Joy Unspeakable

1 Peter 1:8-9

Joy Unspeakable

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

         For the first Sunday of this New Year (2016), we looked at the first fruit of the Spirit: love. For this Sunday, we take time to examine the second fruit: Joy.

 

1 Peter 1:8-9 (Holman) You love Him, though you have not seen Him. And

though not seeing Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with

inexpressible and glorious joy, because you are receiving the goal

of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

 

For many, this is the favorite Bible verse about joy. The King James Version translates the key phrase as "ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

The Hebrew root word for joy means to shine, to be bright. A believer's duty is not only to love God and others, but also to shine. Woebegone Christians hurt Jesus' cause. Even when gloom completely surrounds a believer's life, unbelievers should be able to see in the midst of the murkiness a glow emanating from us.

Joy, along with love, is to be an omnipresent virtue in our lives. The Bible tells us to rejoice in persecution (Matthew 5:11-12), when dishonored (Acts 5:41), in afflictions and poverty (II Corinthians 7:4; 8:2), in material loss (Hebrews 10:34), in fiery trials (I Peter 1:6-7), in suffering (I Peter 4:13). To put it more succinctly, Paul commanded us to "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4).

Believers are to view even circumstances that normally make people sad as occasions to show joy. Thus it is no surprise when we say "Rejoice in the Lord always" is one of Scripture's most difficult commands to obey. Our success in obeying can be helped if we know precisely what joy is, and where it comes from.

Our loving Master showed us the way. For our own mental health, He wants us to have the same joy He had. Jesus said, "I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete" (John 15:11). Studying Christ's joy helps us better understand the true joy He lovingly wants us to have.

One, our joy must be God Himself. Jesus' joy was built on close communion with the Father. Jesus always sensed His Father's nearness, and knew the Father loved Him. We too must not waver one second from believing in the Father's love for us. "Your strength comes from rejoicing in the Lord" (Nehemiah 8:10).

We share Jesus' joy if our fellowship with God is deep and uninterrupted. True joy entails constant delight in God (Matthew Henry). David said, "I will come to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy" (Psalm 43:4). In any situation, believers can rise to the level of rejoicing if we will seek our pleasure in God.

Other delights grow stale if long used. Unbelief holds no lasting fulfillment. The thrills of pleasure grow bland. Cash's happy jingle fades. Jay Gould, a millionaire, said when dying, "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth."

Fortunately, our joy in God can go on forever without turning stale. "In Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures" (Psalm 16:11b).

Two, our joy must be independent of all circumstances. Jesus knew from the first He was headed to the cross, yet His joy was not spoiled by the knowledge.

He was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, and yet had joy. However difficult the road, His trust was unshakable, His resolve always stayed firm.

Life is difficult for believers. Troubles aplenty attack us. If we hitch our happy-wagon to circumstances, we will ride a lurching emotional roller coaster.

Early believers, seeing past difficult life events, found a dependable source of joy. "You sympathized with the prisoners and accepted with joy the confiscation of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better and enduring possession" (Heb. 10:34). Losing material goods, a hard circumstance at best, did not shake these early believers' joy. They knew they had better riches elsewhere.

Circumstances do not have to spoil our rejoicing. When God is our joy, troubles cannot up-end us, and nothing life hurls at us can jerk our joy from us. 

When joyful in God, we can rejoice even in our grief. Paul was "grieving yet always rejoicing" (II Corinthians 6:10). Anyone with this outlook is unshakable.

In the 16th century a martyr, before being burned, wrote these words. "Who will believe that in a dark hole I have found cheerfulness, in a place of bitterness and death I have found rest, where others weep I have found laughter, where others fear I have found strength, in a state of misery I have had great pleasure, in a lonely corner I have had great company? All these things Jesus, my Savior, has granted me. He is with me; He comforts me; He fills me with joy" (Bib. Ill. XVIII, p. 404).

Joy is an inner assurance all is well with God, whatever happens. Beware the world's counterfeits for joy. Do not confuse true joy and earthly pleasure. 

God's joy is not giddiness. The world gives surface pleasures, but beneath them is an aching unrest. Laughter is often merely a diversion to remove attention from inner sorrow.

Joy is a deep-seated confidence God controls all areas of life. Joy believes He works all things together for our good (Romans 8:28).

All can be chaos on the surface, but we can still have joy within. Hurricanes drastically affect the surface of an ocean, but a submarine finds the water a hundred feet down as calm as a brook. Even so, joy lives in the midst of the storm, but refuses to let the storm live in the midst of it.

