(upbeat music) - This week, Randy Elkhorn joins us on the phone. He's the author of the new book, Happiness, and we are talking about happiness all week on the Ask Pastor John podcast. And Randy, what is the relationship between spiritual joy and the joy of God honoring parties and feasts?

How should we think about spiritual joys and the enjoyment of great food and friends? - Well, it's amazing when you look at scripture and you see all these passages in the Old Testament about the parties, the feasts, and that's what feasts were. They were parties. They would involve often sacrifices, but most of the time was spent eating and drinking and basically having fun and taking time off.

You see in Leviticus 23, God says, "You shall take on the first day "the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees, "boughs of leafy trees, willows of the brook, "and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God "for seven days." I mean, this is a seven-day party of rejoicing in God.

And the Old Testament is full of God-ordained celebrations for the Israelites. In fact, there were seven different holidays built into Israel's calendar, and they added up to about 30 days per year. But when you add the weekly Sabbaths and then you add the days of feasting and rest and later feasts of Purim and Hanukkah and weddings and birth celebrations and all of this kind of stuff, the amount of time taken off exceeded three months annually.

And you look at Deuteronomy 14. This is a passage that I just was so struck with. In verses 24 to 26 in the ESV, it says, "If the way is too long for you "so that you are not able to carry the tithe, "when the Lord your God blesses you, "then you shall turn it into money "and bind up the money in your hand "and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses "and spend the money for whatever you desire, "oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, "whatever your appetite craves.

"And you shall eat there before the Lord your God "and rejoice." And what strikes me, first of all, is the language. You talk about hedonism. I mean, this is a God-directed, he does whatever your appetite craves. Get the best of whatever you want to eat and drink, wine, strong drink, and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice.

And I love that it says, "Before the Lord your God." Happiness and joy are not things we're to experience behind God's back. As if that were possible, which of course it's not. But he calls upon them, "Do it all before me "and I am, by implication, I'm gonna be there with you.

"I'm going to enjoy it with you." And so when you're partying, I'll be partying with you. And think about the rejoicing that takes place in the presence of the angels of God that Jesus speaks of twice in Luke 15. And who's in the presence of the angels? Well, God's in the presence of the angels.

God's people are in the presence of the angels. And of course, the angels themselves are there. But all heaven is throwing a party. All heaven is rejoicing over conversions on earth. And these are things that we are to celebrate. In 2 Chronicles 30, it talks about the people of Israel kept the feast of unloved bread for seven days with great gladness.

And the words gladness and the various Hebrew words, numbers of them are used in all of these Old Testament celebrations. And you know, Tony, one of the things I really believe is that if people looked at the church less as a group of always critical, always complaining, always feeling persecuted, really bunch of curmudgeons, which sometimes we can project that image to the world, no doubt, and we can also project it even to our children.

Growing up in Christian homes, they hear what mom and dad are saying and the critical spirit and the complaining and the ingratitude and all that sort of thing. But what if we as believers were known as the place of celebration and gladness, the place of feasting? And the New Testament, it wasn't just Old Testament, the New Testament church, the Lord's Supper, the love feast, you know.

Now we've got the cracker and the juice, you know, and it's fine symbolically, but we really need to have feasts. And what if the world looked at us? What if we led the way in celebrating the United Nations? It was a unanimous vote, 192 countries several years ago, appointed March 20th as the International Day of Happiness.

What if the church celebrated the International Day of Happiness by celebrating the good news of happiness that Isaiah 52.7 talks about? - Yes, more feasts in either case. Thank you, Randy. And in our circles, we like to say that external circumstances of life do not determine our happiness. This is helpful for those who are suffering.

And it's an important pushback to our world that says outward circumstances in life are essential for true happiness. That's just, it's false. But it also seems disingenuous to say that outward circumstances play no role in God-glorifying happiness. So how do we talk about joy in God in God-glorifying circumstances in our lives?

- Well, I think, first of all, we see Paul rejoicing over circumstances. And the Greek verb kairo and the noun form kara that are translated rejoicing and joy, those words are associated with Paul when he finds out that Epaphroditus, who these people were very deeply concerned about, is better now and he came close to death, but now we're rejoicing that he's well.

Well, that's a circumstance. That's a good friend was in trouble. And now he's okay and you're rejoicing in that. And it's fine to rejoice in circumstances. If you get a raise, great, rejoice, be happy. That's circumstantial, but at the same time, it's a blessing of God. Many of God's common graces are circumstantial.

However, we cannot rest our ultimate joy and happiness upon the circumstances in our lives. And I remember as a young Christian, when I was a teenager reading Richard Wurmbrand's Torture for Christ and Corrie Ten Boom's Hiding Place and Brother Andrew's God Smuggler and all of these great stories of people in huge tribulation, I mean, going through horrific things, yet in the midst of them, experiencing a transcendent joy, happiness, gladness, delight, pleasure in God.

And I think one of the things that we need to do is to remind ourselves of our true circumstances. Usually when we think of circumstances, we're almost kind of dismissive about it. Well, it's just like, okay, if things are going well, well, Scripture says give thanks in all circumstances.

In 1 Thessalonians 5, 18, and Paul says, "I have learned in whatever situation I am in "to be content. "I know how to be brought low. "I know how to abound in any and every circumstances. "I've learned the secret of facing plenty "and hunger, abundance and need. "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." But I also think we need to focus on what I would call our true circumstances, which is not all circumstances are visible.

We are created by a good and happy God. We're created in His image. He gave us the capacity to be happy. If you just took Romans 8 alone, I mean, think of verse one, "There is therefore no condemnation "for those who are in Christ Jesus." And verse two, "In Jesus I've been set free "from sin and death, and God sent His Son to save me." And verse six, "I can set my mind on the Spirit, "and that's life and peace." And verse 11, "God's Spirit indwells and empowers me." And verse 15, "God's adopted me, "and I can call Him Abba, Father." Verse 16, "I'm an heir of God, fellow heir with Christ." Verse 18, "The sufferings of this present time "are worthy to be compared with the glory "that's to be revealed in us." The creation will be delivered to the freedom and glory of God's children.

The world itself, the universe itself will be ultimately redeemed. The redemption of our bodies, the Spirit prays for us in our weakness. Christ Himself intercedes for us. They indwell us. We have been called to a life in which God promises that He will cause all things to work together for our good.

We're more than conquerors through Him who loved us, God who gave us His Son. How much more will He give us? And then finally, to top it all off, nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ. Well, those are the true circumstances of the Christian life. Let's meditate on those circumstances which are a true ground for eternal and present happiness.

- Yes, what a magnificent chapter. Romans chapter eight, the true circumstances of the Christian life. Randy Alcorn, thank you. We're talking about Randy's new book, "Happiness," and tomorrow we're gonna end our week and I'll ask Randy about joy in heaven. Randy is the author of the bestselling book, "Heaven," and now he's the author of a great new book titled "Happiness." So what will our happiness look like in heaven?

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll find out tomorrow. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)