404: Josh Hodge - Exhortation: What is your joy?

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   Welcome to Good Christophian Talks. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week we post a talk that we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Howdy, this week we’re listening to an exhortation given by Brother Josh Hodge at the Branford, Ontario Ecclesia on May the 3rd, 2026 entitled What is Your Joy? As you may have deduced, the title is taken from First Thessalonians where Paul delivers that beautiful discourse by asking 3 questions.

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   What is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? The impressing message of this exhortation is to get us to ask ourselves, where do we get our joy? What is it that makes us happiest? See, for Paul, his joy and his hope was being with his brothers and sisters in God’s Kingdom. And we’re all invited to reflect and wonder. Is that thought a source of joy for us? Do the things of God truly bring us happiness and satisfaction? Brother Josh said something in this exhort to keep your ears open.

3. 1:41

   For he says if we joy in the temporal things that are natural, our joy will be temporary. There will be no future joy for the things we are joying in now. It is the spiritual things that will be reflected in the future for eternity. So I hope by the end of this exhort, we’ll all have a stronger appreciation for the ecclesia that God has put us in and that we can learn to cherish our beloved brethren to the point that we can recite Paul’s words. You are our glory and joy.

4. 2:24

   So with that, here is brother Josh Hodge. What is your joy? Brothers and sisters, young people, what is your hope, what is your joy, and what is your crown of rejoicing? These words have been echoed down through time and we hope this morning to to echo them here. What is your hope? Hope. The Greek word elpis.

5. 3:00

   What is your vision? Do you have a vision of the future? Who is there, What is there? What will it be like? Brothers and sisters, our hope is real, and we can’t forget that. There’s one other occurrence of this word in First Thessalonians. Just turn to chapter 4 and verse 13 of First Thessalonians. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.

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   You see, there’s a class of people that don’t have hope. There’s a class of people that do. Just think about what that is in this context. First Thessalonians 4 we keep reading if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, Even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Do you believe that?

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   Is that part of your hope? For this We say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which are asleep. The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God.

8. 4:31

   The dead in Christ shall rise first, Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught away with them in clouds to meet the Lord and air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Do we draw comfort from those words? We’ll only find comfort in them if we believe in them. And that’s part of our hope.

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   And that’s how this chapter ends. Comfort one another with these words. What is our hope? Brothers and sisters, young people, what is our joy? What fills your mind with happiness? What do you rejoice over? What fills you up with comfort and satisfaction?

10. 5:26

    This is the common word for joy in the Greek, meaning just that, joy and gladness. We find this word occurs again in chapter 3. Just look at verse 6, when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and love, that he have good remembrance of us, always desiring greatly to see us as we also to see you.

11. 5:54

    Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you and all our affliction and distress by your faith. For now we live if he stand fast in the Lord, Now we live, if we stand fast in the Lord. What is Paul’s saying? He’s saying my life and my my breath and energy comes from the very faith and steadfastness of the brethren.

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    And he says this in verse 9. For what thanks can we render to God again for you, for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God. The joy that the apostle Paul had was founded on the Thessalonica ecclesia, on the brothers and sisters there. That’s what he’s telling them.

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    I joy in you. What is our crown of rejoicing? What is your crown of rejoicing? That word rejoicing in First Thessalonians 2 and verse 19, it’s not your common word for rejoicing. It’s often translated boasting. It’s translated as glorying, but it’s different than the word what is our? What is our joy? A number of versions actually say what is our boasting?

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    What is our glorying or crown of glorying? Crown of boasting. And so there’s something that’s a crown, a stephanos, that elevates and brings them glory. But it’s not a prideful glory. It’s a glorious reward. It’s something that’s reflective and fitting of the work and service and of who Paul was in that life.

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    It’s the same word in Second Corinthians Chapter 7. Great is my boldness of speech toward you. Great is my glorying of you. I’m filled with comfort. I’m exceedingly joyful, he says. And Paul was overjoyed, filled with comfort to the point he could glory in the Corinthians despite his difficulties and tribulations. And it’s similar here in First Thessalonians chapter, but just like in Corinthians and here in Thessalonians, Paul seems to be Speaking of the comfort that he has, the rejoicing and the things that he’s glorying and based on the present, based on the people in the Thessalonica ecclesia that were right there.

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    But Paul’s answer to his own question in chapter 2 and verse 19 is this, What is our hope? What is our joy and crown of rejoicing? Isn’t it you, brothers and sisters in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?

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    It’s you in the future, he says at his coming. Paul’s hope, his joyous crown of rejoicing, was about those whom he loved and their eternal well-being, their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And how could he say that? He could say it because of verse 20. Ye are our glory and our joy. They were already his glory and His joy. They were already a reflection of the work and service Paul had done with them.

