...but NOT the kind you think of when you hear those words.
When the Church declares the message that “Jesus solves problems” or “Jesus provides happiness,” you are setting up the hearer to build a faith based on false assumptions and expectations.
The major problem with the “happiness gospel” is that people are not given the message of sin, righteousness, and judgment with the command to repent and flee from the wrath to come. No one wants to think about God being wrathful or returning with vengeance. Instead, people only want to hear that Jesus is the answer to their alcohol, drug, marriage, personal, or financial problems, and that He is the one who can fill the God-shaped hole in their lives. Many, therefore, come to Christ only to have their problems solved. Jesus is reduced to being the big genie in a bottle... “ask you you shall receive....”
Conversion to Christ is not about your happiness. If people do not repent of their sin (because they haven’t been told to), they will have a false conversion (see Mark 4:16,17) and they will not become new creatures in Christ. Though they may call Jesus “Lord,” they will continue to “practice lawlessness” (see Matthew 7:23). Consequently, false converts will bring their sins and their problems into the local church, thinking nothing of it and create an atmosphere that blunts the congregations effectiveness and stunts growth. Here’s just a few of the unfortunate effects:
False converts can wear out the pastors/elders. Instead of being able to devote themselves fully to feeding the flock of God in the capacity of shepherd, pastors find themselves forever counseling those who are only hearers of the Word and not doers. Tying up the true laborers (who are already few in number) by having them spend their precious time propping people up, when what these “problem” people really need is repentance. Hindering the preaching of the gospel. Probably one of the biggest stumbling blocks for unbelievers is what they see as rampant hypocrisy within the Church, emanating from the false converts, who only dream of their happiness and never really repented of their carnal ways.
The gospel is a promise of righteousness, not a promise of happiness. Remember those parables Jesus provided to illustrate this problem - of two kinds of fish, the good and the bad together in the same net and; the wheat and the tares together in the same field, many self-proclaiming Christians will be false or pseudo... enjoying their “pleasures of sin for a season” right within the church. (Matthew 13:24-30; 13:47-52)
Many people who come to the church today are quite successful and happy in their lives. They have a wonderful life without Jesus. However, when properly confronted with the biblical gospel and they understand that “riches do not profit in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Proverbs 11:4), they see a need for a Savior. Preaching truth, teaching truth... God’s Truth, backed by the power of the Holy Spirit, will build God’s Church in the right way with true converts willing to allow the Spirit to mold and shape them into vessels for honorable use by God.
There’s another problem. All the “converts” who have been lured to the Church by the “happiness gospel” and are experiencing happiness in their lives. That’s right, everything is going really well... lots of career success, money and material possessions, all perceived as gifts from a God who grants wishes and wants His followers to be happy. Not only are they getting all the stuff they want, they continue to live “unchanged lives” further reinforcing their belief that their conduct and behavior is okay with God. They pray for all the wrong things, and from their perspective, they get it... God is granting their desires. If the only gospel they understand is the “wonderful plan for your life” – the happiness gospel, why would they expect anything else?
We live in a “therapeutic” culture that places a high value on feeling good, self-esteem, and self actualization. So, the life-enhancement message is extremely popular. If you search the Internet using the keywords “true happiness,” you will find many websites offering Jesus as a solution. However, the idea that “Jesus gives true happiness” has some competition. There are more than 100,000,000 other results to the keywords “true happiness,” many of which refer to a wide array of self-help life-enhancement strategies.
There are secular and quasi-religious solutions to “true happiness” being offered by the non-Christian world... Buddhism, Hinduism, even Islam. Each in their own way, promotes that a personal realization of God is the key that unlocks the doors to unending happiness, eternal peace of mind and unimaginable bliss.
So the modern rendition of the gospel has some stiff competition—the vast majority of people in the United States are already enjoying a wonderful plan for their lives, and they are quite happy as they are. For any who do feel something is missing and look to religion for happiness, they will find a smorgasbord of choices all offering to improve their life on earth.
Still, the question arises, why not use the fact that Jesus said He had come to bring us an abundant life (John 10:10) to draw unregenerate sinners to the Savior? True, the Christian life is full and if you are engaged, you’ll be very busy. Consider the full life of the apostle Paul. Take a few moments and read 2 Corinthians 11:23–28 and see if you think he was bored while being stoned (once), shipwrecked (three times), beaten (three times), and whipped (five times). His life was full. There were also times when he wasn’t happy. In fact, at one point he was in such despair that he wanted to die (see 2 Corinthians 1:8).
The apostle gives the carnal-minded Corinthians a glimpse of the abundant life. He told them that he had been condemned to death. He was hungry and thirsty. He lacked clothing. He was beaten and had nowhere to live. He was reviled, persecuted, slandered, and treated as the filth of the world. What a terrible, uninviting path Paul walked down. If happiness were the goal, one would think that he would put up a sign saying “Don’t enter here.” However, he did the opposite. He told the Corinthians to imitate him (see 1 Corinthians 4:9–16). He considered that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared to life in eternity (see Romans 8:18).
Like Jesus, the apostle Paul taught that the Christian life is one of self-denial—that we are to crucify the flesh, daily take up the cross, deny ourselves, and follow Jesus. (Luke 9:23) However, the “wonderful plan” message, with its promise of earthly happiness, appeals solely to the hearer’s selfishness. By offering a problem-free life, it encourages continued love of self rather than God, and paints Him as a divine genie.
What a tragedy that anyone would think the precious blood of the Savior was shed simply to make humans happy in this life rather than to prepare us for the next one. An “abundant life” is one characterized by change and transformation of who we are at the very core of our souls to a person reflecting the attributes and qualities of true godliness. The starting point is repentance. Jesus tells us very clearly.... I tell you, no! ...unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:3).
If the “happy” life is different from the “abundant” life Jesus offers, who is going to listen if we are blatantly honest about the persecution promised for “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:12)? Not to many. It’s not an appealing pitch... being changed, transformed into a Christlike person and used by the living God like a slave to do the things of His Will, not yours.
What’s in it for you in the here and now? What’s the answer to this dilemma? How are we to bring sinners to the Savior in a way that makes them real true followers?
