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Bible Study Notes of Rev.Dr.I.J.W.Oakley (5-3-2002 Framsden Baptist Church)
In these verses today we read
about the ceremonial procession and praises sung when the rebuilt walls of
Jerusalem were dedicated to God. Two choirs were specially gathered for the
occasion. The choirmaster was Jezrahiah. They walked the walls and then met in
the Temple for more songs of praise and thanksgiving. The singers were supported
by musical instruments – cymbals, harps, lyres and trumpets. They gave
expression to the joy which God had given them. And on that day they offered
great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and
children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far
away (Nehemiah 12:43). It was a day of uninhibited delight, long remembered,
no doubt, by all.
We are going to consider the subject of joy in the life of the people of God.
We are not talking about being
happy. All sorts of things make us happy on a human level – holidays, success,
pleasure…. Joy is a gift from God and is placed in our lives by Him. We
worship a joyful God, and the Lord Himself spoke of “my joy”: I have told
you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John
15:11). I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may
have the full measure of my joy within them (John 17:13). We read about the
Saviour rejoicing.
Joy is not something we have to
work up but it comes down to us from God. And it has God for its object. We
begin to know this joy when we are united to Christ. May the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace as you trust in him (Romans 15:13). We realize
our own poverty and deadness and helplessness. We give up hoping in ourselves,
turn to Him and find Him to be all in all. “We shall be happy in Christ only
when we become desperately unhappy without Him.”
This joy is ours regardless of
circumstances. We are expected to be joyful always. Rejoice in the Lord
always. I will say it again: Rejoice! (Philippians 4:4). In Acts, we read
how the early church repeatedly suffered but still rejoiced because they had
been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name (Act 5:41). Even in
prison, about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God,
and the other prisoners were listening to them (Acts 16:25). There was not
much pleasure in their circumstances, but still they could rejoice in the Lord
because of who He is and what He has done. Our sins are forgiven, we are saved,
we have eternal life, and we can know closeness to God – even in the darkest
days. This is the remarkable thing about the Christian life.
We often find this spirit of
rejoicing in Christians who are infirm or handicapped. A minister once visited a
young woman who had been paralysed for nine years, and would never be able to
move again. He started with a word of sympathy. “Please do not offer your
sympathy. I don’t need it. I would not have missed the last nine years’
experience for anything in the world. Christ has been more precious to me than
ever He was in all my busy round of Christian service in the church.” The Lord
had drawn so very close to her, and she to Him, that she rejoiced in her unique
experience of Him. Through her long prayer list she was reaching thousands of
people – missionaries, preachers, Christians and hearers all over the world
each day.
Joy in the Lord lasts and
satisfies unlike the pleasure which people find in success and material things.
Joy deepens as we realize and experience how God’s grace perfectly suits our
circumstances – His protection, His guidance, His faithfulness and His
unfailing love. For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our
guide even to the end (Psalm 48:14).
We have assurance that the future is guaranteed. We can safely leave ourselves and our circumstances in His hands, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Philippians 1:6).
Joy in the Lord strengthens the soul. It is both a sign
of spiritual health and in turn it deepens that spiritual health. We find it
fortifies us against temptation. The Christian has something far more attractive
and satisfying than anything this world can offer. If we have had a fully
satisfying meal, we are not likely to crave the crusts of stale mouldy bread.
When we gaze at the sun, all else seems dark. When we taste honey, anything else
tastes less sweet. When we see what the world runs after, talks about, is
fascinated in – things we once ran after ourselves – they now seem trivial
and uninteresting to us. Why? Because
we have found something far better.
Similarly, our relationship with
the Lord and joy in Him means we have no sense of loss in serving Him. We may be
serving the Lord on a pittance, with basic living conditions and privations,
having given up a large salary and life of luxury, but our relationship with Him
makes it feel as if we have sacrificed nothing.
So also the joy of the Lord holds a man in persecution, keeps his heart steady in adversity or troubled circumstances, and keeps him firm and steadfast under pressure. The man rejoicing in the Lord stands when others fall, sings while others weep, and wins when others flee.
