God Never Said That: Part 1 - "God Wants You Happy" with Craig Groeschel - LifeChurch.tv

coulda picked a better one myself top-of-the-line all the options the only thing that can't do is fly I'm just licking this one is way out of my price range Oh see now there's your problem price range is really just a frame of mind the facts are that you work hard you deserve this and God wants you to be happy yeah appreciate your enthusiasm but um God never said that it is great to have all of you with us today at all of our live churches and our network churches and our family all over the world at church online I want to take a moment and give Thanksgiving to our good God as we're celebrating over 2000 people being baptized in the name of the Father Son and the Holy Spirit it's hard to get my mind around what that means every single person matters to God I watched it my location tears on so many faces and I know many of the stories convicted felons that have been made new in Christ a precious woman that had been trafficked for years and years and years is being healed by Jesus and sins being washed away a couple that experienced the pain of adultery and experiencing the freedom of forgiveness in Christ and those tears are real because we're made new because of the blood Jesus shed for us and I celebrate I worship God that we get to be a part of a church to seeing so many people made new in Christ and so congratulations to every single one of you today and all of our churches today we aren't starting a brand new necessary so you're in on the ground floor the four part message series called God never said that we look at four of the most common statements that we hear about God they're actually not really from God for example next week we're going to talk about what people say all the time and that is that God will never give you more than you can handle God never said that week number three we look at what the culturally believes statement that it doesn't matter what you do as long as you don't hurt anyone god never said that week number four a very common belief is that it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you are sincere God never said that today I want to dive into what is perhaps maybe the most commonly misunderstood principle about God I'll walk into it this way if I told you that God didn't want you happy I think that would be disturbing to a lot of people because it feels so good to hear God wants you happy God wants you to your life to go the way you want it to go God wants you to experience all the good things in life God wants you happy if I told you that that wasn't entirely true that would be upsetting to so many people because it feels so good to believe that God wants us happy in fact I could quote from Psalm 97 verse 12 and even tell you from God's Word he wants you happy may all who are godly be what let's say it allowed me all who are godly be whenever I hear that it just makes me want to dance because club along this is truth I'm so glad you like that cuz that's kind of a gamble but I like it it makes me feel feel happy and so I am glad you're happy about it too God wants you happy God wants you above all else God wants you happy let me give you the progressive line of thought if that is true if above all else God wants you happy let me show you three thoughts under what I call the theology of happiness number one if you're taking notes if God must be happy above all else then whatever makes me happy must be right and whatever makes me unhappy must be wrong this is what we have to believe if God wants us happy in fact Sheryl Crow since we're talking about songs wrote a very powerful song called if if it makes you happy it can't be that bad if it makes you happy then why the heck are you so sad only she didn't say heck but if I said what she said then you might not be happy and our sermon would be heading down for the day number one whatever makes me happy must be right whatever makes me unhappy must be wrong number two if God wants me happy above all else then discomfort delay risk suffering inconveniences and obstacles can't be God's will in other words if something happens to me that I didn't want to happen if it's inconvenient if it's hard for me if God wants me happy and now I'm unhappy then this cannot be God's will in my life which leads to number three without knowing it I begin to worship the false gods of comfort money pleasure and things and that is where many people live the day even those who may call themselves Christians pursuing the God who would make them happy bowing down at the altar of happiness wrongly believing that above all else God wants me happy the challenge with this is if God wants me happy then God exists to serve me and the reality is God does not exist to do what we want him to do he does not exist to serve us we exist to serve Him if we believe that God above all else wants us to be happy then essentially we reduce God to a cosmic coke machine right for example if I go to a Coke machine and put my dollar in and I press sprite I expect to get a sprite because I kept up my part of the deal I gave the Machine what the Machine demanded I press the button therefore I should have a sprite roll out and many of us without ever being that direct and how we would describe it expect God to respond like that you are my cosmic code machine so if I do whatever you make up the religious rules if I if I go to church if I pray if I read my Bible if I help a little