God Has A Wonderful Plan For Your Life

Chapter 3, The Happiness Dilemma As we've seen, telling people that God has a wonderful plan for their lives isn't being honest about the realities of life. And here is the double tragedy. When the Church declares the message that Jesus solves problems or Jesus provides happiness, it restricts the feel of evangelistic endeavour to those in society who will be interested. Those who are unhappy and caught up in their problems. These problem people are not given the message of sin, righteousness and judgement with the command to repent and flee from wrath to come. Instead, they're told that Jesus is the answer to their alcohol, drug, marriage, personal or financial problems. That he's the one who can fill the God-shaped hole in their lives. Many, therefore, come only to have their problems solved. However, if they do not repent of their sin because they haven't been told to, they'll have a false conversion and they'll not become new creatures in Christ. Though they may call Jesus Lord, they'll continue to practice lawlessness. Consequently, they'll bring their sins and their problems into the local church, which has the following unfortunate effects. Wearing out the pastors. Instead of being unable to give themselves fully to feeding the flock of God and the capacity of a shepherd, pastors find themselves forever counselling those who are only hearers of the word and not doers. Tying up labourers, who are already fewer in number, by having them spend their precious time propping people up when these problem people really need repentance and hindering the furtherance of the gospel. Probably the biggest stumbling blocks for unbelievers is what they see as rampant hypocrisy within the Church. In a publication titled, What Do You Want From Life? the conclusion is drawn that we all want to be happy. Despite the list of things cited, sex, money, friends, fame, love and so on, the question is posed, can we be truly and continually happy? The answer provided is, of course, that knowing Jesus produces, quote, ultra happiness, your happiest moment magnified a million times over. Not many would see that there is anything wrong with this publication. However, the call of the gospel is universal and is not confined to the unhappy, hurting world, as is often promoted. The gospel is a promise of righteousness, not a promise of happiness, and it therefore may also be offered to those who are enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. Prior to my conversion, I was very happy, satisfied, thankful and joyful. At the age of 20, I was a successful businessman with my own house, a beautiful wife, a car, money and being self-employed, the freedom to enjoy it all. I was loving life and living it to the fullest. Therefore, I was not a candidate for the modern gospel. I wasn't hurting in the slightest. I had a wonderful life without Jesus. However, when I was confronted with the biblical gospel and understood that riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death, I saw my need of the Savior. Let me repeat. Because of the erroneous belief that the chief end of the gospel is man's happiness on earth rather than righteousness, many fail to see its God-given intent. They think that the gospel is only for those who lack money, those who are brokenhearted by life's difficulties, those who are the problem people in society. The belief is further perpetuated through the popular worship choruses that have splendid melodies that carry this message. Heartaches, broken people, ruined lives are why you died on Calvary. How often do we therefore neglect to share the gospel with those whose lives are going well because we know they won't be interested in the wonderful planned message. We may wait for a crisis to come their way or in fact secretly hope that it does so their heartaches will make them then receptive to our offer of a better life. Who is the gospel for? We limit our evangelistic outreaches when we build them as taking the good news to the hurting and the needy. Let me further illustrate this common misunderstanding by quoting from another modern publication. Quote, you'll desire to be where the Lord is and he spends his time with those who hurt. At the beginning of his ministry Jesus quoted Isaiah to describe the work he was called to do. The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he's anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, Luke 4, 18-19. Thus the more you go after God the deeper you'll move into a world filled with hurting people. End of quote. I'm in no way questioning the sincerity of the author but I believe he perpetuates a common misunderstanding of what Jesus intended to communicate when he quoted Isaiah 61, 1 and 2. We live in a therapeutic culture that places a high value on feeling good, self-esteem and self-actualization. Consequently, when we see words like poor, brokenhearted and oppressed, we think of people who are beset by life circumstances, whether it's poverty, divorce, addiction or disease. Jesus, however, is speaking primarily in spiritual terms. From Luke 4, 18-19 here is Jesus' summation of those who the gospel is for. The poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, the oppressed. When Jesus speaks of the poor, he's not necessarily referring to those who lack financial resources. Instead, he's referring to the poor in spirit, Matthew 5, 3. Those who are meek, humble, lowly. These are the blessed ones to whom the kingdom of God belongs. Those who know that they're destitute of righteousness. In his commentary on Luke 4, 14-30, Matthew Henry