The Many-Faceted Jewel of Joy

Or the enduring power of shame despising joy

Joy is one of the most consistent thoughts that I tend to have. Joy is an inexhaustible object to behold. We can spend our whole lifetime studying it, only to find that the well is deeper than we first thought. I have written about joy a few times already, but I shall never tire of writing about the many-faceted jewel of joy. If you want to read any of the previous articles on joy you can read them here and here. That being said, I want to share some of my more recent observations with you with the hope that you find them as compelling as I do.

This essay is about the enduring power of joy or, putting it another way, the shame enduring power of joy. C.S. Lewis states, "joy is the serious business of heaven," and others like John Piper have staked their whole lives on the pursuit of joy in God. I think these men had a unique grasp of the Gospel and the glory of God. Joy for them is serious business, but that did not leave them dour and gloomy. On the contrary, joy was a means of experiencing the great abundance of God and the source of profound endurance and perspective.

When I say the shame enduring power of joy I am taking that from Hebrews 12.1-2 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Jesus endured the cross and shame because of the joy that was set before him. This joy must be invaluable to Jesus for him to have endured the excruciating pain of the cross and the curse of sin. Yet, the Founder and Perfecter endured it because he knew that he had a better possession laying ahead of him. The joy that we are to have in Jesus is the joy that I want to write about.

James 1 also talks about this magnificent enduring joy. He writes in verse 2 "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of various kinds." How can this be? How do I count trials into joys? The numbers, at first, do not seem to add up. But here is where it gets exciting. As I said earlier joy is a many-faceted jewel I think that we can sometimes get caught up on only looking at one specific face. Joy tends to be watered down into the term happiness. If joy is a bottomless ocean, happiness is standing in it up to your toes when the waves come in. Happiness ebbs and flows but this joy you have to sink into. R.C. Sproul wonderfully said "The key to the Christian's joy is its source, which is the Lord. If Christ is in me and I am in Him, that relationship is not a sometimes experience." Jesus is our source, he is our foundation, and we build our lives upon him. He is the bottomless ocean that we must swim in, not the in and out waves of transient happiness.

When we see Jesus as the irrepressible source of our joy, and the very object of our joy, then we can agree with Paul when he wrote to the Philippians "Rejoice, in the Lord always, again I say rejoice." My joy is in the Lord and the joy of the Lord is my strength. Herein lies another thread to be woven into the tapestry of the glory and grandeur of God. The strength to endure is the joy of the Lord. Just as Jesus endured because of the joy that was set before him, we too can endure for the joy that we have in the Lord, our hope. Joy goes deeper than the surface, it digs down and sinks its roots into our very soul.

This strength in joy is how Christians can simultaneously mourn and rejoice. Mourn for the tragic loss of human life on earth, but rejoice in the inexpressible joy and glory of Jesus that one day he will resolve all accounts. We may not understand the sometimes sorrowful night of this life, but the bright dawn of the Coming Christ brings everlasting joy for the believing Christian. I love how the Apostle Peter puts it "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory."

When we have Jesus as our source of joy we have a unique perspective on life. We can look through the despair and destruction of this earth to the good and glorious of the New Earth. One day we will be face to face with the source of our joy, we will finally be like the man in Matthew 13.44 who found a treasure in a field and in his joy sold all that he had and bought that field. One day that man returned to that field full of joy. He had to make a return journey to that field even though he owned it, but he had not obtained that treasure yet. But one day, who knows how many days later, he arrived back at that field and joyfully laid hold of that treasure. We will be like that, one day when we die or Jesus returns, we will arrive at the glorious fields of heaven and truly possess that eternal treasure of Christ himself.

We are on our return journey back home to our field. In our joy, we will live this life encountering trials, eating, drinking, and rejoicing because this is not our home. We are sojourners, you and I. Our hearts are set on the Celestial City where the source of all Goodness, Peace, and Joy reside. As Jesus says in John 14.23 "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." To be with Jesus is the greatest of all joys, and he is with us. I recall what Paul says in Philippians 4.4 "Rejoice in the Lord always." It is imperative that we have this mind amongst ourselves. We must look to Jesus. Through him, and only through him, can we love him and endure this life in a way that counts and glorifies him.