We have all heard the Reader’s Digest quip, "Laughter is the best medicine." Proverbs 17:22 (NIV) says, "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." Since laughter is such good medicine, I thought we might practice a little medicine this morning.
What has four legs and an arm? A happy pit bull!
Why can’t a bicycle stand up on its own? Because it is two-tired.
What happens if you don’t pay your exorcist? You get repossessed.
Why did the blonde stare at the carton of Orange Juice? It said 'concentrate'.
There are three kinds of people- those who can count and those who can't.
A lot of money is tainted. 'Taint yours and 'taint mine and 'taint enough of it!
I don't have an attitude problem. You have a perception problem.
A bumper sticker says, "Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue."
George Carlin says, "Have you ever noticed? Anyone going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.
The benefits of laughter.
An article in Psychology Today extols the benefits of laughter. "It reduces pain and allows us to tolerate discomfort. It reduces blood sugar levels, increasing glucose tolerance in diabetics and nondiabetics alike. Laughter improves your job performance, especially if your work depends on creativity and solving complex problems. Its role in intimate relationships is vastly underestimated and it really is the glue of good marriages." So guys, if your wife spends a lot of time laughing at you, be thankful because she loves you.
Are you ready for this one? "[Laughter] synchronizes the brains of speaker and listener so that they are emotionally attuned. Laughter establishes, or restores, a positive emotional climate and a sense of connection between two people. In fact, some researchers believe that the major function of laughter is to bring people together. And all the health benefits of laughter may simply result from the social support that laughter stimulates." "Now comes hard new evidence that laughter helps your blood vessels function better." Source: Psychology Today, "Laughter, the Best Medicine." By Hara Estroff Marano, April 5, 2005.
Is laughter really the best medicine?
Perhaps the Reader’s Digest folks have a point? But is laughter really the best medicine? This past week I noticed something in my Bible that I had never noticed before. In Proverbs 14:12-14 there are three interesting verses that appear side by side that may shed some light on our subject today.
The first verse is Proverbs 14:12 (NIV) which says, "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." This is a statement of fact. There are a lot of things that seem right to people. When we turn on our televisions, the laugh tracks program us to laugh at everything under the sun. Nothing is off limits on television. But some of the things we are laughing at lead to death. If we lived our lives according to the actors we laugh at on television, we wouldn’t be laughing very long. On television, everything seems right.
But television isn’t reality. Would we be laughing if we followed every bit of humor to its logical consequences? On television, we laugh about adultery, murder, promiscuity, and homosexuality. But in real life, these things lead to such deep pain and anguish. Television producers know that if they can get us laughing, they can alter what seems right to the conscience.
Laughter is frequently a mask for pain.
The next verse there in Proverbs is Proverbs 14:13 (NIV). I have listed it in your outline. "Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief." What an incredibly insightful observation! There is nothing wrong with laughter in and of itself. But laughter is frequently a mask for pain. As we laugh it up, our heart aches. As we laugh it up, we may not see the grief and pain that is straight ahead on our path.
In the book of Proverbs the fool laughs without ever considering his way. Thus the last verse, Proverbs 14:14 (NIV) says, "The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways, and the good man rewarded for his." Laughter may not be the best medicine. In fact, laughter is more like an anesthesia. With laughter, we lose sensation, we are numbed to the pain, and we are numbed to the spiritual realities that lay ahead on the path that we are on. Have you ever noticed that some of the greatest comedians are also some of the most deeply hurt and spiritually wounded people you’ll ever meet? It's easier to laugh than to face the pain. It is easier to medicate than to experience deep healing in our souls.
Laughter can keep us from seeing ourselves as God sees us.
By itself, laughter is hardly a cure. If anything, laughter can keep the healing process from moving forward. Laughter can keep us from seeing ourselves as God sees us. Laughter can delay genuine repentance and dull a genuine longing for deep change. Now you can understand why in Luke 6:25 (NIV) Jesus says, "Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep."
There are many who think that laughter is the hallmark of God’s blessing. And you know what I am describing. Christians who bounce around with perpetual smiles on their faces. Christians with that superficial, masking, phony happiness. It seems to me that the more you come to know God in all his holiness and perfection, the harder it might be to laugh. The more clearly we see God, the more painfully aware we become of our sin and brokenness. The more clearly we see our sin and shame, the more humbled we become that God would show sinners any measure of grace, let alone dying on a cross for our sins.
There is a difference between blessing and laughter. There is a difference between joy and laughter. God’s grace is the blessing. God’s grace produces joy. Laughter, on the other hand, may be ignorance, denial, or worse; a form of self-righteousness.
Religious assumptions about blessing.
