When life is difficult, it’s easier to wonder if God desires your happiness. Assuming He does, where do worldly happiness and biblical happiness differ?

Moral Therapeutic Deism

In 2005, sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton interviewed more than 3,000 teenagers about their beliefs. They wrote about their findings in the book Soul Searching. They found that most of them believed in something that has since been labeled a "new American Religion," Moral Therapeutic Deism (MTD). 

I believe that many of our problems of Christianese (words and phrases created or redefined within Christian subculture and sphere of influence) and questions over what the Bible says stem from being more influenced by this new religion, MTD, than the gospel of Jesus Christ. So before even getting to happiness, let's look at what MTD is. 

Moral Therapeutic Deism (MTD) has five main tenants:

1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.

2. God wants people to be good, pleasant, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.

3. The central goal of life is to be happy and feel good about oneself.

4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is required to resolve a problem.

5. Good people go to heaven when they die.

Let me explain how these things get worked into our lives:

• Moral: You see in points two and five that there is a general sense of goodness and morality that everyone should ascribe to, and if you are good enough, you'll go to heaven one day.

• Therapeutic: You see this in point three, which influences the phrase we'll be considering today. Happiness is the goal of life, and it's self-defined by each person.

• Deism: God in this general belief system is not the God of Christianity and the Bible. As points one and four show, it's a form of deism, a belief that God sets things in order and then watches and doesn't do anything unless there is a problem.

It's been a decade and a half since Smith and Denton's book, and MTD has created a split in American religion and Christianity.

Where MTD Fails

On the one hand, MTD has continued to grow in strength. But, on the other hand, more people are buying into these tenets, many of whom do not even realize how different these things are from what is found in the Bibles they carry. 

We've subconsciously bought into these beliefs, believing that doing good, having fun, and being yourself is the key to happiness. If something goes awry, you can call up "The Big Man Upstairs," a kind grandfatherly figure who doesn't have an opinion unless you need Him. 

However, over time, this hasn't led to greater happiness. Defining our paths to flourishing hasn't given us the freedom we desire, and it hasn't provided the necessary tools to handle suffering. So, in response, a vast majority of people have swung away from the religion of MTD by throwing away religion altogether. 

A worldview has formed where religion is not the pathway to happiness but the pathway to oppression and unhappiness. Many now say it limits freedom, forces morality, and breeds hypocrisy. If God exists, He is a grumpy old man that is perpetually ready to judge. 

We have to ask and consider together: Are one of these cultural narratives about Christianity true? Does God want us to be happy, or is it the opposite? 

A Gospel That Addresses the Bad News

When we examine scripture, we find that the Bible has a great deal to say about our happiness. However, the answer is not found in the self-defined happiness of MTD nor in throwing out religion. Instead, it's found in seeing the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the source of our happiness.

We're going to take a different approach to see this in the gospels. So rather than examining a specific passage, we'll look at the gospel as a whole. 

So if you're reading this and don't consider yourself a Christ-follower or don't understand any of this church stuff, I hope this will give you a clear picture of what Christians believe. 

If you are a Christ-follower, I hope that this discussion will reorient you back into finding what true happiness looks like through the lens of the gospel you believe. Because here is the thing: the very word gospel means literally "good news." 

So as we look at the gospel, we must begin with some logic. If the gospel is good news, that must mean that it must be addressing bad news. And sadly, this bad news is where we have to begin. 

One thing that all worldviews have in common, religious and non-religious, is looking at the world and seeing great brokenness and unhappiness. There is the sorrow of suffering, the sadness of unrest, and the hardships of life. Societally, we see this brokenness almost everywhere we look most days. 

Relationally, it's the same story. Conflicts and disagreements continue to arise, friends and families drift apart, and social media divides us instead of connecting us. And all this brokenness works its way inside, affecting us at the deepest levels of our souls.

But as Christians, we believe that this isn't what the world, our relationships, and our souls were made for. We know that because we see glimpses of beauty, joy, and happiness amid brokenness that give us hope, there's good in this world worth fighting for. 

These things exist because this world wasn't created randomly or by chance but created out of God's perfect plan. In the beginning, we believed that the triune God of the universe, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, existed in perfect community, love, and joy. Then, out of an overflow of that community, love, and joy, God created everything, including us, and pronounced it all good. For a brief portion of our existence, we lived a life of flourishing as God intended, with a perfect relationship with Him, others, and the world around us.

Yet, in this perfection, humanity chooses a path toward brokenness. The first humans, Adam and Eve, sinned against God; as a result, humanity has forever found itself separating God's perfect plan. 

Here's my simple definition of sin. 

Sin: Doing something contrary to God's law or living contrary to God's character. 

Sin is what leads to brokenness and ultimately to death. We find ourselves stuck in the brokenness of our world, relationships, and souls, but we hate feeling stuck here, so what do we do? We work and strive and try any path we know of to get ourselves out of brokenness.

• Success: If we do well enough at school or work, we can earn enough to get ourselves out of brokenness and into happiness.

• Love: If we find the right person or people, we can feel cared for enough to get ourselves out of brokenness and into happiness.

• Pleasures: The answer is found in some form of entertainment or object. Then we can at least numb or forget our brokenness and into happiness.

• Religion: If we could be good and moral enough, if we try to obey God, that could fix some of the brokenness around us and into happiness.

And here is where MTD factors in: It's a religion that promises happiness can be found through self-expression, goodness, and morality. But this religion fails because it rests on us and our abilities. It's inherently self-centered, which is a problem because sinfulness is found at the center of ourselves. So all of these things do not lead us out of brokenness, but like a rubber band, snap us back into it, and we are left feeling like we are stuck in a night so dark that you can't even see the hope of the stars. We're afraid to wonder and question if there is a path out of sin, out of brokenness, and out of death.

