MARKS OF THE CHURCH:  JOY

JOHN 17:13

APRIL 6, 1997

 

The Puritan preacher, Thomas Manton, wrote of John 17, "...here is a remedy for all the afflictions of the church" [Manton's Complete Works, X, 353].  I'm convinced that he was right.  For as we journey through this High Priestly Prayer, we discover those characteristics that should mark every believer and every church.  We will notice seven marks or characteristics as we pursue our study of our Lord's teaching on sanctification in this prayer.  The first of these marks is joy.  I think that it is interesting that our Lord begins with joy and not with love or unity.  I believe this is because joy is the most demonstrative of the marks of the church; it is the evidence of our delight in the Lord.

 

When you look at the first century believers and compare them with present day Christians, it is astonishing to see how much more they radiated with joy in the Lord.  Throughout the New Testament, not to speak of the Old Testament, there are constant reminders of joy.  There is, in a sense, a repetition of what Christ has already spoken concerning joy.  He has told them that He spoke of the intimacies of their relationship to Him, "that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full" (John 15:11).  Then to travel through the book of Acts is to see the Christians rejoicing in the Lord, even in the face of suffering (2:46-47; 5:41; 16:25).  So many of the Epistles exude a profound joy in the Lord (see especially Philippians and I Peter).  

 

When you compare these believers with those of our day, there seems to be a glaring difference.  Sullenness, complaining, griping, sour-looks seem to characterize professing believers rather than joy in the Lord.  I've been in churches when they have sung the great hymns of praise to the Lord as if they were funeral dirges!  Those kind of folks are a depressing lot to be around.

 

What is the difference?  The great Baptist leader and missions supporter, Andrew Fuller, sought to answer this question in 1795 in a circular letter.  Fuller said that the first difference was the way the early Christians rejoiced in all their labors, viewing the demands of Christianity as an honor and privilege rather than mere duty.  They were so thankful to be saved from their sin that all the gospel demanded of them, they gladly did without question.  Second, he said they rejoiced in their tribulations, counting the reproaches of the world as honor and their falling into temptations as joy.  Even a casual study of I Peter yields this truth in no uncertain terms.  Third, he pointed to the primitive Christian's habitual consciousness of having experienced the grace of God, so that they enjoyed a settled assurance of being in Christ [Complete Works, III, 325-326].  Assurance was not taken lightly nor presumed.  It was a continual experience through the witness of the Holy Spirit.

 

Is joy in the Lord to be only a first century experience?  The same Lord who saved them is the same Lord who saves today, with just as much power, grace, and purpose.  As joy characterized first century believers, it must  characterize us.  It is our high privilege to walk in the joy of the Lord.  

 

How do we recover the joy that belongs to Christians in every age?  I believe the simplicity of our text offers insights for us in recovering this initial mark of the church.

 

I.  Distinctions of Joy     

 

What is joy?  I must admit that it is a difficult term to adequately describe.  Yet the experience of it is unmistakable!  I would say that joy is the chief emotion of the Christian's soul.  It is an inner gladness that fills the soul even in times of trouble.  The 17th century Puritan, Richard Sibbes, wrote, "Joy is a principle part of happiness in this world and in the world to come" [Works, III, 506].  It is the distinct happiness found in God's people, but not in those of the world.  Thomas Manton describes it as, "the blaze of the soul."  He pointed out that the Word of God acts as a bellows that fans the fire of love in the soul so that it blazes into joy [X, 360].  It is a gladness centered in the Lord.  Perhaps we can understand it better by looking at its nature and some particulars of joy for the Christian.

 

1.  Nature of joy

 

Notice what our Lord prayed, "But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves."  The two words, "My joy," are key in understanding the nature of Christian joy.  We sometimes hear people in the world use this term.  It may refer to a sense of surprise over some new material possession.  Or it may even be used to refer to times of senselessness through inebriation.  But Jesus identifies the kind of joy of which He speaks.  It is His joy that He gives to those who are His own.

