The Jujube of Joy

July 5, 2015

Summer Fruit:  The Jujube of Joy    NOTES NOT EDITED

John 15:9-17, 20

SIS—Joy is the inexpressible feeling of well-being from knowing God has everything under control, regardless of life’s circumstances.

This week we continue our series on “Summer Fruit” from Galatians 5:22-23. Last week we surveyed the “Loquat of Love.” What fruit will we find in the basket as we survey “joy?” I was surprised at the number of choices available satisfy my alliterative mind. How about the “Jaboticaba of Joy?” Too exotic—actually might scare the children. There’s always the trusted jalapeno to spice things up. The “Jalapeno of Joy.” Except for a few die-hard Latinos in our church family, I think I’d have a hard time convincing people that a jalapeno is in fact a fruit.  The “Jingleberry of Joy” has a nice ring to it . . . but, that sort of has more of a Christmas feel than a summer feel. O.K. I’ve settled on the Jujube. We will see what God has to say about the “Jujube of Joy!” Many of us remember eating jujube candy as kids. I never dreamed that was a fruit derivative, yet as a child I always had a feeling that candy was a health food.

As we think of joy I do not want you to confuse it with happiness.  As we will learn, they are much different.  As we all know, when times are difficult it is hard to be happy.  But, even in hard times we can have joy.  I remember reading about a Christian lady who fell on some hard times.

This elderly lady was well known for her faith and for her boldness and talking about it. She would stand on her front porch and shout, "Praise the Lord!"  Next door to her lived an atheist who would get so angry at her proclamations he would shout, "There ain't no Lord!!"

Hard times set in on the elderly lady and she prayed for God to send her some assistance. She stood on her porch and shouted, "Praise the Lord!! God, I need FOOD!! I am having a hard time. Please, Lord, send me some groceries!!"  The next morning, the lady went out on her porch and saw a large bag of groceries and shouted, "Praise the Lord!!" The neighbor jumped from behind a bush and said, "Ha Ha!! I told you there was no Lord. I bought those groceries. God didn't."

The lady started jumping up and down and clapping her hands and saying, "PRAISE THE LORD!!! He not only sent me groceries, but He made the devil pay for them!!"  That’s joy!

There’s a big difference between “joy” and “happiness.” People need joy but so often settle for happiness.  They are not the same thing as we will learn this morning.  Let’s begin by reading a message from the Lord in regard to joy:

READ:  First, Galatians 5:22-23, then John 15:9-17, 16:20

What are the characteristics of the Jujube of Joy?

1.  Our Joy is TRANSCENDENT (vv 11, 16)

Think about joy versus happiness.  Happiness is something seeks after or pursues.  Even our Declaration of Independence recognizes this aspect of happiness.  In the preamble (beginning) we read: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Happiness is something that a person “pursues” in order to possess.

Our Founding Fathers did not describe one of the unalienable rights as the “pursuit of joy,” and rightfully so.  One cannot “pursue joy for the purpose of possessing it.”  Joy is a gift.  This is at the very root of the Greek word, “joy.”  Joy comes from a family of Greek words built upon the “char” root.  Another word built upon those root letters is “charis,” or “grace.”  Grace refers to a “gift,” or something one receives.  Grace cannot be “pursued or possessed,” but only received.  Likewise “chara,” is a gift from God.  Joy is a grace gift that comes from beyond ourselves, and as such it is transcendent.

Notice the source of joy in verse 11:

¹¹ “I have spoken these things to you so that

My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

This is an incredibly rich verse in English, and even moreso in the original Greek of the N.T.  I’ll say something about the verb translated, “I have spoken,” in a minute, but want to concentrate on how the Lord describes the source of our joy.  Literally the Lord calls it, “THE of Me, THE Joy.”  For emphasis the Greek adds the “definite article,” or “the” in English, twice in this verse.  We would not refer to something as “the” of me.  In English we would just say “my joy.”  The use of “the” with the possessive pronoun is a way in Greek to emphasize the specific—and special—identity of the One being referred to, which is Jesus.  Our joy is special because it is the Lord’s joy that He shares with us.  Our joy comes straight from the Heart of Heaven.  It is transcendent so our joy falls beyond the reach of our circumstances.  It is not a feeling of well-being that we “possess,” but a feeling of well-being (mirth, gladness) because of who possesses us. We are God’s precious possession and He delights to give us joy.  Look at verse 16, the first part especially:

⁶ You did not choose Me, but I chose you.

As Christians our joy is not tethered to the circumstances of this world.  Our joy comes from “beyond this world.”  You might say, “Our joy is out of this world!” Our joy is “transcendent”—above and beyond life’s circumstances.  This leads directly to another important aspect of our joy:

2.  Our Joy is INDEPENDENT (James 1:2)

By independent I mean that our joy is not related to our circumstances.  This is a big difference between “happiness” and “joy.”  Our joy comes from God, whereas happiness is dependent upon our circumstances.  I can be “unhappy” with my circumstances and totally filled with joy at the same time.

