Does God Want Me to Be Happy or Holy?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:05.000 | Does God want me to be happy or holy?
00:00:08.000 | It's a common question and Josh, a listener, writes in to ask it.
00:00:11.000 | Pastor John, my pastor who knows and loves the gospel, chose this as his main point of a recent sermon.
00:00:18.000 | God desires our obedience more than our happiness.
00:00:22.000 | Now, to me, this feels very much like law and not gospel.
00:00:27.000 | He did explain this as trusting him and obeying him, even in hardships.
00:00:32.000 | But doesn't the gospel do more? Doesn't it give us happiness in obeying him?
00:00:37.000 | What would you say, Pastor John?
00:00:39.000 | I remember 40 years ago when I was teaching at Bethel College, I had two colleagues, Art Lewis and Al Glenn.
00:00:48.000 | I don't think they'd mind my saying this.
00:00:51.000 | And they had a friendly controversy going on.
00:00:55.000 | They would pass each other in the hall.
00:00:57.000 | I'd watch this happen several times and laugh.
00:01:00.000 | They would pass each other in the hall and one, I won't even say which one said which,
00:01:04.000 | one said to the other, "Love Jesus!"
00:01:07.000 | And the other would say back, "Obey Jesus!"
00:01:11.000 | And they really did have a little controversy about where the note should be struck.
00:01:16.000 | And my guess is that all of us need some correcting from time to time.
00:01:23.000 | I mean, I fear that sometimes.
00:01:25.000 | I can get on a roll with a truth that I love and talk about it for weeks and weeks and realize,
00:01:31.000 | you know, there's some things that are going unsaid that need to be said,
00:01:37.000 | or what I'm saying is going to get bent out of shape.
00:01:41.000 | So I would want to be very careful before I pass any judgment on this pastor for the sentence,
00:01:48.000 | "God desires our obedience more than our happiness."
00:01:54.000 | My first agenda would be, as people might guess, "What do you mean by happiness?"
00:02:01.000 | Because my guess is he means something that probably would mean I would agree with him.
00:02:08.000 | So, for example, suppose he says, "What if he means God desires you to deny yourself that pornography
00:02:20.000 | more than he desires you to have the pleasure you will get from looking at it?"
00:02:25.000 | And if that's what he means, I agree with him.
00:02:28.000 | Or, "What if he means God desires you to stay in that conflicted marriage more than he desires for you
00:02:39.000 | to enjoy the relief you would feel after you get a divorce?"
00:02:45.000 | If that's what he means, I would agree with him.
00:02:48.000 | Or, "What if he means God desires you to get up off the couch and play with your children
00:02:55.000 | when you are tired more than he desires for you to have the pleasure of resting while you neglect your children?"
00:03:03.000 | And if that's what he means, when he says, "God desires your obedience more than your happiness," I agree with him.
00:03:10.000 | So I must be careful, and we must all be careful not to jump to judgment without defining terms.
00:03:19.000 | But I do totally empathize with Josh's concern if that's the only way his pastor talks about happiness
00:03:29.000 | in relation to obedience.
00:03:31.000 | I think if he does only talk that way, he's going to create a biblically false picture of the gospel
00:03:40.000 | and of the Christian life.
00:03:42.000 | Just this morning, I was studying John 17 in my personal devotions, and I read this.
00:03:51.000 | Jesus said, "These things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
00:04:01.000 | I have given them your word, and the world hated them because they are not of the world."
00:04:09.000 | So, "I speak to you, and great joy fills you. I speak to you, and great hatred comes against you."
00:04:19.000 | In two sentences, back to back.
00:04:22.000 | In other words, Jesus intends for us, in the very acts of obedience that bring down the hatred of the world,
00:04:32.000 | to be happy, to be fully happy in him, that his joy would rule in our hearts.
00:04:41.000 | And I know that many people use the word "joy" and "happiness" as different experiences.
00:04:49.000 | Happiness is superficial and based on circumstances. Joy is deep and based on Jesus.
00:04:56.000 | And, of course, there is such a thing as superficial happiness, and there is such a thing as deep and unshakable joy,
00:05:04.000 | but that distinction in the words won't hold up in the Bible.
00:05:09.000 | The Bible doesn't have a word for superficial happiness and non-superficial joy.
00:05:14.000 | They all flow into each other.
00:05:16.000 | All the words for joy and happiness and gladness and rejoicing and pleasure and delight,
00:05:20.000 | they're all used both ways in the Bible.
00:05:24.000 | They're used superficially, and they're used deeply.
00:05:27.000 | You can't carve it up that way.
00:05:30.000 | We must simply make clear at every point, "What does the Bible mean, and what do we mean in our preaching?"
00:05:36.000 | The main reason I don't like the sentence, "God desires our obedience more than our happiness,"
00:05:44.000 | is that God commands us to be happy.
00:05:47.000 | And, therefore, obedience to that command is happiness and can't be the opposite of happiness.
00:05:54.000 | It's a category confusion to juxtapose and oppose happiness and obedience when happiness is commanded.
00:06:05.000 | When happiness is commanded, happiness is obedience.
00:06:08.000 | So the Bible says, "Delight yourself in the Lord," Psalm 37:4.
00:06:13.000 | The Bible says, "Be glad in the Lord," Psalm 32:11.
00:06:17.000 | The Bible says, "Rejoice in the Lord," Philippians 3:1.
00:06:22.000 | The Bible says, "Rejoice always," 1 Thessalonians 5:16.
00:06:27.000 | The Bible says, "Do your acts of mercy with cheerfulness," Romans 12:8.
00:06:31.000 | The Bible says, "Serve the Lord with gladness," Psalm 100, verse 2.
00:06:36.000 | So it can be very misleading, at best, to say, "God desires your obedience more than your happiness,"
00:06:46.000 | because obedience to these commands is happiness.
00:06:51.000 | Bingo. Thank you, Pastor John.
00:06:53.000 | And for more on this connection, see episode number 13, "The Essential Warfare for Holiness,"
00:06:59.000 | which continues this discussion on the connection between happiness and holiness.
00:07:04.000 | To be perfectly holy would to be fully happy.
00:07:08.000 | And we are going to break for the weekend.
00:07:10.000 | You can look back on the episodes from the week and search our archives of hundreds of episodes in our new landing page.
00:07:16.000 | Go to DesiringGod.org.
00:07:19.000 | At the top of the page, click on the tab that says "More," and then click on "Ask Pastor John."
00:07:23.000 | Feel free to take some time this weekend to search our collection of episodes.
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00:07:31.000 | You can do all that from the new landing page at DesiringGod.org.
00:07:36.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. I'll see you on Monday.
00:07:38.000 | (end)
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