Sermon Tone Analysis

The Radically Normal Christian:

Part V: Is God Your Only Joy?

October 16, 2011

PRAYER

SCRIPTURE READING: NEHEMIAH 8:10-12

IS GOD ENOUGH?

A while back, I mentioned a sermon that said you should be ALARMED for your SPIRITUAL STATE if you find yourself...

...coveting any PLEASURE more than your PRAYER times,

...enjoying a BOOK more than your BIBLE,

...reading the NEWSPAPERS for RELAXATION more than the Bible or some spiritual book,

...reverencing any HOUSE more than the HOUSE of GOD,

...SATISFIED with any TABLE more than the Lord’s Table,

...LOVING any PERSON more than that of the Holy Spirit,

...or delighted with any PROSPECT more than that of the RETURN of JESUS.1

This pastor is not particularly notable, except that I have heard many sermons that echo the same thought.

Similarly, in FRANCIS CHAN’S “Crazy Love”

...my wife’s grandma Clara offered a real-life example of a person consumed with Jesus.

I once attended a play with my wife and some of her relatives, including Grandma Clara.

During intermission, I leaned over and asked what she thought of the play.

She said, “Oh honey, I really don’t want to be here right now.”

When I asked her why, she replied, “I just don’t know if this is where I want to be when Christ returns.

I’d rather be helping someone or on my knees praying.

I don’t want Him to return and find me sitting in a theater.

I was shocked by her answer.

Yes, we are called to “keep watch” (Matt 24:42), but it is strange to see someone who takes that command, and so many others, seriously.

In fact it is more than strange – it’s convicting.

(p.

142)

Q Yes, it is CONVICTING, but SHOULD it be?

~* Of course, you know by now that I do NOT BELIEVE these three anecdotes to be Biblical examples of MATURE CHRISTIAN faith.

I think that all of these people are probably SINCERE, and they are not unbiblical, but these are not examples of a HIGHER WAY.

That is what I want to strive against, that these are in anyway a higher calling.

DIFFERENT, not HIGHER.

GOD SHOULDN’T BE YOUR ONLY HAPPINESS

As many of you know, I am preaching this series in conjunction with a BOOK I am writing.

My WORKING SUBTITLE is “God shouldn’t be your only happiness,” because he doesn’t want to be.

~* The Biblical example is God FILLING this world with JOYS and HAPPINESS that he DELIGHTS in us DELIGHTING IN.

Psalm 104:14-15 14 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate-- bringing forth food from the earth: 15 wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart.

This isn’t an ISOLATED example; Scripture is BRIMMING with examples of God wanting us to delight in the things of earth.

My book projected started out focusing much more on spiritual joys, but that was changed when I did an EXTENSIVE WORD STUDY on words like “joy” and “delight” in Scripture.

I found about 750 such references in the Bible and then went through them one by one and noted who was experiencing the joy, did the Bible approve or disapprove of it, and was the joy caused by earthly or spiritual things.

Q What do you think the SPREAD was of OT to NT joy references?

~* Three-fourths of references to joy were in the OT, and the OT is about three-fourths of the Bible – joy is EVENLY SPREAD!

I looked specifically at all the times joy “done” by anyone other than God and is either COMMANDED or APPROVED of.

Q What do you think the break down was between “EARTHLY” and “SPIRITUAL” joys?

This is where it gets INTERESTING:

In the OT, about 45% of approved joys were purely EARTHLY, 40% spiritual, and the remaining 15% mixed spiritual and earthly.

In the NT however only 5% were earthly and 95% were spiritual.2

Remember what I said about the OT and the NT WORKING TOGETHER, that the OT focuses on earthly, temporal realities and the NT on heavenly, spiritual realities?3

The NT DOESN’T REPLACE the OT.

It’s not as if God though that earthly joys were good in the OT, but changed his mind between the testaments.

Instead, the writers of the NT could FOCUS on the SPIRITUAL because the OT covered the earthly.

HAVING FUN WITH, BUT WITHOUT, GOD

The long and the short of this is that God wants us to find our JOY in HIM, in spiritual and eternal things, but also in EARTHLY and temporal THINGS.

