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.
