If you have done something wrong, you can receive God's compassion and receive a solution. If you don't have anything by which you can be accused, you can rejoice and give thanks even more (1 John 3:21). Then, God works for the good of everything and give you even greater blessings.
When we try to find the things for which to give thanks, God gives us even more things for us to be thankful for. Then, our thanks and joy will increase and finally, we will bear the fruit of joy completely.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we should bear the fruit of joy so that we can rejoice and be glad every day. I pray in the name of the Lord that you will also bear all other fruits of the Holy Spirit abundantly and enjoy all the joy that God will be giving to you forever.
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