Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness

But rejoices in the truth

1 Corinthians 13: 6

What does it mean to rejoice? The word in Greek is Chairõ. The word is described as if joy is a direct result of God’s grace. A joy that comes about because a kindness has been granted, a favour has been done without expectation of return, it is unmerited and unearned. God’s joy comes from the depth of your heart and can be seen physically by the way you behave.

God’s joy is the first point to help a Christian to solve his problems. If you have a problem and need a solution, try to find joy in the Lord first. Joy in the Lord will make your problem very small and when this problem is minimised you will have enough time to think about it and act accordingly.

Joy also helps in times of temptation. When you are tempted and you have the joy of the Lord you will always feel victorious and feel that God is with you. You will understand that this small problem will pass and you will be victorious.

This word Chairõ is also used to describe a lamb indicating the skipping and frisking of a lamb for joy. (Do you skip for joy because of all that God has done for you?)

What does unrighteousness mean? The Greek word Adikia is used here to describe what is not conformed to justice, that which is wrong. It is related to the Greek word adikos which means unjust. 1 John 5:17, “All unrighteousness is sin”

This word unrighteousness only exists because there is another word that is it’s opposite and this is the word truth. What is truth? Here the Greek word is Aletheia and it means the unveiled reality, the reality clearly lying before our eyes as opposed to mere appearance.

The Father is truth, John 1:14b, “and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Son is truth, John 14:6, “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

The Holy Spirit is truth, 1 John 5:7, “And it is the Spirit who bears witness because the Spirit is the truth.”

The gospel is truth, Colossians 1:5, “ because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel.”

Therefore we can rejoice in God because He is the truth!! We rejoice in God because He is truthful to us, Mathew 22:16b, “Teacher we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth.” And we must also be truthful to Him, “Mark 5:33, “But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him, and told Him the whole truth.” We must remember that God knows and sees everything and this should cause us to tremble before Him and to fear Him. We must be honest before God, if we have sinned tell the truth. We must also worship in truth, “John 4:24, “God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

We must also be truthful to one another, Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each of you with his neighbour for we are members of one another.” And especially we must tell the truth of God to everyone we see, II Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.”

So now we know what we must rejoice in. We must rejoice in the truth which is God Himself and His Word. We rejoice because of all that God has given to us, He has given to us life, hope, peace, and freedom, John 8:32, “and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” And you will rejoice like a little lamb!!

And when you love someone you will rejoice when they are in truth, which is why the angels sing with joy when one person is saved.

But we must not rejoice in unrighteousness which is everything that is not the truth which is satan himself, John 8:44b, “He [satan] was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar and the father of lies.” We will only know the truth if we have read it. We must read and meditate on the Bible so that we will never be trapped by satan’s lies.

If we love someone we will never rejoice when they are in unrighteousness, or when they have been trapped by satan’s lies. What is an example of rejoicing in someone’s unrighteousness? E.g. when the gay priest this week was given the right to become a deacon, many people rejoiced and were happy. But if we really love this man we can never be happy because he is living a lie and he is not in truth and therefore we cannot rejoice. Many people rejoiced when they allowed a casino to be built in Hamilton or when prostitution was legalised but for those who knew the truth, this was not a celebration.

When you love someone you will only be happy when they are in truth, for example they become a Christian.

We must only have a joy of God and never a joy of satan. The joy of God will help us to overcome satan’s temptations but the joy of satan will result in the wrath of God, Romans 1:18,25, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is blessed forever Amen.”

So lets do our best to speak God’s truth to all men so that we can rejoice when they give their lives to this truth. Lets remember to be truthful to God especially concerning our sin. Lets worship God in truth. Lets be joyful in every situation remembering that God is truth and He has set us free and this joy will make us victorious over satan and his lies. Lets read the Bible and meditate on it so that we will know what is truth and what is not.

By Hayley Boud