writes, quote, Observe to whom he was to preach, to the poor, to those who were the poor in this world, whom the Jewish doctors disdained to undertake the teachings of and spoke of with contempt, to those that were poor in spirit, to the meek and humble, to those that were truly sorrowful for sin, end of quote. When Jesus speaks of the brokenhearted, he doesn't mean those unhappy people whose hearts are aching because they've been jilted by a sweetheart, but those who, like Peter and Isaiah, are contrite and sorrowing for their sin. In David's great prayer of confession, he realized that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart. Psalm 51, verse 17. In the words of Matthew Henry, Christ was sent to heal the brokenhearted, to give peace to those who were troubled and humbled for sins, to bring them to rest who were weary and heavy laden under the burden of guilt and corruption. The captors are those taken captive by the devil to do his will, 2 Timothy 2, 26. The blind are those whom the God of this age has blinded to the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, 2 Corinthians 4, 4. The oppressed are those who are oppressed by the devil, Acts 10, 38. In other words, Jesus came to preach the good news of God's forgiveness to those who recognize their spiritual poverty and are broken by the realization that they have sinned against a just and holy God. That isn't to say that Jesus did not minister to those who were beset by life's circumstances, but his message was not only for those people, and the freedom he offered was not freedom from the hardships of life. Again, the gospel is not confined to the hurting people with ruined lives and heartaches. Both hurting and happy people need to be shown their sinful state before God so that they'll seek after the righteousness that's in Christ. One atheist, understandably confused by the life enhancement message, observed, quote, at one church I visited, some people were asked to write down how they felt before and after becoming Christian. They said things like dark and light, lonely and befriended, which got me wondering, was being down or lonely or desperate a prerequisite for finding God? Did these people think that others who had not yet found God were lost, scared or miserable? Do I have to go through some sort of trauma or crisis before finding some ultimate meaning? End of quote. The competition. Another dilemma with the life enhancement message is this. If you search the internet using the keywords true happiness, you'll find many websites offering Jesus as a solution. However, the idea that Jesus gives true happiness has some competition. There are more than a hundred million other results to the keywords true happiness, many of which refer to self-help strategies, such as that proposed by author Martin E.P. Segerman on authentic happiness, using the new positive psychology to realize your potential for lasting fulfillment. The Jehovah's Witnesses believe they have the answer for happiness. Their Watchtown magazine states, through a study of the Bible, you can find true happiness despite your problems. Jehovah's Witnesses will be pleased to show you the scriptural answers that you need to know if you are to be truly happy. End of quote. Buddhism likewise claims to be the path to true happiness, as the basic Buddhism guide assures us. Quote, Buddhism explains a purpose to life. It explains apparent injustice and inadequacy around the world and provides a code of practice or way of life that leads to true happiness. Hinduism offers the same thing. Without remembering the name of God, even the sovereign king of the world, we would be unhappy. By dwelling on the name of God, he can obtain true happiness. Hence, realization of God is the key that unlocks the doors to unending happiness, eternal peace of mind, and unimaginable bliss. So does Islam. In a lecture delivered in Washington by Mahala Shah Muhammad al-Din al-Qadiri, expounded on, quote, the quest for true happiness, he said, Here I shall state some basic facts and the principles pertaining thereunto, so that if anyone practices them, he or she may attain peace of mind, comfort of the soul, and true happiness. In December 2007, a Gallup poll asked Americans how satisfied they were with their personal lives. 52% responded that they were very happy, and another 40% said that they were fairly happy. So the modern gospel has some stiff competition. The vast majority of people in the United States are already enjoying a wonderful plan for their lives, and they're quite happy as they are. For any who feel something is missing and look to religion for happiness, they'll find a smorgasbord of choices all offering to improve their lives on earth. If only Jesus gives true happiness, as the modern gospel message maintains, then it follows that the happiness the world gives must be false, or at least very shallow. Consequently, the Christian sees his job as one of unmasking the world's promise of happiness and contrasting it with the true and lasting happiness that Jesus gives. From there arises the, quote, Jesus is better than beer mentality. This is demeaning to the name of Jesus and completely unnecessary. There is no contest between Jesus and beer, because happiness isn't the issue. The abundant life. Still, the question may arise, why not use the fact that Jesus said that he had come to bring us an abundant life, John 10.10, to draw unregenerate sinners to the Savior? True, the Christian life is full. Consider the full life of the apostle Paul. Read 2 Corinthians 11.23-28 and see if you think he was bored while being stoned once, shipwrecked