old lady cross the road I don't run over your cat that's running out in front of me I don't know what it is you know if I do good things and I don't do bad things then God must give me the Rays that I want that I want or I want to qualify for my dream house or that girl needs to say yes and go out with me or my favorite sports team needs to win why because I did exactly what I knew I should do and I didn't do what I shouldn't do and therefore I push the god button and out should roll exactly what I want because God is there to make me happy above all else God wants me happy the challenge is if that is the highest calling and you wake up one day and you're not happy that only leaves you with one wrong conclusion and that is if I'm not happy then God failed me and this is one of the fundamental problems in our cultural Christian world today so many people will say will I tried religion and it didn't work I mean I went to church for three weeks straight and I wasn't healed of cancer okay I read by Reggie through a few books in the Bible and I tried to be a good person and I even went to a life group for a little while and I still didn't get the job that I wanted my marriage still didn't get better and therefore God didn't make me happy so God failed and so many people end up walking away from God because the fundamental foundation of their belief system is dramatically flawed in a watered-down sanitized American version of Christianity which is God exists to make me happy and this unfortunately is very very dangerous now I believe with all my heart that God is not against your happiness in fact I believe that God delights when you actually enjoy things in your life for example if one of my sons I've got two boys that play competitive soccer one is a forward and one is a goalie they're both quite good if my goalie son makes a winning save or if my striker son scores the winning goal and they're really really happy about it I take delight as a father and their happiness if and they've never done this and I assume they wouldn't if after scoring the winning goal or making the winning save they run to the opposing teams bench and flip them off all the way down there suddenly I'm not as concerned about their happiness from their goal I have something else on my mind dealing with their behavior does that make sense my highest priority for them is not their happiness I delight in their happiness but that is not the highest priority in my life so I'm going to argue today that God does not want you to pursue happiness God wants you to pursue him God does not want you to pursue him in the name of happiness and you need to understand this God is the end God is the goal his presence is the goal his will is the goal he you do not pursue him so he gives you what you want that's using God not glorifying God God doesn't mind you being happy I'm sure he delights in his children's happiness but it is not his highest calling God does not want you to pursue happiness he wants you to pursue himself and in him you will find all things that matter in life so what I want to do is I want to break it down today because this is really really really important and this I believe can help you as you help other people and all of us can make better decisions when we understand the reality of what it is that God is calling us to do and how he wants us to live let me give you two examples of when God isn't as concerned about your happiness but the first one if you're taking notes is this God doesn't want you happy when it causes you to do something wrong or unwise God does not want you happy when it causes you to do something sinful or stupid okay and this happens all the time I'll give you an example years ago we were at a big Life Group party and all the parents were there and all the kids were running everywhere it was a great time and we're at our good friends house and they had installed perhaps the coolest zipline in the history of the world what could be more fun than a line caught between two trees with a zipline just a massive on we're talking about zipline on steroids there's not a person in here who loves thrills that wouldn't look at that and go Jesus give me a chance to experience your pleasure on that zipline and the only problem was it was like so massive that there was no way to stop before hitting the tree unless you were big enough to to dig your feet into the ground to cause it to stop and so we just had to make a rule that you know unless you're 12 years old you're not allowed to ride on the zipline well my youngest daughter at the time was probably about three and evidently she didn't understand the rule now thankfully she wasn't tall enough to get up there herself but there was another kid that wasn't paying attention that hoisted her up onto the zipline well when joy started I'm telling you you couldn't have seen a girl having more fun she was happy happy happy happy eyes dancing she zipping along and all you could hear her say was I mean flying pig tail back going and it was just great until you heard the biggest crack okay and I still get sick thinking about it she her face went straight in the tree blood everywhere she was immediately out I had to take her to the emergency room Amy couldn't deal with it and I was I took her there and they asked me what's her full name her name is Rebecca joy I call her Julie or Jojo I couldn't think of her name also of so upset they said when's her birthday I couldn't remember her