The Lutheran Hour
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"A Joyful Jesus"
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Text: John 15:11
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Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed! In a dark world, those words describing the resurrection of the ever-living Savior bring a lasting, powerful joy to all who, by the Spirit’s power, believe.
Here’s a question for the Christians who are listening to the broadcast today: “What is the shortest verse in the Bible?” Do you know? I’m impressed. A lot of you are saying, “Jesus wept” is the shortest verse found in the Bible. Congratulations! Now, the next question is going to identify the real Bible scholars. Where is the shortest verse in the Bible found? Hands up, please! Hmmm, the number seems to have gone down considerably. That’s because there aren’t so many of us who know that “Jesus wept” is found in John 11: 35. That’s the good news; here’s the bad. In the Greek, “Jesus wept” is not the shortest verse in the Bible. That’s right; it’s not the shortest verse. In the Greek there is another verse which is shorter. You get an “A” for the day if you can tell me what that verse is…and where it’s located. I’ll give you a clue: the passage is: TTavtote kaipete. If your Greek is a little rusty, or you don’t have a clue, the verse is 1 Thessalonians 5: 16. In the Greek, John 11: 35 has three words, sixteen letters; but TTavtote kaipete is two words, 14 letters. It translates “rejoice evermore.” Think about it. If, through some terrible catastrophe, the entire Bible were taken away from us, those two short verses would preach a wonderful sermon: Jesus wept, so we might rejoice evermore.
Jesus wept. It’s true. Jesus, the sinless Son of God, wept when He was born in a Bethlehem stable; He wept at the suffering caused by sin; He wept when death came to His friends; He wept when He saw the future which awaited the unrepentant city of Jerusalem; He cried out upon the cross as He died to remove the spots of sin, the terrible, tragic transgressions of our souls. Jesus wept so that His people might rejoice. Believers can rejoice because their sins are taken away; they can rejoice because they know that they are not alone; they can rejoice because their friends and family members who died believing are in heaven with their Savior. They can rejoice because they know there is a reunion in heaven. They can rejoice because they know the day is going to come when they will be with their Lord in that place where the Lord will wipe away every tear from their eyes; where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain (see Revelation 21:4).
Jesus wept, so we don’t have to. Knowing that, Martin Luther, a pretty astute scholar, wrote: “God is not a God of sadness and death, but the devil is. Christ is a God of joy, and so the Scriptures often say that we should rejoice…A Christian should and must be a cheerful person.” (Martin Luther…Luther’s Works, vol. 54, TABLE TALK ) I love it when Luther talked that way. He was right, you know. Christians are to be filled and overflowing with joy. Scripture speaks of that special day when Christians found joy at a cemetery. Three days after Jesus had been crucified, some ladies went to His grave to finish preparing His body for burial. At the entrance to His tomb they were met by an angel who told them that Jesus, His sacrifice complete, His work done, had defeated death and risen from the dead. The Bible says, “The women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy…”(Matthew 28:8). The ladies aren’t unique.
There are other examples, many examples of Jesus’ first followers being filled with joy. There was the day that the Savior ascended into heaven, saying an earthly farewell to His followers. Now, for most of us, saying a “good-by” is a hard thing to do; but Luke records, “And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy…” (24:52). Then there was the time that Paul and Barnabas were run out of the city of Antioch by those who objected to the Savior’s message of forgiveness through faith. Did these witnesses mourn their misfortune? They did not. Not at all. They went on to the next town, and as they did, they were “filled with joy and the Holy Spirit” (Acts 13:52). After Paul had been arrested, when he was uncertain of his future, his words still were filled with encouragement. He wrote “…I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with Me ” (Philippians 2:17-18). That theme is repeated in his message to the Roman Church. To Christians who were enduring persecution and pain, Paul wrote, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). To the people of Philippi, Paul sent a word of encouragement, “In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy” (Philippians 1:4). And it would be a great mistake to think that Paul was the only early Christian to be filled with joy. The apostle Peter said, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (1 Peter 1:6). And why should we rejoice in all kinds of suffering, grief and trial? Peter tells us, “Though you have not seen (Jesus) Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy” (1 Peter 1:8). Jesus fills His followers with joy.
