Embedded Files
Oct 10-16, 2021
by Dr. David W. Gill
Day 1: The Foundation of Joy
Day 1: The Foundation of Joy
What brings us joy? Joy is a very personal experience. It is the bubbling up of a positive emotion from our heart, from the depths of our being. “Mirth” and even ecstasy are often aspects of joy. It is warm, positive, confident, upbeat, a true “high.” There are many possible sources of joy, from the smile of a baby to the sight of a glorious sunset to the music that reaches our soul. Joy dances, smiles, and laughs. Love often brings joy. Forgiveness, reconciliation, and fellowship bring us joy. Accomplishing something often brings us joy. A gift brings us joy.
But if we put “first things first,” we must remember our Lord’s teaching: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33 KJV). That includes joy. Remember that wherever the Bible uses the term “righteousness” it could use the term “justice”—there is only one word in Greek, dikaiosyne, which can be translated either “righteousness” or “justice.” It is about what is right—in God’s eyes, God’s opinion.
It is all good to want joy. Jesus said “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). But we want God’s joy, God’s way—not just a joy from any old source we can turn to. We must not just be joy-addicts taking it however and wherever we can find it. The only solid foundation for our joy is to “seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness/justice.”
Reflection
What might be some tempting but false sources of our joy?
What might be the consequences of looking for joy in the wrong places?
Day 2: Injustice and Grief
Day 2: Injustice and Grief
We are studying joy but maybe it will help to think of the opposite: sadness, grief, anger, and despair. Our world today is full of such sadness, grief, and anger, sometimes because of personal injustices, sometimes because of social, structural, and institutional injustices built into the ‘system” and culture. Think back to the anguished cry of the Israelites in bondage in Egypt. “Let my people go” was the cry of Moses for God’s people. Think of the cry of the prophets like Amos and Micah looking on the suffering of the people because of cruelty and injustice they suffered at the hands of the powerful.
The world is “out of joint.” Our lives and relationships can be “out of joint.” Pain follows. Joy is quenched. We march, we protest, we pray, we agonize over the pain and suffering we see near and far. Yes, God can bring joy even into suffering—but that is no excuse to stand by silently when the cause is injustice.
Reflection
What are some of the personal injustices (unfairnesses) that kill joy and bring grief?
What are some of the major social injustices today that bring grief, sadness, and anger?
Day 3: Seeking Justice and Righteousness
Day 3: Seeking Justice and Righteousness
My favorite verse in the Bible is Romans 14:17: “The kingdom of God is . . . righteousness/justice, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Anyone who serves Christ this way is well-pleasing to God and approved by people.” Notice the order: first righteousness/justice, then peace, finally joy. That first move “righteousness/justice” orients and directs us to God. God is the source and standard of justice. Justice is really a description of God’s character and will. God knows and does only what is right, what is righteous and just.
Our God is not some personal, tribal, or national deity but the Creator of all people, everywhere and all through history. All men, women, and children are made in God’s image and have inestimable value in his eyes. It is this God-of-all who showed up in our history in Jesus Christ. What God wills, does, and teaches, who this God is, is just and righteous. To seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness commits us to understanding and doing what God wants. We pray “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Our definition of justice is “what God wills and wants.”
Justice is not just about economic or political fairness, not just about racial or gender prejudice, not just about illegality, though that is certainly part of it. It’s not just about avoiding injustice; it’s about pursuing the full agenda of justice in God’s eyes. What is God’s will for how I treat other people? For how I manage my money and property? For how I study and work? For my relationships and sexuality? For the way I communicate and make promises? For the way I treat the stranger, the migrant, and the poor as well as the rich?
Our daily goal must be to know—and then “walk”—in the ways of the Lord. Our Lord demonstrated this justice and righteousness in the Gospels. The written Word of God shows us the way. The Psalmist David put it this way: “I delight in the way of your decrees as much as in all riches . . . I find my delight in your commandments because I love them” (Psalm 119:14, 47). The prophet Jeremiah said “Your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart” (Jer. 15:16). Of course, we rejoice first because God’s righteousness is freely given to us in the gift of salvation! But then our call is to “present our members [the parts of our body] to God as instruments of righteousness” (Romans 6:13). We accept God’s gift, unwrap it, and integrate it into our lives. Living this way keeps us in unbroken communion with God and on track to find the joy of the Lord.
Reflection
What do you think would be some of the justice issues God cares about most today? Why do you pick these?
Are there any issues of God’s righteousness and justice we are prone to overlook or ignore today?
Day 4: Pursuing Peace
Day 4: Pursuing Peace
That passage in Romans 14:17 reminds us that the Christian life, the life of “serving Christ” is not just about God and me. It is about our relationships with other people. It’s about peace—shalom, harmony, flourishing in our relationships with others. We are missing out on God’s plan if we try to skip over this step and go directly from justice to joy. “The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” “If it be possible, as far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all people” (Romans 12:18). “My peace I give to you, not as the world gives,” said our Lord (John 14:17). “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
We cannot skip straight from justice to joy. We must go from justice to peace. The bumper sticker that says “No justice, no peace” or “No peace without justice” is right on biblically. Justice is about harmony with God and his standards and will. Peace is about harmony with people. If people experience injustice, peace is impossible. And joy will be partial at best, non-existent at worst. We can’t view justice as something just between God and me. It must be shared with those around us—not as a club to accuse and divide but as a program to bring people together in healthy, righteous, beloved community. Justice, love, and peace are united in our Prince of Peace and we must also keep them together in our lives.
