Ep 15: Five Greek Words – Joy (4 of 5)

Hi there tom Mahairas with. It’s all greek to me and we want to dig into the original language. We want to really draw out of it, things that we can apply in our practical everyday life today. And that is very possible. The word we’re looking at today is the word hara, which is joy. And my wife and I have had a discussion on that. Why don’t you join us as we talk about This word hara? So we are just thrilled to be back discussing these words Vicki and I have had so much fun going from grace to forgiveness to gifts and now to joy. And the only thing I can say about joy is in John 1511. It talks about joy and I want to talk about in a minute. But this word joy hara, which is rooted in grace because of grace. Joy because of grace is a concept all throughout the bible. I just thought of one versus scripture in the old testament. In Jeremiah chapter uh 15 and verse 16, thy words were found and I ate them and I word became for me a joy. Seeing that word Sison a joy, which is to be glad with abounding delight. Cezanne in the hebrew and the delight of my heart Simha gladness or more. And this is why because of the word of God, Jeremiah was so excited because of the word of God. And he says for I have been called by thy name O Lord God of hosts. Now in the new testament. When you go from Jeremiah 15 16 and you go into the new testament in john’s Gospel chapter 15 and verse 11, you read these words John 1511. These things I have spoken to you again in the word of Jesus Christ, so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made bleed is full. So you know to have full joy, I’m not talking about just being happy. I’m talking about inner joy that it just explodes out of your life. That comes from the word of God, from the eternal father son and the Holy spirit. And when jesus was on this earth with his disciples and they would talk, he was able to impart his joy to them and their joy became full because of that abiding fellowship. So Vicky’s gonna pick up and give us some insights about that uh Sarah Well, in the same passage that you were discussing the versus right before it, John 15 Yes, John 15 it says versus seven through 11, which was your verse, it talks about like you said, abiding if you abide in me and my words abide in you ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you by this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit and proved to be my disciples. If you keep my commandments and you abide in my love just as I have kept my father’s commandments and abide in His love then comes the joy. These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. So there’s there are several things here. He tells us that we have to abide in God’s word. As tom mentioned. We have to spend time in God’s word. And this is so important. It’s our daily bread when jesus himself was tempted by satan, he quoted the scripture, Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. And I know if you’re like me, it’s a battle to get into God’s word every day. But we have just we have to discipline ourselves to get on our knees, pray and read God’s word. Not only do we abide in him, we keep his commandments and there are we’re happy when we keep God’s commandments, because they free us from sinfulness and problems. And we will have the Joy of God upon us Amen. So the joy that we’re talking about, the joy of jesus is rooted in his words, is rooted in his grace, is rooted in his gifts, is rooted in the obedience and the abiding in christ the reading the word of the word of God and acting upon the Word of God. So what a fabulous thought in this beautiful picture here from the jesus movie. These things I have spoken to you so that my Joy uh Karam who may be in you and that your Joy may be made please please. This is overflowing full, totally full. And that’s really the goal that we have as we mature as as christians as a wife, as a husband, as a dad, as a grandfather. That we would that we would allow the words of jesus christ to penetrate our life in such a way that we grow the fruit not only of the spirit, but more importantly that we threw that reflection. Other people could see jesus christ in us and they could repent of their sins and they could come to christ and accept him as their personal savior. I think that’s what john 15 is talking about. He’s talking about the fruit of other people coming to christ because of our life. This is what he says in verse 16 of chapter 15, you didn’t choose me, I chose you. I’ve ordained you, I’ve commanded you to go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain. And that whatever you ask of the father in my name, he will do for you. Now, that is the joy when you know you have such intimacy with God because you’re listening to his words, when you’re abiding in his truth, when you’re obeying his will and you’re leading other people to jesus christ. You’re going to have lasting fruit in your life and other people are going to come to christ through your testimony. Let’s go to the next one, Vicki is the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5 22 and 23. Go for it, but the fruit of the spirit is love, Joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control against such things. There is no law. These are the nine characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit. You know what I love about this. It’s not the fruits, it’s not the fruits of the Spirit. It’s the fruit of the Spirit. It’s in the singular. And it’s important because when you have the Holy Spirit in you, you begin to have love. Then you’re gonna see joy and peace and patience. This is the it’s like grapes on a cluster of grapes. So we begin to have all of these things. Not because we’re good or we’re self control or where or where uh joyful and loving and peaceful but because the spirit of God is in us and he now is uh moving like a tributary all through our being so that we can have him to be the governing factor in our life. How would you explain that? I think that was great. I would just say what you said. I mean it’s it’s uh you have over there