Go Do What Makes You Happy

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Connection/Tension

We began a new series last week called Things Jesus Never Said. We’re looking at the words in red in our Bible - the words Jesus said. But sometimes it’s helpful, when we want to understand what Jesus did say, to look at what he didn’t say. What he could have said, what we might of said. What he didn’t say helps us to understand the power of what he did say. Today we are going to look at what Jesus didn’t say about the subject of happiness.

Just for fun, let’s look at some things Jesus did not say:

Go into all the world, and preach whatever makes people happy.

Whoever wants to be my disciple, must affirm themselves and just follow their own heart.

Ask and it will be given to you, because God is your Celestial Sugar Daddy.

Jesus never said any of those things. We’re going to look this morning at a passage in the NT that has caused lots of head scratching and even some righteous anger. But it has the power to transform our life this morning. We’re going to see that Jesus never said Go Do What Makes You Happy.

Text and Context

I’m reading from John 8. It’s the story about a woman caught in adultery.

John 8:2–6 “Early in the morning he [Jesus] came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; [*] and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him.”

* - In the middle of a morning Bible study this happens. Self-righteous hypocrites. Raises all kinds of red flags. First, where was the man? Second, who was the peeping Tom? Obvious from story that woman is just a pawn to try and trap Jesus.

This is a set up. They want to get Jesus to condemn himself. According to Moses (Lev 20), those that commit adultery must be stoned - not in the recreational sense. That’s what the Law said, and good Jews follow the Law. They know that if Jesus sides with the Law to have her stoned, he will lose his reputation among the people - their whole goal. But if he forbids them to stone her, then he is a law-breaker. At this point Jesus is worryingly biting his fingernails. Actually...

John 8:6 “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.”

Guess what people have been asking since this story first started being circulated? The one you’re asking right now. What did he write?

We don’t know for sure. But one speculation that is reasonable was that he was writing the sins of those around him.

Bob, I heard your swear. Do you kiss your wife with that mouth?

Phil, I think we both know what I’d find on your browsing history, don’t we?

Leonard, I can’t even write what you did last week because I’m Jesus!

John 8:7 “When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”

The Greek word for “without sin” means not just that you haven’t sinned, but that you don’t even want to sin. In regard to sin, you’re basically perfect.

John 8:8–11 “And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and follow your heart. Do what makes you happy. You do you, Boo.”

That’s not what Jesus said. It’s what we might say. It’s definitely what our culture would say. Look at what Jesus did say:

John 8:11 “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

I like how the NIV puts it:

John 8:11 (NIV) “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

There is this tender compassion offered. Jesus wasn’t condemning or belittling. He was loving. But he also expressed urgency. Flee! Run away from this! I haven’t condemned you, now go be free from this lifestyle. His words to her are not condemning; they are hopeful!

Why is it that we struggle with the temptation to sin? Because it’s fun! Right?! Sin can be very pleasurable. If you don’t think it’s fun, you’re not doing it right! But here’s what we know about sin:

Sin promises happiness but delivers pain.

Let’s look into the story a little deeper. Perhaps this was just a really immoral woman who seduced some gullible dude bc she likes to be a home-wrecker. Or maybe he was just a predator looking for unhappy housewives. But chances are that’s not the truth. Let me paint this story in another possible way. It’s possible that both the man and woman committing adultery had been forced into arranged marriages. That was normal for the culture. Maybe they were even childhood sweethearts, but because of their culture, their parents forced them to marry someone else. And so they are stuck in a miserable marriage with someone they don’t love.

And one day she’s standing at the fish stall deciding whether to buy crappie or bass, and she sees her old boyfriend. And at first they just smile, maybe say hello, ask how the other is doing. But then over the next days and months they just happen to find themselves at the fish stall at the same time more often. And the conversations get longer. And they begin to reminisce about how things were before marriage, how much fun they use to have, how they miss each other. Here is the person who makes her happy. And she asks her girlfriend what she should do, and her friends say, “Do what makes you happy. Follow your heart.” And then one day an accidental brush of the hand turns into hand-holding, that turns into hugging-holding, that turns into take your clothes off holding.

