Welcome to week 2 of Urban Legends. Last week I started off by giving you a little public service announcement for the flu, which some of you fell for. Today I want to show you some pictures and you can tell me it they are real or fake. This should be fun.
(Couldn’t post pictures here)
So here we are on our second week of urban legends. What we started off saying last week is that there are all kinds of urban legends in our culture. They are everywhere. And some of them are clearly false, but often times, many of the urban legends that we run into are sort-of believable. They sound like they could be true, and the reason why is that they do contain some truth, like those pictures we just looked at. There was authenticity in each of those pictures. Some of them were just photo-shopped.
But we also discovered that there are such things as Spiritual Urban Legends. We said last week that a spiritual urban legend is just like a secular urban legend. It’s a belief, story, assumption or truism that gets passed around as fact. The source can be a friend, Bible study or even a sermon. And because they sound so plausible and come from a trusted and reliable source, spiritual urban legends are often accepted without question. Eventually, they begin to take on a life of their own, and it’s difficult to refute them because “everybody” knows they are true and anyone who questions their truth gets attacked.
But what we’ve said so far is that believing spiritual urban legends is dangerous. Believing spiritual urban legends can harm are faith. and as we’re going to see today, believing spiritual urban legends can end up destroying us.
Today, I want to talk to you about a spiritual urban legend that I think is one of the most dangerous, and yet, one of the most common spiritual urban legends in the American church today. It’s actually an Urban Legend that strikes at the very heart of what it means to be an American. That’s why it’s so prevalent. We hear people talk about this all the time. You will hear it on TV today with TV preachers. You’ll read books about it, and you will hear it over and over and over again, and it is a message that feels very good. Here is the urban legend. It goes something like this. God wants you happy. Or it’s said in other ways: God has good things in store for you. God wants you to enjoy your life. God wants you to prosper in every single way. The bottom line is, God wants you happy.
It is very subtle, and yet very seductive. And it’s believable. And it’s everywhere. We read it in the declaration of Independence where it states: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. You can see it even permeating our children’s stories. Read any fairy tale, any story to a kid, and you will always hear it close out with the same famous line … “And they all lived,” what? Say it with me, “And they all lived happily ever after.” But is that true? Check this out:
[Video, Jonathan with children starting in the middle of the story] Papa bear said, “Who’s been eating my porridge?” And mama bear said, “Who’s been sitting in my chair?” And baby bear said, “Hey, somebody’s sleeping in my bed. It’s a little girl.” Well, papa bear had had a really bad day, because his house taxes went up, and because his boss was mad at him. So, papa bear lost his cool and went to the little girl and grabbed her with his paws. Then mama bear grabbed the little girl and pawed her across the face, and blood shot on the wall. And the little girl screamed, “Help me. Help me. I’m only a little girl. Somebody save me!” But mama bear and papa bear showed no mercy. They clawed the little girl, and threw her little blonde head up against the wall like a rag doll until the little girl slowly bled to death, and baby bear went up to the girl and said, “That’ll teach you to sleep in my bed.” And baby bear ate the little girl for dinner, and the three little bears lived happily ever after. The end.
For those of you who wonder what kind of parents we are, in my wife’s defense, she was at work when we shot that, and she’s seeing the video for the first time today. She was wondering all week long why Levi started to freak out every time we sat down to read a story, so … anyway, the truth is, sometimes, stories don’t have a happy ending, but yet, the positive message that God wants you happy, it just feels so good, and it is so right.
What I would love to tell you is that if you just come to God, you will have the best year ever! Everything will work out and you will always be happy. Because God wants you happy, God only has good things in store for you. The problem is, though, that’s an urban legend. It’s not true. And not only is it not true, it’s dangerous.
There is serious danger in believing this urban legend. One of the dangers is that it elevates us to the point where God is there to serve us, rather than the truth, and that is that we are here to serve Him. The last part of Colossians 1:16 says, all things were created by him and for him. In other words, you and I exist for him. God doesn’t exist for or revolve around us. We exist for him.
