“What Does Jesus Say
About Joy?”
Steve W. Reeves
stevereevesoutlines.blogspot.com
A. Six months after I graduated from Harding Tami and I, along with our two-week-old
where I began full time preaching. In the process of moving I lost my wallet. It
contained my driver’s license, social security card, fishing license and a crisp one
hundred-dollar bill. I searched everywhere in our house, in our car and in the moving
van. I even drove over 50 miles to a gas station where I had stopped to fill up. I
searched for that wallet for days. Finally, I bought another one and gradually replaced
the contents with the exception of the one-hundred-dollar bill. Several years later we
had some friends who were moving and needed some boxes. I went to our storage
room and started to gather some boxes we had kept. Guess what I found? There
was my wallet with all of its contents inside.
1. I invested time and money looking for the wallet. I spent hours worrying about it
and trying to remember when I saw it last.
2. Do you know why I did not find it? I was looking in the wrong places. It was nearby
all of the time for years. I had been within a few feet of it regularly.
3. Mickey Gilley sang a song for the movie “Urban Cowboy” entitled, “Looking for
Love In All The Wrong Places.” I believe this is the case when it comes to joy and
happiness.
B. If I were to ask you, “Are you a joyful person,” how would you answer?
1. Happiness is superficial. Joy is deep within your heart.
2. Happiness is subjectively based on circumstantial. Joy is objectively based on
facts.
3. Happiness comes and goes. Joy is eternal.
C. There is much written in the New Testament about joy.
1.The birth of Jesus brought great joy (Matthew 2:10; Luke 2:10).
2. There was great joy upon the resurrection of Jesus (Matthew 28:3; Luke 24:41,53).
3. The miracles of Jesus caused great joy among people (Luke19:37).
4. In passages like Acts 13:52 and 15:3, the preaching of the Gospel brought great
joy to people.
5. Paul wrote that the kingdom of God is “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy
Spirit” (Romans 14:17).
6. In Galatians 5:21 Paul lists joy as a component of the fruit of the Spirit.
7. In Philippians 4:4 Paul wrote, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say,
rejoice.”
8. Hebrews 12:2 says it was because of the joy set before Him that Jesus endured
the cross, despising its shame and is set down at the right hand of God.
D. Joy is the life blood of our spiritual life. Without it your spiritual life dies. Joy is the
oxygen of the soul.
1. Joy is not dependent on age. I have known young people in junior and high school
along with college students who had great joy. I have also known some who were
miserable. I have known old people full of joy and others who were as sour as if
they had taken a swig of lemon juice.
2. Joy is not dependent on your job, your money, your circumstances. It is dependent
upon the choices you make. I read of a young mother in Dallas whose husband
was a prominent physician at the pinnacle of his career. One evening as he was
returning from a men’s retreat in Montana when the private plane in which he was
a passenger crashed killing all aboard. The woman was now a single mother. She
grieved. She could have become bitter but instead she chose joy. She went on to
complete a graduate degree and become a teacher. She chose joy rather than
bitterness.
D. What does Jesus say about joy?
A, Perhaps it is best to begin by noticing some warnings given by Jesus as to where
joy is not found.
B. Have young man came to Jesus on one occasion. He was a wealthy young man
but he was not satisfied. In Matthew 19:16-22 he came to Jesus and asked what
he must do to have eternal life. He had kept the law and was pleased with his
accomplishments. Jesus said, “Go, sell your possessions and give the money to
the poor.” The young man went away very sad.
1. Have you ever wondered what happened to the young man? Did he ever
change his mind? Did he ever part with his possessions?
2. Perhaps the reason we have no answer is that you and I are faced with the
same basic question. Upon what will our joy be established?
B. Jesus had a lot to say about wealth. He never said it was bad. The Bible never
says that wealth is bad. Money is inert. It is neither good nor bad. It depends on
how it is used.
1. In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on
earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But
store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust
destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure
is, there your heart will be also.”
2. In verse 24 Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate
the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and wealth.”
3. Here is the issue. Do you serve money or does money serve you? Do you
possess your possessions or do your possessions possess you? Are you more
concerned about the physical or the spiritual? Are you more concerned about
the temporal or the eternal?