fixing our eyes on jesus. Let’s make you want to go to the next verse. Yeah, fixing our eyes on jesus, the author and perfecter of faith who for the joy hara set before him. He endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. It wasn’t for that example, many times we would get weary and well doing, you know. But jesus is our example that in order to uh to please the father, we have to endure tribulation and trials. And then we have real joy not just surface joy, but joy within our spirit. I think this is also referring to the fact that in Yosemite that he when he said you know father, if it’s possible, may this cup pass from me, but not my will, thy will be done. And for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. He despised the shame, sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. I think the joy was not in going to the cross, but that what would happen as a result of the redemption and the open door for salvation for humanity, that there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. That Jesus is that name. And that was the joy that he had that he was going to be able to bring all of these people now in in that’s a great segue for the next Passage which is Luke 15 and in Luke 15 when he comes home he calls together his friends and his neighbors saying to them rejoice with me for I have found my sheep which was lost. I tell you that in the same way, there will be joy chara in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. You see there there are four stories here in this one story. But it’s all about joy. And in each in each of these stories it ends with there’s Joy in Heaven, there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. There’s no greater joy than to see a loved one come to jesus christ, there’s no greater joy. Then when you personally asked christ to come into your heart And save you. And so you know that’s the first illustration, but go to the next illustration, Vicki uh in Luke 1510 in the same way I tell you there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Now that was talking about the woman who lost her coins and she swept the house and she found that one coin and she’s so happy. You know we find a ring that we lost or a diamond. Remember that time we lost a diamond? We searched all over the house. And finally like six months later you found the diamond you’re like oh I found my diamond. I mean a diamond is an important thing to find. But when God finds one soul and he and and that person comes to christ, they repent and accept christ, look what it says there one more time. Read that there is more joy in heaven in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents then then finding that coin and finally luke 15 32. But we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live and was lost and has been found. That’s the father hugging his son, the prodigal son. Yeah, but then he also had his own older son who stayed home and he said come on son, let’s enter into that joy. And that’s the greatest joy of all my beloved friends that are watching this word Kara really is rooted in grace. The grace that God has given us. Now we rejoice because we’re extending that grace, that forgiveness, that gift to other people who don’t know it Uh so exciting to talk like this together about these phenomenal words, these five Greek words rooted in grace. So the word joy is different than happiness. Happiness is external. It depends on my comfort and uh you know, it just kind of very um conditional on the weather. And if I’m a golfer, if I’m a if I’m a football player, baseball player, whatever it is that I’m involved in fisherman, if the weather is bad, you know, I’m not that all that happy, but joy is different. Joy comes from inside hara, it really comes from upside from the top down. It comes from God’s grace giving us the power to do and be what we are not able to be on our own. And the joy that comes along with that, it’s really a joy because of grace. And that’s what it’s all about. The word. This word caught up. In fact, when Jesus Christ talked about Joy and John 15, Of course there were 10 were a 10 references to abide, abide, abide in me abide in my word, abide, hanging out, being part of having a community, being united with. And so he gets down to verse 11, having talked about a bite all this time and talking about obeying and talking about loving and talking about bearing fruit in verse eight by this is my father glorified that you bear much fruit and proved to be my disciples? I mean, look at, look at all the things in that passage, In verse three of john 50 he says, you’re clean, Already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. So it’s connected to the word of God. It’s connected to jesus who is divine And we are the branches is connected to us bearing fruit abiding in him and bearing fruit, obeying him, loving one another. We get down to verse 11 and he says this these things, I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be made bleed is full. Can you, is it possible to have a full joy? And jesus says, if his words are abiding in us and we are abiding in him, then we can have full joy not only that, but in first john chapter two and verse 14, john says later on, I have written unto you young men, because you are strong and the Word of God abides in you and you overcome the wicked one. Think about this that not only do I have joy, but I have power because the Word of God abides in me and I can overcome The Evil one, The Wicked one, The Devil. So in a very real sense, the Lord jesus christ is giving us a prescription to joy, a prescription to victory, A prescription to power because his joy is in us because his words are in us. Then we can have this hot rod that comes from heaven. Listen, the Word of God and Joy are connected, Jeremiah, the prophet. Way back in Jeremiah 15 16 said thy words were found and I did eat them and I word was on to me. The joy and the rejoicing of my heart. The greatest times of joy for me are when I take the scriptures and I sit down and I read them. When I take my guitar, I begin to pluck