When we believe that God revolves around us, we reduce a holy God of the universe into a cosmic Coke machine. What we do is, we put our quarters in, and we say our little prayer, and we press the button choosing which we want, and we expect God to deliver. And if what we pray for doesn’t come out of a slot, we blame God, because there’s something wrong if God wants me happy, and yet, I’m not. Therein lies the danger of this very subtle and very seductive urban legend that God wants you happy.
If God wants me happy, and I’m not, then God failed. If God really desires for me to be happy, but I am miserable, then God didn’t deliver. God didn’t do what I needed Him to do to make me happy. So, as much as everyone I know wants to believe, “God wants me happy,” and as often as you will hear, “God wants you happy. God wants you prosperous.” As often as you will hear that, today I want us to see what the Bible really says.
I think a lot of the confusion comes because we misread a very popular verse. In fact, most urban legends come from the misreading or partial reading of select verses, but they leave out the whole of Scripture. It’s very dangerous to take one verse out of context and to have it say what we want it to say. That’s what happens with this urban legend. People take one sentence that Jesus said and get from it that God wants us to be happy. Let me show you the verse. Jesus is talking here in John 10:10 and he says this: 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Now let’s talk through this verse for a minute. This verse comes in the middle of a teaching that Jesus is giving about who he is. He says things like he’s the good shepherd. He says that his sheep hear his voice and follow him. He says that he is the gate and the only way to salvation, which we’ll talk about in a couple of weeks. But then we come to this very familiar verse which seems to imply or say that God wants us to be happy.
First, notice that it says there’s a thief and the thief comes to do three things. What are they? He comes to steal and to kill and to destroy. Jesus is describing a real enemy that’s out to steal, kill and destroy. I just want to say that there is an enemy who is out to destroy you. There is an enemy that’s out to destroy your family. There is an enemy that’s out to destroy your faith. There is an enemy that’s out to destroy Hub City Church. And the easiest way for him to destroy us is by getting us to believe the urban legends, by getting us to trade the truth for a lie. And he has destroyed many people by convincing them that God wants them to be happy, because then when they’re not happy, they end up getting mad at God and turning their back on God because he didn’t do what they thought he should do. And the enemy wins.
But it’s the last part of the verse that gets manipulated into the urban legend that God wants us to be happy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. Some of your translations might use the word abundant, or to have life more abundantly. Let’s talk about that for a minute because that’s where the confusion comes from.
Now in our selfish little world, when we hear that, when we hear, life to the full or life more abundantly, we think about being happy, having all of our needs, wants and wishes met. But is that what this verse is saying?
That phrase, have it to the full, or abundant, means way beyond what is necessary, or life beyond what we can imagine. What Jesus is primarily talking about here is a life that happens after we die. It’s a life that’s beyond what’s necessary in this one life in that it’s an eternal life, an everlasting life. See, we believe that this life isn’t all there is. We believe in life after death. And for those who have put their faith and trust in Jesus that life after death is what Jesus is talking about here.
And yes, I do think that following Jesus, being a disciple of Jesus does help us to fulfill our purpose during this life, but that’s a long way from saying that God wants us to be happy. It means that God wants something more for us than our happiness.
But there’s another problem with focusing just on that verse. It leaves out a lot of other things Jesus said. Later on, in this same book of John, Jesus said this in 16:33 – 33“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Does that sound like God wants you to be happy? Not at all. It sounds like Jesus is being realistic. Life is hard. You will have trouble. But what Jesus wants for us is not happiness. It’s peace in the midst of trouble. And that comes from placing our trust in the one who overcomes. Jesus says, in me is peace. We’re never promised a life without problems or without pain. We’re not promised a life of happiness. But what we are promised is a God who will be with us through the problems or pain if we’ll just trust in him.
Or think about the beatitudes for a minute. Have you ever read through those? Here are just a few: 3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Does that sound like God wants you to be happy? Not really. Nowhere in the beatitudes does it imply that God wants you happy. It sounds, however, like God might want something more for you than happiness. So if that’s the case, what does God want for you? What does God what for you?
