We live in Texas---but I grew up not far from here, California---and it’s about as close as you can get to the ocean without getting in the water. I want to talk a few minutes about feel good faith.

Have you heard the song, “I Feel Good” by James Brown? Well we Christians tend to change the words a little. We say, “I feel good like a Christian should.” Now how many of you think that we Christians have a reason to feel good? How many people are born again in this place? How many have been washed by the blood of Jesus? How many have been forgiven of all the garbage in your past? How many got a brand new heart living on the inside of you? How many of you are happy about that day Jesus is coming back for all of us?

See, we have a lot of reasons to feel good about this thing that we call Christianity. But sometimes when we sing that song or we think that way, you need to be careful because you could have this attitude: I feel good like a Christian should, and as long as I keep feeling good, I'll keep acting like a Christian should.

We live in a feel good culture here in America and that culture says basically do what you feel. You don't do what's right. You do what you feel like doing. Don't do what you know is wise. Do what you feel. So you get in that new car. It feels so good. I know I can't afford it, but it feels so right. So we do what we feel. You go to the mall, you get some clothes. I know I really can't afford it. I don't really even need it, but it feels so good. Let's buy those babies, you know.

And you've got people taking wedding vows. But, you know, these marriages are supposed to be “until death do us part, I love you forever”. Five years later: but I don’t have feelings for her now. And you know what the culture tells us is that if you don't follow your feelings, you're not even being authentic. You're not being the real you because your feelings are the real you. Isn't this amazing?

What God designed our feelings to do is to enhance our lives, but now we've got feelings controlling our lives. And we end up with this culture ?? this feel?good culture, and I think it slips into our faith. We end up having this what I would call feel?good faith.

So in this feel?good culture, how is it ?? how do we have a faith that is strong and we don't just do what we feel? You know, people go like this, “Jesus, I love you, I'll die for you”; and then it rains and we don't go to church because we might get our hair messed up. That's deep right there.

In Daniel chapter 3, we get a picture that if faith is like a coin, there's two sides to it. This is a story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were Jewish and they really loved God but they were in a foreign country called Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar had set up a golden statue of himself to be worshiped, and the law of the land was whenever you hear this certain music, you must bow down and worship at this idol. Well, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego would not do it. And the King said that if they disobeyed him he would throw them into the furnace.

They replied, “We do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it. He will deliver us from your majesty's hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, your majesty that we will not serve your Gods or worship the image of gold that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18)

Above all, God is able and willing. He can and He will. When we pray for somebody who is sick, when we pray for a situation where there’s brokenness all around, it looks like an impossible situation; we got to have confidence in our God. He can and He will deliver us just like how He delivered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. However, feel good?faith says as long as He does deliver us every time, then I'll keep following Him. I'll keep serving Him. We add on our own little phrase after that. That's just how most Christians live, at least most Christians in the western world. And so we do what we feel. It's “I'll follow him if everything is fine, I don't have any problems, every prayer I pray is answered and I have no struggles with my family. Then I'll follow Him.”

We hear things like, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”, and then something not wonderful comes along. We're like wait a minute, that's not in my contract. I didn't sign up for that. That's not the version that I signed up for. I signed up for the I'm?barely?gonna?sneak?in?under?the?pearly?gates version of Christianity. I don't see that in the Bible. Either you're all the way in or you're not.

Because if you have feel-good faith, there are times when challenges will come. Laws get passed that we won’t like---such as the same-sex marriage law that just passed here in Hawaii. We all prayed and cried that the law would not happen but it still happened. Why?

Just last year I got a phone call that my daughter Hannah and her four friends (two were staff members) went down in a plane crash. My daughter survived but the four guys that were with her died. Although I was so happy that Hannah survived I was angered that four young men ended their short lives on earth and are in Heaven now. I attended each of the four funerals and that question comes up---why?

If you have feel?good faith, it's so easy. However, we all remember people that used to be really committed to Christ or really involved at church and then something happened to them that they couldn't explain, and they started asking the why question.

Maybe we should focus on what we do have answers to like what we know rather than what we don't know. We know that God is good. We know that God loves us. We know He died on the cross and He rose again. Jesus did it. And we know He's coming back again for us one day. The scripture talks about how we see through a glass dimly. We see some things. We don't see everything. We don't understand everything. And it really forces you to face hard questions. Will I trust God even when things come along that I don't understand? Will I trust in His character and His nature? Will I trust Him?

Which brings us back to Daniel 3 and the three Hebrews: We see the second side of this faith. They said even if He doesn’t deliver them, even if they get burned up, even if they don’t understand His whole plan and they go to Heaven, they are not going to change their behavior, attitude, or decision.

In John 6, Jesus told the crowds that to be His disciple they must eat His flesh and drink His blood or they will have no part of Him. Because of these words, people began leaving until all but the 12 disciples remained. And Jesus asked the 12 if they wanted to leave too. Peter replied, “Where would we go?” In his head he might have been thinking that while he could not understand everything, he nonetheless, put his total faith in Jesus.

We need to have endurance. It’s just like when I ran a marathon last December. Although my hips were hurting terribly half way into the race I refused to quit because of the pain. We are raised in a culture that says if you feel bad, feel pain, put a cream on that or take a pill quick. We don’t know how to endure. But Jesus says learn to endure. This is who we are---followers of Christ.

Finally, there was a successful Christian attorney named Horatio Spafford who lived during the 1800’s in Chicago, Illinois. He and his family were supposed to sail to England to be with evangelist D.L. Moody to help him in a big evangelistic crusade. But at the last minute his business associates called him back because of some trouble with their business. So he was unable to go, but would meet up with them in England later. Sadly the ship that carried his family ended up in an accident colliding with another ship. His wife somehow managed to survive but all four of his girls and his son perished at sea. He rushed and caught a ship out to England and at the very spot where his children died he wrote the words that would be sung in churches for more than 150 years: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my ways. When sorrows like sea billows roll. Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul.”

Questions:

1. Why should we be careful when we start thinking that as long as I feel good as a Christian should, I’ll keep acting like a Christian should?

2. How do we have a faith that is strong and not simply based on feelings?

3. Why do we as Christians need to have endurance?

4. What does endurance teach us?

5. How should we react when something devastating happens to us?