Jesus’s Pursuit of Joy

[Look] to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Does the example of Jesus contradict the principle of Christian Hedonism? Namely, that love is the way of joy and that one should choose it for that very reason, lest one be found begrudging obedience to the Almighty or chafing under the privilege of being a channel of grace or belittling the promised reward.

Hebrews 12:2 seems to say fairly clearly that Jesus did not contradict this principle.

The greatest labor of love that ever happened was possible because Jesus pursued the greatest imaginable joy, namely, the joy of being exalted to God’s right hand in the assembly of a redeemed people: “For the joy that was set before him [he] endured the cross!”

In saying this, the writer means to give Jesus as another example, along with the saints of Hebrews 11, of those who are so eager for and confident in the joy God offers that they reject the “fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25) and choose ill-treatment in order to be aligned with God’s will.

It is not unbiblical, therefore, to say that at least part of what sustained Christ in the dark hours of Gethsemane was the hope of joy beyond the cross. This does not diminish the reality and greatness of his love for us, because the joy in which he hoped was the joy of leading many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:10).

His joy is in our redemption, which redounds to God’s glory. We share the joy with Jesus and God gets the glory.

John Piper 

Have you thanked God for your problems?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

Before I was afflicted, I went astray. Now I have kept Thy word…. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn Thy statutes. Psalm 119:67, 71

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The worst thing that could happen to sinful people would be to live in a perfect environment.

Think about it: If God had left Adam in the perfect environment of the Garden of Eden, Adam wouldn’t have known he had the fatal infection of sin, and he would not have sought the remedy for sin, which he found in the shedding of blood.

If affliction causes me to learn, then I’ve got to thank God for it. You see, what are God’s priorities for me? Health? Wealth? Service? Usefulness? Not necessarily. God’s plan for me is to be like Jesus.

Problems are designed not to crush us, but to crowd us to Christ who provided the remedy for sin by shedding His blood on the cross. The problem of sin is real and terrible, but it brings with it the possibility that we can be forgiven and clothed in the righteousness of Christ.

If affliction causes you to be like Jesus, if you learn through it and are made mature through it, then you can thank God for it. The goal of God for my life is to become like Jesus Christ.

ACTION POINT:

When was the last time you thanked God for the problems in your life? Think of them as vehicles that drive you to the heart of your Lord.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Hope for the Worst of Sinners

"I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” (Exodus 33:19)

Moses needed hope that God really could have mercy on a stiff-necked people who had just committed idolatry and scorned the God who brought them out of Egypt.

To give Moses the hope and confidence he needed, God said, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.” In other words, “My choices do not depend on the degree of evil or good in man but solely upon my free, sovereign will. Therefore no one can say he is too evil to be shown grace.” That would imply God is not free, and election is not unconditional.

The doctrine of unconditional election is the great doctrine of hope for the worst of sinners. It means that when it comes to being a candidate for grace, your background has nothing to do with God’s choice. That’s good news.

If you have not been born again and brought to saving faith in Jesus Christ, do not sink into hopelessness thinking that the excessive rottenness or hardness of your past life is an insurmountable obstacle to God’s gracious work in your life. God loves to magnify the freedom of his grace by saving the worst of sinners.

Turn from your sin; call upon the Lord. Even in this daily devotion, that you are reading or hearing, he is being gracious to you, and giving you strong encouragement to come to him for mercy.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

John Piper 

You've got a problem? Congratulations!

BIBLE MEDITATION:

. . . the God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build. . .” Nehemiah 2:20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Do you have any problems today? You do? Well, I just have one word for you: “Congratulations!”

I don’t want to sound flippant, but I’m very serious. Nehemiah faced a problem with overwhelming odds: While in exile in Persia, he learned that his home city—the city of God, Jerusalem—was laid waste. All her walls were destroyed. And God was calling him to return home and rebuild the city.

You see, a problem really is an opportunity in disguise. You need to learn that God wants you to see your problems as potentialities and your adversaries as opportunities.

As men and women of faith, we need to stop seeing a difficulty in every opportunity, and start asking God to show us the opportunity in every difficulty. We serve a great God. And someone has well said that prayer is not overcoming God's reluctance, it is laying hold of his willingness. Find a promise in the Word of God and then stand upon it.

ACTION POINT:

Think of a problem you are struggling through today. Now, get on your knees. Ask God to show you the opportunity hidden away in your struggle that will bring Him glory.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Let Goods and Kindred Go

Recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (Hebrews 10:32–35)

The Christians in Hebrews 10:32–35 have earned the right to teach us about costly love.

The situation appears to be this: In the early days of their conversion, some of them were imprisoned for their faith. The others were confronted with a difficult choice: Shall we go underground and stay “safe,” or shall we visit our brothers and sisters in prison and risk our lives and property? They chose the way of love and accepted the cost.

“For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property.”

But were they losers? No. They lost property and gained joy! They joyfully accepted the loss.

In one sense, they denied themselves. It was real and costly. But in another sense, they did not. They chose the way of joy. Evidently, these Christians were motivated for prison ministry the same way the Macedonians (of 2 Corinthians 8:1–9) were motivated to relieve the poor. Their joy in God overflowed in love for others.

They looked at their own lives and said, “The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life” (see Psalm 63:3).

They looked at all their possessions and said, “We have a possession in heaven that is better and lasts longer than any of this” (see Hebrews 10:34).

Then they looked at each other and said — perhaps sang — something like Martin Luther’s great hymn:

Let goods and kindred go

This mortal life also

The body they may kill

God’s truth abideth still

His kingdom is forever

John Piper 

If someone had a flat tire, could you fix it?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

Remember the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37? He was on a journey but stopped and helped a bruised and broken man. He didn’t make excuses saying, “It’s none of my business.” It was a golden moment, and he took it.

All around us are people who are bruised and bleeding, people who need the compassion of Christ. We need to say, “This is an opportunity, and I'm going to take it right now.” We need to see their pain as a golden opportunity to serve them in the name of Jesus.

The chief enemy to kindness is busyness. We have our priorities, our jobs, our duties, our responsibilities, and we’re too busy. But if we’re too busy to be kind, we’re too busy. You can't do a kindness too soon, because you never know how soon it may be too late. As you have opportunity, let's do good.

ACTION POINT:

What’s on your schedule for today? If someone had a flat tire, could you fix it? If someone called and needed a ride to the hospital, could you take them? Clear the way for Jesus, my friend.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Ammunition Against Anxiety

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6)

One of the things we are thankful for when we let our requests be known to God is his promises. These are the ammunition in the cannon that cuts down the unbelief that produces worry. So here’s how I fight.

When I am anxious about my ministry being useless and empty, I fight unbelief with the promise of Isaiah 55:11. “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

When I am anxious about being too weak to do my work, I battle unbelief with the promise of Christ, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

When I am anxious about decisions I have to make about the future, I battle unbelief with the promise, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you” (Psalm 32:8).

When I am anxious about facing opponents, I battle unbelief with the promise, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).

When I am anxious about the welfare of those I love, I battle unbelief with the promise that if I, being evil, know how to give good things to my children, “how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11).

And I fight to maintain my spiritual equilibrium with the reminder that everyone who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for Christ’s sake, shall “receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life” (Mark 10:29–30).

When I am anxious about being sick, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all” (Psalm 34:19).

And I take the promise with trembling: “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).

John Piper