Church as Joy, Crown, and Reward

In Ephesians, Paul talks about the Church as his "Joy, crown, and reward." How does this affect the way you think about your work? 

When Paul uses that language there in Ephesians chapter 3 of the church being the joy and crown, showing it off to the principalities and powers— you know, I contrast it with the joy of translation. Translation was fun. It was glorious. To be able to do that, to live inside Paul's mind and Luke's mind and these other men who are the Scriptures.

But the thing, when you think of it, the thing that Paul gloried in was never the letters that he wrote. It was the church—the people that he invested in. And church planting, in comparison to Bible translation, is so much more difficult because you get your heart broken on a regular basis when you're working with people. That's why pastors have such a hard job. You're working with people—fallen people. They're fallen.

Yeah, translation—you can graph it. You can measure it. It feels real good to a North American, and you can chart your progress every day. But not church planting.

But someday, that's the joy—and the people that Paul invested in, and that we invested in among the Edes.

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