Latest / Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies / Scripture Based Worldview | Jon Richardson | Joy vs Happiness

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Scripture Based Worldview | Jon Richardson | Joy vs Happiness · Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies

• 0:00
  Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us online@madisonchurch.org be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
• 0:37
  Speaker B: So it's really nice to be back in Faith Builders for at least a week. So this has been a unique experience for me as well, teaching, but I've really enjoyed the opportunity to talk through the subject and get different perspectives. I've gone through the different classes. So tonight we're going to talk about joy versus happiness. We're going to start with the question, what is your happy place? So what about that place makes you want to be there? What emotions do you have when you're there? Are the emotions driven by the circumstance, by the people you're with? Is it exclusive to good times?
• 1:12
  Speaker C: Well, my happy place is the beach. Just, I mean, either sitting on the porch of the condo or whatever, listening to the waves or being on the beach, hearing the children play and the steady sound of the waves hitting the beach, it just brings me peace and helps me feel a little bit closer to God.
• 1:42
  Speaker D: Okay.
• 1:42
  Speaker E: I would say here that my happy place is my home. When we leave out for work and you know, you pray the God was and when my husband, he arrives home in the afternoon, it gives me joy that we all made it back. And so for me, my home is my happy place.
• 2:03
  Speaker B: Mets game, Mets game. I can't after this weekend, but so that's ironic. That was going to be what I led him to as well. So baseball has kind of been the focus of my spring. So we started by getting to go to opening weekend and we always go on Sundays so that the kids can run the bases afterwards. And even though the Braves lost that game, neither one of my children really cared because what did they get to do at the end of the game? They got to go on the field and run the bases. Right. So their emotions and circumstances were, you know, pretty good. But I've helped coach both Jude and Zach for baseball this spring and Those are two very different experiences. Zach's was very deterministic. If Zach had a good game, Zach was in a really good mood. If Zach had a game, he felt like he didn't do well. It was a long drive home. And so there was very much the highs and the lows that came with walking, striking out. All the things you see in nine and ten year old baseball, which is basically walks, strikeouts, stolen bases. Jude, on the other hand, for those of you who have seen five year old baseball did not care 98% of the time what happened. He was happy where he was, whether it was playing in the dirt, on base, hitting the ball, trying to feel the ball, whatever else. Right. As long as he got his snack at the end of the day,
• 3:36
  Speaker C: it
• 3:36
  Speaker B: was a good game. And I will tell you, I had so much more Fun coaching the 5U than I did 10U because those kids as close to what you could experience joy in baseball, that's what they had. Whereas if we won a game, there was a lot of happiness. If we lost the game, there was a lot of sadness when it came to the 10U because one of them was driven by the circumstances of what happened that game and the other was driven by the face full of dirt and getting to run around and play with his friends. So that really gets to this whole discussion we're going to have tonight about the difference between happiness and joy. So happiness is a very modern priority. So this is interesting. These were books that were listed in the material they gave us as we were prepping to teach. And these are 21st century Christian book titles that sound like something that came from David Covey. But my favorite of these is this last one. It's your time. Activate your faith, achieve your dreams and increase in God's favor. What do you notice about that title?
• 4:44
  Speaker D: Very self centric.
• 4:45
  Speaker B: Yes. How many times do you see the word your. Three times. How many times do you see the word God at the very end? Right. So these are all very focused on me, my outcomes, what makes me happy. So the question is, does God want us to be happy?
• 5:07
  Speaker F: I think he wants good things for us. He wants us to live the good life. I don't. I think sometimes we conflate joy and happiness because happiness is circumstantial nine times out of ten. But joy, if your joy is in the right with the right motives, with the right backing, the right fuel for the fire, then it's not going to go out. It's not going to matter if you're at the top of the mountain peak or if you're in the trenches of the valley, you can still find joy. Happiness is circumstantial.
