Just Do What Makes You Happy | Jesus Didn’t Say That

What makes you happy? Okay, it's good. Who makes you happy? I know some of the Gator fans in the house are a little bit happier today. What if you're not happy? You heard Logan, right, that he didn't feel happy in his marriage. And I know this about us as human beings is, "Man, we want to be happy. We want to feel good." And I don't think Logan's the only person in life when we haven't, you haven't, I haven't felt happy. We've had it out in a direction only to discover that what we thought was going to make us happy didn't make us happy. The tension that we face as human beings is we want to be happy, but who, where, what is it? You know, students, you're going to hear all kinds of opinions on who's going to make you happy, what's going to make you happy. And so as you lean into this Bible study today, I think you've got a great opportunity to really begin to create the framework of what really is being happy and who's going to make you happy, and perhaps all of us wrestling with this thought that somewhere, we came to conclusion that Jesus, God, wants us to be happy. As if somewhere God said somewhere, "I'm here to make you happy." And what we're going to discover is like Jesus never said that I'm here to make you happy. He didn't say go into all the world and preach whatever makes you happy. He didn't say whoever wants to be my disciples must affirm themselves, avoid the cross and follow their own heart. Jesus didn't say ask and it should be given to you because God is your celestial sugared daddy. I mean, the Scripture doesn't say this. But in case yesterday, right, I'm on my pull deck in my backyard, beautiful day, a little

bit cooler, certainly makes us happy. And I'm reading through the Bible this year and I come to just my reading plan and here's what I find in Matthew chapter 10, you can write it down and read it for yourself, about Jesus never said he's here to make us happy. John or Matthew chapter 10, 34, do not think, Jesus is saying that to us, do not think that I've come to bring peace on the earth. I've not come to bring peace but a sword. Now, that's a hard statement, but most of us think, I mean, I mean, why would God allow bad things to happen in people in the world? I mean, isn't God's job to make everything good make us all happy and kumbaya and shouldn't it be just like unicorns and dancing bears and ponies? If you continue this piece in Matthew 10, he says in verse 35, these are all right. The hard words for I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law and a person's enemies will be those of his own household, whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy. I mean, when you try to reconcile what Jesus is saying, this is troublesome because we're some of us, we think the high watermark is, well, our family and what Jesus is saying on the contrary, listen, it's a mistake to make your family first and most. He's saying you make Jesus, you make God first and most. If you go on and read what he says in verse 38 and whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me, whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. I mean, Jesus never said that he woke up today and his whole sole purpose is for us as human beings to kind of walk around and come by ya, I feel good, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, I shouldn't. I mean, that's not the purpose of God. Now don't get me wrong, God specializes in human pleasure. specializes in us being sad. They turn my mic off when I sing, you understand this, now you know why, right?

Good plans, and doesn't that just feel like group hug? Good plans for me? Yeah, only when you obey Him. You can't claim, I trust you, when you and I are disobeying God, it ain't going to be good plans. That all started with Adam, and even it continues in our life today. And so, as we lean in, we live in a culture that says, "Follow your heart, however you feel, follow your heart." Jesus says, "Follow me." The culture says, "Be true to yourself." Jesus says, "Deny yourself." The culture says, "Do whatever makes you happy," and Jesus says, "I came so you could be free." And that's what we're after today, is freedom. I want us to discover what you've been looking for, the real joy, the real sense of happiness, and where you and I will experience it. So you've got your copy of God's Word, we're in John chapter 8, we're going to look at some verses, look at a familiar story, it might be a new story for some of you. Important if you've got your phone, use your phone as your digital Bible, or pull up your regular Bible. Here's the deal, listen, your Bible is really important to you because it's God's Word. My name's Mark, and I'm going to do my best to point you to God's Word, but here's the deal. At the end of the day, I would not trust what I have to say. I don't trust what I have to say. I don't trust me. I'm a human being. I know me. I shave this face every single day. You need God's Word. You don't need what a pastor or a rabbi or an influencer, too many of us are following after what one human agency says, rather than following what does God say. So you being tuned in to what God's Word has to say, either through your printed Bible or through a digital version. Now normally when we look at this particular story in John chapter 8, we jump in around verse 4 when the narrative is about the religious crowd and they caught this woman in the act

