Transcript

The Wrong Way To Be Happy

Matthew 14:1-12
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Pastor Randy Smith

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The great theologian Jonathan Edwards once said that the desire for happiness is "[overwhelming]…never can be changed…never can be overcome, or in any way abated. Young and old love happiness alike, and good and bad, wise and unwise" (Safety, Fullness and Sweet Refreshment to be Found in Christ).

Last week I told you that God has wired all people to pursue their joy in every decision they make. In other words, we will do the things that we believe will make us the happiest. The desire for joy is the primary motive in every action we take.

Advertising works on this premise. Buy this product and you will be happier. Athletes train on this premise. Work hard in practice so that in competition you will be happier. Satan tempts on this premise. Give into sin and you will be happier. Future joy, moreover immediate joy, is a tremendous incentive and motivation.

You want to be happy. Does God want you happy? That question has been debated throughout the church age. Many have said, "no." Pastor and author, Sam Storms, disagrees: "One of the worst injustices the church has perpetuated against its members is proclaiming a message of the evil of desire. God created us with a longing to be thrilled, hungry for the joy of being fascinated. Yet we have told people to stop wanting and to stop yearning; we've urged them to ignore, suppress, or anesthetize their desire for happiness. And, if such teachings should fail, we have worked hard to make them feel the sting of guilt and shame. All this will do is drive passion underground, so to speak, only to have it erupt at some moment of weakness when temptation offers a fleeting fulfillment" (Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God, p. 43). I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment, providing, as would the author, that we find our joy in God. God has given us a desire to be happy. And only God is able to fully meet that desire with the gift of Himself!

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). Joy magnifies God's worth as a good Shepherd and good Father. Joy empowers us for life (Neh. 8:10). As I said earlier, we are wired to be happy, but we will never realize true happiness until we find our happiness in God. And when we find our happiness in God, I believe God is most glorified in us. Everybody wins!

Last week in Mt. 13:45-46 we studied what I entitled, "The Pearl of Great Prize." In that parable the man sold all he had to purchase one pearl of great value. Far from being a sacrifice, he pursued that which brought him his greatest pleasure. Like the end of verse 44 exclaims in the previous parable "from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has."

God is our pearl of great prize. He is most desirable. He brings forth the greatest rewards. He dispenses that which we need the most. The cost is free, but it comes with a price tag that requires our whole heart. When we pursue our joy in God, we will get our greatest joy. When we pursue our joy in other things, we will always walk away empty. God is the pearl of great prize and everything else is at best second-rate pleasures that never truly satisfy.

As we turn the page to chapter 14 in the Gospel of Matthew, we have before us a test-case of this very principle. The man's name is Herod. Herod like all of us pursued the things he believed would bring him the greatest happiness. Let's examine what avenue he went down. Let's see how much he was satisfied.

Before we begin with the first point, permit me to introduce the three primary characters of our story.

Herod the tetrarch

• Named Antipas.
• Son of wicked Jewish leader Herod the Great (Lk. 2:1).
• Had a bunch of brothers and half brothers that ruled different regions.
• Ruled over Galilee and Perea (jurisdiction where Jesus primarily operated).
• Called a "king" in verse 9 - a generous use of the term.
• Not the same as the two Herods mentioned in Acts (Ac. 12; 26).
• Most famous Herod mentioned in Scripture.

Herodias

• Illegitimate wife of Herod Antipas.
• Left Philip (her uncle) for his half brother Herod Antipas.
• Her father was Herod Antipas' brother Aristobulus.
• Granddaughter of Herod the Great.

Herodias' daughter

• Daughter ofHerodias when she was married to Philip.
• Grandniece of Herod Antipas
• While her name is not mentioned in the Bible…
• The Jewish historian Josephus tells us it was Salome (Antiq. 17.5.4).

Don't worry if you are confused because this was one dysfunctional family!

1. THE EXAMPLE OF MISPLACED JOY

With that as a background, let's begin with the first point, "The Example of Misplaced Joy."

If all people pursue their joy, let's see what made Herod happy.

Joy in sexual sin (vs. 3-4)

First of all, Herod took pleasure in sin. Sin as it does for all of us, comes with the powerful temptation that giving into it will make us happier. Though it fails to deliver, sin promises excitement and adventure and instant gratification. Twice in our passage we see the specific sins of Herod's choice. First we will look at his love for sexual sin.

Verses 3 and 4, "For when Herod had John [the Baptist] arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. For John had been saying to him, 'It is not lawful for you to have her.'"

John was the final of the Old Testament prophets. He was a holy man, and as we learned a fiery spokesman for God. He pulled no punches. When he saw sin, he boldly called it out (Mt. 3:11).