We see very clearly in the
procession of these people around the rebuilt walls that joy in the Lord leads
to a life and attitude of praise. Those who sow in tears will reap with songs
of joy (Psalm 126:5). This was certainly true of the people of Jerusalem.
There is no doubt that the people of God are meant to be
a praising people. Many of the psalms are outpourings of praise, and we see this
in many of the lives of Old Testament characters. Then in the New Testament, the
early church is characterized by the singing of psalms, hymns and spiritual
songs (Ephesians 5:19). We are meant to sing and make melody in our hearts to
the Lord. This is not true in other religions. Many use repetitive chants. In
some, the priests sing. But generally world religions are grim things. But
Christians write hymns, choruses, sacred songs and oratorios. The reason is that
Christianity itself is joyous. It is a response to the great acts of God for us,
especially in the life, death and resurrection of Christ which secured our
salvation.
It is no accident that,
especially in Revivals, there are enormous outpourings of praise. Obvious
examples are the Wesley’s during the eighteenth century and 1859 Revival.
Thousands of hymns, many that we still sing today, were written at this time:
“Stand up, stand up for Jesus”, “Just as I am”, “O happy day”,
“Man of sorrows”. American Gospel songs were introduced by Moody and Sankey.
Psalm singing grew during the 1949 Revival in Lewis.
Hearty, sincere, well-led
singing of God’s praise is an enormous benefit to a service. It encourages the
believers and challenges the unbelievers. Praise ought also to characterize our
prayer meetings – strictly speaking we ought to call it the “Praise and
prayer meeting”. The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled
with joy (Psalm 126:3). From the rising of the sun to the place where it
sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised (Psalm 113:3).
Notice also in the passage in Nehemiah that the note of praise affected families – the wives and children rejoiced too. And the neighbours were affected too: The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away (Nehemiah 12:43). The praise was catching. It is good when we are known in the neighbourhood as believers.
Some people know the joy of the
Lord as a rather distant memory. Others know it as a deepening and growing
experience. The difference is bound up with our present relationship with the
Lord. The words of Jesus in John ch.15 remind us of the importance of abiding or
remaining or being vitally linked with Christ and walking in obedience to Him. If
you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my
Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy
may be in you and that your joy may be complete (John 15:10,11).
Paul writing to the Galatians
lists the fruits of the spirit, including joy (Galatians 5:22,23), but in the
same chapter speaks of being in a right relationship with the Holy Spirit –
living in Him, walking in Him, being led by Him, keeping in step with Him
(Galatians 5:16,18,25).
The secret of the Christian life
is to keep on coming empty handed to Christ and asking Him to supply our needs,
including filling us with joy. If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and
drink (John 7:37). From the fullness of his grace we have all received
one blessing after another (John 1:16). We can be complete in Christ. There
is nothing that we need that He cannot supply. The tragedy is that so often we
take so little of what He offers to give us. We are blind and foolish, and
hesitate from going all the way with God, robbing ourselves of so much.
“I
am vile and full of sin,
Plenteous
grace with Thee is found”
Let us keep going to the source of real joy, day after day, to receive what He longs to give us. Walk in His way. Avoid anything which would hinder our communion with Him. Consider Him and meditate on Him. This is the secret of joy, and this is how our faith will grow. Circumstances will not affect this joy He gives. No matter what the world can do to us, our relationship with Christ is secure. Even when we fail and sin, the Holy Spirit will lead us back to Christ for cleansing and we can rejoice again.
I conclude with the words of Spurgeon on the subject of
the joy of the Lord:
“Not every Christian possesses this joy, but I am sure every Christian ought to do so. There is a highway to heaven and all are safe in it. But in the middle of that road there is a special way, an inner path, and all who walk on it are happy as well as safe. But many Christians walk in the ditch at the side of the road and therefore put up with all the inconveniences of their walk. But those who walk in the centre of the road God has made will find not threat or danger. The Lord Himself will be their companion and will manifest Himself to them. You shallow Christians who do but believe in Christ and barely that, and those whose Bibles are unread, who pray but little, whose communion with God is a matter of spasms. You do not have the joy of the Lord, nor are you strong. Let your feebleness seek some pleasant and profitable medicine – medicine which is the joy of the Lord.”