 

The word joy and similar terms, rejoice, glad, gladness, are used over 130 times in the New Testament.  This is not an isolated term, but one that is central to the whole Christian faith.  Jesus taught the disciples that by living in dependence upon Him, which is certainly descriptive of the Christian life, they would have His joy overflowing in their lives (John 15:11).  That passage from John 15 points to the Vine and the branches.  All of the life of the branches originates in the Vine, even as the sap flows from the larger vine into the flimsy branches.  So, when Jesus spoke of His joy, He was not speaking metaphorically, but in actuality.  The union we have with Christ, the indwelling of His Spirit, causes the very joy of Jesus Christ to well up in the bosom of the believer.  He assured them that after the resurrection they would have such unabated joy that no man could take it away from them (John 16:20-22).

 

It is not uncommon to have a mental picture of Christ that tends toward the morose, almost depressed, rather than joy.  Yes, He was the 'man of sorrows, acquainted with grief', due to the burden He bore on the cross.  But that refers particularly to the time of His passion on our behalf.  We are told that "for the joy set before Him," Jesus endured the agonies of the cross (Hebrews 12:1-2).  The chief source of His joy was knowing that He was pleasing to the Father.  It was that deep, abiding sense that in all things the Father found pleasure in the Son.  As He fulfilled the Father's will in every detail, there was profound gladness in His heart that found expression throughout His life.

 

I've seen this illustrated in a microscopic sense many times.  When I give my youngest son a job to do, particularly if it is a task he is doing with me, upon my words of approval to him there is a smile that radiates from the depths of his heart.  He finds an incredible delight in pleasing me, as his father, because of his love for me and my love for him.

 

The joy of Jesus on our behalf is that same gladness that in all things Jesus has pleased the Father on our behalf.  I do not trivialize this at all to say that Jesus found the most profound delight in pleasing the Father.  As we abide in Him that same delight becomes ours; "that they may have My joy made full in themselves."

 

2.  Particulars of joy

 

Notice that the joy of Christ is "in themselves."  It is an indwelling joy.  Joy never begins externally.  Yes, we may find some pleasure in external things, but joy originates from the life of Christ dwelling within.  As He indwells us, His joy resides in all its fullness and happiness.

 

When Paul contrasts the manifestations of the flesh and the manifestations of the Spirit in Galatians 5, he tells us of the "fruit of the Spirit" that indwells every believer.  This fruit distinguishes us from the carnal fruit of the old nature.  It has often been stated quite clearly that the fruit of the Spirit is nothing more than the character of Jesus Christ dwelling within the believer.  "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law" (5:22-23).  Paul's emphasis is that the condition of an unbeliever will be evident because he will be manifesting the fruit of his lost condition or "deeds of the flesh" as he puts it (5:19-21).  He uses the conjunction, "but" to show that there is a grand distinction in the Christian.  Because the roots of his life have sunk deeply into the river of life in Christ, then he will inevitably produce the character of the ground in which he is living:  the saving and sanctifying life of Jesus Christ.

 

This is why the early Christians could be imprisoned, persecuted, falsely accused yet be full of joy.  They were joyous because the nature of their new life in Christ is one of joy.  Because the roots of their lives rested firmly in their union with Christ, then His character of joy was displayed in them.  For the believer to act any other way than joyfully is to act contrary to his nature in Christ.  Because of this, Thomas Manton wrote, "Oh! consider, sourness is a dishonour to God, a discredit to your profession, a disadvantage to yourselves, a grief to the Spirit, because you resist his work as comforter.  Besides, there is much of ingratitude in it; complaints and murmurings deface the beauty of his mercies" [X, 359].  We who have received of the mercy and grace shown in Christ should be able to respond in only one way:  joy.

 

I believe it is important to notice that this joy grows and develops in us:  "that they may have My joy made full in themselves."  Most all of us could get under condemnation if we thought that every measure of joy must be part of our lives from beginning of conversion to end.  Some days we may not be very joyous.  Surely most believers can look back on their Christian-past and see a progression of joy in the Lord.  It is never stagnant.  Joy is like a river running through the life, though at times the river is slowed by spiritual drought or construction of barriers.  The desire of Jesus Christ and the privilege of every believer is to live in the fullness of His joy.