birthday I'm like I promise you I'm the dad I promise you I was there when she was kinsella brought it and and it was I was so I was that upset what was really really fun for her was unwise but she didn't realize it what was on the other end there's a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death there are a lot of people today that are doing things that really seem fun in the moment but what they don't realize is there's danger on the other side God does not want you happy when it leads you to do something wrong or unwise something sinful or something stupid in fact first Peter 1:15 this is important scripture says this but just as he who called you as happy so be happy and all you do I think I think I misread that let me try that again okay what does it say but just as he who called you as what is is holy be what be holy in all that you do God delights and your happiness but as highest priority for us is not our happiness but I would argue all day long it's it's our holiness in fact I am I used to get to do a lot of weddings before my schedule became what it is and I would always years ago do all the premarital counseling myself which I took great joy in helping prepare couples to have the kind of marriage I believe that God wanted them to have so I married this one particular couple and it was several years that went by I bumped into the guy that's like I'm so glad to see how's it going in your relationship in your marriage and he looked at me and kind of him haul it around and he said well we're not married anymore and my heart just broke and I said well you know what happened what what what's the story and he looked at me and he said the same thing if I've heard it once I've heard it 500 times he said well you know things just weren't going well and and you know we just we try but I just wasn't happy and she just wasn't happy and so we got a divorce just wasn't happy it didn't make me happy and here's a challenge when we believe that God wants us happy above everything else then when we are not happy we can justify doing something that is really wrong believing that it is actually right okay and I see this over and over again in marriages and so since I had actually married the guy I kind of called him on it said don't you remember we sat down in my office and we talked about a covenant this is a binding spiritual agreement and I looked at you before God and said but for better or for worse and you were in the worse but if you stick with it and God is with you it can actually get back to the better just because you're not happy that is not an excuse to walk out on a marriage now let me just say I'm not saying this I know there are literally thousands of you at our different places my goal is not to heap guilt upon you for what's happened to pass my goal is to speak directly into some marriages right now where you're contemplating breaking a covenant vow because you are not happy you said to God for better or for worse for richer for poorer in sickness and health forsaking all others be faithful this person as long as you both shall live and if you continue to seek Jesus together you can work through this you can get through the worst and get back to the better you don't walk away simply because you're not happy we see this in all sorts of different ways people will justify something that they know is wrong because it makes them happy it might be a cake if I ate three quarters that thing is going to make me happy okay not wise it might be your spouse isn't meeting your needs and so you start looking at pornography or say well it makes me feel good I mean you know you're not gonna say oh well this is how I deal with it and I have to do this because she's not and and it feeds me in a certain way and you're justifying something that is wrong because she makes you happy it could be premarital sex it could be you know I know scripture says that this is reserved for the covenant of marriage but we're in love and it feels good and I'm a man and I've got my needs kind of like a dog you know me I got my my knees if we're married in our heart anyway makes me happy it could be in your entertainment you know people read and watch stuff all the time this is filthy what's fun is he knows but you go to a movie this is nothing but pure filth but it's funny what's so funny it's so funny Phil but it's funny okay funny doesn't make wrong write funny but it makes me happy and I could go on I mean the next time you go to some Fifty Shades of whatever movie and you and they're just you know you're just listen to me in there their head they're hooking it up you know they're not married and you're and you're watching someone else do things that they're very ungodly remember what scripture says there must not be a hint of sexual immorality okay and literally hundreds and hundreds of you will go see that movie because you want you already read the book you might as well see the movie okay because you've already read the the mommy porn and so you didn't go to the movie and here's what I want you to do just tell me that you want to be happy and go do it go just pretend like I'm sitting right next to you save me a seat okay just pretend and I'm gonna lean over and say Kate can I have some popcorn and you didn't give me some I'm gonna say it makes me happy are you happy okay I just wanted to mess up the movie for you if you're going to go just kicks for me there and I hope you're happy okay and I'm I'm being a little