A Happy God Wants A Happy People - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. We always say that it's important that a person becomes conformed to the image of Christ. That we want to grow in godliness, mature as believers.

We want to become more and more godly. Well, if that's true, then God, if He's happy, what should we become more and more of? Happy. If you're a growing Christian, you should be more happy.

That's the point. God's happy. You want to be more like Him, be happy like He is. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church, located in Metairie, Louisiana. Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now, as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. Do you think God is happy?

I mean, you should, but do you? No, I don't think everything is very somber. Yep, they're sharing the good news with someone.

Yep, check it off, looks like they're in. I mean, that's not the way God is. That's not how He operates. Go to the end of Timothy, to 1 Timothy 6.15. And here, Paul's ending it up, but he's now talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. And notice what he says, I'll start in verse 13. He said, I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who has testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then he says this, which He will bring about at the proper time. Christ is coming back.

OK, fine. And then he says, He who is blessed, the only sovereign, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Now, we always say, Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And He's sovereign.

It also says here, blessed, markeos, happy. He's happy. And He's sovereign. And He's the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

And that changes your whole perspective of who Jesus is and what He's accomplished. God is happy. He wants His people to be happy. We always say that it's important that a person becomes conformed to the image of Christ, that we want to grow in godliness, mature as believers. We want to become more and more godly. Well, if that's true, then God, if He's happy, what should we become more and more of? Happy. If you're a growing Christian, you should be more happy.

That's the point. God's happy. You want to be more like Him, be happy like He is. Go with me to Luke 15. Now, Luke 15, we've seen this before, but Jesus is going to teach in three parables. And what He wants to talk about is He doesn't want to just talk about lost things being found.

That's part of it. But what He really wants to talk about is what does God think about it when something that is lost is found? And He uses three different pictures to do it.

Three completely different pictures. The first one is the lost sheep. So He says in verse four, what man among you, if he has 100 sheep and has lost one, does not, He said, leave the 99. He said, in the open pasture and go after the one which was lost until he finds it. And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders. And what's the next word? Rejoicing. Happy. He's rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep, which was lost. So what happens to God when something that is lost is found? He's happy.

He goes on, or what woman, if she has 10 silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she found that, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost. In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over a sinner who repents. Everybody's happy.

Now, you might say, maybe it means just the angels are happy. God isn't happy. OK, but the next one has to do with the prodigal son. And in the prodigal son, as we know the story well, we have to deal with the father. What is the father like? That's clearly God. So look at Don to verse 20. After he's come back. It said he got up and he came to his father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, felt compassion for him, and he ran to him and embraced him and kissed him. Now, would you call that a sad scene or a happy scene?

I mean, I'm just off the top of my head. What do you think? What are you doing home? No, he's happy. Now watch. And the son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand, sandals on his feet and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again. He was lost and fine and they began to celebrate and the father with them because they're all happy. Then the oldest son comes in, says, You never gave me the fatted calf. You've never been that great for me.

And I didn't leave that thing. But notice how the father ends at verse 32. But we had to celebrate and rejoice for this brother of yours was dead and as he said, has begun to live, he was lost and he was found. That's the nature of God. God is happy. He's especially happy when that which is lost is found.

I mean, do you ever think about that? The day. You came to Christ. It made God happy. Now, it made you happy. I hope it made me happy, but it made God happy. He said, all of heaven rejoices. There's happiness here. I'm a happy God.

You see, that's the way this works. Now, this picture of God. Go with me back to Psalm two, the Book of Psalms, Psalm two. The Psalmist is writing.

And he's writing about something that's very important in this whole subject matter. Most human beings don't care for God. They don't like them and they don't want them in their lives.

They just don't and they'll do anything to avoid. They'll invent their own religions and they'll have their own religion and say, I don't have to deal with God. I don't have to deal with any of that. I'll just make up my own religion and then I'll believe in that religion and everything will be fine. Or they'll say, I'm agnostic or atheistic. I don't know if there is a God exist or I don't think there is a God at all.

So I don't have anything to do with God. That's man. That's what man does. He rebels against God.

That's the way it works for man. So that's the context here. And it says, why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his annoyed in saying, let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us. Look, if I don't want to do with God, I don't have to have anything to do with God. There.

Notice the next verse. He who sits in the heavens laughs. Well, what's so funny? So they're going to be able to do it. They won't have to deal with me. They can avoid me forever. Really?

I don't have to have any part of God. Really? He laughs. It's an interesting thing from that point of view. The Lord scoffs at them. He said he will speak to them in his anger. And he said and terrify them in his fury.

