Laughter
“Then was our mouth filled with laughter.” Psalm 126:2
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.” —Psalm 2:4
Intro: A elderly couple were home
The wife softly said to her husband
Do you remember when we used to just sit and you would hold my hand
The man reached over and held her hand.
The wife sweetly smiled and said do you remember when you used to kiss me on the cheek
The man leaned over and kissed her on the cheek
The wife winked and said do you remember when you used gently nibble on my ear
The husband stood up and started to walk away.
The wife asked Where you going…
The husband said, To get my teeth.
Today we are going to talk about “Laughter.”
If we define laughter, we might say it is the quick breath resulting in a series of short vowel-like sounds usually "ha-ha," "ho-ho" or "hee-hee" which we call laughter.
Laughter consists of two parts – sound and action.
When we laugh, changes begin to take place though out many parts of the brain, the body, organs
even the arm, leg and muscles.
Laughter can be very healthy.
Sometimes laughter is born out of sunshine.
Sometimes laugher can be born out of darkness.
So, whether laughter pleases the Lord or displeases him, depends upon when we laugh and at what we laugh.
We are going to look at several different places and types of Laughter in the bible.
1. Sarah’s laugh, or that of skepticism.
Picture in your mind as you look out across the dessert
An oriental tent;
the occupants are old Abraham and Sarah, wrinkled and weathered by the hot and dry heat and time.
There are three guests with them…, three angels…, and one is depicted as the Lord Almighty.
In return for the hospitality shown by the old people
God promises Sarah…, that she shall become the ancestress of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sarah laughs in the face of God;
she does not believe it.
When she realizes who her guests are and what she has done she becomes frighted.
She denies it.
Genesis 18:15 Sarah says: “I didn’t laugh.”
Then God says, oh, yes you did laugh
And when God speaks up and catches anyone in a lie there…,
There was a long silence, followed by “But thou didst laugh.”
My friends, the laugh of skepticism in all the ages is only the echo of Sarah’s laughter.
Yet, how many times in your own life did you know that God has said something
God has promised something
Yet you have been skeptical
God says he will accomplish something in your life,
and yet how many times have we said, it cannot be done.
A great multitude laughs at the miracles.
They say they are contrary to the laws of nature.
What is a law of nature?
God is the one who wrote the laws of nature.
If God wants to change the laws of nature, there is nothing to stop Him.
You ordinarily get up in the morning and get a cup of coffee.
Tomorrow, you get up and get a glass of orange juice instead.
You change what usually happens.
You made the rule; you have the right to change it.
You ordinarily come into church at the front door
[pointing to a side entrance of the church.]
Suppose next Sunday you decide to come into church from the back door?
It is a habit to come in the front door.
But you have the right to change your habit?
A law of nature is God’s habit—His way of doing things.
If he makes the law, he has the right to change it any way he wants to change it.
So, when God says: “I will do something,”
Why would anyone laugh and say, “You can’t do it.”
God says that the Bible is true—it is all true.
Harvard School of Science can laugh…, when they say there is no creator only a big bang
John Hopkins School of medicine can laugh…, when they say there is no divine healing
Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, all the famous Philosophers can laugh…, when they say Jesus is just a good prophet.
People can sit on the fence between Christianity and Worldliness and laugh softly.
They can even say: “We did not laugh.”
That was Sarah’s trick.
Yet, God thunders from the heavens: “Ah, But thou didst laugh!”
We are told that the Garden of Eden was only a fable.
We are told that Noah never built any kind of ark,
or, if Noah did build an ark, it was too small to hold two of every kind.
We are told the ten plagues of Egypt never happened
The death angel smiting the first-born in Egypt was only some type of disease epidemic.
And the Red Sea never parted
Or if it did part it was only because of a violent wind that blew down from one direction.
We are told the sun and moon did not stand still for Joshua.
We are told the mouth of the whale is too small and could not possibly swallow the prophet Jonah.
The lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, they were all fake, all frauds, all untrue
The resurrection of Lazarus was just someone who passed out.
and Mary and Martha were acting out their parts as well.
My friends, there is not a single doctrine or statement of God’s Holy Word
that has not been mocked, scorned, criticized as false, and laughed at.
There are people who want this Bible ripped apart.
skeptics who want it torn to pieces,
rewrite, retranslate or tear out all parts that you don’t like.
What should go first?
Some would say, “take out all that about the creation.”
Some would say, “take out all that about the divine guidance of the children of Israel in the wilderness.”
“take out all that drama about Job.”
“take out all that stuff about deity of Jesus Christ.”
“take out the resurrection.”
And be sure to take out “the book of Revelation
Away goes the book of Genesis.
Away goes the book of prophets.
Away goes most of the Gospels.
Now there are a few pieces left.