Joy is independent of happenings. J. Sidlow Baxter said, "Happiness depends on what happens to us. If our happenings happen to happen happily, we have happiness. If our happenings happen to happen unhappily, we have unhappiness. Joy is not influenced by what happens to us. It does not fluctuate like undulating waves, but remains steadfast."

Three, our joy thrives in unselfishness. Jesus found joy in giving Himself sacrificially for others. Joy can never be selfish. It springs solely from knowing we are servants of a God who wants us to love and serve Him and others.

The acrostic is true. "To have J-O-Y, put Jesus first, others second, yourself last." Our society urges us to reverse this, to watch out for self first, to impress others next and be socially acceptable, to think of Jesus last. Treating Jesus and others as mere afterthoughts is a prescription yielding little joy.

Four, our joy resides in holiness. Holiness matters most. Jesus was sinless. David was thrilled with God, but lost this joy when he sinned. With a broken heart, he pleaded with God, "Restore the joy of Your salvation to me" (Psalm 51:12).

At times it looks as if holy living brings hardship, while sin brings ease. But a day always comes when these roles are reversed. Sin's flippant happiness vanishes, and holiness' apparent difficulty turns to joy.

The world's roses are covered with thorns. The wine of transgression soon sours into the vinegar of remorse. The sparks of sinful fun kindle flames of misery.

Our joy can be full only if we choose to dwell at the center of God's will. Another acrostic, shared by Van Segars, is helpful. "To have J-O-Y, pretend the O is a zero, let nothing come between Jesus and you."

Five, our joy is to be complete. Jesus is kind to us. He wants us to be totally filled with His joy. Hear again what He said, "I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete" (John 15:11).

If we shake a bottle half full of water, liquid rushes from end to end in a violent swirl. At the slightest motion, turmoil agitates the liquid because the bottle is only half full. If we fill the bottle and then shake it, all is quiet within. Turn it upside down again and again. All stays still. Calm reigns because the bottle is full.

Similarly, if we are full of Christ's joy, our minds are steadfast, unshakable.  If we often find us easily disturbed, it warns us our filling with joy is incomplete.

Being filled with His joy is not an inalienable right automatically given to us, but a trait we must seek. Jesus said He had "spoken these things" in order that our joy would be complete. There is a vital connection between His message and His joy. As we saturate ourselves with Him, His message, His sensed presence, His Word, the Bible, we find ourselves being more saturated with His joy.

 

The Bible and Academia

I have been doing serious study regarding how our New Testament came to be. I left seminary 40 years ago, and have spent four decades as a Pastor, studying commentaries in order to try to explain each week what the Bible says. I have in recent months felt a strong need to study the background of what I have taught. I feel the battle for the Bible is raging all around us.

I have read four deeply theological books on the early manuscripts of our New Testament. Being 40 years removed from Academia, I found myself not understanding key words, not knowing of important recent archaeological developments, and not up to date in the arguments that are swirling through the religious community.

I believe my bulldog tenacity to read all four books has paid off. The most fascinating thing to me is; the last four decades have actually been very helpful in undergirding the reliability of Holy Writ. The archaeologist's spade has become our friend. Unfortunately, people in our culture are not being exposed to the nuts and bolts of Biblical history and research. Instead they are by and large receiving sound-bites that can give a highly skewed interpretation of what is being learned on the archaeological front.

I look forward to teaching a class on this subject soon at Second. I want us to know not only what we believe about the Bible, but also why we believe what we do.

I Love the Bible

I have never known a time when I did not know about and love the Bible. My parents told me stories from it in my earliest childhood. It was a special book to me long before I understood what it is--the inspired, truth without any mixture of error, Word of God.

In recent days I have been doing intense research on the ancient historical background of our Bible. I have been reading critics and supporters alike. The task has been tedious, but I feel it has been worthwhile. From my notes, I am developing a syllabus as the basis for a class on the Bible I hope to teach at Second soon.

I have learned a lot of things in my research. The extent of archaeology and other studies has expanded since I left seminar 40 years ago. There are scholars on all sides of the Bible debate. Scripture is the center of a firestorm in our culture.

The best thing I have learned is that the Bible still stands strong against even its worst critics. I loved the Bible when I was young. I still do, maybe more than ever. I still believe the Bible is God's Holy Word, true and trustworthy in every regard. I am excited to teach about it soon at Second.

Early Believers Loved Jesus

I am doing intense research on the earliest days of our New Testament. I am hoping to find ways to do a better job of helping my college students that meet at our house see the reliability of Holy Writ.

One of the most fascinating things I have learned is that early believers had a rabid desire to read, and be read to, about Jesus. As Christianity spread across the Roman Empire, Bible books began to be translated almost immediately into languages other than Greek. The craving of the believers from the first was to have copies of the four Gospels. The people wanted to know of Jesus.

