By Clint Trebesh, first published in Compass, Winter 2026.
Having just graduated from high school with endless hopes and dreams, my life’s mantra echoed the words of the conservationist John Muir when he said, ‘The mountains are calling, and I must go.’ So, throughout my first year of university, I embarked on wild adventures in the mountains every moment I could to search for significance, self-fulfilment and happiness. To my surprise, (more…)
By Scott Brown, National Director
Death is painful and it spares no one. Young, old, weak, powerful, rich, poor, moral, immoral’– there are no exceptions. While some evade its grasp longer than others, global mortality rates remain 100%. Even among the living, the harsh reality of death is felt in the overwhelming sadness and pain of losing those we love. You have experienced it. I have experienced it. It is inescapable – touching everyone, everywhere.
In whatever way it comes, death is an agent of our enemy, the devil, whose primary desire is to steal, kill and destroy. Through the power of death, he seeks to bring overwhelming fear, suffering and pain to the world – destroying all that God has made.
So it may seem strange to think of death as a means to joy, especially a death brought about by the most extreme injustice, violence and brutality. But as Easter approaches, I am in awe of the correlation between the death of Jesus and our joy.
Through death our penalty was paid and we were reconciled to God.
Joy resides in what Jesus’ death accomplished and the work it finished. Through His death on our behalf, Christ served as our perfect substitute. The worthy sacrifice who took our sin upon Himself, carried it with Him to the place of crucifixion and endured the just penalty it required. By this death we were justified, our penalty and guilt permanently removed, and the wrath of God stored up against us was exhausted. With the penalty paid and accepted, the hostilities between us and God were ended forever. We were ransomed, restored to righteousness, redeemed and reconciled to God where there is fullness of joy! Without Jesus’ death, we would still be guilty, dead in our sin and objects of God’s wrath. His death was the means to our joy.
Through death the devil was defeated and the sting of death removed.
There was undoubtedly a sting on the day Jesus died – a sting felt by those who loved Him and followed Him closely. A sting which I expect struck deeply at the heart of Mary, his mother, and John, standing beside her – the two of them only a short distance away as the breath of life left Him. For three days, that sting hounded His remaining disciples as they huddled together in an upper room. Yet the despair and fear brought on by Christ’s death was replaced with great joy when their Lord and Master stood before them again, risen from the grave in glory! This proved that death and the grave held no power over Him and it validated His authority and position as God’s dearly loved Son. And once and for all, it assured the destruction of the one who had the power of death, that is the devil 1, and the anticipation of the saying that was written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”2
In His triumphant return to life, He also secured eternal life for everyone who loves Him and keeps His commands. A life with Him where “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”3
So through His death we were saved and through the power of His resurrection from the dead we were restored to life, adopted into His family and ensured an imperishable inheritance kept in heaven for us. Without Jesus’ death there would be no resurrection, the devil would be undefeated, fear of death would rule us, and we would have no hope of life. His death was the means to our joy.
Through death God displayed the fullness of His love
Some might choose to die for a good person, but Jesus died for the ungodly while we were still powerless. The fact that Christ would willingly die in our place, while we were still sinners and deserving of death, showed the full extent of God’s love for us.4 I believe it is impossible to remember Christ’s death without rejoicing in His sacrificial and steadfast love. Without Jesus’ death we would have no assurance of God’s love. His death was the means to our joy.
While the presence of death remains painful, death is not a victor. The only victory in death came through Christ and His resurrection to life, which destroyed the power of death once and for all, removed our sin and its penalty, reconciled us to God and secured our life and inheritance in heaven with Him, where there is fullness of joy. This Easter, let’s remember that His death was the means to our joy – and let’s rejoice and praise Him.
1. Hebrews 2:14-15
2. 1 Corinthians 15:54-57
3. Revelation 21:4
4. Romans 5:6-8
Featured image of cross silhouette at sunrise by TrueCreatives, graphic designed using CanvaPro. Image of grassy cemetery by Jill Dimond on Unsplash.
By Paul Bailey, Melbourne Labouring Community. This article was first published in our newsletter, Compass, Autumn 2026.