 

II. Reasons for Joy

 

We must consider some of the reasons for joy.  We must attend to our joy in the Lord.  If we do not see the importance of it, we may neglect some of the means God has given us to walk in joy.

 

1.  Pleasure to the Lord

 

The very fact that Christ prayed for our joy to be full and that He made this a matter of priority in His great intercessory prayer, ought to be enough for us that our joy gives pleasure to the Lord.  Our Lord knew the deep satisfaction of the joy He experienced before the Father.  He desires us to know this same joy in walking with Him.  For He has great pleasure in His mighty redeeming and sanctifying power which He has wrought upon His people.

 

The prophet Zephaniah tells of a future time in which the Lord God will triumph in judgment over all who have rebelled against Him.  He then exhorts the nation of Israel to "Shout for joy...!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart...!"  The reason is because "The Lord has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies.  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you will fear disaster no more."  Though there is much debate on the particular time the prophet speaks of, and one which we will not entertain in this study, he does make a statement that is very much in line with the whole idea of the pleasure of the Lord in saving His people from their sin.  "The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy" (Zephaniah 3:14-17).

 

Can't you see the Lord, standing in the triumph of His death and resurrection, shouting with joy over the people that He has delivered from the hand of the enemy!  What a picture of the pleasure of the Lord in what He has done to save sinners!  My brethren, we must never picture heaven as a morbid place.  The angels who came from heaven to announce the birth of Christ did so joyously.  Jesus looked to the joy set before Him in enduring the cross.  Joy radiates in the realm of heaven!  As that joy finds expression in our lives, we are being a pleasure to the Lord who dwells in radiant joy!

 

2.  Mark of life in Christ

 

I have already mentioned that there are seven marks or identifying characteristics of Christians which our Lord addresses in this prayer.  They are joy, holiness, truth, mission, unity, hope, and love.  When you see a Christian these things should characterize him.  Jesus spoke the glorious truths of His redeeming and sanctifying work so that "they may have" His joy made full in every believer.  

 

Some professing Christians are poor advertisements for the Christian faith.  No, I'm not referring to marketing techniques.  But I am referring to what should be the attractiveness of the child of God in distinction from the world.  As Martyn Lloyd-Jones expressed it, 

...a miserable Christian does not and obviously cannot glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.  Everybody else is miserable [i.e., in the world], the world makes people so.  But if the Lord Jesus Christ has done what he claims to have done, and has come to suffer all that he suffered in this world, to the end that this people might be made different, they are obviously to be a joyful people [Safe in the World, 110].


  When we consider what Christ has done on our behalf, how can we be anything but joyful?  The miserable lot who have persecuted Christians through the centuries have not been able to explain the joy of God's people.  So often, when facing the executioners ax or the torturous blaze of fire, believers have faced their earthly demise with radiant joy.  Their antagonizers could not understand it!  They could not explain them away.  That is one reason that the 'blood of the martyrs becomes the seed of the church'.  The world with all of its misery, hopelessness, and despair cannot begin to fathom the unbounded joy of a child of God who knows that his sin is forgiven, that he is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and that his hope continues for eternity.  Joy marks us as belonging to the community of faith and hope in Christ.

 

3.  Testimony to the world

 

Later in John 17, our Lord speaks concerning the unity of the church being a testimony to the world of the truth of Jesus Christ and His saving work.  Joy has much the same effect.  Paul wrote that, "The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Romans 14:17).  When you begin to analyze and picture what it is to be living under the Kingship of Jesus Christ, you can only describe it as a life of joy in the Holy Spirit.

 

The world takes a look at a group of Christians and begins to ask, 'What is it that makes them happy?  Look at how miserable life is to us!  We don't know what will happen economically or politically in the days ahead.  We are afraid of the crime and terror that is ruling our land.  Don't those Christians know how bad things are?  How can they still be happy?'  

 

Truly, our joy in the Lord keeps us radiant, and yes, happy in the Lord, even in the midst of dire circumstances.  Joy is not a fair-weather trait.  It permanently resides in the child of God.  It stands as a testimony to the goodness and grace of our Lord.