three times, beaten three times, and whipped five times. His life was full. There are also times when he wasn't happy. In fact, at one point he was in such despair that he wanted to die. See 2 Corinthians 1.8. The apostle gives the carnal-minded Corinthians a glimpse of the abundant life. He told them that he had been condemned to death. He was hungry and thirsty. He lacked clothing. He was beaten and had nowhere to live. He was reviled, persecuted, slandered, and treated as the filth of the world. What a terrible, uninviting path Paul walked down. If happiness were the goal, one would think that he would put up a sign saying, Don't enter here. However, he did the opposite. He told the Corinthians to imitate him. See 1 Corinthians 4.9-16. He considered the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared to the life in eternity. Like Jesus, the apostle Paul taught that the Christian life is one of self-denial. We are to crucify the flesh, daily take up the cross, and deny ourselves and follow Jesus. However, the wonderful plan message, with its promise of earthly happiness, appeals solely to the hearer's selfishness. By offering a problem-free life, it encourages continued love of self rather than of God, and paints him as a divine butler. Where is God's love? If we can't give sinners the message that God has a wonderful plan for their lives, how can we tell them about God's love? As we have seen, the apostle Paul faced countless trials and tribulations, was mocked and hated, imprisoned for years, and finally martyred. What did he look to for assurance of God's love for him? He didn't look to his lifestyle, because to the untrained eye, it didn't exactly speak of God's caring hand for him. His abundant life was certainly full, but it wasn't full of what we might expect if God loved him. Picture Paul lying half-naked on a cold dungeon floor, chained to hardened Roman guards. You look at his bloody back and his bruised, swollen face, and you say, Paul, you've been beaten again. Where are your friends? Demas and the others have forsaken you. Where is your expensive chariot and your successful building program? Where is the evidence of God's blessing, Paul? What's that? What did you say? Did I hear you mumble through swollen lips that God loves you? Now picture Paul slowly lifting his head. His black and bruised eyes look deeply into yours. They sparkle as he says two words, The Cross! He painfully reaches into his blood-soaked tunic, and carefully pulls out a letter that he had been writing. His trembling and blood-stained fingers point to one sentence. You strain your eyes in the dim light and read, I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2.20 Christ's sacrifice was the source of Paul's joy, and thus his strength. He said, God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you study the New Testament, you'll see that God's love is almost always given in direct correlation to the cross. And this is love. For God so loved the world. God demonstrated his love. The cross is the focal point of God's love for the world. Those who look to the cross as a token of God's love will never doubt his steadfast devotion to them regardless of their circumstances. But those who come to Christ seeking a wonderful life will think that their happiness is evidence of God's love and therefore when trials come and their happiness leaves, they may think that God has forsaken them or worse, that he doesn't exist. For example, consider this excerpt from an article titled Is There Happiness Without Jesus? by Merle Hertzler. This article reveals the common and bitter fruit of preaching the happiness gospel. Quote, Much of the Bible is false. God never visited this world as a man or on our own in this world without direct intervention from God. So it would seem to me. How do you react to those statements? Does it make you feel sad to think that someone would write them? Perhaps to you Christ is the only hope in this world. Your life is centered on him. He's your purpose in life. He's your Lord and your Redeemer. I understand. I've been there. I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior many years ago. I've read the Bible from cover to cover six times. Every chapter, every verse, and every line. I've been there and done that. I know the excitement of doing God's work all day Sunday. I also know the emptiness that would come on Monday. I'm no longer a Christian. I'm no longer marching in the Christian army. For I've found something different. Life without Christianity is far more fulfilling than anything I had ever found inside of Christianity. There are hundreds of others who can testify to the same thing. I'm not a Christian and I am happy. Perhaps you have indeed found genuine happiness in Christianity. I'm glad for you. I hope you understand that others have found happiness elsewhere. You may not need what I have to be happy and I may not need what you have. End of quote. What a tragedy that he thought that the precious blood of the Savior was shed simply to make him happy in this life rather than to make him prepared for the next one. It does not appear that this man was told about this real need to repent or he'd perish. If the happy life is different from the abundant life Jesus offers who's going to listen? If we blatantly be honest about the persecution promised for all, all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 2 Timothy 3.12 Certainly not as many as attracted by the talk of a wonderful plan. What then is the answer to this dilemma? How are we to bring sinners to the Savior? We will address this in the next chapter.