The Great Commission and the call of sending out labourers into the harvest has been echoed from pulpits for centuries. As each generation pleads these causes, I imagine the same statements are made in response: “The labourers are few”, “I don’t know how to get started”, “I can go, I can labour,” “I see fruit in my labouring,” “I’m burnt out”, “It’s too hard” “it’s just not for me”, “I have laboured, someone else can do it”. As scripture forewarns, there is nothing new under the sun. Imagine the burden every generation has felt hearing the same thing from the pulpit. Each labourer weary from the good work, begging for more labourers. How do we who are already labouring persevere through the weariness? How do we who maybe haven’t begun get started? How do we become a solution to Christ’s statement, “The labourers are few”? There are many ways to answer this question, so I’ve decided to take them from the words of David.
The restoration of [our] joy in the gospel … fuels [our] labouring …
In the middle of David’s prayer of confession in Psalm 51:12b, we find a simple yet profound line, “restore to me the joy of your salvation”. Now this restoration isn’t asking for him to be born again or to be brought from death to life, lost then found in the terms of his salvation. But rather, David acknowledges that he has gone astray and has not found joy in the hope that is God, who has already redeemed his soul from eternal judgment. It is an acknowledgement that his focus had changed from God to something else. As David prays this, he continues in Psalm 51:13, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you”. When his joy is returned, then (meaning when this happens) he will declare the gospel – making known to sinners their ways and urging them to return to God. The restoration of his joy in the gospel and his own salvation fuels his labouring and his return to proclaiming that same gospel.
The gospel is, was and always will be the greatest message of all time. A thrice-Holy God, whose perfection is incomprehensible and whose wrath is being stored up against sinners due to His divine justice, sends His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to walk this earth and deal with all temptations, trials and sufferings. Yet, unlike us, Christ lives righteously and perfectly according to God’s Holy Law and dies on a cross. God’s divine justice is then unleashed on Jesus, bearing and taking the punishment we deserve, the stored-up wrath of God, and in exchange we are credited with His righteousness. We now find ourselves forgiven of sins, our debt wiped clean, and given eternal life in heaven with God. This is the message which saved us in the first place, yet it must also be the message that we daily live by. This gospel is not a door we enter through and live on the other side; we never move past it. Rather, it’s the centrepiece of the joy we need for labouring for a lifetime.
This gospel … is the centrepiece of the joy we need for labouring for a lifetime.
Now stop. Before you continue reading, answer these questions. Who were you before Christ made you His own? What was your life like before you were purchased by His blood and redeemed? How are you applying His Gospel to your life daily, knowing you sin daily? Have you unknowingly slipped back into trusting your good works? Has that become your focus?
When we grow daily in the reality that the gospel is the centrepiece of joy, Christ becomes sweeter to our lives, and the joy ever increasing. Surely in this life, we will experience seasons of fruit which bring joy in our harvest. Yet as this life goes on, we will experience seasons of despair and drought. Our circumstances will ever shift, yet our eyes must stay fixed on Christ. Joy is something fixed on the truth that comes from the gospel. The joy of your salvation! Saved and redeemed. We come to Christ weak, poor and needy; He brings joy. We display fruit, experience blessings; He again brings joy. We, who are in a deep sense of gratitude, live out of this motivation that comes from the gospel of hope found in Jesus Christ, the steadfast anchor for our souls.
Christ is our Hope, and Christ is our Joy who has given us our salvation. If you are a weary labourer, look to the gospel and ask God to restore to you this joy of His salvation. If you have yet to begin labouring, you too should look to Christ and His redeeming love – that it would bring you joy, and stir your heart to proclaim to sinners that there is hope in Christ, and that they too would experience the joy of His salvation.
Paul Bailey leads the student ministry work at Monash University. If you would like to know more about &/or would prayerfully like to consider supporting Paul and his ministry, visit his Profile Page.
We are praying for more labourers to join our team. If you are interested or would like to know more, please contact us at [email protected].
Dear Friend,
French mathematician and follower of Christ, Blaise Pascal, wrote: “All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end … The will never takes the least step but to this object.” Deep within all our souls is a craving for satisfaction and joy because we were made for it. We yearn for it and seek it, giving all we have to posses it. Yet regrettably for many the hunt never ends, as path after path turns cold. In Psalm 16:11, David reveals the path to joy saying, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
God Himself is the source of all joy. He is not the best in a list of choices or of better value than other sources — He is the only source of joy. Without Him, joy does not exist and those who seek to find it on their own, in anything else, find only emptiness, thirst and multiplying sorrows (Jer 2:11-14; Ps 16:4).
