David Bahn – Reflections

Acts 13:52

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

I remember seeing a cartoon posted in a car repair shop with the caption: “OK, if we refund your money, give you the correct part for free, fire the clerk who sold you the wrong part, dock the parts manager one month’s salary, would that make you happy?” It’s a silly exaggeration, but it speaks to our need for things to go our way in order for us to find happiness and joy in life. The truth is, joy is not really the product of circumstances, but of perspective. Else the disciples would most certainly not have been filled with joy as is reported in the verse above.

A reading of the fuller context of this verse (below) reveals that they had just been driven out of the city because of the collusion of three groups of people who had stirred up persecution for Paul and Barnabas. They had experienced some amount of success during these first days of their first missionary journey. But this was not a moment of celebration for the same reasons as that of the first Pentecost when 3000 were added to the church in one day.

This joy was a result of perspective: the Gentiles had believed. The ones God had chosen had repented and the word of the Lord was spreading. God was at work through them; and this was true no matter what might have just happened to Paul and Barnabas. Their comfort or perfect success was not the point, but the mission of God through them was.

It is easy to be joyful when we get a raise, or our child does well on the basketball team. It’s easy to celebrate the goodness of God when our prayers are answered just the way we want, and when the church is bursting with growth and success. It is also appropriate to be filled with joy at those times. But true joy comes not because things have gone our way, or because we can be proud of ourselves or our children. True joy comes from recognizing how God is writing his story of love, goodness, grace and redemption through us. It sees setbacks not as failures but as a call to trust God and continue on in lives of service to him.

This is all founded upon Jesus’ redemptive death and saving resurrection. It is sustained as we recall the hope we have in him. It is guarded by the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts, and the recognition that ours is a great privilege to be a part of God’s mission to seek and save the lost – which included us. That gives me joy. Where might you embrace such joy today?

Acts 13:44-52

The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.