[AI translation] Surely you know the programme for tonight, because I've advertised it several times. Tonight I would like to talk about how, through Jesus Christ, a person's life can be enlarged in joy. I am sure you know that the title of each evening and of the whole week is in fact a saying of Jesus, which is almost an answer to the question that we would ask him, and that we often ask people: why did he come into this world? Jesus answers, "I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly." (Jn 10,10) I would like to draw your attention to that one word, "be multiplied". The meaning of the original word goes something like this: to be abundant in something, to be very rich in something, to be abundant in something, so abundant that you even have a surplus. That's what it means: 'I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly'. This is the abundant life of Christ. Imagine what kind of life it must be that is so overflowing with joy. It is so full of joy that it is not only enough for itself in every situation, at all times, but it also has enough for others, and can make others happy. It is truly a great privilege to live with Jesus. I have often thought about this, and I want you to feel something of it: how good it is for us to believe in Jesus, the Jesus who makes our lives so full. If we took what He says quite seriously, we would be such joyful, joyful people. Then our joy would overflow in our hearts and we would have joy for those around us, for our spouse, for our children, for our enemies. Even for the people crowding on the tram, we would have this happiness, this inner joy that we are talking about.In any case, it means that no one should fear Christ for his life, nor should young people fear the joys of life. Jesus does not want to make anyone poor; on the contrary, he wants to enrich the life of every person with joy. The Christian life is not a sad way of life, not a way of life which is forced to renounce everything and deny the joys of life, but a very happy and joyful way of life, but unfortunately it is not visible to us. We project its sadness into the world rather than walk in mourning. We even come to communion as if something sad were happening here. But this is a victory supper. It means that we can already share in the full victory of Jesus to come. Unfortunately, our sadness is not very attractive to people, and that is why they do not envy us, because they do not see us as expanding in joy. So the Christian life is a very joyful life, a joyful life, but in a way, as I once said to a dear brother, there is something of the seriousness of heaven in his joy, and there is a pure serenity that shines through his seriousness.
Of course, when all we know about Jesus, what he did, how he lived, died and rose again, can be summed up in one word, this word: gospel. It means in English: the gospel. It is divine good news that cheers the heart. Even a human good news has such a good effect on our spirits, even in bitterness it revives us, and we almost get a new spiritual energy from a really good news. What even divine good news should mean, if we could really receive it and hear it. If only this evening we could somehow hear the gospel, the divine good news, in this way!
To rejoice is a good thing, every human being loves or wants to rejoice. And joy is not only good, it is necessary. Every human being needs joy as much as any plant, animal or human organism needs sunshine. Joy is the ray of sunshine of life, without which man becomes so basement-flower-life. But it is so hard to be happy all the time! I remember that when my children were very young, one of my little boys sat up in bed one morning, looked around and said: 'Daddy, I'm so happy about something, but I don't know what!
How good it is for the child, the healthy joy of life is just bursting out of him! He can be happy about everything, he can be happy about life. But what should the 80-year-old woman I was talking to the other day do, who told me that after her husband died, everyone left her alone? She lost her property and everything else. She is full of bitterness and sadness. She has only one relative, but she would rather not have one, because that is where she suffers most of her bitterness. He said: 'Reverend, I have only one joy: if I could die. He longs to die - and indeed, what more pleasure could there be for such an old man, for whom life is already a great pain? Can there be any joy in it?
Indeed, is it not true that as the years go by, one's life becomes less and less joyful? After all, so much pain, so much bitterness, so much unpleasantness is heaped on our lives throughout the course of our lives, and so rarely does the sunshine of joy shine to brighten our lives, and then only for such brief moments. Yet so many people seek joy. Many people believe, and I believed for a long time, that to be truly happy, to be happy, you would have to be a celebrated film star, or the mother of a healthy, smiling child, which is such a beautiful dream for so long in your life. Many young people think that their real joy would be to come home with a gold medal from the Olympics, or to win the lottery with a four, or perhaps to win the hand of the person they have longed for, or to be able to dine in a nice restaurant with good friends in a nice dress. Or to enjoy the beauty of nature in the Tatras, among the pine trees, or on the beach. But many people seek pleasure in such extraordinary things! Many people do find it, but many people realise that even if they do find it, it is not true happiness. It is not always the joy that one longs for and that finally comes true in one's life. Or if it does bring joy, that joy is as deceptive and short-lived, as quickly vanishing like life and fading away like a mirage, or perhaps it has the bitterness of wormwood in it.
