We Need More Woe In Our Lives
Don’t worry, be happy was a popular song not so long ago. Stimpy of Ren and Stimpy says, "Happy, happy! Joy, joy!" We are guaranteed the right to the pursuit of happiness in our Constitution. The entertainment and travel industries earn billions of dollars promising to make us happy. Ask a person to tell you their top three wishes for their life and if one of those wishes is not to be happy then the three wishes will be for things or people they think will make them happy. How can you be happy without the fastest computer, the best car, or the biggest house? You owe these things to yourself. You deserve a break today! Have it your way! Be Happy!
In our culture, we consider happiness to be free from all burdens and to have every thing we want in excess. This is not what happiness once meant. Our forefathers who for the most part used the KJV would have understood happiness to mean being blessed of God. Therefore, if we modernized the language of the Constitution, it would say that we are guaranteed the right to pursue the blessing of God. That was the way they saw we would be truly happy in a joyous sense. Hmm, that puts a whole new light on the separation of the Church and State foolishness.
Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: (KJV)
Correction and chastening are not things that we consider shouting, "Happy, Happy! Joy, joy!" about when we receive them. Usually, we revile the one that corrects us and sue them for mental anguish. Chasten your children and they may divorce you.
Ps 127:5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate. (KJV)
With ZPG (Zero Population Growth) and abortion, we certainly do not consider children a blessing or a source of happiness anymore. They are a burden upon our goals and just embryonic tissue that we can slash and burn.
Ps 144:15 Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. (KJV)
We have long since passed the time when this country truly trusted in God and ask Him to bless this country. Indeed, it has been a long time since He has been on our side.
Prov 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. (KJV)
We call good evil and evil good and teach our children that they are hi-tech ape gods. Yes, we no longer consider wisdom and understanding as a path to happiness.
John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. (KJV)
Oops, Christian, you soak it in, but do you practice what He teaches you? If you are not, then you are not a happy/blessed Christian and you are probably miserable. If we just practiced what we knew and never learned another thing the Church, the World, and we would be so happy and blessed our faces would split in half from the smiles!
James 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. (KJV)
Excuse me, endure? You mean like not have my every need met or being pampered by everyone every minute of the day? You mean like suffer some hardship, set back, or illness? Are you crazy saying that enduring trials are blessings or times of happiness? Maybe, but check Job’s whole biography. He was blessed tremendously in the beginning. He endured the muck in the middle and was outrageously blessed in the end. Hey, if that is crazy, then certify me now! I’d like a butternut gray straight jacket, if you don’t mind.
1 Pet 3:14 But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled; (KJV)
Hmm, if you thought the last verse was something you really like this one! Suffering for righteousness sake are you? Don’t worry! Be happy because you are!! Rejoice that you are counted worthy to suffer for Him! (Acts 5:41; 2 Thess 1:5) Remember verse 15 says that if you are suffering because you are a jerk or because of your sin, you t’ain’t gonna be happy in any connotation of the word.
1 Pet 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. (KJV)
I may be stupid, but if the Spirit of glory and God is resting on you then I would say that is being super blessed and something to be extremely happy about even if we are being reproached and suffering!
Okay, so you say, if being blessed of God is being happy and being blessed does not equal the normal concept of what constitutes happiness then how do I get happy about being truly happy? I am so glad you asked because I was going to tell you anyway! The way to get happy about being happy is to get more woe in your life. Uh, you say, I am not exactly sure what woe means but it don’t sound like a happy word! Well, remember you were hanging on to the world’s definition of happiness and having some trouble with God’s definition of happiness, right? Yeah! Well, hang on for woe is a good thing.
Isa 6:5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. (KJV)
The first woe we need is the woe of being undone! In Isaiah 6, Isaiah gets a one on one meeting with God. You think being called into the Boss’ office is a scary thing. Have God show up at your work site high and lifted up and see what you think about that! That is exactly what happened!
Isaiah looked up at the king on the Throne, and saw the angels worshiping and had a major reality check instantaneously. Talk about looking up to your Boss!! What in the world or Heaven could he say, but "Woe is me! for I am undone;…?"
Woe, in this case translated into our lingo would be equal to when someone just proves us totally wrong in graphic terms and we say, "Ouch!" Isaiah had looked at God and immediately realized that priest or not, he was wholly inadequate and unholy in the presence of the omnipotent and holy God.
Undone is literally to be brought to silence, cut off, and ’umbled! If Isaiah had any pride or arrogance about him it was shut down big time when He looked at who he was and who the God He served was. He had to admit that he was one of the people with unclean lips and not some dude on a higher level.
Christians need a double shot of this kind of woe. We are often so arrogant when it comes to unbelievers and other Christians that have not yet attained to our level. We look down our snoots and say, like the Pharisee, "I thank thee God that I am not as other men are…."
I have news for you, O Holy Brother of the Seven Keys you are like other men. You are just a stinking, Hell bound, good for nothing sinner that was saved by the grace of God! Given the right temptation at the right moment of your life, you are apt to relive some of your old sin habits or participate in something you never dreamed you would do. You are so wrapped up in pride that the father of pride, Old lucy, can make a ringer out of you as well as Old Amos McCoy could a horseshoe over his shoulder.
Get off your high horse before you get thrown and be revealed as the mule you are. You want to compare yourself with someone? Quit looking down at your brother and look up! The lily-white garments you take so much pride in are going to look mighty dingy against the One whose head and hairs are white like wool and white as snow! (Rev 1:13) In fact, they might even look like a black tuxedo as you stand before Him undone!
