Better Chaplain Series - Give Truth: Give Joy

As a chaplain you’ll visit a lot of different churches. The dynamics of different churches are listed in Revelation 2-3, and constant practice trains your discernment to quickly identify what type of church you’re walking into. My favorite church to walk into is one full of joy and love. I wish every church were that way, but some are cold and dead, others are doctrinally sound but are too busy learning about how to help people that they don’t have time to help people. Then there is the energetic church that is trying to manufacture joy but are in fact producing a poor counterfeit.

Oh that every church could be filled with the joy of the Lord. Indeed, I believe the Ezra when he says, “The joy of the LORD is your strength.” (Nehemiah 8:10) I’ve yet to meet a joyful church that wasn’t walking in the strength of the Lord. Conversely, I’ve seen many weak churches that are devoid of joy.

I often say, “If I could shake you and make you believe the truth and make you obey the gospel, you’d better believe you’d be getting shaken right now.” The joy of the Lord is so valuable and wonderful that if I could give it to you through any means, you’d better believe I’d go through those means. If you could give the gift of joy to the world, free without measure, without diminishing your own joy one iota, would you?

The key is found in Acts 8; in fact verses 6 and 8 revived the idea of the Study Bible when a friend of Cyrus Scofield drew a line between verse 6 and 8 to show the connection. Scofield originally objected to writing in a Bible but quickly saw the value in it.

Verse 6 says the people paid attention to the Word of God. There were other things going on too, but they were being effectively counterfeited by Simon the Magician, so it could not have been those things that caused what happened next. The people paid attention to the Word of God and what happened? Verse 8, there was much joy in that city.

Want to inject joy into a church, city, state, nation, and world? Preach the whole counsel of God with Jesus as the main point and encourage people to pay attention! Joy will come, and it’s contagious.

Key Verse: The crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip…so there was much joy in that city. ~ Acts 8:6,8

More:

1. How many classes have you taken on preaching? How many classes have you taken on listening? Would you guess that the Bible says more about preaching or listening? How can you help your church to listen better?

2. What sort of things can rob joy? Why do you think so many churches are joyless places and nobody seems to notice? Have they seen true joy? How can you show it to them?

3. What is the difference between excitement, happiness, and joy? Read Hebrews 10:34 and consider how they accepted such abuse and remained joyful. Could excitement and happiness endure such trials?

4. Further Resources:

Shearer, Canyon. Honing the Congregation to Be Attentive to Expository Preaching at First Baptist Church New Lebanon, Ohio. Louisville: The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2020. https://repository.sbts.edu/handle/10392/6133 (Read specifically Chapter 3 starting on page 38, and download the “Listening Helps”)

Ramey, Ken. Expository Listening: A Practical Handbook for Hearing and Doing God’s Word. The Woodlands, TX: Kress Biblical Resources, 2010.

Beeke, Joel R. The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2004.