of adultery and they bring her to Jesus. What I want you to see first is the context. So if you'll look first in verse 2, it says early in the morning, that's Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and they sat down and taught them kind of like what's happening here right now. Jesus, right? He's in the temple and he's teaching people, right, and they're interested. They're sitting there listening like you are and then through the back doors. Here's what happens next. Look at verse 3, the scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders brought a woman in who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst. It's kind of like right now, all of a sudden a commotion in this space and there's these religious guys and they're dragging this woman half dressed, maybe completely naked and bring her up to the stage and say, look at this chick, man, she was just down the street up in this apartment doing the wild thing with this guy that's not her husband. What do you think we should do with her and notice back in your Bible? Verse 4, "Teacher, this woman's been caught in the act of adultery." Technically they are correct. Now, in the law of Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do you say? Technically they are correct. A whole bunch of religious people like to be technically correct. Forget the rest of the story, like last time I checked, like to have adultery ain't just the chick. There's a dude that's involved as well. They forgot that part of the story. And notice how Jesus responds. Verse 6, "This they said to test him that they might have some charge against him and Jesus bent down and he wrote with his finger on the ground.

And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and he says to them, let him who was without sin amongst you be the first to throw a stone at her." Now that phrase is a little more complicated than what we're used to. It's not just in the moment, he's literally saying, hey, anybody in this crowd who's never sinned, like you got the perfect human resume, you go ahead people since. Have you noticed that? We can see when she's doing something wrong and he's doing something wrong, but when I'm doing something wrong, not so much. A couple of weeks ago, Linda had asked me normally, I don't have to go to the store. I am very thankful, um, then I'll come to the store, but she needed me to go get something. So I said that I, I would, but I was having one of those grumpy, frumpy days. You don't have a grumpy, frumpy. I didn't feel like having no conversation with nobody, nowhere, no how. Thank you very much. And so as I pulled in the parking lot and I put my convertible top up, I took out my air pods and I put them in my ear, had my phone back pocket. Now I ain't talking to nobody, but I got the perception on to everybody. And sure enough, I got in my car, I'm walking the parking lot. There's somebody who knew me and they're kind of waving and talking about me. So I avoided that conversation. I get into the store, sure enough, one aisle, two, a third aisle. There's somebody that didn't want to have a conversation. Man, I'm lying, lying pants on fire, lying. I'm deceiving everyone. You see it. I'm an expert. You're an expert at pointing out the sins of other people while we ignore our own sins. That's exactly what's happening in this space. You go back to your Bible verse 8. Once more he, that's Jesus, bent down and he wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one. Now we can't go too far from here. This is important as your Bible goes slow. Because Jesus says that he bent down and he's writing it. Did it say that he is speaking it? No. He says he's writing it. But notice their response is what? They heard it. See, this is how that small, still voice of God speaks in your heart. All these religious guys, they're hearing the voice of God convicting them. Listen, how could you be so critical about this woman? Remember what you were looking online last night? Remember how you've kind of fudged on your taxes? Remember how you bullied and belittled and demeaned and were rude towards this person? How in the world? Now hear me, important principle, write it down,

