God Just Wants you to be Happy
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be tackling several lies that are believed by many inside and outside the church. As with most lies, these statements have a kernel of truth mixed with some stuff that sounds good but isn’t Scriptural. These statements are found in a book by Jared Wilson entitled The Gospel According to Satan. For our purposes, we will be calling these “Fake Fruits” and we’ll spend some time looking at the statement itself, what is good about it and what is not Biblical about it. After this, we’ll hopefully have a brief time to discuss our experience with the particular statement and why it’s so important for us to know the correct statement rather than the popular one. Ultimately, the first lie in Scripture did not come from a human, rather from the serpent. What did the serpent do? The serpent strived to get Eve to doubt what God had said. Many of these statements are similar - they sound appetizing to our ear and they make us feel good inside, yet they lack the Biblical support that they promise. These lies aren’t completely absurd - if they were we wouldn’t fall for them! Our enemy knows this, so what does he do? He disguises them and dresses them to look much better than they truly are. He sneaks some truth and a dangerous proposition together and he lures people away.
First, God Just Wants you to be Happy. Again, this statement makes us feel good about ourselves! Have you ever heard someone say that this is true? Maybe the situation goes something like this: I am made in God’s image and I love this activity because it makes me happy and gives me joy. Therefore, since God wants me to be happy, I will continue to do this activity. With many things, this makes sense and works out in theory. You enjoy going on hikes because it gives you peace and joy, since God wants you to be happy, you go on regular hikes. No issues here!
Let’s take this a step further, though. If we are honest with one another, there are things in our lives that make us happy that are not good - in fact, sometimes the things that make us happy are sins. Would we say that God wants us to sin? That clearly contradicts Scripture. If going out and getting drunk or having relationships with multiple people who aren’t your spouse make you happy, as some people claim, that is a sin and clearly not something that God endorses! As a result, something must come before our happiness in the hierarchy of things. We’ve studied this before, but clearly God cares more about our holiness than our happiness. This does not mean that God doesn’t care about our happiness, though.
Information
Information
Everyone wants to be happy - this is one of the most universal things that humans search for. The problem for many of us is that we naturally search for it in the wrong places. Ecclesiastes 3 talks about the mystery of time and verse 11 says this
11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but no one can discover the work God has done from beginning to end.
God has put eternity on our hearts… Yet, for many humans, we simply look at the here and now to satisfy our desires. What does this naturally lead to? It leads to dissatisfaction because they never keep us satisfied. What is Satan’s lie that he loves to sell humans? To continue to look at things to provide and satisfy us because he knows that they never will. His lie is simple: keep searching. Keep your eyes straight ahead and look for the next thing, it will be what you’re looking for. It will provide that happiness that you long for. After all, God wants you to be happy! What does the Bible share with us regarding lasting happiness?
8 Taste and see that the Lord is good. How happy is the person who takes refuge in him!
The Lord is good - how happy/blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. God provides happiness and satisfaction that lasts!
The enemy doesn’t like this, though. Our world doesn’t either. The world wants happiness to be found everywhere, not just from God. Therefore, the logic makes sense: God made everything good, God made you, God made you with interests and hobbies that make you happy, therefore, of course God wants you to be happy! If God wants you to be unhappy then He can’t be good because that’s not a nice thing. Maybe the reason that you’re not always happy is because you should be your own god. This might seem far out there but it’s the logic used in Genesis 3 to tempt Eve
“Did God really say, You can’t eat from any tree in the garden?” “You won’t die… You’ll be just like God!”
Well, God must be happy and there are things that make me happy - this fruit looks appetizing and God wants me to be happy, therefore, I should do this action because, to quote Joel Osteen’s wife, Victoria, “The thing that gives God the greatest joy and pleasure is my happiness.”
In our world, this argument holds a lot of weight. People want to be happy and the idea that God is happiest whenever we are happy makes us feel so warm and fuzzy inside… But is this what Scripture actually teaches? Does God prioritize our happiness above everything else? Culture says so. Christians say so. Joel Osteen says so. Therefore, it must be true… What does God’s Word say?
Sometimes we like to put things into Scripture that aren’t there at all. This is one of the reasons that people reject God frequently - because they put words and ideas into His mouth and head. “God wants me to be happy.” Yet, here I am at the hospital sick and afraid. Either God is not all-loving because He isn’t letting me be happy, or He isn’t all-powerful because He isn’t healing me of my issue. The free-will and choice argument doesn’t help here either because supposedly God wants me to be happy but what God would allow all this evil and suffering to happen. Your God is a weak God and not one worthy of being worshipped because He isn’t powerful and He certainly isn’t making me happy which is apparently what He cares so much about.
Scripture is clear that God is in control - He is sovereign. Scripture is also clear that His plan for us sometimes involves suffering
16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.
God sends us through periods of difficulty, He never temps us, but He does test us and we undergo trials often in our life. Why? If God wants us to be happy so badly, why is this our experience? Because we have bought into a lie - or at least, many have - God’s #1 priority is not our happiness. Instead, it’s something else.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
4 For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.
15 But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct;
16 for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.
22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
6 Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
There are dozens of Bible verses that emphasize what God prioritizes most of all: our holiness. We are called to be holy like He is holy. We are called to pursue righteousness. God’s desire is for His people to be a holy people! This comes before our happiness.
There are things that make us happy that are not godly. There is nothing that makes us holy that is ungodly. Additionally, you can be holy even when you’re not happy. You can be set apart and submit to God’s plan even when you’re not necessarily happy about it.
