1931. Brave New World was written by Aldous (All dus) Huxley in 1931.
It has consistently made the best books of the 20th century lists
Interesting side note, Huxley died on the same day as CS Lewis, whose books were way better in my opinion.
I do think his dystopian novel has proven to be prophetic in some ways.
He wrote it to counter the utopian novels that were popular at the time
Dystopia is a combination of the prefix for “bad” and the Greek word for “place.”
So, a bad place…the future in most current movies is not a good place…not utopian.
But in Huxley’s day, after the “the war to end all wars” and before WWII…the future was thought to be bright.
Science and human goodness would usher in a perfect world.
But in Brave New World, the human demand for happiness and a world without pain ushers in a world of dysfunction…a dystopia.
A character in the book, named John, also called the “Savage” rejects the social conditioning and drug induced “happiness” and says,
“I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”
Huxley was a bright but confused man…he blended science, philosophy, Buddhism and psychedelic drug use to form his world view.
But in his character’s “claim to the right to be unhappy” he was touching on the Christian worldview…just touching, not grasping.
A prevailing characteristic of our society is the demand to be happy and a rejection, as abnormal and unacceptable, of anything or anyone that makes me feel unhappy.
The result is that people are less and less happy (as measured by numerous polls, the news, increasing drug use (legal and illegal), and just by generally paying attention)
How is the right to be unhappy touching on the Christian worldview?
It’s not so much a right as a reality in a fallen world.
I know the pursuit of happiness is part of the American experience…but historically, temporal happiness at all costs was not the goal.
Otherwise, so many early Americans would not have endured such hardships in order to forge a better future for their families.
There is a sanctified happiness, that is synonymous in Scripture with “blessed”
Some, people are happy when they serve and sacrifice for those they love.
That kind of happiness is found in the pursuit of faithfulness…it is a sort of by-product.
I’m talking about the persistent aversion to and avoidance of unhappiness at all costs…especially the cost of faithfulness to Christ.
I want to feel good, to feel happy…or something must be done…this is unacceptable.
*I am not saying you should not use medication, or go to therapy, or do things that increase your sense of well-being as far as you can…or should.
*But in this life, pain, some “unhappiness” is normal.
And the approach to life that puts feeling happy over being faithful is not going to turn out well.
Happiness as a result of a faithful life is good…happiness as a controlling life goal is bound to fail.
Some of what Scripture says about this:
2 Cor. 5:2 “Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed”
-Paul is longing for the resurrection…while confessing that in this life…we will groan…there will be pain.
-He knew this as well as anyone.
John 16:33 “In me you will have peace, in this life you will have trouble.”
Phil. 1:29 “It has been granted to you not only to believe in Christ, but to suffer for him as well.”
*in this same letter he wrote: “rejoice evermore!”
1 Peter 4:12 “Don’t be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering as if something strange were happening to you.”
The demand that God, others make us happy and the idea that I must reject unhappiness as abnormal and unacceptable…to be done away with at all costs…makes people into fools.
This is not to say that we shouldn’t try to be happy…of course we should.
It is about the quest for happiness at all costs…including the cost of faithfulness to Christ.
The biblical worldview says that there is joy, peace, a thriving life available in Christ…love for him, expressed in love for others.
We will have times of happiness(maybe) but the promise of life in Christ is more not less than temporary happiness.
As we are being changed by him, we are experiencing a reversal of the brokenness in the world…but it will be a partial reversal in this life…the full reversal is in the life to come.
So, meanwhile we groan.
In Huxley’s book…Savage, eventually took his own life…because he only touched a partial truth.
He claimed his “right to be unhappy” and refused to medicate himself into ignorant bliss.
But he failed to understand what is the birthright of the Christian, “To be changed over time and into eternity into the image of Christ.”
Huxley dabbled in Buddhism, where the approach to dealing with suffering is to eliminate desire.
The Christian world view deals with suffering by changing what we desire…the desire becomes for the glory of God and the good of others.
Even in unhappiness…there is meaning, hope…even joy.
When our society says…
“You must do you…whatever that means for you…no one can tell you otherwise…God included…your happiness is all that matters.”
We must say, “Okay, then I’m claiming the right to be unhappy.”
Of course…I say this tongue in cheek.
I’m not claiming the right to be unhappy…I’m declaring that I will seek to be faithful to Christ…whatever that makes me.
And that will preclude me from taking a path just because it might make me feel happy.
Those who demand to be happy…never are for long.
Those who decide to be holy (set apart for Christ) … experience God’s life in increasing scale.
It does not keep them from trials, troubles, unhappiness…but it does lead them towards joy, meaning, depth, transformation.
These two patterns or paths…
-Show up in every biography I’ve read…because they describe the world as it actually is.
The path of the pursuit of happiness at all costs…and the resulting emptiness.
Or the path of pursuit of faithfulness to Christ…and the resulting transformation over time and beyond to full joy.
They will show up in your life and in mine…no exceptions.
Keep all this in mind as we read James 4.
Because those who are in the desperate pursuit of happiness apart from faithfulness, are going to be very unhappy with what James says.
They will be offended, and hurt, and maybe rage against his words.
