CHAPTER 14: HOW CAN HAPPINESS TRANSFORM US, OUR FAMILIES, AND OUR CHURCHES?
AMONG CHRISTIANS, there are two extremes when it comes to happiness.
Some change the channel from coverage of a hurricane, refuse to think about sex trafficking and abortion, and ignore the sufferings of this world while grabbing on to superficial living. They look the other way when their marriages are in trouble or when their children choose wrong friends, yet they keep clinging to the expectation that trusting Jesus means they are entitled to easy lives without suffering.
Other Christians are perpetually somber and angry, never laughing or poking fun at themselves, rarely celebrating, and quick to frown when they see someone having fun. Shoulders sagging, they believe that happiness is entirely unrealistic or is just another word for ungodliness.
The Bible presents a far more balanced perspective. Paul said he was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10). Sorrow and joy are not mutually exclusive, though for God’s children, sorrow is temporary and joy will be eternal. (Note that the “always” in this verse applies to rejoicing, not being sorrowful.)
Why Do Christians Have a Reputation for Unhappiness?
Many people perceive Christianity as stodgy, sour-faced moralism, not the happiness of abundant life. Reformer John Calvin said, “While all men seek after happiness, scarcely one in a hundred looks for it from God.”[1]
Why is that? Our first problem is that we’re sinners, so our hearts are bent toward rebellion. But our second problem is that, based on what we’ve heard our whole lives, whether outside or inside the church, we’d never guess we can find happiness in God.
Author G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) has been widely credited with saying, “Jesus promised His disciples three things—that they would be completely fearless, absurdly happy, and in constant trouble.” It might be argued that most Western Christians aren’t any of these three—least of all “absurdly happy.”
I’ve taught college courses on biblical ethics, and I make no apologies for believing in Christian morality. But some Christians, in the name of moral obligation, go around with frowns on their faces, dutifully living a paint-by-numbers religious existence. They seem to wear their displeasure as a badge of honor.
Ironically, the church has made unbelievers fear that becoming Christians will make them unhappy. They’ve known—as many of us churchgoers have also known—professing Christians who go out of their way to promote misery, not gladness.
I’ve seen Bible-believing, Christ-centered people post comments on blogs or social media only to receive a string of outraged responses from people who wield Scripture like a pickax, swiftly condemning the slightest hint of a viewpoint they consider suspicious. When I was an unbeliever, such responses certainly wouldn’t have drawn me to the Christian faith.
I wonder why those engaging in such behavior don’t immediately recognize how their actions utterly contradict the faith they profess and the Bible they believe and the Lord they seem determined to speak for.
Why are perpetual disdain, suspicion, unkindness, snarkiness, and hostility seen by some as taking the spiritual high ground? Perhaps these joy snipers are living out the lie that Christians shouldn’t be happy!
Grim-faced pharisaical “Christians” make Satan’s propaganda campaign far easier by misrepresenting God, undermining the Good News, and promoting a negative view of happiness.
Who would ever be drawn to the worldview of decidedly unhappy people? Curmudgeonly Christianity pulls no one to Jesus and pushes many away.
Shouldn’t Christianity Bring Joy to the World?
In most unbelievers’ perceptions, Christianity hasn’t brought much joy to the world. As a religion, it’s primarily known for its rules, self-righteousness, and intolerance—none of which convey gladness and merriment.
Of course, this is neither the whole story nor even the main story. Throughout history, the Christian worldview has accounted for many happiness-generating developments such as hospitals and schools, science and industry, music, drama, and the arts.
On a more personal level, nearly every community includes people whose quiet confidence in Christ, extraordinary love, kindness, helpfulness, and cheer make their world a better place. They gladly give of their time and money to those in need. Their impact is real and profound, and their happiness contagious.
Unfortunately, because such people are rarely in the public eye, they appear as the exception rather than the rule. The public perception of Christianity is that it is dominated by harsh and proud negativity.
Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), the most influential theologian of the Middle Ages, wrote, “Man is unable not to wish to be happy.”[2] This means that all attempts by Christians to disregard or demean happiness are misguided and unfruitful. By creating distance between the gospel and happiness, we send the unbiblical (and historically ungrounded) message that the Christian faith is dull and dreary.
Let’s speak against sin but hold up Christ as the happiness everyone longs for. If we don’t, we will assure our own unhappiness and feed the world’s perception that Christianity subtracts happiness instead of multiplying it.
Let’s Preach the Good News of Happiness
Why shouldn’t churches teach and live out the biblical doctrine of God’s happiness and ours?
Why shouldn’t churches encourage their members to memorize and meditate on the countless biblical passages about happiness in God?
Why shouldn’t pastors preach on and even have annual series of messages on passages such as “Let all those who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, ‘The LORD be magnified!’” (Psalm 40:16, NKJV)?
There are easily a hundred other happiness passages, a number of them mentioned in this book, that lend themselves to being taught and preached. For those like me who don’t like superficial or trendy messages but ones that dig deep into God’s Word, consider as one example what could be done in preaching Zephaniah 3.
In Zephaniah 3:14, God calls on his people to be glad using four different Hebrew words that each convey happiness: “Sing aloud [with joy, or rinnah[3]], O daughter of Zion; shout [for joy, or ruah[4]], O Israel! Rejoice [samach] and exult [alaz] with all your heart.”
The gladness described in this verse is over the top—surely a God who isn’t happy would never call his people to such happiness. But we’re not left to speculate, because just three verses later, in Zephaniah 3:17, we see an even more remarkable statement, also containing four Hebrew words for happiness. (This could be a great follow-up sermon.)
In this verse, all four terms are used not of God’s people but of God himself: “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice [sus] over you with gladness [simchah]; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult [gyl] over you with loud singing [rinnah].”