bit sarcastic but I hope to see the point God does not want us happy when it causes us to do something wrong or unwise we live in a culture that boughs down and worships at the altar of happiness God does not want us to pursue happiness he wants us to pursue himself number one God does not want you happy when it caused you to do something wrong or unwise number two God doesn't want you happy when it's only based on the things of this world when it's only based on the things of this world I saw on late-night TV that there are some things I need to be happy I need a blanket with holes in it Snuggie I need miracle cream that will make me look 22 all over again I need a shake weight now some of you don't know what a shake weight is and you shouldn't whoever made that's just wrong I'm not gonna making shake weight symbols some of you waiting for me to do it the rest you don't know what I'm talking about those who you know I'm not even going to get I'll be on YouTube shaking away all day long and what you know it's like that's just wrong right someone's sitting there back there laughing every time someone buys a shake weight they're laughing their tail and all I need this to be happy I need this to be happy this to be I need this to be happy okay God does not want you happy when it's only based on the things of this world John was very direct and very clear when he said this and first John 2:15 through 17 he said do not love the world or anything in the world he said if anyone loves the world the love of the father is not in him for everything in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes the pride of life it comes not from the father but from the world here's the problem the world and his desires pass away but whoever does the will of God lives forever if you look in your notes there's a little formula that just kind of shows us what we're taught by culture we tend to believe that better possessions plus peaceful circumstances plus thrilling experiences plus the right relationships plus the perfect appearance equals happiness if I can just look right be with the right kind of people have the right kind of toys go to the right kind of places be in the right kind of vacation if I can't have all that that this world has to offer then I'm going to be happy the problem is that that stuff doesn't fulfill it's really it's an imitation it's not the real thing Amy sent me to the grocery store which she doesn't do often whenever a guy goes to the grocery store there are two rules number one you must get the wrong thing just a principle number two you have to get something that was not on the list why your hunters that's what you do you just you know uses what you do so I always fulfill the rules I don't get the wrong thing and at the extra thing I got one time was a crab crab meat dip crab dip crab dip $4.99 on sale at the front countertop was I guess like $8.99 at restaurant so I got to like I'm going to wow my life drip with crab dip we opened it up it was like eight month old mayonnaise with spam there's nastiest stuff you've ever had but what's wrong with this stuff and I read on there is his imitation crab dip crab me like what the heck is what can you imagine what imitation crabmeat is I mean just crabmeat scary enough an imitation stop you know like what we'll look how good this is and it's an imitation and what happened so often is when we believe the lie better possessions right relationships perfect experience all these things will make me happy we end up not satisfied because the world was not meant to satisfy us we don't pursue God so he blesses us with the things of this world we pursue God because his suppress his presence alone is sufficient he is the in goal he is good and in his presence we find more than what makes us happy we find the blessings and the joy unspeakable in the presence of God so culture is going to tell you all day long God wants above all else God wants you happy I hope that you'll remember and help other people understand God does not want you happy when it causes you to do something unwise or wrong he doesn't want you happy when it's only based on the things of this world I'm gonna argue with all my heart that God's highest calling for you is not happiness God does not want you happy as much as God wants you blessed God wants to bless you with His goodness and our definition of blessing I believe is way different than God's definition of blessing in fact the the Greek word that's translated as blessing man there's like songs all over this mess I was just in a song mood this week it's word maca rails there's a song that's very close to that word I'm not going to do for it because I already danced once and it made you happy and if I do a little this it may not make you so happy so the word macros it means supremely blessed or it literally means more than happy you see God wants you more than happy and when I tell you this that God wants you blessed and more than happy what you need to hear is that doesn't mean you're never going to get sick and it doesn't mean you're never going to lose your job and it doesn't mean you're not going to get as it right before the prom why does that always happen and why does on your nose especially have a nose like mine that's a bad day when I tell you that God wants you blessed that doesn't mean that things are always going to go your way that you're always going to live exactly the way you want to live that God's going to say yes to every