You can't avoid me, he said. But here's the other thing. I think that's funny. God says, I think that's funny that you think you can deal without me.

I think that's just a funny thing. That's the nature of God. Now, notice when you get to the end of this, I love the way it ends. He said, do homage to the son that he not become angry and that you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled.

And then it says this. How blessed are those who take refuge in him. Asher, Asher, happiness. How happy are those who take refuge in him? You can't avoid God. You ultimately either know God as your savior or as your judge, but you'll know him one way or the other. New Testament says every knee will bow, every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

You're not going to avoid him. But if you put your faith in him, how happy are those who take refuge in him? See, a happy God wants us to be a happy people. Go with me to Hebrews chapter one. Now, if you remember the context of the Book of Hebrews. Jewish believers find themselves in a difficult spot. Nobody likes them. The Romans don't like Jews, period.

The Greeks don't like Jews, but the Jews now don't like Jews who believe in Jesus. So they're ostracized as people. They can't their families disown them. They can't do business.

And so one of them comes up with a bright idea. The best way to do it is to go back into Judaism, still believe in Jesus, but let's become Jews again. That's why the whole book is written in the in the author of the book says you can't do that if you're dumb enough to do that. You're going to just like that first generation, you're going to die in the wilderness. You're never going to enter the promised land.

You're never going to you're never going to get the life that God promised you if you decide to do that. So the first thing he wants to tell them is Jesus is better than everything in Judaism. In fact, everything in Judaism is just a shadow. But Jesus is the substance. So the first thing he goes after are angels. He said Jesus is better than all the angels.

They're not even close to Jesus. And so that's why he says in verse six. And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says, let all the angels of God worship him. And the angel of the angels, he says, who makes his angels wins and his ministers a flame of fire. But of the sun, he says, your throne, oh, God, is forever and ever. And the righteous scepter, the scepter of his kingdom, you have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Now, watch what God does. Therefore, God, your God has anointed you, he said, with the oil of gladness above all your companions. So what did God annoyed him with? Gladness. He anointed him with gladness or happiness.

Now, I want you to think about that for a moment. Is it just some or is it a lot? He said it's above all your companions. Now, who are the companions of the Lord? Is it men? Is he talking about men? You may be. Is he talking about angels? Because that's the context. Yeah, maybe. Is he talking about both? Likely. So if that's true, is there anybody or anything in the universe happier than Jesus?

There isn't. That's how happy he is. You see, what a motivating force this is. Now, go with me to Hebrews 12, the end of the book, verse one and two. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, he's talking to us, he said, let us lay aside every encumbrance in the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run the race with endurance, the race set before us. That's to describe our lives, how we should go about doing our lives. Then he says this.

Here's our example. He says, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of faith. Don't miss this now, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

How did Jesus endure the cross? For the joy set before him. What do you mean the joy? Probably the joy of a redeeming of people, the joy of granting an entrance into heaven for anyone who would believe in him, the joy of having an eternal bride to be intimate with him forever, the joy of pleasing and doing the Father's will. There's a lot of joy. Jesus says, that's how I endured the cross.

I have a prevailing joy about me or even a prevailing happiness. You see, I think that's amazing on Jesus' part. Now, some people say, no, Jesus, he was never happy. He was the man of sorrows. He was acquainted with sorrows. He became sin.

He understands what sorrows is. But to say, and the Bible says, I remember reading one thought, the Bible says he never laughed. No, the Bible never said he never laughed. The Bible doesn't say anywhere that he laughed. Now, that's an argument he's not happy, right?

OK, but remember, that's true. He never breathed. The Bible never says he breathed. The Bible never said he yawned. The Bible never said he sneezed. So he didn't do any of those things because the Bible never said it.

The Bible said he's fully human. OK, so he yawned and he sneezed and he breathed and he laughed. And when you read the discourses of Christ and realize the unique sense of humor that he has, the way he uses hyperbole to teach stories, it's amazing. He refers to Herod as that old fox. He has a sense of humor and it comes up in a lot of different places.

He is fully human. God is happy and he wants us to be happy as well. There is one catch, though. The only way you can really have this kind of happiness is almost always against your natural instincts to be happy.

That's where we get ourselves in a whole lot of trouble. There is a way to really be happy and we'll look at that next time. But I want you to see this. I want you to go to Jeremiah chapter two with me in verse 13. Now, it's ironic that I'd end a sermon on happiness with Jeremiah, who's the weeping prophet.

