5-13-13. Luke 10:17-24.  REAL JOY – my devotional

Luke 10:17-24                                                                                               Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 10:21                                                                                          5-13-13

““In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” (ESV)

     Dear Jesus Christ….thank you for coming into this world 2,000 years ago to reveal the Father’s love to us. Thank you for dying on the cross so that we can be forgiven and have a personal relationship and a friendship with you. Lord, I pray that you bless the International Summer Bible Conference. I pray that you open our eyes to see your wonderful work going on all around the world. Inspire my whole family to participate in world mission in very creative ways. Lord, please open my heart to your words today. I pray in Jesus’ holy and powerful and awesome name. Amen!

Part 1: Disciples’ joy (17-20)

The disciples of Jesus were very, very, very happy and joyful and excited to be part of Jesus’ world mission work. Look at their joy in verses 17, “The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” The 72 returned with joy, for they had experienced God’s power working in and through themselves. Even demons were subject to them! This is every pastor’s dream. To have members of their discipleship team all excited about the work of God and going forth to do it.

How could they not be excited? There was so much exciting work of God going on. The Gospel work was not on the defensive. It was on the offensive. It was tearing down Satan’s strongholds. Captives were being set free. Demons became subject to the disciples who were stepping out in faith. In short, the Kingdom of God was advancing.

I remember, after I met Jesus personally in 1986. I was 22 years old. The work of God was “going on” among the UBF missionaries and a handful of students. Peoples’ lives were being changed. I was one of them. There were so many decisions of faith among the people. It was really exciting for me. It was like discovering a whole new world and a new kingdom. I was rejoicing night and day as I served the Lord as a shepherd for campus students.

Lately I have been joyful about doing the work of God. I could share the vision about sending missionaries to NW Ontario in Texas, at KBC and at the Ekkballo Conference at NIU. I could go on a prayer journey to Sioux Lookout Ontario to find some connections for mission. I am excited as I engage in a life long trajectory of education to become culturally sensitive for Native ministry. This is very exciting. Doors are being open for mission. This excites my spirit. It fills my heart with joy. Isn’t that supposed to one of the fruits of serving Jesus? Our family key verse is John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (ESV). Life and life abundant! This is found in Jesus Christ. I realize that there needs to be more joy among us. We rarely become joyfully excited about things. We get things done. But we must grow in deeper joy and excitement about the work of God. Part of this comes when we apply ourselves to live as disciples of Jesus serving God’s world mission command as his disciples.

    Even though experiencing the work of God first hand is very exciting, this is not the fundamental reason for our joy. Jesus tells them what is the real reason for their joy is, the reason that facilitates lasting joy. Jesus says in verses 18-20, “ And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”  Jesus told them that Satan’s defeat was a sure thing. He would continue to give his disciples power to defeat Satan’s authority. But our real joy cannot be in our successful work; God himself is our source of joy. We rejoice in our hope of sharing God’s glory.

We can get caught up in mission and loose the main point. It is our salvation. Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven like lightening. He crushed the head of Satan through his suffering death and resurrection. Satan is defeated. We are forgiven. And our names are written in heaven through faith in Jesus Christ. This is an eternal reason to be joyful.

I rejoice that my name is written in heaven. If I was not a Christian, I would, at most, have some wishful thinking that there would be some better place that I was going to. Maybe I would rejoice that, death, may be the end so that earthly sufferings may end. But I have an absolute assurance that after this life is over, I am going to have a heavenly home with Jesus forever. While I am in this world, I belong to Jesus and the Holy Spirit dwells in me. My name is written in the Book of Heaven. I have a calm assurance and peace that, no matter what happens, I have a certain future with my Lord. This is comforting to my heart. This relationship gives me hope and strength each and every day. I pray that Gospel faith may permeate the hearts of people across our land.

