B: JOY
“My brethren, count it all Joy when ye fall into divers temptations” James 1:2.
In the Old Testament, joy is commonly a group expression, often associated with dancing or blessings or prosperity. (Isaiah 60:15, Ezra 3:10-11). It also meant a celebration of harvest or victory (1 Samuel 18:6, Joel 1:16). The dictionary definition of joy is a feeling of great happiness.
The New Testament talks about joy in connection with salvation. For the fact that we are saved and our sins have been washed by the blood of Jesus, we have to rejoice and if we are not rejoicing then technically we do not appreciate the death of Jesus Christ for us and the salvation that the death brought about. We have to be filled with joy – the feeling of happiness of being saved from ‘death’.
Joy is also seen in suffering for the truth about the gospel. In Acts 5, the apostles saw the need and the joy of uniting with Christ. “… The Sanhedrin, sent for the apostles and had them flogged; then they ordered them to give up speaking in the name of Jesus, and discharged them. So the apostles went out from the council rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer indignity for the sake of the Name.”(Read Acts 5) James also advised his fellow – Christians, in James 1:2 to count it all Joy when they have to face trials of many kinds. The apostles saw the need to have that part of the Fruit because it gives you a share in Christ’s suffering.
If you are a Christian and you don’t have “joy” how then do you appreciate Christ’s suffering for you. When we are persecuted, we should not go about complaining but rather rejoice and be glad knowing that it is also a partaking in the suffering of Christ just like how the apostles did. For the early Christians, joy was found in the midst of pain and at the heart of sorrow. If we have joy I think we will not feel the pain and the persecution, we understand the suffering in Christ Jesus and we are not tempted to speak against God. Also it saves us from revenging thus giving way to LOVE. We now see what JOY can do in our lives. If we read Galatians 5:22, we realize that joy comes from the Holy Spirit and that if we don’t have joy then the Holy Spirit is not in us. How then can God accept us and how can Jesus be our friend if we don’t have the Holy Spirit in us? The joy in the early Christians was strengthened by what they experienced at the foot of the cross when Jesus Died and rose again. They were not Spartans in war against a Persian army but they knew that they had already won the battle – that is the mark of a True Christian.
We complain a lot about our sufferings, we cry too much about our pain. How many ‘Christians’ will go to Arab to preach the gospel there? We will not go there because we do not see the Joy in suffering for God. How can we then witness his death to the unbelievers? In Michael W. Smith’s song ‘This is your time’, a young teenager was killed in her school because she was a Christian. Can you imagine the joy in it? What a wonderful way to go to heaven! God, please fill us with the Holy Spirit and help us to bear the Fruit of JOY.
C: PEACE
“Follow peace with all men and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord”. Hebrews 12: 14.
Does it mean harmony, harmonious relations or freedom from disputes? Or does it mean calmness of the mind or not worried about situations in life? Let us dive into the word of God to find out what it means to have PEACE and why we have to bear forth peace as Christians. It means Shalom in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, it means completeness or soundness or the reward of the mind that you are in tune with God. Isaiah 26:3 gives a vivid account of the nature of peace in the Old Testament. It is also a prominent feature of the coming of the Messiah (Isaiah 9:6). How do we then understand the quotation ‘there is no peace for the wicked’ said by Isaiah and other prophets in the Old Testament. Is there really no peace for the wicked that have all the riches, wives and luxury every man could wish for? I will say there is, but then I later realized that truly there is no peace for the wicked because peace is bound to bring goodness, righteousness and good relationship with men. In Psalm 85:10 we see that peace and righteousness are related. Outwardly, there could be calmness but no peace in the heart. Therefore, the peace we are talking about here is the Inner peace – Peace in the heart.
In the New Testament we see that the peace of God surpasses all understanding and it keeps our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). It also refers to the ideal relationship we have with our brothers. We get peace if we are ‘spiritually’ minded as seen in Romans 8:6. In 2 Cor. 13:11 shows that God loves us when we live in peace.
If we don’t have peace how then can we understand our fellow men? It means there will be war, disputes, evil thoughts and many other wicked ways; and these are not marks of a Christian.
Every Christ – like person should have this part of the Fruit. If we don’t have it, we don’t have joy in us and we do not love God. One becomes righteous if he/she has peace, “and the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace”. James 3:18. There are disorder and confusion if there is no peace.
The peace which Christ brings is attained through pain, sorrow and conflicts. Jesus gave it to us as a perfect gift because he knew that the world could not provide that peace. Therefore true peace is acquired only from Jesus. The world cannot get it from the UN, ECOWAS and other ‘peace keeping agents’. John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let your heart not be troubled, neither let it be afraid”.
You will not fight if you have this Peace, you will not hate if have this peace. Your heart is not troubled if you have this peace. Why then do we cry in our beds and decide to be at logger heads with our neighbors over things that happen between us? Now you realize the ‘little GREAT’ sins we commit if we don’t possess the fruit as a whole. I think from this point on you can ask yourself: “am I a Christian”?
(to be continued…. )
Derrick Ofori Donkor – 18th July 2013
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