We do not know the name of Herod's original wife. History tells us she was the daughter of King Aretas from the Nabateans. And when Herod divorced her in favor of Herodias he incited a war. Yet the problem was not so much that he stole another man's wife, as bad as that was, the problem was that Herodias' former husband was Herod's half brother (as I already mentioned). In Leviticus 18:16 we read, "You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness" (cf. Lev. 20:21). Herodias was also the daughter of another brother of his named Aristobulus. So we had an incestuous relationship that clearly violated the law. That was John's whole point in verse 4 when he said, "It is not lawful for you to have her."

Well, John's comments certainly did not flatter Herodias. They only started a chain-reaction of rage in her that would eventually lead to his execution. We will speak about that in a moment, but for now I want you to see how Herod willingly violated God's law, and when confronted by John still willfully continued in his sin.

This is the attraction of sin. If I can personify it, sin never comes out and says exactly what it is; it never warns of the consequences. It is like the movies - everybody is committing fornication, and everybody seems to be having so much fun doing it. Nobody, even God Himself, seems to have a problem with it. Sin says, "Look at the thrills of that one night stand. No one will ever find out." Sin doesn't say, "You'll potentially shipwreck your marriage. You'll have a lot of explaining to do to your children. You'll take a chance on contracting a disease. You'll live with a lifetime of regret." Stuff like that is always left out. Sin promises the pleasure, but never mentions the cost. Sin deceives in making itself more desirable than obedience. And way too often, we even as Christians fall for it.

In Mark's account of this story we read that "[Herod] used to enjoy listening to [John]" (Mk. 6:20). He obviously had some attraction to spiritual matters (see Luke 23:8). Unfortunately the Word never made an impact on his life. He was like James said a hearer and not a doer of the Word (Jas. 1:22). He heard the word of obedience but never took action. He continued in his relationship with Herodias. He continued in his drunken orgies (Mt. 14:6).

He rejected God's Word. He chose sexual sin because he thought that would make him happier.

Joy in human approval (vs. 6-11)

So Herod took pleasure in sexual sin. Herod also took pleasure in his popularity - another sin of his. He was more concerned with the approval of humans than he was with the approval of God. He thought man's smile upon him would make him happier than God's.

Verse 6, "But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod." Birthday parties were not celebrated by the Jews. Birthday celebrations back then were a thing of paganism. They were gluttonous feasts where men would indulge in alcohol and then be seduced by dancing women.

So in comes Salome, the daughter of Herodias. She dances before Herod and in the modern vernacular "turns him on." One sin led to another. Captivated by his lust and inebriated by his alcohol, Herod makes a foolish promise. Verse 7, "He promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. Mark 6:23 indicates that he promised to reward her with "up to half of [his] kingdom."

Since the young girl, probably only 12-14 years old, didn't know what to ask for, she goes to her mother. And let's remember her mother's hatred for John the Baptist. This was the opportunity dreamed of by the wicked Herodias. And verse 8 reads, "Having been prompted by her mother, she said, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.'"

The request took Herod by surprise. He realized he was trapped. Verse 9, "Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests."

Herod made a foolish promise. He knew John had done nothing worthy of death. He also knew Jewish law that a citizen could not be executed without a trial. Yet righteousness was overlooked because he took pleasure in his sin of human approval. What would his dinner guests think of him if he went back on his word? They would think he was a coward. He would lose credibility. The admiration and flattery and esteem would fade. Righteous people respect a humble man who says, "I made a mistake." But Herod's buddies were anything but righteous and in order to save face with them, he caved.

Verses 10 and 11, "He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother."

Murder as a way out was nothing new to Herod. We recall the fine example set for him by his father. When dad heard from the magi that a new "King of the Jews" had been born (Mt. 2:2), he simply killed all the babies two and under in the region of Bethlehem (Mt. 2:16).

Because these guys loved the praise of man, another innocent person was slaughtered.

2. THE RESULT OF MISPLACED JOY

Just like us today, Herod pursued the things that he believed would make him happy. And as we witnessed in our text, Herod believed that these were sexual sin and the sin of human approval.

So, as we move to the second point, we need to ask the question, did sin deliver on it promises? Did Herod's sin make him a happier person? And my answer to this is "no." I will show you two consequences of his sin.

Fear (vs. 1-2, 5)

First of all, Herod was plagued by fear. Herod "feared the crowd" (verse 5). Herod feared his wife (we have seen that already). And in verses 1 and 2 we see that Herod also feared John the Baptist. "At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, and said to his servants, 'This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.'" These verses occur earlier in the text, but chronologically they actually follow after John was beheaded.

