Joy, the Fruit of the Spirit: A Joy You Cannot Manufacture

Introduction

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control." This message from Thierry, preached at Église CVV (le Chemin la Vérité et la Vie), is part of a series on joy that began a few weeks earlier. The starting text is Galatians 5:22-23, and in the middle of these two verses listing the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us, one word stands out: joy.

The preacher does not go back over every part of the fruit of the Spirit, since that has already been done. Instead, he focuses on the Spirit's work throughout our lives, from the time we are still far from God to the day Jesus breathes on us, and then returns to the joy the Spirit can and wants to produce in us.

The message closes with an invitation: you may be lacking joy today. The Holy Spirit wants to give it to you, and this kind of joy cannot be manufactured. It can only be received.

Outline of the Message

1. Who Is Affected by the Spirit's Work?

• The first question asked: when does the Holy Spirit begin to work in our lives? Jesus answers in John 16:8: "When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment."
• The Holy Spirit is therefore already at work in the world, in those who are not in Christ, in those who are separated from God, those who have not yet made that turn away from a life without God.
• Even during our life here below, even when separated from God, "he is there in small touches." He begins to speak to us and to convict us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, in our spirit, in our heart, through our actions, our thoughts, and what we live through.
• This work continues, and he is the one who leads us to that change of mindset, that change of behavior we call being born again.

2. Born of Water and of the Spirit

• Two easy texts to remember: John 3:5 and Titus 3:5. To Nicodemus, an older man well versed in the Scriptures, Jesus says: "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God."
• To enter the kingdom of God, you must be born in a natural way and also in a spiritual way. Naturally, it is the life our lungs breathe when we come out of the waters of the womb into the open air. Spiritually, it is through the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus is trying to help this older man understand, though he struggles to take it in.
• Titus 3:4-7: when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, "not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, ... through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit," whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, so that, being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
• It is the Holy Spirit who leads us along this path toward Jesus: changing our mindset, changing the way we think, opening ourselves to the reality of God's presence and God's truth, and entering a new life in Jesus.

3. If We Live by the Spirit, Let Us Also Walk by the Spirit

• A few verses later, Galatians 5:25: "If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit." When Paul mentions the law in verses 22-23, it is because he is in a debate with the Galatians, who are clinging to a return to the prescriptions of the Old Testament. He awakens them to a sound understanding of the Scriptures: living by the Spirit, led by the Spirit.
• The Holy Spirit is Lord over the lives of believers and over the whole life of the community, which is why Paul also addresses the Galatians as a church. The Spirit desires to reign, to extend his reign and his work over each of us and to lead us in every area of our lives.
• Living by the Spirit begins when we come to Jesus. Walking by the Spirit means walking in the paths he opens, in line with the directions, impulses and convictions he gives, always in agreement with the Scriptures. This is where the Spirit's work of producing his fruit in us, including joy, takes place.
• Whatever the circumstances, the Holy Spirit is there, and he puts what we are going through back into the perspective of the kingdom of God and of eternal life. Romans 15:13: "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit." The same idea is found in 1 Peter 4:14.
• Even in difficulties, he is there to sustain us and to fix our eyes again on the goal of eternal life, so that we take in the fact that God is with me.
• Ephesians 1:17-18, the passage behind the song "Open the Eyes of Our Hearts" sung during the service: that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation and enlighten the eyes of your heart, so that you may know what the hope of his calling is. A heart has no eyes, the preacher notes, but the metaphor is clear: we need our heart and mind to open to a new perspective, that of biblical truths. Only the Holy Spirit can do this in us, bringing us out of darkness and grayness into his marvelous light.

4. Jesus Breathes on His Disciples (John 20:19-23)

• Believers receive the Holy Spirit when they are brought into the people of God, redeemed, and transferred from darkness into light. The preacher then reads John 20:19-23: on the evening of resurrection Sunday, the disciples are gathered, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish authorities. Jesus comes and stands among them: "Peace be to you."
• Jesus did not open the door. He shows them his hands and his side, pierced on the cross, as if to say: "Look, it is really me." And the disciples are filled with joy when they see the Lord.
• He says again: "Peace be to you." Shalom. "It is like a blanket coming down at that moment," a word of welcome and a soothing word: it is really me, be at peace.
• Then Jesus does something surprising. "As the Father has sent me, even so I send you." After these words, he breathes on them and says: "Receive the Holy Spirit!" This is the heart of the passage: he breathes on them.
• Why? In the Old Testament, spirit means breath. Jesus makes God's breath tangible: here, I breathe, receive this breath of God within you.
• Another reading: in Genesis 2:7, it is God who breathes when he forms man from the dust of the ground, and man "became a living soul." By breathing on his disciples, Jesus says in essence: "I am God, I am the Eternal, and I breathe and I make you come alive, with a new life." And they will be commissioned to spread this life in turn.
• Jesus wants to do this in our lives. He who reigns, who is glorified, who holds authority, wants to breathe his Spirit on us, and even more than on us: into us. To breathe it into us so that we are living beings not only because we breathe, but spiritually alive, able to be led, to have the discernment that comes from the Spirit, to discern the kingdom of God, or resistance to the kingdom of God, in the circumstances where we find ourselves. See also Galatians 3:13-14, as well as John 7:38, where Jesus speaks of the Spirit who is about to be poured out.