At least that’s the way it should be. Have you ever heard the expression: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Those words are true, but only partially. The fact that Christians died, did not make the church grow. If being slaughtered were the only criterion for success, crowds would have lined up at the doors of Rome’s gladiatorial schools. No, it’s not the fact that Christians died that gave witness to Jesus; it was the way in which they died. The joy that the martyrs had in Jesus was the seed of the church. The joy of Jesus is what allowed them to face the claw, teeth, and hooves of wild animals with a song on their lips. In the year 107, a warrant was issued for Ignatius, a disciple of John the Apostle. When the Roman soldiers arrived to take him into custody, those who were there said, he “joyfully submitted his limbs to the fetters.” When he was condemned to be fed to the lions, Ignatius declared, “I will get joy from those beasts that are prepared for me.” Two lions in the Flavian amphitheater devoured him leaving only a few large bones.
A century later, in the year 203, five new Christians were arrested in Carthage. One of them was a lady by the name of Perpetua. The night of her trial, she wrote, “After the judge condemned us to the wild beasts, we returned joyfully to our prison.” It was left to the pen of others to record, Perpetua died the next day singing a psalm of triumph. Fifty years after that, in the persecution of another emperor, a deacon by the name of Laurence was arrested. When he was told the soldiers were coming for him, those who were with him said, he “was full of joy and gave everything to the poor.” Laurence having refused to deny his faith, was stripped, bound, and roasted alive on a large gridiron above burning coals. Those who saw, said he smiled. Christ’s church conquered; the message of salvation spread because these martyrs, in shedding their blood, were filled with the joy that comes from knowing Jesus.
At least that’s the theory. The trouble is, and the world knows it, and is glad to point out, Christians don’t always seem to be filled with joy. All too often the words of Jesus ,”These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11), fall on deaf ears, hardened hearts, and closed minds. Unbelieving neighbors, fake and false religions, doubters and deniers, are quick to point out that Christians don’t always rejoice; their joy is not always full, and, for all their talk, they seem to have the same heartaches and headaches as the rest of the world.
There is, I believe, a very simple reason that the joy of Jesus seems, so often, to escape and elude God’s people. The reason: the world is a bad place. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know already. You’ve seen the TV reports. You watched as the planes ripped into New York’s twin towers. You saw the people jump to their deaths. You’ve seen the children, so weak from starvation, that they cannot manage enough strength to brush diseased flies from their eyes and mouth. You remember the family whose smiling, laughing child was cut down by an accident or disease.
You know. You’ve seen. You’ve seen the hard worker, through no fault of his own, be forced into the ranks of the unemployed. You’ve seen the cute older couple ripped apart by stroke, Alzheimer’s, or heart attack. You have a next-door neighbor, a mother, a friend who has been laid low by the crippling pain of cancer. You’ve seen the teen whose life has been ravaged by drugs, by eating disorders, by a false feeling of being unloved. You’ve seen. You know. While I’ve been talking, you’ve been thinking about it. You know. You know the family whose son or daughter went off to war and has come back scarred in body, or soul, or both; you know the child who has been abused, the wife who has been terribly mistreated. You know.
Sin, man’s rebellion against God’s and the perfection He once gave us and wishes to restore to us through His Son’s sacrifice, has made this world a bad place. No one can escape it; no one can avoid it. We don’t need the newspapers to tell us, the TV to show to remind us how bad things are today, and predict how terrible they will be tomorrow. We know. We all know. And believers and unbelievers realize that Christianity should make a difference in people’s lives. It should be able to pull them up from the world’s quicksand, clean them up through forgiveness, and give them the ability to face whatever comes with a Christ-inspired courage and confidence.
