Theology of Joy

Paul Woods - Singapore Bible College

This short article attempts to encapsulate or summarise some basic thinking on a theology of joy. The idea is to explore and reflect on some reasons why our faith should bring us joy. I summarise four primary sources of joy as follows: origin, individual process or experience, involvement with others (personal and impersonal, or human and nonhuman), and destination. In other words, part of the idea behind the theology of joy, theological reasons why we should have joy as Christians, is that our life as Christians is a journey. It is a temporal journey in that it occurs throughout our lives this side of the return of Christ. It is also a spiritual journey because it involves our following God, a sort of Pilgrim's progress, in which we learn more about him and ourselves and our life with others, especially those who form part of his kingdom and Christ's body. Journey involves discovery, and a much-neglected element in our spiritual journey is joy.

Origins. Lets start at the very beginning, which is a very good place to start. The Christian believes that his or her origin is in the triune God. This God is the creator of heaven and earth and stands outside of time and the lives and purposes of men and women who were created for relationship with him. At the beginning of the Bible we gain some idea of the greatness of God as he creates and brings order to the world. We see the different elements of the physical world created, and then the in-filling of the world with plants and animals, and ultimately human beings. There is a purpose here and a plan, whose primary focus is ultimately God's own glory, and who secondary focus is humankind. We are the pinnacle of creation, and have been given the task of living in harmony with the natural world, taking care of it, and presenting it to God. This is a glorious responsibility indeed, and a source of joy.

But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. If we are finite, created beings and he is infinite, creator God, it is actually quite difficult to say what it means that we are created in his image. Certainly, we were created to know him and love him, and certainly we were created to be in some way like him, and to represent him within the created order. We have continuity and discontinuity with other forms of created life. Like them we rely on the physical world, light, oxygen, water, warmth, and so on. We are mammals, like monkeys, cats, and dogs. Yet at the same time, there is a huge

gulf between us and any other living creature on this planet. As far as we know, we are the only creatures who are conscious of the spiritual realm and in whose hearts exists a hole which can only be filled by a relationship with the living Creator God. Our level of language and creativity is far higher and greater than any other species that we have ever seen. We can think and communicate in the abstract. We can represent our world through mathematical symbols and images on paper. We represent the deepest desires and concerns of our heart with the written word, moving pictures, and through music. We have a logical and a holistic component. We exist in two very different manifestations of the same humanity, man and woman. There is astonishing similarity and also great difference, and some would claim that we only really understand what it means to be our own gender when we communicate openly and effectively with the other. To me, all of this and much more that I could write are grounds for joy and worship.

Who I am, the fact that I am at all, and the fact that I am unique suggest to me that I am not an accident. I am one of billions whom he has created to relate to him and manifest him, in reality manifest only certain aspects of him, among many other people who are like me but among whom I stand unique. For the Christian, whose relationship with this living God has been restored, the sense of design and purpose is powerfully underlined. God has things for us to do.

I am created to be similar to, relate to, and rely on a God who himself is a relational community. He is a Trinity. He is one and yet he is three; he is three and yet he is one. His perfect community is pure and holy and lives in perfect love. Each member of the Trinity loves the other two and makes space for them. They exist in a state of divine perichoresis, an on-going dance of mutuality and reciprocity in which the three persons flow around each other, loving each other, and yet retaining their own personality. To be created by a community means to be created for community. Just like our Creator, we are individual yet feel a strong urge and necessity to live in community. We live in a tension of singularity and plurality. Regardless of our character or disposition, we enjoy our time with others and yet we also treasure our time alone. We are shadows of God's triune greatness. If he is three-dimensional, then we are two-dimensional. More marvellous and mysterious may be this: if we are three-dimensional, then he is four-dimensional. Think of a single point. Drag it along to form a line. Now drag this line at 90 to itself to make a square, in two dimensions.

Now drag this square at 90 to itself to form a cube, in three dimensions. Now drag this cube at 90 to itself to form a four space hypercube. This is how like to think of my being compared to that of God. This brings me joy and worship.

