State of delight and well-being that results from knowing and serving God. A number of Greek and Hebrew words are used to convey the ideas of joy and rejoicing. We have the same situation in English with such nearly synonymous words as joy, happiness, pleasure, delight, gladness, merriment, felicity, and enjoyment. The words “joy” and “rejoice” are the words used most often to translate the Hebrew and Greek words into English. Joy is found over 150 times in the Bible. If such words as “joyous” and “Joyful” are included, the number comes to over 200. The verb “rejoice” appears well over 200 times.
Joy is the fruit of a right relation with God. It is not something people can create by their own efforts. The Bible distinguished joy from pleasure. The Greek word for pleasure is the word from which we get our word “hedonism,” the philosophy of self-centered pleasure-seeking. Paul referred to false teachers as “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Tim 3:4 HCSB).
The Bible warns that self-indulgent pleasure seeking does not lead to happiness and fulfillment. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 records the sad testimony of one who sought to build his life on pleasure seeking. The search left him empty and disillusioned. Proverbs 14:13 offers insight into this way of life, “Even in laughter a heart may be sad” (HCSB). Cares, riches, and pleasures rob people of the possibility of fruitful living (Luke 8:14). Pleasure-seeking often enslaves people in a vicious cycle of addiction (Titus 3:3). The self-indulgent person, according to 1 Tim 5:6, is dead while seeming still to be alive.
Many people think that God is the great killjoy. Nothing could be a bigger lie. God Himself knows joy, and He want His people to know joy. Psalm 104:31 speaks of God Himself rejoicing in His creative works. Isaiah 65:18 speaks of God rejoicing over His redeemed people who will be to Him “a joy.”
Luke 15 is the most famous biblical reference to God’s joy. The Pharisees and scribes had criticized Jesus for receiving sinners and eating with them. Then Jesus told three parables-the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. The explicit theme of each parable is joy over one sinner who repents. The joy of God came to focus in human history in Jesus Christ. The note of joy and exultation runs through the entire biblical account of the coming of Christ (Luke 1:14,44; Matt 2:10). The most familiar passage is the angel’s announcement of “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10 KJV). Jesus spoke of His own joy and of the full joy He had come to bring to others (John 15:11; 17:13). He illustrated the kingdom of heaven by telling of the joy of a man who found treasure (Matt 13:44). Zacchaeus was in a tree when Jesus called him, but he quickly climbed down and received Jesus joyfully (Luke 19:6). He had found life’s ultimate treasure in Christ. END OF PART 1.