This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).
Preface
The spiritual call of discipleship of Jesus is the result of God’s most important trait, Love. God’s unconditional love for us is the very foundation of the Spiritual gift of redemption. Any faithful follower of the Master will be tested and challenged in many ways that expose our carnality individualistically and existentially.
Individualistically, as we learn just how to “work out our salvation” as believers, we will face feelings of anger, shame, fear, depression, and anxiety. Existentially, because of one’s calling into faithful discipleship in a godless society, followers of Jesus will be hated, lose possessions, abused, tortured, or have to endure personal injury if not death.
Jesus warned that “if the world hates you, know that it hated Me before you…, A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. John 15: 18-25
Today’s blog post is a source of encouragement for each saint of God in doing good work for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is an examination of one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, Joy, and its spiritual transformational benefits in the life of the faithful Believer!
The Visible Manifestation of True Partnership with Christ
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-25
Our initial disclosure is to examine the wisdom that is associated with the word, fruit. In this text, fruit is the word [kar-pos] which communicates everything that the believer does in the faithful union in Christ. Every spiritual deed, action, result, and gain is an expression of the ability that God grants the believer, which is like a living branch in the union in Christ.
John 15: 1,2-I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
This figure of a vineyard had been used in Isaiah 5:1-7 revealing God’s purpose for the nation Israel. There are wonderful universal spiritual lessons for both Israel and the Body of Christ that the world would see expressed in the words and works of Jesus.
Christ Jesus as the true vine is head over God’s created spiritual order which includes the redeemed people of God who are supernaturally formed into the mystical “Body of Christ!” This is the essence of His expressed fruit of Love, redemption.
God is the vine-dresser which depicts in the earth that He is the worker of the soil of the inner-workings of our soul transformation and redemption of the earth during the end-times. The Old Covenant depicts our Creator as a husbandman.
A good husbandman works the earth, cultivates his plants, and naturally expects them to produce fruit commensurate with the amount of effort he has invested in them. Our heavenly Father, the divine Husbandman, seeks to produce fruit through us as we abide in Christ.
He is the Husbandman of the Bride of Christ
Revelation 19:7-9
Let us rejoice and exult and give Him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure-for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the Saints. “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage Supper of the Lamb.”
He is the Husbandman over New Heaven and Earth
Isaiah 54:5
For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His Name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, The God of the whole earth shall He be called. [see also, Revelation 21:1-27]
God reserves the right to “take away” or cut off any or all branches that fail in producing worthy fruits of the Kingdom’s lifestyle. The actual verbiage of being cut off is rendered as “lifts” branches as the Father is responsible for putting each branch in a place where it could bear fruit.
The pruning process communicates God cleaning or purifying each believer with the living Word of God which is directed in the increase of fruitfulness. These are the conditions for fruit-bearing.
Next, the Master spoke of the consequences of abiding consisting of asking for anything/praying according to His Word; bearing much fruit to glorify the Father, and proving that one is connected with Christ.
The third result of remaining in Christ is expressed in this manner, “your joy may be complete.” Christ’s supreme joy came from knowing that He was obedient to the will of His Father. Christ gave the commands to His disciples in the upper room so that they might obey the commands and come to know this same joy that He knew through His obedience to His Heavenly Father.
Delight Yourself in the Lord
We now will focus on the blessedness of joy. Joy is rooted in who God is. It is not fleeting or based on circumstances. Our worldly possessions, successes, family, and friends are blessings that bring happiness and joy to our lives. However, the Holy Scriptures teach that the believer’s source of complete joy is in Christ.
Lord Jesus Christ is the very present expression of our stability in this life. He is our solid rock aiding and directing us to navigate difficult situations associated with the absence of happiness while sustaining our joy.
The word joy expresses delight, gladness, and extended favor during events while having an awareness of God’s grace by the Holy Spirit. This status is not a human emotion, it is best described as a joyful condition.
The Word of God encourages us to rejoice in the blessings of our life and give glory to God in all things. “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.” Roman 15:13
Perfect, and complete joy can be obtained in the heartfelt gratitude for God’s love, mercy, and grace. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart“. Psalms 37:4
The original Hebrew for “joy” in Nehemiah 8:10 is “chedvah,” meaning joy or gladness. The root word for joy in this context means to rejoice or to make glad.