Finally in terms of origin, is the question of character. We are all different, and much of our upbringing and culture seeks to tell us what is standard or correct. And while we must to a certain extent "fit in" and do what society requires of us, the gospel tells us that we should not all be dissolved or absorbed into one kind of bland Christian personality. We are what God has made us to be. That does not excuse sin, whether towards God or others, but it does mean that as sanctification makes progress and we become more like him we actually become more like the people we were created to be. This means that the problems and damage done to our character by the fall and by our human experience are gradually removed and put right as we go deeper into God. The extrovert can become a more godly, sanctified extrovert. The introvert feels the work of the Spirit on his or her life and becomes the introvert that he or she was created to be. Our various giftings and strengths are surrendered to God and redeemed by him, while our different weaknesses can be absorbed or made up for in the divine economy of the body of Christ and the kingdom of God. It is okay to be who you are, but it is not okay just to stay who you are. Again we see continuity and discontinuity. My uniqueness, given to me and affirmed by the one who created me, coupled together with his challenge to refine it and offer it to him, is a source of joy.

Our individual process. At the moment of salvation (and am aware that for many of us that so-called moment is actually rather blurred) the Christian enters a completely new state of being with regard to God, him or herself, brothers and sisters who form the church, and indeed the whole created order. There is simply not enough time to unpack all of these ideas in the variety and beauty which they deserve. Therefore this section will focus on some of the processes and experiences which occur in the life of the individual who comes to Christ.

We are told that the Christian is in Christ and Christ is in the Christian. We can read about this in the upper room discourse of John's Gospel and also in the first chapter of the letter to the Ephesians. We have a new identity because of our faith in Christ. We also read that Christ is in the father and the father is in Christ. Jesus then, because of his dual nature, fully human and fully divine, is a bridge for human beings

to reconnect with God. We also know that the spirit comes to live inside the believer and reminds him or her of what Jesus has previously taught. Part of the new life of the Christian then means entering into God, taking part in some limited way in the divine life. We are in him and he is in us. A part of us has been re-awoken, brought back to life. We know from the teaching of the word and our own experience that there is something in the life of the Christian that was not there before. We belong again. Just as in the parable of the prodigal son, God has run out of the house to accept us. And what a community, the three divine persons of the Trinity, to belong to! Joy.

Although the Christian is by no means perfect, he or she is now at last moving in the right direction. Salvation means that' the slate has been wiped clean. Regardless of what we have done in the past, regardless of how thick or thin the pile of charge sheets against us was, we are no longer charged with any crime. We do not take this lightly and we should not use it to excuse or explain away on-going or future sin. What Christ achieved on the cross must spur us on to higher and greater things. Yet, there is a real sense of peace for the person who understands what it means to appropriate the cross into his or her life. A righteous status has been given to us, which is totally undeserved. By his stripes we have been healed. That is for all Christians a source of great joy.

One implication of these previous two paragraphs is that we can and should enjoy God. He delights in us and we delight in him. It is a positive, celebration kind of thing to be connected to the living God. There is something that wells up from within, a holistic feeling of Shalom, and the sense of things being right, because we have come back to the source of our being. We no longer have to take ourselves seriously, or try so hard to cover up our inadequacies, or retreat into the abuse of power or relationships. We don't have to wear the mask any more. Jesus has given us abundant life by taking us into the life of the Trinity. The liberation he brings should never be abused and lead us into unrighteousness or rebelliousness, yet I believe there is something heady, bubbly, and fizzy about knowing God and loving him.

Following this sense of enjoying God and wanting to be around him, it seems natural to consider our seeking after him. There is surely a joy in following God and pleasing him. Our confidence in who he is and what he has done for us, and his record in the

lives of millions of Christians and back in the scriptural record of his interaction with his people should allow us to hand ourselves over to him. We can ask him, what do you want us to do? What do want to do with us? How do we please you and how do we fit into your plan? It is like the child who wants to please the parents, or the lover who wants to please the beloved. We are as the deer which pants after the water. This powerful urge from within to please God and follow him is also a source of joy. It is the desire to put ourselves at the centre of his will, and make him the apple of our eye.

As we enjoy him and follow him then we begin to gain a deeper understanding of who we really are. We undergo those repairs to our character and rectify what is wrong as our confidence and trust in him are built. This builds on from the idea of our having been created uniquely and for a purpose.

