Fruits of The Spirit - Joy

We are known by our fruits Matthew 12:33. Good or bad, holy or unholy, worldly or Godly, Spiritual or flesh. They are known by their fruit, and what are the fruits of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control.

By the time this is over you should have this passage memorized. We should be known by our fruits.

First one was Love.

Are we loving?

We love because we are first loved, And that love just changes all that is around us. We love up – God. We love in – ourselves rightly in God’s grace and insight. We don’t get in that self defeating trap of guilt, Or feeling we aren’t good enough. We don’t get ourselves too big for ourselves.

We are not in love with ourselves. But what we are is we love who god is making us, In his love.

We love out – Loves other

χαρά (Chara) – Joy

Today we are talking about Joy

Philippians 4:4 NIV

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Joy normally labeled by people as feeling of extreme happiness. And I guess that’s a good enough definition for those who don’t know any better. And it is a fitting definition because the word joy can be used that way.

We use it that way all the time. We felt joy when we were married or when we had kids or even more grand kids. I am told that’s better all the joy without the sleepless nights ;)

And maybe we are on to something here.

Not that Joy is a feeling but these are a good example of Joy

Psalm 113:9 NIV

9 He settles the childless woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the Lord.

He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. And aren’t Children A joy. I love mine to death they are just wonderful. And I am over flowing with Joy for them.

But if I just listened to the idea that Joy was a feeling would I feel joy when they are desiring to stay home from church and are fighting tooth and nail. Or when we discovered what a key does to a dvd. Or when we found out how to bite . Or just when I haven’t gotten a good night sleep in years. Or when they became teenage girls.

But Children are a joy. Because Joy is more than just a feeling. It’s a state of Being.

Joy is a part of the very nature of who you are. It stays with you when you’re sad. It stays with you when you’re happy. Happiness comes and goes it is not really extreme happiness that comes and fades. Happiness depends on your happening. It is based on what is going on around us. On what is happening in our life.

Not Joy

Joy flows down from the father.

That’s why it’s a gift of the spirit. It doesn’t come and go it is with us through it all. It is tied in to that love that we talked about last week.

Joy leads to Rejoicing.

Rejoice my soul.

I rejoice with goodness. I rejoice in times of persecution and trouble. It’s easy to say have joy in the good times. How you can tell is during the Bad times

An interesting question was posed when I was studying for this sermon.

Can you know Joy without Pain?

We know you can’t know sadness without happiness. We know you can’t know pain without not feeling pain. You can’t know the negative without the positive. But can you feel the positive without the negative.

Did God allow Adam and Eve to sin so that we could know Joy?

I don’t think so.

In fact I think it’s because of our sin that we can’t truly experience Joy. We only get a glimpse of it.

See our sin separated us from the heavenly source of Joy. And it is only enabled by the Spirit by the blood of Jesus can we experience some Joy here on earth in our fallen state. And we will never see true joy until we are in our glorified bodies.

Sin blocks us.

Joy and Depression

I’m a Christian living with depression, and the only way I have found to keep myself alive and hopeful is to look for those divine brushstrokes through what sometimes feel like infinite smears of black.

Tia Glenn-Cooke

Science tells us that while depression certainly has emotional components and all kinds of triggers, it is biological too.

Depression it self is not a sin.

It’s important to remember your purpose in life when you’re depressed — that you are capable of good; that there is hope; that it’s not your fault; that you are not your mistakes or regrets. That your life is worth living and that the world is better off with you in it. But it is admittedly a challenge to remember those things all the time.

Isaiah 40:29–31 NIV

29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

My depression has helped me to connect with the life of Christ. I see how he reached out to the broken and ostracized, and so I know that there is a place for me in his heart. But it also means I can connect with the pain that he experienced. When I feel far from joy, I remember his forty days in the wilderness and his passion. If Jesus is the example of the abundant life, then we know that no version of it will be without suffering.

Jesus Christ has won this battle for you already. He knows that you will have dark days, days when it will be hard to see or feel his presence. But those are the times that it is imperative that we know who he is and who we are in him. In its own way, depression can be a gift.

It can help you actively give Christ permission to illuminate your life.

There is hope that the depression may go away though it may not. but even when God’s joy seems so far, there is hope. Rejoice in your suffering.

Romans 5:3–5 NIV

3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Look up not in

Serve - find a way to give

Memorize Scripture

See a DR

Say a special Prayer right now for those suffering from depression.

Next Steps

That beings said, When you are in sin. You are willingly cutting yourself off from Joy.

Joy is not a fruit of the flesh. It’s not a result of sex, or money, or security, or false worship. It only comes from Jesus.

I am going to be honest with you. Those who are living in sin have problems with joy.

Gluttony – kills Joy. Try to get it from Food.

Fornication – Pre marital sex, Masturbation,

Closed heartedness (I don’t want to let God speak to me) etc.

It blocks joy from our life.

How is your spouses Joy?

Wife Lovingly correct a sinful husband in the word of God

Husband you should be leading in holiness

Do bring up your concerns for your wife and if you see sin

Because you love and want Joy for your family

Pray for your family

And lead them in holiness

How is your Joy?

What do your fruit look like?

Pray

Bibliography

https://thelife.com/fighting-for-joy

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