be very careful on how you choose to quench, shut down that small still voice. Now they did a good thing that they walked away. The conviction was heavy in the room. They walked away. They did not pick up the stone and throw it that day. But I'm telling you that that small voice that's often speaking to you saying, "Hey, listen, this is not best. You are heading the wrong direction." It is important at that point to hear the voice of God, to pivot, agree with God, and walk in the opposite direction. So the story continues. When they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" And she said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus says, "Neither do I condemn you. Go. Notice the sense of urgency. Go." And from now on, sin. No more. He didn't say, "Go and do whatever makes you happy." He didn't say, "Go and follow your heart." He didn't say, "It doesn't matter what you do. You do you boo. Just you go do you boo. Do whatever makes you." He says, "Go and sin no more." Jesus didn't respond the way that we would have thought. He didn't free her from her condemnation so that she could return to her captivity. Oh, having sex with someone who's not your spouse, being an adultery, is less than best. Oh, she thought that that's what would make her happy. But Jesus wanted to have freedom. Grace rescued her from her past. Truth redirected. Her future. Sin promises satisfaction at the cost of disobedience to God. Students, Sin will try to convince you that this is what I need right now. And let's just be honest, sin sounds fun. Sin is a good time. If you're sinned and not having fun, you ain't sinned and right. I mean, sin is good. Let's come on, let's have our party. It's going on. I mean, if sin were miserable, nobody would be tempted by it. If sin wasn't enough fun, nobody would be sending. Temptation doesn't say, hey, you want to destroy your marriage? Go sleep with your go worker. Sin doesn't say, temptation doesn't say,

you want to become addicted. Just go ahead. One little time, it won't, it really won't. Temptation says, you deserve to be happy. You deserve this. Just this, this wants nobody, nobody will, nobody will know about it. Everybody else, everybody else is doing it. This will make you feel better. That's why temptation is tempting. Sin will always show you the bait and never shows you the hook. Temptation will advertise the pleasure and hides the price. Sin promises satisfaction while concealing the consequences. And so why do you and I give in to temptation? Why does this thing have such a strong hold on us? Because we want to be happy. And temptation shows up and says, hey, if you get this, you'll be happy. If you do this, if you go there, if you taste this, if you're with her, with him, you'll be happy. Maybe that's what's happening in this woman. Maybe her husband is unattentive. Maybe he doesn't notice her. Maybe he takes her for granted. All the things that she does around the house and with the kids, maybe he's verbally abusive. The same story plays out today. She gets up and she goes to work and things at home are less than satisfying. And her co-worker, oh, he notices her. Is that a new dress? Man, you're here. You hit the beach this weekend and you look him, you can bronze, look and tan. Initially maybe it's just very, very innocent.

And then he notices her Instagram and he begins to post. And she begins thinking about him, anticipating going to work to the next day. Can't wait to get past the weekend, get back to work and maybe putting on an outfit to kind of think, well, he noticed me today. Then what happens is there's a project at work and they have to stay late and he opens up about his marriage and his struggles in his marriage and they begin to connect at a deeper level. Then he tells her, you know, I think I made a mistake. And I should have married somebody more like you. Maybe it's accident, but he brushes up against her. All kinds of emotions get set loose and her and him and they both think this is wrong but oh, it feels so right. This what I'm missing, he'd make me happy. Her girlfriends, they go out. It's girl's night out and they're like, listen man, that guy that you married, he's a dog, man. He hasn't been nice or kind to you. He hasn't noticed you. But this co-worker, I mean, girlfriend, don't you deserve to be happy and step by step before you know it, barely dressed, pulled into the marketplace, embarrassed, shamed. Our culture, the approach to life and culture is a relativistic belief that there is no absolute truth. It's your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. You believe and think whatever you want to do and you do you and I'll do me and we'll all be just fine. And here's the problem is without a belief and absolute truth, truth is defined by whatever makes you happy. We see how culturally that's playing out today. That's why we have the word of God as our standard. God's word is true and tried and tested.