Part 2. Jesus’ Joy (21-24)

Jesus rejoices in the Father’s will to reveal the secrets of his kingdom to the humble. Look at verses 21-22. “In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²² All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.””

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit. He praised God for the small but alive and growing faith of his disciples. In times when people are spiritually blind because of false pride and because they are bent on seeking personal advantages instead of truth, and because they put their hope in material things instead of in God, Jesus’ disciples are very precious. Jesus thanked God for this handful of child-like disciples.

I too rejoice in the fact that God has, “hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.” The people whose hearts are filled with false pride think they know it all when in reality they do not. They may think they have all kinds of wisdom without knowing God. But they neglect the fact that they know only a sliver of wisdom of the material world and almost nothing of the wisdom of the spiritual world. Their pride keeps them from growing in knowledge. This is frustrating.

But God honors and upholds the humble. He shares the secrets of the kingdom of God with those who have the humble learning minds of little children. This is just and fair and most of all refreshing in my eyes, because it should be the humble who are blessed with the most wisdom and blessings from God, not the baseless proud.

In his book, “Whiteman’s gospel” Craig Smith says that Jesus avoided looking for he big name people to do his work. He did not depend on publicity that such people could generate. Even if Jesus gained the popularity his would not have gained the results. We need to hold onto the principle of “God using underdogs to do his greatest and most effective work.” The 72 were average and everyday people. They never sought and never had the spotlight of the world on them. They had a sense of inadequacy and a complete dependence on God’s empowering. God gave them favor upon favor, even over evil spirits. These underdogs were successful because they were not preoccupied with attaining a high status in life and ministry. They were happy to know Christ and be used by Christ.

Today God calls and uses those who have been disenfranchised and oppressed. He seeks to give his revelation to those whom the rest of the world considers second class citizens. He has always worked this way. Craig Smith feels that the Native people are recipients of God’s calling. They are exactly the kind of people that Jesus is calling and whom Jesus can work through. (Whiteman’s Gospel. Craig Smith. p. 26-27)

When God called me, at 22 years old, I was of low standing in society. I was poor. I was single. I was a grad of a 2 year chemistry program and a quality control person in a pasta factory. I was a weekend warrior who liked to party a lot and that was it. I had nothing important to say or write about. I had not influence except to influence my friends where they should go and party next. I was really a nobody. But God had mercy on this underdog. He called me to be his servant. One who could preach the gospel to the young people of my generation. Praise the Lord for raising up the underdogs of life.

This also means that the secrets of the kingdom of God are available to anyone. Look at verse 22, “²² All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Anyone, even the proud, can repent and seek the Lord and become humble like little children. This is not a closed club. God is very fair and opens the store houses of spiritual knowledge to any who come to him humbly. I must recommit myself to humbly coming to the Jesus with the humble learning heart and mind of a little child. Jesus chooses to reveal the secrets of the kingdom of God to those who humbly come to him. He does not keep the hidden secrets to himself. He wants to share the secrets with his disciples. And he has chosen to show them to billions of people, including me. Who am I that I should be able to learn of the secrets of the Kingdom of God? This is the grace of Jesus.

What a blessing it is to learn of the secrets of the kingdom of God! Look at verses 22-24. ²³ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”  The great people of faith, from thousands of years ago, longed to know about Jesus. They had prophecies and they had insights given them about the kingdom of God. They were looking forward to Jesus’ coming. We know about Jesus’ coming. We have his words in the Bible. We have his spirit dwelling in us. He is alive and with us each and every day. We are living what prophets and kings desired to see. Wow! How can we not get excited about what we have been given?! How can we live as Christians with a “Ho Hum” attitude? How can we hold back from chasing after Jesus with our whole hearts? Lord, may our young people see the privilege of knowing you and be excited by the gift of the Gospel, the treasure that mankind has been hoping for since the dawn of human civilization. Amen!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for teaching us the meaning of spiritual joy. Give me joy in the Holy Spirit.

One Word: Rejoice in God