And step by seemingly innocent step, she finds herself now in the most shameful moment of her life, barely dressed, and standing in front of a bloodthirsty mob. How did she get there?! Sin promises happiness but delivers pain.

Sin makes me the ultimate source of truth.

Why do so many of us end up in similar places? We live in a very relativistic culture. Relativism is the belief that everything is relative, that there is no absolute truth. You hear this all the time in our culture today: “Well, maybe that’s true for you, but it’s not true for me. You live your truth and I’ll live mine.”

I use to occasionally have coffee with a group of people that included this young woman who would have identified herself as “spiritual but not religious”. She practiced her own blend of Wicca and Buddhism. But her real philosophy for life was simply “do no harm”. For her, as long as you weren’t hurting anyone, do what makes you happy. Live your own truth.

The problem is that without a belief in absolute truth - that there are some things that are right and true regardless of how you feel about it - truth becomes defined by whatever makes you happy. And when the bottom line is my happiness, happiness becomes the standard by which I judge my actions. Everyone says this is wrong, but it feels so right. Sin makes me the ultimate source of truth. I become my own god deciding right and wrong.

I think one reason we may struggle with sin is that so many of us believe that happiness and holiness are at odds. That you have to pick one or the other, but they can’t coexist together. If you do what God wants you’re destined to a miserable existence of wearing your hair in a bun, avoiding movies, and only listening to old Steven Curtis Chapman tapes.

The good news is that God is not looking down from heaven on the children he loves and saying, “For God so loved the world that he wants his children to be holy and miserable.” I used to think that was what God wanted. He was the ultimate killjoy, party-pooper, murderer of fun. I didn’t understand God’s heart for me.

Jesus said Matthew 7:11 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, HOW MUCH MORE [say it] will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

I used to think that God did not want us to be happy. He wanted us to be holy. Use to pray for my children, “God don’t make my kids happy, make them holy!” That was dumb. If earthly parents want their children to be blessed and happy, how much more does your heavenly Father want this. If we find ourselves at odds with “I want to be holy, but I also want to be happy” the problem is You’re looking for happiness in the wrong place!

Illustration from Max Lucado. If you take a fish out of the water and put it on the beach, will it ever be happy? What’s it doing? Flopping. Maybe that means it isn’t happy. So what if we give it some money? Will it be happy then? What if we get is some nice Ray Bans and some of that white sunscreen to put on the bridge of its nose so it won’t get sunburned? Is it happy? How about we throw it a party and bring a bunch of his fish friends. Serve margaritas. Maybe take some selfies and post what an awesome party he’s having. Is he happy now? How about we buy him a subscription to Playboy…Playfish magazine? For the recipes, of course! Is he happy now? “Wow, look at the gills on that one...”

Why isn’t the fish happy on the beach? Because he wasn’t designed for the beach.

Why can’t the things offered by sin ever make you truly happy? Because you weren’t designed for the things of this world. You weren’t designed to live for yourself. You were designed by God for God. This is what it means to be holy. And that is why pursuing earthly happiness never satisfies. It can’t deliver what it promises. You were made for so much more.

The lie that I have believed, the lie that you have likely believed, is that holiness and happiness are mutually exclusive. But holiness is not mutually exclusive to happiness. In fact, Holiness is the pathway to true happiness.

The Bible says Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way to death.” We need to understand something very clearly. The sin that the world offers us - what looks good to us, what looks like it will make us happy - always (x2) leads to death. Not because God will kill you, but bc sin carries its own death consequence. Someone who chain smokes four packs of cigarettes a day and gets cancer can’t say “God is killing me with cancer.” No, cigarettes are killing you. You made a choice, and those cigarettes carry a death consequence. God hates sin bc of what sin does to the ones he loves.

God wants you to walk free from the consequences of death. God doesn’t want less for you, he wants more. Psalm 16:11 “You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” God wants you to be free of the lie of sin so that you can be released to true happiness and joy.

That’s why to a woman caught in sin - just like we are sometimes caught in sin - Jesus didn’t say, “I’m so disappointed in you. I can’t even stand to look at you. You embarrass me.” He said, essentially, I love you, I forgive you, now be free. Leave this sin that promises happiness for something better. Leave what is lower so that I can give you what is higher.

