Are you a Rejoicing Teacher?⤒🔗

The word “rejoice” and its derivatives appear hun­dreds of times in Scripture. It may come as a direct com­mand; we also encounter it as a very compelling invita­tion – so compelling that it demands a response. “Rejoice in the Lord always,” Paul says to the Philippians. “I say it again, ‘Rejoice!’” (Phil. 4:4) In Psalm 66, the psalmist puts it this way: “Come and see what God has done, how awesome his works in man’s behalf! He turned the sea into dry land, they passed through the waters on foot – come, let us rejoice in him” (v. 5-6).

These examples teach us two things about rejoicing. First, we rejoice in Someone – God himself. We “rejoice in the LORD” because he is exactly who he says he is – the Sovereign, eternal, unchanging, and almighty God who is perfect in holiness, power, authority, righteousness, and justice; yet gracious, full of compassion and love. And secondly, we rejoice in his deeds – God’s acts that he has done and continues to do because the Lord, acting according to his nature, does exactly what he promised he would do as the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Re­newer of our lives. The praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, who is what he does, and who does what he is, are an unshakeable, immovable foundation for our rejoicing.

We need an unshakeable foundation for our rejoicing. Life is still so broken that ongoing rejoicing seems almost counter-intuitive. At times life can be almost unbear­ably sad and difficult. Rejoicing is not the first response that comes to mind, but our covenant-keeping God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow! Not in the circum­stances of our lives, but in him we rejoice. Our Triune God finishes and brings to completion whatever he starts, whether that be in the creation and preservation of the world we inhabit or whether that be in the re-creation of people it pleases him to transform into new creations made alive in Christ.

So, are you a rejoicing teacher?

Rejoice Always?←⤒🔗

Certainly we all can recognize reasons for rejoicing in the LORD. But always? Too often neither you, nor I, just don’t see or feel a reason to rejoice. David and other psalmists didn’t always see or feel the urge to rejoice either. Their approach to this very real problem is in­structive for us.

Psalm 77 provides a beautiful example. In the midst of his cries for help, Asaph remembers the LORD. Asaph takes himself by the scruff of the neck, so to speak, and sternly stops himself from dwelling on his own sorrows (which are by no means trivial!): “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; Yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all your works and con­sider all your mighty deeds” (v. 11-12). Even though his circumstances have not yet changed, Asaph’s rejoicing in the Lord’s deeds leads him to rejoice in God himself: “Your ways, O God, are holy, What god is so great as our God?” (v. 13).

Giving yourself a good “talking to” through the lens of God’s praiseworthy deeds is sometimes necessary in order to keep rejoicing in the LORD. Just think about it! Each one of us is guilty before the holy God. There’s not a person in this room who doesn’t deserve to die for his/ her sins. And there’s not a person in this room who can atone for him/herself. Even the best we have to offer God appears like filthy rags to him. But then! God so loved the world that he sent his one and only Son. Think about what that means: Jesus Christ bore God’s wrath and died in my place even though I have done nothing to deserve such love.

Don’t stop – keep thinking: That I can believe that this is really true is yet another of God’s great works. His Holy Spirit works faith in me by the Word. Yes, life hurts and grieves me, but I am being refined in the workshop of the Holy Spirit by the things God puts into my life. I’m a work-in-progress, but I am in good hands. Rejoice, O my soul!

A little story I once heard illustrates this process of refining. An observer of the gold-refining process was watching as impurities were skimmed off again and again from the liquidized gold. He asked the workman, “How do you know when you finally have pure gold?” The workman replied, “When I can see my image in it.” The LORD wants to see his image reflected in the lives of those he is drawing to himself with cords of love. The refining process may be difficult and painful, but rejoice that it is happening! God is at work in you, the teacher of children who belong to him.

Rejoicing has to be Learned!←⤒🔗

As already suggested above, rejoicing in the Lord doesn’t come naturally to us. It has to be learned from God himself through his Word. Psalm 119 illustrates how the Word – God’s good and perfect law instructs us. In verse 32, the psalmist gives us a beautiful picture of thankful rejoicing resulting from such instruction: “I run in the paths of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”

We enjoy countless opportunities to be instructed by God’s Word. We have the Word in our homes, in our schools. Every Sunday again we have opportunity to learn to rejoice in the God of our salvation through the public proclamation of the gospel. Rejoicing in God’s praiseworthy deeds for our salvation teaches us to rejoice as God himself rejoices in his work. Genesis 1 records that God saw that his work of creation was very good. Similarly, God rejoices over his work of salvation: “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you” (Isa 62:5b). How fitting, then, to rejoice with him in his wonderful deeds for our salvation: Be­hold, Lord, your work of salvation is so very good!

An illustration from a sermon makes this teach­ing-us-to-rejoice function of the Word clear. Leviticus 13 might seem an odd choice for learning to rejoice. It’s about the laws regarding skin diseases, bodily emissions, and contact with the dead – material we don’t often read with spell-bound attention. The test was the command that Moses was instructed to give Israel just before they set out from Mt. Sinai on the long march to Canaan (Num 5:1-4). Israel was to send every person who was unclean by reason of a skin condition, bodily emission, or contact with the dead outside the camp. Why? Israel was going to travel with God in their midst – the holy God who cannot have in his presence any uncleanness resulting from sin.

Amazingly, Israel obeyed, but imagine the scene on any given morning. A woman with her period – Out! A man whose father died during the night – Out! A child with a rash on his scalp – Out! Every man, woman, or child would at one time or other, for one reason or an­other, experience what it was like to be expelled from the presence of the LORD because he/she was unclean! Only after being declared clean by a priest were people allowed to return to the camp. Lepers, however, remained permanent shut-outs.

