THE IMPACT OF JOY

I’ve misplaced the inexpressible great joy and glory of my salvation somewhere between the shredding of our Constitution, legalizing the murder of millions of innocent babies, tossing out God’s commandments about marriage and family, and kicking God to the curb in America.
Allowing myself to become so focused on the rancorous evil going on around me, like Lot, my soul has been vexed. And when I focus on vexness, I’m not talking about the joy of living for Jesus. No, I’m spitting the putrid liquid of frustration on everyone around me. And brother and sister in Christ, sometimes it’s hard to tell you and me from the rest of the world.
Can I get a witness?
Think about Lot. Uncle Abraham raised him…can you imagine being under Abraham’s care? ‘Course Abraham had warts too, but as the head of a family, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness” (James 2:23 NAS).
Yet, when the time came, Lot chose to settle near a booming metropolis where life would be prosperous and his kids could benefit from all the cultural advantages Sodom and Gomorrah could offer. Lot put down roots. Roots that went deep into heathen soil. But Lot didn’t change the culture, the culture changed Lot. And his family.
Scripture is silent about his time there except to let us know Lot sat at the gates. He was a civic leader, maybe on the way to becoming a judge, but apparently his life made absolutely no impact on anyone around him, not even his wife, daughters or would-have-been sons-in-law.
You know the story. He moved in with the heathen, knew they were evil, but lost his perspective and lost his joy. Lost his ability to see beyond his current circumstances to God’s promise and the glory to come. And he dwelt there day after day, year after year, ‘til his ability to think was so distorted he offered his virgin daughters to the homosexual mob, to do with as they pleased, to save his visitors. And God destroyed those cities…forever.
And haven’t we done the same thing with our children? We’ve moved in alongside the godless culture and like those ancient Israelites, we’ve sacrificed our children on pagan altars, refusing to come apart and be different. And we’ve become like the world.
God’s epitaph to Lot in 2 Peter refers to righteous Lot and how God rescued him from Sodom and Gomorrah, but Lot still must stand before God to account for his leadership as a husband and father. Will all that’s left for him be wood, hay, and stubble? What about you? What about me?
So what’s the impact of joy? The question was asked in our Precept study this week, “What truth has God revealed to you about yourself in this first chapter of 1 Peter? And verses seven, eight, and nine leaped off the page and punched me in the gut.
“…the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:7-9 NAS).
Inexpressible joy? Me? I’m not even living in the shadow of His joy most of the time. Some days the darkness of evil seems to envelop my world. Do you ever feel that way? Like Lot I’ve put my roots down deep, like I’m gonna be here forever. My prayer closet gets a few minutes in the morning and in the evening at best, unless trouble, trials, or torment move in for a visit. Then I want everyone to join me in the closet.
Take a gander around you this coming Sunday morning. What do you see? Joy and peace, or sour faces, sitting and soaking in the pews? Faces etched in unattractive arcs because of the yammering of everything gone wrong in our nation. In our world. And we’re not used to things that threaten our farce of happy life, beautiful home, successful kids, or our bellies. And we react.

We’ve been cellophaned picture-perfect for the world to look at and envy. But we aren’t perfect or pleasing. And Jesus never told us our journey here would be pleasant or peaceful. Especially when we’ve forgotten The Lord God Almighty. As a nation, we’ve thumbed our noses at Him, refused to listen and obey His commandments, and forgotten He provided all those blessings, we didn’t. And He can certainly remove them from rebellious, hateful, spoiled children.
Those early Christians maintained their love and support for Jesus and each other while members of their families and their church were soaked in tar and used as human torches along Nero’s highways, or others were sewn in animal skins and tossed into the arena with wild beasts to entertain the spectators? How did they maintain their faith and joy?
History doesn’t record them leading protests against Nero. Nor did they appear on the local Rome news of the day. But they knew the Giver of Joy—the Lord Jesus Christ. They were trapped in their frailty and depended on Him for everything. They knew their world was not getting better and they knew, that they knew, that they knew to be absent from the body meant being present with the Lord. And they concentrated on an eternal citizenship and relationship with Jesus, refusing to cling to the flesh. They understood their future was with the God of the Universe. Creator. Sustainer. El Shaddai—The Lord God Almighty.
Is God going to have to use a larger board to get our attention? Their joy over God’s promises and their faith in the truth of His word drove them to abide in Jesus. He was their only hope and they carried everything to Him, in spite of the reality of everything playing out in real time.
If there is any hope for America today, we must do the same. We need to cry to God for the fresh wind and fire of His Spirit to blow the doors off stinky sanctuaries allowing the freshness of His grace, His glory, His love, and His joy to cleanse and rejuvenate His people. We need to be revived!
In spite of what the “name it and claim it” folks shout, America is in immediate, grave danger. Danger of God’s judgment.
Imagine this scene—men and women draped in black robes, sitting on the benches of the courts of our land. The gavel slams down and these justices overrule God. Again. And their decision will place us alongside Sodom and Gomorrah in the history books.
Horrendous stories splash the front pages of the newspapers and scream in HD on the nightly news. America is no longer the America of my youth. The deceiver has captured the minds of the majority and they have chosen his lies rather than God’s Truth. The majority desire a king who will stand against God, just like many of our national leaders do every day and that highest court in the land may rule this spring. And then—business as usual? Maybe—maybe not.
Because God is the same God who, when Israel turned away from Him and Judah followed in their steps, sent heathen nations to judge them. To judge them for the purpose of bringing them back to Him.
The Jews are God’s covenant people and He used a really big, bad, bubba board on them. But because of His unconditional covenant with Abraham and His predetermined plan, He will restore a remnant of them in the last days. But at what cost? The Crusades. Two world wars. Genocide. In days to come, scripture tells us two-thirds of that nation will be destroyed. Only one-third will survive—to be saved and restored in a single day.
Contrary to some teaching, America does not have a national covenant with God. God has offered His grace to individual believers under the New Covenant. But this New Covenant is conditional. And subject to the believer’s faith and trust and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ through the predetermined sacrifice of Jesus’ blood and the grace and mercy of God.
So the question I ask you right now, is the melody of Jesus’ glory playing in your heart this morning? Is the joy of God’s grace causing your soul to celebrate with inexpressible joy? Is the dawn of His appearing bubbling from within you? Or does the constant clamor from demonic swords drown heaven’s choir and dim the light of His truth?
What will people see in you and me as the darkness of this age squeezes them into the mold of evil—hope and love and the grace of God? Or the horror of a mirror image of themselves?
What will God’s epitaph read about you an me? Will the impact of our “…great rejoicing with joy inexpressible and full of glory…” point others to Jesus before it’s too late?

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