There is something in the fact that the Greeks long ago had a special god for joy. Dionysus was that god, but he was also the god of death. It seems to have come from the observation that here on this earth joy always appears immediately in a veil of mourning. This is also the motto: eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die! This is the tragedy of joy, that the joy of life and the sadness of death are so close together. That joy is always such that it has a limit somewhere. There is a joy that lasts until dawn but no longer, or until an illness, or a bereavement, but then it is gone. Or until a certain age, 50-60 years, but then no more. And that's why some people are pessimistic, who can't really be happy about anything anymore, because they're always afraid of being disappointed again.
There is an old wise man in the Bible, who must have had a lot of experience, who wrote the book of Proverbs. There is a quite poignant saying in it: "(Pro 14:13) Think how true this is! And could it not be turned around and said, "The soul smiles in sorrow of heart, and through sorrow there is a gleam of joy? Is there no joy that I need not fear to lose, if I would take it like a mirage? Is there no joy in which one can live in peace and not fear to be disappointed again?
Thank God, there is such a joy! It is precisely this joy that is the subject of that particular gospel we call the gospel. The Gospel of Christ proclaims just such joy, and that is what the Apostle Paul encourages us all to do tonight when he says: 'Rejoice in the Lord always, I repeat, rejoice! We could go on and on about what this means. Now, instead of explaining it all, let me try to illustrate it with an example. What a terrible midnight it was, what a terrible darkness! Those two men lay frozen in blood on the prison pavement, for when the Roman lictors gave a man fifty lashes - and they were sentenced to fifty lashes - there was not much skin left on that body. They were in the innermost prison, perhaps it would be correct to say the death house, and their feet were in stocks. They couldn't even move in that little place. And now let us understand: these two men were not singing songs of praise to God when they were out of prison - for they were later miraculously freed, but they were not singing, their hearts were not rejoicing, when everything was right again and shining brightly around them - but at midnight, when they were really up to their necks in trouble. When their wounds ached, when their bleeding backs leaned against the damp walls of the prison, and the iron strap of the caliph's iron stabbed sharply into their living flesh. So when they were at their human worst. For the next day they had to stand trial, and that threatened the worst prospect. So it was when it was dark. Perhaps the darkest and most unpromising moment of their lives, when they had no reason to rejoice and praise God. Rather, there was wailing, weeping, complaining, cursing, as is the way in such places. And these two men were then praising God. They were in the mood to sing, they could rejoice there, in that terrible situation.
This shows that the joy of which the Apostle Paul speaks, and which the Gospel proclaims, is something entirely independent of the course of man's destiny, of prison walls, of wounds, of misery and hopelessness, of the knowledge and certainty of impending death. If joyful praise of God were dependent on well-being and the fortunate development of our circumstances, so few songs of praise would ascend to heaven from earth, for there are many prison doors that never open, and many a human life is imprisoned in a prison cell, many a cross that never comes down. When all is going well, when one has all that one's eyes desire, to rejoice in prosperity, in fortune, is really no great thing. But to rejoice in such darkness, in such a terrible midnight of life, as Paul and Silas were in - that is a very special joy.
And what was the secret of this special joy? The apostle Paul uses a phrase here which he has used many times before, and which I have said many times before, but which I am now compelled to say again. The secret is this little word: "in the Lord". "Rejoice in the Lord always". What does it mean, "in the Lord"? Very simply, we could say, in the arms of God, in the loving arms of our heavenly Father. I experienced the reality of this four years ago, when I was seriously ill in hospital, and when I no longer had the strength to pray. My daily prayer was: 'Lord, thank you for having me! And that was perfectly enough. There was something so sweetly sheltering, so happily certain, that I placed myself sweetly in the arms of the Lord, as sweetly as I had fallen asleep in my mother's arms as a little child. This is what it means to be in the Lord, in the arms of God. For the apostle Paul and Silas, it meant something very definite, very real. It was not some abstract idea that could be talked about. It was not a nice theory to be worked out, or a dogmatic proposition to be thought out in the quiet of the study, but it became for them a tangible reality.