The word, “happy,” comes from the Middle English word, “hap,” which means, “luck or chance.”  When we fall upon good fortune (luck as the world would describe it), it makes us happy.  But, this feeling of happiness only lasts until our “luck” changes—and it certainly will.  Circumstances can change in an instant.

I read about a man who was simply walking across the road to his mailbox when he was hit by a car.  He was in a coma for 2 days.  When he opened his eyes, his loving wife was there by his side.  She had never left.  The man began to cry saying, “When I was a struggling student at the University, I failed so many times.  You were always there to encourage me to keep trying.”  She lovingly squeezed his hand.  He continued, “When I went for major interviews and I failed to get a job so many times, you were right their by my side.”  She again squeezed his hand as he continued.  “Then I started my business and it failed, and like always, you were right there by my side.  And now, I have this job but I have failed to get even one promotion in 20 years, but you still right here by my side.”  His wife began to cry.  He added, “Now I have had this terrible accident and I may not fully recover, but as always, you are right here by my side.  There is something I’d like to say to you.”  She leaned over, hug him gently and said, “What is it dear?”  Without wavering the man said, “I think you bring me bad luck!”  Circumstances can and do take a turn for the worst.  Thank God, joy is independent of our circumstances.

Keep your place here in John 15 and we will return after a visit with the Book of James that demonstrates that “joy” operates totally independent of “circumstances,” and in fact, counter to circumstances. ^1:2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials. 

James here places in jubilant juxtaposition both the idea of joy and the idea of trials, or difficult circumstances.  Not only is joy NOT dependent upon our circumstances, but the quality of our joy does not diminish with bad circumstances.  The word translated “great” carries the idea of something “filled up to the fullest capacity.” 

3.  Our Joy is DEPENDENT (11, 12)

I seem to be contradicting myself.  I just demonstrated how our joy is “independent” of our circumstances, but now I am saying our joy is “dependent.”  Dependent on what?  Look at verses 11 and 12 together:

¹¹ “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.  ¹² This is My command: Love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life  for his friends.

While our joy is “independent” of our circumstances, it is dependent upon our obedience.  Jesus follows up his promise of “complete joy” with a “command.”  Joy is not tethered to circumstances, according to the Lord, but to His command.

Do you recall the emphatic description of the source of our joy being “THE of me” joy we spoke about in verse 11 above?  Well, the exact construction is used with the command of the Lord.  It is the “THE of me” command.  This construction grammatically ties “joy” to “obedience.”  We see this principle throughout the Bible where our blessing—whether it is our joy, or our health, or our safety, or whatever—is conditional upon our obedience.  There are many who live as if once they make a decision to accept the Lord’s gift of salvation, that their behavior no longer matters.  You will often hear people hide behind the cliché:  “once saved, always saved.”  While this is true as far as it goes we must not use our assurance of salvation as an excuse to sin.  We can never lose our salvation once God has given us the down payment of His Spirit (Eph. 1:13), but we can lose God’s favor through disobedience, and along with losing God’s favor we lose our joy.

God has given Israel to be an object lesson for the Church.  The lessons God taught Israel should be instructive for the Church.  Throughout the Old Testament we see where Israel lost the favor of God through disobedience.  Isaiah speaks of this (chpt. 24) as well as Jeremiah (chpt. 7) and many other places in the O. T.  Jeremiah tells us:

^7:23 Obey Me, and then I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must follow every way I command you so that it may go well with you.

While joy is indeed independent of life’s circumstances, it is very much dependent upon our obedience to the Lord’s command.  Just above in this chapter the Lord teaches us of our total dependency upon God for everything in life—and beyond.  Verse 5 states:

⁵ “I am the vine;  you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit,  because you can do nothing without Me.

I am sure you know what happens when a branch is disconnected, or cut from the vine.  The leaves all whither and the branch dies.  The branch—us—is totally dependent upon the Vine—Him—for every thing, including our joy.  Our joy is dependent upon obedience.

Our joy is transcendent—it comes as a gift of grace from God.  Our joy is independent of our circumstances in life.  Our joy is totally dependent upon our continuing obedience to the commands of our Lord.  There remains another very important aspect of our joy:

4.  Our Joy is PERMANENT

Remember last week we learned that one of the aspects of love is that it is “permanent?”  We read in 1Corinthians 13:13:

¹³ Now these three remain: faith, hope,  and love.

But the greatest of these is love.

Take special note of that word, “remain,” as we watch our text tie together the ideas of “love” and “joy.”  In verses 9-11 we read:

⁹ “As the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you. Remain in My love.  ¹⁰ If you keep My commands you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love.

¹¹ “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.