So, back to the original statement: God just wants you to be happy. Satan would love for us to be happy so long as we are not holy. This is one extreme - do whatever makes you happy. We’ve examined how this is wrong. There is another extreme, though, that says that “God doesn’t care if you’re happy.” This too is not entirely correct. To quote Victoria Osteen once again, “Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy.” Does God want us to be happy? Yes. Is Osteen right, though, that we should do good for ourselves in order to make ourselves happy? No. Because God prioritizes our holiness first, and because we are supposed to be set apart like He is, it follows that our ultimate happiness comes from Him. The Christian is the most happy whenever he or she is following and obeying the Lord’s plan for their life. We don’t simply do good because God wants us to be happy - we do what is right because that is what God calls us to do. It’s not about being rewarded with happiness for doing good, it’s doing good because that’s what Jesus calls us to do - maybe the reward comes, maybe it doesn’t.
Ligon Duncan notes the following, “There is no ultimate happiness and satisfaction and fulfillment and joy apart from Him.” Does God want us to be happy? Yes… Happy in Him. Content in Him. Joyful in Him.
Think of some of the things that make you happy. You get a raise… you’re happy. You eat at your favorite restaurant… you’re happy. Gas prices drop… you’re happy. You hangout with family… you’re happy. These are good things and they make us feel good. We feel better whenever we pay $2/gallon for gas than whenever we pay $3/gallon for gas. This is normal! But does the Bible ever promise us that gas prices will be cheaper? No. Does the Bible promise us that we’ll get to eat at our favorite restaurant for our birthday? No. Does the Bible promise us that we will be happy? No. But the Bible does promise and call on us to rejoice always
4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
This makes no sense. Whenever we suffer or struggle, we aren’t happy. But we can have joy! What is this joy? Jared Wilson puts it like this, “Joy is the conviction that, no matter the sadness of our circumstances or the weakness of our bodies, we are secure in the sovereign God who loves us.” Joy is not dependent upon our circumstances, it is dependent upon our Savior who does not change!
Our world offers materials to provide satisfaction… Christianity offers Christ who satisfies the void in our souls. What does it look like to have Christ, though? To some people, having Christ means to add Him to your life. As if you have your life before Christ and you simply add Christ to your pre-existing life. When life is hard, then now you have Christ to go to but when life is good, you have your previous life of comfort to remain in. Is this what it means to be satisfied in Christ? Just running to Him in difficult times? The Bible offers a different explanation.
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
39 Anyone who finds his life will lose it, and anyone who loses his life because of me will find it.
We are called to lose our life and as we lose our life, we find true, lasting, eternal life in Christ! As this happens, we change. We, like Paul in Romans 7, no longer want to do what our flesh longs to do. Does this mean that we become perfect whenever we become Christians? Absolutely not. But, we do change. We are rewired and reconfigured from the inside out as the Holy Spirit comes and helps us to see things as they truly are.
Does this mean that we are left to simply struggle the rest of our lives and that we are doomed to never be happy until we die and meet our savior face to face? We know that heaven is where we will truly be satisfied as we will be glorified and there will be no more sin, death, pain or sorrow. That will be the place of eternal joy and satisfaction, but we can experience that here and now as well. As we understand that our life is not primarily about ourselves but about Christ and being like Him, we begin to experience joy. As we live out our purpose of being holy as God is holy, we also experience satisfaction that is not in ourselves or in this world - rather our satisfaction is in Christ and He doesn’t ever change!
Evaluation
Evaluation
Maybe you’re still on the fence this evening about this statement. It’s a statement that circulates in Christian circles and maybe it’s something that you believe. Based upon our study of Scripture this evening, I pray that we can understand the holes in this statement at least. As we evaluate this statement, let’s consider a couple of examples.
Let’s consider the Christian living in unrepentant sin such as adultery. The Christian is living in this sin and they refuse to repent of it and turn because there is grace in Christ and, after all, God just wants me to be happy so He wouldn’t want me to stop making myself happy! Seriously, this is the twisted logic that some Christians use to justify sinful actions. What is the first problem here? Paul addresses this in Romans 6
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Whenever we sin, we are to repent - not continue to live in sin because we have died to sin. The excuse that an action makes us happy does not mean that it is right. Why is this the case? Because we are a new creation and we genuinely have a new heart. We know the issue of following our heart as Jeremiah talked about
9 The heart is more deceitful than anything else, and incurable—who can understand it?
Therefore, we can’t follow our heart. We can’t strive to just make ourselves happy regardless of the cost. We are called to be holy and being holy requires us to be set apart like our God is set apart. This requires us to pursue Christlikeness and whenever we do sin, we don’t continue to live in sin so that grace may abound - that’s abusing God’s grace! We are to repent and pursue God’s plan instead of our satisfaction.
The great news is that as we do this, as we are born again, as we are changed, as we strive to be holy as our God is holy, we find satisfaction in Him. This doesn’t mean that sin goes away or that God does not care about our happiness - He wants us to find ultimate joy, satisfaction, and happiness in Him.
So, does God just want you to be happy? No. He wants you to be holy and He wants you to be satisfied in Him. That is a massive distinction than what many people think and what our world teaches day in and day out. As the hymn says, “Who can satisfy my soul, like you?” The answer, we know, is nothing. I pray that we would be happy and have joy in life in every circumstance. That we would be happy at church, home, with family, at the grocery store, at the doctors office. This is a normal thing to desire and pray for - but ultimately the only way this will happen is whenever our identity is in Christ. Whenever He satisfies us and whenever He makes us happy.