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    The joy and the hope and the glory of the future was just a reflection of what was experienced now with the ecclesia. Paul had poured himself out to these brothers and sisters, and now they were steadfast. You see, someone getting to the Kingdom is not a reflection of individual merit, is it, but of communal fellowship, fellowship of service, fellowship and trial, fellowship and sufferings, fellowship and comfort, fellowship of sacrifice, fellowship of giving and receiving.

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    And the joy that we have now with each other is a joy that will be reflected in the future. And of course, if we joy in the temporal things that are natural, our joy will be temporary. There will be no future joy for the very things that we’re joining in now. It is the spiritual things that will be reflected in the future for eternity. Now Paul is this immense feeling of joy and hope for his brothers and sisters and they’re not even part of his home Ecclesia. How is that possible to have such intense feelings for these brothers and sisters?

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    Well, we know he was an apostle sent to the Gentiles, wasn’t he really? Our answer to that question is explained if we look at the 1st 2 chapters or the context of this question. What is our hope? What is our joy? What is our crown of rejoicing? So let’s just look at some of the context.

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    Turn of me to chapter 1 and verse 2. It says we give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. But did you notice the two things which indicate Paul’s intensity and continuous love for them, this consuming love he says, We give thanks to God always for you. Verse 3, remembering without ceasing, Paul was consumed by them.

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    Now look at verse 5. For our gospel came not unto you in Word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were among you for your sake, and ye became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Spirit. Now there’s something a little bit odd about verse 5. Don’t know if you caught it.

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    Paul says for our gospel, our gospel. What does he say our gospel? I think he says our gospel because he let the gospel impact his own life. He was living the gospel. He was pouring out the gospel message in how he communicated with them and how he lived his life. There was personal devotion and conviction and Paul expressed this message to them in the very way that they that he lived his life.

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    And as a result, this group of believers in Thessalonica and verse 6 ye became followers of us. Having received the word in much affliction.

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    Paul was willing to share this gospel even during a time of affliction. But of course, this wasn’t simply the apostle Paul’s gospel or or Silas’s or Timothy’s. This was the gospel of God. Just turn to chapter 2 and we read in verse 2. But even after that, we had suffered before and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi. We were bold in our gospel to speak unto you, the gospel of God.

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    See there, it’s framed differently. This is the gospel of God. Paul had just made it his own. There’s a good question for all of us. The gospel message that we get to read every day from God’s holy word of truth. Does it define who we are? Well, it did for the apostle Paul.

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    And if we keep reading in verse 4, it says, But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, so we speak and there we have it. It was really the gospel of God that was entrusted to the apostle Paul. And it was on that basis that the apostle spoke what he did In verse 5 it says neither at any time use we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloak of covetousness.

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    God is witness, nor of men sought. We glory neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome as the apostles of Christ. For but we were gentle among you. And you can see this language. Paul didn’t misuse the gospel either. He didn’t use it for his own advantage, although surely he could have.

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    He didn’t use it for his benefit. He didn’t use it for his own personal glorying. No, Paul wasn’t just willing to to give this gospel message. Look at what he says in verse 8. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you not the gospel of God only, but look at this, but also our own souls, because ye were very dear unto us. It’s quite the language, isn’t it? Paul’s saying I’m not just going to give you this gospel message. I’m prepared to give my life for you. That’s how much I care for you.

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    That word affectionately desirous in verse 8, the beginning there it means or it’s it. It gives us that idea of 2nd Corinthians 1215, doesn’t it? I will gladly spend and be spent for you, affectionately desirous of you. It’s powerful, emotive language. Now Paul’s bringing this gospel to them. He’s doing so in a in a couple of ways.

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    I just want to point out two of them. We skipped over verse 7. Verse 7 says, but we were gentle among you as a nurse cherisheth her children, A nurse it means just that, a nurse or a caregiver. This role was primarily the responsibility of the mother who nurtured the children. But Paul is saying that he’s caring for the Thessalonians like that in a nurturing way.

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    He provided for their emotional and spiritual well beings. That word cherisheth in verse 7 means to warm, to to cherish with tender love, to foster with tender care. You know, it’s only used one other time in the New Testament.

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    It’s Ephesians 5 and verse 29. Ephesians 5, verse 29. This is the only other occurrence of that exact Greek word. It says no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherisheth it even as the Lord, the ecclesia And Christ did give his life for the ecclesia, didn’t He? Paul’s saying just like the Lord Jesus Christ cherished you. That’s that’s how I’m bringing the gospel to you, but not just as a mother, not just as a nurse or a caregiver. More than that, the apostle says in verse 9, he says, ye remember brethren, our labour.

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    Now, this isn’t the normal word for labour. This means intense labor coupled with trouble and toil and weariness. That’s the labor that the apostle Paul is giving them. You know, our labor, he says. And travail means hardship, distress for laboring. Now this is the more common word for laboring, but this time it’s constant for laboring night and day.