It sounds harsh, cruel even, to our ears, this constant cry of “OUT!” These Old Testament shut-outs, however, picture our state before God. We are all unclean and de­serve to be sent out of God’s presence.

Then comes the glory of the gospel! Our Lord Jesus Christ entered our existence and took upon himself all our uncleanness. He touched a leper! He allowed a woman with a twelve-year issue of blood to touch him! He touched a dead twelve-year-old and commanded her to rise! Our Lord Jesus Christ took all our uncleanesses upon himself and to the cross for the sake of those given to him by the Father.

Every Sunday we come into God’s presence as con­gregations. He, the holy God, meets with us, the people to whom sin still clings. But there is no cry of “Out!” Rather, we hear: “Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” Reason for rejoicing?

Can we Teach Children to Rejoice?←⤒🔗

Still thinking about the question: Are you a rejoicing teacher? It is a question of relevance when we consider our task to assist parents in telling the coming gener­ation about the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD? Psalm 78:4 is very clear about the purpose of this mandate. The students we teach today must instruct the next genera­tion, not yet born, about God’s statutes and laws. To do that, our students must learn to put their trust in God, not forget his deeds, but keep his commands lest they become a rebellious, stubborn people whose hearts are not faithful to God.

Can teachers, however, foster an attitude of delight in God, an attitude of rejoicing in his praiseworthy deeds? Can we do so by the way we design curriculum units and plan daily lessons, or by the way we teach the material? The reality is that we cannot make our students rejoice, no more than we can give them faith. The Holy Spirit does that, but he uses instruments that include teachers. And, I would argue, the most effective teacher instru­ments are those who themselves rejoice in their God and in his praiseworthy deeds.

Using the Curriculum←⤒🔗

The school curriculum gives teachers much space for telling about God’s great deeds of salvation (e.g., Bible and Church history, devotions, apologetics). There’s also much space for telling about God’s great deeds in the creation and preservation of the world (e.g., science, geography, history, math). The focus of our teaching, both in its content and its methodology, is to confront our students with the LORD.

Use the curriculum to let students see who the LORD is in all his attributes. His authority and might shine through in the rise and fall of the national powers of this world – think Lord’s Day 10. His astonishing wisdom, majesty, and glory shine through the operation of the water cycle, for example. When you speak about clouds as a water transportation marvel, tell them also that the same almighty God who commands the clouds to drop the rain in one place and to withhold it from another, is their Father in Jesus Christ. And in so doing, you give them reason to rejoice in their God.

Use the curriculum to let students also see God in his righteous holiness and perfect justice. Scripture often speaks of God’s judgments, not only upon the world, but also upon his own people. History speaks of God’s heavy hand against the rebellious peoples of this world. But in every calamity we may hear, like Habakkuk, the footsteps of our coming Lord who in wrath continues to remember his mercy. Why do our students need to see the righteous justice of their God tempered by his mercy? John Calvin puts it this way, and I paraphrase: Only when we see that the punishment of God is real, do we begin to see that God’s mercy and grace are equally real. If salvation were not real, why would God punish the wicked? In salvation, God gives us what we do not deserve! Let us rejoice in him!

Use the school curriculum to show them how in­comprehensibly merciful, compassionate, and gracious their God is in his dealings with weak and sinful people. And tell them that this same God has not dealt with us either according to what we deserve; rather, he keeps his promises because he is ever faithful!

Rejoicing in Prayer←⤒🔗

It is not only curriculum that provides us with oppor­tunities to speak about the praiseworthy deeds of God. Classroom prayers can be offered in an attitude of rejoi­cing by acknowledging and praising God for who he is and by recounting his praiseworthy deeds. We sometimes run the risk of turning our prayers into a list of requests without actual rejoicing in the God whom we may ad­dress as “our Father.”

Scripture has wonderful models for us – think of the prayers of David, Solomon, Daniel, Ezra, and Paul. And then there’s Jeremiah who had to buy a field at a time when the Babylonians carried Judah into exile. He sim­ply could not fathom why the LORD would issue such a command. Before he lays his problem before the LORD, however, Jeremiah acknowledges who God is and what makes his deeds praiseworthy. What happens as he prays in this manner is truly marvellous:

Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thou­sands but bring the punishment for the fathers’ sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you re­ward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. Jeremiah 32:17-19

In his reply to Jeremiah, the LORD teaches his prophet that by recounting God’s great deeds, Jeremiah has essential­ly answered his own question: Nothing is too hard for the LORD and that includes bringing Judah back from exile and allowing fields to be bought and sold again.

The Apostle Paul’s prayer is also instructive for us. Paul prays that the Ephesians may be strengthened in their inner being so powerfully that they may “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of God” (Eph 3:14ff). By holding on to God’s praiseworthy deeds, Paul, inspired by the Spirit, provides a powerful model for us, showing us how to pray with and for our students and each other.

Interaction Characterized by Rejoicing←⤒🔗

The task of the teacher includes our interaction with students, parents, and colleagues. Can we speak as re­joicing teachers to a disobedient or a grieving student? A discouraged colleague? Parents worried about the spiritual life of their child? Let us continually encour­age others and ourselves to consider God’s praiseworthy deeds. Guido de Brès does it so beautifully in Article 26 of the Belgic Confession:

There is no creature in heaven or on earth who loves us more than Jesus Christ ... If, therefore, we had to look for another intercessor, could we find one who loves us more than he who laid down his life for us, even when we were his enemies? If we had to look for one who has authority and power, who has more than he who ... has all authority in heaven and on earth? Moreover, who will be heard more readily than God’s own well-beloved Son?

What an encouragement to keep rejoicing!

In Closing←⤒🔗

The words of Psalm 13:5, 6 say it all: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me.” And now, teachers, go back to your classrooms as rejoicing teachers to tell the coming generation about the LORD and his praiseworthy deeds!