Seek Ye First; A Three Part Series on the Pursuit of Joy by Molly Part II

Part II

Redefining Joy – Is joy an emotion, a choice, or both?

We may still have doubts about whether Jesus truly wants us to be happy. Jesus tells us so many times in Scripture to rejoice that it would be hard to conclude that He doesn’t want us to actually be happy. We’ve may have heard to rejoice means to paste a smile on our face when we don’t really mean it, or that joy is a choice. There is some truth to this, but joy comes from the heart. It is easy to look at rejoice commands as another burden we must add, another line on our already full to do list. We believe that not only do we have to do right, but we also have to have a good attitude about it.

While it is true that joy can be an attitude or a choice, and happiness can be temporal we need to be careful not to redefine joy as being emotionless. While it’s true that joy is not merely emotion, it certainly can’t be defined as unemotional, or by simply making a choice. You can change your attitude without really feeling joyful. In studying Jesus’ words further, His heart for us is much more than an attitude adjustment when it comes to the Kingdom of God. Non-believers can have an attitude adjustment.

Here is a sprinkling of verses about joy. The first are descriptive. They describe to us joy that someone experiences. Rom 15:3 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope”. 2 Cor 7:4 “I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy”. 1 Cor 8:2 “For in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part”. 1 Thess 3:19 “For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God”. 1 Pet 1:8 “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.”

Listen to the language of some of these verses. “Overflowing with joy”. “Abundance of joy”, and “joy inexpressible.” These are not merely attitude adjustments. Joy is spoken of as something they felt (I Thess 3:19), not just chose. While joy is not only an emotion, it is evident from Scripture that emotion is a large part of defining joy.

These next few verses are prescriptive. These are God actually telling us He wants us to do something. Mt 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”. Rom 12:12 “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer”. Rom 12:15 “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep”. 2 Cor 3:11a “Finally, brothers, rejoice”. Phil 2:18 “Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me”. Phil 3:1a “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord”. Phil 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice”. I Thess 5:16 “Rejoice always,” I Pet 4:13 “But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed”.

If joy is defined not by just a choice but an emotion, and we know Jesus will not ask us to do the impossible then it means He will give grace to obey what He asks us to do. Maybe impossible in our own strength but through dependence on Jesus, we are given the ability to truly rejoice. When we are told to rejoice, it is not just a command to change our emotions, but a hope that change is possible. It is actually a hope that Jesus wants us to be happy and that is why He said it. Not a happiness based on getting what we want from our idols, but a true happiness that comes from the Holy Spirit. A hope that in the midst of very difficult circumstances we can be like Paul who said, “in all our affliction I am overflowing with joy.”

What does this joy produce?

Here is the kicker – when we actually do experience the Holy Spirit – the result is holiness. A deep desire to work with, for and to experience more of the Holy Spirit actually produces a holiness that is addictive. There is no way to accurately describe how much joy comes when we experience both the Holy Spirit Himself, as well as the gifts of the Holy Spirit and then get to exercise them by blessing others.

Nehemiah 8:10b “the joy of the LORD is your strength.” There is nothing that motivates and strengthens us in doing good works like joy. Excitement about the work that the Holy Spirit is calling us to, and the gifts that He has given us to exercise, cause good works to follow. It is not that we have to work up to good works, but actually, it would be hard to stop them! Joy is a better motivator than duty. Jesus is incredibly strategic when He tells us to seek joy in the Holy Spirit.

We can also apply this to peace. Col 3:15 “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” Peace isn’t simply a choice we make in our minds. Jesus wants our hearts to be at rest. He cares about our hearts and our emotional state.

Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them”. If this is what we were created for then the big question is this: Why didn’t Jesus tell us to seek first good works? Our own sense of right and wrong or knowledge of good and evil tells us to “seek good works first”. But Jesus didn’t say this.

Jesus again is brilliantly strategic. If we have true joy in the Holy Spirit, we also have strength to do righteousness. If the joy of the Lord is our strength, then when the Holy Spirit gives us spiritual gifts to exercise in good works, it will all just flow together. When we do what we were created to do from our hearts, rather than out of obligation, we may discover the Kingdom of God. True joy in the Holy Spirit actually produces good fruit which produces good work.

Is Seeking Joy in the Holy Spirit Selfish?