by which I judge my actions. And if this makes me happy, then my actions certainly can't be wrong. And in your mind, you might say, I know it seems to be wrong, but it feels so good. And here's the tension to those of us who would say that we're followers of Jesus. As we see, holiness and happiness are at odds. In our minds, we think, you know, happiness is you'll have a good time. And when you're happy, I mean, you're going to be out there in a good time and party. And if you're, if you're living a holy life, if you're following after God, if you're making Jesus the center and point for your life, then life will be dull. It'll be miserable. It won't be any fun at all. And I want you to hear me clearly. That's a lie. Students, I can't come alongside of you 24/7, but I promise you that if you're looking for joy and happiness and life at its best, it will always be rooted in a relationship with Jesus Christ and what God roared has to say in his word. Not because a guy named Mark says, because God says Psalm 16 and 11, you, God, you will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. Do you believe that? I think some of us were not sure. I think the struggle that we really have is can God really make me happy? Holiness isn't the enemy of happiness. Holiness is God's pathway to happiness that lasts. But the struggle is, I'm just not, you're just not, if you could get honest for just a millisecond this morning, you're just not convinced that God's really going to make you happy. Just get honest. The reason it's been a hard time this week to spend time with God in his word. It's not been a hard time to watch your college football team, to watch whatever the latest show on Netflix, all the other things that we do. We spend our times in lots of different spaces and places. The reason it's been hard to get into read God's word, the reason it seems difficult to think like you can actually read through the Bible in a year, 10 minutes a day, absolutely. The reason it's hard, you're not convinced reading God's words is going to make you happy. Here's what I know about you. You do what makes you happy and you're just not convinced that God's going to make the reason it's been hard for you to pray this week. He's just like, man, bomb my head closing and having a conversation with God. I'm not sure that that's going to make me happy. And we miss the idea that God created pleasure, God created laughter, God created joy, God created relationship, God created everything that is good. Everything that you think in life will bring, God has created it. But we're not convinced that he is the one that would satisfy us most. The reason you haven't forgiven somebody this week is like, you're just not convinced. If I forgive them, that if I actually do what God says, I forgive somebody as God forgave me,

that that will make me happy. Because quite frankly, if I don't hold on to what they did to me, I've got nothing to gripe and complain about no more. Holiness isn't the enemy of happiness. Following God, trusting God, obeying God is the pathway to experiencing all the happiness that you want in life. The reason it's hard for you to be generous, the reason the idea of you giving your money and your cash so that many women, boys and girls, moms and dads, your friends on your high school campuses around would discover hope in Christ. You say that you've discovered hope in Christ. The reason it's hard for you to be generous and give your money so other people will discover that is quite frankly, man, to be without your money, you ain't going to be happy. You think that your money, if I had more money, I'd be happy. See everything, all of our behavior, all of our motivation in life is centered on this idea of what who will make me happy. Temptation advertises the pleasure and hides the price. So this morning, what's at stake is you making a decision to believe that God following God, obeying God, trusting God is how you as a human being, how you and the story of your life, How all the dreams and the goals, everything. with God. So at the little bit of time I have left, I'm going to give you two action steps to take along the way. First action step is rooted in 1 Corinthians 10 and 13. Scripture says this, "No temptation has overtaken you." That's not common demand. What I love about this, this is one of the very first Bible verses I memorized when I was a young Marine after I made a decision for Jesus. Because I was still tempted, I mean back in those days, right, we'd go out to the clubs as Marines, we'd drink, we'd meet somebody, get on the dance floor, kind of get going on, you'd get a little sweat moving on, everybody gets a little bit horny before you know it, you're going back to the apartment and you're having sex together, right? And so I met Jesus, I asked Jesus to save me, but I still had these temptations and I thought there was something wrong until I was mentored. Mark, no temptation is overtaken you, but what is common demand? This is common to us as humans. But God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. So God provides a way of escape. Now my way of escape back then was, don't go to the club, don't kind of have Jack Daniels as your friend, don't get out on that dance floor, kind of get the grind going on, get all those internal emotions going on, watching that little body glisten

