“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23)
Thinking of this week’s subject, joy, I was having a tough time getting my mind around the idea. Joy, according to Webster’s Dictionary, is “intense happiness or great delight.” Happiness or delight about what? People display joy (intense happiness or great delight) over all sorts of things: a new house, a new car, a new baby. What makes joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, any different than joy in general?
As usual, God had an object lesson in mind for me.
First Posted January 18, 2008
Kehilat HaCarmel
I attended church services at Kehilat HaCarmel last Saturday. Kehilat HaCarmel, or Carmel Assembly, is a non-denominational Christian church on Mount Carmel in northern Israel, not too far from the seaside city of Haifa and not too far from the Lebanon border. Remember the Bible story about Elijah calling fire down on the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel? That’s the place.
Carmel Assembly is a Messianic Jewish congregation; that is, most of the congregation is made up of Israeli Jews who have accepted Yeshua (Jesus) as their Messiah. But the congregation is by no means exclusively of Israeli or Jewish descent. The Christians of Carmel Assembly are made up of native Jewish, Arab, and Druze Israelis and immigrants from America, Russia, Asia, and Africa. It’s a pretty international group.
Christian pilgrims from around the world often visit Carmel Assembly when they’re in Israel. My friend, John, knew the pastor from past visits and invited me and a few other friends to join him for Sabbath services. We sang hymns and worship songs in Hebrew (the words were translated into English and Russian so the non-Hebrew speakers could understand and sing along). The sermon was preached by an Arab pastor in Hebrew and translated into Russian by an interpreter on stage. I listened through headphones as an unseen interpreter fed me the pastor’s words in English.
I’m not a big fan of going to church for church’s sake. Christians gathering together in fellowship, community, and worship is a good thing; we’re told to do it in the Bible. But, going to a building every week, sitting through a bunch of music and words, and thinking that the act will somehow gain you brownie points in Heaven isn’t biblical, and frankly, it’s a waste of your time.
When the Bible talks about the church, it’s talking about you and me, those individuals who make up the body of Christ. It’s not talking about a building, or a denomination, or a tradition. It’s too easy for folks to confuse a relationship with Jesus Christ with “going to church.” The difference between the two is that one will give you eternal life, and the other one won’t.
The people (the church) that gathered at Carmel Assembly last Saturday were, to me, a wonderful example of what a church gathering ought to be. People from every nation, language, tradition, and race, united in worship of the One who made them a family and gave them a life that doesn’t end.
What I saw in their faces and heard in their voices was joy. By joy, I’m trying to convey something more transcendent than just mere happiness. Happiness speaks to the circumstances—a new house, a new car, a new baby. Joy is deeper; it speaks of something beyond our present circumstances.
The people (the church) in Carmel come from a lot of different backgrounds and life experiences. In many ways, their daily existence probably isn’t a lot different from ours. They have jobs and spouses and kids. They need groceries and electricity. They worry about the world going to pot all around them and the unique dangers we all face from the outside world in this century. They juggle families and parents and in-laws, all of these relationships in various states of grace or disrepair, just like us.
They’re a lot like us. Almost. Their faith, because of their unique location and situation, seems a little closer to the surface, a little more practical in light of their daily reality. Whether we like the idea or not, it’s a universal truth that faith is developed and matured in the presence of trouble. If life is good and everything is going your way, how much opportunity do you really have to get your faith out of the closet, dust it off, and expose it to the light of day?
Let me explain. Yousef, the pastor who gave the sermon on Saturday, is an Arab Christian. He wasn’t born into a nice Arab Christian home, and he didn’t grow up in a nice Arab Christian neighborhood. He was born and raised a Muslim. When Yousef gave his life to Christ, he was kicked out of his home. His family hasn’t spoken to him since.
Before they were married, Yousef’s pretty wife gave her life to Christ and became a part of the family of God too. Good thing because her family divorced them both on the spot and hasn’t spoken to them since. Still, they got off easy. It’s perfectly acceptable under Islamic law to have them both murdered for rejecting Islam and disgracing their families.
