Joy as the Barometer of Faith
Bible passage: John 2:1-11, 5:22-23
“7. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water"; so they filled them to the brim. 8. Then he told them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet." They did so, 9. and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10. and said, "Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
In the world, where there is something real, there is also something fake. The more valuable something is, the more prevalent its counterfeits become.
Joy is no exception. Joy is such an important virtue that it can be considered a hallmark of Christians. Joy serves as a measure of whether a Christian is living a proper life of faith. Those who live a dull spiritual life become anxious and fearful when difficulties arise. Such joy is not true joy. The Holy Spirit desires to give us true joy, but Satan tempts us daily with counterfeit joy. We call this counterfeit joy “worldly pleasure.” The scripture is set against the backdrop of a wedding feast, which should be the happiest and most joyous of occasions.
However, at this feast, where joy should have been overflowing, a very embarrassing situation arose. In verse 3, it says, "The wine ran out." How distressing is this statement? At this wedding feast, which faced such an awkward situation, Jesus turned water into wine so fragrant that the celebration overflowed with even greater joy. Though this may seem like a simple, accidental event on the surface, verse 11 assigns significant meaning to it: It says, "What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which He revealed His glory; and His disciples believed in Him." In this first sign, the word used is "semeion," which originates from "sema," meaning "announcement" or "foreshadowing."
The Bible tells us that the event of turning water into wine was a "semeion sema," a preview of the work Jesus would do when He comes to earth in the future. The reason Jesus changed water into wine at the wedding feast is to transform the rampant worldly pleasures of the last days into the joy that the Lord gives. Why does our era fail to experience true joy? Our society has become one obsessed with the pursuit of pleasure, including various addictions. In the Bible, wine symbolizes joy. Ecclesiastes 9:7 which says, "Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do," describes eating with joy, with wine being the representative example. Are you joyful? We must restore the joy that God gives. As Christians, we must examine whether we possess the joy that the world cannot give because the Holy Spirit dwells within us. Saying, "I am filled with the Holy Spirit, but I am not joyful," is contradictory. The fruit of the Spirit is joy, and if you say, "I am not very joyful," it means the fruit of the Spirit has rotted and fallen off.
1. The world offers pleasure, but the Lord gives joy, the essence of happiness. When the essence is restored, the circumstances are also restored. Why did Jesus perform His first miracle by turning water into wine? The people who came to the wedding to enjoy the feast symbolize the people of the world who seek pleasure. However, the wine made by people to bring them enjoyment ran out. The people who came to enjoy themselves lost their fun. 2 There will be a day when the worldly pleasures, symbolized by the wine of the world, run out, leading to despair. However, the wine Jesus made brought overflowing satisfaction and joy. Jesus performed His first miracle of turning water into wine to show people not to pursue worldly pleasures but to seek the joy given by God. The genuine joy, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, and the worldly pleasure, which is the fruit of the world, are always laid out before us. An interesting scene in Ecclesiastes shows King Solomon testing which of these two is the true joy we should seek. Ecclesiastes 2:1 says, “I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.”
But that also proved to be meaningless.” King Solomon is talking to himself: "I said to myself, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless.” Because Solomon was an absolute ruler, he could do this. He conducted two experiments. The first was to see if he could find joy by pursuing physical pleasure. Ecclesiastes 2:3 says, "I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly - my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives." So, he held grand parties, drank wine, indulged in feasting, sought pleasure, and entertained women. After trying all these, what was his conclusion? At the end of verse 1, it says, "This too was meaningless." It was not true joy. Then, he conducted a second test: "Can one find true joy through a sense of achievement in work and success in the world?" Ecclesiastes 2:4-6, 9-10 says as follows: 3 [4] I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. [5] I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. [6] I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. [9] I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. [10] I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. This encompasses the desires of most people today - wanting a bigger house, more money in the bank, expanding businesses, and being acknowledged as successful, for which they toil and labor. Can the sense of achievement from work and worldly success bring joy? What was the conclusion? Ecclesiastes 2:11 says, "Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." The phrase "afterwards" implies that the tests were conducted over many years. The Bible is a great guide of wisdom. Our forefathers have lived, tested, and tried all of it. But because we don’t know this, we continue to struggle in vain. Despite being an absolute ruler, Solomon found that pursuing bodily pleasures in search of joy was utterly meaningless, and that even expanding his house and business ventures left him empty. Many people describe today’s world as one overflowing with pleasure but lacking true joy.