What shall we do with them?
Now what is left?
What is left is the pitch darkness
What is left is the world without light.
How do you like that?
How do you like a world without the morals, and values, of God?
The Bible has been taken out of the school,
The Bible has been thrown out of the courtroom,
Mark my words, there will come a day when the bible will have a warning label put on it.
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People will say, Oh, no we did not laugh at the Word of God.
Oh, what an awful thing it is to laugh in God’s face!
But all of this will be followed on the day of judgment when God will thunder: “Ah, But you did laugh!”
There is story about a man Theodore Smith.
Theodore made fun of the Word of God
He said, it is all ridiculous,
and he laughed every day at holy religion…,
until he became death sick and was told he would soon die,
It was on his death bed that he said: “My life has been a failure;
I have taught my children nothing but doubt, fear, and hatred.
All my life I have laughed at Christianity
But now I see that Christianity has been laughing at me.
The saddest laughter ever uttered is the laughter of skepticism, utter disbelief.
2. The next laughter I want to mention in the Bible is David’s laughter
David’s laughter was an expression of spiritual worship.
Psalm 126:2 “Then was our mouth filled with laughter.”
When you read David’s Psalms carefully you can see that he felt down sometimes,
but there are other chapters where he is full of praise and worship.
It was not a mere lip worship;
it was very much a demonstration of complete and total worship of the Lord.
It was manifest both spiritual and physical.
“Then was our mouth filled with laughter.”
My friends, this world will never be converted to God until Christians laugh more
and until Christians sing more
and praise more.
Sadness and the lack of passion are poor bait.
When we are to be fishers of people.
I say plant the rose of Sharon
Praise the Lamb who is worthy
Have a song of joy on your lips
Have a passion for worship.
Have the heart and mouth filled with holy laughter.
You say, “Preacher, I have so much trouble!”
A lot of the sickness in our world is simply because we don’t have the joy that we should.
When we live uptight and on edge…, it causes headaches…, digestive problems, lack of energy.
We don’t sleep well.
Much of this would go away if we would just learn how to laugh during the stressful time of life.
One of the greatest stress relievers God has given us is laughter.
Proverbs 17:22 puts it like this, “A happy heart is like a good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing.”
There was a 92-year-old man who wasn’t feeling well and so he went to see his doctor
A few days later the doctor saw him out in the park
With a beautiful young lady by his side
He seemed as happy as can be
Wow, said, the doctor, you sure seem to be feeling a lot better aren’t you
Yes, said the 92 year old “I am following your orders.”
The doctor was confused and asked “What orders”
You said, “Get a Hot mama and stay cheerful”
Doctor said, I didn’t say that
I said, “You gotta Heart murmur be careful”
Laughter is like an instant vacation from your troubles.
A very fervent Baptist preacher and his wife decided to get a dog as a pet.
But the dog had to be solemn and somber
and ever mindful that church members of the congregation had to know that the dog is also a Baptist.
They visited registered kennel and explained their needs.
Finally, the owner of the kennel called and said he had found the couple the perfect dog.
He brought the dog to meet the pastor and his wife.
"Fetch the Bible," he commanded.
The dog went over to the bookshelf, scrutinized the books, located the Bible, and brought it to the owner.
"Now find Psalm 23," he commanded.
The dog dropped the Bible to the floor,
with is his paws he leafed through the pages
until he found the passage and correctly pointed to it with his paw.
The pastor and his wife were very impressed and purchased the dog.
That evening, a group of church members came to visit.
The pastor and his wife wanted to show off the dog,
They had him locate Bible
They had him turn to Psalm 23.
The visitors were very impressed.
One man asked, "Can he do any regular dog tricks, too?"
The preacher said, "I haven’t tried that yet,"
the pastor pointed his finger at the dog and said roll over.
The dog rolled over
The pastor commanded in his deepest most sincere and most solemn voice said, "HEEL!"
The dog immediately jumped on a chair,
placed one paw on the church members forehead and began to howl.
The pastor looked at his wife in shock and said, "Oh, Lord! The dog is Pentecostal"
There is a healing power in laughter.
God created laughter to boosts the immune system.
Laughter will reduce blood pressure.
Laughter will help your digestive system and help you lose weight
People that laugh a lot are less likely to have a heart attack than people that don’t laugh.
Laughter is good for the soul.
Friends, there is healing power in laughter.
The Book of Ps. 137 tells about the time Children of Israel by the waters of Babylon.
1. Israel had been Captured by the armies of Babylon
2. They were exiled...and led away from their own homeland.
3. They were captured and forced into slavery in Babylon.
B. As they look around...
They saw the land was very different from their homeland.
The hill they saw...could not compare to hills of Zion.
C. Seeing all of these differences...
...that there was no comparison to their homeland.
