Christian Joy and Feasting
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - This week, Randy Elkhorn joins us on the phone.
00:00:07.600 | He's the author of the new book, Happiness,
00:00:09.440 | and we are talking about happiness all week
00:00:11.900 | on the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:00:14.080 | And Randy, what is the relationship between spiritual joy
00:00:19.040 | and the joy of God honoring parties and feasts?
00:00:23.920 | How should we think about spiritual joys
00:00:25.880 | and the enjoyment of great food and friends?
00:00:29.640 | - Well, it's amazing when you look at scripture
00:00:33.000 | and you see all these passages in the Old Testament
00:00:36.040 | about the parties, the feasts,
00:00:38.560 | and that's what feasts were.
00:00:39.520 | They were parties.
00:00:40.360 | They would involve often sacrifices,
00:00:43.540 | but most of the time was spent eating and drinking
00:00:46.280 | and basically having fun and taking time off.
00:00:51.000 | You see in Leviticus 23, God says,
00:00:54.960 | "You shall take on the first day
00:00:56.720 | "the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees,
00:01:00.060 | "boughs of leafy trees, willows of the brook,
00:01:02.520 | "and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God
00:01:06.040 | "for seven days."
00:01:07.760 | I mean, this is a seven-day party of rejoicing in God.
00:01:12.760 | And the Old Testament is full of God-ordained celebrations
00:01:17.760 | for the Israelites.
00:01:19.600 | In fact, there were seven different holidays
00:01:23.660 | built into Israel's calendar,
00:01:25.920 | and they added up to about 30 days per year.
00:01:28.040 | But when you add the weekly Sabbaths
00:01:29.800 | and then you add the days of feasting and rest
00:01:34.800 | and later feasts of Purim and Hanukkah
00:01:40.400 | and weddings and birth celebrations
00:01:43.640 | and all of this kind of stuff,
00:01:45.200 | the amount of time taken off exceeded three months annually.
00:01:50.120 | And you look at Deuteronomy 14.
00:01:52.080 | This is a passage that I just was so struck with.
00:01:56.440 | In verses 24 to 26 in the ESV, it says,
00:01:59.900 | "If the way is too long for you
00:02:01.860 | "so that you are not able to carry the tithe,
00:02:03.900 | "when the Lord your God blesses you,
00:02:05.500 | "then you shall turn it into money
00:02:07.780 | "and bind up the money in your hand
00:02:09.460 | "and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses
00:02:11.920 | "and spend the money for whatever you desire,
00:02:15.120 | "oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink,
00:02:19.520 | "whatever your appetite craves.
00:02:23.120 | "And you shall eat there before the Lord your God
00:02:26.800 | "and rejoice."
00:02:28.200 | And what strikes me, first of all, is the language.
00:02:30.560 | You talk about hedonism.
00:02:31.920 | I mean, this is a God-directed,
00:02:33.800 | he does whatever your appetite craves.
00:02:36.240 | Get the best of whatever you want to eat and drink,
00:02:40.280 | wine, strong drink, and you shall eat there
00:02:43.100 | before the Lord your God and rejoice.
00:02:44.760 | And I love that it says, "Before the Lord your God."
00:02:48.960 | Happiness and joy are not things
00:02:50.720 | we're to experience behind God's back.
00:02:53.060 | As if that were possible, which of course it's not.
00:02:55.760 | But he calls upon them, "Do it all before me
00:02:59.360 | "and I am, by implication, I'm gonna be there with you.
00:03:02.920 | "I'm going to enjoy it with you."
00:03:05.760 | And so when you're partying, I'll be partying with you.
00:03:09.160 | And think about the rejoicing that takes place
00:03:12.840 | in the presence of the angels of God
00:03:15.600 | that Jesus speaks of twice in Luke 15.
00:03:20.520 | And who's in the presence of the angels?
00:03:23.620 | Well, God's in the presence of the angels.
00:03:25.500 | God's people are in the presence of the angels.
00:03:27.620 | And of course, the angels themselves are there.
00:03:29.580 | But all heaven is throwing a party.
00:03:31.620 | All heaven is rejoicing over conversions on earth.
00:03:36.260 | And these are things that we are to celebrate.