• 5:51
  Speaker G: Happiness and joy are not the same thing because happiness is an emotion, and joy is part of the fruit of the spirit. If you look at the other fruits
• 5:59
  Speaker B: of the spirit,
• 6:02
  Speaker G: they're not emotions. Right. So goodness is not an emotion. That's a state of being.
• 6:09
  Speaker B: Right.
• 6:10
  Speaker G: And so it's an attitude of the heart. So joy is really kind of more of the heart. I mean, if you think about the Jacksons, they're suffering loss. And the Bible says, blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted, but yet they still find joy knowing that their sister is in heaven because she obeyed the gospel. That's the difference right there.
• 6:33
  Speaker B: Yep. And we'll absolutely get into happiness versus joy here in a minute because you guys are hitting on a lot of the core differences. Okay, so what is the allure of mixing our happiness with our faith, and what's the danger in doing it? Because here I would say this author who sold a lot of books is very much mixing happiness and faith takes
• 7:00
  Speaker F: us away from God and brings us into the world.
• 7:04
  Speaker B: Takes us away from God. Absolutely.
• 7:06
  Speaker C: It shifts your focus from the eternal to the temporary. That I'm focused on doing what's going to make me happy now rather than what is eternally important. That there are a lot of hard things that will improve the eternal outcome of ourselves or those around us that will not make us happy. It's not. Things that are uncomfortable don't make you happy. It doesn't make you happy to be sitting in 90 degrees with 100% humidity. But if you're sitting there comforting somebody, then that has eternal consequences that are more important than your temporary happiness. But if you focus on being happier seven days a week, then you're not focusing on the things that are more important than your own happiness.
• 8:04
  Speaker B: So you guys have done a really good job of answering the dangers. So what's the allure of it? Why do people do it? The best of both worlds. Yeah.
• 8:11
  Speaker H: Jesus didn't promise us happiness. He said the world hated him. They're going to hate us. He was persecuted. We're running the Jesus does what this
• 8:20
  Speaker G: so Joel Olsteen kind of faith.
• 8:23
  Speaker B: All three of these are Joel Osteen books, by the way. So you nailed that one. The Prosperity Gospel. Would this title sell as many books if it said, your life is going to be terrible at times, but it's going to be okay, but. Right. I mean, there's a reason that these positive messages are so easy for us to consume. And it's because it is alluring. Right? It is the whole concept of, well, why can't I have a really happy life as well as serve God? Why can't I always have those things together?
• 8:55
  Speaker D: One of my favorite verses is in John 10 when it says that Jesus came so we can have abundant life. And so, you know, obviously that has some reference to eternity, but it can have reference to here too. But abundant is very different than happy. Abundant, you know, in a big sense you have to be able to experience the terrible in order to really even ever experience true happiness for the moments that are happy. So abundance is full and full of life. But full of life does not always mean happy.
• 9:26
  Speaker H: Correct.
