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Commentary on "The Fruit of the Spirit is Joy"
Day 3: Monday, January 11, 2010
Overview
Today’s lesson begins with the premises that understanding Christian joy requires that we see the joy-filled lifestyle of Christ and the principles by which He lived. Three parables are given for reading and discussion—the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son. The author suggests that the common principle in all three stories is reaching the lost, which brings joy to God.
Hebrews 12:4 is quoted, “…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame”. The lesson asks us to apply these principles of Jesus to our lives so that we might experience the same kind of joy that Jesus had, even during painful experiences. By imitating His lifestyle and principles, we can also have His joy.
Observations
Lifestyle is defined as a way of life that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group. Most of us would agree that those who avoid bad habits, work hard, eat right, and are nice, will have a happier, longer life. A few people are very successful at practicing their seven habits, and how we envy them! They are good citizens and good church members, and are pleasant to be around. They seem more natural at being good.
They can also have hearts that are as spiritually dead as an old stone mausoleum. The fruit of the Spirit is not a by-product of a healthy lifestyle or set of disciplines. Good habits are quite compatible with a stony heart of darkness that resists the gospel and is blind to the beauty of Christ. We can be well-disciplined people, or we can surrender our hearts to the Lord Jesus and become spiritually alive. This union comes through a new, spiritual life, not something we develop, but something done to us.
The central reason for the joy set before Jesus was not His lifestyle or His principles. Jesus didn’t have a “lifestyle,” but instead was totally submitted to His Father. He was driven by passion for His mission to put an end to sin, finish His once-for-all atonement, defeat death, humiliate Satan and all his minions, give the Spirit to His church, sit down at His Father’s right hand, return as Conqueror, and at last by the sea of glass, the gather around Him the saved—the off-scouring and refuse of the earth! His was a “mission statement” that can never be repeated or imitated. Lifestyle indeed!
The joy set before Jesus was His divine foreknowledge of the success of His mission to save the lost and be glorified by His Father. He knew that His sufferings and death were not a foolish gamble, that He would survive the grave, and that His sacrifice would be sufficient.
“For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” John 10:17
His joy we enter, not by imitating a lifestyle through self-discipline, but by repenting of our good works, receiving His already-completed righteousness, and surrendering every part of our being to Him. As new creatures, we will experience Him working in us to do His pleasure, laying aside every encumbrance and entangling sin. As the Author and Finisher of our faith, only He can give our weary souls perseverance mingled with joy.
Summary
- Lifestyle refers to a way of life that reflects one’s attitudes and values.
- A “healthy” lifestyle may produce more satisfaction and longevity, but is unrelated to a living connection with Jesus which comes by new spiritual birth.
- Jesus joy did not emerge from Jesus’ superior lifestyle, but through submission to His Father in glorifying Him through His obedience unto death on a cross.
- Jesus was also joyful because He knew He would succeed in His mission to save sinners, and that He took the initiative to lay down His life, and take it up again.
- We enter Jesus’ joy by receiving the forgiveness of sins, His outside-of-us righteousness, and surrendering our beings to Him.
- Jesus will give us the obedience and joy needed to persevere.
GO TO DAY 4
Copyright 2010 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised January 11, 2010. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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