The demand for the four Gospels was so great that believers were instrumental in helping develop a new literary form called books. Scrolls could be written on on only one side and were also cumbersome. But books allowed documents to be written on both sides, and made it possible for them to be stacked and then bound together.

The demand for the books of the Bible among believers was so great that they helped shift the whole world from scrolls to books. It's an amazing story. What I liked most about it was the absolute craving early Christ-followers had to be in the Word, and to be near Jesus in their studies. Amen. May we be and do likewise.

Worship

I have intently studied in several books this week. I have delved into various deep doctrines of the faith.

Right now I am dressed in my go-to-meeting clothes, waiting to leave for church. I am so deep down ready to worship.

Rather than studying about God, I look forward to the beautiful simplicity of worshiping Him. Hopefully He, and He alone, will possess my thoughts when I enter His house.

I look forward to singing with all my might to and about Him. I look forward to hearing a preacher challenge me to serve Jesus better. I am ready to worship Him who alone is worthy of worship.

KC Chiefs

Since I'm cheering for a Missouri team, the KC Chiefs, in the playoffs, I thought I might share some of my thoughts about them. I know they have lost 8 playoff games in a row, but I think that streak will end today. At least, I hope so.

Being a history buff, I would like to see Super Bowl 50 be a repeat of Super Bowl I, except for a different outcome. I remember the Packers beating the Chiefs in that first contest.

Speaking of history, the Chiefs won what I think is the most important pro football game ever played, Super Bowl IV. Most people would give that title to Super Bowl III, the one Joe Namath won.

I think the football powers felt Super Bowl III was a fluke, an aberration. Super Bowl IV finally convinced the football power brokers that the AFL was on a par with the NFL. Only after Super Bowl IV did the two leagues finally merge.

Thus end the ramblings of a Cowboys fan about the Chiefs.

January Bible Reading

For my annual Bible reading, I like to start with Psalms, Proverbs, and Matthew in January. There are two reasons for this: one, they are three of my favorite Bible books; two, it gives me a good jumpstart on the year's reading.

Being a Christ-follower, I love to read Bible verses. Being a mathematician, I love to count Bible verses.

There are 31,102 verses in the Bible. Psalms has 2462; Proverbs 915; Matthew 1071. Thus, my numbers-oriented brain tells me that by the end of January I have completed about 14% of the Bible within 8.3% of the year.

Math nerds, even spiritual ones, think like this. Scary, isn't it? But be that as it may, this January Bible start-up idea works for me. Try it for yourself.

The First Command

Mark 12:28-31

First Command for the First of the Year

Prepared by Dr. John E. Marshall

 

         The first of the year is a good time to rehearse again to our selves the first priorities of our faith. Let's consider again the first command as given by our Lord.

 

Mark 12:28-31 (Holman) One of the scribes approached. When he heard them debating and saw that Jesus answered them well, he asked Him, "Which command is the most important of all?" "This is the most important," Jesus answered: "Listen, Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these."

 

God is love. Therefore we should not be surprised to learn from the Bible that love is the essence of the first and second commandments, the first fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and a prime evidence a person has been saved; "The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love" (1 John 4:8).

The first command teaches us we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. God's never ending love for us is a debt we can never repay.

God showers innumerable benefits on us day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. In no way could we ever begin to do enough kind, good deeds to repay all He does for us, but we know we must do something to show our gratitude.

We know we owe him, and feel compelled to respond, yet have no way of directly repaying His favors. We can do nothing directly for Him. We own nothing He needs.  The Lord lets us make partial payment on His love by our loving others.

The Bible says Christians are to love each other as family. We love one another not because we merit each other's love, but due to a family relationship.

We dare not refuse anyone God accepted as a child.  Only a Cain mumbles, "Am I my brother's keeper?" This question a Christian must never dare to ask.  

We evangelicals take pride in saying salvation is given to us on the basis of God's grace, yet we sometimes act as if people have to merit our love.  We seem to be voicing a contradiction, "God's love is free, but people have to earn mine."

We must show, as well as receive, grace. He who knows everything about us loves us most. Our limited knowledge of others can work to our disadvantage. No two Christians would quarrel very much if they could be each other for a while. 

If we knew everything about our fellow believers, we would be able to see in their hearts enough sorrow and suffering to disarm our hostility.  The very believer we dislike most has probably had as hard a time keeping from being worse than he or she is, as we have had in keeping from being worse than we are.

