Will The Replacement Of What We Have Become Accustomed Make Us Happy?

Good Morning Friends,

I can tell you what makes people happy. Its dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. The best ways to produce those hormones and neurotransmitters is to exercise, eat a healthy diet with lots of different plants, pray, have purpose, do things that help other people and be in a community where you see people helping others often in healthy relationships, preferably in family, including affection like hugs and intimacy. We can also stimulate those same happy pathways by eating comfort food like carbohydrates and chocolate and thinking about things for which we are grateful, and going for a walk in the sunshine, or even liking things of importance on our mobiles. And of course, you can get similar feelings by viewing sites that perversely mimic healthy relational behavior, and by taking drugs that mimic the function of these natural feel-good chemicals, but those paths tend to be very addictive and destructive. We can get attached to these earthly things and ways, but scripture suggest that this is not a good thing for they will all rust or turn to dust. Even our places of worship will change. And that brings us to today’s question about what will happen when things change and maybe in a prophetic way go from what some might think is from bad to worse. So, I wonder, Will The Replacement Of What We Have Become Accustomed Make Us Happy?

Scripture: When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, he said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.” They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not go after them. “When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

Luke 21:5-11 (NRSV)

Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand! Another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to the one who sat on the cloud, “Use your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. “So the one who sat on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Then another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over fire, and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Use your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the vintage of the earth, and he threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God.

Revelation 14:14-19 (NRSV)

“You were looking, O king, and lo! there was a great statue. This statue was huge, its brilliance extraordinary; it was standing before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of that statue was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked on, a stone was cut out, not by human hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were all broken in pieces and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation. You, O king, the king of kings—to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the might, and the glory, into whose hand he has given human beings, wherever they live, the wild animals of the field, and the birds of the air, and whom he has established as ruler over them all—you are the head of gold. After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over the whole earth. And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron; just as iron crushes and smashes everything, it shall crush and shatter all these. As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but some of the strength of iron shall be in it, as you saw the iron mixed with the clay. As the toes of the feet were part iron and part clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. As you saw the iron mixed with clay, so will they mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall this kingdom be left to another people. It shall crush all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever; just as you saw that a stone was cut from the mountain not by hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. The great God has informed the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation trustworthy.”

Daniel 2:31-45 (NRSV)

Message: I suppose things could get better but there is a brick wall we can run into for not all is serene optimism or for that matter even the beauty of moral wrath. For every so often we are confronted with all the uncertainty that arises from slap up the side of the head. And even though we have had some successes, what looms has the look to be the evilest of days. A little over one hundred years ago people wondered if the fierce battles of World War One represented the Apocalyptic Armageddon. Then came World War Two and the industrialization of war. Now we are in another century with new failures and conquests and an unleashing of terrorism where we least expect it. We think that maybe the end is near, but Jesus tells us in a reassuring voice that the timing is up to the Father. Yes, sometimes the world seems to be falling apart and somehow God pulls it back together again. Some things last and others do not. It depends on internal integrity more so than outward appearances. We need to be optimistic but honest about the future. We need to be tending the Temple in each of us. Interestingly today’s Gospel text comes right after the story of the Widow’s mite. The picture is of the corruption of the Temple from the inside out. And forty years from its first telling most of Jerusalem would be destroyed. So, Jesus paints a picture of what his disciples would have to face, and it is not a pretty picture. So too we today are to be obedient to Jesus’ instruction. We are not to be anxious. We are not to look for quick fixes. We are not to become defensive. We are to be ready to witness with our words and actions and life to what God has done and who we believe Jesus to be. We are to lay a firm foundation of our faith in our belief that Jesus is who he says he is…the love of God to save the world.

 
And So, a reading of the Book of Daniel can sound like the world today. Many are pushing for “world peace,” trying to bring the nations together as one big happy family. Unfortunately, being a good global citizens might be like mixing clay and iron. Trying to bring the nations together is difficult for they do not really come together into one cohesive unit. At best, we can broker a precarious peace between nations, but the slightest little thing can shatter that peace like clay. Perhaps the future, is exactly as God showed Daniel more than 2,500 years ago, and it is coming together right before our very eyes. Perhaps the last stages of human civilization may well be upon us with some countries seeking world domination and others the peace of Christ. This is not my call as to God’s timing but if it is true, it really excites me more than scares me because the next part of Daniel’s prophecy is the end of human government not the end of the world. You see, we all have the opportunity of seeing the beginning of Christ’s rule on this earth. The promise is that Jesus will reign on this earth! There is coming a day, and quite possibly very soon, when we will no longer have to put up with dictators and tyrants, with corrupt human rulers, or with the bad decisions of presidents and congressmen. There is coming a day, and quite possibly very soon, when we will no longer have to endure godless, human governments. But know this, in every life, there are pivotal moments when destiny is defined. The decisions made at those crucial times usually set the course for the rest of the events that follow. It is instructive that God placed Daniel in a crisis and had already prepared him for that crisis. It is instructive that Daniel’s response to the crisis propelled him into his destiny for the days ahead. The crucial preparation for Daniel was his consecration to God. God ruled in his life. Even as a boy, he committed himself to the Lord. We too need to make spiritual preparation. Now is the time to show our commitment for now is its own opportunity to embrace the promise of God if we let Christ rule first in our hearts.

Pray we take heed of Jesus’ directives in preparation for difficult times even though we hope for the best. Pray we stand in the promise of God’s love no matter what the world has laid before us. Pray we are not led astray by false promises. Pray we are not terrified in the face of difficulties. Pray we prepare our defense in advance. Pray we believe in the sovereignty of God and not be fooled by false Messiahs. Pray we are not terrified even though the future is not always bright. Pray we have words of wisdom when facing difficult times. Pray we realize that it is not always easy being a Christian. Pray we risk improving the lot of others. Pray we realize that vengeance belongs to the Lord.

Blessings,

John Lawson