Apparently the Lord Jesus spoke the words about his joy and the disciples’ joy as He was walking with them towards the Garden of Gethsemane. He was, in other words, walking towards his arrest and his crucifixion. That very night He would be betrayed, arrested, condemned, and crucified. He knew that hellish terror and agony awaited Him as He spoke these words of John 15 about joy. He was to be the man of sorrows prophesied about in Isaiah 53.

If you think about that context, it’s remarkable that in our text this man of sorrows concerns Himself with the joy of his disciples at that time. He had every reason, you’d think, only to be busy with the sorrow and the sufferings that awaited Him. Yet He was thinking of the joy of his people. That proves how much He has our joy at heart!

The Lord Jesus says, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you...” What exactly is this joy He wants us to have? We first need to consider what our Lord’s joy is. Then we’ll see how we can be joyful too.

In verse 10, just before our text, Jesus said, “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” God is joy and living close to God is joy. Jesus’ joy consisted of remaining in his Father’s love, being close to his Father. And being close to his Father meant keeping his Father’s commandments. Jesus loved his Father in heaven, and that love was expressed in doing what his Father commanded, even if that meant He would have to become the man of sorrows who had to give Himself to death on the cross. Jesus’ joy was, in fact, doing his Father’s will as it had been revealed in the Word, in the law and the prophets.

Well, He wants to see that joy in his disciples too. That’s why He says in our text, “...that my joy may be in you...” What that means then is that the Lord Jesus wants his joy in being close to his Father by doing His will to be our joy too.

Obeying God’s commandments is never really a chore or a bore for those who are united with Christ who gave Himself for them. No, not at all. To obey God’s commandments brings joy. And the more you live according to God’s commands, the deeper and greater that joy becomes.

There’s only one way to experience real, deep, heartfelt joy, and that’s in the way of love for God expressed in obedience to his commands. To refuse to obey God’s commands in any area of your life means to refuse the joy Christ had, the joy He obtained for us by his cross. I’m sure you’ve experienced that, haven’t you? When we consciously rebel against God’s commandments, we lose our joy. When we refuse to do God’s will, our hearts become dark and empty.

Isn’t this why we sometimes have so little joy and so little assurance of faith? We want the joy. And a comedy movie might make you laugh, but that’s not real joy. You can’t buy real joy at a ticket booth. We often try to get joy and assurance in wrong ways, artificially. But there’s only one way to find the joy of Christ and his salvation and to come to the assurance of faith. That is by way of obedience to God’s Word. The more effort you exert to live in love according to God’s commandments, the more joy and assurance of faith you find too. And on the other hand the less concern with living a godly life, the less real joy and assurance of faith too. If you slander, if you steal, if you commit adultery, if you hate as a Christian, you give away your joy.

Christ wants joyful followers. In fact, He says in our text, He wants our joy to be complete. Our joy is still so often weak and of short duration yet. That’s because our love for Christ and our obedience to God’s will is still so imperfect.

If we seek our joy in the way Christ directs in the text, then we’ll find joy that is deep and lasting, joy that remains even when we have sorrows or disappointments to deal with in life. Remember, Jesus was on his way to Gethsemane when He spoke the words about joy. He would state there that He was sorrowful, even to death. But that sorrow didn’t take away his perfect joy. No, his joy was doing his Father’s will, even if it meant that He would be nailed to a cross.

The same with our joy when we keep God’s commandments. We might be filled with grief because of pain or loss. Yet at the same time we’ll have joy in our hearts too. Joy in the relationship with God in Christ. Joy that came with following Christ in love and obedience. Let’s strive for that real joy. Let’s make it so that others are jealous of the joy we receive when we make every effort to do God’s will. At the same time we’ll grow in the assurance that we’re on the way to the complete and eternal joy.