1. There they sat down.
2. There they felt like giving up!
3. They sat down...They were about to quit!
D. They wept.
They cried out in bitter sorrow remembering their homeland...and the hills of Zion.
Psalm 137: 1-2 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.
2 There on the poplars
we hung our harps,
They could not sing!!!
They would not sing!!!
Their captures...Babylon demanded of them a song.
"Sing us a song like you sung in Zion."
1. They could not sing!!!
2. There they sat down.
3. They cried!
What really happened to the Children of Israel was...that they had lost their joy.
Do you need to find your Joy again?
I can be Poor, yet I am rich.
I can be weak, yet I can also be strong.
The merriest laugh I ever heard was in the sick-room of one of God’s dear children.
Because they knew that the greatest healing and the greatest life was still to come.
3. The next laughter I want to mention is what the Bible calls the “The fool’s laugh”
or the expression of sinful laughter at another person’s misery.
Solomon in his wisdom made a comparison.
What is the laughter of a fool like?
He says: “It is the crackling of thorn brush under a pot.”
The kettle is hung between two rods and swung over the fire pit,
The dry thorn brush is put under it,
and the fire is lit
there is a great noise, popping and crackling and there is a big blaze
and then a sputter and it quickly burns out.
Then it is dark again!
That is the Fool’s laughter!
That is the laughter at someone else’s misery.
It is that “ah ha! Gotcha moment.”
You are finally gonna get what you deserve.
It is the miserable in the world who find a brief joy in making other people miserable.
Have you met someone like this?
They find joy in other people’s misery.
Listen I have seen and heard people make fun of others,
Revel in their demise and trouble
Joke about their job loss
Find merriment in their relationship break ups and divorce
Only to find themselves in the same place or in a worse condition a short time later.
I do not say it was a judgment of God on them.
But I do say that merriment born out of the misery of others is wrong.
The road to hell is a gradual one—the gentle slope, an easy path, with no sudden turnings,
without milestones, without signposts.…
The long, dull, monotonous years, of sitting, and sightseeing,
Without pure joy without lasting pleasure
How many times have we secretly found pleasure in the downfall of others.
Sarah said, “I did not laugh.”
And God said, “Awe, but you did laugh.”
I heard about this 85 year old woman.
She went on a blind date with a 92 year old man.
She came home very frustrated and her daughter said, "Mom, what's wrong?"
She said, "I had to slap him three times."
The daughter surprised and said, "You mean he tried to get fresh?"
She said, "No. three times I thought he was dead."
4. The Final laughter is this.
“He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh.”
The other laughter mentioned in the Bible, is heaven’s laughter,
This is the expression of eternal victory and triumph.
Christ said to his disciples: Luke 6:21 “Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.”
I am glad to know that the heaven of the Bible is not a place of solemnity and dredge
but of magnificent place of joy and laughter.
It will be a place of pure joy around the circles of the saved
I say, yes; pure laughter, cheering laughter, holy laughter.
It will be a laugh of congratulation.
When we meet a friend who has suddenly come into a fortune, we congratulate him and laugh
or when one who has got over some dire sickness, we congratulate him and rejoice with laughter
do we not shake hands,
do we not laugh together with praise.
God wants us all to laugh;
He came down out of heaven.
He put all the world’s sin on the cross Jesus,
he puts all the world’s sorrow on the other shoulder,
and then he puts the palm of his blood spotted hand on your shoulder and says,
“Look! and live!
With Jesus’s dying groan
Jesus swallowed up my groans.
Look! live!
Live and laugh.
[A thousand years from now I will still be laughing.] Turn to someone and say it!!!!
Oh, what a laugh that will be!
A deep laughter in the soul.
A long, reverberating laugh.
God grant me the very gift of your holy laughter.
Yes; it will be a laugher of triumph.
It will be a laughter of victory
A man died and went to heaven.
As he stood in front of St. Peter at the Pearly Gates
he saw a huge wall of clocks behind him.
St. Peter said, according to your clock you are lucky to be here.
What do you mean asked the man?
St. Peter said, well you see all these clocks.
The hands move to indicate every time a person sins.
"Oh," said the man, "Whose clock is that?"
"That's Mother Teresa's.
The hands on her clock only moved a few times in her life.
"Incredible," said the man.
"That's Billy Graham’s clock.
The hands on his clock have only moved a few times in his life.
Wow he said, and where is my clock.
St. Peter answered.
Well, like I said, you are lucky to be here
Your clock is over there.
We have been using it as a fan."
Oh, what a blessed thing it will be to stand at the gate of heaven
and look St. Peter in the eye
and say, Let me in.
I know Jesus
And we will gather with our loved ones…,
who have gone on before us…, around the table of the Lord and laugh.