Because God loves us, we Christians are to love not only believers, but also our neighbor. Christ forever answered the question "Who is my neighbor?" in the parable of the Good Samaritan. The issue is not "Who is my neighbor?" but rather, "To whom can I be neighborly?" Anyone near us in need is our neighbor.

The early Christians took to heart Christ's command to love each other and their neighbors.  They became a body of believers whose love exploded like dynamite in the Roman world.  Their love compellingly pulled people to itself.

Emperor Julian the Apostate, who hated Christians and tried to eradicate them, said their power to lead people away from pagan gods was largely due to the love they showed. Another enemy of early believers felt compelled to confess in exasperation, "See how these Christians love one another."

Unbelievers could hardly resist this love's drawing power.  Christian love is a magnet, a law of gravity in the spiritual universe, a vacuum drawing to itself.

Christian love's force emptied pagan temples, demolished altars, silenced philosophers, and confounded our enemies.  In a world where tyrants knew no mercy, women and children were shown no dignity, and slaves found no respite, the oppressed looked up and reveled in a new healing force.  Their minds were eased, and their burdens lifted, as a refreshing wave of love wafted over them.

When plague raged in Alexandria, the heathen at the first sign of infection drove out loved ones, threw family members barely alive into the streets, and left their dead unburied. In contrast to this cruel selfishness, "The Christians," Bishop Dionysius said, "in the abundance of their brotherly love, did not spare themselves, but mutually attending to each other, they would visit the sick without fear, and ministering to each other for the sake of Christ, cheerfully gave up their lives with them.  Many died after their care had restored others to health.  Many who took the bodies of their Christian brethren into their hands and bosoms, and closed their eyes, and buried them with every mark of attention, soon followed them in death."

During a smallpox plague in Greenland, Moravian missionaries loved all indiscriminately, including their enemies. They accommodated as many as their house would hold, and gave up their own beds to the sick. One of their worst foes, which had assailed the missionaries mercilessly, was thrown into the street to die. They took him in and nursed him. Shortly before he died, he thanked them: "You did for us what our own people would not do.  You fed us when we had nothing to eat.  You buried our dead, who would have been eaten by dogs, foxes, and ravens.  You instructed us in the knowledge of God, and told us of a better life."

Radically loving others will not win all, but is our finest hope to win some, to overcome prejudicial barriers that resist the message of Jesus.  Love is the key to success. The command to love was not original to Jesus.  Long before He came, the Old Testament commanded, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Lev. 19:18).

The directive to love was old, but there was newness and freshness about Christian love.  Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment: love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another" (John 13:34).

The love required in Jesus' followers was new in that it required love after a radical new model, "as I have loved you."  It was drastically new because it could not have been conceived before His life exhibited it.  The love Jesus showed was compassion totally beyond human ability to imagine, much less imitate, on its own.

The love of Christ crossed barriers no one had ever before dreamed of trying to cross. His love was a unique thing, newly defined. And the world wondered.

Since love is vital to Christian living, we need to be sure we define love as Jesus did. If we were allowed to give our own definition to love it would probably result in lazy, stunted compassion, and shallow commitment. The latter are not options, for God Himself settled what love is through His Son Jesus. The Bible never leaves us with a vague notion of what love is.

"This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us.  We should also lay down our lives for our brothers" (1 John 3:16). It is not our prerogative to say what love is; God defined it and revealed its character (Leavell).

We measure our love by weighing it in the scales with Christ's love. The cross requires admiration and imitation. Jesus' death patterns for us a loving life. His self-sacrificing love is our example. Biblical love is not romanticism, a warm feeling, or nice emotion, but sacrificially giving ourselves for another's well being.

Unbelievers still marvel when they see Jesus' love exhibited by a person's life. Every believer is expected to act like Jesus, to be conspicuous for radical love. It should be the prominent feature in our everyday conduct.

The normal course of our lives should be spent in a fog of caring. Love should be an atmosphere we carry everywhere with us in all our daily routine.

Our goal as Christ-followers should not be to do one, two, or three loving acts a day, but to have love as the all encompassing tenor of our lives. "Your every action must be done with love" (1 Corinthians 16:14).

To love as Jesus loved is to choose to give sacrificially always, not occasionally, to decide before our day begins that this whole day we will act in love.  We don't wait till later in the day, when opportunity to show love presents itself, and then decide whether or not we want to be bothered or have time to love.

Our decision to love was made irrevocably in the past, leaving us no longer any freedom to control our actions, to limit our love.  Our day must early on be turned over to God to let Him create opportunities for us to show love.

We choose in advance to live each day based on the hurts of others. To love as Christ loved, to give self, entails the choice to be no longer selfishly in control, but rather to be ruled by the needs of others placed in our path by God.