People party for various reasons and a party is hosted for sure when someone has got a promotion to a higher level in the hierarchy and when he or she succeeds great time. Students party for completing their exams, even before the results are announced :)
When we accomplish something we rejoice; when we succeed in our endeavour we rejoice; we celebrate success and popularity. Here I am going to bring in an incident from the life of Jesus and His disciples; where the disciples return in a rejoicing mood. You will find this incident narrated in Luke 10:17-20.
“Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.”” (Luke 10:17 NKJV)
Here the disciples come and tell Jesus about their great success in ministry. Jesus rewards them too for their success by giving them more power and authority,
“Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” (Luke 10:19 NKJV)
Though Jesus is happy about their success and rewards them richly, he also cautions them about over indulgence with success and teaches them the right kind of attitude and the right thing to rejoice for.
Rejoice not over authority
Though Jesus gives them the “authority” he says, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you…” (Luke 10:20 NKJV)
And saying so he brings in a very important aspect of authority – “being subjected”. When people obey our orders, when things get done immediately when we say; all this can make us feel happy. It gives a great feel of “control”. But Jesus cautions us to not rejoice over this.
The second aspect is the “possession of power”. I would call it the “power index”; where this denotes how much power one possesses. A person with a little or much power than other people might feel great about himself or herself because of the higher power that they exercise than others. Jesus admonishes us to not rejoice over the amount of power that we possess and on the higher the power-ladder that we might climb.
The third aspect of this authority is “security”. Jesus says that because of the power that He gives us “nothing shall by any means hurt you (us)” (Luke 10:19c NKJV). As we grow in our authority – spiritual and physical, we will come to a stage where we would feel completely secure and unharmed. This state can lead us to rejoice over the security that we enjoy and owe it all to our spirituality! Here again Jesus warns us to not rejoice over this.
Rejoice not over Popularity
The more we accomplish and are successful, more popular we become. Wherein people start appreciating you for your work, expertise, creativity, contribution, excellence and alike. Very subtly, but yet very meaningfully & purposefully Jesus makes His disciples understand the snare of popularity.
If you would closely look at this passage you notice two times “name(s)” being mentioned. The disciples come and say to Jesus, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” (Luke 10:17 NKJV). In the end Jesus says, “but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” (Luke 10:20b NKJV).
The best part is Jesus teaching about this by being an example. When the disciples acknowledge Jesus’ name and say that the reason for their success in His name, Jesus doesn’t care about it. If we would equate this incident to our times, it would be like advertising saying that “demons expel as __________ prays” and “fever went away as _________touched” and sorts. But Jesus not only does-not-rejoice over great things happening over His name, but teaches it to His disciples and shows them the right thing to rejoice over, “because your names are written in heaven”. Let’s not rejoice because of the fame that’s attached to our name!
The truth is when we rejoice all the time because our names are written in Heaven, we will not worry when we are not successful, when people take us for granted and neither would we feel insecure or low nor proud. We will only boast in the Lord. I love the way The Message version translates this passage and I think it’s a good way to sum this up.
“The seventy came back triumphant. “Master, even the demons danced to your tune!” Jesus said, “I know. I saw Satan fall, a bolt of lightning out of the sky. See what I’ve given you? Safe passage as you walk on snakes and scorpions, and protection from every assault of the Enemy. No one can put a hand on you. All the same, the great triumph is not in your authority over evil, but in God’s authority over you and presence with you. Not what you do for God but what God does for you—that’s the agenda for rejoicing.” (Luke 10:17-10 MSG).
Last but not the least, the one with all these attitude will not only rejoice over the fact that his or her name is written in heaven and will always be found with the spiritual-sorrow over the others whose names aren’t found in the Book of Life! Such a person will plead like Moses,
“Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.”” (Exodus 32:31,32 NKJV)
Is power a means to connect with just the "high society"? Are we to exercise absolute power? Read the post to get the answers - The Right Rejoice–Jesus’ Way!
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