Grace & Truth Church
Almost True - wk 4
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      • Matthew 21:23–46NLT

  • The Happiness Gospel

    To kick us off this morning I want to give you a few “True of False” statements to ponder. Don’t answer out loud or anything, but let’s read them and think about which statements you believe to be true and which ones you believe to be false…
    TRUE OR FALSE?
    God loves you.
    God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.
    Because God loves you, you are worthy of happiness.
    Your life is meant to be enjoyed.
    You deserve a life that you enjoy.
    It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re happy.
    You shouldn’t settle for anything less that whatever makes you happy.
    What we just read sounds true and it feels true because it is almost true. The reason it is almost true is because there is truth in it, but it’s not completely true. The parts that are NOT TRUE are causing more and more people to walk away from God, more than any other lie that the Church faces today.
    For the last few weeks we have been talking about cultural religion that sounds good and seems right because it is almost true. At the outset of this series I briefly mentioned one of these spiritual figureheads that are leading people away from God with “almost truths.” He teaches that he is a conduit for an alien entity who wishes to speak to humans. One of the things he teaches people to do is to do whatever makes you happy. To seek happiness with your life and only good things will follow.
    Though his specific brand of preaching sounds crazy to Christ followers, many churches are adopting an eerily similar set of beliefs of finding God in happiness. Another way it is said is that God wants you to be happy above all else. It sounds good and seems right, but it is a leading cause of what is called deconstructionism. People believe this teaching, then learn that it isn’t true, and walk away from God. It is called “deconstruction.” They claim they are deconstructing their faith.
    “Above all I deserve to be happy. God wants me to be happy.” Craig Groeschel calls this teaching…

    The Happiness Gospel

    Here is the danger of this belief. When we believe that our happiness is God’s highest purpose for us, it changes our relationship with God. Instead of believing that we exist to serve God, it shifts the way we think about God and we live as if God exists to serve us.
    Whether we vocalize it or not, we begin to treat God as if He is there to serve our happiness. In effect, we reduce God to a “Cosmic Coke Machine.” We open our bibles and see a list of things to choose from, decide what we want, pay in prayer, push the button, and “ker-plunk!” we get what we desire. The Happiness Gospel.
    Let’s go to God in prayer before we dive into this “almost truth” of the “Happiness Gospel.”
    Pray
    As I noted earlier, the Happiness Gospel is one of the beliefs that is at the forefront of people walking away from God in a very vocal movement. There are several well known Christians who are denouncing their faith, and almost every one of them come from a “Happiness Gospel” background. This is important for us as Christ followers because if we allow ourselves to slip into this dangerous and prolific cultural lie, there is a very good chance that we will end up walking away from God too.
    “I tried the God thing, went to church, gave in the offering every week because God promised to give me more money back if I did, and I prayed all the prayers. Now I am still broke, in an unhappy marriage, working a job that I hate, and I’m still not happy.”
    If you fall for the Happiness Gospel you will eventually conclude that “If God wants me happy and I’m not, then God either doesn’t care, He isn’t good, or He isn’t even real!” Then you’ll walk away.
    Now, don’t hear what I am NOT saying. This doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care about your happiness or that God wants you to be unhappy. Remember, we are talking about something that is almost true. God is real. God is good. God does care about you and He delights in your happiness.
    Think about your kids or your grandchildren. Do you like it when they are happy? I hope so! I love it when Macayla is happy. When she was younger, I loved seeing her laugh and have fun, but her happiness wasn’t the highest priority. If it was our highest priority she would have had a lot more donuts for dinner.
    In a similar way, God delights in your happiness, but your happiness isn’t God’s highest purpose for your life. So…
    What role does God play in your happiness?
    God wants you to experience happiness, but not at the expense of holiness.
