Chapter
Five
JOY THE CHARACTERISTIC OF WORSHIP
'And the disciples were filled with joy, and
with the Holy Ghost' (Acts
13:52)
A Spirit-filled person is a
joyful person. Yet it is often the case
that joy does not characterise a person who is born again of the Spirit of
God. Many who have received Jesus Christ
as Lord are not joyful. Christians can
become so caught up with the burdens of everyday life that there is no joy in
their lives. New methods of evangelism are not the great need of the body of
Christ. The great need is for
worshippers who will bring the joy of knowing Jesus to a world that is without
hope, and full of anxiety, fear and heartbreak.
The call to become disciples of Christ would be
much more appealing to those who do not know Him if believers were filled with
excitement and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Why
is it that the majority of believers are not joyful? It is because they have not gone up to worship. There will always be a lack of
worship when there is a lack of joy, and there will always be a lack of joy
when there is a lack of worship.
Believers should be known for the joy of the Lord at all times, whether
we are on our own or meeting together. We can lose the joy to worship for many
different reasons. We can be hindered
from going up to worship because we have become content with a past
experience. We must continuously be
seeking after Christ. We can also be
hindered from going up to worship because of past sin. We cannot hold on to sin in our hearts and
still be worshippers. Sin will make us
miserable and we cannot worship without joy.
Believers must put on the whole armour of God in order to remain in the
place of joyful worship.
There
are those who have experienced the joy of salvation, they are committed
believers knowing that their sins are forgiven, and they are on their way to
heaven, yet their lives do not in any way reflect a relationship with the Lord
that is 'joy unspeakable and full of glory'.
Although they are genuinely saved, they can be a hindrance to others who
could be led to follow Christ. What is
wrong? They are joyless because they are
not worshipping believers. Many people
who go regularly to church are like this.
The desire to seek after Christ is missing. They know that one day they will be with the
Lord, but they do not live their lives in expectation of meeting Him. Unless we have a determination to worship the
Lord in our daily lives then we will naturally descend
to this level of Christian experience.
Why
is it that when believers come together there is often no evidence of joy? When the desire to worship is lacking then
meetings become a formality. The
excitement of knowing Christ will be missing.
Even groups that have seen a move of God can become proud of their past
experience and have no desire to move higher in worship. Sometimes churches have associated blessing
with a lively style of meeting, but real joy in the Holy Spirit will only come
through a relationship with the Lord Jesus.
Lively meetings can attract people to church, but only the joy in the
Holy Spirit will attract people to Christ.
The church needs to know joy that is renewed continuously in the lives
of the people through the anointing of the Holy Spirit. A worshipper of the Lord Jesus
Christ is always characterised by joy.
The psalmist David said he would offer sacrifices of joy: 'therefore
will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing
praises unto the LORD.' (Psalm 27:6)
This does not mean that a
worshipper can never be sad. The joy of
the worshipper will never leave; not even at times when the heart may be
broken. The joy of the Holy Spirit will
flow out of a broken spirit. Being
joyful does not mean that the worshipper must always be laughing. Sometimes the joy of worship is expressed in
laughter, but this is not always the case.
Joy was expressed through laughter at the time of the return from
Babylonian captivity. The psalmist
wrote, 'When the LORD turned
again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and
our tongue with singing: then said they among the heathen, The LORD has done
great things for them.' (Psalm 126:1-2). But joy is not dependent upon
favourable circumstances. The greatest
worshippers have worshipped in the midst of great sorrow. The joy of the Lord
is a joy that is rooted in the Lord and rejoices in the goodness of God.
David was a man after God's own
heart because he desired to worship. He allowed a wrong spirit to lead him into
adultery and murder, and he had gone down from the place of worship because of
his sin. Psalm 51 is not just the prayer
of a man seeking forgiveness. It is the
prayer of a man who desires once again to go up to worship. He wants to possess everything necessary for
worship. He wants to worship in the
house of God where God is 'more present'.
He cannot worship without the Holy Spirit. He needs deliverance from his sin. He needs to approach God with a clean and a
right spirit once again. But he needs
more than this; he needs the joy of His salvation. He cannot worship without
joy. David asked the Lord to restore the
joy of his salvation: 'Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.'
(Psalm 51:12)
David
desired joy so that he could teach people the way of the Lord, but only
worshippers can do this effectively. He
knew that worship and witness are linked together: 'Then
will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto You.' (Psalm
51:13). The church needs to learn this
today. We need to understand that the
ways of the Lord must be taught with joy.
All ministries within the body of Christ must be carried out joyfully. We may have to minister in very difficult
situations, but this must never affect our joy.
With joy David could once again enter into worship through praise and
thanksgiving. With a joyful heart he
would sing of the righteousness of the Lord. '...and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall
show forth thy praise.' (Psalm
51:14-15)
David
sought to move higher in worship from praise to the sacrificial offering of a
broken spirit. In himself he had no
strength left at all. He could do
nothing to lift himself. He was a
broken man. All youthful confidence had
gone, and all he could do was to call upon the Lord. He could not defend himself; he stood in
brokenness. He knew his failings. He wanted only to worship. Yet his weakness was the place of strength
with God because worship with a broken spirit is the path that leads to the
higher realm of anointed worship. 'For you
do not desire sacrifice; else would I give it: you
delight not in burnt offering. The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise.' (Psalm 51:16-17)
David had failed by committing
terrible sin. The consequences of his
sin were disastrous, and he suffered for the rest of his life. Yet David was not going to give up. He was only able to worship by rising up
above the situation. He was determined
to fulfil his calling to worship. He
needed joy to be able to witness and to worship. It was necessary for David to
forgive himself in order to worship.
