How To Find (And Keep) Joy
Want more joy in your life? This message teaches us what joy is, how we can find it, and what can get in the way.
Joy isn’t something that just shows up or that we randomly stumble upon, it must be found, and to find joy, there are some things we need to know, which we’ll learn about today.
About the Speaker
Joel Wolski has been a passionate follower of Christ for over 30 years and serves on the Board of Faith Chapel. He is dedicated to living and sharing a Christ-filled life. Through the years, he has also been both a student and leader in Bible studies. His greatest desire is to help others grow in their identity in Christ. Also an avid photographer, you can follow Joel on Instagram or his website.
Finding Joy
A Roadmap for Joy
Are you ready to find joy and hang onto it? Let’s dig in.
What is Joy? If you don’t know what it is, how will you know when you’ve found it?
How do we find Joy? Where do we need look and how do we get there?
What can keep us from finding Joy? Finding joy isn’t necessarily easy, and there are hindrances that can get in our way.
We’re going to be looking to the apostle Paul for guidance, starting around 62AD when Paul was writing his letter to the church at Philippi.
“I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you 5 because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-6, NET).
Here we see Paul expressing his joy toward the church at Philippi. And why shouldn’t he be joyful? He’s the great apostle Paul, hero of the faith. Let’s read further.
“For it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace together with me” (Philippians 1:7).
So, Paul is in prison, yet joyful. How many of you would be filled with joy while locked up in jail? How are we to understand this? To understand Paul’s attitude, we need to understand what joy is. What, in our contemporary memory, might help us relate?
What Is Joy?
When I use the words joy and happiness, I’m referring to the “idea” of each. I’m not referencing the definitions of the different original Greek words variously translated as “joy” or “happiness”. I’m using these words to express two different ideas.
Joy is not happiness. Happiness (as well as sadness) is a response to our everchanging present circumstances. Joy is anchored in our future hope, which is unchanging. Joy doesn’t just come from the anticipation of our future hope, but also from looking back towards God’s past faithfulness.
How Do We Find Joy?
Paul says it right there in verse 3, “I thank God every time I think of you.”
To understand how Paul was able to find joy while locked up in a Roman prison, we need to go back with him 10 years when he first visited Philippi around 52AD.
“Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling” (Acts 16:16).
I’m sure you can see where this is going. Paul casts out the demon and the owners of this slave were, in effect, economically ruined.
“But when her owners saw their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion. They are Jews 21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.”
22 The crowd joined the attack against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be beaten with rods. 23 After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely. 24 Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks” (Acts 16:19-24).
Naked, beaten, chained, in prison. Isn’t this similar to the situation Paul is in when writing to Philippi? Actually, this was much worse. It’s dark; this is the “inner cell”. There are no windows to see what time it might be. The pain is too intense to allow sleep so it must be close to the middle of the night. There’s a thick smell of mildew in the damp air. Rather pleasant really, when compared to the other probable odors of human excrement, vomit, and yes, possibly even rotting flesh. Can you smell it? Prisoners were placed here not to be punished, but forgotten.
As far as Paul could have known in that moment, this could have been his end. What is his response to his current situation? Do you think he was happy? How about joyful?
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them” (Acts 16:25)
So, Paul’s response to a dire situation is to pray and sing hymns to God. I’ve thought about this, what Paul may have been praying and singing. The Bible doesn’t say what his words were, but I have a guess. For Jews of the first century, prayers were taken from scripture as were hymns. So, I don’t think these are two distinct things that Paul and Silas are doing: alternating between a bit of prayer, then a couple choruses, then some more prayer. I wonder if maybe that praying and singing hymns is describing one thing: song, prayer, and scripture all rolled together.
Paul was facing the very real possibility of death. He was not singing because he was joyful. He was singing because he was desperately trying to find joy. His aching and fearful soul was crying out to the God of his salvation.
I found a video on YouTube that I think may have sounded very similar to what the other prisoners and the jailer could have heard. It’s Psalm 91, a Psalm of deliverance. For hundreds of years before Paul, and 2000 years since, the Jewish people have been praying this Psalm during times of trouble.
The text of the Psalm is shown in English, so you can follow along, but the sounds, though maybe not the same words as Paul and Silas prayed, will sound pretty much the same to us as they did to the other Greek and Latin speaking prisoners. Just let the words of Psalm 91 as they are spoken in this video wash over you (see also the text of Psalm 91).
