weekly sermon
10-21-07
If Your Happy And You Know IT...
This past week I caught the 60 Minutes and Larry King Live episodes that
featured Joel Osteen. For those of you that may not know Joel, he is the pastor
of the largest congregation in the United States. They were discussing with him,
his style of preaching. There is much controversy on how he preaches happy happy
all the time. There obviously are many that like that particular style, or he
would not have the largest congregation. On the same token there are many, even
religious leaders, that believe that he does not preach the consequences side.
There are many that love him, and there are those that think he needs to tell
you the price you will pay if you do not believe.
Well you know I am going to put in my two cents worth. I will first put in my
personal thoughts on the subject, then we will of course go to the Bible, and
see what it has to offer. You know I never discuss a subject unless we allow God
to be the answer to the discussion.
I for one believe that Joel Osteen is a great person that has been called to do
a great deed in a manner that God has called for him. I believe that he does a
fantastic job and many folks are led to Christ because of him. On one episode,
he stated that folks already know what it is they do wrong. This also I believe.
I believe that if we constantly harp on folks about how bad they are, then they
will be bad. There is a saying that says, behind every cloud is a silver lining.
All Joel is doing, I believe, is showing folks their silver linings. I was
discussing this with my wife and she stated, you catch more flies with honey
than you do with vinegar. All this says is be nice and they will more than
likely do what they are supposed to do. Well this I believe is all that Joel is
doing. He is just showing them the great loving side of God so that they may
come to know Him. I do believe, being that I was raised Southern Baptist, that
there should be more of a mix in there. I think that we should always tell folks
of the loving God that He is, but also they should know and understand that if
they fail to live as the Bible says they are to live, then there are
consequences they will have to pay.
If we look at a few things in the Bible, we see the word hell, lake of fire,
wailing, gnashing, furnace, all appear in the Bible a total of 88 times. If we
look in the Bible at just the word love ONLY, it appears 310 times. This
tells me that Joel has more to talk about than the ones that want to talk hell.
For the wages of sin is death, this is quoted in Romans 6:23. This tells us that
if we sin then we will die. This does NOT mean die as in leave this world
by passing away, but it means a complete separation from God type death. This
death means that because of our sin we will die and go to hell to spend
eternity. The ones that talk against the way that Joel is preaching will quote
you this verse, to show you that we have consequences that we have to pay for
the sins that we commit. BUT the gift of God is eternal life. This
eternal life it is talking about is life with God eternally, and guess what,
that is in the same verse. "But the gift of God is eternal life", is the last
half of Romans 6:23.
I completely believe that if you commit sin, you have a price you have to pay.
But I also believe that Jesus Christ paid that price for me. This does NOT
mean that I can go and sin all I want because Jesus already paid for me. But at
the same time, if you tell me that the wages of sin is death, and you leave it
at that, then I have to wonder, did Jesus' death not mean anything? I believe
that Jesus came, died to pay for my sin, and rose that I may spend eternity with
an Almighty God, that I am not worthy of spending one minute with, much less an
eternity. If you think I am saying that it is ok for you to sin because Jesus
paid for your sin, then you are VERY much mistaken. Romans 6:1-2, "What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2)God
forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" This says
that if you continue to commit sin, then you become dead to that sin. Even
though you have been saved and Jesus died for your sin, if you continue to
commit sin, then the sin will be your ruler instead of God being your ruler.
I truly believe that folks today are kind of like our children, they are led,
they are disciplined, and they are praised. For example, look at work. There are
those that lead, those that follow, you like to be told you are doing a good
job, and you do not like to be disciplined. This is very much like our very own
children. Keeping this in mind, if you constantly beat your children they will
become rebellious and do everything they can to do whatever it is that you do
NOT want them to do. Well the same would hold true here, folks do NOT
like to be told what they are doing wrong, they already know what it is they do
wrong. Let us bring some hope into their lives and let them know that there is a
fantastic God that really does love them, and is here for them. Let me just say,
if you are doing nothing wrong, then you have nothing to worry about. You should
live every moment as if Jesus was coming back at that very moment. Of course,
all have sinned an come short of the glory of God, Romans 3:23, so we know that
we sin, we know that we do wrong. Now let us tell them what they are doing
right. I would think that I would be more apt to come to know Jesus if I knew He
was a God who loves me and wants me to spend my life with Him, than for you to
sit and tell me all the bad things I have done and that I am going to die and go
to hell for doing them. This teaching of love and a better way of life or living
is NOT a bad thing. 1 John 4:8 says, "He that loveth not knoweth not God;
for God is love." If God is love, then lets teach love.
In short I believe that Joel Osteen is a fabulous pastor, who has so much
compassion for his congregation and all that attend. He shows love and kindness,
and he teaches love and kindness. It is obvious that he practices what he
preaches, as they say. Joel teaches us a better way to live and a better way to
treat each other, if that is a bad thing then I really do not know what this
world is coming to. I agree, he should let folks know that if they do commit
sins, there will be a price to pay, but I do not think we should condemn him
because he teaches a better way of life and living.
I know that there are other versions of the word hell, or references to it in
the Bible, but I also know that there are other references to the word love in
the Bible. I did NOT quote the amount of times that the reference to hell
was in the Bible versus the word love, so that a controversy would arise, I just
brought up a few to show a point. There are better things I think to discuss
than whether we quoted enough versus about a particular subject, or whether we
taught folks they will go to hell for sin, or that God loves them. I completely
believe that the wages of sin is death, but I also believe that God so loved
this world that He gave His only begotten Son, and if this is something that is
up for argument then Jesus' death was in vain. All Joel Osteen is saying is, if
your happy and you know it, well go ahead, clap your hands.
As usual I do not like to close a sermon without the offer for you to get to
know Christ as your saviour. Yes, I will tell you that your sins will send you
to hell, but God loves you so much that He let His Son die for you, that you
might be saved. If you do not know this for sure, then say this simple prayer
with me.
Dear Lord, come into my life and forgive me of my sins, and give me the gift of
everlasting life. Amen.
If you have said this simple prayer, then we believe that you have received
salvation. We would love to rejoice with you, so please drop us a note, in our
link, to let us know and confess Jesus before man, so that we may send you a few
things that we hope will help you in your new Christian walk.
With Love in Christ,
Pastor Stone