• 9:28
  Speaker B: So that's a really good lead in to. Let's talk about joy versus happiness for a minute. In the New Testament. So joy comes from this word. I'm going to say chara. I think that's the pronunciation. It's found 59 times in the New Testament. It took me about five or six tries, but I finally found a definition where we didn't conflate joy and happiness in the English language because it happens pretty much everywhere else you look. I really like this. It's a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope. And like Hunter mentioned, it is one of the fruits of the spirit. In fact, it's the second one. And if you look at the fruits of the spirit, they build on each other. So the first one is love. The second one is joy. Without joy, we can't have any of the other ones after it. Because that foundation that comes with joy, this settled state of contentment allows us to have the peace, the happiness, the goodness, the gentleness, the self control. But happiness, there's not a direct word for it in the New Testament. So there's a word this makarios, that's translated blessed. 44 out of the 50 times the other six, it's translated as happiness. But that's not the normal way it's used in the New Testament. Our word happiness comes from the old Norse for a word that meant luck. So happiness directly goes back to this concept of luck, of circumstance, of positive feelings, right? Pleasure, enjoyment, comfort, absence of distress. All these things that, well, why can't I have this? Because it would make my life easier. But it all ties back to this concept of something that we're not controlling. So what is joy versus happiness? So happiness is something that's external, dependent on the circumstances, and comes from our emotions, right? I'm sad because the Braves lost today to a terrible team. I'll be happy when hopefully they start winning again next week. Right? I was happy when they swept the Pirates last weekend. Yes, Jared, I got you. I've got to make some comments. Joy is internal. It's independent of circumstances. It's something that we choose, right? I can be joyful when I'm two hours into fighting spreadsheets at work. It's hard, but that's something I can choose to be joyful through. Happiness is having what we want versus wanting what we have, which is enjoy. So it may not be the best circumstance, but if we want what we have at the time, that gives us that opportunity to have joy. So happiness, it's an external euphoria, right? It's that momentary expression versus inner contentment. For joy, happiness is an effect. It's a result of what we're around. It is inconsistent and it is temporary because I like using the baseball reference over and over again because it's something that I'm comfortable with. But like, good teams in baseball lose 60 games out of 162 that they play. So even the best teams are going to have at least 60 of those days where if you're a fan, you're not going to be happy with the way that game turned out. It's effect driven, it's inconsistent, and it's always going to have something that pulls you to the next one wanting more. Whereas joy is a cause. It causes and drives our behaviors. It's a foundation. It's something that we can go back to again and again no matter the circumstance. It's consistent because it comes from God. It comes from the one consistent source we have, and it's eternal again, because it comes from God. So let's talk about happiness for a minute. So it can be either positive or negative to our spiritual life. So talking about those spreadsheets, I love putting on podcasts when I'm doing spreadsheets because it keeps me from going nuts when I'm staring at numbers. So when Jason had season two of Carline conversations come out over the last couple of months, that's one I'd love to pop in right as I'm driving through all of these numbers, I can listen to that for an hour. So this is something that I enjoy to do. It brings me contentment. It helps my spiritual life. It's pretty straightforward. It provides me both joy and happiness in the circumstance. Next one, we can do enjoyable things that are fine on their own, like going to a baseball game Right. Or going on a. But it can become harmful if we choose to put it ahead of God in one way or the other. So we, like I said, we go to the games. We went to the game on Sunday. We normally will go to games on Sunday, but we still incorporate church in one way or the other. We'll listen to Madison or like, we've gone with friend groups before, and we've pulled a bunch of us down into a conference room and had the kids do a few songs and do a devo that way. So there are ways for us to incorporate things that are neutral and make them either a positive or negative to our spiritual lives. But it comes back to this concept of being harmful when we allow it to get ahead of our relationship with God. We can have hobbies that become idols in our lives. Examples. What do you guys think? What are hobbies that could become idols or start taking the place of God in your life? Baseball. Yep. Absolutely.
• 14:51
  Speaker H: But I want to ask a question.
• 14:52
  Speaker B: Do you want to be in the
• 14:53
  Speaker H: active position or in the passive? Because you can go, enjoy, watch game, and you don't have to be active, but you can still have a joy. You can be in a euphoric state because you're sitting around with people. So in which position you're talking about being at the base.
