Joy for the Journey!

I have everything I need for joy!” Robert Reed shouts, as he addresses his audience. Robert is not some smooth-tongued speaker. His words drag like a slow-motioned replay. His hands are twisted, and his feet are useless. He can’t bathe himself. He can’t feed himself. He can’t brush his teeth, comb his hair, or clothe himself. His shirts are held together by strips of Velcro. Robert has cerebral palsy.

The disease keeps him from driving a car, riding a bike, and going for a walk. But it didn’t keep him from graduating from high school or attending a Christian university, from which he graduated with a degree in Latin. Having cerebral palsy didn’t keep him from teaching at a St. Louis college or from going overseas on five mission trips.

His disease didn’t prevent him from becoming a missionary in Portugal. He moved to Lisbon, alone! There he rented a hotel room and began studying Portuguese. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after the rush hour and a tutor who would teach him the language.

Then he stationed himself daily in a park, where he gave out brochures about Christ. Within six years he led seventy people to the Lord, one of whom became his wife.

When he speaks, other men carry him in his wheel-chair onto the platform. They lay a Bible in his lap. He takes his stiff fingers and forces open the pages. Robert could ask for sympathy or pity. Instead he holds his bent finger up in the air and shouts, “I have everything I need for joy!”

What is it about Robert Reed that causes him to have joy in his difficult journey of life? Is it something we can have? Can we have that inner happiness regardless of the hurtful happenings of our life? Paul’s letter to the Philippians answers with a resounding “yes.” It is a letter of joy in spite of the junk Paul was dealing. Sixteen times Paul uses “chara” which means joy or “chairo” which means to rejoice.

Where was Paul when he spoke these words? After serving the Lord for about 26 years, Paul finds himself in prison, under house arrest in Rome for living out the gospel mission. His eyesight was evidently so poor that he has to dictate this letter of joy to Timothy to write it down. He could have complained to God. He could have questions God’s goodness and love. But instead he writes a letter filled with joy.

God through the pen of Paul has given us every reason to join with Robert Reed and countless other believers in Jesus and have joy for this Christmas season and the rest of the journey of life. In the introduction of this letter, in the very first two verses, I believe Paul gives us the two overriding reasons why we who have had our sins forgiven and are on our way to heaven can and should have joy for every season of life.

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:1-2, ESV).

In these two verses Paul reveals that our joy comes from knowing who we are as Christians and what we have as Christians. As believers our joy comes from our new identity in Christ. We are servants of Christ which provides an eternal security and affirmation in Christ. We are also the church in Christ. We are his invited and chosen bride. Our joy is in Jesus—He gives us a new identity that has eternal purpose and security.

As believers our joy also comes from what we have in Christ—our inheritance in Christ. This eternal inheritance is summed up with the two words that were used commonly in the New Testament time to greet people. “Grace” (irené) was the Greek way of saying, “hello” and “peace” (shalom) was the Jewish way of saying “hello.” When Paul adds “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” he was adding eternal significance to these terms. As Christians, we have God’s grace lavished on us (Ephesians 1:7-8)—there is nothing we can do to get Him to love us more and nothing we can do to cause Him to love us less. His love for us is always a result of His favor upon us that is not deserved (the meaning of grace). As Christians, we have “shalom” which means more than peace. In the Hebrew mindset “shalom” was a wish for things to be the way they should be. In Jesus we have a relationship that is so secure and loving that we know that we will experience life the way it should be someday! While faith in Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life brings peace with God (the way God desires it should be), committing our anxious circumstances to him in prayer and thanksgiving brings the mind and heart-guarding peace of God in our daily lives (the way it should be!)

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7, ESV).

Walter Baxendale shares this picture of peace, “Upon the plains of Waterloo there stands a great bronze lion, made out of the melted down weapons of Britain’s captured enemies in 1815. The beast’s mouth is open with teeth snarling over the battlefield. When I saw it last, one spring noonday, a bird had built its nest right in the lion’s mouth. Twining the twigs of the nest where the little baby birds rested around the very teeth of the metal monster. From the very jaws of the bronze beast, the chirp of the swallows twittered forth in peace.” What a picture of peace! Our enemy is like a lion, but we can have peace in the grasp of his powerless mouth because of our what we have in Christ Jesus (the Lion of Judah). He is our peace!

In this season of Christmas joy, may you find true lasting joy because of who you are in Christ and what you have in Christ. Our identity in Christ is all the reason we need for joy! Our inheritance in Christ of grace and peace is the reason why we can join Robert Reed and say, “I have everything I need for joy!”

—Dr. David Ley, President