Whose Radical Joy?

In the previous devotional we read the words of Jesus recorded in John 15:11 which say,  "These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full". This week, I want to dive a bit deeper into the joy of Jesus mentioned here. As the text says, before we can know full joy, we must first experience the joy of Jesus inside of us. But what exactly is the joy of Jesus?

The Joy of the Jesus is Anointed
In Psalm 45:7 we see a prophesy being sung about the character of and the anointing of Jesus. The Scripture reads,

"you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions..."

The character of Jesus loves what is righteous and hates what is wicked. Because of this, God "anointed" Him "with the oil of gladness" that well surpassed any of his human "companions". The joy of Jesus is not only divine in nature beyond human ability, but it's also anointed by God as a result of His perfect righteousness. The joy of Jesus is not of this world. This is why we cannot experience joy in full here in this life, until we experience the anointed joy of Jesus. No other joy can compare to the joy of Jesus.

So where exactly does He receive His joy, and how can we access it as John 15:11 says we can?

The Joy of Jesus is Provided Through the Spirit
In Luke 10:21, we see Jesus rejoicing over the gracious will of God the Father. But even more than this, we see that His rejoicing is "in the Holy Spirit". God's Word took on flesh in the bodily form of Jesus. But it is God's Holy Spirit that supplies Jesus with His anointed joy. It's the Holy Spirit that works to reconcile sinners to God through saving faith in Jesus.

So in John 15:11 when Jesus hopes for His joy to be inside of us, what He is specifically hoping for, is for the Holy Spirit of God to also indwell us just as He indwells Jesus. Just one chapter before this, in John 14:23, we see John explain that when we abide in the love of God, God & Jesus & the Spirit make their home inside of that person. Paul further explains this process in Ephesians 3:16-17 as He explains that those who place their faith in Jesus receive the "power through his Spirit in [their] inner being", and as the Holy Spirit dwells in the most inner self, "Christ may dwell in [their] hearts through faith..."

Just like Jesus receives His Divine inner joy from the Holy Spirit of God, when we place our faith in the completed and eternal work of God through Jesus on the cross, we too receive the indwelling Holy Spirit of God which not only keeps us in the abiding love of God, but also gifts us with the same Divine joy given to Jesus. When this occurs, our joy becomes motivated by the same motivation as the joy of Jesus.

So what does motivate the joy of Jesus?

The Joy of Jesus is Motivated By Reconciliation
In Hebrews 12:2, we see that Jesus is described as "the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame" and as being now "seated at the right hand of the throne of God".

As we studied within John 15 throughout the month of January, nothing brings Jesus more joy than to reconcile sinners to the abiding love of His Father. In fact, "in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting" our "trespasses against" us (2 Corinthians 5:19). The ministry of reconciliation is the joy of Jesus. It's what motivated Him all the way to the cross, and what continues to motivate Him as He sits at the right hand of God and serves as our final High Priest and mediator. We read in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus "is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."

If a ministry of reconciliation motivates the joy of Jesus, and the joy of Jesus is meant to indwell inside of us through the Holy Spirit, then what kind of life should we as believers live? Well, a life that is also motivated by reconciliation. Not just our own reconciliation to God, but also the reconciliation between other sinners and God. We will pick up right here in next week's devotional!