When we come before a holy God, our posture is one of humility and awe. The God of the universe is showing us our sins and is showering us with grace. I have joy but I am not laughing. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3:15 (NIV), "...he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
In the gospels, Jesus had a way of cutting beneath the laughter and touching the soul. As Jesus was led out to be crucified, he was followed by women who wept and wailed. In Luke 23:28 (NIV) Jesus turns and says to them, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children."
In Matthew 13:42 Jesus tells a parable about the end of the age. He graphically describes the wicked as weeds who are pulled up by his angels and thrown into a fiery furnace. And how does Jesus describe the furnace? It’s a place where, "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
An unlikely candidate for blessing- those who mourn.
If we saw the realities of God’s kingdom as clearly as Christ did, we also would weep. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. Jesus wept that Lazarus' life ended in death. And so in Luke 6:21 (NIV) it isn’t those who laugh who are blessed. In that verse, Jesus says, "Blessed are you who weep now...." In Matthew 5:4 (NIV) he says, "Blessed are those who mourn…"
In James 4:7-10 (NIV) James says, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
In Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 (NIV) the writer says, "It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure." Blessed are those who weep now. Blessed are those who mourn now.
In Romans 12:3 (NIV) Paul says, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you."
Are you coming to God in humility and with a repentant heart?
Are we taking a posture of humility before the living God? Are we coming to God with a broken heart and contrite spirit? Are we coming before God on bended knee? Are we weeping and wailing over our sins? Are we mourning our transgressions and the evil in our lives? Are we disturbed by our sins? Angered by our sins? Aware of our sins? Wanting to cast away our sins? Yearning for moral reformation? Do we see how deceptive the way that,"seems right" has become?
When we read about the great revivals in ancient times, they began with weeping. In Nehemiah 1:4 (NIV) Nehemiah the great leader says, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven." Ezra 10:1-2 (NIV) says, "While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a large crowd of Israelites—men, women and children—gathered around him. They too wept bitterly. Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, 'We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.'"
Laughter skirts the negative. Laughter mocks God’s holy nature. Laughter masks. But in mourning, the laughter subsides. We gain a sober perspective of ourselves. We see the full depravity of our human condition. We discern our utter poverty, our spiritual bankruptcy, and our lack of means to change our situation. And in humility, we cry out for streams of living water. If ever there was a time we needed to weep more and laugh less, it is now. Instead of laugh tracks, we need weeping and mourning tracks in order to deprogram us!
We should be weeping over our sin.
When was the last time you wept before God over the sin in your life? When was the last time you wept before God over the sin in your family? What about the sin in your workplace? Our community? Our nation? God’s world?
In 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 Paul extols the benefits that come from weeping and mourning. Paul had just written the Corinthians a heartfelt letter of rebuke which is found in your Bibles in 1 Corinthians. And he explains to them how godly sorrow produces repentance in his second letter to the Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 (NIV) says, "Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it— I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while— yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done."
The pathway to blessing is not through laughter. The pathway of blessing is through tears of repentance. Before anything else, we need to be cut to the heart. It’s the heart where God does surgery. It’s the heart where true healing takes hold. In Matthew 5:4 (NIV) Jesus promises, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." In this verse Jesus is promising a great reversal. God never abandons us in our weeping and mourning. He hears us. He sees us. He blesses us. He forgives.
The blessing for those who mourn is that they will be comforted.
In Luke 18:9-15 (NIV) Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men— robbers, evildoers, adulterers— or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'"
God blessed Nehemiah when he prayed passionately for forgiveness of the sins of the people of Israel. In Nehemiah 1:4-11 (NIV) Nehemiah comes with great sorrow and anguish before the living God and says, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Then I said: O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations,but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
God blesses the person who comes in a posture of humility, poor in spirit, and weeping. But in heaven? Heaven is a place where there will no longer be any tears. Revelation 21:1-5 (NIV) says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, 'I am making everything new!' Then he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.'"
Communion meditation for this week.
Do you have any sin to confess this week? Or have you lived a pretty good life this week? If Jesus were here today to serve you communion, would you wave him away and say, "I don’t think I really need any of your blood or body today. I’m really a pretty good person, you know. I am a regular here. Now, there are some other people around me that I am sure need forgiveness. So you might take that tray over there to them, but I’m good here. Thanks anyway."
Do you see your sin for what it is? In the past week, how have you treated your savior? Have you winked at sin? Did you justify or rationalize your sin? Did you play the game of comparing? Do you try to make your sins so small and insignificant that they hardly seem worth confessing at all?
There is a danger of becoming numb to sin. A danger offailing to realize what it does to our savior. We can lose our craving to have his life's blood cover our sin. Communion can become a weekly snack.
Are you thirsty for his blood? Do you see life in that cup? Do you understand the staggering cost of your sin? Even those sins that seem so small and insignificant to you? Have you any idea how precious is the blood of Jesus that covers them?
Is there any place in your life for tears, for sobbing, for wailing over the cost of your sin?
If so, come to Jesus for comfort.