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 A few years ago Canadian writer Mike Mason (author of The Mystery of Marriage, The Gospel According to Job, etc.) launched what he called "an experiment in joy": he made up his mind to be joyful in the Lord every day for ninety days. A moody person by nature, for him this was a radical experiment that changed his life. Throughout the ninety days he kept a journal, which eventually became a book on joy entitled Champagne for the Soul.
What follows is part of a series of ten excerpts from that book (now in a new edition by Regent College Publishing, available through Amazon.ca).
Fire from Heaven
Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed
the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar.
And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy
and fell facedown
Leviticus 9:24 The above verse is the first significant mention of joy in the Bible. The book of Leviticus can seem dull reading, but the result of all those dreary rituals and sacrifices was that the people shouted for joy and fell facedown. Why? Because suddenly they received the goal of all their faith to be with God. Fire came down from heaven and consumed their sacrifice, burning away everything that separated them from God, assuring them that their sins were forgiven and that they were holy.
Joy is a response to the Lord's presence. The people rejoiced because God responded to them, kindled their sacrifice. Has the fire of God come down and consumed your sacrifices? All your piety, your churchgoing, your repentance, your efforts to be good do these produce shouts of joy? If not, something's wrong; your sacrifice isn't complete.
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Repentance consists of two parts, and many people attempt only the first part. Repentance means to turn, but many get stuck halfway. The first part of repentance is to turn away with loathing from sin; the second part is to turn toward all the good things God offers in exchange. Indeed it's impossible to turn away from greed without turning toward generosity, to put aside lust without taking up love, or to escape bitterness without embracing celebration.
It's easier to let God's law convict than to let His gospel set free. Two great obstacles to joy are guilt and grudge: Either we feel guilty about our own sin, or we bear a grudge against someone else. In each case we fail to grasp the gospel, which teaches that both conditions are entirely unnecessary, for they can be readily healed through forgiveness either receiving it for ourselves or extending it to another. The prerequisite for forgiveness is our repentance.
 What was the purpose of the sacrificial system in the Old Testament? Did the slaughtering of animals bring satisfaction to God? No, for as David prayed, You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings (Psalm 51:16). What then did God expect from all those messy sacrifices?
He wanted His people to be happy. He wanted them to go away from these rituals feeling joyful and free, knowing that their sins had been dealt with and would not return to haunt them. Unconfessed sin blocks joy; therefore the complex details of the sacrificial system were designed to enable people to acknowledge and express sorrow for specific sins. The real goal, however, was not to make the people sorry but to make them happy. God wanted them to know the ultimate happiness of being so thoroughly cleansed from sin that they could waltz right into His throne room and be with Him forever. The blood of animals could not accomplish this goal perfectly, but the blood of Jesus has. Now without any rituals we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (Hebrews 10:19). This is better than fire from heaven.
Repentance is the key that turns all darkness into light. After all, it's how our Christian life began, how the joy of the Lord first came to us through confessing our sin and turning to God. How do you feel today about being a sinner? Does knowing the truth about yourself shame or anger you, or does it bring you a profound and happy relief? Many people grow tired of repenting because it doesn't seem to make them happy. Yet full repentance is a joyful act in itself. If we're not joyful, we haven't finished repenting. The sign that we've repented well is happiness, as God consumes our sacrifice of sorrow and exchanges it for joy.
November 8/2007
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