Until you get the woe of being undone in your life, you can never be happy or blessed. The way to get that woe is through the whoa of self-death in Mark 8:35. I know I used a homonym for the sake of alliteration. Actually, it is a woe because until you come to woe about your self-life you will never say whoa to your selfishness and sin.
Mark 8:35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it. (KJV)
What is your life? It is more than just the physical life. It is everything about you. It is your goals or desires. It is your possessions and your concepts. Indeed, it is your heart, mind, and soul. And what is the first and great commandment?
Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (KJV)
Many people think that God only wants their money. Unfortunately, that may come from the fact that they get so many solicitations in the mail from "religious" organizations and hear many pleas on TV and radio for money. We are instructed to give tithes and offerings, but that is not all He wants.
Some think that at least an hour or two on Sunday morning is all He wants and He is real tickled if you go above and beyond by giving an hour or so on Sunday night. You go Wednesday, also? WOW! You must be mighty holy. I don’t think so, Al. If you consider that we should tithe time, treasure, and talent to God then your four hours a week is about thirteen hours short of what you should be spending in worship and service. Phew! Would that cut into your TV time or what?
He wants more than your time, treasure, and talent, which are all given to you by Him anyway. He wants your life! He wants your dreams and desires. He wants your career. He wants your spouse. He wants your children. He wants every blessed thing that you own and especially the not so blessed things.
You must lose your life! You must die to self! It is the way to being blessed of God and truly happy. It is the only way to save your life. You want what is best for your life, but the lies of this world, the good intentions of others, and your own flesh taint your thought processes.
He knows what you truly need to be happy and He longs to give it to you. He wants to bless you, but you have to give your life over to Him and quit trying to run it yourself. Psalm 37:4 tells us to delight ourselves in the Lord and He will give us the desires of our heart.
If we delight ourselves in Him or find our joy and happiness in Him, the things we desire will be what He desires and of course, He will give them to us. Some see this as saying that if we delight in Him, He will implant righteous desires in us and then He will fulfill them in us. Either way, we come out way ahead of delighting ourselves with this world’s desires.
You might say that you have some real struggles with sin and though you love the lord, you are not sure that He wants to bless you. Paul said, in Romans 7 that in the flesh he struggled with sin, but in his inward man, (heart, mind, and soul) he delighted in the law of God. (Rom 7:22) If that is your testimony than give you life over to Him and that delight in your heart will manifest itself as He gives you the desires of your heart which are already desires to serve Him. Offer up your imperfection and impotence and He will supply the perfection and power. Then He will bless you and make you happy as you say whoa to self and sin.
When you possess this woe, it brings you to the final woe for Mark 8:35 already tells you why you must die to self. It brings you to the woe of the Gospel.
1 Cor 9:16-19
16 For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!
17 For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.
18 What is my reward then? Verily that, when I preach the gospel, I may make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel.
19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. (KJV)
We say we believe in a Hell and folks are going there, but we act like it is not that bad of a thing. In fact, I am thinking of doing a sermon titled, "The Hell, You Say?" Quick, what bothers you most? That title or that people are going to Hell? The answer shows if you have the woe of the Gospel upon you.
The whole point of the Gospel is to lead people to Christ. Why are you in Church? Did you get saved? Who told you? They had the woe of the Gospel? What about us? Are we just as happy as a pig in mud that we are saved, but the rest can go to Hell?
Keith Green sang that we "close our eyes and pretend the job’s done." Well, Honey child, open you eyes! We have failed at our job and the fruit is falling to the ground and rotting instead of being picked and brought into the barn! Harvest time is almost over and our nine yards is far from being picked!!!
Paul says, we really do not have a choice! We can do it willingly and gain a reward, but even if it is not our thrill we are given a stewardship or a dispensation! We have a job to do and it is not getting done! Glory to God and His mercy that we are not fired figuratively and literally!!!!
We hire preachers and pay evangelists to do the work that we are called to do freely. Paul was a bi-vocational preacher. He made tents to pay his bills and preached for free. If you are not called to preach you are still called to give a reason of the hope, which lies within you. (1 Peter 3:15)
Bro. Tim was right when he said that instead of volunteers, we need more dedicates in the church. We will never have enough money to hire people to all the work of evangelism and discipleship in the church. Volunteers do things when they want to and they have no accountability and can’t be fired for inefficiency since they are volunteers. Dedicates do what they do because they are dedicated to the cause. Pay and rewards do not interest them as much as seeing the cause go forth. We need dedicated teachers and we desperately need dedicated firemen that will go and pluck the brands from the fire! (Jude 23) How’s your dedication? Are you a hireling that will only do it for the rewards, fiscal or otherwise? Are you a volunteer that only serves when you feel like it or it is convenient? Why not be a dedicate?
Paul had the woe of being undone. He counted all that was considered wonderful dung and he felt like one born out of due time when he was called to be an apostle. He considered himself the Chief of Sinners. He was ’umbled!
He had the woe/whoa of death to self for he chose to be a servant when he had been given authority. He would have preached the Gospel even if it were not the joy of his life. He gave his heart, mind, and soul over to Christ. He gave Him his life!
He had the woe of the Gospel. He even wish himself accursed and damned if it meant that the Jewish people would accept and believe! He had to preach the Gospel.
How woeful are you? To be truly happy or blessed by God you must have these woes. Will you surrender your pride and be woefully undone? Will you give up your life and partake of the woe/whoa of death to self? Will you allow Christ to give you the woe of the Gospel? If so, then you are in the pursuit of happiness! You are bound to be blessed!!