    Peter said it this way… 1 Peter 1:14-16
    1 Peter 1:14–16 (NLT)
    14 ... Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
    Notice what God didn’t say. He didn’t say, “Be happy because I am happy.” He said to be “Holy.” The Greek word here means the same thing as the Hebrew word that Peter quotes. It means to be holy, to be set apart. It means to be different than the world. Instead of being dedicated to things of the world, like happiness, it means to be dedicated to God and His purposes.
    When we are dedicated to our own happiness, we will always run into trouble because our happiness is a horrible guide to truth. In fact, if you are taking notes here are two big problems with the Happiness Gospel. When we believe in the Happiness Gospel we have to make decisions we will have to validate them with these statements…
    Two Problems With The Happiness Gospel:
    Whatever makes me happy must be right.
    Whatever makes me unhappy must be wrong.
    What makes you happy? I’m happy when I experience comfort. I love convenience. Pleasure? Of course!
    What makes you unhappy? Probably the opposite. Nobody wants to experience discomfort, inconvenience, or pain.
    If our goal is happiness instead of holiness, we will pursue pleasure and avoid pain. If you have ever eaten ice cream until you made yourself sick, then you know that what brings us pleasure isn’t always good for us! The flip side is also true, often what is difficult isn’t always bad for us!
    In your life, have you noticed that God will often use what is difficult to teach us to trust Him and to depend on Him? Certainly in scripture people would often turn to God after they had experienced something difficult or sometimes even horrific. They would even turn away from God as they experienced more and more pleasure.
    The problem gets worse when we prioritize Happiness over Holiness. When happiness is most important we will almost always rationalize sin. How do we rationalize sin?
    Rationalizing sin: When our mind makes an excuse for what our spirit knows is wrong.
    A few weeks ago in bible study we talked about one of the predominant arguments in Jesus’ day about divorce. Some believed that happiness was the most important thing. They believed that God allowed them to divorce for any reason as long as they gave written notice. They were trying to trap Jesus with the question because they probably knew it wasn’t right, but the way they interpreted scripture allowed their minds to make excuses.
    We still do this today. I know God calls me to treat this flesh and blood vessel as a temple, but I allow my mind to make excuses. I’ll start my diet tomorrow. It’s been a long day. Sometimes I even act like Esau, who God didn’t look to highly upon, when he said, “I am starving to death! I’ll give anything for food,” even though he probably wasn’t about to die of starvation.
    “I’m not gossiping, I just want to tell you so that you can pray for these people.”
    “It’s okay to look, as long as I don’t touch.”
    “I love Jesus and all, but I want to do what makes me happy!”
    Rationalizing. Allowing our minds to make an excuse for what our spirit knows is wrong.
    If you find yourself rationalizing something in your life, or defending something that you know isn’t right, allow this quote from author Tim Keller to sink in…
    “The sin that is the most destructive in your life right now is the one you are most defensive about.” -Tim Keller
    God delights in your happiness, but not at the expense of holiness. I hope nobody feels beat up right now, because that isn’t the point of this conversation. The point is that when we shift our focus from our happiness to holiness something special starts to happen. First of all, we get to know God more. Then the more we get to know God, we start to realize that…
    Holiness and happiness are not opposing values.
    Before you started following Christ, how many of you would say that you used to think that serving God would keep you from having fun? “If I give my life to God, I will have to give up all of the things that I enjoy and move to Africa. I can’t drink, I can’t smoke, I can’t chew, and I can’t go out with girls who do!”
    Every commercial you watch on TV and every advertisement that pops up on your phone promises the same thing. This thing is going to make you happy! They all point you to finding happiness outside of God. Get WHAT you want! If you get the right WHAT, you will finally be happy! Is it true? Did you buy the thing and finally find lasting happiness?
    If happiness is found in a WHAT, and you go get the new what, you should be happy! Maybe you were for a while. You got the new shoes because it was supposed to make you happy, and you were… Until your best friend posted Facebook pictures of herself wearing the same shoes!