• 15:10
  Speaker B: So it depends. You can have both, but only one of them is something that's consistent. You can be joyful whether or not they're winning. You can be joyful because you're with your family. You can be joyful because of the time you're getting to spend with one another. No matter what's happening in the game, any of our hobbies can become something that starts taking the place of God. You guys are the first class that hasn't mentioned this thing. And it's maybe because I didn't give you enough time. This thing can become one of the easiest ways to suck up our time. And a hobby that takes over our place with God. But that is a risk that we have. Things that make us happy, especially if it's just something that causes us to endlessly scroll or endlessly act, can become idols and take the place of God in our lives. And then there's the easy one, right? We the other end of this, where we can do something that we know is sinful, but we do it anyway. So the first one is like happiness and joy together. This one is absolutely no joy. Just focus on the happiness that we temporarily get. What's important to understand about happiness is when we allow our emotional state to be based on our circumstances, on our happiness only. We have no anchor to place our lives on. So in that situation, we simply roll up and down with how things are going in that moment as a very dangerous way to live. But unfortunately, it's a way that a lot of people live their lives because they're just looking for that next high, that next hit of happiness, no matter what it takes to get there. So let's contrast that with the joy of the Lord. So the joy of the Lord is not dependent on our circumstances. Can I get someone to read Luke 6, 22 and 23? I've got two other examples here. While somebody turns there, James tells us directly to have joy in our trials. Not a very happy moment, normally when we're in the middle of terrible things. But James tells us to have joy in the middle of those trials. Moses is a really good example of this. Moses could have had the life of a son of a Pharaoh. He could have had everything you think about, money, wise, easy life. But he traded that and went through all the things that he went through. Having to deal with the Israelites, having to deal with Pharaoh directly during the plagues, because he chose that righteousness, because he chose joy over happiness. Does somebody have Luke 6?
• 17:53
  Speaker C: Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of Man, rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven, for so their fathers did to the prophets.
• 18:11
  Speaker B: So we're supposed to rejoice in what, when you're hated? Not a very happy moment, right?
• 18:16
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 18:18
  Speaker H: Why did you use word happy, not joyful?
• 18:22
  Speaker B: That was intentional. Because these are all situations in which we're told to be joyful, but none of them are happy. Right. If we're being in the. If we're in the middle of a trial, in the middle of a difficult point in our life, if we're being cursed at, if we're being mocked. None of those are things where you're gonna be like, oh, I really want to go do that again tomorrow. But we are told to have joy in those circumstances. So how do we show joy in our lives when things are tough?
• 18:54
  Speaker D: One thing that I'm working on personally, that I heard somebody say, you know, if we rely on the happiness piece, which is the emotional piece, then we can let our emotions dictate our behavior. But that's kind of where do what you know and not what you feel comes in. Right. And so I think that that consistency in behavior and approach is really difficult to achieve, but it's really important. It's a way to show joy is to not be completely derailed by every little thing that comes along, which is hard.
• 19:29
  Speaker E: But I think that the.
• 19:30
  Speaker D: Do what you know, not what you feel is so important because we're relying on scripture to tell us this is how we should be thinking, how we should be behaving, regardless of the emotion that comes and goes. It's not that we're never gonna react to emotion.
• 19:46
  Speaker E: We are.
• 19:46
  Speaker D: But as an objective, as a goal is to be steady and consistent and do what you know and not what you feel.
• 19:55
  Speaker I: I know in my case, when I'm more focused on me and I'm down and depressed.
• 20:04
  Speaker B: Right.
• 20:04
  Speaker I: I guess I'm saying it backwards.
• 20:06
  Speaker H: Right.
• 20:07
  Speaker I: I think it's. It's. If you're. If you're focused on others and you're. You're involved with other people and engaged in what other people are going through, I think it's easier to. To show joy and not be and not let those happiness or these emotions affect.
• 20:28
  Speaker B: I don't know.
• 20:29
  Speaker I: It's easy to get depressed and down when all you're focusing on is yourself. And when you're engaged, when you're with other people doing acts of service, I think you're less focused on yourself and you're less like. It's a way to show joy. Even though things are not going your
• 20:47
  Speaker H: way, I would say you show Jesus as a reflection to everybody. I know it's hard in those moments when people are talking bad about you directly in your face. I know that many Americans are not going to experience what's going on in Middle east. And Muslims especially hate Christians. The Bible is being thrown away. Christians are being almost sometimes killed, but they're still doing it and they're having joy looking from that. It doesn't matter what the world going to happen, you're still going to bring Christ whatever you want to be.
• 21:25
  Speaker G: I look at Job. When you look at Job, Job went through a lot. And I think that's probably putting it lightly. He was sad, he was mad. All those emotions were still there at the surface. And his friends came in and they said, curse God and die. And that's the one thing that Job didn't do. He put his faith in God at the forefront. He was still sad, he was still mad, but he put his faith in God at the forefront. He did not curse God.