 

This is why we sing the way we do.  If you get together with a group of unbelievers, you probably will not do any singing.  But we just can't help ourselves!  We must sing because our hearts are full of the joy of the Lord.  That joy is expressed by our songs.  Take a look at the words of the hymns we sing.  They stand in great distinction from the miserable words of worldly music.  The world sings about its woes, jilted lovers, a high on drugs, killing cops, lost virtue.  We sing of the joys that are found in our great God and all that He has done for us through Jesus Christ!  Such joy speaks loud, clear messages of mercy to an unbelieving world.

 

We cannot do without joy.  It gives pleasure to the Lord to see His children walk in His joy.  It distinguishes us from the misery of the world about us.  And joy testifies to the world that we have received the grace of God in Christ, that we are different because of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf.  But how do you experience this joy in the Lord?

 

III. Experience of Joy

 

Joy begins in the new birth and continues in the ongoing work of sanctification in the child of God.  At times, our joy is dimmed.  At other times it blossoms.  How can this joy be experienced in ongoing fullness in the Christian's life?

 

1.  Relationship/Fellowship

 

Joy begins with a relationship to Jesus Christ.  The "they" of our text refers to the believers.  It is to the child of God alone that joy belongs.  There are so many who attempt to manufacture Christian joy.  They desperately roam from one church to another, from one conference to another, from one experience to another, all vainly attempting to produce a joy that comes only through knowing Jesus Christ.  They attend a so-called 'revival meeting' and respond to the urgings of the evangelist.  They act giddy for a few days or perhaps a few weeks, then the attempt at joy fades and so does their profession.  They go right back to the things of the world (Matthew 13:20-21).  They want to point their loss at the church or at a teacher or at the preacher.  But the source of it is their own unrepentant, unbelieving hearts.  Remember, no man can rob a person of the joy Christ gives to them (John 16:22).  They wanted the joy of the Christian life without the Christ of the Christian life.  

 

This joy in Christ is directly related to our fellowship with Him.  Some teachers have described John 15 as the finest record of what it means to have fellowship with Christ.  It is in that context of fellowship that we have joy (John 15:11).  The early believers viewed their relationship to Christ as a continual fellowship with Him.  Their joy flowed out of this fellowship.  It is a life of dependence upon Jesus Christ.  It is a life of obedience to His desires.  It is a constant seeking after Him to know Him in all of His fulness.  Joy flows from this kind of life.  By the same token, our joy is hindered when we drift into self-dependence or lapse in our obedience or neglect seeking Christ so that we might know Him with more depth.  

 

So, if the joy is to flow, the fellowship with Christ must be maintained.  In many ways, the hindrance in our joy serves as a gracious instrument of discipline in God's hands to bring us back into a walk of fellowship with Him.  The writer of Hebrews expresses it with clarity.

All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.  Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed  [Hebrews 12:11-13].


  The slackness in our spiritual lives must be laid aside.  Our lack of spiritual resolves, like that of Jacob to whom the text infers, must be met with a new vigor in seeking after Christ and His will.  Fellowship restored brings forth joy in the Lord.

 

2.  Position

 

The heart of our text points to our position in Christ being the key source of our joy:  "...these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves."  The "these things" can point to either what He has already spoken in the High Priestly Prayer or else to the balance of the Upper Room Discourse (John 14-16).  Either way, you find the heart of Christian doctrine laid bare.  These portions of God's Word show us what Christ has accomplished on our behalf and therefore, what is true of us as children of God.  

 

In his circular letter, Andrew Fuller wrote to other pastors, "We have seen already, that the sources from which the primitive Christians derived their joy were the great doctrines of the gospel; but it is a lamentable fact, that the generality of professing Christians amongst us content themselves with a very superficial knowledge of these things" [328].  In other words, Fuller saw the problem of believers failing to understand with depth the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.  They were content to be saved, but failed to delight in growing in their knowledge of what Christ had done on their behalf and in them as the redeemed.  It is in our understanding these things with the head and the heart that we find joy in the Lord.  We can read and study so that we gain a head knowledge of these things.  But they must permeate our hearts so that we are satisfied and delighted in Jesus Christ and His redemptive work.  Richard Sibbes wrote, "All sweetness that the soul relisheth cometh from light, and all light that is spiritual conveyeth sweetness, both together.  Beloved, there is a marvellous sweetness in divine truths" [II, 466].  When these truths of the gospel become light and sweetness to our souls, our joy will abound.