The Christian faith goes to work in all areas of our being, and this should also be a source of great joy. At the emotional level we experience the gradual release from various problems and hang-ups as we draw on our identity in Christ. As we live in the present, oriented to the future, we can slowly deal with the past. At the same time we are people of the book and we study it, and we think thoughts about the God who is revealed in its pages. We have a new way of looking at the world and ourselves as we apply the unchanging ancient message of creation and redemption to our contemporary situation in the modern world. We do brain work because of our faith. Our Christian faith then is spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually satisfying. This is a matter for rejoicing. Our faith feeds us and fulfils our need at the same time as it stretches us and makes demands upon us. We develop our emotional an intellectual muscles because of our faith. This is deeply satisfying.

As we learn more about God and ourselves, and look back at how God has dealt with individual believers in history, we get a much deeper and broader and finer grained understanding of what it means to be human. We can make sense of the darkness within the human soul and the human race, but we can also discern and recognise strong reasons for joy in our everyday lives. We should not fool ourselves, but I believe that a well-informed and reflective Christian is a happy Christian. I know an old man in Britain, who has known and served his Lord for something like 70 years. He is steeped in Christ and Christianity and reads and reflects on the Bible and

theological books. He is part of a Fellowship which takes its faith very seriously. And he is a very happy man, who delights in simple matters such as meeting his friends and spending time in his garden. I have seen him stooping down and bending his 90year-old back to scoop out toads and newts from the mud at the edge of his pond and show them to my children. His joy at handling these creations of God and showing them to my children showed him to be a delightful child of God himself! He took a similar delight in showing us the different fruit trees in his garden and then serving us tea and biscuits in his house. He has chosen to view his everyday life from a perspective of joy. He is no fool, yet his childlike but not childish faith in Christ allows him to see the God that is behind the creation, who lives in the lives of the redeemed, and who has a good plan for this race and planet.

This brings me to my final element of the personal experience of joy. The believer is part of that good plan. The Christian is on the winning side, not only in future but also now. In this world there is darkness, but there is also light. God's work is opposed but it will not be stopped. We are part of God's kingdom building agenda. And that agenda is advanced as our own individual small contributions help to push it forward, as we submit ourselves and our gifts to God. That is a source of joy.

Involvement with others. We considered at the start that we were created by and in the image of one who is a community, in order to play a role in a community. We were created by a divine community to play a role in a community which is both divine and human, the most obvious part of which to us is the human part. We do come to Christ as repentant and needy individuals, but that confession and profession of faith catapults us into the church. We become part of part of the kingdom of God. Individualistic Christianity, if not a contradiction in terms, is certainly sub-biblical and impoverished.

The first source of joy then at the communal level is our fellowship with others. Churches and Christian fellowships may not always be immediate sources of joy, and that is a tragedy as well as a concession to human weakness and sinfulness. However, for many of us fellowship groups and Christian community are indeed sources of joy. That "thing" which is inside us, which makes us feel somehow different from non-Christians, is also present in the Christians we meet. At some level, in a way which I do not understand and which is unfortunately sometimes

missing, there is a spiritual glue which connects us. There is a spiritual electromagnetic field which flows through us and unites us. This is our faith; He is also the Holy Spirit. I like being around Christians. I like to encourage them and to be encouraged. I like to see them grow and blossom, like flowers gradually opening to the sun. It seems to me that somehow the whole is bigger than the sum of its parts. I cannot explain that but I've seen it and felt it time and time again. We are not what we should be yet, but we have certainly moved on from what we were!

In the previous section I mentioned the emotional and intellectual satisfaction that our faith can bring. And this was on the individual level, as the Christian interacts with his or her God. This aspect is also found in our communal Christian experience, as we share life and growth with others. As we learn to relate to each other, and trust each other and forgive each other, so we grow emotionally. We learn to accept other people and we learn to accept ourselves. We grow by being in community. Our different strengths and weaknesses and characters and dispositions form a wonderful kaleidoscope, a marvellous tapestry, which bears witness to the God who brings all the pieces together in a way that strengthens the group and each individual within it. Also, as we spend time studying the Bible and applying theological truth in our lives together with our brothers and sisters, so iron sharpens iron. As we digest ideas and form them into words that we can exchange with our brothers and sisters this takes intellectual effort. To crystallise our hunches and coalesce our feelings such that we can make them known to someone else is not always an easy process, and as we do this, we grow. Being together with others brings issues which would never present themselves if we lived our lives as isolated individuals. This broader and more varied interaction means that we have to go broader and deeper in our understanding of God and his will in order to meet the challenges that such interaction brings. Again, we are stretched. And while this is hard work, it is also rewarding and a source of great joy.

