For Those Who Want More Joy
I just finished Noah Joyner’s adult discipleship class in which we explored the subject of joy. Should you get a chance to take it next semester, I highly recommend it. Noah’s teaching style and research into the topic are, as always, stellar. The class led me into a deeper understanding of the need for and our capability for joy.
God promises we can have more joy. Sometimes the road to joy is long and winding, but it IS out there. And it’s worth the work to find it.
Our passage from Romans this week hints at one brand of joy God offers us. Paul is finishing up his letter with some encouragement to his friends in Rome.
I myself am convinced, my brothers and sisters, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with knowledge and competent to instruct one another. Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else’s foundation. Rather, as it is written:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard will understand.”
Romans 15: 14-21
Paul here compliments the Romans and tells them that it has been a gift from God to minister to them and to others. Whatever persecution or pain he has been through over the years, whatever interpersonal conflicts they have experienced, whatever disappointments he has felt—these pale in comparison to remembering the work he has been allowed to do. He is excited about his service to God; he glories in it. It has been grace, a job he did not deserve but a job God has gifted to him anyway.
Do you sense his joy? His contentment and confidence? Paul has done the work that God gave him to do, and it has filled him up.
Sometimes in my ministry opportunities, I do not feel joy. Reaching out of myself to help another can be exhausting. It can be frustrating. Sometimes I feel out of my league. It feels pointless. Paul must have felt that sometimes. Like when the Corinthians were backsliding. Or when he felt the forty lashes. Or when conflict arose with Barnabas and Mark. But Paul remains joyful. Confident that the work would be blessed.
Paul takes two paths to joy. The first is humility. Paul does not forget that he was once “the chief of sinners”; he is amazed that God would use him at all. When we recognize that we do not deserve the job we have been given, we discover joy in it. Joy comes from bowing before Christ in submission to whatever humble place he would put us.
The second path to joy is praising God in our work. Paul is quick to say who has really done the work–it is the Lord. If anything good has happened, Christ has accomplished it all. In 2 Corinthians, Paul says, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” Have you seen fruit from your ministry? Tell others about it! We are made to give glory to our God, and there is great joy when we do so.
What ministry opportunities do you have? What people are you serving, discipling, or leading? Are you changing diapers in the nursery? What a grace to you. Are you visiting the powerless in a nursing home? What a grace. Are you giving money again to that same person again who still can’t seem to figure out how to stick to his budget? What grace to you! And let me take a moment to remind you—prayer is a ministry. A great privilege. So if you feel like prayer is “all” you do, be assured that it is a mighty ministry work! Whether it’s raising children to follow Jesus or leading a grow group or healing the sick at Mercy Health Clinic or taking out the trash for your parents or listening to the sad story a friend tells…may we humbly remember that ministry is nothing we deserve. We are not worthy to step into these jobs.
Your role is a gift to you from a God who has planned this good work for you to do. What an amazing thing to be used by Him! He accomplishes mighty things when we bow before Him in humility and praise. This you can boast about!
So keep up the ministry, North Wake. Step up and step out. The joy will follow. He promises.
