In John MacArthur’s commentary on the book of Philippians he gives 10 factors that rob believers of biblical joy. Over the next few days I plan to post them one by one and give my own personal experience and reflections on each of them. I would love to hear your own thoughts and personal experiences with each of these as well.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Scott
1. False Salvation
“First and by far the most important is false salvation. The church has always included those whose faith is not genuine. Because they do not possess the indwelling Holy Spirit, such false professors cannot possess biblical joy. They may attend churches where God’s word is taught, and they may fellowship with genuine believers. Yet because they do not know the Lord, they cannot experience His joy. If they laugh, it is sadly, “the laughter of the fool, [which] is futility” (Ecc.7:6)” (John MacArthur)
I suppose we need some understanding of biblical joy to fully comprehend this truth. Biblical joy is a deep rooted satisfaction or contentment that can only be found through Jesus Christ. Happiness is often thought to be synonymous with biblical joy, however I believe happiness is tied more closely with human emotion rather than satisfaction in God. For example, one can be in the midst of deep pain, whether physically or emotionally, and still be satisfied or content. There is definitely happiness in joy, but circumstances will often distinguish the difference between the two.
Now with that said back to MacArthur’s quotation…
Without question, I think this is a sad truth that plagues our churches more than we realize. The ironic truth to MacArthur’s statement is that you can’t even say this person is being robed of biblical joy, simply because they never had it to begin with. The bible continually reminds us that there will be those among us who never really knew the shepherd. The parable of the sower, Jesus’ teaching on “The Sheep and Goats”, and the sad reality of Judas’ life all testify to this truth. Having been in ministry over 10 years, I have many times seen people seemingly come alive in Christ only to wither away later. Now please hear me out on this, I do not think we are responsible for passing judgment on whether or not someone has salvation. I realize that people will go through all sorts of different periods in their lives, and some may even seem to walk away from God, only to return later. The parable of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Prodigal Son emphasize this. When they, who seem to be lost, return scripture tells us there is a par-tay in heaven. Needless to say, not everyone will return.
There is a stigma that those who hold a reformed theology are not concerned with the lost. I think this partially has to do with our view of God’s sovereignty in election and because of poor representation in the past (A little yeast can ruin the whole batch). Do I hold a reformed view of God’s election? Yes, but that does not stop me from morning over the lost and pleading that God will open their eyes. It absolutely breaks my heart to know that I have friends and family members that will perish. Like Paul, I continue to pray that God will save them and allow them to experience biblical joy.
1 comment:
so, i'll be the first to comment again. When we were at BIOLA we had to take the classes of systematic theology. Not a place where one would think i'd get the best lesson on human emotion and Christianity, but i did.
The teacher was Dr. Thoenes. He said that emotions are not evil but a gift of God to allow us to experience life and without them, we'd actually be less like Christ, since we as believer are called Christ-ians "little walking Christs" or "Christ-apprentices". Now i'm only saying this because i believe that Christ felt and expressed all of the human emotions and deeply...With verses like "deeply moved by their faith..." or "in sorrow he wept bitterly.." the anger he demonstrated against those who abused the name of God, His and our Father. Happiness isn't the same as joy, but by no means do i think it should be avoided. Emotions are our mile markers, our indicators of where we are internally. Sometimes it's an indicator of health and sometimes not. Either case it's not of less value to the believer who doesn't want to be robbed of true joy even though Dictionary definitions are as follows:
joy –noun
1. the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation: She felt the joy of seeing her son's success.
2. a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated: Her prose style is a pure joy.
3. the expression or display of glad feeling; festive gaiety.
4. a state of happiness or felicity.
–verb (used without object)
5. to feel joy; be glad; rejoice.
All these definitions talk about a feeling, emotion. I think what separates this joy from biblical joy is its subject, namely God, Himself. When we know and are in right relationship with Him we can understand having happiness with something that is exceptionally or exceedingly good and be in a state of happiness, it will be our home address because like Paul we can say "I know the God I serve..." and take our joy/happiness with us no matter the circumstances they may be within our state.
Speaking as one who has been through some huge losses I can tell you that my happiness, not a fake smile but my satisfaction with life, does not sway like a leave in the wind.
But what about the idea of false conversion? Are they not very intimately intwined? As i've already said I must know the one serve and love in-order to achieve such an unyielding happiness, satisfaction, sense of completeness aka Joy.
again, just my two cents (maybe not even worth that)
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