When Christianity Becomes Anti-God: Part 2

[Gary Petty] What does God want from me? Have you ever asked yourself that question? I think many people would say that happiness is the main goal of life and so it is what God wants for me. A number of years ago, Victoria Osteen spoke on this subject of God and happiness at the Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. Watch this.

[Victoria Osteen] "I just want to encourage everyone of us to realize when we obey God, we're not doing it for God. I mean, that's one way to look at it. We're doing it for ourselves because God takes pleasure when we're happy. That's the thing that gets Him the greatest joy this morning. So I want you to know this morning, just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy. When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God. Really, you're doing it for yourself because that's what makes God happy. Amen!"

[Gary Petty] Is this consistent with what Jesus taught? Well, we're going to look at three Bible passages to see if this is a true or false message about happiness and God.

First, let's look at the statement, "Just do good for your own self. Do good because God wants you to be happy."

You know, it's true that God wants us to experience happiness. But let's face it, I mean the harsh reality is that we live in a world that is a mixture of good and evil and happiness and suffering, health and sickness, good times and bad times. And the reason for this contrast, this contradiction, is because each of us is by nature a mixture of good and evil. Unless we allow God to deal with our corrupted human nature and our obsession for endless happiness, we just keep spiraling into unhappiness.

So listen to what Jesus said. This is recorded in Matthew 16. Jesus said, "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, yet loses his life? What will anyone give in exchange for his life?"

What does Jesus mean? That we must lose our lives for him. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ isn't just about making the purpose for your life, a search for constant happiness. Interesting, in this passage Jesus also said, "If anyone wants to follow after me, (after Jesus), let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." Jesus said that if you want to come to him and follow him, you must deny yourself.

To have a relationship with Jesus, you actually have to learn to say no to yourself. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ means to live like He lived. And this requires a spiritual transformation. And this transformation is not easy. And that's what Jesus meant when He said you must take up your cross and follow me.

This was a powerful image in the first century Roman world. People in Judea had been, many times in their lives, seeing condemned men, beaten, bloodied, maimed, hanging across or a crossbar towards the place of their execution. It symbolizes a type of suffering that's almost unfathomable to you and me as we live in our entertainment-driven, technologically centered, comfort-focused lives. I mean, every day people who are Christian divorce their husband or wife or go out with friends and get drunk or commit an abortion because they feel it will solve a problem and make them happy.

Jesus said that there is a price to pay, a spiritual struggle for actually following Him. And God's purpose isn't to give us endless fun and happiness in this life. And once again, it's not because He doesn't want us to be happy. But it's not possible to experience constant happiness and the reality of our lives. Let's read verse 27 in Matthew 16, which actually gives a remarkable hope to those who follow Him. Jesus said, "For the Son of Man," and that's a term that was used for Him as the Messiah, "For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father and His angels, and then He will reward each one according to His works." God wants to give you physical blessings in this life, but this isn't the health and wealth gospel.

The purpose He has for you and the one that you must become totally focused on and become actually the driving energy of your life is that to be with Christ and God the Father in the future is a better life. And you're now preparing for that life. Living in this hope will give you a better life when you face the dark times of grief and suffering and unhappiness that happens to all of us. You can't avoid that. You can pretend to, but those times happen.

Now, the second statement from Victoria Osteen's sermon I want to address is, "When you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God really. You're doing it for yourself because that is what makes God happy."

Okay. So we worship God not because He is worthy of worship, but because it makes us happy. The problem with this statement is that it presents a twisted view of the biblical God and the response He desires from us as His children.

So let's compare Osteen's statement with some verses written by King David in the Psalms.

David wrote, "I will extol, I will praise you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts, and I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wondrous works."

Think about the difference between the approach of David and the statement, when you come to church, when you worship Him, you're not doing it for God. David's attention is centered on the majesty and the unfathomable greatness of God. And the other approach is based on not really worshiping God, but simply play-acting to experience some kind of temporary feeling of happiness.

If you want to understand how a Christian culture is growing that is anti-God, we have a video that can help you in this struggle in sorting through all the messages claiming to teach about Jesus. Go to ucg.org/bt504 to watch a video, Jesus and Today's Cultural Christianity. You will also find some practical information on how to find happiness in your purpose to be a child of God.

In Psalm 145, I want to go back because David continues to have his whole focus centered on the reality of God. He said, "Men shall speak of the might of your awesome acts, and I will declare your greatness" He's not searching just for a personal feeling. He's actually declaring the greatness of God. "They shall under the memory of your greatness, and shall sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."

David is an example of how to worship God because God is worthy of worship. I really encourage you to read the rest of Psalm 145 because it is an encouraging message of how God will take care of those who try to understand the magnitude of His greatness and His goodness and His love.

And as the Psalm says, call upon Him in truth.

The message from Lakewood is not a message of truth. The third statement we'll explore is, "When we obey God, we're not doing it for God. I mean, that's one way to look at it. We're doing it for ourselves because God takes pleasure when we are happy."

The conclusion is to obey God not because He is the only source of goodness and truth, but because it satisfies a selfish need for happiness.

Yes, happiness is important. But you know when we consider the intricacies of creation, the miracle of life itself, this approach is rooted in a frightening arrogance.

In the New Testament, Peter wrote in 1 Peter, "...humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that He may exalt you at the proper time." God is to be worshipped because He is worthy of our humility before Him.

When we submit and obey, it is because God, the Creator of life, is the only one who knows how life works. Peter continues, "...casting all your care on Him, because He cares about you."

Peter says that a true follower of God will humbly seek His goodness, His power. Peter completes his statement with the encouragement that God will help us in the cares and unhappy times and the stresses and the grief of life because why He cares about you. He has a purpose for you.

And this is the great key in our struggles with unhappiness. God doesn't promise us that we won't face difficult times in life, but in those times we can be assured that God cares and He will carry us through the valley of despair. It is not in an endless search for happiness that we find God. We find God in our human struggle, our need for deliverance, our need for direction, our need for forgiveness and our need for spiritual healing that we find ourselves humbly seeking God as Father and Jesus Christ as Savior. And in that search we find that God is the source of real happiness.

If you want to understand about a Christian culture that is anti-God, we have a video we want to share with you that can help you in this struggle in sorting through all the messages claiming to teach about Jesus. Go to ucg.org/bt504 to watch a video, Jesus and Today's Cultural Christianity. And you know, we also have some things there for you to read that give you some very practical information on how to find happiness in your purpose to be a child of God.