What’s the Difference Between Peace and Joy?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | The Ask Pastor John podcast inbox
00:00:06.880 | now gets about 60 emails every day.
00:00:08.960 | So you can imagine we are grateful for questions
00:00:11.120 | that come in that are sharp and brief and to the point,
00:00:13.500 | like this one from podcast listener, Lisa,
00:00:17.200 | who asks this, "Pastor John,
00:00:18.800 | what is the difference between peace and joy?"
00:00:23.060 | I love this question because it is so simple
00:00:28.040 | and so profound.
00:00:30.120 | It's the kind of question or the kind of thinking
00:00:34.120 | that is so neglected.
00:00:36.600 | And I mean by me, as well as others.
00:00:39.940 | We use words, don't we?
00:00:42.400 | We use words often without pausing
00:00:44.960 | to give the slightest thought
00:00:47.240 | to the precise, deep meaning that they have
00:00:51.360 | and how they relate to other similar words.
00:00:53.440 | So thank you for the question.
00:00:55.560 | I'm going to assume that what I'm trying to answer here
00:01:00.200 | is the difference between Christian peace
00:01:03.120 | and Christian joy, okay?
00:01:05.720 | The kind talked about in the Bible,
00:01:07.320 | not just any kind of peace or any kind of joy.
00:01:09.800 | So let's start with one clear difference.
00:01:14.800 | Of course, there are ambiguities and there are overlaps.
00:01:19.320 | We'll get to that, but this clear difference.
00:01:24.700 | Peace can be a subjective feeling in the heart
00:01:29.700 | or an objective state of affairs
00:01:34.440 | between two formerly hostile parties.
00:01:37.640 | Joy, on the other hand, only refers
00:01:42.240 | to a subjective feeling in the heart.
00:01:45.760 | There is no such thing as an objective joy
00:01:49.960 | outside of the experience of joy in the heart.
00:01:54.360 | So for example, Jesus talks about two armies
00:01:57.480 | coming against each other and one sends a delegation
00:02:01.320 | and asks for terms of peace.
00:02:04.840 | That is the objective state of affairs
00:02:08.680 | of our armies not killing each other.
00:02:11.640 | Those armies still may hate each other,
00:02:14.080 | but I've only got 10,000 people, he's got 20,000.
00:02:17.160 | I want peace.
00:02:18.640 | I don't want anybody killing each other here.
00:02:20.920 | So it has an objective state of affairs.
00:02:22.960 | Or Jesus saying in Luke 12, 51,
00:02:26.160 | "Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?
00:02:29.320 | No, I tell you, but rather division."
00:02:32.680 | In other words, the objective peace in a home
00:02:36.760 | may be broken up by some who believe and some who don't.
00:02:41.400 | Or most importantly are Paul's words in Ephesians 2.14,
00:02:46.400 | "For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one
00:02:52.120 | and has broken down in his flesh
00:02:53.680 | the dividing wall of hostility
00:02:56.880 | by abolishing the law of commandments
00:02:58.880 | expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself
00:03:01.520 | one new man in place of two, so making peace
00:03:06.400 | and might reconcile us both to God in one body
00:03:10.040 | through the cross, thereby killing the hostility."
00:03:14.720 | So before there's any subjective feeling of peace
00:03:18.620 | in our hearts as Christians,
00:03:21.280 | God establishes an objective peace in history
00:03:25.660 | through the work of Christ by removing the hostility
00:03:29.080 | between us and him through the blood of Jesus.
00:03:34.080 | His wrath is satisfied, our guilt is covered,
00:03:38.760 | and because of that objective peace
00:03:41.680 | that he has wrought through Christ,
00:03:44.040 | we now can be overflowing with sweet, deep, inner peace
00:03:49.040 | on the basis of it.
00:03:51.460 | But the New Testament never talks about joy that way.
00:03:55.220 | To be sure, inner, sweet, subjective feelings of joy
00:03:59.700 | are based on objective realities of God's work in Christ.
00:04:04.700 | But that work does not create an objective thing
00:04:08.580 | outside of us called joy.
00:04:11.520 | It creates peace, and that's one of the differences
00:04:15.340 | between joy and peace.
00:04:17.480 | But now, let me shift gears, 'cause my guess is
00:04:19.620 | she really wants to know what's the difference
00:04:21.860 | between the two subjective experiences of joy and peace.
00:04:25.780 | How do they relate to each other?