And at this moment, we return to Luke 2 and hear the angels proclaim from the sky: 

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10-11)

Overflowing in perfect community, love, and joy, God saw that we could not work ourselves out of our sin and brokenness, so He sent Himself, in the person of Jesus Christ, to provide a way out. Jesus descended into our brokenness, but unlike us, He lived a sinless life that only the perfect God of the universe could live. 

Everywhere He went, He did good and pushed back the brokenness of this world, bringing healing, restoration, and hope. 

Everywhere he went, he showed people a glimpse of God's perfect plan of flourishing for life. 

Jesus Christ took all of it on Himself as He was unjustly put to death on the cross to provide a way for us out of our sin, brokenness, and death. Three days later, though, He rose from the grave in new life and promised we could have it too. 

You see, He forsook His perfect community so we would never be alone and abandoned by God. God's perfect love rejected him, so we would forever be loved. He experienced the ultimate suffering of death so that we can have the ultimate joy and happiness of life, both in this life and the life to come. This is the gospel; This is good news!

No matter your past, present, gender, race, or nationality- you, by turning away from your brokenness, which we call repentance, and turning towards Jesus and this gospel message, which we call faith, can experience this community, love, joy, and happiness with God right now. It will be a lasting joy that will extend into eternity!

So, Does God Want You To Be Happy?

Absolutely!

He wants you to be happy and joyful, and these things are found as we see the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ as the source of our happiness. Brokenness is no longer our story. Death is no longer our greatest reality. We've found healing and life in the person of Jesus. There is nothing that can take that away. We can persevere through anything, and this is the good news of great joy for all the people!

As we live out of the reality of this good news, we naturally grow in joy as we grow closer to Jesus. That is the Christian life, a slow, daily process of growing closer to Jesus and towards God's perfect plan for our lives. As we do that, I want to be clear on two things that the Bible teaches about what this looks like, which have to do with the topic of obedience and the topic of suffering. 

What Does Biblical Happiness Look Like? 

1) Obedience 

The question of obedience is hovering around this discussion on whether God wants us to be happy. The MTD believes that obedience is the way to earn happiness and joy. But on the other hand, the person that sees religion as oppressive believes that any call to obedience will limit our freedom and take away happiness.

But a Christian view on obedience to God's commands in scripture doesn't see it as a way to earn God's blessing, but instead, it's how we respond to the good news of the gospel. We don't obey to be loved; we are loved and respond by obeying. This obedience doesn't lead us to unhappiness as that's the very thing that shows us how to live life as intended in God's perfect plan. Look what's found in the first psalm, a book found in the Old Testament.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers…" (Psalms 1:1)

That word, blessed, means flourishing. A flourishing life isn't found in sin, brokenness, or self-expression. Instead, look where it is found.

"…but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalms 1:1)

Look how Jesus Himself teaches this in the book of John. John 15:

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have spoken to you of these things that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full." (John 15:9)

Flourishing and joy are not found by self-defined freedom but by the definitions found when we delight in God's law and follow His commands. You might say that that's not freedom if you follow God's commands. Pastor Tim Keller gives an excellent illustration for this talking about fish.

"Modern people like to see freedom as the complete absence of any constraints. But think of a fish. Because a fish absorbs oxygen from water, not air, it is free only if it is restricted to water. If a fish is 'freed' from the river and put on the grass to explore, its freedom to move and soon even to live is destroyed. The fish is not more free but less free if it cannot honor the reality of its nature… Freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, those that fit with our nature's and the world's realities."

The beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the right restrictions that fit with the realities of our nature and world, which is why the gospel is our only source of happiness.

2) Suffering

Both of our false paths to happiness mentioned earlier see suffering as another stumbling block. These paths falsely communicate that suffering is either a sign that you're not being good enough or a sign that God isn't good enough. But the gospel teaches that while we do have this real, tangible joy in the gospel, we still find ourselves living in a world of brokenness. 

Our instinct is to say that this can't be what God intends. Unhappiness must mean that God is upset with us or doesn't care, but neither of these things lines up with the life Jesus lived and called us to live. 

Look how Jesus begins his famous sermon, The Sermon on the Mount. Repeatedly, you see the same word, intentionally calling us back to Psalm 1: Blessed. Flourishing. Joyful. Happy. Life as it's intended to be lived. Is the person who does these certain things. But they are not what one would expect to be associated with it, but the opposite: Poor in spirit, mourning, meek. Those are words of suffering. Look how this introductory portion of the sermon ends:

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for, in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you." (Matthew 5:10-12)

It's not that the flourishing life never experiences suffering; the flourishing life experiences them through the perspective and with the hope that only the gospel provides. 

Don't miss verse 12: Where does this leave you? Rejoicing and being glad, even amid insults, persecution, and lies. You can have joy because nothing can take the gospel away from you, and you're following your Savior. Even at that moment on the cross, His greatest moment of suffering, He was filled with joy.

"Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Jesus, as theologian Leon Morris states, looked right through the cross and saw the coming joy of bringing salvation to all He loves. When we look to Jesus, we too can experience joy, even while suffering, because we know that the suffering we feel will never be final. We can now look through sadness and see joy, the joy of life abundant now, and the resurrection of life to come.

Related Reading

How Can I Know God by Grant Caldwell

How to Remember Your Blessings by Bro. Chris Carter

Feeling Stuck in a Rut? by Bro. Chris Carter

About Christ Church Memphis
Christ Church Memphis is church in East Memphis, Tennessee. For more than 65 years, Christ Church has served the Memphis community. Every weekend, there are multiple worship opportunities including traditional, contemporary and blended services