Another huge issue is that of our relationships with our brothers and sisters. We become Christians as individuals but immediately we are part of a family or community of faith. We are located first in a local group of one kind or another, and through this of course we are part of the church universal. But we are also part of the church historical and eternal. So although our identity is located first and foremost in the holy Trinity through Christ we have new relationships and are defined by our

connections with Christians past and present. I believe this involves a process of gradually being understood and accepted. To be a Christian is to embark on a journey of change, and therefore our acceptance of others and by others can be thought perhaps as having two aspects. First of all, the acceptance of one Christian by another is based on prior acceptance of a person by God, on the basis of the cross, involving imputed righteousness. This is acceptance on the basis of identity or status, if you like. A second kind of acceptance is that based on a gradual growing together of Christians as they see change in themselves and those around them, consistent with the gradual sanctification and growth in Christ-likeness. Perhaps we accept first on the basis of declared faith, and later this acceptance grows on the basis of lived faith. Sometimes this process of change or sanctification is not easy, and all too often acceptance does not move forward as it should. Yet this process of learning to accept others and understanding what acceptance by others actually means can lead us into great joy. There is a joy in being part of something much bigger than ourselves. There is also a joy in being part of something which is incredibly positive, while at the same time also makes great demands on us. This is the joy of hard work which gradually produces results. I think that this process of growing together is also something which God treasures very much, because we know that part of our witness for him is that we have love for each other. John talks about this in his epistles.

I believe also that as our relationships grow and deepen with others inside the body of Christ, that we will also see reconciliation and restoration with those around us. As we learn to live in Christian fellowship with those around us and as our sharp edges and corners are gradually worn away by the sanctified rough-and-tumble of church body life, then we increase in tolerance and love for those who are yet to call themselves Christian. In this way, relationships with family and friends which may have been strained in the past may also be improved. The Bible and our experience of Christian Fellowship should make us increasingly self-aware and objective about ourselves. We can gain a healthier understanding of who we are and where necessary gain in sanctified self-esteem. This improvement of relationships inside and outside of the kingdom and the gradual reduction in attendant stress are matters for rejoicing.

So far I have considered relationships among people, primarily those between believers. However, if we believe that God is indeed in some way the creator of the planet on which we live, with its huge variety of plants and animals, and the dazzling complexity of the impersonal and inanimate physical world, then this can also bring joy to our hearts. We describe ourselves as the pinnacle of creation, which means that as well as being part of it we are also responsible for it and can enjoy it according to terms and conditions given to us by God, to whom it ultimately belongs. It is a tremendous thing to contemplate the beauty and serenity of what we call the natural world. Many people feel a great sense of peace and even closeness to God when on their own in or close to nature. It is as if so much of the man-made clutter which gets in the way of our relationship with him is removed. I think there's also a lot more here. God delights in what he has made and so should we. In our physical being we are indeed similar to the higher animals. We share this biosphere with them and what we do affects them. The dog and the cat, the cockroach and the rat, all have as much right to be here as we do. And somehow under heaven, this whole integrated system of nature seems to work. And this is before we get to grips with the science which explains so much of what is going on under the skin and inside the body and within the leaves. I believe there is a sense of wonder in being a Christian, in terms of how we look at and understand the world around us. When I see this as God's creation and action then I am consumed by joy.

From what we might call the raw natural world of plants and animals and rocks and subatomic particles, we can now move to what we can consider the processed or manipulated physical elements. This refers to the interaction between human creativity and the physical resources with which we express it. Painting and sculpture and other forms of fine art, as well as music, are means by which we use the threedimensional realm to express ourselves. We are the only species on this planet which shows this kind of behaviour and undertakes these kinds of projects. Beavers make their lodges and birds construct their nests, and we can marvel at that. But the creative arts are a level higher than this at the very least. We can express our emotions and concerns, and our fears and dreams, and even try to describe our relationship with our Creator in tangible form. This whole realm of human endeavour needs far more input from Christians. I believe that we can celebrate human creativity in a very joyful manner.