across from you before you know it, don't go there. But then I was like, yeah, but if I'm back in the, you know, the, you know, the squad bay by myself and all my buddies are out there and Mary, this is the tension. This is the tension that we find ourselves. Every temptation that you face is an invitation to depend on Christ. That temptation that you're facing, it's an opportunity for you to believe that God will satisfy me. Every temptation begins with the suspicion that God is withholding something better. That's where you are. You are convinced, you're convinced that God's holding out on me, that God's keeping something that I want. And here is the shift that I want you to make, is this, is that when you begin to feel I need this, that I want this, ask, what am I looking for from this, her, him, that, that I should be looking for in Jesus. There's nothing wrong with comfort. Find it in Jesus. Nothing wrong with satisfaction and pleasure. Find it in Jesus. Nothing wrong with significance. Find it in Jesus. Love. Everything that you're looking for. But the problem is temptation reveals where you're looking for something other than God to satisfy something inside us. So what's the solution? Write it down. God promises a way out, not a way to manage sin comfortably. So you think, I can manage this sin. I'm not doing it as much as I used to. I'm not as bad as they are. God freed her. God said to her, go now and sin no more. He didn't say, go be happy. Go do whatever you want. He wanted her to experience true authentic freedom. Every temptation has an exit. Sign. God promises a way out. You and I have to choose to take it. So ask. Write it down. First, ask. My first action step is ask, where am I looking for happiness away from God? Examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourself. See, am I really finding my satisfaction and my joy in Christ? If your happiness requires disobedience, it's freedom. It isn't freedom. It's bait. Intemptation is always a choice to choose it or to choose God. It's always a choice. And then second, you take God's exit plan. You just trust him. You take that exit plan. You don't defeat temptation when it arrives. You defeat it by deciding beforehand what you do when it arrives. Some of you should get your pencil out right now. I just absolutely saved your life. Here's the temptation. You think you're good. You think you're good that in the heat of the battle, you're resistant. I know this. I have a fair level of discipline,

but I want you to know that there are things in my life that I have zero self-control over. Like I promise you, if you came to my house and for whatever reason, you know, that there was like a package of Oreos in my house, like number one, there would never be a package of Oreos in my house 'cause they'd be gone. (audience laughing) I've eaten them all. I know you all think I make this up, but you can talk to Linda. Like, I mean, I'm just like, I'm eating it. Oh, I have two grown daughters and sometimes they'll come by and visit me and they'll bring sweet treats and everything. And I know what you're thinking, you're like, Mark's just saying that 'cause it's a part of the talk. That's what people do on stages. They say things and they make stories up. You just, you know, that's not true. I'll tell my daughters, they'll walk up and I can see it. They get some kind of chocolate gooey, whatever it might be. And I look at them and I say, you are Satan. (audience applauding) Get it out of here. Linda makes dinner for us on Sundays. And usually it's something that's tasty and the girls will come over after church and then they'll go home tonight.

And you came to my house, sent my cul-de-sac. And you watch, they're gonna walk out with bags of food 'cause take all that food that your mom just made. Take it, take it, take it and go away. 'Cause I ain't got no self-control. You fight the battle before the battle starts. Like, I'm never alone. Men, you wanna keep yourself from doing stupid. Set up your life so that every part of your life has been exposed to somebody else. Like when I say everything, like other people have control of my phone, they have access of my phone. There's trackers on my phone. There's trackers in my car. I think I fell asleep once and they put a tracker under my skin somewhere. Like they know where, they know every, like I'm never in a car alone with another person. I don't go to a restaurant. I mean, people know where, now when you say, "Mark, why is that?" 'Cause I don't trust me. You're like, "Wait a second, I thought you were a pastor." Should pastors be able to, like, control themselves? Are you kidding me? Have you not read the news about pastors? Oh, by the way, take away the title, "Pastor." They're humans. Humans do stupid.

We fight the temptation before it arrives. Students, I wanna tell you something, to all the singles in the house. So I said, "I love being married." To Linda headed towards four decades of marriage. I mean, I actually, I love it. But let me tell you the greatest thing that I ever did for Linda. The greatest thing that I ever did for Linda. I met Jesus older in life in my 20s and I had been with other women. And I wanted to do it right this time. And so I met Linda and I met her in church. And let me just tell you something. If you think because you meet somebody in church, like you don't have sexual thoughts about them and like, my goodness, like, they're still hot. They're hotties in the bars and they're hotties in church. They're like, hotties. And by the way, in case some of you are like, you need to understand something about your God. You think God's approved. You think Hugh Hefner or Pornhub or somebody else created sex in orgasm. By the way, God created sex. God created your body and her body. God put all those nerve endings right there and put all her nerve endings right there. And when he came to get shazam, thank you Jesus.

