I remember when my step-dad would come home, often times after he was drinking. He was a man who was out of control and he was not a man full of joy. He was a man full of rage and hate, which he took out on us kids and on his wife. Even when he was not drinking, he was a man who had a short fuse. Never did we want to leave one of his tools out of place, definitely not outside overnight, and never did we want to break something that he would have to fix, because then he would “break us.”
I share this not for sympathy’s sake, as the life the Lord has blessed me with has shaped and molded me into the man I am today, but as a small illustration as to what a man with no joy is. My first step-dad had no joy in his life. The raising of a family was a burden to him, and the things of the Lord were, shall we say, something my mother pushed on him. So what should a man find joyful? Or better question that we can ask is, what or who should fill us with joy, that we might find joy in the people things around us?
First off, let’s look at the who. Who should fill us? And the Sunday school answer here is “JESUS!!” And this is where we start; we cannot start from any other source. We must start with Jesus Christ, the Son of God. If we are not born-again Christians, washed clean by the blood of Christ, we will not be filled with true joy. Sure, we can have joy in other things or other people in this world but it is a fleeting joy that will ebb and flow as time goes by. Think of your favorite sports team. Now think of that great season they had, and that great game, and that one great play where they won the championship. That was a moment of great joy. That great joy didn’t last did it? It is not the same when they are losing or having a bad season. It is a fleeting joy.
When we have Christ, however, we see something more; we have something more. We have eternal joy that surpasses all earthly joy. The joy that we now possess can and will endure all things that will come to pass, even when those things that come to pass are worse than a losing season or a lost championship game. Scripture speaks of joy often and throughout both the Old and the New Testament. We can find any number of passages with joy or rejoice contained throughout, either as a description of what someone is doing because of what the Lord has done for them. We can find passages about being joyful or rejoicing as a command because of what the Lord has done, for instance look at 1 Thessalonians 5:16 “Rejoice always.” This is a command to be always rejoicing, or to be always filled with joy.
One of my favorite verses is Psalm 118:24, a familiar verse to many, “This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” It reminds me to rejoice and give thanks to God for today and what this day brings; the challenges, the opportunities, the struggles, the victories, and the accomplishments. Each day is a gift from God’s own hand and we come to the realization that even the breath that we take and the sun rising are gifts. Then we can begin to be joyful because we realize the gracious gifts our Heavenly Father has already showered us with.
So we must start with being born-again, but we are also not on our own. We are washed by the blood of Christ and imputed with Christ’s righteousness. The Father sees Christ in us when He looks upon us. Now, it is the Holy Spirit that indwells us and empowers us and enables us to do these things that we speak of. Ever hear of the fruits of the Spirit? They are named that way because they are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Joy is listed second in this list, and not by happenstance. If you have the Holy Spirit, He will fill you with joy. You will find joy and will be able to rejoice if you keep your focus on the things of the Lord. We have been commanded in Scripture to seek first the Kingdom of God and then these other things (the things of the world) will be added to us (Matthew 6:33). We will be able to rejoice even in the mist of trials, even when the darkness is overtaking us. We find that in James 1:2 2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. There is a reason for this as well and we find that in verses 3 and 4, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
As a man of God, the joy that we have begins with the joy that we find in Christ, our Lord and Savior. Not just us men, this is true of any and all who are the Redeemed. That is our true joy. But men, it is you that set the tone in your own homes. You are the physical and spiritual leaders in your homes for your families and examples for your friends and co-workers. What joy do you demonstrate? When you have a bad day at work or school, or wherever you come home from, do you let loose on your family? Or do you come in the door and let the joy of your heart fill the house and spread to the hearts of your wife and your children?
Let me ask you this question: does your wife or your children fear you when they make a mistake? I am not talking about when a child has broken a rule or has misbehaved and it comes time for discipline. That is a separate subject. Do they fear you when a child loads the dishwasher wrong, or your wife squeezes the toothpaste out of the tube incorrectly? Do they fear you when you come home from a tough day? Are they hesitant on any day that you come home? What would they say about you?
We will have bad days or rough days; these things will happen. I could share a multitude of bad days that I have had that I did not intend to have when I left for work, or left for school that morning. But that did not give me permission to first, get frustrated and second, take that frustration out on those that the Lord has given me responsibility over. I can thank the Lord for those events, knowing that one day I will not have to endure such things. But until that time, I can take my cares and concerns to Him in prayer, rejoicing in the fact that I have eternal life and an eternal reward far greater than any temporal matter.
The joyful man of God is not a happy-go-lucky guy, who is easy going and seems like nothing ever bothers him. The man who is happy-go-lucky is really someone who does not like to get into the deep end of the pool of anything. Said a different way, he has little conviction of anything, or anyone.
The things of this world can bring us joy, but they cannot be the purpose of our joy. They cannot be the center or the source of our only joy. It must be Christ. There is nothing in itself wrong with enjoying sports, movies, boating, or whatever it is, but it must not distract, compete, or replace Jesus Christ. We invalidate the joy of Christ and the salvation He brought to us and the joy we find through the Holy Spirit if we have to go and fill our lives with joy in things of this world. Unbelievers see these things and will doubt our own profession of the transformative power that salvation is.
True joy is only found in Jesus and Him alone. We share that joy with one another when we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with unbelievers. We share the joy of Christ when we gather physically together as believers, whether that is for Sunday morning to worship our Great God, on a Sunday evening, a midweek bible study, small group bible study, a one-on-one study, a lunch, a coffee, or whatever it is. We share that joy when we are together, because we are in Christ and washed by Him. That very fact, being washed by the God who created the universe in the span of 6 days, should bring you great joy.
Every time you leave your house, every time you stand in line, every time you are late getting home, every time you get a flat tire, every time you end up in a place you did not think you would, rejoice, be filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit that dwells within you. You are in a position that so much of humanity is not. You are among the redeemed; you are part of a select few; you are part of the House of God; you are a child of God. Rejoice, for this is the day that the Lord has made, and you can tell anyone and everyone who hears about the amazing God that you have. Only He knows if they will also be adopted into the house just as you have. If they are, all heaven will rejoice just as that person that you shared the gospel with will. So again, I say rejoice.
Iron Striking Iron 