00:03:40.140 | In 2 Chronicles 30, it talks about the people of Israel
00:03:43.860 | kept the feast of unloved bread for seven days
00:03:47.220 | with great gladness.
00:03:49.940 | And the words gladness and the various Hebrew words,
00:03:53.700 | numbers of them are used in all of these
00:03:56.060 | Old Testament celebrations.
00:03:58.980 | And you know, Tony, one of the things I really believe
00:04:01.260 | is that if people looked at the church
00:04:05.140 | less as a group of always critical, always complaining,
00:04:09.700 | always feeling persecuted, really bunch of curmudgeons,
00:04:13.940 | which sometimes we can project that image to the world,
00:04:17.700 | no doubt, and we can also project it even to our children.
00:04:22.060 | Growing up in Christian homes,
00:04:24.820 | they hear what mom and dad are saying
00:04:26.980 | and the critical spirit and the complaining
00:04:29.260 | and the ingratitude and all that sort of thing.
00:04:32.140 | But what if we as believers were known
00:04:35.780 | as the place of celebration and gladness,
00:04:38.380 | the place of feasting?
00:04:41.260 | And the New Testament, it wasn't just Old Testament,
00:04:43.140 | the New Testament church, the Lord's Supper,
00:04:45.540 | the love feast, you know.
00:04:47.200 | Now we've got the cracker and the juice, you know,
00:04:51.940 | and it's fine symbolically,
00:04:55.140 | but we really need to have feasts.
00:04:57.460 | And what if the world looked at us?
00:04:59.320 | What if we led the way in celebrating the United Nations?
00:05:03.500 | It was a unanimous vote, 192 countries several years ago,
00:05:06.980 | appointed March 20th
00:05:09.060 | as the International Day of Happiness.
00:05:11.740 | What if the church celebrated
00:05:14.620 | the International Day of Happiness
00:05:16.580 | by celebrating the good news of happiness
00:05:20.300 | that Isaiah 52.7 talks about?
00:05:22.560 | - Yes, more feasts in either case.
00:05:25.660 | Thank you, Randy.
00:05:26.580 | And in our circles, we like to say
00:05:29.060 | that external circumstances of life
00:05:30.900 | do not determine our happiness.
00:05:32.460 | This is helpful for those who are suffering.
00:05:35.820 | And it's an important pushback to our world
00:05:38.340 | that says outward circumstances in life
00:05:40.620 | are essential for true happiness.
00:05:42.980 | That's just, it's false.
00:05:44.680 | But it also seems disingenuous to say
00:05:48.340 | that outward circumstances play no role
00:05:51.600 | in God-glorifying happiness.
00:05:53.460 | So how do we talk about joy in God
00:05:55.980 | in God-glorifying circumstances in our lives?
00:06:00.660 | - Well, I think, first of all,
00:06:02.240 | we see Paul rejoicing over circumstances.
00:06:06.420 | And the Greek verb kairo and the noun form kara
00:06:11.420 | that are translated rejoicing and joy,
00:06:15.860 | those words are associated with Paul
00:06:17.900 | when he finds out that Epaphroditus,
00:06:22.580 | who these people were very deeply concerned about,
00:06:25.660 | is better now and he came close to death,
00:06:28.340 | but now we're rejoicing that he's well.
00:06:32.260 | Well, that's a circumstance.
00:06:33.660 | That's a good friend was in trouble.
00:06:36.180 | And now he's okay and you're rejoicing in that.
00:06:39.260 | And it's fine to rejoice in circumstances.
00:06:42.140 | If you get a raise, great, rejoice, be happy.
00:06:45.380 | That's circumstantial, but at the same time,
00:06:48.040 | it's a blessing of God.
00:06:49.160 | Many of God's common graces are circumstantial.
00:06:52.400 | However, we cannot rest our ultimate joy and happiness
00:06:57.400 | upon the circumstances in our lives.
