Sermons
If Only... Then I'd Be Happy
Series: Joy RobbersIF ONLY... THEN I'D BE HAPPY
Sermon By Terry Siverd
Cortland Church of Christ / February 10, 2019
Trent Hamm has written,
Something has captured your imagination or your heart. Maybe it's an expensive physical item, like a tablet
computer or a shiny car. Maybe it's something like a relationship with another person, either real or visualized.
You get wrapped up in this thing that you want. You keep visualizing yourself with this thing in your life
and you begin to truly believe that your life will be better when you have this thing, whatever it might be.
You begin to see things missing in your current life and you buy into
the idea that only this thing you're dreaming of can fill those holes.
The above speaks of a psychological trap that we sometimes encounter that can become a real bummer.
Such is not only a psychological trap it is a spiritual dis-ease, that robs us of joy in the present tense.
From the early days of our youth this thought-pattern begins to become ingrained in our thinking.
One teacher asked the students in his middle-school class to anonymously fill in the blank
to the following question/proposition (our sermon title): “If only...then I'd be happy.”
Here are twenty of their responses.
7
1. If only my family had more money, then I would be happy.
2. If only I had true friends, then I would be happy.
3. If only I could be smarter, then I would be happy.
4. If only I could be faster, then I would be happy.
5. If only I had more time, then I would be happy.
6. If only I had a dance studio in my house, then I would be happy.
7. If only I was better at soccer, then I would be happy.
8. If only I got better grades, then I would be happy.
9. If only my parents lived together, then I would be happy.
10. If only I could be prettier, then I would be happy.
11. If only I could be more athletic, then I would be happy.
12. If only I could be more popular, then I would be happy.
13. If only I could be more loved, then I would be happy.
14. If only I could be a better person, then I would be happy.
15. If only I could have a better relationship with God, then I would be happy.
16. If only I was doing what I loved, then I would be happy.
17. If only I had the love of Christ in my heart, then I would be happy.
18. If only more people liked me, then I would be happy
19. If only I was better, then I would be happy.
- If only I knew how to make everyone else happy, then I would be happy
We adults do the same thing, don't we? This childhood fantasizing often lingers throughout adulthood.
Rhonda Stoppe has written a book titled,
If Only My Husband Would Change, I'd Be Happy And Other Myths Wives Believe.
If only I could lose some weight; If only I could find a job that I like; If only I had more money;
If only I could meet that someone special; If only I could publish a book; If only I could win the lottery; etc., etc.
I want to be careful here not to squash our dreams or dash our hopes for the future.
Hopes and dreams are good things. Sometimes they serve a vital role in pushing us onward and upward.
But harm can come when the better and the more of someday work to steal joy from us in the here and now.
Have you ever noticed that some people seem to be engaged in a perpetual
search for a happiness that always seems to reside around the next corner?
A steady diet of someday-thinking tends diminish the glory of today.
Write this quote down in the sermon notes section of today's FamilyMatters:
Happiness is not something to be chased. It is a decision to be made.
Open your New Testament to the book of Hebrews. Concerning Abraham, Heb.11:8-10, records - -
By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance;
and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise,
as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise;
for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
As Christians we might be tempted to use the life of Abraham as an etched-in-stone template for how we ought to live.
Many of us do this (almost as a natural reflex) regarding our thoughts related to heaven.
There are quite a few songs in our hymnals that employ this mindset to spur us on in our discipleship.
Yet when we turn the page in our Bibles and read another text, we can't help but be somewhat chastened.
Heb.12:22f reads as follows - -
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first born who are
enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all men, and to the spirits of righteous
men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to
the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
This epistle (Hebrews) was written to first-century saints who were drawing near to fall of Jerusalem.
The time from the cross to the fall of Jerusalem (AD 30-70) was forty years - - paralleling the OT exodus from Egypt.
Notice that they were not told, someday in the sweet by and by you will finally arrive.
The writer states quite emphatically - - you have come!
As long as Jerusalem remained standing, the church could not shine in its fullness. cf. Heb.9:8.
Unfortunately, many read this text and miss this important point.
That which Abraham longed to taste was the world of the New Covenant.
How thrilled our Father Abraham would have been to join in worship with the church of the living God.
