“Qualified?”

I never write one of these messages (or preach a sermon) without feeling a palpable sense of unworthiness to do so. In fact, my first thought in choosing a subject nearly always involves the thought, “Well, I’ll just write about the Lord’s amazing faithfulness, in contrast to my own too frequent lack thereof.” “If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful” (II Peter 2:13).

I suppose if any of us ever do feel worthy to bear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ according to our own faithfulness, we will have disqualified ourselves from serious consideration to serve as the Lord’s messengers. Indeed, the Apostle Paul who declared that God “counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry” also confessed, “God called me by His grace,” and “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord” (I Timothy 1:12; Galatians 1;15; II Corinthians 4:5).

I recall many years ago hearing a preacher confidently boast, “You can’t buy me! I will not compromise!” In stark contrast, Paul, long into his service as the Lord’s apostle, acknowledged the possibility that he could be deterred from finishing his course.

“I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (I Corinthians 9:27).

As you might imagine, the boasting preacher compromised, becoming one whose own name and reputation seemed as important as the One he purported to represent. Paul, conversely, finished his course because he emphasized his Lord’s uncompromising character, nature, and way rather than the delusion that he could not fall (II Timothy 4:7).

Never are our detours from the path of righteousness inevitable or excusable. The Lord Jesus suffered and died for such unfaithfulness, smitten by both God and man. Paul’s concern about being disqualified from ministry moreover reveals that we can disqualify ourselves from representing the Lord if unbelief and disobedience are allowed to dominate our lives. Nevertheless, our Heavenly Father mercifully teaches us a necessary humility as we more and more discover the contrast between His perfect faithfulness and our far from perfect walk with Him. I know of no more qualifying realization than this remembrance that the grace that saves us is also the grace that grants us the completely undeserved privilege to “preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.”

“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory, for Thy mercy, and for Thy truth's sake.” (Psalm 115:1)

“Rejoice – Always?” Conclusion

Born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ experience an enigma of grace as we trust our Heavenly Father in times of pain, loss, and difficulty.

“As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (II Corinthians 6:10).

The world views joy and sorrow as mutually exclusive, and for those who do not know the Lord Jesus, this is true. For Christians, however, the indwelling Holy Spirit makes possible our capacity to rejoice when sorrow wracks our hearts and hot tears fall from our faces. We “count it all joy” even when we do not “feel” it all joy (James 1:2). We do so because the Word of God and the Spirit of God bear witness that our very faith began on a cross of loss, agony, forsakenness and death, all of which led to an eternal resurrection not only for the Lord Jesus, but for all who trust in His redeeming work. “For the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross” (Hebrews 12:2).

We believe in a God who works all things together for good to those who love Him (Romans 8:28). We believe that our greatest joys are directly proportional to our deepest sorrows. We believe that loss is gain, tribulation precedes triumph, and that we pass through the gate of death in order to enter into the glory of eternal life. We believe that the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead, and that His newness of life impacts every moment of both time and eternity. We believe that the potential of honoring our God awaits us as much, or more, in dark valleys as on brilliants summits. We believe that He is present enough, powerful enough, purposeful enough, wise enough, and loving enough to somehow grace us with joy where it seems that only sorrow could reside.

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (Psalm 46:1-2).

I do not believe that God finds pleasure in the suffering of His children. In His perfect love and wisdom, however, He does find it necessary to both determine and allow hardship in our lives. This being the case, can you imagine what must happen in the heart of God when our particular earth seems to have been removed, and when the mountains of our lives have been carried into the midst of the sea, and yet… and yet with broken heart and sorrowful soul we look to Him with the confession, “Father, I trust You and I rejoice in You!” No, we can’t imagine what happens in our Lord’s infinite heart when we so believe in His perfect and loving faithfulness. It must be joy to Him to be so trusted, and it surely honors the One so worthy of our trust and of all glory. Thus, may we “count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptations,” fulfilling our high calling of God’s grace in Christ…

“Whoso offereth praise glorfieth Me.” (Psalm 50:23)

“Rejoice – Always?” Part 4

The primary effect of joy involves not ourselves, but rather our Lord.

“Rejoice evermore” (I Thessalonians 5:16). “Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God” (I Corinthians 10:31).

We rejoice first and foremost to honor and obey God. He made us to experience fulfillment, peace and joy not through self-interest, but through the otherness of love, which “seeketh not her own” (I Corinthians 13:5). So long as we seek to fill our own hearts, therefore, we shall find them woefully empty. When, through Christ, we devote ourselves to God and to others, we shall find them wonderfully full. “Give, and it shall be give unto you” (Luke 6:38). The self sacrificial determination to “count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations” makes possible this discovery of a rejoicing that graces our hearts because the blessing of our own hearts is no longer paramount in our determination (James 1:2).

The choice to rejoice in difficulty actually provides one of the great ministries available to every believer. Indeed, a thousand sermons may not influence more than the hurting Christian who exemplifies and bears witness to the truth that the Lord Jesus is as capable of revealing His joy in pain as well as in pleasure. The Apostle Paul who testified of being “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” speaks to us as much by his testimony of joy in Christ as by His teaching of how such joy is to be known (II Corinthians 6:10). Indeed, let us consider the trials of our own present circumstance, condition and situation. Could they be determined or allowed by God in order to provide opportunity for glorifying and revealing the Lord Jesus to our particular sphere of influence? The Biblical answer is obvious, and our rejoicing not only makes possible such ministry. It is such ministry.

“The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28). This same Christ now dwells in those who believe through the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus, His joy is now our joy, and His joy is the glory of His Father and the blessing of others. Fewer more challenging commands present themselves in Scripture than this calling to “count it all joy.” However, fewer promises more assure our hearts of the “great salvation” provided by the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 2:3). He is wise enough, powerful enough, present enough, and loving enough to compose songs of joy within our hearts where singing is rarely heard. Our Lord is glorified thereby, others are blessed, and this is our joy.

“Shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?… “And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.” (Psalm 137:4; Acts 16:22-25)