5. Sealed, Anointed, Indwelt and Equipped by the Spirit

• Ephesians 1:13-14: after hearing the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation, you believed and were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is a pledge of our inheritance. Receiving the seal of the Spirit means that we belong to the Lord.
• The anointing of the Holy Spirit, which flows over us from the Spirit: 1 John 2:20 and 27.
• The Spirit also dwells in the heart of the Christian. A host of verses affirm it: John 14, 1 Corinthians 3 and 6, which speak of the temple, Galatians 4.
• He gives gifts for service. Jesus gives his disciples a mission and equips them: he breathes the Spirit on them and endows them with gifts and graces. This keeps us from becoming proud: if we have a gift, it is only a grace the Lord grants us. It appears again in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, Romans 12:6-8 and 1 Peter 4:10.
• "The Lord wants to do this for each one of us."

6. A Joy You Cannot Manufacture

• The Holy Spirit wants to give us this joy: the joy of belonging to him, the joy of serving him, "the joy that is like a melody playing in our lives."
• Whatever circumstances we go through, joy is sealed, set like a jewel in our lives, because the Spirit is there and keeps breathing on it and reviving it.
• "Are you lacking joy today?" The preacher is not necessarily talking about hilarity, even if that can happen. In difficult circumstances, it is the joy of belonging to him, "perhaps the last slender thread, but it is there." Jesus plays on this tender chord: I am here. And that revives the joy in you.
• If you are in sorrow, in sickness, in a job search, however hard that is, joy can remain present in your life, and the Holy Spirit wants to give it to you and revive it: the joy of belonging to the Lord, the joy of walking with him.
• For this, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit and pray together that it becomes a reality, not just texts we read, not a parable. What happened 2,000 years ago at Pentecost can happen again today for you in particular: to be anointed, bathed, filled with the Holy Spirit, and so to welcome "his joy that cannot be manufactured, that can only be received."
• The message ends with a prayer to the good shepherd who cares for his sheep, for those who are searching as well as for those who already belong to him and need to be renewed: "Breathe on us, breathe among us," may your joy be set in us and remain, whatever the times, the moments, the places.

Key Takeaways

• The Holy Spirit is at work even before conversion: he convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, in small touches, and he leads to the new birth.
• Being born again means being born of water and of the Spirit: salvation received through God's mercy, not through our works (Titus 3:5).
• Living by the Spirit begins when we come to Jesus; walking by the Spirit means following his impulses and convictions, always in agreement with the Scriptures.
• Jesus breathes on his disciples as God breathed into man in Genesis 2:7: he gives a new, spiritual life, and he equips with gifts for service.
• The joy that is the fruit of the Spirit does not depend on circumstances. It is set in your life like a jewel, and the Spirit keeps reviving it. It is not manufactured, it is received.

Personal Application

1. Can you recognize, in your own journey, the "small touches" by which the Spirit convicted you and led you to Jesus?
2. In what area of your life is the Spirit seeking to extend his reign and lead you, and where are you still resisting?
3. When a difficulty comes, what puts your eyes back on the goal of eternal life and on the fact that God is with you?
4. What gift or grace has the Lord given you for service, and how are you living it without becoming proud?
5. If your joy today hangs on "one last slender thread," will you ask Jesus to breathe on you and revive it?

Verses Cited

• Galatians 5:22-23
• John 16:8
• John 3:5
• Titus 3:4-7
• Galatians 5:25
• Romans 15:13
• 1 Peter 4:14
• Ephesians 1:17-18
• John 20:19-23
• Genesis 2:7
• Galatians 3:13-14
• John 7:38
• Ephesians 1:13-14
• 1 John 2:20, 27
• John 14:16-17
• 1 Corinthians 3:16
• 1 Corinthians 6:19
• Galatians 4:6
• 1 Corinthians 12
• Ephesians 4
• Romans 12:6-8
• 1 Peter 4:10

Frequently Asked Questions

What does "joy, the fruit of the Spirit" mean in Galatians 5:22?

Galatians 5:22-23 lists the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Joy is named second. It is not the result of human effort: it is the Spirit who gives it to the Christian, whatever the circumstances of their life.

Why does Jesus breathe on his disciples in John 20?

In the Old Testament, the word "spirit" also means "breath." By breathing on his disciples, Jesus makes God's breath tangible and tells them: receive the Holy Spirit. The gesture also recalls Genesis 2:7, where God breathes into man formed from the dust so that he becomes a living being. Jesus shows in this way that he is God and that he gives a new life.

Can you have joy in sickness or in a job search?

Yes, according to the preacher. It is not necessarily a matter of hilarity, but of the joy of belonging to the Lord, sometimes reduced to one last slender thread. Jesus plays on this tender chord to remind us "I am here," and that revives joy. This joy cannot be manufactured. It can only be received from the Holy Spirit.