It is my privilege to tell you that Christianity, in a wonderful and blessed way, does just that. But God’s joy does not come in the way many think. When Jesus says He wants His people to be joyful, he’s not saying that His children are always going to be blissful and bubbly; that their lives will be absent of problems and their days filled with pleasure and plenty. Jesus never says that His people will always be happy. When the Savior says believers can be joyful, He doesn’t imply an unending, unbroken string of happiness. He doesn’t. Let me tell you why I’m saying that. Listen to the following words; see if you hear anything they share in common. Here’s the first word: happy. The second word: perhaps. The third word: happenstance. If you were listening carefully you heard, repeated in all three words: the sound “hap.” Hap is an old Middle English word which means “luck.” Perhaps says good luck is possible; happiness asks for an unending, unbroken string of good luck. And good luck isn’t something Jesus promises to His people. He doesn’t guarantee that when you believe on Him as your Savior, you will never be sick, never worry, never have a pain or a problem, a hurt or a horror in your life. Indeed, Jesus says if anyone would come after Him, he will have to take up his cross and follow. By this, the Savior warns His people that they will not find the loads of life made lighter or the path they walk, smoother. The world is, and will remain, until the Day of Judgment, a bad, black, place.
But, and this is important, when the Spirit has called you to faith in Jesus, in spite of the darkness you can be joyful. Did I lose you there? That’s OK. I understand. Let me try to explain. Happiness, for most people, is based on what, you should excuse the expression, is happening to them. If things are good and peaceful, if they have food enough and rest enough and money enough, they are happy. If they get their way; if they talk themselves out of a traffic ticket; if the boss promotes them; if their love is being returned; they are happy. When things are good they are happy; when things are bad, they’re sad. Now, since most of us don’t always get our way, or everything we want, it’s easy to see why happiness becomes an on-again, off-again sort of thing.
But joy, especially joy in Jesus, doesn’t ebb and flow like the happiness tide. Joy in Jesus does not depend on what the world is doing, or not doing; on what your friends think, or don’t think, about you or the condition of your situation. Joy in Jesus is founded on Holy Spirit-given faith in the Redeemer. And, when a person has the joy of Jesus within them, they shine, they are filled with the knowledge that God loves them, has sent His Son to live for them, to suffer for them, to die for them, to rise for them, to intercede for them, to someday judge them, and bring them into heaven.
Joy in Jesus. That’s the special “something,” no; make that special “Someone” that Christians have. And what makes us joyful in Jesus? Simply this; the Bible says “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Those words are the quintessential doctrine on which all of the Christian faith hinges. That’s just a fancy way of saying, in a living Lord Jesus there is joy for all who believe. In the risen Christ there is the joy which says our sins are forgiven. In the Redeemer there is the joy which assures us that in the worst of circumstances; when everybody has left us, when our hopes seem dashed and destroyed, Jesus is there, helping, lifting, encouraging, strengthening.
Saint Paul wrote to the church in Rome “… in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39). Did you get that? Nothing can separate you from the love of God. Nothing. Nothing, not the worst of your problems can separate you from the joy of Jesus. Joy in Jesus will stand when our happiness has been knocked down by someone’s hard words. Joy in Jesus can turn our damnation into deliverance; it can restore our happiness when it has been ruined by circumstance and situation. Joy in Jesus can revive laughter when loss and pain have robbed us of happiness. Joy in Jesus will strengthen the weak; will transform our perplexity into praise; and will make it so those who have given up might be lifted up.
Do you understand? I hope so. I would love you to have the same joy in Jesus that I have seen in the lives and hearts of so many Christians. Yes, they are out there. People who are convinced that the idea of an all-powerful friend, a forgiving Savior, an internal, eternal peace, is wildly exciting. Of course you may not agree. You may want to go it on your own, and take the chance that you can forge your own happiness. If so, good luck. But, I think you’re running a pretty big risk. You’re sort of like the lady who in the last minute of the Christmas rush, bought a box of 50 identical Christmas cards to be sent to those who were once-a-year Christmas card acquaintances. Without reading the verse inside, she quickly signed her name, slapped on a stamp, and threw them in the mail. She felt pretty good about herself – really happy. She had managed to take care everything on her own. But happiness doesn’t last. A few days later, while she was cleaning up the table where she had addressed those cards, she finally got around to reading the verse in the one card which was left. Happiness headed out the door as she read, “This card is just to say, a special gift is on the way.” So much for happiness. Joy in Jesus is better. If you would like to know more about Jesus and the joy He brings, call us at The Lutheran Hour. Amen.
LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for May 21, 2006
TOPIC: Does God Exist if Love Does Not?ANNOUNCER: And now Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: A blessed Lord’s day, Mark.
ANNOUNCER: And to you, and to our listeners as well. Today, a multi-part question. A listener wants to know: If God is love, and that’s what the Bible says, if God is love, how can He exist in a world where there doesn’t seem to be all that much love? And how can we really know for sure that God exists? Besides giving the usual “faith” answers.
KLAUS: Those are some questions that might take some time to digest. Mark, if you don’t mind, I’d like to tackle the last one first… how do we know for sure that God really exists. And here we’re not talking about a generic god. We’re talking about the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When the person said they wanted reasons that go beyond the usual “faith” answer, I assume they’re referring to the answer that’s often given when people say “We can’t know for sure… we just have to believe.”
ANNOUNCER: Right. And how can you be sure the Triune God exists?
KLAUS: There are a lot of ways. Let me give you a short list; and, I know that explaining each of these would take more time than we have in our Q and A segment. But, here we go.
We know the Triune God’s real because the Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, fulfilled the hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that were made about Him.
We know the Triune God is real because the Savior fulfilled the promises that He made about Himself; the most important of which was that He was going to rise from the dead… an event which, in and of itself would be an overwhelming argument for the truth of the Trinity.
We know the Triune God is real because of the martyrdom of the saints who died in some terrible ways rather than renouncing what they had seen and heard.
ANNOUNCER: And having seen the risen Christ, they now realized that death was only the gateway to eternal life with Him and that they too would someday rise again.
KLAUS: Exactly, and the last thing on the short list: We know that the Triune God is real because of the power of the Holy Spirit exhibited in the changed lives of those who have been led to faith. That’s the short list.
ANNOUNCER: OK. And I think that was also the easier part of the question. What about this part where the listener asks if God can exist where love doesn’t?
KLAUS: Ah, that is the question. And you’re right, that is far harder. You know, it’s sometimes difficult to hear a question like that and not know the background of the individual. I can’t help but think that this person is hurting deep down in their soul, that after they’ve struggled to get up in the morning everything in their day, their future seems to be dark. I’ve know people in that kind of situation. They usually feel that way because of some personal loss or tragedy. They feel life’s let them down. They feel alone. They’re convinced that things will never, ever get better. They feel locked and doomed to live out their days with a deep darkness in their souls. If God is love and they don’t see much love in their life, they wonder, is He real? And if He is, is He there for them.
ANNOUNCER: And what would you say to that person?
KLAUS: First, the person should make sure that what they’re feeling is not the result of a specific physical condition that needs medical treatment. But even if that’s the case, the person should know that things don’t have to be the same. They don’t have to remain as they are.
ANNOUNCER: And like you said in today’s message: “We have a joyful Jesus as our Savior.” And that’s something worth remembering in this case as well.
KLAUS: Indeed it is, although the events of this world can sometimes try to overshadow that joy.
ANNOUNCER: With about a minute to go here yet today, could you give us a short answer for this individual’s question?
KLAUS: Yeah I can, Mark. But first, I want to let this caller know that I am going to deal with this, the second part of their question, at length next week. Today I don’t have the time to give their question the answer it deserves.
The best answer I can give comes from Saint Paul, a man who had been through a lot. He said: Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long, were regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” Then he said: No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Jesus who loved us. I’m sure, I’m convinced that neither death nor life, not angels, not rulers, not things present, not things to come, not powers, not height, depth, not anything in all of creation, can separate us from the love of God which is ours in Christ Jesus our Lord (See Romans 8:35-39).
ANNOUNCER: And we’ll have more to day about this next week.
KLAUS: Indeed, we shall.
ANNOUNCER: Thank you, Pastor Klaus. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“Rejoice, O Pilgrim Throng” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“Rejoice, the Lord Is King” by Timothy Albrecht. From Grace Notes by Timothy Albrecht (© 1997 ACA Digital Recording, Inc.) Augsburg-Fortress/SESAC
“Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart ” by Arthur Messiter, arr. Albert Travis. From Hymns by Dan Miller (© 1991 DSDS Enterprises) Broadman/SESAC