This issue is addressed in a book by Jewish social psychologist Erich Fromm called "To Have or To Be." 4 The author distinguishes between joy and pleasure, stating that while they seem similar, they are entirely different. People live in pleasures devoid of joy. When it comes to joy, there are two before us: one is the genuine joy given by the Holy Spirit, and the other is the fake joy, which is worldly pleasure. Pleasure derived from social success, wealth, sexual pleasure, indulgence, winning competitions, drugs, and hallucinogenic states - all these are defined as pleasures. He argues that the pursuit of pleasure drives people toward increasingly stimulating worlds of pleasure because "a life devoid of joy drives people to seek new and more stimulating pleasures." Our generation has lost true joy today. As a result, people waste their lives chasing substitutes for joy, such as sex, gaming addiction, alcohol, pornography, drugs, and so on. This is a world intoxicated with fake joy, wasting life on substitutes for joy.
Are you living a life pursuing joy or one chasing after pleasure? When comparing the genuine joy of the Holy Spirit and the fake pleasure the world offers, we can think of it in terms of eating food. During regular hospital checkups, doctors emphasize exercise, avoiding overwork, and controlling diet. As I get older, I find myself exercising less and unable to control my eating, causing my belly to expand. So, I tried skipping my usual breakfast and replacing it with simple options like milk or fruit. But my belly continued to grow. A pastor well-versed in this area mentioned that excessive intake of sweet things could cause this. I used to enjoy sweet coffee with a lot of sugar, but since then, I have stopped drinking it. 5 The reason is that the criterion for choosing food has changed from how tasty it is to whether it is good or bad for my health. After learning that consuming a lot of sugar is harmful, I now drink only unsweetened "Americano" coffee and avoid snacks or ice cream. When choosing food, the criteria are not how delicious or bland it is, but how beneficial or harmful it is to my body.
Similarly, in our lives, instead of living by the standards of how enjoyable, pleasurable, or stimulating something is, we should consider whether it is righteous in the sight of God, beneficial to our souls, and helpful to our faith. Thus, living a good spiritual life means changing our criteria for making choices. In the past, regardless of whether our souls were ruined, we pursued only what was pleasurable, joyful, enjoyable, and comfortable for us. But now, the criteria should be whether something is beneficial or harmful to our souls. In Acts Chapter 3, in front of the temple gate, a lame man was begging. What did he want? A coin. He was asking for money to buy a meal because he was hungry. But Peter didn’t give him a coin; he gave him the name of Jesus. It didn’t solve the superficial problem but provided a fundamental solution. When the essence is restored, the circumstances are also restored. Giving a coin might solve his hunger for one meal, but in three or four hours, he would be hungry again.
In such a case, whether he received the coin or not makes no difference. He would be hungry again and have to beg again. However, when the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the essence, came upon him, the fundamental problem was solved. He walked, jumped, and praised the Lord, and his joy was restored. 6 Today, we come to church not to seek a coin but to seek the essence, the power in the name of Jesus Christ. I hope that, instead of being spiritually lame who come seeking a coin, there will be events where your souls are saved, you walk, jump, and praise God.
