TEXT: Luke 10:21

SUBJECT: Attributes of Christ #12: Joy

This year at the Lord’s Table, we’ve been meditating on the human attributes of Christ. I say His human attributes to remind us that Jesus Christ is a Man—not only a man of course, but truly a man, as human as you and I, in body and soul.

What kind of man was our Lord? Many historians and scholars say they don’t know--and we don’t either. To their way of thinking, His story has been so altered and corrupted in the telling, that no one can know Him as He was. But this is not true! God has given us a true picture of Christ in His Word and He has given us the Holy Spirit to know the Lord as He was and as He is. Without wide learning or deep thinking or special brains, we know Jesus Christ. Because God has revealed Him to us as He promised to do in the New Covenant:

What kind of Man is the Lord? He’s a wise and holy man, brave and humble, zealous and sympathetic, loving and submissive, thankful and holy and generous. These are the qualities we’ve looked at this year and now we have one more.

Like the others, it is plainly taught in the Bible, but unlike the others, we often overlook it. It’s hard to think of the Lord at all without thinking of His love or wisdom.

But when was the last time you meditated on His joy? On His cheerful disposition or the happy life He lived? This is a neglected part of His character, but one we need to know.

Preachers have time to fill. A great seven minute sermon is still a seven minute sermon! To avoid that, we sometime pad our sermons with fine distinctions that aren’t really there. I once heard a preacher rant and rave that joy and happiness are not the same thing; that joy is deep and lasting, while happiness is a shallow and short-lived thing.

Baloney! Joy and happiness are the same thing. This becomes apparent when we use the old fashioned word for happiness, which is…what? Blessedness!

Joy means happiness. Not laughing your head off every minute or smiling till your face cracks, but real happiness, the happiness that is consistent with life in a world that is both good and fallen.

Of course He was. Our verse says, at this time, at least, He "rejoiced in spirit" and gave thanks to His Father for His mysterious sovereignty. The Lord was happy that day.

And not only that day. Though joy is not as obvious in His life as some other qualities are, we know it was His prevailing mood. How do we know that? The Bible says so.

Galatians 5:22 says the fruit of the Spirit is joy. But John 3:34 says the Lord was full of the Spirit. This means He was full of joy. You cannot have one without the other. This agrees with Psalm 45 that says He was "anointed with the oil of gladness above all His fellows".

I was talking this over with my boys the other day, and one of them made a remarkably sharp observation. I asked him if the Lord was a happy man and he said He was. Why? I wanted to know: Because everything about God is good and joy is a good thing! "He who gives a right answer kisses the lips!" How can a sinless man, a perfect man, not be happy?

Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ was a happy Man. He is now, of course, because He’s exalted. But the verses I cited a minute ago apply to Him before God raised Him from the dead! That’s what makes His happiness so admirable! He isn’t just happy at God’s Right Hand, but He was happy in this life, a life full of poverty and rejection and ridicule and persecution, and finally, a cross!

The suffering Man is also the smiling Man.

The Bible plainly teaches that our Lord was "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief". Think of the many unhappy times He had: He cried at the tomb of Lazarus, He got mad in the Temple, He was grieved with His disciples, and He sweated great drops of blood. He doesn’t seem so happy, does He? And these are not isolated events, but fit the pattern of His life.

So what do we say? I say that great joy is compatible with sorrow and pain. Not long ago, a preacher stood in this pulpit and told the story of his wife’s death. She was everything to the man—his wife and lover, best friend, the mother of his kids, and partner in ministry. What a blow it was to lose her! But, when all hope was gone for her recovery, they had hours to talk, to remember, and to plan for the future. The pastor said they were the best times of their life. Full of tears and full of joy at the same time!

We have a word for this: bittersweet. That’s what the Lord’s life on earth was. We have too spent too much time on the bitterness of His life and not nearly enough on its sweetness! His belly got by on a poor man’s diet. But His soul feasted every day!

The Lord’s joy was of great service to Him. Hebrews 12:2 says it was the thing that enabled Him to "Endure the cross and despise the shame".

A sense of duty is good, but it will not get you through the hardest times of life. In those days, you need something more than obedience. You need joy! And that’s what the Lord had and that’s what held Him on the road to Calvary.

The Lord’s joy was a gift of God, but it didn’t just drop out of the sky. It was connected to something in the Lord. And that something is faith. He felt joy on His way to the cross because He believed God and that He was with Him in the crucifixion, that He would raise Him from the dead, and that even this awful thing would be turned to good.

Optimism will not sustain your joy. No, it’s way too hard for that. It takes faith, a simple firm belief in the promises of God.

We need joy and we get it by believing the promises of God and praying for it. So do you believe? And will you pray? God help you and me too! The joy of the Lord is our strength!