He doesn't seem like the most happy guy, but he says something very insightful here. God is making his case against Judah and he's making a strong case. And he says in verse 13, God speaking, he said, For my people have committed two evils. There's two things wrong with the way Judah has acted. One, they have forsaken me. That's interesting.

Now, notice what he means by that. The fountain of living waters. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. There's the same expression Jesus uses the Samaritan woman. I give you living water.

You'll never thirst again. He said they but he says here they have forsaken me. I offer them as Jesus said, I've come to give you a life and to give it to you abundantly. He said, I've come to offer you an abundant, enriching, full, happy life.

But you rejected it. Next part of the verse. He then says to hewn for themselves, cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. That's what happened to the people of God. They thought they could do it their own way. In other words, if you look at it in this context, they they hewn for themselves their own cisterns of things they thought would make them happy.

And he said, I have that against it. That one is not going to work. Now, I want you to think about this and the application of it when it comes to happiness. Just think of the things you and I do to make ourselves happy. What's going to make you really happy?

If you're an average American, one word, right? More. That's it. I know for a fact all I need is more. You give me more, I'll be happy.

You won't. When you get more, you'll want more. And when you get that, you'll want more. And when you get that, you'll want more. And then you'll start realizing this isn't making me very happy at all.

All those kind of things, you see, and going along with more is just stuff, right? If I have more stuff, then I'm going to really be happy. You see, that's that's going to really make me happy. I used to say I don't say it anymore, so don't get offended. I used to say that when we were in the Cooper Housing Project, some of the happiest people I ever met were down at the Cooper Housing Project. And I used to say, it seems to me that the closer you live to the lake, the more unhappy you are. OK, I've got a lot of flack for that, so I don't say that anymore.

But it does make a point. You see, you think that if I could just migrate from the inner city project and get out along the lake, that's when I'm going to be happy. But you're not. You see, if you're young, what's even worse, I'll be happy if I'm popular. If I'm just popular, I'll be happy. You'll be popular. But popular won't make you happy at all. And in fact, when you're really young, you'll find out being popular in high school won't really help much in life. You know, it's not something that's going to really do it for you. Well, how about if I'm just beautiful or handsome?

That'll make me happy. I can't even begin to tell you the depression rate among people in our culture who are beautiful and handsome. And the worst case scenario, you're so driven by this that you keep having plastic surgeries to keep as beautiful or as handsome as you can.

And you and I both know you've seen them on TV, someone had had 10, 15, 20 plastic surgeries. Why are they doing that? I want to be happy.

How do I look now? Horrible. You know, it's just. But it's an ongoing idea that I that'll make me happy. You see, all those kind of things.

There's nothing necessarily wrong with all this. And Timothy Paul says, if you're rich in this present world, God says, here's the first thing I want you to do. He said, first of all, I want you to realize you're only rich because of me.

Secondly, don't put your security or significance in because you have money. But thirdly, he says, enjoy it. Be happy with it. There's nothing wrong with the stuff, but you have to know where it comes from. The joy doesn't come from the stuff that joy comes from the giver, not necessarily the gift.

So. You're free to be as unhappy as you want to be. And it's a shame if you are. Because you don't have to be.

Of all people, Spurgeon is right. We should be the happiest, the happiest people you could find. You know. You can think that you can find happiness for some of us. It's just the place. If I just got to a place, I'll be I'll be happy. I mean, isn't that the whole point of Disney World and Vegas?

Isn't Disney World Vegas? Aren't they happiness brokers? Isn't that what that is? Don't you spend thousands and thousands of dollars because it's going to be happy? Right. But even if you are, do you ever notice it doesn't last? You see, it's not really going to last.

That's the point. That's what the point that God wants to make. God is happy. He wants us to be happy. And you'll only find the kind of happiness that we're talking about in your relationship with him.

That's where we'll go next time. Let's pray. Father, this message is universal. Every one of us want to be happy.

We've all pursued it in a variety of ways. We've all experienced temporal happiness, but it's so circumstantially oriented so that if certain things are happening in our life, we're happy. But when other things happen, we're miserable. Father, I pray that we understand that you have designed us to relate to you in such a way that we can have prevailing happiness, even amidst the sorrow of life, we can still be happy. Father, our happiness in these difficult circumstances can serve as a great witnessing tool for the good news happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When people see our happiness, it becomes something that they would desire, and it becomes contagious because we have the message of our Savior that we can give to them. Father, I pray that each of us ask ourselves in our own hearts, Am I happy?

Am I a person who would be considered happy? For our good, Father, and for your glory, in Christ's name, Amen. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org. That's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At that website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.