2. Joy is a fruit of faith that we must actively strive to achieve. At the wedding feast, those who pursued worldly pleasures to the point of drinking all the wine would have been dismayed and disappointed when the wine ran out. However, in this situation, Mary did not just sit in despair and disappointment at the loss of the wine, a symbol of worldly pleasure. Instead, she actively approached Jesus with faith, seeking to taste the true joy of the wine that Jesus would provide. Though Jesus said in verse 4, “Woman, why do you involve Me? My hour has not yet come”, Mary responded with a proactive attitude to taste true joy by saying to the servants in verse 5: “Do whatever he tells you.” The feast, which would have ended in mere pleasure after consuming the worldly wine, became a celebration of true joy with the wine made by Jesus, thanks to Mary’s proactive approach. There is a book called "Champagne for the Soul." The author, Mike Mason, introduces himself in the book as follows: "I have lived almost my entire life as a person on the borderline of anxious depression, hypersensitive and nervous." The author was born with a dark personality. Due to his gloomy and depressive nature, he even struggled with alcoholism in his late twenties. But one day, he conducted an intriguing experiment. He declared, “I will rejoice in the Lord for the next 90 days.” 7 He decided to live 90 days rejoicing in the Lord, overcoming his naturally dark and depressive temperament, difficult circumstances, and many upcoming troubles. The experiment was to see if this was really possible. He recorded his experiences of living joyfully, almost like writing a journal for 90 days, and examined whether a life of joy was achievable.
This is the basis of the book "Champagne for the Soul." In the book, the author states that after deciding to be joyful and conducting the experiment for 90 days, he found that joy actually started to flow into his life. Moreover, this joy did not leave him and continued to operate within his inner being. Amazingly, his depression was cured. The joy given by the Holy Spirit is not a joy that comes from lying around waiting for a fruit to fall from a tree; it is a joy that is obtained through striving, making efforts to overcome one’s circumstances, and working hard to overcome one’s emotions. It is a joy experienced through the work of the Holy Spirit amidst such efforts, a joy given by God. Psalm Chapter 57 was written by David when he was running away from the evil King Saul, who sought to kill him. In his urgency, he hid in a dark cave. Though he escaped into a dark cave, how anxious and chaotic must David's heart have been? In Psalm 57:6, he expresses his frustration by saying, “They spread a net for my feet - I was bowed down in distress. They dug a pit in my path - but they have fallen into it themselves.” For most people, in such a situation of frustration and despair, they might be filled with resentment and even feel like committing suicide due to depression.
However, David says, “I was bowed down in distress,” and in the very next verse, verse 7, he says, “My heart, O God, is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music.” Even though King Saul is trying to kill him and he feels like he might fall into depression, David proclaims that he will not collapse. He declares, "I will rise and praise God instead of being sorrowful." What a profound confession! There are two types of people in this world: One group says, “I am so frustrated, angry, there are too many enemies, and things are not going well,” and they live trapped in dark pits and nets, tormenting themselves every day.
The other group, like David, "pushes away the nets and climbs out of the pit." “My heart is steadfast; my heart is steadfast.” Why does he say it twice? Emotions do not change just by making a decision once. Therefore, one confesses until their heart is steadfast and steadfast again. By repeatedly confessing that his heart is steadfast so that his emotions are not bound by depression and resentment, David ultimately achieves the joy that God gives. The joy that God provides is not like lying under a persimmon tree waiting for the fruit to fall; rather, it is like climbing up the tree to pick the fruit of joy actively. When our hearts are downcast, when we are surrounded by enemies, we must not fall into despair. We must strive until we break free from those emotions and our hearts are filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. There is a Korean folk tale I remember reading as a child that left a deep impression on me. It depicts how, in times of failure and hardship, people can gain great joy through wisdom and courage. 9 The title is “The Three-Year Hill.” In the olden days, there lived an old woodcutter and his wife.
To get to the marketplace from their home, they had to cross a hill. However, there was a story that if you fell while crossing this hill, you would die within three years, which is why it was called the “Three-Year Hill.” One day, as the old man was carefully crossing the hill, a rabbit suddenly jumped out, startling him, and he fell. Eventually, he returned home and lamented to his wife, "I only have three years left to live!" and ended up bedridden. As three years were drawing to an end, their young grandson asked his grandfather why he was about to die. After hearing the whole story, the grandson said, "Then if you fall again, you will live for another three years. And if you fall again, you will live for another six years, right?" Upon hearing this, the old man got up, went to the Three-Year Hill, and fell down ten more times, supposedly living another thirty years. Thus, the “Three-Year Hill” became known as the “Longevity Hill.” Despite being destined to die after a single mistake, he did not succumb to the groundless story that was circulating. Instead, with a proactive attitude, he faced his fate and seized the joy of life. This is both interesting and admirable. In the main scripture, we also see the proactive attitude of the servants who drive away sorrow and seize joy. When Jesus told the servants to “fill the jars with water,” He didn’t specify that they should fill them to the brim, but the servants did so proactively, filling them to the brim. Verse 7 says, “Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.”
