Chris Howlett

Happiness Desired

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” – Aristotle

According to Aristotle, the purpose, aim, the very meaning of life is happiness. From my life experience and through eighteen years of serving as a pastor, I am thoroughly convinced that everyone, I mean everyone, wants to be happy. By happy, I don't mean simply the fleeting moments of silly and light-hearted feelings we might experience laughing at a joke or seeing a comedic movie, though these things are certainly encouraged. What I mean by happiness is a deep sense of contentment and joy. We are driven by our desire for happiness. It informs every decision we make, from the smallest and seemingly insignificant to the most important and impacting of our lives. Happiness is the ultimate desire of all humans.

We began a new message series titled Designed for Happiness this past Sunday and the response has been pretty incredible. I think we're touching a strong sense of need in the lives of people. (You can check out the messages here). This week, we looked at Jesus' purpose statement in John 10:10: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." This is a rich verse. I want to break it down a little further here than I had time to do in the message Sunday.

Life

Jesus juxtaposes himself with the "thief" whose desire is to "steal and kill and destroy." The context is a pastoral one, both before and after, Jesus is using shepherding metaphors and the word translated as "kill" reveals this context even further, as the word "slaughter" is more appropriate. The thief desires to slaughter the sheep (us), however Jesus comes to give life.

There are two basic words for life in the New Testament. One is bios. Think "biology," the study of life. The word bios has to do with the most basic meaning of life, something, a tree, a frog, an amoeba is alive. The other word for life, the one Jesus uses here, is zoe. You may have heard of this word being used for a girl's name. It's a beautiful name because it layers several more meanings on top of the simple life that is communicated by bios. Zoe is the word used in the New Testament when the writer is speaking of "eternal life." It is life that is invigorated and animated by God. It is the life one enters when one enters into a relationship with the life-giving, life-sustaining God. This is the kind of life Jesus gives, it is life with meaning, life with God, life eternal.

Abundant

Abundant life is the kind of life provided by Jesus. Life is meant to be enjoyable. So many people are merely surviving, forgetting that life can be meaningful, hopeful, and joyful. Circumstances weigh us down, unmet expectations disappoint us, and we find many of our efforts at grasping for happiness lead us to the exact opposite: emptiness, sadness, and misery. But this is not life as intended by God. God the Father, through Jesus, and empowered by the Spirit, offers abundant life.

The word translated as "abundant" really means "superabundant." It carries the connotation of having far more than enough, way more than you could possibly need. This is life overflowing. An abundant life is a life that is absolutely filled with goodness, it is life unlimited. It is, in a word, happy. It is a life many miss for all kinds of reasons, reasons I spoke about Sunday and will speak more of in upcoming Sunday messages.

Jesus came to give us an abundant life. So, how do I live an abundant life? Well, you'll have to show up on Sunday, listen online, or come back to the blog in the coming weeks. Until then, may God's peace, mercy, and love fill your life.

Back to the Books

This past week we started a new series of messages, Back to the Books. With schools up and running again, and with me being in Wilmore for the Beeson Pastor Program, I thought it might be a good idea for us as a church to "go back to the books," the Bible, that is. The word "Bible" comes from the Latin biblia sacra, meaning "holy books." We want to get back to the books so we can revisit who we are and what we are about as a church.

There are over six billion Bibles published and in print in the world. A good number of those are in English. The Bible is the most popular book in the world and the most popular book in North America. I wonder, sometimes, if it is among the least read? Then there's the problem of a lot of the people who do actually read it, read it through the distorted lens of religion and lord it over those who don't.

The Bible is the Word of God. It "is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV). We come before the Word to be examined and used by it, not vice versa. But if you're not reading it, or if you're reading it with a religious agenda, you will never benefit from it nor will you be a benefit to the Kingdom of God.

If you're reading this in Lexington, Kentucky, I invite you to a new Bible Study I will be leading beginning 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, September 16th at Christ Church, on the corner of Man 'O War and Harrodsburg Road. The study is called "Through the Bible," and in eleven weeks were going to get the eagle's eye vantage point, the big picture, of the whole story of the Scripture and how God's plan of redemption and restoration is working itself out in our world and how we can be a part of it.

The Home Stretch

Today was the last day of our class, "Biblical Interpretation for Church and Life," taught by Dr. Ruth Anne Reese. Five days of all day in class with assignments at night. It was a great class, though. Part of what she did was walk us through 1 Peter, verse by verse, interpreting a rather difficult little book, revealing her method of Biblical interpretation. That was pretty cool. I am inspired to dig deeper in my sermon preparation.

The rest of the week will be spent polishing up the first chapter of our dissertations, a meeting about assignments in the leadership class, professional development meetings, and one more session of the dissertation class. This year has been brutal. They told us it would be. There was not a single day in the last three weeks that was "free." And not only were there no free days, but the days were completely filled, from morning to night. The Houston trip was exhausting, but exciting. The next three days will be the lightest ones so far. It has been incredibly enriching, however, both intellectually and spiritually. It has also been challenging in our thinking about the church, the Bible, and leadership in the church.