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    Because we would not be chargeable to any of you. We preached unto you the gospel of God, your witnesses, and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe. Paul’s pouring himself out to the Thessalonians. He’s saying, you know. You know what manner of man I am.

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    You know what I’ve given you and he says verse 11 as ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged everyone of you as a father doth his children. Can you feel the dedication, the intense focus of the apostle to share the gospel, but to live what he was sharing and to live it towards the very people that he is sharing the gospel with? And he doesn’t just do it in a gentle way as a a nurse or a mother does, but he does it in a fatherly way. It says he, he exhorts them that word, exhorting the means to call to one side.

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    He’s comforting them. He’s he’s calling them to their side. And it kind of struck me actually as a father, what I find myself doing with my children as you have to educate them or warn them or comfort them in, in different ways. I will call my child to my side and I always put out both hands and I have them take my hands.

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    So there’s a, a connection. I’ve called them to my side and I’ll have that serious conversation with them. And Paul’s saying, this is what I’ve done for you, Thessalonians. I’ve treated you in a fatherly way. You know, we, we often suffer because of the truth’s sake, don’t we? And the Thessalonians, as a result of adopting the gospel message, would suffer. They would endure trial.

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    You know how many exhortations are said from this platform where trial is a part of the exhortation? It’s addressed because trial and difficulty, we know, is such a real part of our lives and it’s such a real part of God developing and working with our character.

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    And here in verse 14, we can see that now the Thessalonian brethren are enduring trial for you. Brethren became followers of the ecclesia of God, which in Judea are in Christ Jesus. For ye also suffered like things of your countrymen, even as they have of the Jews. So, so how are they following other ecclesias?

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    They were following them in the fact that they suffered with them. Being part of the body of Christ means that’s part of our lot to suffer with Christ. We keep reading who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets. They’re persecuting us and they please not God, and are contrary to all men, forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved to fill up their sins alway for the wrath is to come upon them to the utmost.

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    These brethren suffered the very pain that Paul suffered because Paul in his pain and in his suffering shared the truth and lived it. Just look at the sentiments. Now verse 17 as we approach our P verse again, verse 17 says, But we brethren, being taken from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavoured the more abundantly to see your face with great desire, wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul once and again, but Satan hindered us. Isn’t that an amazing sentiment?

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    Just love that, don’t you, brothers and sisters, I was taken from you for a short time in presence, but I was not gone in heart. I was right there in your midst. My mind was there with you, comforting you, cheering you on in the race. He was gone physically, but he was there with them in heart, so much so that he tried to come back to them on more than one occasion.

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    Just think what Paul has expressed to the ecclesia so far. We’ve learned in chapter 1, he he thinks about them always and prays without ceasing for them. Paul’s adopted the gospel of God with such intensity, he calls it his own gospel. And it’s that gospel which he’s passed on to the ecclesia. He does so without being a burden to them in every way possible.

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    He shares the gospel amidst persecution. He does so as a caregiver, as a father, and now he desperately wants to see them and has attempted to on multiple occasions. And he was stopped by Jewish opposition, Gentile opposition, likely the Satan referred to in verse 18. And so it makes perfect sense that at this point in his letter, he would say of brothers and sisters, what is our hope, What is our joy?

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    What is our crown of rejoicing? It’s you. It’s you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. You are our glory and joy, and You are glory and joy, whether I can see you or not, whether I am there physically or in your presence or whether I am there in heart, my hope and my joy and my crown of rejoicing, everything that I work for the Apostle Paul says just to see you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters, young people, what feelings do you have for the Platanka Guyana ecclesia? What about the Georgetown ecclesia in Guyana? What about the Coventry West ecclesia in the UK or the North Battleford ecclesia in Saskatchewan, or the Enfield ecclesia in Australia, or the Prince George ecclesia in BC? You know, and I’d imagine, brothers and sisters, is that there are some very strong feelings of loving care, of gentle concern, of deep compassion for some of those ecclesias.

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    While some of the other ecclesias, there might be feelings of satisfaction that the the truth is vibrant and is abounding elsewhere, but there’s less of those personal intense feelings. How can that be? Why for one ecclesia have different feelings than another ecclesia when they’re all far away? But it’s because you have those strong feelings are a result of being invested in developing in relationships with some people in those ecclesias. You’ve sacrificed for those ecclesias at one point in your life.

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    Now, not all of us have connections all over the world to all of these different ecclesias. And God doesn’t hold us responsible or expect us to have relationships all over the world to all sorts of different ecclesias. But what we should all have in common is what God does hold us responsible for the ecclesia which He puts us in. And I didn’t realise, I have to admit, that the the visitor list was going to have such a diverse amount of ecclesias. I think there was like 10 different ecclesias mentioned, which is wonderful.