away and sing the word of God and I begin to meditate and think about the incredible promises of God. That’s when the real joy just bursts inside my spirit, inside my mind, inside my soul. And then the other thing is that the bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit. So number one, the Joy of fellowship? That’s what we just talked about with the Lord jesus christ and hanging out with believers and being with one another uh is so important. In fact going back a little in Acts chapter two verse 42 The Lord gave the church the new testament Church for things to do for growth. He said you need to be abiding in the apostles doctrine. That’s the word, that I just talked about fellowship. That’s the second thing koinonia, making sure that we’re connected. Breaking bread, keeping ourselves pure and making sure that there is no sin between us and God and us and other people, sincerity, purity, wholeness, consecration all of that. And then prayer. And how important is prayer that we would get into the word of God and get into the heart of God through prayer, coming both boldly onto the throne of Grace. So all of it comes from grace. God is not an ogre, God is not a judge that is going to beat us up. It is a throne of Grace, jesus christ stands with his arms of grace to come to me, come to me, come and at a time uh to find mercy and find grace uh hebrews chapter four and verse 16 come. And so it’s grace that is at the throne he steps down, he comes into this world, he provides grace for us. He gives us forgiveness. he gives us his gifts. And now it produces Joy. Listen, how do you know that you have a particular gift? Think about this, you say you’re a teacher, you’re a preacher, you’re an evangelist, you’re a giver, your server, you’re encourager, you’re a leader. How do you know one? The church will know, people will sense the ministry of that gift and they’ll immediately tell you, wow, you you’ve got this gift, you know, Or if you’re if you’re teaching and nobody is learning anything, something’s wrong. And then not only will the Church. No, but you’re gonna know how are you gonna know? You’re gonna know because the joy that is in you see, if you’re if you receive God’s grace and you receive his forgiveness, and you have his gift, and you implement that gift to serve the body. Guess what’s going to happen? You’re gonna be full of joy. The joy of the Lord becomes your strength. And so that’s the fellowship. The next thing is not only the fellowship. A joy of fellowship, but the joy of the Fruit of the Spirit. So, in Galatians 5 22 the Fruit of the Spirit is love and Joy, Sarah and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self control against such things. There is no law nine characteristics of the Fruit of the Spirit. And God says that Joy is right there in the beginning, love Joy. If you have the fruit of this, if you have the Spirit of God in you, you’re going to have the Fruit of the Spirit. If you allow the Spirit of God to control your life in that passage, In Galatians, it says that we are to walk in the spirit were to have the fruit of the Spirit and we ought to live in the spirit. And uh you know, and if we are to be led by the spirit, it’s just fabulous that when the Fruit of the Spirit in your life, it’s not plural, It’s singular. The Fruit of the Spirit is all of these nine qualities and you will have these qualities to some extent in your life and in my life. So this is so very important when the joy of fellowship. But the joy of the Fruit of the Spirit, it doesn’t come, it’s not it doesn’t come from self, it doesn’t come primarily from others. It doesn’t come from this world. It comes from God by his grace, through his Spirit, through his son, through his people that are serving all around. But it primarily is the life of God flowing through and we are glad and joyful because of God’s grace. And so in the Spirit of God gives us this fruit that’s very, very important for us to know the car post the fruit of the Spirit is love Joy. So you have to look inside and say in your life, do I have the love from God? Do I have the Joy? Do I have peace in my life, you know, or is everything going nuts crazy? There is no joy miserable if you’re constantly complaining, if you’re constantly down and out, if you’re constantly finding fault with everything, the Spirit of God who gives the Fruit of the Spirit, he’s not there something’s wrong because the fruit of the Spirit is Love, you have to ask yourself do you have the fruit to know what kind of tree you are? You have to look at the fruit if you want to know if it’s an apple tree, if you want to know if it’s a pear tree, orange street, you have to look at the fruit, that’s how you know, and it’s important for you as a believer to have love and joy and peace and patience, the Fruit of the Spirit. And so that’s the second thing. The joy not only a fellowship with jesus and with his disciples in the church, but also with the fact that you have fruit in your life from the Holy Spirit. The third thing is the joy of finding and winning people to jesus christ. He that wins souls is wise, he that goes forth and weeps bearing precious seed, someone 26 5 and six says we’ll come again with a shot of joy bringing his sheaves with him. You see if you’ve ever gone out with a mission to share the Gospel with people, whether it’s in an old folks home with an orphanage, in a city where maybe the Gospel has never been preached or in a family gathering, you go to your neighbor’s house, you bring them some food, you bring them a cake and so you know, you go with something, go with you, your heart open to give and uh you go and you share the Gospel, you share your life. You share the truth of of how jesus loves people and died on the cross for us and was buried and rose again. You see somebody come to christ man, how exciting that is. I’ll tell you just one time I was in Paraguay in a place called uh some kombu prison in the city of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay. It was the worst filthiest prison that I had ever been in. So I go in and I’ve got