    If we are looking for the WHAT to make us happy, we will often get stuck in a cycle of WHAT ELSE. My phone service is terrible, so I would be happy if I could switch. So I switch, but it still doesn’t work quite right, so I would be happy if I replaced my out dated phone. I get the new phone, but now what would make me happy is one of those fancy watches that let’s me text and call without even having to pick up that fancy phone. I was happy with the watch, but it’s boring now. What would make me happy is if I could use more of it’s functions. If I just bought some of those golf tags for my golf clubs where my watch could track my golf shots I would be happy. The golf tags are cool, but the problem now is my clubs. I would be happy if I could just get some new ones. Why did I just by these new clubs and put them in an old golf bag, I’d be happy with a new bag.
    The happiness didn’t last! Why? A WHAT always leads to a WHAT ELSE?
    Happiness and Holiness are not competing values. They actually compliment each other. When we realize that true joy and true meaning is found in God alone, we will discover that…
    True Holiness Leads To Lasting Happiness.
    We’ve talked about this part of King David’s life many times, but it is a wealth of life lessons for us to ponder today. David had it all, wealth, power, women, popularity, and he had to learn this lesson the hard way. When he should have been out fighting in the war that his kingdom was participating in, he let ideas that are almost true impact his decisions.
    If this story happened today, he could say that he learned these ideas on Facebook or YouTube. Almost true ideas like we have been talking about. Rest up and focus on yourself because you can’t pour from an empty cup. Your happiness is your top priority. You owe it to yourself to be happy. Life your truth. You don’t need God in your day to day, you are enough. Do what makes you happy!
    Then he let himself rationalize his sin, and that only lead to things getting worse and worse. He ends up getting someone pregnant and murdering her husband in an attempt to cover it up. Finally, one day he woke up and realized that he was far from God. “What have I done? How did I get here?” He remembered that God called him to be Holy, set apart, different than the rest of the world. Then he repented and he prayed this beautiful prayer to God…
    Psalm 51:1–12 (NIV)
    1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin... 10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me... 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
    David cried out to God because he remembered where true happiness is found. It wasn’t in WHAT he was doing or WHAT he had. He remembered that…
    Lasting happiness is found in a WHO not a WHAT.
    In the Psalm 16, David tells us who the who is…
    Psalm 16:2–11 (NIV)
    2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” ... 5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure... 11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
    When he tried to find happiness he realized that apart from God he has no good thing. He realized that lasting happiness, true joy, was found in God alone. It’s found in a WHO, not a WHAT.
    Don’t fall victim to the Happiness Gospel. Doing what makes you happy, living your best life now, living YOUR truth, chasing your dreams, following your heart, living as if your happiness is all that matters sounds good and seems right, but in the end pursuing happiness has only lead people to suffer more mental health problems, more depression, more anxiety, more loneliness, and more hopelessness. Why?
    Because lasting happiness is never a WHAT, it’s always a WHO.
    Here’s the application question we’ve been asking ourselves each week in this study...
    Where are you pursuing happiness over holiness?
    What is God calling you to do about it?
    Are you happy? Whether the answer is yes or no, the truth is that life is always hard, but God is always good. When I was preparing for this message I learned that last year a friend of mine from college was going through some tough challenges. Last year his dad passed away. At that time his mom was entering advanced dementia and his physically and mentally disabled brother was living with them.
    When life happens like that, the only thing the Happiness Gospel will get you is further from God. In his situation, some would conclude, “If God wants me happy and this is my life, then God’s not good. He doesn’t care. He can’t be real.”
    But God is real. God is good. God does care. God delights in our happiness, but our happiness is not God’s highest priority. Holiness leads to lasting happiness because lasting happiness is found in a WHO, God, not a WHAT.
    When our WHAT is difficult, it draws us close to God. It teaches us to depend on Him. God doesn’t make bad things happen to us, but He will use what we are going through to teach us to trust Him.
    The more I pursue Him and delight in Him, the more I discover that God is NOT my ticket to happiness. He IS my happiness! He is real, He cares, and God is ALWAYS GOOD!
    Pray
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