Jesus is saying, "Do not say there is no wine; fill the empty jars. Strive and work hard. Challenge yourself, and I will help with the rest. Make efforts in the physical, advance in faith, and I will handle the spiritual creation." If the servants had poured water only once and said, "We are too tired to do more," would the water have turned into wine? No. Because they filled the jars to the brim, the water turned into wine. In Joshua Chapter 6, there is a scene where the walls of Jericho fall. God commanded them to march around the city once every day and seven times on the last day. But if they said, “No, we don’t want to. It’s tiring. We will only do six rounds,” would the walls of Jericho have fallen?
No, they wouldn’t. How many times does God say, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, repent, love one another, circumcise your hearts, be faithful”? Yet, many people say, “No, I won’t do it. It’s too hard.” We need to be like the servants who filled the jars to the brim with water. If we are people who only pour water a few times and say, "I'm too tired to do more," how can we taste the great joy of the water turning into wine? In the book “Champagne for the Soul” mentioned earlier, the author makes another point. Because it is based on what he learned in the field of life for 90 days, not from theory, it offers many insights. He says, "Joy is like breathing." Imagine hiking in a place with fresh air. The air is so clean and good, full of oxygen, that you don’t want to exhale. 11 If you keep only inhaling, your chest would explode, and you would die. Just as you must exhale after inhaling, to keep inhaling more fresh air, joy works the same way.
Let me read the author’s words directly: “Joy is like breathing. Inhaling alone is not enough. You must also exhale. Simply put, rejoice. Spread your joy. Hug someone, dance, speak words of encouragement. Write letters or books. Don’t just think about happiness; live happily. Joy desires to be expressed, realized, and lived out.” Such a beautiful expression! Your joy desires to be expressed in life, realized in life, and made a lifestyle. Today, we can find the reason why we haven’t fully enjoyed joy. It’s because we only inhale and don’t exhale. If you inhale, you must also exhale. Express that joy. Share it with those around you. Rejoice, be glad, spread happiness, hug someone, dance with joy, and speak encouraging words. When these things keep intersecting, the joy within us amplifies. Now, let’s practice what we have learned. Pair up with someone next to you. Proclaim your joy to them. Show it. Let them hear it. But this isn’t how it should be. We aren’t trained or accustomed to this, so it doesn’t come naturally.
Some people, when told to express their joy, just blow "Phew~" to the person next to them. If you feel awkward because someone unfamiliar is sitting next to you, go home and freely express the joy you have inhaled to your family. Express joy, buy small gifts, laugh, be happy, and share joy with those around you. When you do this, the joy within us amplifies.
3. Restoration of Worship is the Key Path to Restoring Joy. To truly restore the genuine joy that God gives in reality, we must strive to restore worship. The essential components of worship include five elements: the Word, prayer, praise, offerings, and fellowship. Therefore, when we talk about restoring worship, it specifically means restoring the Word, restoring prayer, restoring praise, restoring offerings, and restoring fellowship. In the main scripture, Jesus' mother, Mary, and the servants represent those who have fully restored their worship, thereby receiving the overflowing blessing of joy. In verse 5, Mary embodies the spirit of worship through obedience by saying, “Do whatever He tells you.” Likewise, as stated in verse 9, which says, “and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew,” the servants recognized and believed that the transformation of water into wine was a miracle performed by Jesus' power.
In today's terms, we could describe this as worshiping in spirit and truth. In Greek, the word for joy is "kara," which shares the same root as "charis," meaning grace. Since the root words for grace and joy are the same, to "receive grace" means that the joy of the Lord has been transferred into us; it means that the Lord's joy has entered into us. 13 Through worship, we must feel and experience the Lord's joy being transferred and coming into us. A worker in a Korean church shared this testimony: During a very difficult time, he suffered from depression, but by God’s grace, he was healed and testified as follows: “After experiencing the grace of healing from depression last January, the immediate response was the restoration of worshipful awe. Until then, I thought I was diligently participating in worship.