“Strength” in the same verse is a Hebrew word meaning “a place or means of safety, protection refuge, or stronghold.” The root word of strength means “to be strong, prevail; to make firm, strengthen.”
The joy of the Lord is a constant gladness and cause to rejoice. It stems from an inner strengthening of our relationship with Him. When Jesus died for us, He restored us to a peace with God that cannot be undone.
“But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (John 17:13). [Biblical definition of joy gleaned from the article: What Does the Joy of the Lord is my Strength means? Bible Study Tools]
Foes of the Disciples of Christ
In this section, we will discover the importance of the need and the role that the fruit of joy plays in the life of a faithful disciple of the Master.
Jesus warned that working for the Kingdom of Heaven would mark each disciple as sheep among wolves. Christ lists four major foes of the life of His disciples that they too would experience the same thing that He experienced.
- They were chosen out of the world but now they were separated from the conformity of the world. Thus they will be hated.
- Disciples of Christ will be hated due to the new spiritual relationship that is established. Jesus’s disciples were His friends.
- Persecution would come also by the world because of the lack of knowledge of the Heavenly Father.
- The last reason for hatred and persecution in the life of a disciple is due to the very Word that Christ had spoken to them, the revelation of the Father that He had given to them, rendering the world inexcusable.
In our current world condition, Christ’s life and Words revealed the righteousness of a loving and holy God. His disciples today are delegated to continue this work of Christ by proclaiming the pattern of this kind of life that humanity must live to be acceptable to God.
The Biblical response to our world is no different than the original disciples, we must continue to bear witness of Christ. He promised that we will not be left alone to fulfill our modern-day responsibilities. There is a two-witness methodology from God to this world system.
The first is “the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father.” The Holy Spirit ministry is to testify about the Father. This would be the Spirit’s testimony to the world concerning the Messiah who was sent by the Father into the earth.
The second is that each spiritual reborn follower of Christ must testify and produce fruitfulness throughout their lives before the world. The Word also is important, for it shows that the believers and the Spirit together would bear testimony of Christ. [This section source was gleaned from The Words and Works of Jesus Christ, J. Dwight Pentecost]
God Alone is the Blessed One
Our final disclosure is Jesus’s depiction of Heavenly righteousness in those who faithfully abide within Him.
John the Baptist preached the demand of the people to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” which in essence demanded a new life to them as living proof of the genuineness of their faith. Christ likewise revealed to the multitude what type of character is considered and is blessed in His Semon on the Mount.
The Beatitudes give the modern-day disciple the characteristics of a righteous person and also describe the basis for blessing in one’s life. God alone is the blessed One. Only He is worthy to receive a blessing because of His absolute, unalterable holiness.
Some of the Fruit of the Righteous
- Those who are poor in spirit: These souls have learned that they have no merit or righteousness of their own on which to stand before a holy God. These are the ones who are dependent on God.
- Those who mourn: This person is one who acknowledges the righteousness of God and willfully confesses their sins to the one against whom they had sinned.
- The meek: Those who recognize God’s authority and submit themselves to every manifestation of God’s sovereignty over His created order.
- Souls who hunger and thirst for righteousness: These are the ones who have a heart after God’s own heart, seeking after God in all matters which ultimately satisfy their soul.
- The merciful: These souls possess deep and powerful loving care and concern for the needs of others.
- Purity of heart: Saints of God who received righteousness from God are constituted as pure in heart by God and not by practices of individuals. Purity is produced by conforming to God’s holiness.
- Peacemakers: These souls are the ones who themselves are at peace with God. They live and proclaim the message of peace in an effort to compel others to become into harmony with God from who they have been alienated.
- Those who suffer for righteousness’ sake.
The supreme blessedness of the joy of the Lord is manifested in these Beatitudes that Christ revealed of true righteousness which is required for entrance into the Messiah’s kingdom. As one of His faithful disciples representing Him on earth, He promised blessings for those who show this very fruit of righteousness.
You are blessed when people hate you, when they exclude you, insult you, and slander your name as evil because of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! Take note-your reward is great in heaven, for this is the way their ancestors used to treat the prophets. Luke 6:22-23
Grace and Peace
Brother Alonzo