Jesus is quite a wonderful person! And the longer I believe it, the more I am amazed at the miracles of Jesus. The extraordinary, precious miracle-worker in whose person the distant, elusive, mysterious, unknown concept of God - which all human beings long for more than anything else - becomes a living reality, comes close and embraces me: Jesus. Paul and Silas experienced there, in the darkness, that the Lord was there, and that the gospel they had been preaching to others was true. You can lay your life on it, you can die for it. That means eternal life for man. They felt that Jesus was not just a pretty name, not just a great word to say all the nice things about, but something of great reality, a life-filling reality for them. They had experienced the reality of God, compared to which the reality of prison, the aching reality of a sore back, the reality of the impending death sentence, dwarfed into a second- and third-order reality. It's not even worth dealing with. They looked through the walls of the prison as if they were no longer there, and then the spell of fear, of suffering, of despair, of worry, was broken. Then perhaps they heard an inner voice: "Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine" (Is 43:1). And that is perfectly enough.
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8,38-39) And then a peace and security, a safety and security that surpassed all understanding came over their souls. Their hearts were strengthened, and before the walls of the prison had been opened and the chains had come down, the prison and the chains had fallen from their souls, and the rest was no longer so important. Because that's the real thing, when the prison bars fall off someone's soul, and then you're free. And I'm not surprised at all, because it's quite natural. It cannot be otherwise, because when a man's heart is full of the consciousness of God's presence and love, the tongue cannot listen, because the heart is so full of the joy of the Gospel that it overflows, and then from the ruins of life a song of praise to God ascends to heaven. Then they began to sing... One song after another was sung, perhaps the Apostle Paul began and Silas joined in. At first, perhaps quietly, swallowing their tears, sighing heavily, then more and more freely, happily, more powerfully, so that finally the two prisoners condemned to death sang with lungs full to the echo of the prison: 'All the earth rejoice in God! And I praise you, O Lord, for you have saved me... And praise thee with all my heart, O God, I praise thy name - and the rest of the rejoicing psalms. They began to sing because their hearts were full of joy.
My brethren, this is real joy, this is real joy. This is what the apostle says, "always in the Lord". Do you sense, do you not, that this is not the joy of cheerfulness that comes from being in merry company, but somehow the joy of an inner order. It is not an outward feeling of well-being, aroused by external circumstances, but some inward radiating of wonderful and incomprehensible joy in the Lord. In our student days, we all learned about the magnetic force: if a soft iron is drawn into this magnetic force, it is itself filled with the same. Well, if a human heart gets into that magnetic force of God that Jesus was on this earth, it is itself filled with that same force, so that joy is actually a piece of the joy, beauty, serenity, peace and happiness of heaven.
The joy of Jesus is the joy of the believer in him. The Holy Spirit rejoices in the person. That is how the apostle Paul had joy even in prison, and that is why his heart was full of joy even at that terrible midnight. And this does not mean that if one is in the Lord, he can no longer have tears or sadness or pain. They may very well have, and perhaps even more than one who is not in the Lord. But in a different way, in a very different way. Somehow, in that tear, in that pain, there is still some incomprehensible joy. I read once that when Moody died, his wife received his friends who came to condole with him. It struck people that this woman, who really loved her husband, what a
with what a special serenity she received the condolences. Someone asked her: how was that possible? She replied: 'Of course I am happy (but tears were falling), because today is the day of my husband's coronation in heaven. And she was right.
