No Greater Joy

JoyFathers, where do you find joy? In your team winning? In a raise at work? In a well-deserved vacation? In a tree stand on an autumn’s morning? I’m not here to heckle you about any of those things—I think these, and many other places, are perfectly legitimate sources of joy.But where do you find your deepest joy? To answer that question biblically I’d direct your attention to a brief letter in the New Testament: 3 John.3 John 3-4, 3 For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.Walking in the TruthIn seeking to understand John’s words in these verses, we should first ask what he means by “walking in the truth.” It’s not a complex idea, but it’s an important one. John, in his first epistle, has three running tests to help Christians evaluate whether they in fact have salvation. There’s a doctrinal test—do you believe in the right Jesus? Namely, do you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ—the promised Messiah? Do you believe he is the Son of God? Do you believe he is the only Savior who can make you right with God? Good. That’s test one.Second, do you live the right way? That is not to say you must meet some standard of perfection—remember, part of what we believe about Jesus is that he is the Savior—but if you believe in him, then your life will start to change. You will walk in the light as he is in the light. You will embrace a life of repentance and obedience. If that’s you, then you’ve also passed the moral test.Third, there is the love test. Do you love the people of God, the brotherhood of believers? If you are to love the unseen God that will necessarily include loving his visible people, his children—your brothers and sisters.I think when John says walking in the truth here, this is exactly what he means. He’s heard the report of some people in the church walking in truth (2 John 4). They are living the Christian life to the full, trusting in Jesus, repenting of their sins and pursuing obedience, and loving one another. And this reality brings John joy. In fact, he says that he has no greater joy than to know his children are walking in truth.Too Far?Now, if you’ve been in church long enough, you might think that John has gotten a little carried away with his rhetoric. Shouldn’t his greatest joy be in his personal salvation? His own walk with Christ? Shouldn’t his identity in Christ trump all his other concerns, even whether or not those whom he loves are themselves walking in the truth? Jesus + nothing = everything, right?That sounds pretty pious. It sounds like the sort of thing you’d hear in a sermon or on a Christian podcast. Your personal relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. You shouldn’t look anywhere else for your joy.Here’s the deal, though. The Bible, that is, the B.I.B.L.E, paints a more complicated picture. Hear the words of the Apostle Paul:Romans 9:2-3, I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.Here, it seems Paul is giving us the inverse of John’s statement in 3 John 4—his greatest sorrow is knowing that his kinsmen are cut off from Christ by their unbelief. They are not walking in the truth, and thus are not safe in Christ. Paul then goes so far as to wish that he himself were cut off if it would mean salvation for his kinsmen! This is a profound love, and it displays a deeply biblical principle: our love for others and concern for their wellbeing is intertwined with our own experience of joy.To be sure, the apostle Paul writes, I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him (Philippians 3:9-10). The Lord Jesus asks, rhetorically, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? (Matthew 16:26). But these are statements relativizing the value of transient and earth-bound goods. Friends, human beings are not transient or earth bound. Human beings, made in the image of God, will outlast the sun, the moon, and the stars.And those for whom you have a deep responsibility—your spouse and children—rightly hold a special place in your heart, and their well-being is rightly tied to your experience of joy. For a pastor, this tie extends to those in our spiritual charge, the members of the church. So Paul writes of the daily pressure of his anxiety for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28). The spiritual wellbeing of those in our charge is not the bedrock of our joy—Christ himself is the Rock on which we stand. When things are not well with those we love we cling to the Rock who is Christ, for he will hold us fast through those times of storm. But, again, to look to Jesus directly, we see him weeping over Jerusalem. He would have gathered the people of the land as a hen gathers her chicks, and he was heartbroken over their refusal to come (Matthew 23:37).So, let me say again: John is right to value his children walking in truth as his greatest earthly joy. This joy is not an idolization of the family (or the church family), it is a right experience of joy in Christ’s work in the life of others.Which is a long way of saying: joy in Jesus is a communal reality, not merely an individual one.The next post will consider some of the ways 3 John helps us see how to help our children walk in the truth.Stopping to Think is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. 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