49. 28:44

    And I think we all need to to think about this personally with, with our home ecclesias. But brothers and sisters, what are your feelings when I say the Brantford ecclesia, that’s your home ecclesia. Does that bring you joy and hope? Does it consume your minds with all the sentiments that the Apostle Paul had?

50. 29:09

    Now our mind can be taken over by so many different things, can’t it? That’s generally the things that we invest our time into, our resources. And it can’t be that our hope and our rejoicing is the love of money, or the financial state we possess, or the financial state we hope to possess. It can’t be that our hope and our rejoicing is the house we own or the house we want to the the car that we have or the car that we want.

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    It can’t be that our mind and our thoughts are taken over by who’s going to be the next Prime Minister or who’s going to be the next president, which parties in power, what policies they make. It can’t be that our mind is taken over by some sports team’s success and failure. It can’t be that our minds are taken over by our natural citizenship. It can’t be that our minds are consumed, brothers and sisters, by the things of the world.

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    Let our hope and our joy not be aligned with the people of the world, but let it be involved with the people of God, the faithful that God has put into your life.

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    Because these are the people that will one day be in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. And if we don’t involve ourselves with the people that God has put in our lives to interact with, how can they be our hope and our joy and our crown of rejoicing?

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    I want you to, no matter what ecclesia you’re from, think about the things that you can rejoice over in your home ecclesia, the things that have eternal implications.

55. 31:18

    I was going to ask somebody from Brantford to to give me a list of some of the things that can be rejoiced over here, but I actually didn’t find it too hard being just down the road coming up with a list of wonderful things that this ecclesia is known for. I think that speaks to the ecclesia constantly. There are baptisms here.

56. 31:45

    If you look over the past 7-8 years, there’s been a number announced from this ecclesia. And if if angels rejoice over 1 Sinner that repents, how much more should all the beautiful and wonderful baptisms that take place in this ecclesial hall into the moving stories that are associated with those individuals for God’s praise? What about the hope for the next generation? It’s a big Sunday school, a little disciples group. That’s something to rejoice over and to hope in. What about hoping and rejoicing in the strength of Bible study? There are many people in this room that love to discuss the Word of God, to wrestle through passages. That’s something to rejoice over. I know there’s a number in this room who’ve been able to visit the Holy Land.

57. 32:55

    Maybe not everybody, but that’s something to rejoice over, to take the strength from those brothers and sisters that have walked the same steps of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul and others. This ecclesia is busy and active. You don’t have to be a member of this ecclesia to know that. A number of study days, the number of young people, events. You know, sometimes we can feel like so busy. There’s you get 1 ecclesial event done, then there’s the next one to prepare for.

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    Do you ever feel like that? But that’s a good thing. That’s something to rejoice over because the busy you are, the less time there is for other things to fill our tongue. And isn’t it the things of the truth that we should be busy in? And the more things we have going, the more opportunities we have for everybody to fulfill their roles.

59. 34:01

    You know, the greatest commandment is to love God, to be like Him, to listen to Him, to communicate to Him, to uphold his commandments, His principles, His ways, and His gospel. And the second commandment is to love your neighbor, which is although applying everything that God is to those that God loves and giving everything you have to them, making God’s gospel, our gospel and living it. When Paul says what is his crown of rejoicing, that word crown refers to the Stefanos, the Laurel wreath that’s awarded to the victor at a public games.

60. 34:46

    It refers to the overwhelming joy of triumph, of victory. Christ was plated with a stephanos of thorns. It signified His identification with mankind and that he was tempted in all points, like as we are, and in some small temporary way. Sin had victory for three days, didn’t it? Christ’s heal was bruised as he lay lifeless in the tomb, but in his resurrection he triumphed over sin for eternity, leading the way for all of mankind.

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    And won’t it be such a great victory if we are standing not alone, but together with all those in this room in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ?

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    That will be our crown of rejoicing because we helped get people there. We helped get our families and our brothers and sisters to the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. It will be our crown of rejoicing elsewhere called the crown of righteousness, the crown of life, the crown of incorruptibility, the crown of glory that fades, not away. As we reflect on this past week and on the week ahead in the memorials, let us reflect on where we truly receive joy, on where our hope lies.

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    Because the memorial, the memorials before us are not simply about us. It’s about the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And his body is made-up of many members, all who sit in this room.

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    So let us reflect on where we receive joy, where our hope lies. Because in these memorials are bound the hope, the joy, and the crown of rejoicing that we await for. Thank you for listening to the good Chris Adelphian Talks podcast. We hope this talk helped you in your walk and brightened your day. If you would like to hear more, please subscribe for new episodes.

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    God bless and talk to you next week.