Gospel/Response

What do you do when you know what is right but you keep doing what is wrong? What do you do when you feel trapped? It looked good. It promised something. It seemed like it would make me happy. But it didn’t deliver, and now you can’t find your way out.

For me for a long time, it was porn. I was introduced to porn very early by accident, finding old discarded magazines. Someone showed me my first pornographic movie when I was in high school. And in college, it was rampant. We binged on porn. Looking back now, I had developed an addiction. I had a compulsion to look at it, and it almost cost me more than I wanted. It distorted my view of marriage. It distorted my view of what a normal sex life was like. I thought when I’m married this won’t be an issue. But I was wrong. It became my escape from the pressure of marriage and family life. I would be stressed and I would stay up after Julie and the kids were in bed and look at porn. I knew it was wrong. But in moments of weakness, I believed the lie that it could make me happy. Yet it never delivered what it promised. And then came the day when Julie discovered my search history, and porn almost cost me more than I wanted to pay.

Maybe for some of you it’s not porn. Maybe it’s alcohol or drugs. That next pill, that next sip, will make me happy. Maybe it’s destructive spending habits. That box from Amazon will make me happy. Maybe habitual lying. Maybe being drawn to the wrong kinds of relationships. Whatever it is, you promise God you’ll never do it again. But then you do it again. And you promise God again to stop. But then you do it again. And then you say, oh well, doesn’t matter, and you give yourself over to it again. And you feel ashamed and stuck and hopeless. What do you do when you know it’s not God’s best, but you find yourself half-naked and ashamed and can’t quite figure out how you got here?

I want to tell you some good news today. I want to tell you about the goodness and the faithfulness of God.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NLT) “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

There is always grace. This is always the offer of freedom. There is always a way out. What do you do when you are tempted? Every temptation is an invitation to depend on Jesus.

I was addicted to porn. Then one day I’m out walking during lunch at an old job, and I asking God once again to forgive me for looking at it. And I had a moment when I felt like God asked me, is that porn really bringing you satisfaction? Do you feel happier when you see it? And in a flash of spiritual insight, I saw that my pursuit of porn was really masking something else. Something God wanted to heal. And in that moment, porn’s grip on me was broken. I was free. Sometimes it happens in an instant; sometimes it’s a process.

Jesus did not say “go do what makes you happy”. He said “go be free”. Jesus is not throwing stones at you today. He is loving and compassionate about your sins and weaknesses. But he is also totally committed to your freedom. He is righteously jealous of anything in your life that lures you away from him and the life he offers. You were created for him, and he is where you will find lasting joy.

Pray for those who need freedom from destructive habits and sinful lies...

You may be here or listening online, and you feel trapped by sin. You feel shame and you wonder if God can love you after what you’ve done. Let me tell you a true promise: God loves you. It isn’t just what he does, it’s who he is. There is nothing you can do to make him love you more, and nothing you can do to make him love you less.

Because he loves you, he desires good for you. That begins with knowing him personally and being in relationship with him. We do this by acknowledging our sin and by putting our faith in Jesus’ finished work at the cross. Here is where he took all the death consequences for the sin of the world and dealt with it forever. And then he rose from the grave and now offers forgiveness and eternal life to everyone who asks.

If you’ve never done this, I’d like to lead you in a prayer of commitment. You need to understand that it isn’t the words of a prayer that saves you but rather it is by placing your trust in Jesus’ finished work on your behalf. But this prayer can be a way of expressing what is in your heart, and if you are ready to commit your life to Jesus, I invite you to pray this with me:

(Prayer of commitment slide) Heavenly Father, I admit that I have sinned against you by what I’ve thought, by what I’ve said, and by what I’ve done. [Take a moment to confess anything in particular that is troubling your conscience.] I’m sorry and I turn away from this old way of living. Please forgive me. Thank you, Jesus, for dying for my sins. I receive your forgiveness and give you my life. Fill me, Holy Spirit, so that I can learn to love and follow you for the rest of my days. Amen.

If you prayed that today for the first time, let me be the first to welcome you to God’s family! This is only the beginning. I’d love to meet with you and talk about next steps in your new life. (Next steps slide).

Ministry time…