single prayer that you ever pray in fact what's the reality is you may still be in the middle of a storm you may find times when you're very very weak you may find that you're in the middle of a significant trial but you can experience the blessings and presence of God even when things are not going way you want them to go some of you right now you're in the middle of a trial and you can experience joy unspeakable consider it pure joy my brothers when you face trials at every kind because you know that God is testing and developing your faith and he's perfecting you in the things that matter most you can experience joy unspeakable in the middle of the trial because our good God is with you some of you right now you may be very very weak you're emotionally weak you may feel spiritually weak you may be just physically awed hat it I can't take it anymore I'm just not happy God let me down listen to me at your weakest moment you experience more power and more strength from God because when you are weak he is strong in you and sometimes when you hit the very bottom that's when you experience the presence of God and you look back on that very thing that you hated and say I would have never chosen it but it's hard to describe what God has done in me because of what he did through me during that specific time in my life you may be in the middle of a trial and storm blows up and you didn't expect it and suddenly your life is falling apart you know oh my gosh what do we any what do we do and you seek God and suddenly you experience a peace that goes beyond your human ability to even explain because when you seek Him his peace that goes beyond our understanding will guard our hearts and our minds and our souls in Christ Jesus but I tell you God once you blessed it doesn't mean that you will not have difficult days it means you will never have a day without his sustaining strength power and presence carrying through you through those very difficult times in fact I love with Psalm 37 says David said this in Psalm 37 verse 4 he said to delight yourself in the Lord and God will give you the desires of your heart delight yourself in the Lord some people think well hey you know if I'm following God he's going to give me all out his eyes whatever I want my new car is on his way no no no that the Hebrew word for delight is to run nog it means to to enjoy it literally means to be made soft or pliable in other words when you seek God when you delight in God when you're in his work when you're seeking his presence when he is your highest goal when you're pressing into him when you're pursuing him when you're seeking him first with all of your heart suddenly you're being molded to his image you're being conformed to the image of Christ you're getting the mind of Christ and suddenly he is giving you his desires it's not your will but his will is planted in your heart and when suddenly your will becomes his will and you're praying prayers consistent with his purpose that he gives you the desires of his heart and fulfills those win when you delight in God when you seek him when you enjoy him when you find joy and peace and strength in him he will give you the desires they brought it's better than happiness that's based on happenings it transcends those happenings even when things are bad you can find joy and peace and strength okay let me close out with this illustration Max Lucado told a version of this in his book my version is edgier so I'm going to give him credit but the parts that are edging they're not max they're mine okay imagine taking a fish out of the ocean and putting the fish on the beach okay would the fish be happy on the beach no right because a little gilding them we're trying to get air right let's say we gave the fish $100,000 cold cash is the fish happy now answer no no no if we gave the fish a little lawnchair a corona and a Playfish magazine right come on now he's like check out the tail and that's this whoa are those gills real or fake hashtag who cares you know like is the fish happy the fish happy no why why why because the fish was not created for the beach the fish was created for the water if you continue to pursue happiness in this world you need to understand you will never find it just in this world because you were not created for this world but you were created for eternity I'm going to argue right now lower your standards of this world lower don't seek happiness in this world there is no new car no new boat no perfect vacation no dream spouse no perfectly groomed and successful kids no amount of money that can ever make you happy because you were not designed for this world you were designed for heaven and you were designed for eternity therefore when you seek Him and you delight in him and he becomes the object of your affection and you wake up in the morning and you say I want to glorify you God and you say I want to walk led by the spirit and not gratify the desires the flesh I want the mind of Christ I want to live for what matters most suddenly you can find joy you can find peace you can find contentment you can truly live in the blessings of God because God may delight in your happiness but that's not as high as calling God wants you to be blessed more than happy in fact the early part of the message I started out with Psalm 97 verse 12 but I didn't give you the whole verse I want to give you the whole verse I pray you'll seek the God of this first and find more than happiness be find his