Our destination. So far, we have in thinking about the past and the present, with the emphasis on the latter. As we consider our destination then we think about the present and the future, with the emphasis on the latter. I believe that as we think about our destination that we have a lot to be joyful about indeed.

The return of Christ will mark the consummation of everything that God has been doing throughout human history. Jesus will return as judge and King and reign with us here on earth. Sin and death and sadness will be no more. A huge multicultural and multilingual group will worship him and honour him. All of the promises which we have been given will be fulfilled and celebrated in Jesus.

What we hope for now will be concrete then. That which we see now only in part we will see completely when Jesus returns. All limited and shallow understanding of the triune Majesty will be expanded and deepened unbelievably. We will experience God as we never have before. We are not told that much about it in Scripture and I'm not really sure how specific we can be in our speculations. It doesn't really matter to me, as I am very comfortable with the mystery. But, I do think it will be mind blowing. And joyful.

Jesus is the only member of the Trinity to take on board a human body, which he retains to this day, although it is now glorified since the resurrection. Jesus glorified body is a promise to us of the same. His perfected humanity will also be ours. Jesus's acceptance and glorification of our human flesh is a source of joy. We can have a holy and sanctified sense of joy about the human body, now and especially into the future.

Jesus said he came to bring us abundant life and I believe that has already begun once we have come to know him in this present limited state. I believe there will be a continuity here, as our abundant life now becomes even more abundant after his return. What does the abundance look like as brought by and in the presence of the one who is infinite, loving, forgiving, and holy?

Being a Christian is not always easy, and is sometimes very difficult indeed. We face opposition from within, from the world, and from the enemy of our souls. Christians

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have to make choices based on biblical values and principles, and these are not always shared by a world which does not know God. So I believe that one element of the future will be the vindication of our choice to be Christians and to live as Christians. The very difficult decisions that we have had to make and the choices that we have made to live counter culturally and not follow the ambition or materialism of a fallen world will be shown to have been correct ones. This I believe will bring joy to our hearts, not in the sense that we can say "I told you so" to a world facing judgment, but simply because we can see that God has honoured us as we have tried to honour him.

I have previously mentioned the idea of acceptance within the body of Christ, based on who we are and who we are becoming. At the end of the age when Jesus returns we will have become. The process of becoming will have ended. So when Jesus returns and lives with us I believe we will be able to experience complete and unconstrained acceptance of each other in Christ. All of the petty differences and unresolved disputes will have faded away. The forgiveness that we should have granted to each other because of the cross of history we will finally be able to grant because of the Lord of history. He will be with us completely and we will be changed utterly, such that we can embrace every personal we have ever met, regardless of the relationship that we had with them under the old order. I look forward to that with joy, realising that this future joy does bring the responsibility for me to work harder in the present.

As I think about relationships then I am also reminded of the cloud of witnesses, the saints who have gone on ahead of me. I will get to meet them, the famous and the not so famous. The great intellectual giants of the church and the humble faithful servants of Jesus throughout the ages. We will finally all be reunited, in Christ and with Christ, and I believe there will be a great deal to talk about. We will rejoice.

Finally I believe that as we are together with Christ in the fully consummated kingdom then we will experience true shalom, that fullness and completeness that is what God originally planned for us. We will experience a return to Eden, but it will be better than Eden ever was. In the physical sense we will be part of and enjoy a new creation. We do not know much about what God will do to the heavens and the earth but he will restore it and the groaning of the creation will be brought to an end. He will deal

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with the consequences of human misuse and abuse of this planet and all that God has put in it. He will put things right. At the personal level, we will be in the middle of true peace and rest, where all struggle and difficulty have ceased to exist. We will experience true satisfaction of body, soul, and spirit (threefold distinction used purely for the sake of convenience!) as the whole of our being is oriented to the Godhead through the Son. And it doesn't get more joyful than that!

There is more that I could say and I am sure there is a lot more than has yet to occur to me. However, right now we are individuals who all belong to groups, and all moving from origin to destination. God is there at the beginning and there at the end, our alpha and omega. He is also our leader and companion for the journey. Joy inexpressible comes from him and is bound up in him. Truly, the Christian life is a joyful enterprise and we have strong scriptural support for viewing this life in joyful terms. There is much to commend a theology of joy!

NB. This article is literally a first draft and should be read and understood as such. I need to add more content to it and more reflection, as well as inserting appropriate Bible references here and there.

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