• 22:04
  Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of different things we can do and you guys have done a really good job of explaining them. One other thing is relying on each other, right? The amazing thing that we have, especially in this church, is we have our groups that try and take care of each other, right? We've got friend groups that allow for that. And I'll tell you, most everyone's heard our infertility story, so I'm not going to go back through that. But the moment that it really shifted from an anger thing for me to where I could start having some joy and contentment in the circumstance before we ended up having the boys was quarterly went forward one Sunday at the church we were attending at the time, just asking for prayers for what we were going through. And the shift from us just trying to do it ourselves to having our church family with us was by far the best experience for me of that shift from depression, anger, all of those emotions to contentment, not happiness, right? There was nothing happy still about that for a while. But being able to start experiencing that joy, even in the face of something difficult. Joy can also come from our security in the Lord. Can I get somebody to read Philippians 4, 4, 5, and someone to read John 16:22, Psalms 4? David's talking about this and mentions specifically that the joy that's in our hearts is put there by God, right? So when we talk about this being eternal, this being a foundation, it's because it's put there by someone who is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, has the power to put it there and for no one to be able to take it away. Somebody have Philippians 4 rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I will say, rejoice, Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.
• 24:13
  Speaker G: The Lord is at hand.
• 24:14
  Speaker B: John 16:22 so also you have sorrow
• 24:19
  Speaker J: now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
• 24:25
  Speaker B: So how does joy spring from the safety we have in God?
• 24:36
  Speaker F: Well, he is a God who keeps his promises, and that is the most secure thing that we could he is it is the most secure situation we can ever be in the rest of the world is is it just can't hold up to that, like he is the only source of that kind of strength and security.
• 25:00
  Speaker E: Then also, if you go back to Philippians chapter 4 and then a common verse here, 13 verse 13, I can do all things through Christ and also above in verse 11, for me, when I look at that verse, not that I speak in respect of warrant, for I have learned in whatever state I am there with. To be content. So someone had mentioned that, that even if you're in the trenches, you just. You want to be joyful. You know, even if you don't have
• 25:33
  Speaker D: to be on the mountains out there,
• 25:35
  Speaker E: you're going to be joyful. You're going to be content even in that situation.
• 25:42
  Speaker B: 100%. And the beautiful thing about John 16:22 is the promise that no one can take his joy from us. Right? It is one thing that is consistent. No one can take from us. Joy can also come from God's presence in our lives. Can somebody get one? Thessalonians 3, 8, 9. So Psalm 16, again, here is talking about the fullness of joy or the completion of joy that comes from just being in the presence of God. David talks about that ability to have that completion just because he is feeling that closeness, that connection with the Lord. Does somebody have first Thessalonians 3, for now we live.
• 26:31
  Speaker I: If you are standing fast in the Lord, for what thanksgiving can we return
• 26:35
  Speaker B: to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake
• 26:39
  Speaker I: before our God,
• 26:42
  Speaker B: as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith. So how does closeness to God provide us joy?
• 26:53
  Speaker F: When I am seeking him, when I am doing my daily Bible reading consistently, when I am seeking his presence, then I am easily reminded of that joy that I have it through him. When I fall away, when I'm out of his presence. The further I get from him, the. It's just not as easy to. You don't see those things, you know, like, it's just. I don't know if that's it.
• 27:31
  Speaker G: That's all.
• 27:32
  Speaker B: No, you're right. And it's the same as any relationship that we have, right? Like, there's a difference between. Back when I used to have to travel and I'd be gone for like two or three weeks at a time. There was a very different dynamic in our relationship. When I'm only able to talk to Corlee over the phone versus then when I'm at home and we're able to spend time together again, right? It's the same thing with God. The closer we are, the more comfort, the more joy that we can have in our lives because we have that relationship, right? Distance damages relationships, John.