God wants for you to want him more than he wants for you to want happiness. We see this all throughout the Bible. God wants for us to want him more than he wants for us to want happiness, or anything else for that matter. That’s what the first and second of the Ten Commandments is all about. Exodus 20:3-4 – 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. Wanting something more than God is called idolatry. God wants us to want him more than anything else, including happiness.
That’s also what Jesus was getting at in the great commandment found in Matthew 22:37-38 – Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. God want us to want him more than he wants for us to want happiness or anything.
But here’s the really cool thing. Flowing out of this idea, that God wants you to want him more than he wants you to want and pursue happiness, is a reward. It’s that if we’ll want him first, he’ll give us something or we’ll receive something better than happiness. 1 Timothy 6:6 says, But Godliness with contentment is great gain. The reward is contentment. And here’s how the equation works. We want God more than we want happiness. God, through that relationship, grows us in Godliness, and as a result of that Godliness we find contentment. Repeat.
You know what it means to be content don’t you? It means to be satisfied with what you have, to be satisfied with your life, to not want more.
Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament, who most of us would put on a pedestal as a super Christian wrote something else about contentment in Philippians 4:12 – I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
The secret of being content is to want him more than you want happiness or anything else.
Does that describe you? Too often it doesn’t describe me. You can’t be content without making Jesus your priority. I heard Rob Bell say one time that when you’re obedient to God you won’t want anybody else’s life. When you’re pursuing God more than anything else then you’ll find contentment.
So let me ask you: Have you bought into this urban legend and been burned by the lie? Has believing the urban legend that God wants you to be happy distorted your view of God? Do you feel like God owes you happiness? Have you become so disgruntled with life because it really hasn’t turned out like you thought it should turn out? God wants you to want him more than he wants you to want happiness.
A way we often see this played out in this part of the country is the thing where people hop from church to church to church. They think that the church is supposed to meet their needs and make them happy, and when the church doesn’t deliver they leave in search of the perfect church. I hate to break the news to you, but there’s no such thing as a perfect church. But here’s the deal: Church is like a family. And when I think about my family, my job as a parent is not to make my kids happy. I love it when they’re happy. They are much easier to live with when they’re happy, but my job isn’t to make them happy. My job is to give them a relational environment that loves, accepts and disciplines them so that they can be all that God created them to be, so they can grow into healthy, productive contributors to society. The same is true with our church family. God didn’t make the church so you could be happy. We don’t exist to make you happy, but to help you grow into the disciple who makes disciples that God created you to be. Buying into the urban legend that God wants you happy will keep you from growing into a disciple who makes disciples.
Now I want to ask you another question for you that may be hard to answer, but I want you to be just gut-level honest. Are you pursuing happiness more than you are pursuing God? Remember, God wants you to want him more than he wants you to want happiness. So, are you pursuing happiness more than you are pursuing God? Now, I will be really, really honest with you. I’d like to say, “Man, I’m just, you know, I’m pursuing God, and all that kind of stuff, but when I’m really honest and I look at my life, I’d have to tell you that there are more seasons and longer seasons of my life where I’m honestly pursuing things, and what I want, and happiness more than I am pursuing God, and I want that to change. If you relate and you are being really honest and say, “Man, I am. I am off track here, and God, I want You to forgive me. I want to pursue You more than anything else.” If that is you today, I want you to lift your hand. Just lift them high, and there are hands going up all over the place, maybe more hands than I’ve ever seen before. “God, I ask that You would forgive us for being so easily distracted and pursuing the selfish things that are temporary and don’t matter to You. God, we pray that we would be more focused on You than ever before, that we would put You first. God, the moment we start to drift, and that would probably about five minutes from now, and later on today, and tomorrow and every day, bring us back, God. We pray that You would bless us with whatever it takes to keep us close to You, even if it’s the very thing that we never want. God, do whatever it takes to keep us close to You. God, we want to know You intimately. We want to serve You. We want it to be about You. We want to worship You. We want to put You first, in every single way.”