I love playing with my DAUGHTERS, being with them is one my deepest delights.

But how would I feel if I bought them a SPECIAL GIFT but they refused to open it because they feel like they should be with me instead of playing with a toy.

~* It’s UNBIBLICAL to be UNBALANCED in either direction, Stoic (towards spiritual joys) or Indulgent (toward earthly ones).

God wants us to enjoy many pleasures SOMETIMES MORE than PRAYER.

It can be perfectly godly to enjoy a MEAL more than COMMUNION.

And I don’t mind in the least if JESUS were to COME BACK and find me enjoying this EARTHLY life he has blessed me with.

OUR TURN

As you may have also guessed, I am NOT going to LEAVE it THERE.

While some of you may THINK that we should FOLLOW that RADICAL approach, I doubt any of us really do.

You probably just feel GUILTY when you read books like “Crazy Love.”

~* HALF of my GOAL for this message for you to feel LESS GUILTY about enjoying this life.

But only half.

The OTHER HALF is to PUSH, to INVITE, to PROD normal Christians towards becoming RADICALLY NORMAL.

I don’t want a CHURCH full of STOIC, HYPER-SPIRITUAL RADICALS, nor one filled with INDULGENT, CARNAL NORMALS.

RADICAL OR NORMAL?

To SUM UP what I have said so far: It is radical to abandon earthly pleasures for the sake of eternal joy.

Q What then is the NORMAL way people live in our culture (and I specifically mean our CULTURE, it is different in others)?

It is normal to PURSUE INSTANT GRATIFICATION at the expense of LONG-TERM happiness and ETERNAL JOY.

~* THIS WEEK we can only FOCUS on LONG-TERM HAPPINESS, next week it will be eternal joy.

MAKING OUR KIDS HAPPY

Let’s talk about long term HAPPINESS vs. instant GRATIFICATION:

Q All of us who are parents want our CHILDREN to grow up to be HAPPY – but what do we MEAN by HAPPY?

Do we mean that they are always in a GOOD MOOD and that they are NEVER UPSET and have EVERYTHING they WANT?

Or do we want them to learn to be HEALTHY, THRIVING, PRODUCTIVE members of society who know how to GROW through HARDSHIPS and DISAPPOINTMENTS?

~* The FIRST option is all about the SHORT-TERM gratification and the OTHER about LONG TERM happiness.

As parents our INSTINCT is to PROTECT them from all sorrow, heartache and disappointment.

But we know that hurts them in the long run.

~* TRAVELOCITY commercial.

I’m reading “The LOST VIRTUE of Happiness,” about choosing long-term happiness over short-term.

He tells this story:

When my daughter’s eighth-grade team was being creamed in a soccer game, the coach said at halftime, “Girls, don’t worry about the score.

The reason we play soccer is to have fun; so let’s try to have a blast during the second half and go home happy whatever the final result.”

...

He was mindlessly parroting the cultural mantra that pleasurable satisfaction is the goal of life.

The reasons my wife and I wanted our daughter to play soccer were to learn how to win and to lose, to cooperate with others, to sacrifice for a long-term goal, which requires delaying instant gratification, and-well, you get the picture.

(The Lost Virtue of Happiness, p. 16)

KILLING OURSELVES WITH FUN

But LIVING for IMMEDIATE GRATIFICATION is what our CULTURE does:

I remembering reading about a YOUNG LADY whose lifestyle was practically KILLING HER – hard partying all weekend, one-night stands, spending money she didn’t have, going deeper into debt.

She went to a counselor because she was out of control and becoming more and more miserable.

When the counselor suggested that she maybe ease up a bit, she looked genuinely confused, and asked, “You mean I don’t HAVE to do EVERYTHING I WANT to do?”

~* She was living what she’d been TAUGHT – that the PURPOSE of this LIFE is to have FUN now but ended up MISERABLE.

This isn’t just a MODERN problem:

Genesis 25:29-34 29 Once when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau came in from the open country, famished.

30 He said to Jacob, “Quick, let me have some of that red stew!

I’m famished!”

(That is why he was also called Edom.) 31 Jacob replied, “First sell me your birthright.”

32 “Look, I am about to die,” Esau said.