Undeterred, they started a small fellowship for Arab Christians. Their little church was firebombed by the neighborhood watch. Did that discourage them? Nah. In fact, they rejoiced. Their unique circumstance allowed them to experience the kind of faith described by James the brother of Jesus. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” (James 1:2).
David* and Karen, the husband and wife team who founded Carmel Assembly, began their ministry in Israel by opening a drug rehabilitation center. Worthy cause, right? The community wasn’t exactly happy about the idea. The men of the town paid the couple a visit to voice their displeasure—with guns. Did the death threats put their plans on hold? Nah. They found joy in Paul’s words as his life was threatened for preaching the good news of Christ. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (II Corinthians 4:17-18)
Church announcements were along the same lines as church announcements in this country, but the details were a little different:
“Don’t forget that next Saturday after the service, we begin our fifty-hour intercessory prayer meeting.”
“For all of those beginning the forty-day fast next week, we ask that you not fast from water.”
“Our mid-week prayer service will be held in the bomb shelter.”
Like I said, typical church announcements.
Are these people better Christians or intrinsically more holy than us here at home? I don’t think so. It’s just that their unique circumstances give them more opportunity to practice their faith in the light of tribulation that the Bible promises will come upon us in this life.
If you live your Christian life in a world where nothing ever goes wrong, where your family never threatens to murder you for your faith, where the neighbors never fire-bomb your church or threaten to kill you for ministering to drug addicts, where you never have prayer meetings in the same bomb shelter you retreat to during missile attacks, then certain aspects of your faith can seem sort of theoretical. Believe me, trials and tribulations aren’t theoretical to the people of Carmel Assembly.
So what affected me so remarkably about this group of Christians? Was it their situation or perseverance or sacrifice or exposure to imminent threat? All those things are a part of their daily reality, much more so than we, as a body, in this country have ever experienced. But that wasn’t what impressed me. It was their joy.
They celebrated plenty in their worship, singing, dancing, hugging, and greeting one another, but they weren’t necessarily more joyous than Christians here. A lot of us do that sort of thing. I’m not comparing their level of joy as Christians to ours. I’m comparing the evident source of their joy, or rather, their joy in spite of their surroundings.
Because I learned a little bit about their reality, I could see that their joy wasn’t because their daily circumstances were all that great, it was because they know what their eternal circumstance is. I’m not criticizing Christians who have been blessed by living in a society where mom and dad love Jesus, and they’re tickled you do too, where the neighbors are happy to see a new church or street ministry pop up and don’t consider fire-bombing the church building or coming to your house with guns in the night to discourage your ministry and where you don’t have a bomb shelter because you don’t have missile attacks. I don’t wish any of that on us or on them. I’m profoundly thankful that my reality isn’t their reality, but I take it as a gift, as a blessing I don’t deserve, and as a responsibility to use what I’ve been blessed with in His service.
What I was able to see in them was a spirit of joy that I knew didn’t come from an easy situation or abundant possessions in this world. It came from their hope in the next. Joy, as displayed by the folks of Carmel Assembly, is a fruit of the Spirit. It’s a result of God living inside of us. It’s something the world has no ability to give to us and no power to take away. Joy is immune to hardship, trouble, and tribulation. It’s a gift from the next world that we’re allowed to hold onto today.
Peter, who was a guy who knew something about church and something about tribulation, also knew something about joy. He explained the relationship.
All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. 4 And God has reserved for his children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And God, in his mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. 6 So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though the going is rough for a while down here.
7 These trials are only to test your faith, to see whether or not it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests gold and purifies it—and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold; so if your faith remains strong after being tried in the test tube of fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day of his return.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him; though not seeing him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself. 9 And your further reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.
(I Peter 1:3-9 TLB)
In yours prayers, remember our brothers and sisters in Carmel and around the world who share our joy in spite of their circumstances. I wish you joy in Christ.
Steve Spillman
*(editor’s note) “In May 2017, after a long period of illness, David went to be with the Lord whom he loved and served with all his heart.” https://carmelcongregation.org.il/leaders/david-davis-1938-2017