Let’s take a look at a couple of Scriptures …
Ecclesiastes 12:8 (NASB)
“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity!”
Ecclesiastes 12:8 (HCSB)
“Absolute futility,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile.”
Ecclesiastes 12:8 (ISV)
“Utterly pointless,” says the Teacher. “Everything is pointless.”
Ecclesiastes 12:8 (NIV)
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Everything is meaningless!”
Do you ever feel that way?
From the declaration of independence “the pursuit of happiness”
Ecclesiastes 2:17 (ISV)
“So I hated life, because whatever is done on earth causes me trouble - it’s all pointless, like chasing after the wind.”
That is what the pursuit of happiness is like, it’s like chasing after the wind. What would you think if you saw someone outside trying to catch the wind. You would think they were crazy.
The pursuit of happiness is self focused and therefore will always result in evil and emptiness.
Why is the pursuit of self focused happiness evil?
You set yourself up as God to be worshipped, even if only by you.
Why is the pursuit of self focused happiness empty?
You make a pretty crumby God!
A person pursuing happiness will eventually find that their life feels like it is caught in the vortex of a toilet flush going down, down, down.
But, praise God, that’s not all there is to life! There’s another end to the spectrum and the other end of the spectrum is:
1 Timothy 6:6
“Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
Galatians 5:22-23
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Acts 13:52 (RSV)
“And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.”
So, we’ve got the pursuit of happiness which leads to emptiness at one end of a spectrum and the joy of the Lord when our lives are given to loving and serving Him and others at the other end.
So, what do we make of this verse and how can it be our example?
Hebrews 12:1-2
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Somehow the “Joy set before Him” and “enduring the cross” don’t seem as if they should be in the same sentence.
So, what was this “joy set before Him”?
1) The joy of pleasing His Father by accomplishing what He has been sent to do.
There is this amazing bond between a father and his son when the boy is young. The son will have a deep desire to please his dad whether it means difficulties or not. Even if the father has flaws the son will overlook them and still desire to please his dad.
Just imagine the bond between God the Father and God the Son; eternally co-existent and eternally in harmony along with the Holy Spirit. The joy of pleasing the Father outweighed the torment of the crucifixion.
The verse goes on to say that Jesus even despised the shame of the cross. Why? Because the joy of glorifying and pleasing His Father greatly outweighed the pain of the cross.
The love that we have for God will not bring us freedom from pain and suffering but it will grant meaning to the pain and suffering. It will also help us to understand that:
“It will be worth it all - When we see Jesus -
Life's trials will seem so small - When we see Christ
One glimpse of His dear face - All sorrow will erase
So bravely run the race - 'Til we see Christ
“Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross”
Is that our fate? Is that our future? It certainly was for some early Christians.
Paul says to the believers in Thessalonica:
1 Thessalonians 1:6
“You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.”
And in Hebrews 10:34 it says,
“You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.”
Over on this end of the spectrum (self centered pursuit of happiness) such an idea is incomprehensible!
Is pleasing God worth personal suffering here on earth for you?
Another reason that Jesus “the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The joy that was set before Him was the redemption of His creation!
So that lost sinners who had rejected Him could be saved from eternal destruction!
There is no one in this entire world that God does not want to save!
Look at this knife.
Do you think that one day someone was prospecting for a knife mine and came a cross a mother lode of knives buried in the earth that happened naturally?
Of course not!
One day the metal that makes up the blade of this knife was in some big old rock.
Someone took that rock and crushed it.
Someone extracted that metal from the crushed rock, heating and refining it over and over.
Someone melted that steel and poured it into a mold the rough shape of the knife.
The knife blank was heated and hammered and ground to make it strong and sharp.
Finally it became a functional knife that could be useful in the world.
If that original rock containing the iron ore had a will it just might have said,
“I’m gonna stay right over here where I’ll be comfortable and happy.”
David Brainerd Quotes
“My soul is concerned not so much for souls as such but rather for Christ’s Kingdom that it might appear in the world, that God might be known to be God in the whole earth.”
“Oh, my sweet Savior, oh my sweet Savior, who have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee.”
“If I had a thousand lives, my soul should gladly have laid them all down at once to have been with Christ.”
“Here am I, Lord, send me. Send me to the ends of the earth. Send me to the rough, the savage pagans of the wilderness. Send from all that is called comfort in earth or earthly comfort. Send even to death itself if it is in Your service and to promote Your kingdom.”
And, shortly before his death he wrote,
“I do not go to heaven to be (promoted) but to give honor to God. It is no matter where I shall be stationed in heaven, whether I have a high or low seat there, but to live and please and glorify God.... My heaven is to please God and glorify Him, and give all to Him, and to be wholly devoted to His glory." - David Brainerd
Would you be willing?
One day a lovely, young, athletic teenager dove into the Chesapeake Bay. When she was pulled out of the water by friends she would never be able to use her arms or legs again, she was a quadriplegic.
She went through anger and depression and even thoughts of suicide.
She went to a giant healing gathering where she was placed with others who were in wheelchairs and escorted out before the “healing” part of the service started. Wouldn’t that be enough to crush your spirit?
Finally, she surrendered and became useful in the kingdom of God.
Here’s what she says now,
“My weakness, that is, my quadriplegia, is my greatest asset because it forces me into the arms of Christ every single morning when I get up.”
For the joy of serving God that is set before her she is willing to endure the suffering of her disability.
We hold people like David Brainerd and Joni Eareckson Tada up as heroes and they are but should they be?
Isn’t that what the life totally sold out to God is all about?
What ever You want God! Wherever You want to send me.
Wesley had a prayer of commitment he would say as a covenant with God and it went like this …
I am no longer my own, but Yours.
Put me to what You will, rank me with whom You will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for You, or laid aside for You,
exalted for You, or brought low for You;
let me be full, let me be empty,
let me have all things, let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to Your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am Yours. So be it.
And the covenant now made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.
Where do you want to be on this spectrum?
The devil is dragging you over to self-centered “happiness” with all his might.
Jesus is gently calling for you to come join Him in the struggle for righteousness, joy, peace and fulfillment in the Kingdom of God.
For the joy that was set before Him Jesus endured the cross, shedding His blood, His body broken for my salvation and for yours.
Will you decide today?
Communion