‘Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose. 27 When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he assumed the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul called out loudly, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29 Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”’ (Acts 16:26-30).
The story continues with the jailer and his whole family believing and being baptized. God had delivered them, just as was spoken in Psalm 91.
So here in Acts, we see Paul meditating on his hope of a future deliverance through singing and praying.
We now understand who one of these people is that Paul is grateful for, the prison guard, and what the circumstances were of their meeting. He’s looking back at this trying time in his life and seeing the hand of God working. He’s recognizing God’s past faithfulness.
Again, in Philippians 1:4-5 he says; “I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.” Again, Paul refers back to that moment they met and how they have aided him in spreading the gospel over the past 10 years. He concludes this thought in verse 6, “For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Paul is joyful despite his present circumstances because of his remembrance of God’s past faithfulness as well as his future hope, “the day of Christ.”
Likewise, we find joy not only in our knowledge and recognition of our future hope, but also in our remembrance of God’s faithfulness to deliver us from our present circumstance.
What Keeps Us from Finding Joy?
Sorrow and Suffering:
Over the last couple years, there has been a lot to be sorrowful about. The pandemic, racial strife, the loss of dearly loved ones. It can be most difficult to even except the possibility of joy in the midst of such heartache. But that’s when it’s most important.
Routine:
We wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, go to work or run errands, eat again in the evening, mindlessly amuse ourselves with something on Netflix or Hulu, then go to bed, only to begin the whole process all over again. I’ve had days where I arrive at work after a 40-minute drive, and don’t remember any of it. It’s all programmed in and automatic. We don’t experience joy because other things have become habit.
Happiness or “Amusement”:
This one may seem counter intuitive. How can happiness get in the way of our finding joy? “Amuse” means to not think. Amusement helps us stop thinking about our present circumstances, but also from our need for true joy. We can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that the happiness we are feeling is joy, but joy and happiness come from two different sources. I truly believe this may be the most insidious obstacle to our lasting joy.
When things get bad or boring, we can try to distract ourselves with amusements. We go places or do things, or spend time with people that bring a smile to our faces. We settle for happiness over joy because it’s an easy way to distract ourselves from what’s really going on. The danger is that we can forget not only our need for true joy, but also, He who is the source of that everlasting joy.
Amusements can make us feel happy in the moment, but soon that moment is past and the realities of life come flooding back in and, like a swimmer struggling against the current, we desperately grasp at whatever might be close that can bring back that temporary feeling of happiness.
But the source of our joy is that rock upon which we can anchor ourselves against all manner of storms. In him, our joy is not tossed about on the raging sea, but the crashing waves break in his presence.
To be clear, happiness isn’t bad, except when it becomes a substitute that preplaces true joy in our lives.
We need to overcome these obstacles of sorrow, boredom, and amusement in order to find true and everlasting joy.
What Sustains Joy?
Revelation 12:10 says, “But they overcame him [this would be the accuser] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony,”
Paul knew that if he was to overcome his present circumstance, it would be not only through the blood of the lamb, but also with the word of the testimony.
The Blood of the Lamb: The Blood of the Lamb secures our future. The grace that comes through Christ’s death and resurrection is the free gift of God. We can do nothing to increase or diminish it. That part is all God.
The Word of the Testimony: Our part is the Word of the Testimony. Our testimony testifies to God’s past faithfulness in our lives. Testimony is the proclamation of what God has done. That proclamation assures us that “He who began the good work (God’s past faithfulness), is faithful to complete it (our future hope).” That, is where our joy comes from. But it’s not just about our “future hope”, but also our day to day overcoming of the trials that continually bombard us. This is the vital importance of our testimony.
It is in the remembrance and proclamation of our testimony that we find the joy to overcome in the now.
So, what is your testimony? Over the next week, I want everyone to think back to all the ways God has come through for you in your life. How he preserved you till the day of your salvation and every way he has provided and protected you until now.
As you think of these things, no matter how insignificant they may seem, write them down in as much or little detail as you feel comfortable. Even if it’s just a couple words that point to that time in your memory, write it down and continue to add to it. This will help you when you need a reminder of God’s work in your life; when you need a little help hanging on to joy.
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