Pathways to Happiness: Perspective

I remember an Old Testament professor of mine in seminary, Dr. Bruce Waltke, elaborating on the concept of “remembering” in one of my Old Testament Biblical Theology classes. I’ll never forget the essence of what he said that day. He posed the question to our class, “what’s the opposite of remember?” And, like savvy graduate students we realized that the answer couldn’t be “forget.” And it wasn’t. Dr. Waltke went on to communicate to us how the opposite of remember is dismember and he went on to say how apart from a vital relationship with God through Jesus Christ humanity was being “dismembered.” He highlighted the fact that we were “coming apart at the seams emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, intellectually and physically.” And he went on to remind us that what God has done for us in Christ through salvation is to begin the process in this life of being remembered—made whole, and being put back together in every facet of our being.

Asaph penned this psalm that was the focal point of our Scripture lesson this week. We looked at how he was suffering from “temporary insanity.” Dr. Waltke’s words about remembering make me think about what got Asaph out of his spiritual tailspin. It’s only when Asaph “entered the sanctuary of God (verse 17)” and remembered who God was, and who he was as an adopted child of God through grace that he came back to his senses. Asaph had an encounter with God; and interestingly enough it was a planned encounter, an encounter every Christian has an opportunity to experience weekly. A commitment to worshipping with God’s people on a regular basis is a commitment to be “re-membered” by God though the gospel of grace. Like the psalmist it doesn’t take us long to slip into a brief season of insanity. In these seasons we experience all the negative emotions and psychological upheaval that is associated with losing our joy in Jesus through unbelief. Unbelief is that state that we find ourselves in when we functionally live as though God weren’t the source of our happiness, contentment and peace. What do you think, apart from Christ, will bring you happiness? What are those things that you look to other than Christ for fulfillment and satisfaction?

            One of the things that I mentioned in this sermon was that Asaph, like us, arrived at this disturbing spiritual state because he “craved the idols” that were chiefly pursued by the surrounding culture that didn’t care to follow Jesus. We’re all prone to idolatry, Christian or not. Consider the following quote by Biblical scholar and theologian Stephen Charnock,

[Each person] acts as if God could not make him happy without the addition of something else. Thus the glutton makes a god of his dainties; the ambitious man of his honor; the incontinent man of his lust; the covetous man his wealth; and consequently esteems them as his chiefest good, and the most noble end to which he directs his thoughts…All men worship some golden calf, set up by education, custom, natural inclination and the like…When a general is taken, the army runs. [Even so this [the main ‘idol] is the great stream, and other sins but rivulets which bring supply…this is the strongest chain wherein the devil holds the man, the main fort. 

I believe Charnock’s words identify the heart of Asaph’s problem and ours—thinking we need something other than God to make us happy. The idols that were drawn to are those things that we’re already, at some level, convinced we need alongside God to really be satisfied. It’s important that we become self-educated in our own idol inclinations in order that we might better dismantle them with the gospel. The following list of questions are designed for self-discovery of the idol systems in our lives that rob us of God’s joy and cause temporary spiritual insanity.

1)      What is my greatest nightmare? What do I worry about most?

2)      What (if I failed or lost it) would cause me to feel that I did not even want to live? What keeps me going?

3)      What do I rely on or comfort myself with when things go bad or get difficult?

4)      What do I think most easily about? What does my mind go to when I am free? What pre-occupies me?

5)      What prayer, if unanswered, would make me seriously think about turning away from God?

6)      What makes me feel the most self-worth? What am I the proudest of?

7)      What do I really want and expect out of life? What would really make me happy?

If you haven’t listened to the sermon I encourage you to do so in light of this “idol discovery” exercise? Here’s a basic outline of the message with some key words/concepts that you’ll want to clarify as you consider this text. One key to understanding this text I mentioned before I read the Scripture and isn’t on the recorded message. The key was simply this: that the Christian Church is the New Israel. The same terms and titles that God applied to His people Israel in the Old Testament He applies to the church in the New Testament (see also Ephesians 2:11-3:13; 1 Peter 2: 9-11).

I. The Insanity of Unbelief: Asaph’s and Ours

Key concepts: 1) The Wicked & The Righteous—the arrogant are those who live by their “own law” and not God’s law. 2) Shalom—the “apex of insanity” applying this theologically pregnant word to the state of the wicked.

Asaph, like us, due to the difficulty in following Christ and living by the implications of His gospel grew weary in doing the right thing—doing things God’s way. It seemed like all those not really serious about a relationship with God we’re having more fun and experiencing more happiness.

II. We Arrive At This Dreadful Spiritual State through…

1)      Freeze Frame Thinking

2)      Bad Theology & Wrong Expectations of the Christian Life

3)      Craving the Idols of the Wicked

III. We Come Back To Our Senses through…

1)      An Encounter with God in worship where we’re REMEMBERed in the gospel and reminded of the ULTIMATE REALITY…the perilous state of the wicked and the security of the righteous.

2)      God reminds us and allows us to experience His presence, guidance, salvation, joy, strength and life.

Suggested Reading :

The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen 

Nouwen’s book weds a few of the topics we’ve been looking at in recent weeks and has a few chapters that are extremely insightful on the power of idolatry and how the gospel deconstructs these idol systems.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss these things further with Pastor Russ Kapusinski please contact Alicia Gastelum at gastelum1943@aol.com