Pandemic Perspective – Part 105 Discovering Joy – Part 1

Luke 10:1-21

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. 5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house. 8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. 13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades. 16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.” 17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” 18 He replied, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” 21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

Do you want joy?  At first this may seem like a ridiculous question, of course you do, and you are not alone. As you look around the journey for joy is self-evident in our society, it’s what our world is seeking. The problem is that the world wants satisfying joy separate from Jesus. We are believing the lie that joy is linked to our search not the Savior. You see we don’t know how to find real joy and we don’t know how to keep it because we don’t understand where it comes from. In Luke 10 we are reminded that joy is found on our journey with Jesus because joy is joined to Jesus. Its not enough just to want joy you have to want to journey with Jesus. As long as we keep looking for joy separate from Jesus we will only find the junk. As Jesus sends His disciples out on the journey we get to see where we discover joy and where we discover the dead ends. There are a lot of wrong places to look for joy, places that just don’t produce. Today many are stumbling blindly down back alleys, rummaging through the rubbish for a remnant of joy. The sad truth is that we have settled for the trash instead of searching for the treasure. Luke tells us that one day Jesus starting getting His students ready to do something special. They were supposed to go out, in twos, into the nearby towns and cities, and announce the good news of the kingdom. They were in essence told to go out and announce joy, but Jesus knew that just announcing good news doesn’t necessarily produce good news. This often overlooked truth flies in the face of our modern forward thinking society. We want to believe that we can just name it and claim it. It’s like Bobby McFerrin’s catchy but silly song “Don’t worry, be happy” it all the way to number one on the billboard hot 100, because we like the idea that if you proclaim it you can claim it. This is the belief that we can create joy through words and wishful thinking. But Jesus reminds us that just proclaiming joy doesn’t always produce joy. Next we have the dead end street of stuff. Our society tells us there is lasting satisfaction in stuff, but Jesus told His disciples not to lean on the luxuries. They did not take all the usual stuff that society tells us we need to be happy. There was no money, or motel reservations, no extra clothes or special comforts. Instead Jesus said “See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves” This was not going to be a journey of easy in fact the exact opposite was true, instead of personal pleasure there would be pain. Joy doesn’t come from the junk we take with us on the journey, in fact the search for satisfaction in stuff will actually saturate you in sorrow. Today we have a culture built on comfort yet constantly crying. We have more money but are more miserable, more stuff but somehow still sad. Jesus says that we don’t get joy out of creature comforts or status symbols, its society that wants to sell you on the stuff. Today we have bought into the lie that life in the lazy boy is blessed, but stuff will never satisfy. When it comes to joy are you listening to the lies of society or living your life listening to the Savior?

Pandemic Perspective – Part 104 The cost of courage

Acts 4:29-31

29 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31 After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.

One of the boldest prayers in the Bible occurs in the fourth chapter of the book of Acts. Peter and John had been arrested after the dramatic healing of a lame beggar at the Gate Beautiful. This man had been lame from birth, for more than forty years he had begged and was known by those who frequented the Temple. His complete healing had caused a big stir and a large crowd gathered so Peter and John began to preach about Jesus. If the healing caused a ripple then the preaching caused waves, they were arrested and given a complimentary overnight stay in jail. The next morning they were questioned by the Jewish elders and high priests, the very men who had arranged for the crucifixion of Jesus, Peters response: 

“Let me clearly state to all of you and to all the people of Israel that he was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead.” …. There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:10, 12)

Again he boldly preaches the truth and even though they were amazed at the boldness of Peter and John they were not really moved. They said among themselves; “What shall we do with these men? When they should have been saying “what shall we do with the truth of Jesus?” They couldn’t deny that a true miracle had taken place yet they had no problem denying the one who made the miracle possible, Jesus. So they commanded Peter and John not to speak or teach anymore in the name of Jesus and, threatening them, they released them because they were afraid of the people. They were more concerned with what people thought than what God did, it is a sad day when we are more afraid of people than God. So, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them everything that had happened and the response was prayer. “When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God” Acts 4:24. They ended their prayer with this: 

29 And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. 30 Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

How different these disciples are from the ones that walked with Jesus, gone was their fear and trepidation. The fear had been replaced with fiery power and fierce boldness, what had happened? Everything changed on the morning of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit fell filling them to overflowing. Peter had preached with power then and he was still preaching, they were no longer cowering in the dark denying Christ. Now they were in the thick of things, healing the sick, preaching the gospel, adding to their numbers daily, turning their world upside down. As I look at their prayer life I marvel at what they asked for and what they didn’t. They didn’t ask for protection or for God to remove the opposition, instead they requested greater courage and more boldness to speak God’s Word. Their antidote to threats was courage and boldness. Then they asked for two more things that would get them into even more trouble. They asked for more healings to occur and signs and wonders to take place. It was the healing of the lame beggar that got them arrested and yet they pray for more healings, why, because their prayer life wasn’t about them. It wasn’t about their comfort or convenience, it was about their concern for others. They were willing to be hurt so others could be healed. God heard their prayers and His response was one that could be felt by all present. “After this prayer, the meeting place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they preached the word of God with boldness.” Acts 4:31 God’s response to their prayer was an immediate and powerful endorsement, I wonder if the shaking was His applause? After their prayer meeting they rushed out into the world and threw themselves into God’s work with phenomenal results. Huge numbers of people were saved and many people were healed. They continued to get arrested, jailed, flogged, and even killed. They were persecuted terribly but they wanted the advancement of God’s kingdom more than they wanted their own safety. What is our prayer response, does prayer move us to go?  You don’t pray for courage so you can cower! This is exciting stuff and the book of Acts goes on for 29 chapters filled with pure excitement, yet the other side of the prayer is counting the cost of courage. Satan is not going to sit idly by, there will be a fight but the early followers of Jesus thought it was worth it. Today there are still followers of Jesus throughout the world who think it is worth it, who are praying for power and paying whatever price they have to pay. Will you join the battle this year? If you have some fire in your belly and you don’t mind a good fight then pray the prayer. Pray because we need to be shaken out of our slumber and hear God’s applause, this world needs the results of prayer now more than ever.