8 And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9 An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-12)

“I bring you good news of great joy for all people”: not some, not a select few, not just the best and the brightest or just the worst and the dullest. All people. It’s a remarkably sweeping claim, and it’s our focus on this 4th Sunday of Advent.

Where Do We Get Joy?

When the children of Israelite faced exile and captivity, Isaiah wrote of a time when God would raise a new prophet like Moses who would deliver his people out of whatever Egypt they were facing. On that day,

“the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isaiah 51:11).

It wasn’t that they had not ever experienced joy (more on that in a moment). It had just been temporary and fleeting in their experience. The Israelites waited for hundreds of years for the Messiah who would bring everlasting joy. This messiah arrived in the person of Jesus, who brought everlasting joy to both Jews and Gentiles (1 John 2:2) – read, “all people” like the angels said J

But this wasn’t going to be never-ending temporal pleasure. It was something much deeper and greater. This Messiah came to set us free from the bondage of sin, death, and judgment; brought peace between us and God (2 Corinthians 5:21); and demonstrated the fullness of his grace to the world. That sacrifice, ‘once’ and ‘for all’, was going to last forever.

So where do we get joy? This is where the classic Sunday school answer works really well: Jesus J I just want to note before we move on to defining joy how often the Bible uses language of joy or rejoicing when someone is reconciled to God through Jesus, or when one enters into life in the Kingdom of God.

”We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:11)
“Though you have not seen 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, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” (1 Peter 1:8-9)
“In your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forervermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
“You have put joy in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased. I will lie down in peace, and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.” (Psalm 4:6-8)
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. (Matthew 13:44)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness. – Galatians 5:22

What is biblical joy?

I have often been inclined to separate joy from happiness, but the Bible doesn’t make such a clean distinction. When the Bible talks about joy, it uses a broad range of words or expressions to describe it. In the Old Testament, that’s gladness, mirth, brightness, rejoicing, leaping, and dancing. It can be a response to something good now (Esther 8:15-17) or a reference to something good in the future that helps us endure the present (Hebrews 12:2).

If you're a human being, regardless of your spiritual state, God has extended what we call “common grace”[2] such that all people experience good things that come from God for the world. Jesus noted that everyone gets the blessing of rain and sun (Matthew 5:45). David wrote that, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.” (Psalm 145:9) And then there are very specific verses about joy.

When Paul and Silas were confused with Zeus and Hermes, they took the opportunity to tell the crowds about the true God: “ In the past, he let all nations go their own way. Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” (Acts 14)
David wrote, “You have put more joy in my heart than when grain and wine abound.” (Psalm 4:7)

This “fading joy”[3] is rooted in God's common grace to all people. These blessings include talents, family, possessions, health, the beauty of a sunrise, a cozy evening around a fire pit, game night with people you love, the satisfaction of a job well done. This is a lovely form of joy experienced by all people; but it is a fading and temporary joy.[4] Talents fade; possessions break; health leaves; relationships fall apart or people die. It’s lovely while it lasts, but it doesn’t last.

Then there is the kind of joy from God that transcends all the momentarily good things and lasts into eternity. As I was reading how others tried to define joy this week, I found lots a different ways Christians tried to wrap their minds around it.

Joy is the fruit of a right relation with God.
Joy is confidence in God, nurtured by the Holy Spirit.[5]
Joy comes from confidence in being a daughter or son of God, who loves us tenderly and will never abandon us.[6]
Joy is how we feel in a life going well and being lived well.
Joy comes from delighting in that which delights God.[7]
Joy comes from loving the right things in the right way.[8]

I think they all probably work to some degree. One thing I know: true biblical joy is grounded on something permanent and transcendent. Its foundation will not be a “fading joy,” though those can be built on top of that foundation.

Here is where word studies are helpful. The Greek word chara (joy) is closely related to charis, which means “grace” or “a gift.” Charles Spurgeon said,

“Believers’…joy comes not from what they have, but from what they are, not from where they are, but from whose they are, not from what they enjoy, but from that which was suffered for them by their Lord.”

Chara (joy) is the normal response to charis (grace). So what if we define biblical joy this way:joy is living with confidence and delight in God’s grace. When that happens, we are all those things mentioned earlier:

in right relation with God (because of Jesus).
nurtured by the Holy Spirit.
living well (in light of eternity).
delighting in that which delights God.
loving the right things in the right way.

When Do We Rejoice?

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul speaks about the Christian's duty to “rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice” (4:4). This leaves no room for not rejoicing. We don’t do it occasionally or when we feel like it. It’s an ongoing, steady outlook on life.

This can’t be about being dishonestly positive about our circumstances. Paul wrote this epistle from prison, and he notes he may well be martyred, “poured out as a sacrifice” (2:17). Yet even then, he insists this is a time to rejoice. It’s so counterintuitive and countercultural. This would be the time I would be inclined to be very complainy.