“Joy” is also permanent because joy is a derivative (it arises out of) God’s love.  Throughout this chapter, which speaks of the “complete joy we have in Christ,” we read about the love of God.  Just as love is eternal so, too, is joy.  In both our text last week in regard to love and in this text in regard to joy, we have the idea of permanence represented by the same word, “remain, or abide.”  The word literally means to build a house and live in it. This idea of “permanence” can be applied to all the fruits of the Spirit because the Spirit is the Eternal God, and these are His fruits.  I mention this idea of permanence in regard to joy because our text specifically mentions the “out-lasting, over-coming, eternal nature of joy.”  Look at 16:20:

I assure you: You will weep and wail,  but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.

Here is the single greatest difference between “joy” and “happiness.”  Roughly one could say, “joy is permanent happiness.”  This is a oxymoron (contradictory phrase) of course because happiness as we learned is based upon the “circumstances of the moment, or luck.”  But, the feelings we get when we are happy are similar to the feelings we have when we are joyous, except joy lasts forever—it is permanent.  When all the smoke and dust of the tumultuous circumstances has settled, joy will still be standing.

Let me give you a clever way to remember that our circumstances are temporary but our joy is eternal.

The shortest verse in the English Bible is John 11:35.  It has only two words:  “Jesus wept.”  It describes the unhappy circumstances around the death of His good friend, Lazarus.  That’s the shortest verse in the English Bible and it describes a temporary circumstance—a bitter moment.  That is not the shortest verse in the Greek however.  John 11:35 actually has three words in Greek—“The Jesus wept,” which is a means to add emphasis.  The shortest verse in the Greek Bible only has two words and they mention something eternal, not something temporary like difficult circumstances.  That verse is 1Thessalonians 5:16 and says, “Rejoice evermore,” or “Rejoice continually.”

Here’s what we learn when we put the two shortest verses in the Bible together:  weeping over difficult circumstances will only last for a little while, yet joy lasts forever.  This is the meaning behind the old gospel song:

Hold on my child // Joy comes in the morning
Weeping only lasts a little while.

Years ago, Robert Schuller wrote what I think was one of his best books.  He wrote it shortly after his daughter lost a leg in an accident.  The title of that book is:  Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do!” The book reminds us that trouble always has an expiration date, but joy never does.  Joy is permanent.

Joy is a wonderful fruit of the Spirit.  There are many different expressions of joy described in the Bible.  When David returned after his victory of Goliath, the Bible says, “The women came from all the cities . . . singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy.” (1Sam. 18:6).  Joy expresses itself in the life a believer in various, quite animated and noticeable ways like singing, dancing, and shouting.  Is your joy in the Lord such that you want to sing and dance and shout.

In one occasion in the N.T. Peter and John encountered a lame man slumped on the street in a heap begging.  The Bible says Peter replied, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I have, I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, get up and walk!” The man was instantly healed and overcome with joy he, entered the temple complex with them—walking, leaping, and praising God (Ac. 3:7-8)

It is too bad we have learned to contain our joy.  We do not sing like souls saved, nor do we leap like a lame man made strong.  Joy longs to be expressed.  Holding joy in is as dangerous as stifling a sneeze—your eyeballs just might pop out!

Our joy is transcendent gliding down to us on the rainbow of God’s grace.  Our joy is independent of our circumstances, allowing us to sustain a feeling well-being and mirth even in the deepest and darkest valleys of life.  Our joy is dependent.  It is tethered to our obedient performance of God’s commands.  Our joy is permanent.  When the dust and debris of life is finally cleared, joy will stand as a testament to God’s enduring love.

[CLOSE] Many years ago, missionaries trekked to the far reaches of northern Alaska, where native Eskimos wrenched a living away from the grip of a hostile environment.  There was no Bible translated into the language of the isolated people.  The missionaries set out to translate God’s Word in their common tongue.  All translators encounter the common problem that different languages do not have the same words or expressions for things.  In the case of these Eskimos, they had no word for “joy.”  I guess in the harsh environment that figuratively, and perhaps literally, constantly threatened to swallow them up, the concept of joy never came up.  So, the missionaries observed the Eskimos daily to see how they might express the very common Bible expression of joy.  The missionaries noticed that the happiest, most joyful moment in the life of these Eskimos was in the evening as they went out to feed their sled dogs.  As the Eskimos came bearing food the dogs would yelp, leap, and wag their tails.  The missionaries had discovered the Eskimo equivalent for joy:  “waging their tails!”  Now the missionaries could translate a verse like John 20:20 that says, “So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.”  For the Eskimos that verse became, “So when the disciples saw Jesus, they wagged their tails!”

The grace of God is so powerful, so magnificent, so unimaginable that each of us that has received that grace by surrendering to Jesus as the Lord of our lives should be continually “wagging our tales.”

One of the sweetest fruits in our Summer Basket of Fruit is the Jujube of Joy.  May that joy overshadow all of your days.

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