Luke 10:17-20
Luke ten marks one of the greatest ministry events in Jesus’ time on earth. Jesus sends out seventy two disciples to duplicate what he had been doing for some time; healing the sick, preaching the gospel, ministering to those in great need.
By all accounts the missionary effort was a huge success. The seventy-two return overjoyed (v. 17), and say, “even the demons submit to us in your name.” Jesus likewise characterizes their efforts as powerfully effective when he says “I say Satan fall like lightening from heaven” (v. 18). He tells them that the power and authority they have in his name is even greater than they know (v. 19). Perhaps, in the two thousand year history of the Church, there has never been a more effective outreach for sake of the gospel.
Yet, for all its success, the ministry of the disciples was not the most important thing to Jesus. For Jesus cautions them with the words, “do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (v. 20).
It’s almost as if Jesus is throwing cold water on their enthusiasm. The disciples return to say ‘Look at all we have done, look at all the good work we have accomplished, see what power flows from your name.’ And Jesus replies, ‘the greatest news is not what you have done, but what God has done. God has given you eternal life.’
It is not to dampen enthusiasm that Jesus uses these words. He wants to mark priorities. Christian ministry, for all its virtues, is not the primary source of the Christian’s joy. Ministry should flow out of joy, not precede it. “We love, because he first loved us,” the Apostle John tells us (1 John 4:13). So we serve God because he first served us.
It is easy to get carried away with ministry. We care for a sick friend, we minister to a needy neighbor, we participate in the local food bank, we share the gospel with a doubting relative, sometimes with great success. Yet our ministry in the name of Jesus, as important as it is, is not the greatest miracle. The greatest miracle is that God would be willing and able to save sinners like ourselves. Jesus, in effect is saying, ‘do not rejoice in what you have done for God, rejoice in what God has done for you.’
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12
Where is your greatest joy; is it in your work, your efforts, your ministry, your success? Or is it in knowing the God who forgives sins and grants eternal life only through his Son? If so, rejoice today that your name is written in heaven.
