The Joy of Glory

James 1 (click here)
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

Reflection
My children can be so short-sighted. They are only able to see the immediate, not the end.

Levi still can’t ride a bike because all he can focus on is the potential pain in the present… not the joy and freedom that awaits him on the other side of a few scrapes and bruises.

All too often, I find that I am same.

Much like the incoming tide, life seems to bring in wave after wave of trials. There may be short pauses of peace in between, but you know the next wave is coming… and I find that all I am able to focus on this the potential pain in the present. I do not lift my eyes to see the joy waiting on the other side.

What joy?

James declares to Christians, who were suffering more than I ever have, that all their trials produce steadfastness… a strengthening of faith… and enduring faith that will carry them all the way home to perfection in glory where their joy will be complete!

We don’t deny the pain in the present, but we are able to see more! We see not only pain, but the coming promise… the promise that our trials won’t win… the promise that Christ is with us and will sustain us… the promise that we will know perfect joy in him forever. This promise strengthens our faith in the present! We get a foretaste of joy in the present!

So we can count it all joy! All of it! Because we know that it is all bringing us home to Jesus! There is a joy set before us… just like there was for Christ himself…

We 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)

When we face trials with joy… not a fake joy that pretends like trials aren’t trials… Jesus did not pretend that the cross would be painless, no, he despised its shame! So… when we face trials with true joy, we display the very cross of Christ to the world! We mirror our savior who endured the cross for the joy of sitting at the right hand of his Father! We endure for the joy of sitting at the feet of Jesus!

Such joy in the face of trials is unlike anything the world has seen. Such joy comes from a cruciform community, willing to sacrifice themselves for the joy set before them… the joy of Jesus.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

Hebrews 10:24-25 
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Reflection
Why do we gather?

I mean seriously… week after week… Sunday after Sunday… why do we gather together as a church?

We can study the Word of God on our own. We all have a copy and through the internet we also have access to endless study resources. Even if we want to listen to a sermon, we can hear the greatest preachers on the planet via podcasts.

We can listen to amazing worship music and sing along (at a volume level of our choosing) through any number of music streaming services. I can “get my worship on” anywhere.

I mean seriously… everything we meet together to do on a Sunday, I can do all by myself… so what is the point?

Oh Shades… there is a massive point!

When we gather, we experience a multiplicity of things that we simply cannot experience alone. We stand (or sit) amongst the people of God, lift our voices together… not just to the Lord, but over one another… encouraging one another and stirring up the faith of one another. Christ in me meets Christ in you.

When we gather, we collectively submit ourselves to the Word and to pastoral leadership… we bear witness to the world that we are a part of a body, not merely on a personal journey of spiritual enlightenment. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to all the reasons we should not forsake gathering as a community.

It is only in the community of the church that we are able to stir one another up to love and good works… that we encourage one another to press on… that we hold each other accountable… that we forgive and are forgiven… that we are actually a part of the bride of Christ!

You, as an individual, are not the bride of Christ! The church is the bride of Christ… and you are a part of his bride by being a part of the church… not just the global church, but the local church! The global church is made up of local churches.

It is in this local community, as we consistently gather, that we sacrifice ourselves for one another… considering how to stir up one another… considering how to give of myself for the sake of someone else. It is in this local community that we take on the shape of the cross and learn to be a cruciform community.

 
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

World-Changing Community
Acts 2:42-47 (click here)
On Sundays during Lent, there will not be an email devotional because a sermon will actually be preached on the passage for that day. If you would like to listen to today’s sermon, you can find it on iTunes by searching for “Shades Valley Community Church” or simply click here.