Many of God's people are stopped from going up to worship because they
cannot rise above their situation and circumstances. If we will not forgive ourselves for things
that we have done then we will not be able to worship. Being miserable is not humility. It can often be pride. We must learn to forgive both others and
ourselves. If we have anger in our
hearts then we will not be able to worship.
We must worship with joy.
This means everything a believer
does should be done joyfully. Whatever
is not done joyfully is not worship because everything that is an act of
worship must be done with rejoicing. How
we do things is just as important as what we do. The scripture says: 'And whatsoever you do,
do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;' (Colossians 3:23). The word heartily in the Greek
literally means 'from the soul'. Everything
that we do should be done as an offering to the Lord with joyfulness. If we lived our daily lives like this then we
would attract many people to Christ.
Every moment of our lives is an opportunity to worship. We can express the joy of the Lord to others
everywhere; whether we are at work, in shops, in our homes, in restaurants,
anywhere. If we have the joy of the
Lord in our daily lives people will ask us why we are so happy. This would give many opportunities to be
worshipping witnesses to the Lord Jesus.
Giving is an act of worship when
it is done with joy. This is an
important part of the Christian life.
God is a giving God and when God's people move in the Holy Spirit they
will be characterised by generosity. But
giving that is done legalistically and without joy is not worship. The Bible says that 'God loves a cheerful
giver ' (2 Corinthians 9:7). This is
because worshipful giving is always cheerful giving. The Greek word translated 'cheerful' means 'hilarious'. The worshipper gives with joyous laughter.
Have you ever received something
from somebody who begrudged giving it to you?
The need was met, but it left a bad feeling. It can make you feel very humiliated for
being in a state of need, and saying thank you is a duty because you know that
you were only helped because the person felt obliged to do so. There is no joy in either party because it
was given in a wrong manner. People
give like this to God. It can meet a
need in the body of Christ, but it is not worship. Paul says that if I do anything without love
it will profit me nothing. The reward of
the Lord is for worshippers.
Witnessing must always be with
joy. Evangelising with joy will attract
people to Christ. When I received the
Lord as my Saviour, I was fearful of giving out tracts, but I felt that I had
to do it. There was no joy when I gave
out tracts this way, and I felt terrible when people refused to take a tract from
me. But one day I realised that I did
not have to do it. I was freed from the
bondage of having to, and I came into the liberty of wanting to. If we desire to attract people to Christ we
must learn to be worshippers in witnessing.
The excitement of knowing Jesus will be seen in us when we are motivated
by the love of Christ and joy in the Holy Spirit. This will always have far greater results
than witnessing as a sense of duty.
Worshippers will always talk
about Jesus. Our mouths will speak about
whatever the heart is full of. When people
speak we can easily know the things that their hearts are filled with. Jesus said: 'Out of the abundance of the
heart his mouth speaks'. (Luke 6:45).
If our hearts are full of the Lord, we will speak of the Lord. If our hearts are full of the things of the
world, we will speak of those things. If
we know the Lord as our friend then we will not be ashamed to speak of
Him. It is good to invite people to
church, but it is much better to tell them about Jesus. People will be drawn to Christ when they see
the joy that we have in knowing Him.
When Saul of Tarsus persecuted
the believers before his Damascus Road conversion, the church was
scattered. They were not silenced by the
persecution because their hearts were full of the joy of the Lord. The worshippers went everywhere talking about
Jesus. They preached the word in
everyday conversation wherever they went, and Philip the evangelist boldly
proclaimed Christ to the crowd in Samaria. 'Therefore they that were scattered
abroad went every where preaching the word.
Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto
them.' (Acts 8:4-5). The Great Commission, 'Go
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature' (Mark 16:15) will only be fulfilled by worshippers speaking
about Jesus everywhere and at every opportunity.
People will be attracted to
Christ when His disciples are filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit of Christ,
and excited about their relationship with Jesus. But believers who are filled with the Holy
Spirit must also be filled with the word of God. The scripture says, '...be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all things unto God
and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ',
(Ephesians 5:18-20).
In Colossians the scriptures are
called 'the word of Christ'. If we
desire Christ, we will desire His word.
If we love Christ, we will love His word. If we desire to walk in close relationship
with the Lord Jesus Christ then we must build ourselves up in the word of
God. Scripture tells us that being
filled with the Spirit is linked with being filled with the word of God. The life of worship involves speaking the
scriptures to ourselves, and meditating upon the word. It is singing in our hearts to the Lord,
giving thanks for all things, and being eager to meet together with other
believers in order to build one another up in the Lord. 'Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.' (Colossians 3:16). We are a body called to worship
together, and to build one another up in the body of Christ. Worshippers cannot be isolated. The desire to worship goes together with the
desire for fellowship among the people of God.
If we have no desire for fellowship then we will never reach the high
levels of worship.
The great need of the church
today is for the joy of the Holy Spirit.
Believers in Christ who do not have joy are not worshippers. If we
do not have joy then our giving will have no value in worship even though our
gift will still meet the need for which it was given. Worship involves the whole of life, and
worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth must be done with joy. We must be
joyful witnesses to the Lord because joy will attract others to Christ. If our hearts are full of the Lord, then we
will naturally speak of the Lord with joy. Those who love the Lord will love
His word. If we are filled with the Holy
Spirit we will be filled with joy, ‘...for the joy of the Lord is our strength’
(Nehemiah 8:10).