You bring me joy - Passion for the Lost

Philippians 1:3-4 - I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now

 

Man is not a lonely island. Our lives are built on relationships. Relationship with God, our family friends and strangely even with our pets and God’s creation. Without this connectivity, life will be meaningless and serves no purpose. I think that isolation is the worst form of torture. 

 

In life we have both good and “not so good” relationships. Good, healthy relationships are a source of joy, something we cherish and treasure. While there are some relationships, we don’t want to remember and every time  that person or object comes to mind, it causes pain, guilt, anger or hate. We just wish such elements never came across our way.

 

As Paul begins his mail to the church in the Philippi, he recounts the joy of the special relationship he has with this church. He thanks God for this church and “I always pray with joy”. Acts Chapter 16 tell us how this church was born during Paul’s second missionary journey. This is one of the first church that the Apostle Paul planted. With the help of the Holy Spirit, he birthed this church, like the many other churches in his ministry. So the father-child bond is very strong here and most of the members in this church were non-Jews, gentiles as they were called. But the memory of this church gave joy to the apostle. 

 

 

I think there are at a few reasons why Paul loves this church. Don’t forget there were some issues of disunity in this infant and yet Paul recalls with joy, his relationship with them. 

 

First, this church was in partnership with Paul in proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.  They had the passion for the lost, just like Paul. 

The Message Bible puts it in this way

 

Verse 5 - ”I am so pleased that you have continued on in this with us, believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present.” 

 

In spite of the many challenges this church was facing they were fulfilling the Great Commission. And the evangelism zeal did not lose its fervour. They have been doing it from the time the accepted the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour to the very present moment of Paul’s writing. There was no let-up as far as evangelism was concerned. 

 

If anyone was on fore for God and the Great Commission, it was the Apostle Paul. “Woe unto me if I preach not eh gospel”, that was Paul’s battle cry. And now to see  his  “disciples” doing exactly what he was doing was joy indeed.

 

By the grace of God, we have trained, mentored and discipled many leaders, church planters and pastors in the mission field. When I look at many fo them, they still serve the Lord with great commitment and passion, even though they had accomplished so much for the Kingdom of God.

 

One such man is Pst Diwakara in Odisha. The passion of this pastor for the Great Commission is unstoppable. Diwakara is one of our senior and very talented and hardworking pastor. He had planted a church in the forest of Odisha and reached out to a few neighbouring villages. he is considered a successful church planter. The first world would have called it a remarkable achievement and probably made him the Head of a missions department. And the next big thing to do is to become a “Special speaker" on church planting. 

But not Pst Diwakara. He has handed over his church to new leaders and together with his wife and two young kids, moved into a village in the mountains to plant a new church. Totally virgin terrain in the mountains where its extremely cold in winter. And without any additional support, just trusting the God who called HIm. 

And when I remember Pst Diwakara and his family, it gives me great joy. 

 

Question to ponder?

 

Can someone think of you and me and it gives them great joy because we had in some way influenced their lives for the service of God?