blessings the whole verse says this may all who are gods may be what be happy not in this world but be happy where be happy in the Lord and praise His Holy Name it's my prayer for you that you find something that is greater than the temporary happiness of this world but you would find joy unspeakable that you would be happy in the Lord because when you delight in him he will give you the desires of your heart when you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness then everything that matters will be added on to you father I pray today that you would help set us free from one of the cultural lies that we would recognize you have something even better than temporary happiness they have a blessed life that goes beyond our human ability to understand that in your presence we can experience your goodness no matter what's going on in our lives and all of our churches I want to ask you just very directly how many of you want to live and experience the greatest blessings of God would you raise your hand right now all of our churches as you put it down I'll pray for you specifically god I pray that you would move us every time we reach for artificial crab meat got every time that we try to justify doing something wrong believing it would make us temporarily happy god I pray that your Holy Spirit would just bring this moment to our memory that God you have something better for us you don't want us happy when it causes us to do something that's wrong or unwise you don't want us happy when we're settling for a lower form of happiness and just simply pursuing the things of this world god I pray that we would truly press into you that we wouldn't seek you to be happy but we would seek you because you are God and because you are good and because you were eternal God remind us that we were not born for this world but we were born for eternity and to glorify you in heaven so God we simply lower our expectations of what we want out of this world and we move our heart toward heaven asking God that you would use us every single day to bring you glory and I pray for those who may feel very unhappy right now I'm going through a very hard trial god I pray that they could experience your peace god I pray that even in the middle of a storm god they would experience your joy god I pray that they would experience your strength when they have none of their own and God we thank you that even in the middle of what we call hard day can still be a blessed day because you are good and you will never leave us nor forsake us as you keep praying today at all of our churches I want you to listen real carefully right now and just just be prayerful because some of you you're about to have your life completely turned upside down in a very good way a lot of you going to realize that your whole life you've been searching for something you've been searching for happiness you've been trying and let's call it what it is you've done a lot you may have made a lot of money you might have bought the thing you wanted you might have gone to a place you wanted you might have traded in one relationship for another you might have tried this smoked vat been there parted here whatever and guess what you're still not happy why because you're looking in the wrong places someone said that we all have a christ shaped void in our life you're trying to fill a divine and heavenly void with something if it's anything besides Christ guess what you're still going to be empty jesus said if you seek first his kingdom and his righteousness then everything that matters will be added unto you there are those of you today maybe for the first time for the purest motives not for the hey God I'm coming to you so you'll do something for me but simply God I'm coming to you to give you my life I believe you're good God God is so good that he sent His Son Jesus who was without sin to die in our place for the forgiveness of our sins our sins bend us away from God that's why we're selfish by Nature but when we confess them before God the good news is he forgives every sin we've ever committed and he makes us brand new and that's why many of you are here today instead of pursuing happiness today you're going to pursue God give you my whole life every bit of it Jesus take me forgive me be first in my life today with all of my heart I give my life to you that's your prayer and all of our churches would you lift your hands high right now and say yes I surrender to him right back over here others of you say me too right here god bless you guys lift up your hands lay back over here on this side and right over here as well lift them high and say yes Jesus I surrender to you be the Lord of my life back here toward the back over here as well take my life trucks online right below me others of you today who say I step across the line I believe by faith and give my life to Him would you pray with those around you everybody allowed to a Heavenly Father I give my life to you through your son Jesus believing he died for me so I could live for you forgive me of all my sins make me new in Christ my life is not my own today I give it to you thank you for new life now you have mine in Jesus name I pray would you worship big today welcome Jose born into God's famine they knew because of Christ you

Channel: Life.Church

Views: 76,716

Rating: 4.919436 out of 5

Keywords: Craig, Groeschel

Id: OmWDuesPTbo

Length: 37min 21sec (2241 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 09 2015