these guys like five or six guys filthy. They want to carry my bag, they want to carry my bible. I didn’t trust them, frankly, I didn’t trust anybody. I mean there was just such dirt everywhere. People going to the bathroom. I’m not going to go into details. I’m just telling you it was, it was a place that, look, I’ve been in some pretty bad places, Dirty places, rough places in my life I’ve been. And when I was 16 I had a gun, I ran the streets with drug addicts and but this place made me just wonder, what am I doing here, you know? And then for a moment I said, oh well I’m preaching the gospel here. So I went in there. Well I was speaking through an interpreter and I shared my story, The interpreter was excellent. He shared my story. It was fabulous in the middle of my story as I was talking about how God does not want to, he loves us all. He doesn’t want to punish us. I was preaching on john 3 16 and 17, 17 especially that God did not send jesus christ in the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him. And so I started saying God is not a judge To condemn you and send you to hell. You know, maybe the victims that you victimized condemn you and uh the family members condemn you may be your own family members or even you yourself condemn yourself. Maybe the judge and the jury found you guilty condemn you, you’re here for 20 years or 30 years or whatever life. But God almighty does not want to condemn you. He loves you. He wants to forgive you. He wants to save you. I couldn’t even get it out and the whole place, I’m talking about 5, 600 prisoners that were outside in this big tree and there were chairs all around, I mean a humongous tree and they start clapping and they start, yeah, and I’m saying to myself, what is going on now, you gotta understand, I’m going through a translator. So I looked at my trends, I said, what’s going on? They, they’re just happy. They’re just have I said, why are they so happy they understand what you’re talking about that God doesn’t want to judge them and send them the hell he wants to forgive him. I said, well maybe I should stop preaching right now and let me just ask, ask them if they want to ask God to forgive them. And you know, over 300 of those people pray to accept jesus christ that day in tow kombu prison. I think that was one of the greatest harvest of souls that I had ever seen, you know, in that small of a crowd. It was incredible. Now why do I share that story? The joy that was in that place. It was a prison, it was the filthiest, dirtiest prison. The joy that was exploding from those guys. The joy that was exploding in my own heart and I was, I was beside myself. Can you imagine the angels in heaven? What was going on there? When I read this story? This next story of the bible in luke chapter 15. Listen to what it says here and there are four people who are lost. There’s the lost, there’s the lost sheep, there’s the lost coin, there’s the lost son and there’s the prodigal son, but there’s the good son to stay at home. He was lost. To notice what it says here that and when he founded verse five, the sheep, he laid it on his shoulders, rejoicing That’s verse five of Luke. Chapter 15. And when he comes home, he calls together all his friends, his neighbors saying with them rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. And I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy. There’s that word hara in heaven Over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Then you talk about the same thing happens with the with the lost coin. In the same way she finds the coin she loses, got 10 coins, she loses one, she searched, she finds it. And in verse 10, in the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God. Over one sinner who repents again over one center, there’s joy in the presence of God with the multitude of angels, with this word hara. And then in in the next one is the prodigal son. He gets his money, he goes away, he’s lost when he comes home the father, he breaks out the fatted calf. He calls for a celebration, They’re dancing. They’re partying in the older senses, what’s going on and listen to me, God. The father is so excited when what person repents and comes to him. And he says, the father here in the story says your brother has come home and your father uh the servants are saying has killed the fatted calf because he’s received him back safe and sound. And he became angry and was not willing to go in. His father came out and began and treating him. He answered, he said to him, Father, look for many years, I have been serving you and I’ve never neglected a command of yours. And yet you have never given me a kid that I might be married with. My friends. Think about the selfishness of an older son because the younger guy took the inheritance, went out and splurged it on righteous living on the women, the the wine, the drugs whatever of that day. And the older son instead of rejoicing Was like complaining, man, you never did this for me. Now watch. And he said to him, my child, you have always been here with me verse 31 all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice. For this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live again. He was lost and has been found. Now I’m gonna give one last verse, fixing our eyes on jesus, who is the author and the finisher of perfecter of our faith. Who? For the joy that Sahara that was set before him, endured the cross. What are you going to endure? He came to this planet because he wanted you and me, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the Prodigal son, Even the good guy that stayed home that needed to come and repent and accept jesus christ. So we can all rejoice more than the angels in heaven. And so today the joy Kara comes from Hadi’s grace, forgiveness gifts And so that’s it. That’s the connecting point. And keep on listening, keep on coming, tuning into. It’s all greek to me and we’ll continue to share God’s word with you week to week. Let your friends know about it. Thank you for watching. God bless you. This is thomas Mahairas with. It’s all greek to me.