00:07:00.340 | And I remember as a young Christian,
00:07:02.460 | when I was a teenager reading Richard Wurmbrand's
00:07:07.460 | Torture for Christ and Corrie Ten Boom's Hiding Place
00:07:11.540 | and Brother Andrew's God Smuggler
00:07:14.060 | and all of these great stories of people
00:07:17.020 | in huge tribulation, I mean, going through horrific things,
00:07:22.020 | yet in the midst of them, experiencing a transcendent joy,
00:07:28.900 | happiness, gladness, delight, pleasure in God.
00:07:33.900 | And I think one of the things that we need to do
00:07:36.660 | is to remind ourselves of our true circumstances.
00:07:41.140 | Usually when we think of circumstances,
00:07:42.780 | we're almost kind of dismissive about it.
00:07:44.620 | Well, it's just like, okay, if things are going well,
00:07:48.460 | well, Scripture says give thanks in all circumstances.
00:07:51.740 | In 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, and Paul says,
00:07:55.100 | "I have learned in whatever situation I am in
00:07:57.780 | "to be content.
00:07:59.340 | "I know how to be brought low.
00:08:01.020 | "I know how to abound in any and every circumstances.
00:08:04.000 | "I've learned the secret of facing plenty
00:08:06.460 | "and hunger, abundance and need.
00:08:08.400 | "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
00:08:11.340 | But I also think we need to focus on
00:08:13.620 | what I would call our true circumstances,
00:08:16.260 | which is not all circumstances are visible.
00:08:19.940 | We are created by a good and happy God.
00:08:23.700 | We're created in His image.
00:08:25.020 | He gave us the capacity to be happy.
00:08:26.780 | If you just took Romans 8 alone,
00:08:29.900 | I mean, think of verse one,
00:08:30.820 | "There is therefore no condemnation
00:08:32.780 | "for those who are in Christ Jesus."
00:08:34.740 | And verse two, "In Jesus I've been set free
00:08:36.820 | "from sin and death, and God sent His Son to save me."
00:08:40.060 | And verse six, "I can set my mind on the Spirit,
00:08:43.260 | "and that's life and peace."
00:08:44.980 | And verse 11, "God's Spirit indwells and empowers me."
00:08:48.780 | And verse 15, "God's adopted me,
00:08:51.540 | "and I can call Him Abba, Father."
00:08:54.860 | Verse 16, "I'm an heir of God, fellow heir with Christ."
00:08:57.660 | Verse 18, "The sufferings of this present time
00:09:00.660 | "are worthy to be compared with the glory
00:09:02.700 | "that's to be revealed in us."
00:09:04.460 | The creation will be delivered
00:09:08.860 | to the freedom and glory of God's children.
00:09:11.260 | The world itself, the universe itself
00:09:13.820 | will be ultimately redeemed.
00:09:16.620 | The redemption of our bodies,
00:09:18.340 | the Spirit prays for us in our weakness.
00:09:21.220 | Christ Himself intercedes for us.
00:09:24.140 | They indwell us.
00:09:25.420 | We have been called to a life in which God promises
00:09:30.140 | that He will cause all things to work together for our good.
00:09:34.140 | We're more than conquerors through Him who loved us,
00:09:36.340 | God who gave us His Son.
00:09:37.700 | How much more will He give us?
00:09:39.020 | And then finally, to top it all off,
00:09:41.940 | nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ.
00:09:45.100 | Well, those are the true circumstances
00:09:48.100 | of the Christian life.
00:09:49.020 | Let's meditate on those circumstances
00:09:52.100 | which are a true ground for eternal and present happiness.
00:09:57.100 | - Yes, what a magnificent chapter.
00:10:00.100 | Romans chapter eight,
00:10:01.180 | the true circumstances of the Christian life.
00:10:03.940 | Randy Alcorn, thank you.
00:10:04.940 | We're talking about Randy's new book, "Happiness,"
00:10:06.780 | and tomorrow we're gonna end our week
00:10:08.460 | and I'll ask Randy about joy in heaven.
00:10:11.500 | Randy is the author of the bestselling book, "Heaven,"
00:10:13.940 | and now he's the author of a great new book
00:10:15.820 | titled "Happiness."
00:10:16.820 | So what will our happiness look like in heaven?
00:10:19.860 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:10:20.820 | We'll find out tomorrow.
00:10:22.060 | (upbeat music)
00:10:24.640 | (upbeat music)
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