Word made it to Herod about Jesus. How he found out or specifically everything he knew is unknown. The only thing recorded is that Herod received news about Jesus' miracles and such news led Herod into a state of paranoia precipitating the flashback that begins in verse 3. Herod's obviously knew that what he did to John was wrong. And when he heard about the miraculous powers of Jesus, his mind naturally concluded that John had risen from the dead. He's going to get me!

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Pr. 9:10). If Herod had feared God, he would have not feared man. And if he didn't fear man, he would not have been tortured in his soul.

We fear losing the stuff we love. But if we love God more than all that other stuff, we have nothing to fear because God will never be taken away from us, and what God permits to be taken away God works together for our good (Rom. 8:28).

Herod lived in a state of perpetual fear. What a horrible way to go through life. All for sin. Is it worth it?

Grief (vs. 9)

Herod was plagued by fear. He was also plagued by grief. When he believed that he was trapped to execute John the Baptist, verse 9 says he was "grieved" by such a decision.

Now there is a certain degree of grief that is common to life. Some grief is unavoidable, a reality of living in a fallen world and not a result of our personal sin. We have records of Jesus grieving.

Yet much of the grief we bring upon ourselves like Herod did. Had he not loved popularity, had he not loved to be seduced, had he not given himself over to drunkenness, had he not married a wicked woman, had he not made a foolish promise, had he not imprisoned an innocent man, he never would have experienced his grief. His sins formed a chain that was strangling him from within. The grief, the agony, the despondency, the heartache, the despair - was it really worth it? Was the dance with sin really that good that justified paying the fiddler the high price he demanded? The man was miserable.

Just this morning I was recalling the agony I went through in high school because I foolishly chose sin. I permitted a friend to take some bushes from the lumber yard where I worked and also pocketed some small amounts of cash when we sold Christmas Trees in the winter. About the same time someone else in the store was involved in higher thievery as power drills were beginning to disappear off the shelves. Though I thought my acts would bring me more pleasure, the "fun" was short-lived as the entire store was exposed to a "lie detector test." Instantly I failed and was suspended one week without pay. The embarrassment, a guilty conscience and the near termination from my job were all tokens of choosing sin over righteousness.

This passage provides a great example of what happens when we seek our pleasure in sin and not righteousness. In Herod's case he was haunted with fear, plagued with guilt, living with anxiety, hanging onto superstitions and troubled in his conscience. Symptoms that so many experience today. An awful way to go through life all birthed in a decision to choose sin. And I would submit to you that not all but much of the sadness, misery, and depression we see today has its roots in sinful choices. A choice like lying that promised us more esteem. A choice like cheating that promised us more success. A choice like mocking someone that promised us more power. A choice like drugs that promised us more enjoyment. A choice like abortion that promised us more freedom. A choice like pornography that promised us more fulfillment. A choice like worry that promised us more relief.

Remember this beloved, sin comes wrapped in a beautiful package but once you open it, the snakes (consequences) come out and bite you.

3. THE NEGATION OF MISPLACED JOY

We have seen some examples of misplaced joy. We have seen the result of misplaced joy. Let's briefly turn to our third point - "The Negation of Misplaced Joy." In other words from the positive, how do we get true joy?

It saddens me to see so many people unhappy with life, but still tenaciously clinging to their sin. It seems Herod was just like them. It seems he never repented. Despite the agony, he just kept it up. Despite hearing about Jesus from John, he never turned to the Lord. The work we put into our lives to keep ourselves miserable. Maybe that is why Jesus called Herod "that fox" in Luke 13:32. Sinners are great schemers. I think some people find their pleasure in misery because that is all they know. So brainwashed and damaged by the world, they know no other way.

There is a solution if you want to break the ongoing waves of misery. True happiness can be attained. As I mentioned in the beginning, God wants you happy. God has made happiness available. The answer is found in Jesus Christ.

Despite all these verses of choosing sin, the section does close in verse 12 with a ray of sunlight. There we read, "[John's] disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus." There are people who turn the Lord. There are people who care only for His approval. There are people who find their happiness in Him. It is a way not advocated by the world or the flesh or the devil, but it is a way guaranteed to bring the joy that we all seek. It is God's way. As Jesus said in verse 11, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. " (Mt. 11:28).

Sam Storms again, "The single most important principle I ever discovered is this: the goal or purpose of the Christian is precisely the pursuit of happiness - in God. The reason for this is that there is no greater way to glorify God than to find in Him the happiness that my soul so desperately craves" (Pleasures Evermore: The Life-Changing Power of Knowing God, p. 33).