Like, that's your God. That's your God. And so I wanted to go to my honeymoon night. And so the only way I was gonna do that is I had to create a buffer. Now, Linda, she wasn't having no buffer. She was like, come on. I was like, this girlfriend. (audience laughing) So for the two years that we were dating and engaged students. So see, look, look, the girl with the beach sweatshirt on right there, right? I know she's like in grandma territory, but she's hot. I mean, she, right? So here's the deal. Hey, guys. And let me say to the young ladies, young ladies, all the single ladies in the house, forget about put a ring on it, right? Put a right, right, here's the deal. Find yourself a guy who keeps his hands right here. You have to fight the battle now, and so For two years. I'm in my 20s for two years All I did was hold her hand. I didn't kiss her for two years But baby I'm telling you I did let's go on the honeymoon night. I let I went What am I trying to teach you? I'm trying to teach you you have to fight the battle before it happens If you think for one minute that somehow we get in the moment kind of kind of play the little game We're gonna make out a little bit then we're gonna resist you don't resist on homecoming and prom night you resist way before

that moment Plantation wants you to think and to believe that if you'll give into this right now You will be happy and we have all kinds of stories across the space and watching online of moments when we have given Into the temptation and it has brought grief and sorrow that's exactly what happened to this young woman this young woman I don't know all the stories in the backstories, but she got to a point where she began to think I'll be happy if I suggested this guy. I know it's adultery But for whatever reason and it brought great shame and hurt and pain and sorrow until She met a man named Jesus Who didn't say to her hey girlfriend? You do you boo? You go make you go make you happy? He said I Don't condemn you Now go and sin No more Corbin the team are gonna come I Don't I don't know all that's happening in your world. I Know that God gives you a way out Maybe your way out today is you need to delete something or delete someone from your life. Maybe you need to confess something You heard Logan's story. I mean his level of honesty Brought health to his marriage health to his life Maybe you need to change your routine need to block something or someone from your life. You need to avoid going somewhere Maybe you need to bring some accountability Into your life bring a guy or bring a lady in your life who will challenge you Call you up to be who God created you to be and you can text and say man. I'm really struggling right now You can call can meet with them Temptation grows in secrecy freedom grows in community. That's what's so powerful about Friday nights and celebrate recovery It's freedom grows In community accountability turns my good intentions into

intentional actions Would you stand with me? First John one eight nine Says if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves You just heard me teach about my own life. I'm just not gonna be deceived by me Wait what I know is this you are a specialist in deceiving you. I'm a specialist in deceiving me the Bible says that If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves Truth not in us When we sing I don't know what that deception might be You've heard yourself say well you deserve this or God wants you to be happy or if it feels so right. How could it be so wrong? Bring that deception to this altar. Let a prayer partner come alongside of you freedom grows in community bondage remains in secrecy Jesus didn't say do whatever makes you happy Jesus didn't say follow Every desire feels right to you, right? He says go now Every temptation even the temptation this morning not to respond to this imitation Every temptation is an invitation to experience the satisfaction of Christ Thank you Being together in this space today is really good If you've never begun a relationship with Jesus I'd like to invite you today to start following Jesus. that Jesus is for you. God's not managed you, He's madly in love with you. Would you right now pray this prayer with me, "Hey God, it's me." I've sinned and I know it, and I can't fix me, but today I receive you Jesus as my Savior. I believe that you died on that cross for me, and that you were buried for three days,

and then you became alive again, and I invite you into my life to guide me and direct me all the rest of the days of my life. And with that prayer my friend, welcome to God's family. I'd like to continue our friendship. If you would email me, [email protected], I'll follow up with you, and together we'll celebrate Jesus in your life. Peace. [music]