But in His grace, and according with His pleasure, God has made known to us a path of life, paved with the atoning death and victorious resurrection of Jesus. His path leads us back to the Father’s glorious presence and loving embrace where we are enveloped in the joy found in Him. A joy that is full and complete, and deeply satisfying to our souls.
Restored to God’s joy-filled presence and His glorious purposes, we rejoice in embracing His will, eager to do all that He asks, wherever He leads, driven by desire and delight (Ps 40:8). His joy carries us forward and sustains us, giving us strength to advance the gospel into the nations. In this labour we endure and persevere through every difficulty, trial and form of suffering for the joy set before us, just like Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb 12:2). So that just as we have been reconciled to Him, we become reconcilers to the world, Ambassadors for Christ, imploring them on Christ’s behalf to be reconciled to God and embrace the fullness of joy found in His presence. (2 Cor 5:18-20)
Labouring together,
Featured image of silhouette of man with arms raised by Nathan Dumlao/Unsplash.
By Dustyn McLaren, Queensland Labouring Community
Sam rang the other day to say he was meeting with a new person this week, he asked me to pray, and we tossed around ideas of what to share with this guy who has a limited understanding of Christianity. It is so exciting to see one of the young guys God has allowed me to invest in sharing things he’s learned with others. (more…)
Christine Norrie is a friend of the Australian Navigators. She is a wife and a mother of two, who delights in coordinating the kids ministry at her church, teaching SRE at a local school, and homeschooling her 11-year-old son. She put her faith in Jesus as a little person and continues to be challenged and encouraged in her faith.
Lashan Wijesingha has been a part of our Melbourne Labouring Community for a number of years, journeying alongside our student ministry team as well as training in leadership. We asked him about his relationship with Jesus and his source of joy.
How did you come into relationship with Jesus?
I grew up in a non-Christian home, but my older brother entered into communion with Christ. Through his faithful witness and persistent evangelism to our family, I began reading the Scriptures for myself and came to know who Jesus truly is. I accepted Christ as my Savior toward the end of high school, and since that moment, I have followed Him unashamedly, committed to living under His Lordship.
How did you come to be involved with the Australian Navigators, and how has that community helped you grow?
I came to be involved when Paul, a Navs staff worker at Monash, visited my church. I reached out to learn more about the Navigators as one of the Christian ‘clubs’ on campus. Being part of the Navigators has profoundly challenged my understanding of Scripture, shaped my priorities in discipleship, and taught me the practices of true godliness. I have learned how to shepherd others faithfully and to orient my own life around the pursuit of Christ above all else.
What feeds your joy in the labouring?
My joy in labouring comes from knowing that it is not in vain, for it bears eternal fruit. My delight is seeing people become solid in Christ, growing in knowledge and obedience to Him. I labour so that others might know Jesus as I know Him – the sovereign Lord who condescended in humility, lived a perfect life, died a perfect and pleasing death to God, and rescued a people for Himself. Christ is of immeasurable worth; He is my light, my peace, my joy, and my unshakable foundation. I choose Him above all worldly pursuits.
Lashan (front, 3rd from right) with Paul (front, left) with some of their Melbourne crew. Photo: supplied.
What has helped sustain you in the challenging work of labouring?
I am sustained by the truth that the Lord Himself is at work through my efforts. The Spirit strengthens me, Scripture guides me, and the promise of eternal fruit reminds me that no labour in His name is wasted. God has graciously blessed me with believers who encourage and assist me daily – people with whom I can share my struggles at both church and Navs. He has given me friends who understand my journey and can bear the burdens of ministry alongside me.
Why do you think we should have joy in persevering and labouring, particularly in striving to reach the nations?
We should have joy in persevering and labouring because the work of the gospel is never in vain. Every faithful effort participates in God’s sovereign plan to build His church and glorify His name among all nations. To labour faithfully, even amid trials, is to see souls drawn to Christ – the highest reward imaginable, far surpassing any earthly success. The joy of seeing lives transformed and the kingdom expanded is an eternal delight that fuels perseverance and steadfast devotion.
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