4. In Luke 12:15 Jesus had been approached by a man who asked him to tell his
brother to share the family inheritance. Jesus saw something in this man’s
attitude that prompted Him to give this warning. “Beware, and be on your guard
against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his
life consist of his possessions.”
2. Jesus went on to tell a parable. “The land of a rich man was very productive.
17 And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no
place to store my crops?’ 18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down
my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years
to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘You
fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you
have prepared?’”
5. Many years ago a man named Jay Gould was one of the wealthiest men in
America. He had millions and millions of dollars and oversaw a vast financial
empire. However, on his deathbed he confessed, “I suppose I am the most
miserable man on earth.”
6. In his book, The Be Happy Attitudes, Robert Schuller wrote about his childhood
on a farm during the Great Depression. The family worked hard and had built a
nice farmhouse, barn, fences and sheds. They had cows and chickens. One day
while they were gone a tornado came through and destroyed everything. As
they topped a nearby hill overlooking their place it was all gone. Although their
possessions were destroyed, they were not. They rejoiced that they were safe
and went to work rebuilding.
C. Jesus also taught that joy is not found in personal power or prestige.
1. In Matthew 20 as Jesus and his disciples were on the way to Jerusalem, the
mother of James and John asked him to appoint her sons to sit at his right and
left hands. This prompted an argument among the twelve as to who was the
greatest.
2. Isn’t this indicative of human nature. We want to be the greatest athlete, the
prettiest princess, the wealthiest businessman, the most recognized teacher.
Notice Jesus’ words in verses 24-26, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles
lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not
this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be
your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your
slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to
give His life a ransom for many.”
3. In Philippians 1:1 as Paul began his letter to the Philippians he referred to
himself and Timothy as “bond-servants.” This meant “slaves.” Why such a term?
Could he not have referred to himself as a senior minister or chief leader? Joy
for Paul was found in being like Jesus Christ. In Philippians 2:6-7,” who,
to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant.”
A. Having a right relationship with God.
1. Notice two verses in Luke 15. This chapter begins with Luke’s account of
sinners coming to hear Jesus while the religious leaders criticized Him for
receiving them and eating with them.
a. In verses 4-6 Jesus told of a shepherd who left ninety-nine sheep in search of
one who went astray. When he found it he rejoiced and called his friends
together to rejoice with him because what was lost had been found.
b. In verses 8-9, Jesus told another story about a woman with ten coins. She
lost one of them and turned her house upside-down searching for it. When
she found it she was joyful and called her friends together to share in her
good news.
c. In verses 7 and 10 there are similar statements. Verse 7 says there is more
joy in heaven over one who repents than over ninety-nine who do not need to
repent. Verse ten says that there is joy among the angels over one sinner
who repents.
d. Why was there joy? That which was lost was found. That which had been
separated was reconciled. There is no greater joy in life than in being in a
right relationship with God.
B. Having a proper sense of priorities.
1. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”
2. The enemy of joy is worry. Beginning in verse 25 Jesus asked “why do you
worry about what you will eat?” Then, “why do you worry about what you will
wear?” In both cases He recalls how God feeds the birds of the air and clothes
the grass of the fields. Joy can only be found when we set our priorities on
seeking God first.
3. In John 15:11 Jesus told his disciples, “These things I have spoken to you so
that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. “If you want to be
filled with joy you need to make your relationship with Christ the number one
priority in life.
A. I recently celebrated the 5th birthday of my four coronary artery bypasses. As I
reflected on that time, I remember how the surgery was delayed because of the
surgeon’s schedule, and I had to spend the weekend in the hospital. Someone
asked, “Did this make you worry more since you had all weekend to anticipate it?”
The answer is “no.” My family was with me. We spent all day Saturday playing Uno
and had to be reprimanded by the nurse for making too much noise. On Monday
when they asked me if I needed something to relieve anxiety I said, “No, thank you.” I
talked with everyone even as I got off the gurney and laid down on the operating
table. I felt a sense of peace and joy that transcended the circumstances.
B. Alistar Begg tells of a man who was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. While he
was in the hospital a nurse wrote on his chart. “I don’t know what is wrong but he is
inappropriately joyful.” Is that a bad thing?
C. I invite you to experience joy that is not dependent on circumstances. Peace that
surpasses understanding and love beyond your wildest dreams. All of this can be
found in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Come to Him today.