However, after experiencing transformation and recovery in every aspect, I re- examined my attitude in all areas before God.” He shared that during worship, he prayed and worshiped with all his heart and life: He said, “God, I will worship with all my life and everything I have. Through this worship, let me deeply feel with my whole being that my healing is indeed real.” Although he was a church worker, serving in various capacities and thinking he was worshiping well, he wanted to confirm through worship that his depression was truly healed by the grace of the Holy Spirit. He staked his life on worship, worshiped with all his strength, and devotedly participated in every part of the worship without neglecting any detail. He said, “As I began to worship with this changed attitude, I felt a transformation within my spirit. From deep within my heart, peace, vitality, and joy that I had never experienced before began to arise. It felt as if peace and joy completely enveloped my body. I previously mistook being sufficiently happy for true joy. However, along with the restoration of worship, I rediscovered what true joy really is.
It feels like I have found a forgotten treasure.” This is what worship is. Some of you may come late to worship and leave before it ends, perhaps feeling satisfied, but that is not worship. Worship is immersion. It is going all in. From Saturday, focus your heart on Sunday worship. Spend Sunday morning solely focused on worship. The prayer meeting starting at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning is very helpful for wholeheartedly offering the main worship service. Experiment with this, not temporarily but until you experience true joy. Will you decide on 90 days or 9 months? Worship is what gives us life. In 1 Kings Chapter 3, King Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings, and that night God appeared in a dream and asked, “What shall I give you?” God not only blessed Solomon with wisdom but also with riches and honor that he had not asked for. The burnt offerings are like today’s Sunday worship.
While one ox would suffice for a burnt offering, Solomon offered 1,000 all at once. Solomon worshiped with 1,000 times the sacrifice, with all his heart, mind, and devotion, unlike ordinary people. Let us also worship like King Solomon - not necessarily 1,000 times, but with 10 or 100 times the devotion, passion, and full concentration. Then, tonight, God may appear in a dream, asking, "What shall I give you?" and He will respond and bless you. In English, JOY means happiness. There is an acrostic that explains this. If you give me the prompts J, O, Y, I will elaborate. Please prompt me with J. 15 J stands for Jesus. Next, O. O stands for overflow. Finally, Y. Y stands for you. So, if we live with joy rather than pleasure, Jesus will cause you to overflow. David said in Psalm 23:5, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows," saying, “My cup overflows.”
Even when Saul, the absolute ruler, came after him to kill him, and even when his son, blinded by power, pointed a sword at his father’s neck, David always declared, "My cup overflows; I lack nothing," because the LORD continually poured joy into his heart. This was possible because David possessed the true joy that God gives. Conclusion: The wine of pleasure made by humans does not last to the end; it inevitably falls short and brings disappointment. One might suddenly fall ill when in good health, experiencing the misfortune of running out of wine when everything seemed to be going well. A situation could arise where one has to resign from a secure job, experiencing the misfortune of running out of wine, leading to difficulties in life. Unexpected emergencies may occur, leaving one at a loss about how to respond, experiencing a life where the wine runs out. In such times, like Mary and the servants, we must come before the Lord in worship. When we are filled with the true joy of God's wine, which the Lord provides, our lives become more valuable and beautiful as time goes on. To summarize today's message: happiness.
First, while the world offers pleasure, the Lord gives the joy that is the essence of 16 Therefore, we must seek the essence of life, find true joy, and as the essence is restored, let our surrounding circumstances also be restored.
Second, know that joy, the essence of life, is a fruit of faith that we must actively strive to achieve. Rather than living a life where the fruit dries up and falls off, may we pursue a life that, with a progressive attitude of faith, bears the abundant fruit of joy.
Third, in situations where we face disappointment due to a lack of wine, may all of you restore true joy through the restoration of worship—through the restoration of the Word, praise, prayer, offerings, and fellowship, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I bless you all. - END -
