Why not tell people that Jesus gives happiness, peace, and joy?

Why not tell people that Jesus gives happiness, peace, and joy?

 Two men are seated in a plane.  The first is given a parachute and told to put is on as it would improve his flight.  He’s a little skeptical at first because he can’t see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight.

He decides to experiment and see if the claim is true.  As he puts it on he notices the weight of it upon his shoulders and he finds that he has difficulty in sitting upright.  However, he consoles himself with the fact that he was told the parachute would improve the flight.  So, he decides to give the thing a little time.

As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him, because he’s wearing a parachute in a plane.  He begins to feel somewhat humiliated.  As they begin to point and laugh at him and he can stand it no longer, he slinks in his seat, unstraps the parachute, and throws it to the floor.  Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart, because, as far as he was concerned, he was told an outright lie.

The second man is given a parachute, but listen to what he’s told.  He’s told to put it on because at any moment he’d be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane.  He gratefully puts the parachute on; he doesn’t notice the weight of it upon his shoulders, nor that he can’t sit upright.  His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without that parachute.

Let’s analyze the motive and the result of each passenger’s experience.  The first man’s motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight.  The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers; he was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute.  As far as he’s concerned it’ll be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again.

The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come, and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it, he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he’s saved from sure death.  This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers.  His attitude towards those who gave him the parachute is one of heart-felt gratitude.

Now listen to what the modern gospel says.  It says, “Put on the Lord Jesus Christ.  He’ll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment, and lasting happiness.” In other words, “Jesus will improve your flight.” So the sinner responds, and in an experimental fashion, puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true.  And what does he get? The promised temptation, tribulation, and persecution.  -The other “passengers” mock him.  So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ, he’s offended for the word’s sake (Mark 4:17), he’s disillusioned and somewhat embittered, and quite rightly so.  

He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment, and lasting happiness, and all he got were trials and humiliation.  His bitterness is directed toward those who gave him the so-called “good news”.  His latter end becomes worse than the first: another inoculated and bitter backslider.

Instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight, we should be warning the passengers they’re going have to jump out of the plane.  That it’s “appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).  And when a sinner understands the horrific consequences of breaking God’s law, then he will flee to the Savior solely to escape the wrath that’s to come.  And if we’re true and faithful witnesses, that’s what we’ll be preaching.  That there is wrath to come; that God “commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).  Why? “Because He has appointed a day, in which He will judge the world in righteousness” (vs.  31).

The issue isn’t one of happiness, but one of righteousness.  It doesn’t matter how happy a sinner is, how much he’s enjoying “the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb 11:25).  Without the righteousness of Christ, he’ll perish on the day of wrath.  “Riches profit not on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death” (Prov 11:4).  Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation, but it’s not legitimate to use these fruits as a draw card for salvation.  If we continue to do so, sinners will respond with an impure motive lacking repentance.

Can you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace in his heart? It was because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death.  And as a believer, I have, as Paul says, “joy and peace in believing” (Rom 15:13), because I know that the righteousness of Christ is going to deliver me from the wrath that’s to come.

With that thought in mind, let’s take a close look at an incident on board the plane.  We have a brand new stewardess.  She’s carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee.  It’s her first day; she wants to leave an impression on the passengers, and she certainly does!  As she’s walking down the aisle, she trips over someone’s foot and slops that boiling hot coffee all over the lap of our second passenger.  Now what’s his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he go, “Man that hurt!”? Yes,  He does.  But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders, throw it to the floor and say, “The stupid parachute!”? No.  Why should he? He didn’t put the parachute on for a better flight.  He put it on to save him from the jump to come.  If anything, the hot coffee incident causes him to cling tighter to the parachute and even look forward to the jump.

If we put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive, to flee from the wrath that’s to come, when tribulation strikes, when the flight gets bumpy, we won’t get angry at God; we won’t lose our joy and peace.  Why should we? We didn’t come to Christ for a better lifestyle: but to flee from the wrath that’s to come.

If anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior.  Sadly, we have literally multitudes of professing Christians who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy.  Why? They’re the product of a man-centered gospel.  They came lacking repentance, without which they cannot be saved.