There’s more of God’s happiness, tenderness, and love in this single verse than we can wrap our minds around. In fact, this understanding about God’s delight in us is the rock-solid foundation for the fourfold happiness he calls on his people to experience three verses earlier.
Church people are accustomed to thinking of God as angry or saddened by us. But here we’re told, four times over, of God’s happiness over us! In regard to this passage, A. W. Tozer said words we should echo: “God is happy if nobody else is.”[5] But the best reason for us to be happy is because he is.
The truth about God’s happiness needs to first be privately believed, but then it needs to be publicly declared and celebrated! And when it’s made public long enough, it will become the settled belief of countless Christians.
Our Happiness Should Overflow
Charles Spurgeon told his church, “There is so much misery in this world that none of us ought to add to it. . . . Let us, on the contrary, seek to increase happiness and joy wherever we can!”[6] How might happy Christians be a positive force for evangelism and cultural change?
Imagine churches known as communities of Jesus-centered happiness, overflowing with the sheer gladness of embracing and living out the good news of great joy.
Imagine children bringing friends to church and hearing them comment, “Those people are so happy!” Wouldn’t this infuse the gospel with a meaning that most of the world has never heard and even many of God’s people have never known?
I’m not talking about the superficial happiness of overeager church greeters with toothy smiles cornering people as a strategy for church growth. I mean the genuine happiness that naturally flows from God and the gospel. I’m talking about teaching a Bible that’s full of celebrations and centered on a Messiah whose first miracle was to save a party by turning water into wine.
A. W. Tozer wrote, “The people of God ought to be the happiest people in all the wide world! People should be coming to us constantly and asking the source of our joy and delight.”[7]
Are unbelievers coming to us constantly and asking us that question? If not, why not?
Happiness Is Contagious
Envision how contagious the doctrine of God’s happiness would be if lived out. Imagine if we, though tired and stressed, wanted to gather with the church not out of sheer duty but because it brings more happiness than anything else we can think to do—way more, for instance, than staying home and watching television or spending time online.
What if our children saw in our families and churches a breadth of Christ-centered, optimistic happiness and were taught that this happiness originates in God, not the world? How might it fulfill these words: “That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God” (Psalm 78:6-7, NASB)?
What if people heard their pastors say what Spurgeon said to his church in London 150 years ago: “Those who are ‘beloved of the Lord’ must be the most happy and joyful people to be found anywhere upon the face of the earth”[8]?
What if when our families left church and went to school, work, restaurants, and musical or dramatic performances, they didn’t feel they were walking away from God but toward the same happy God they’ve been worshiping?
What if, when suffering came, we faced it with an underlying faith that demonstrates genuine gladness in God and thanksgiving to God? What if our tears were often interspersed with laughter? What if our model was Jesus, who both wept over the death of his friend Lazarus (see John 11:35) and “rejoiced in the Holy Spirit” (Luke 10:21)?
What if, instead of looking away from or being paralyzed by the needs of this world, we—with humility and gladness—reached out to intervene for the hungry, the sick, the unborn, the persecuted, and those facing racial or gender discrimination?
Wouldn’t our children be less likely to leave the Christian faith, push away church as a bad memory, and pursue the world’s inferior happiness substitutes that will ultimately destroy them? Suppose evangelical churches invited our neighbors to celebrate with us on October 4, the Feast of Saint Francis, recognizing God as the Creator of animals, including their beloved pets and ours? Together we could celebrate the God who makes animals and loves and delights in them—and made us to do the same.
Imagine Jesus-followers leading the way in celebrating March 20 as the International Day of Happiness, a day officially recognized by all 192 countries of the United Nations. What an opportunity to tell each other and the world about why we celebrate happiness—because God is happy, happiness is his gift to us, and Christ came to bring happiness to people of every tribe, nation, and language!
Let’s Start a Happiness Movement
Wouldn’t it be refreshing for Christians to take the lead in speaking of and directing people to the happy God?
Wouldn’t it be great if children growing up in Christian homes looked forward to some new God-centered holidays—ones they could invite their unbelieving friends to join?
Wouldn’t it be fitting if the church was known for celebrating more than the world, rather than less? Worship, camaraderie, and unity would be hallmarks of such celebrations. But one of the greatest payoffs would be reestablishing followers of Jesus as people of profound happiness who are quick to celebrate the greatness, goodness, love, grace, and happiness of our God.
What if we really believed that the gospel offers not just what everyone needs but what, in the depths of our hearts, we truly want?
Think of the refreshment that weary, burdened, guilt-ridden people would enjoy if the church put on regular celebrations of biblical proportions, with great food and drink and music and laughter and fun, just to say, “We love you, Lord Jesus, and we’re here to celebrate together who you are and all you’ve done for us!”
Spread the Good News
Let’s look for every opportunity to share the Good News of God’s happiness!
Once we’ve experienced the biblically based and delightful truth that God wants us to be happy, we have the privilege and the joyful obligation to share that revelation with others.
If God’s happiness truly spilled into and out of his people, make no mistake: our children and grandchildren and communities would know it. Happiness in Christ is irrepressible.
Sure, if we believe and teach God’s Word, we’ll suffer and be criticized. But if God’s happiness permeated us, wouldn’t far more of the happiness-seeking world be attracted to Jesus?
May it be said of us that because of the happy God we know, the Jesus we love, the gospel we embrace, and the treasure we gladly share, we are truly the happiest people in the world.
And may we see our present happiness as a down payment on the eternal happiness that awaits us, bought and paid for by the blood of Christ, who is eager to welcome us into his happiness—a happiness that had no beginning and will have no end.
The people the LORD has freed will return and enter Jerusalem with joy. Their happiness will last forever. They will have joy and gladness, and all sadness and sorrow will be gone far away.