I've said it before, let me say it again: I felt the same joy. The saddest two days of my life were when I stood next to my father's coffin, and then, a short time later, my mother's, and felt my heart break as they laid the coffin in the grave. And yet, even in this heartbreaking pain, something of incomprehensible, triumphant joy shone through. For I was thinking not of my own loss, but of their gain. And I knew that as great as my loss was, their gain was far greater, and I tried to rejoice in their joy instead of my own sadness. I tried to rejoice with them, and I know I can. The Lord also made me experience that I could think of my own death with the same joy and triumph: that death is not the end of life, but only of transience, of suffering. It is precisely in freedom from transience and suffering that life itself goes on and unfolds in all its richness. There, beyond death, awaits the same Jesus I have known here. Isn't that a great thing? Even in the horror of death, to look beyond death with such joy? Isn't the Apostle Paul right when he says: "Rejoice in the Lord always"?! Rejoice even on the brink of death, but the examples could go on and on. What joy it is for a man when he overcomes a temptation by the power of Christ, or when he can comfort another man in the name of Christ.
I shall never forget the face and the joy of the acquaintance who, when he was delivered by Christ from the bondage of wine, told every where, to every acquaintance and stranger, what a foolish man he was to seek his joy in the intoxication of wine, that he had now more joy in the Lord than ever. Yes, in the Lord there is always joy, and in the Lord there is only joy! Of course, this does not mean that one can have no other joy now. Can't one rejoice in a beautiful sunrise, a nice walk in the woods, a good company, a happy marriage, the birth of a lovely child, a great concert? It is good to be happy, for the world is full of so much beauty by the grace of God! It is great to be able to rejoice in the beauty of life. The trouble is if he does not rejoice well, if we do not see in that beauty, in that joyful thing, the giver and author of all beauty and joyful things, God. Try once to take such delight in a beautiful landscape that you see in it a reflection of the glory of God. Or so delight in the music of Bach or Beethoven that you hear in it the great abundance of eternal harmonies. In the Lord, of course, our joys are also sanctified and multiplied.
I can imagine someone saying: yet I cannot rejoice, even in the Lord. This is a very serious thing. I knew someone who could rejoice in the Lord very much, but lost that joy. You know him: he was King David. Who knew the joy of being in the Lord, but lost it. And read Psalm 51, how clamorously he pleads, "...restore to me the joy of thy salvation"! (verse 14a) A terrible sin, like a cloud, hid from him the ray of joy of God's presence. Through the cloud the sun barely shines. The Spirit of God can be grieved, and every sin we refuse to give up, to confess, is such a cloud under which we lose joy. Someone once said: there is a canary bird which has the characteristic of not singing until it has been bathed. Then all at once the song comes out of its throat and it sings beautifully. That is the heart of man. The song of joy does not rise from it until all stains and dirt have been washed off. But when it is cleansed, then it sings truly. And where can you be cleansed of all filth but in the Lord? In the power of God that Jesus is on this earth. And you all know how a sinner can get into that: By finally taking the time to make a harsh revelation to God. He confesses all his sins in sincere repentance. Confession of sin is like parting the clouds that cover the rays of joy, and then the soul truly rejoices. The most wonderful joy is the joy of the assurance of forgiveness of sins.
Let me give you a homework assignment. If you go home now, take out your Bibles and read John 3:16 aloud, even if you know it by heart. It reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Everyone reads this by substituting his own name for the word "someone", like this: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Read this tonight, with your own name inserted, and if joy in the Lord does not come into your heart... - but that is impossible!
The Apostle Paul says: "Rejoice in the Lord always, I repeat, rejoice"! Nowhere in the Bible does he repeat anything twice, this is the only place, because he knows how miserable we are as human beings, that we do not take advantage of the opportunity and draw sufficiently from the well of joy that God has hung up for us in Jesus. Yes, apart from the Lord, the only joy is to eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow we will die anyway. But the joy in the Lord is to eat, drink and be merry, for we shall live forever! And one drop of this pours more oil into the machinery of life than any joy in this world!
To conclude, I have something to take with you. Just one word, not from me, but from Jesus: 'These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may remain in you, and your joy may be full' (John 15:11) May the joy of Jesus remain in us even when we go out from here, to become as I said at the beginning, to be rich, to overflow, so that there is enough for others, because there is still excess left over, if you have enough. There is enough for your spouse, your children, your colleagues, tomorrow and the day after. "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy may remain in you, and your joy may be full"!
Amen.
Date: 24 November 1964.
Lesson
ApCsel 16,23-34