“Well done, thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Matthew 25:23
In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers living in Rome in his day, he wrote concerning “…the first fruits of the Spirit.” (8:23) What are these “fruits” but the very “fruits of the Spirit” of which he speaks in his letter to the Galatian believers. They are individual, and yet contribute to the whole. Paul begins the list by writing: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22,23) These fruits of the Spirit are described by the individual characteristics, one of the first three being joy. The meaning and manifestation of these fruits is that Christ is in the heart, Christ being revealed by the Spirit is in some measure by the love, peace, and joy that a person knows, and lives. The moment a person is born again, being placed by the Father into the Son, to be one in nature with Him, Christ’s joy became not only a truth, but a source of blessing, to be increasingly known on this earth as it is in heaven. The experience of Christ’s joy, however so small or grand that it may be, is a testament to the fact of one belonging to Christ, and Christ belonging to him. It is a proof of the believer being sealed in Christ, secure for time and eternity. But it is also the evidence of things not seen. As was the case when Jesus spoke to Nicodemus concerning being born again, He said it was like the wind that blows where it will go, “…and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” (Jn. 3:8) The fruit of the Spirit is that which is given by God to the believer, that he might know something of what it is to taste and see that the Lord is good. But also, it is a confirmation of something more. The experience of the fulness of the Spirit can vary from believer to another, and the measure of that fulness of love, joy, and peace can be known in small or large measure. That which is certain is that, when Christ comes to dwell in the heart, He brings with Him by the Spirit every good and wonderful aspect of His blessed, holy and good nature, ever seeking to fill the believer with Himself. This is great salvation, to which every believer is called, is not only forgiveness and cleansing from sins, but the Holy Spirit bringing the believer into living union with Christ.
How then can this joy be known? First of all, what is meaning of joy, this joy of the Lord? It is first and foremost a holy thing, a wondrous expression and experience, the great delight of the soul, whose object is the Father, and His pleasure. We see this in the life and words of the Lord Jesus when He said He did always those things that pleased the Father, only accomplishing or doing those things which He saw the Father doing. (Jn. 8:29) He also spoke of His joy, this delight, that which lifts the soul to heights of praise and thanksgiving for the One loved, being in the hearts of the disciples. In John’s gospel He speaks of that joy remaining “in you,” and that it would be “full.” He went on to say that no man could take that joy from the disciples. How could this be? It is so by virtue of His constant presence, and His union with the believer. There might be hardship, difficulty, suffering and temptation, but like Christ’s love, so is His joy. Nothing can separate the believer from Him, or from His joy.
David wrote in Psalm 16, “…in Thy presence is fulness of joy.” (v.11) Christ’s strength was His overcoming joy.
Dear Father, Fill us with joy. In Jesus’ name, Amen.