Fear and Great Joy

 

They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell…  Matthew 28:8

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“Me and the Big Guy Upstairs have an understanding.” Ray leaned back in his chair with a confident smile. “I know the Bible says it’s wrong, but I think—” Jess nodded. “Yeah, I agree. Jesus understands that the times have changed. You know, if religion doesn’t accommodate the culture, then who needs it? I pray every day. He’s cool with whatever I want to do.”

Have you heard similar conversations? They sound wise, except for one thing: these guys are not talking like people who actually know Jesus. They sound more like guys who have defined a Jesus for themselves. Even in His day, people were already trying to define for themselves what the Son of God would be like. They’re still doing that. But the phrase “fear and great joy” describes the experience of everyone who has truly encountered the risen Lord. To know Him is to fear his power, majesty, and perfection. The “fear of the Lord” means reverential awe. But it also acknowledges God’s power and right to direct our lives. In fact, Jesus told us we should fear God if we refuse to obey Him (Matt. 10:28). But to know Him is to also overflow with joy at the way He pours out His love on those who love Him (Ps. 147:11). 

Without fear, we become irreverent and abuse His grace (Rom. 6:1). Without joy, we veer toward legalism and drudgery. When either is missing, it is a sign that we do not really know Him as he deserves to be known. Those missing pieces also give those observing us a faulty representation of His character. The right combination of “fear and great joy” produces in us a passion for telling other people about Him too. 

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Joy to the World. Yeah, right.

 But the fruit of the Spirit is 

love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Isn't it funny in our modern society how the word "joy" only shows up at Christmastime? You never hear anyone talking about joy any other time of year, but in December we hear Yuletide joy, Christmas joy, Joy to the World, Joyeux Noelle, etc. Mention joy any other time of year and you're likely to get a raised eyebrow.

Ask anyone to define it, and what you'll get is their definition of happiness. We think of joy in relation to our emotions---that giddy happiness that tingles inside our chest when something fantastic is happening.

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But joy is not tied to our circumstances and that's where our ability to manufacture it ends. When the computer crashes, my kid just got an F in Algebra, and my husband's job is on the line, I do have strong feelings tingling inside my chest, but they are nothing close to giddy happiness.

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So how is it possible to have joy all the time?

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I was struck at the number of times in the Bible joy is paired with the words "suffering, tribulation, affliction, and hardship." They go together like peanut butter and jelly. The Apostle Paul was always talking about how joyful he was, usually after he'd been beaten and thrown in prison.

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So what's up with that? I start whining when I have to wait for a slow train to cross the street.

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I am coming to see that these nine fruits of the Spirit are decisions we make every day. We can choose joy or we can choose from any number of negative reactions to the events in our lives. Instead of becoming angry and discouraged when he was arrested again, Paul chose to see it as an opportunity to learn patience, to share in part of the suffering Christ experienced, and to testify to his abusers.

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Maybe you don't have a problem with walking in joy every day, but I am not by nature a joyful person. Not only is the glass half-empty, but my natural inclination is to find out who spilled it and why. 

And that's why God has to do this in us. We're slow learners. He understands that so He carefully listed the traits he wants us to demonstrate.

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That's what I'm learning to do, adopt those nine Fruits as my own and choose to live in them whether I feel like it or not.

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And guess what! It gets easier the more you do it.

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Joy is a sacrifice we offer to God

when we'd rather be crying or beating someone up.
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Joy is the ability to overlook our temporary circumstances
in favor of keeping our eyes on eternity.

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Our emotions follow our will, just like a train. The more we let God's power flow through us to manifest these Fruits, the more our emotions start to catch on. The more we rely on God to live out his life in us, the more it starts to feel natural and the less we have to force ourselves to respond his way instead of ours.

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So, the next time the car breaks down, your son comes home with another section of his body pierced, your daughter calls to tell you she just married a carny, and the power goes off in your house...what are you gonna do?

Joy remembers that God knows about it, cares about it, and will stay right there with you until the crisis is gone. Joy knows that everything I do for God will never fade away and it focuses on that in the midst of earthly stress.

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So whether life becomes a hurricane or the good times are rolling, "consider it all joy!"(James 1:2)

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