This week, Pastor Jonny taught on the difference between joy and happiness.
8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
(Luke 2:8-14)
Notice verse 10. The good news is the Gospel, and for all those who believe, the Good News of Jesus causes great joy!
Joy is totally different to happiness. Contrary to popular belief, God does not exist to make us happy. If we have a happiness-based theology, then this will lead us to a distorted and distant relationship with God.
A happiness-based theology might look like this:
Happy = right. Unhappy = wrong
Therefore discomfort, delay, risk and suffering can never be God’s will.
Therefore we start to worship comfort, money, pleasure and things.
Notice how a bad theology leads us away from God and causes us to set up false idols! This is why it’s so important to understand that God doesn’t exist as a magic genie to grant us every wish. If everything that makes us happy is “good”, then we can quickly become trapped in sinful living, and God hasn’t designed us to live happily in our sin…He’s caused us to live happily in Him!
Instead of pursuing happiness, we should be pursuing holiness, which is the character of Christ and lifestyle that God would have us live. Such a lifestyle leads to a life of abundant joy!
To illustrate the difference between joy and happiness, let’s look at Jesus’s life.
What made Jesus sad?
The shortest verse in the Bible is merely “Jesus wept”, when Lazarus, a close friend of Jesus, died. Separation from loved ones brings sadness.
In Matthew 23, Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem, as its people were far away from God. Jesus weeps over sin.
What made Jesus joyful?
Jesus thrived off the things that really matter in life: relationships. Jesus found joy when rejected people became included, when sick people became healed, when decaying things were restored, and when sinners repented and trusted in God for forgiveness and salvation.
You see, joy is more of a mindset than an emotion. Happiness and unhappiness are emotions, but joy is a mindset.
Key definition: Joy is an attitude God’s people adopt, not because of their current circumstances, but because of God’s promises, hope and love for their life.
Basically, we have to choose to be joyful before we start to feel it.
When the Hebrew slaves left Egypt, they were in the wilderness with no comforts, yet they had a mindset of focusing on the promise of God for their future, and their attitude was that of joyful worship.
Jesus, as Messiah, wasn’t going to be the Messiah people wanted, but He was the Messiah people truly needed. He didn’t change circumstances but He changed peoples' outlook on life, their worldview. People were able to endure persecution and attack with joy because of their relationship with God.
God’s economy is upside down to the world. As we strive for happiness, we miss out on opportunities for godly joy. We need to change our perspective.
Let’s pray for a blessed New Year, but not focus too much on earthly happiness. Let’s pray for spiritual joy to well up and overflow out of us. As our relationship with God goes deeper, our joy will increase.