• 28:06
  Speaker J: A lot of times we can treat prayer as like, you know, God is our emergency contact. When things, you know, when everything, you know, gets to a certain level, then we'll reach out to him instead of that relationship that you talked about. It'd be like the friend that they. Or you being the friend that only calls this person when you need something and you're gonna ask, ask for something instead of sharing your life, sharing your, you know, having a relationship with them. I think a lot of times with it, we can get caught up in just, you know, asking and asking, you know, sharing in, you know, what is going on in our lives, a daily thing. And it almost becomes a, you know, if our prayers were answered, you know, would things just be made better for us or be made better for his kingdom or, you know, that type of thing?
• 29:13
  Speaker B: I think, yeah, we can end up in a situation we're almost praying for our own happiness instead of focusing on that contentment. Last one here. Since we're running short on time, I'm going to kind of skim through. Joy also comes from living out God's commands. So verses here. Joy for the upright in heart, testimonies of the joy of my heart. But God sets us up for a joyful life through his commands because he gives us those to make our lives actually have the chance for joy, actually have the chance for sustainment. He did not put rules in our lives to make them arbitrarily harder. And I like using the example. Like, if you look back at the Old Testament, there were rules against eating blood. Why were they there? Were they there to make their lives harder? No, they were there because it's not hygienic to eat blood. But that was something that happened with all the cultures around. So he gives us rules in our lives to provide us protection and to give us a way to be closer to Him. So the last couple of minutes, does God promise us happiness? No. So it's a slightly different version of the question. When we started the class, the question was, does God want us to be happy? I don't think God has any problem with us being happy, but he doesn't promise us happiness. In fact, if you look at pretty much every person in the Bible that we respect, that we value, that we want to emulate in any way, none of them had purely happy lives. They all went through trials, difficulties. But does he promise us joy? Yep, through him. So if we take God's definitions of happiness versus joy, what does it change in the way we. Our beliefs and our behaviors?
• 31:05
  Speaker F: Maybe we put less value in happiness right now and more, you know, put more effort into seeking pure joy through that we find in Jesus.
• 31:21
  Speaker E: I think it. What Heidi's saying is, you know, we're all going to have ups and Downs, it doesn't matter, you know, when or how or why, you know, but putting less relevance on our emotions, but finding joy and whatever circumstances we're in because
• 31:44
  Speaker B: God is with us, that's what's worth,
• 31:48
  Speaker E: you know, living day to day. Then also you think about it, you know, if one can change their mindset, then it's going to change their what their behavior.
• 32:02
  Speaker B: Absolutely. Shows where you put trust. Yep. And that gets to this last one. How does acting out our joy bring others to Christ?
• 32:13
  Speaker F: Like you said, the people that we read about in the Bible, who we, who we want to be like, who we gain insight from, didn't live happy lives, but they still had joy. They still, you know, Job lived a dance, terrible stuff happened and he still didn't do what his friends and family members were telling him to do. He still, you know, leaned on God and he came out right. He was triumphant and he had, he had to have something right. That force driving him, joy or peace or patience, all those fruits of the spirit, all those states of being. So when we go through trials, people see that sometimes there are brothers and sisters in Christ who are like minded and sometimes they're not. And they see that you're different. Sometimes it starts a conversation.
• 33:12
  Speaker B: One last example, because I know we're almost out of time. I was a young engineer, just started at 3m and I noticed that our admin was completely different in the way that she interacted with problems than pretty much anyone else in the office. The horrible things that would happen didn't really seem to bother her. She stayed calm and finally got to talking with her a little bit, found out she was actually an elder's wife at congregation there in Decatur. And what ended up being where we went for a while, where I went when I was single and Corlee and I got married. But like even just as a Christian walking into a new space, I noticed something different about the way she interacted versus everyone else. Fortunately, you know, in my situation, I didn't need that from a salvation standpoint. But I know, you know, other people watching her would have gotten that same benefit. So the way we interact and show joy gives us the opportunity to bring others to Christ. All right, thanks everyone.