I can barely drive through town without finding yet another reason to think people are stupid and the world is ridiculous.
My internet lags and I’m instantly annoyed.
I spent months recovering basic strength after my heart attack, and years more adjusting to the new me, and just not being happy about a lot of it.
I spent years grieving my father, and I still miss him.
I hate the way even the people of God have been split apart by politics and culture wars.
My friends in Ukraine are fighting for their lives.

Rejoice? Really?

Yes, but note how Paul very carefully phrases this: rejoice “in the Lord.” Elsewhere, Paul notes of the readers of his letter to Thessalonica that “you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with joy in the Holy Spirit.” (1 Thessalonians 1:6)

The Lord always gives me a reason to rejoice. I am glad God is who God is. I rejoice in the person and work of Jesus. The Spirit of God at work in me reminds me of and focuses me on the goodness of God. This is why Paul says we can be “full of sorrow and yet rejoicing” in “all our affliction” (2 Corinthians 6:10; 2 Corinthians 7:4.)

James has another reason to find joy: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4) In this case, the joy is not the trials, but what God will bring about on the other side: maturity.

Peter notes this future aspect too, but points toward eternity: “If you partake of the sufferings of Christ, rejoice that when his glory shall be revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy.” (1 Peter 4:13) We see this idea of future joy in Jesus himself, who “for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame…” (Hebrews 12:2)

There is a “near” and a “far” aspect of joy, what some have called the “now and not yet.” We do experience forms of joy in this life – happiness, gladness, pleasure, an overwhelming appreciation for the goodness of God and His creation. There are likely seasons where you experience a lot, and seasons where you experience it only a little.

Joy “now” is the one minute trailer for the 3 hour marquee movie that you have been waiting to see. The trailer itself is a ton of fun; if you are like me, you will applaud after the really good ones until your wife makes you stop. And if I like the trailer that much, you can imagine what I will think about the movie.

Joy “now” is the signpost, a billboard on the road to glory, like the old Burma shave signs. Lewis wrote in Surprised By Joy of the role of fading joy ‘now’ as signposts or pointers beckoning us toward the eternal joy ‘not yet’: “It [fading joy now] is valuable only as a pointer to something other and outer…He who first sees [the pointer] cries, ‘Look!’ The whole party gathers round and stares. But when we have found the road and are passing signposts every few miles, we shall not stop and stare. They will encourage us and we shall be grateful to the authority that set them up. But we shall not stop and stare, or not much; not on this road, though their pillars are of silver and their lettering of gold. ‘We would be at Jerusalem’.”

True joy is a mashup of the near and the far,[9] and all that we experience now is a signpost for what is to come. It is because of the joy set before us that we Christians learn to respond to the ‘near’ in light of the ‘far’.

The ‘far,’ the ‘not yet,’ is the joy that awaits us in the life to come, fully in the presence of a God who loves us in a heaven and earth remade in its uncorrupted fullness. That is the vision that sustains us when the “now” is sketchy. These are the “far” things that are always “near.”

During the Christmas season of Advent, we celebrate the “now”, the world changed because of the Incarnation, the ‘unveiling’ of Emmanuel, Christ with us, the hope of glory. We also joyfully expect the “not yet,” the day when we will experience the fullness of His joy either because we go to be with God or God returns for His children. David Mathis notes:

“The incomplete joy in Jesus we have now — with its roller-coaster ups and downs, its twists and turns, its frustrating enigmas and pleasant surprises — is not separate from the fullness of joy that is coming. Today’s seeds and stalks are organically related to the coming flowers and fruit.”[10]

Joy to the world; the Lord has come. Joy to the world; He will come again. Let us receive the King, the Messiah, into our hearts and homes.

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[1] Here is a huge list of bible verses about joy. You will see “blessed, happy, rejoice, joy” – depending on your translation, different English words capture the same idea. https://god.net/god/bible-topics/blessings-for-those-who-love-god/true-joy-and-happiness-comes-from-god/

[2] Read more at “What Is Common Grace,” by Tim Keller. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/53189f41e4b0ee73efed7b5a/t/533ea67ce4b05289c3da94dc/1396614780413/What_Is_Common_Grace.pdf

[3] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/superficial-joy-vs-true-joy

[4] https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/superficial-joy-vs-true-joy

[5] https://fcfamily.org/blog/2020/06/23/is-true-joy-possible-3-principles-of-finding-joy-in-chaos

[6] https://www.hprweb.com/2012/06/prayer-as-the-channel-of-celestial-joy/

[7] https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2021/09/what-is-true-joy/

[8] https://www.citieschurch.com/journal/what-is-true-joy

[9] https://tabletalkmagazine.com/article/2021/09/what-is-true-joy/

[10] https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-greatest-joy-is-still-to-come