Christ’s JOY (continued)

“The fruit of the Spirit is…joy” (Gal.5:22). As a fruit of the indwelling Spirit’s work there is joy in the
heart of the believer. So too in the heart of Jesus as he lived, served, and suffered here on earth. In
him, too, the fruit of the Spirit was joy.
In our September post we thought about Christ taking joy in God’s good gifts and in the good news
God anointed him to preach. These two things by no means exhaust our subject.

The good news being welcomed

We may think of Jesus’ rejoicing in the good news being welcomed. When Andrew Bonar heard of
the death of his beloved friend, Robert Murray M’Cheyne, he wrote in his diary, “life has lost half its
joys were it not for the hope of saving sinners”. These young men knew the joy of being soul-
winners. And those to whom God is pleased to grant the same privilege know that joy as well. We
may safely say, however, that no-one felt that joy more than Jesus. Why had he come from heaven?
It was not just to tell people about salvation. It was to be their Saviour. “Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners” (I Tim.1:15). How great his joy whenever that happened!
It’s the very thing that Luke pictures when he tells us about the seventy-two disciples whom Jesus
sent out to preach the kingdom of God. When they brought their report to Jesus, “he rejoiced in the
Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these
things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children’” (Ch.10:21). By “little
children” Jesus meant disciples. The Father was at work in their hearts, revealing to them what was
hidden from others. And it filled the heart of Jesus with joy.
We see it from the other side in one of Isaiah’s Servant Songs. These Songs are prophetic of the
coming Christ and at times it is he himself who is speaking. So it is in the Song recorded in Chapter
49 where we hear him bewailing the fruitlessness of his ministry among his own people: “I have
laboured in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity” (v.4). How it pained the Lord Jesus
that so few believed in him; that so many refused to come to him for life. And that being so, how
correspondingly great was his joy when they did come to him. It is why we may interpret what
happened on the cross as a loving ministry of the Father for Jesus’ joy and encouragement. In the
midst of a spiritual storm, the air thick with blasphemies, his body full of pain, and Satan goading
him mercilessly, there came this beautiful plea from one of the criminals being crucified beside him,
“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42). What a joy for Jesus to hear
such a prayer and to be able to say in reply, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in
paradise” (v.43)!

Doing God’s will and work

It was Jesus’ joy to do God’s will and work. In words prophetic of his greater son and lord David could
say, “Behold I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me: I delight to do your will, O my
God; your law is within my heart” (Ps.40.8). We may link that with Jesus’ words in John 4: “My food
is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work” (v.34). He had said to his disciples,
“I have food to eat that you do not know about” (v.32). This is what it was: to do the Father’s will
and work. How his heart was in it! How ungrudgingly he gave himself to it!

We gain a further insight from one of our foundational texts, “These things I have spoken to you,
that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). What had he been speaking
to them about? Keeping his commandments and, by doing so, abiding in his love, “just as I have kept
my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (v.10). It is like a strongly linked chain: obedience
to his Father’s commandments, abiding in his love, and joy. Jesus’ joy was the outflow of his
obedience to the Father’s will and consequent enjoyment of his love. So with us. It is why when sin
promises us happiness it lies. It is why when Satan would lure us to sin by the same promise he lies.
Our joy, like Jesus’ joy, is bound up with doing the will of God.
So Jesus knew the joy of pleasing God; of living under the smile of God’s approval. And that being so,
we can imagine with what feelings he uttered his triumphant cry, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The
task the Father had assigned to him was accomplished at last. He had done and suffered all that was
necessary for the salvation of sinners. What unspeakable joy to be able to say it! No regrets. No sins
or imperfections over which to grieve. “I glorified you on the earth, having accomplished the work
that you gave me to do” (John 17:4).

In anticipation of his resurrection

We may think of Jesus rejoicing in anticipation of his resurrection. In another of those psalms of
David that are prophetic of Christ we hear the following: “Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue
rejoices; my body will also rest secure” (Psalm 16.9 NIV). Then comes the reason: “because you will
not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay” (v.10). Jesus rejoiced in the
sure hope of resurrection. God would not leave him under the power of death. Nor would he permit
his body to experience decomposition. No! On the third day God would raise him to life again – as he
did!
It is a joy in which his people may share – and do. We face death ourselves. So, too, our Christian
loved ones. What is our hope and expectation? God will not abandon us to the grave either. In our
case decay is certainly permitted. We return to the dust from which we were made. But only for a
time. Only until Jesus comes back. Then there will be resurrection for us too – with a body just like
the glorified body of our Saviour. And by the same Holy Spirit who gave joy to Jesus we rejoice and
give thanks for the assurance of it.
So the picture of the joyful Jesus is building up. We may think of him rejoicing in God’s good gifts,
rejoicing in the good news God anointed him to preach, rejoicing in that good news being welcomed,
rejoicing in doing God’s will and work, and rejoicing in anticipation of his resurrection. Then, finally,
and here we come to the climax of it all, we may think of him rejoicing in God himself.

God himself

We start, once again, with the Apostle Paul. He was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”. In what – or in
whom – did Paul rejoice? Here is one part of the answer, and it is a huge part: in the Lord. “Rejoice in
the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Phil.4:4). Think of it as the call of a man who by grace was
doing that very thing himself. God was Paul’s delight, his unfailing delight. There were many things
that made him sad. But whenever his eyes turned heavenwards what cause he found for rejoicing!
So with Jesus. We noted in the first point how the joy of the unbeliever is wholly taken up with God’s
good gifts. There is no joy in the divine giver himself. He may deny God’s very existence or give all his
religious praise to a god who doesn’t exist. The things that God has given become a substitute for

God. The gifts are the things for which he lives and toils and sins. Not so our Lord Jesus! No-one had
greater joy in God’s good gifts than he. But his greatest joy was in God himself. In his humanity the
Father was Jesus’ God and he both loved him and delighted in him with all his heart and soul and
strength and mind. It gives us a sidelight on the agony of forsakenness. Who had abandoned him?
The God in whom he had delighted all his days; with whom it had been his unfailing delight to walk.
And that being so, what a joy when the darkness lifted and the forsakenness was over for ever.

Conclusion

What is our conclusion in the light of all this? Paul could say that though he was sorrowful he was
always rejoicing. Was it the same with Jesus? Yes! If his heart knew greater sadness than any other
so too greater joy. In neither respect was he behind any of his followers past, present, or future. It is
safe to say, indeed, that for all the unfathomable depths of his suffering there was no heart so
merry, no smile so bright, no eyes so sparkling, no laugh so hearty, no personality so sunny and
attractive as his.
“The fruit of the Spirit is…joy”. Joy like Jesus’ joy. We are not to think that on account of our
personality, Christian experience, or circumstances in life such joy is beyond us. It is not! The very
reason the Spirit is in our hearts is to give us this joy. Let it be our earnest prayer that he would make
us joyful like Jesus. For the blessing of our fellow Christians. For the rebutting of Satan’s slander that
Christianity makes a person miserable. For the adorning of the doctrine of God our Saviour.