 

This is why we must never be content with a superficial understanding of the doctrines of the Christian faith.  Doctrine is never to be bland or merely academic.  When studied rightly it strikes fire in our hearts!  It brings light, joy, and sweetness to our souls as we understand the multitude of ways that Christ has worked on our behalf as undeserving sinners.  When we see through the light of doctrine that we have become the righteousness of God in Christ (II Cor. 5:21), we can do nothing more than abound in joy in the Lord!

 

3.  Contemplation

 

I would add that with our grasping our position in Christ through His work for us and in us, we must give ourselves to contemplating the whole of the gospel and the Christian life.  We must remember that this prayer was audible.  The disciples were soaking it in.  They were to give heart and mind to "these things" which Christ had spoken to them in the world.  

 

We are to give our minds to thinking on the great doctrines of the faith and the many promises of our Lord.  We would do well to contemplate God's electing grace and how He chose us out of the world to be His very own.  We must think on how God accomplished our redemption from bondage to sin, Satan, and death.  What delights are found as we consider the mercy and grace of our God in this!  We must give thought to the new nature He has given us, one that is created in righteousness and truth.  We must contemplate the indwelling Holy Spirit and how He continually supplies what is necessary for us to live in obedience to the Lord.  And surely, we must contemplate our future in heaven with the Lord!  What thoughts can fill our minds as we consider our final deliverance from this world with all of its sin and wickedness to dwell forever before the throne of God, a throne that in our human condition is unapproachable because of the glory of its holiness.  Instead of constantly filling our minds with the world, let's set our focus upon Christ and His redemptive work!

 

4.  Practice

 

Joy is a position for the Christian, but it is also to be our practice.  We are told in both testaments to rejoice in the Lord.  "Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice!"  We are to live in the practice of joy in the Lord.  The best way to do this is to rejoice in the Lord or to be glad in the Lord or to give praise to the Lord.  Sibbes wrote, "Joy is no better way expressed than in 'praising God'" [VI, 321].  

 

But, what if circumstances are grim?  Am I still to rejoice?  Paul's command in Philippians 4:4 teaches that rejoicing is always fitting for the child of God, but particularly, rejoicing in the Lord.  We may not be happy by all that is happening about us, but we can be happy in the knowledge that our great Sovereign reigns and accomplishes His will in every circumstance!  The prophet Habakkuk expresses this beautifully.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

And there be no fruit on the vine,

Though the yield of the olive should fail,

And the fields produce no food,

Though the flock should be cut off from the fold,

And there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet I will exult in the Lord,

I will rejoice in the God of my salvation (3:17-18).


Yes, the circumstances were grim, as the prophet thought of all that was happening, but he turned to the Lord.  He saw the hope that he had in the Lord as the God of his salvation.  So, in spite of blight, drought, and famine, he would rejoice in the Lord.  Because his great hope for eternity was in the Lord.  That is the practice of joy.

 

I do not think that this is a glib, 'Well, praise the Lord, anyhow,' approach to life.  It is exulting in the Lord.  It is seeing Him as your life, hope, delight.  It is consciously and demonstratively glorying in Him.  It is singing unto Him when you do not feel like it.  It is praying unto Him as His child when you do not feel like it (John 16:24).  It is giving thought to Him and expressing it verbally even when you do not feel like it.  You do these things because this is your practice as a child of God.

 

Conclusion

 

Do you walk in the joy of the Lord?  Joy begins in relationship to Christ.  Joy continues as we lay aside those things that hinder our fellowship with Him, recognizing and contemplating our position in Him, and giving ourselves to rejoicing in the Lord.  Joy marks the child of God.  Is this mark clear in your life?

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