Joy Is Holy

Yesterday I had the privilege of giving the sermon at a wedding.  I expected to be called up to present the sermon but instead was provided a seat on the platform.  It was the first time I have witnessed a wedding from a perspective where the groom, bride and witnesses could be viewed at once.  Words cannot described adequately the overwhelming scene of joyful love.

As the wedding party walked down the aisle and assumed their places, there is only one way to describe the feeling of excitement in the chapel:  joy.  A simple truth dawned on me like never before:  joy is holy.  Of course it is, right?  Joy is listed among the fruit of the Holy Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23.  The joy everyone experience in that moment was made possible only by the gracious gift of God.  It was a small and sublime brush with the divine for all people present as God made two people one flesh by the covenant of marriage.

The holy joy that could be felt in that moment was possible because of God alone.  It was a joy foreign to this world that no ritual, legal contract or great conquest could compare.  The non-believer may have chalked up the happy smiles to a festive family occasion, but the reality is God was there liberally providing joy and love.  People imagine it is marriage that will bring happiness to their lives, yet God supplies joy to the married and unmarried alike out of His goodness.

Jesus said to His disciples in John 15:9-11, "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ¹⁰ If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."  The only way Jesus can give His people fullness of joy by faith in Him is because He has more joy to give than we can possibly receive.  Like when He miraculously fed the 5,000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish, there is more than enough joy to go around.  How good it is when we realise Jesus is the source of joy that is pure, holy and glorious, and having received the Holy Spirit we rejoice in the Giver.