Saturday – May 23, 2020

Join in the Joy

Through the years, I have frequently preached about joy. It is more than an emotion (although it includes emotion); rather, it is a settled attitude, a stable and sturdy approach to life that focuses us on the things that matter now and forever. Joy is much greater and much more powerful than happiness, which is event or circumstance driven. There is nothing wrong with happiness. It is certainly better than unhappiness. Also, we have different personalities. For example, my wife is happy-go-lucky. Of course, she has every reason to be, being married to me. However, not everyone can be married to me. We need something more substantial than happiness; that something is joy. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)

We have seen in the last several days that Jesus finds joy in finding what is lost, reveals joy in the revelation of God the Father, and rejoices when His children follow His truth. Today, we see that Jesus speaks joy to us. In John 17:13, Jesus says, “These things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy fulfilled in themselves.” To know this joy, we must know “these things.” Of what was Jesus speaking? Remember that Jesus was to die on the Cross the very next day. In John 13-17, He is reviewing crucial doctrine with His perplexed disciples. One teaching that He emphasized at this time is perhaps surprising to us: Jesus spoke about the Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Just skimming through these chapters, I found forty-three explicit Trinitarian references; a careful reading would reveal far more. Jesus has limited time left – no more than a couple of hours – to communicate with these men who would form the core of the early Church … and He taught them about the Triune Godhead. Some suggest that Trinitarian doctrine is not especially important; Jesus thought otherwise. Others are unnecessarily confused by the Trinity. Logically, we should expect God to be different from us, and He is – One God in Three Persons. Furthermore, we should see that the Trinity is necessary if God is to be God. For example, we know that God is love (I John 4:8). However, if God were merely monopersonal (one god in one person), He would have no idea what love is, for love must be expressed and shared. If God were dipersonal (one god in two persons), love would be exclusive and thus unavailable to us. Only with One God in Three Persons can we be assured that love exists and can be an integral part of multiple relationships. For example, read John 14:15-21. This passage begins and ends with love; it is overtly Trinitarian and directly connects our love to the mutual love found within the Trinity. Thus, if the joy of Jesus is to be “fulfilled” in us, we must think long and hard and often about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. “Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;/ Praise Him, all creatures here below;/ Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; / Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.” – Thomas Ken