00:04:27.960 | So first, let's be really sure that we see from the Bible
00:04:32.180 | that both peace and joy are indeed
00:04:35.500 | inner, subjective, happy experiences.
00:04:39.900 | Romans 15, 13, "May the God of hope fill you
00:04:43.780 | "with all joy and peace in believing."
00:04:46.520 | So you're the one who's filled with peace.
00:04:48.800 | You're the one who's filled with joy.
00:04:52.040 | Or Galatians 5, 22, "But the fruit of the Spirit
00:04:56.440 | "is love, joy, peace, patience," and so on.
00:05:00.320 | So the fruit that the Spirit produces
00:05:03.080 | in the heart of the believer includes joy and peace.
00:05:07.280 | Now, what's the difference in those two
00:05:10.520 | inner, subjective experiences based on external,
00:05:15.520 | glorious redemption in Christ?
00:05:18.720 | And here's the way I would put it.
00:05:20.440 | Christian peace, that subjective feeling of peace
00:05:25.440 | rooted in the objective peace of God through Christ,
00:05:30.720 | that peace is a good feeling in the heart,
00:05:34.720 | not just the body, when the heart is not tormented
00:05:39.560 | by anxiety and fear and conflict.
00:05:43.040 | So here's the key passage.
00:05:44.860 | Philippians 4, verse six, "Do not be anxious about anything,
00:05:51.040 | "but by prayer and supplication,
00:05:54.180 | "let your requests be made known to God,
00:05:56.140 | "and the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds."
00:06:01.160 | So peace happens when anxieties are removed.
00:06:06.160 | Peace is the condition of the heart
00:06:09.320 | when anxiety and fear and conflict
00:06:12.240 | are not troubling the heart.
00:06:14.520 | And of course, this feeling is a good one.
00:06:18.720 | One could say a joyful one.
00:06:21.880 | So here's the ambiguity, right?
00:06:23.840 | Here's the interlocking, here's the interplay.
00:06:26.660 | I was talking about at the beginning
00:06:28.760 | when I said there is some ambiguity in the way they relate.
00:06:32.160 | Joy, however, is a much larger word
00:06:36.760 | because the good feeling of joy that comes into the heart
00:06:41.760 | doesn't just come from the absence of worry or conflict.
00:06:46.800 | It comes from other things too, like 3 John 4,
00:06:49.660 | "I have no greater joy than to hear
00:06:52.180 | "that my children are walking in the truth."
00:06:55.160 | Or James 1, 2, "Count it all joy
00:06:58.240 | "when you meet various trials."
00:07:00.300 | Or Romans 5, 2, "We rejoice in the hope
00:07:03.660 | "of the glory of God."
00:07:05.600 | So joy is a good feeling in the heart
00:07:09.280 | that's based on a much wider range
00:07:12.520 | of good things than peace is.
00:07:14.680 | But they are so interwoven
00:07:18.280 | that there could be no true heart experience
00:07:22.000 | of Christian joy without the heart experience
00:07:24.240 | of Christian peace.
00:07:25.440 | And there could be no true heart experience
00:07:28.880 | of Christian peace without that being
00:07:33.440 | a heart experience of Christian joy.
00:07:36.520 | So they're, best I can do is to say
00:07:38.840 | they're like interlocking circles
00:07:42.040 | and the joy circle is much bigger
00:07:47.040 | than the peace circle, but never disconnected.
00:07:52.440 | So I say with Paul,
00:07:54.700 | may the God of hope fill you
00:07:59.760 | with all joy and peace in believing.
00:08:04.440 | - Wonderful, outstanding survey.
00:08:05.960 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:08:07.480 | Well, the weekend is upon us now.
00:08:09.320 | A good time to formulate that sharp
00:08:11.280 | and concise question that you've been wanting
00:08:12.960 | to send in to Pastor John.
00:08:14.680 | And it's a good time to catch up on past episodes,
00:08:16.760 | all of which you can do through our free mobile apps
00:08:18.940 | and through our web home at DesiringGod.org/web.
00:08:22.000 | Forward slash ask Pastor John.
00:08:25.200 | Pastor John returns with us again on Monday
00:08:27.600 | to talk about another very common Christian cliche.
00:08:31.080 | I love those episodes.
00:08:32.320 | I'm your host Tony Ranke.
00:08:33.160 | We'll see you on Monday.
00:08:34.280 | (upbeat music)
00:08:36.860 | (upbeat music)
00:08:39.440 | [BLANK_AUDIO]