If Jesus wants us to actively pursue the Kingdom of God because the outflow will be good works then it’s no wonder the enemy downplays righteousness, joy, peace and fulfillment in our hearts. He whispers to us we are selfish and superficial to seek these, and that we should just focus on doing good works rather than the fruit of the Holy Spirit. But seeking the Kingdom actually results in loving and serving others more, and endurance to finish our race well. We do need to be doing good works, but they are not our top priority; they are an outflow of our top priority. The kingdom of God is relationship. It’s an interaction in and with the Holy Spirit that brings the greatest emotions we can experience on earth. Intimacy with the Holy Spirit brings what John Piper calls “Christian Hedonism”. The pursuit of happiness in Jesus brings much glory to God.

If we believe that seeking joy in the Holy Spirit is selfish, we are misunderstanding the way God created us, but even more, we are misunderstanding His character. We were created to be joy seekers, and we were created to desire reward. The way God describes Himself in Heb 11:6 is this “And without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (NASB). The word “rewarder” actually means, “one who pays wages.” If we believe that desiring this reward is selfish, we are actually making less of this part of God’s character.

I remember hearing someone with much zeal for Jesus ask sincerely, “Would you serve Jesus for nothing?” He was asking about our commitment to Jesus, but this question frustrated me because it felt like he was devaluing God’s character. Honestly, I serve Jesus because I know it is best for me. To think otherwise would be to see Jesus as less than good. It would be like a young girl who thinks that selflessness sacrifice means marrying a man who is drunk, lazy, beats her and wants her to support him. She might see this as selfless sacrifice because thinks she’s in love, but we all know that it would just be plain foolishness. We trust Jesus because of who He is. His incredible goodness to us is unparallel. If He were anything less, we would be stupid to give our lives to Him

We need to re-align our thinking. In looking to Jesus as an example, we need understand His purpose in going to the cross. Heb 12:22 tells us the motive of Jesus. “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” One of the meanings of the word “for” here is “for this cause”. For this cause – the joy set before Him – He endured the cross.

It makes me think of the airline attendant analogy. Put the oxygen mask on first, so you will be able to help others. If my heart is continually receiving this “oxygen” of joy from the Holy Spirit, blessed in not being dependent on circumstances, filled with true peace and happiness in Jesus, fulfilled on the inside – then my overflow is going to be others focused, not self focused. When we are unhappy, or in pain, we focus on ourselves. We do this in order to survive. But when we are “whole” on the inside, filled with the fruits of the Spirit we will have the strength for selflessness. Seeking joy in the Holy Spirit is not selfish. Since joy truly produces strength to do good works, seeking joy is imperative to selflessness.

So how do we actually experience this joy in Jesus?

If we are supposed to seek this joy, how do we do it? What work do we have to do to have the right heart? Thankfully Jesus has done the work for us. He only calls us to ask and receive by faith. If we somehow think God’s sovereign will is long term unhappiness with our circumstances, we will settle for a heart that is less than joyful or at peace or righteous. We may not even bother to ask Him to change our hearts because the enemy has convinced us that this is what selfless denial really means and that it’s ok to live in drudgery. Jesus wants us to ask for something different than we are experiencing right now. This is the essence of faith in boldly approaching His throne. (Heb 4:16).

We need to the see value of joy in the Holy Spiirt. We won’t seek something valueless. Jesus told many parables about what the kingdom of Heaven is like, and He often used the illustration of someone placing a great deal of value on something (a coin, a treasure etc) and then seeking it and asking in faith.

The premise in asking Jesus for joy is to understand that He commands us to rejoice. So asking him for joy, and receiving it is actually part of obedience. We understand the concept of receiving at salvation, but receiving from Jesus is something we need to do our whole life. He tells us to ask with tenacity. The parable of the judge and widow in Luke 18:1-8 was given to us “to the effect that we ought always to pray and not lose heart.” Mark 10:15 & Luke 18:17 “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” When we think of the concept of receiving like a child, it is the opposite of striving. It’s from the heart. When a child receives a gift, he doesn’t analyze it (is this joy gift emotional, or a choice?) – he receives it!

I spent almost a year pondering the word “receive” in regard to Jesus and spiritual gifts and fruit. Receiving needs to be something we consciously do, both from Jesus and from others. We cannot give what we have not received. When we open our hearts to receive good fruit will come from our heart.

Theologians and scholars call this good fruit from the heart the doctrine of regeneration. This is my favorite doctrine! It is unbelievable to me that God can take a heart that looks at life with drudgery or duty and change it, so my sacrifice or duty becomes light, joyful – and at times, something I look forward to. My circumstances may not change, but my heart does. Yes it is a process, yes it doesn't mean that obedience isn’t difficult at times, but He is faithful and does what He promises.

Part III coming up