Abraham was driven by a futuristic focus of what it would mean to be a part of the body of Christ - - to drop anchor
in the church of Christ, a dwelling place so strong that even the gates of hell could not prevail against it (Mt.16:18).
I am not at all opposed to singing songs about the beauty and thrill of heaven, but
we must be careful not to allow these songs to undermine the joy of the abundant life we now have in Christ Jesus.
As to the precise point that I am trying to make with this sermon,
If there's is a weakness that comes in feeding our hearts with a steady diet of “heaven” songs,
it it that such tends to marginalize (erode) our appreciation of what we now (already) have in Christ Jesus.
Years ago, I'm told, the Glasgow family went on a vacation to some exotic location.
A young Marky fell asleep, but when he woke up he said, “I thought it would be more beautifuler than this.”
I think we need to think more deeply about the riches and glory of the church of the New Covenant.
Listen to Paul's prayer in Eph.1:3 - - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ... and Eph.3:21 - -
to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
It would do us all well to re-read our New Testaments noting all of the blessings that we NOW have in Christ Jesus.
Rom.8:37 states, in all these (things) we overwhelmingly conquer through HIM who loved us...
Vs.39 closes by declaring: nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is Christ Jesus our Lord.
2Pet.1:3 states that His Divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness,
through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
My overall point is simply this (an emphasis that we should all be able to give a hearty “Amen” to):
We must never, never, never take for granted the JOYS and privileges and blessings that reside in Christ Jesus.
These joys are ours for the taking. They were purchased for us by the blood of Christ. That blood,
was spoken of by Jesus Himself as, the blood of the covenant (i.e., the New Covenant). cf. Lk.22:20.
My aim for this sermon is not to discourage us for aspiring to do better.
Neither is my intention to derail us from finding great comforts in thoughts (and songs) about heaven.
My aim is to help us come to fuller appreciate what we now have in the church of our Lord.
The church is never referred to in the New Testament as some “half-way house” or as a “parenthesis”.
In Paul's letter to the Ephesians there is a strong emphasis of the privilege of being IN CHRIST/IN HIM (Eph.1:1ff) …
Paul speaks of the church as God's WORKMANSHIP/MASTERPIECE (Eph.2:10) …
In Eph.3:3-4 Paul refers to the church as the MYSTERY of Christ a (Jews & Gentiles reconciled together in one body).
And in Eph.3:21, Paul calls the church GLORIOUS.
Paul builds on these thoughts in Eph.5:25f, by reminding us that Christ gave Himself up for her,
that He might present to Himself (His bride) - - the CHURCH in all her glory (vs.27).
Now let's imagine that some believers might be overheard saying something like this:
I love God, I love the Word of God, I love Jesus and I long for a home in heaven, but I don't much care for the church.
HOW DO YOU THINK CHRIST JESUS WOULD RESPOND TO SUCH A STATEMENT??
Our New Testaments close with the book of Revelation, a book that have been badly misunderstood.
The book of Revelation is essentially God's divorce decree against an apostate Israel.
In Rev. 17-18, the Old Jerusalem is called Babylon (a very detestable image for Jews).
In Rev.17:1, John writes, Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great HARLOT.
Rev.17:6 identifies this woman (harlot) as none other the Jerusalem, (a city) drunk with the blood of the saints.
This text echoes the words of Jesus from Mt.23:34-38 - - Behold, your house is being left to you desolate.
So the big question for our first-century brothers and sisters in Christ was simply this:
What will God provide to replace the Jerusalem of old?
The answer is revealed in Rev.21:2 - - Johns sees the holy city, (the) new Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
This amazing revelation is reiterated in Rev.21:10-11 - - (an angel) carried me away in the Spirit
to a great and high mountain, and he showed me THE HOLY CITY, JERUSALEM,
coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.
This heavenly transaction was set in the context of things which must shortly take place (Rev.1:1 & 22:6).
Now, one more point and then we will close in prayer.
Can we not see that what John reveals in the book of Revelation is precisely what Heb.12:18ff describes?
The New Jerusalem is none other than: Zion … the city of the living God … the heavenly Jerusalem …
the church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven … the wonderful world of the New Covenant.
So when others badmouth the church, let us gently but boldly correct them.
The church is God's NEW CREATION (Rev.21:5) and is ever so worthy of our undying praise and support.