Reflection
Where have you seen injustice lead to conflict and a lack of peace?
Even if justice is advocated, and to some extent achieved, what further needs to be done to achieve true peace in human relationships?
Day 5: The City Rejoices
Day 5: The City Rejoices
“When the righteous/just thrive, the city rejoices.” (Proverbs 11:10). This amazing text in the Proverbs teaches us that all of our justice talk and action has broader implications than just for us and our immediate relationships. Our cities, our neighborhoods, workplaces, our nations, and the broader world can experience some true joy when justice reigns. We live in a divided, angry, sad world full of suffering and grief. So often we see the powerful inflicting injustice on the weak. This is a recipe for conflict, division, and grief.
I don’t remember a lot from sitting in the weekly Bible Study at the church of my youth. But I will never forget the night our reading was in James 5:1-6 “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.” An elder in our church pointed out that the unjust gold and silver extracted from the backs of Black slaves in America’s “original sin” had degraded into the civil unrest and racism tormenting our society. Injustice has consequences.
This isn’t just about individuals being righteous and just or the converse. We never want to lose sight of individual responsibility but institutions, structures, laws, and practices can be embedded with unrighteousness and injustice and must be reformed and redeemed.
I don’t know about you but for me the counterpart, a foretaste of the Beloved Community Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke about, is something I experience when Oakland celebrates together as the Warriors or A’s win as a team representing all of us, when I have rejoiced in an ecstatic, diverse crowd at Yoshi’s Jazz Club—and most of all when I get to worship with my brothers and sisters at First Covenant Church.
Reflection
What experiences have you had where the city (or a neighborhood or organization) rejoiced in peace based on righteousness, justice, and respect?
What steps could we as individuals and a church take to help righteousness thrive in our city?
Day 6: We Rejoice
Day 6: We Rejoice
Can you remember times when you did something your mother or father wanted and you felt good—even joyful—to see how they were pleased? When you pleased your boss by finishing a project well for them? Have you experienced some kind of deep joy after you helped someone in need? When it was your efforts that reconciled some people in conflict so they could move forward in peace?
All of us are made in the image and likeness of the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. It is in our human DNA to create, sustain, and redeem. If righteousness and justice are anchored in the character and will of God and are the foundation of true joy, it will be no surprise that when we create good and beautiful things . . . when we sustain and uphold people and planet . . . when we reach out in love to redeem those in bondage, heal the sick, comfort the afflicted, liberate the captives, bring light to the darkness, reconcile the alienated, feed the hungry, house the homeless, employ the jobless, when we bring justice to those suffering injustice . . . when we live and work this way, in the righteous ways of the Lord . . . we will find true joy.
Reflection
Can you describe some times when you found joy from “walking in the ways” of the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer? Little examples, not just grand ones!
Are there ways to give our children opportunities to learn and practice the ways of the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer? How can we encourage this in our kids?
Day 7: The Pathway to—and beyond—Joy
Day 7: The Pathway to—and beyond—Joy
So the path to true joy runs from the righteousness and justice of God . . . through peace with our neighbors, brothers, and sisters . . . to personal and community joy in the Holy Spirit. But it goes beyond our joy. In the Greek language of the New Testament there is a relationship between the words chara (joy), charis (grace), charisma/charismata (gift), and eucharist (thanksgiving). They are all related in a profound way.
So out of our joy comes grace often defined as “favor” or even “unmerited favor.” It is the “grace of God that brings salvation to all” (Titus 2:11). That grace brings gifts—the gift of salvation and eternal life for sure, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit to each of us, and various gifts of abilities to each of us which we use in serving God and others. In fact “every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). Out of the joy and grace of God come every gift we experience in life. And that leads to eucharist, to a life of thanksgiving. The Lord’s Supper, communion, is often called the eucharist because in celebrating it we are giving thanks to God, remembering the gift of his life on the cross.
And that should be the pattern of our life as well. “God loves a cheerful giver” (II Corinthians 9:7). Our joy and cheer are not just a stopping place to enjoy but the fountainhead of a life of giving to God and others. No wonder that in that famous formula of Romans 14:17 we are told that people who live this way—the way of righteousness, peace, and joy—will be well-pleasing to God and approved by the people. Not just God but most people will be thankful (eucharist) that you exist.
Reflection
Have you found that when you are joyful you feel more like doing thing for others? Does your joy lead to grace and gifts?
How would you summarize this week’s lessons on justice and joy?
Co-Lab: Interview with Jen McKillips (Project Peace) and Nina Johnson (FCC)
Co-Lab: Interview with Jen McKillips (Project Peace) and Nina Johnson (FCC)
Jen: What is the Project Peace?
Nina: How have you experienced joy while serving?
Group Discussion:
How have you experienced joy in working towards alleviating the things that break your heart?
Why does giving up our lives bring us life and joy? Why are we most fulfilled when we seek the well-being of someone else?
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