Those who are on the path to faithfulness will see the kindness in James’ words.
James 4:4-10 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 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
James…That’s not very nice!
You’re telling me just because I’m doing what I want…that makes me an enemy of God?
Well, I don’t want that kind of God, a God who doesn’t want me to be happy.
You really want me to grieve, mourn…wail…to give up laughter for gloom?
Oh, come one…and humble myself?
I don’t think so…I am finally free to be myself…free from all restraints.
“I am happy…I refuse to be otherwise!”
“So” James says, “You don’t seem happy.”
“You look like you are being dragged away by your sin…sin that will grow up into death.
You look like you are angry, and you won’t listen to others, and you are enslaved by your passions.
You look selfish…and unable to see the needs of others around you…no one has ever found happiness in that.
You look like you judge people and try to fit into the current cool crowd…how is that working out?
You are to be unable to tame your own tongue…how strong are you really?
You don’t look happy; you look like you are driven by envy and selfishness…and it shows up in all the broken relationships around you.”
*If you have been here as we have worked our way through James…you recognize all this.
What James is saying in this passage os stinging rebuke is…
“Here’s a different path for you to take…”
Are these mean words or are they are kind words?
Well, they are kind words…and they are a hard kind truth.
Romans 2:4 “God’s kindness leads us repentance.”
But how we perceive James’ words depends on which path we are walking on.
Proverbs describes wisdom and folly as different paths that people can walk.
The path of wisdom doesn’t look as fun, or as happy, as the path of folly in Proverbs.
Unless we grow in wisdom…then the path of folly, suddenly doesn’t look good anymore…and warning off that path is seen as a good thing.
The path of folly is the path of self-will and eventually those who walk it…find out, its not good…not even fun.
So, let’s look again at James’ words, some of the strongest words in the New Testament in terms of repentance and rebuke…but let’s see them as the kindness that they are.
They are a severe mercy.
These words, buried in the middle of James’ letter are really the heart of his letter.
Over and over James has written, “My dear brothers” (and sisters)
Now, we get “You adulterous people”
Kind of shocking. I thought I was your dear brother…you called me that like 9 times.
Now, all of a sudden…it’s “you adulterous people”
We are his dear brothers and sisters…but now he is our prophet.
And our friend, turned prophet is telling us that our friendship with the world is hatred toward God.
The world here: Is not people, or the planet…but the world as the organized system of human drive and desires set in opposition to God.
You can’t be God’s friend and the world’s friend at the same time…this is simple fact.
You can’t go in opposite directions at the same time.
He has been setting this up for the entire letter.
Look, you can’t have double-minds…”I belong to God and I am my own boss.”
You can’t say you have faith if it doesn’t show up in your life.
Now…he goes for complete clarity over diplomacy.
You gotta choose…you just can’t have it both ways.
Even our armed forces understand you cannot have two commanders
God is jealous for us…his spirit envies intensely in us.
This is using human terms and emotions to describe how God acts towards us.
God is rightly jealous for our full affection…he rightly demands that we are fully committed to him.
Because he is God.
But, in the midst of what feels like an epic beatdown…look at verse 6.
“But he gives us more grace.”
Look, this is not a beatdown, this is a warning…like a sign on the road that says “bridge out”
“Stop, don’t go that path…it will be terrible for you.”
God is offering you grace, power to walk the good path.
But you must, you must, humble yourself and submit to God…you are not going to outsmart him.
You cannot do things your own way and expect God to support you in your own destruction.
There is grace, but it is only for the humble…think about…Who else could it be for?
Grace is God’s unmerited favor…it is also God’s operational power.
Why would he empower us to walk away from him?
The child who is determined to do things that are unsafe is angry and dismayed when the parent refuses to go along with it.
But if the parent complies with the foolish child, then the parent is also a fool.
God is no fool.
So, of course, God opposes the proud, of course he gives grace to the humble.
Now are back to our list of commands that help us understand what this “grace gaining humility” looks like in practice.
- Submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee.
-Submit means to place ourselves under God’s lordship and commit to obey him.
-At the same time, we reject the devil’s authority in our lives…when we do, he loses his ability to command and control us.
- Come near to God and he will come near to you.
This means continually turning back to God…will lead to continual fellowship with God
The Father of the prodigal son was waiting for the son to return, but he did not go join the son in the pig pen.
The son had to turn and return and then his father, happily received him back
- Wash your hands and purify your hearts, you double-minded
Here James addresses the person who tries to live the perpetually deciding life…the double-minded.
Think nof a marriage ceremony: Put the ring your pocket….”I probably do, sort of depends doesn’t it”
Double-minded is literally “double-souled”…a split-heart
-This is the repeat of the accusation that they want to be friends with both the world and with God.
-This is, of course, impossible.
So, they must “wash their hands”: turn from their sinful external behavior (much of which he has described in the letter to this point)
And
“Purify their hearts”: Deal with the source of that behavior, a heart that wants what it wants, rather than being yielded to Christ.
- Grieve, mourn, and wail.
What good parent can’t say “I want my kids to be happy.”
I struggled when my kids were unhappy…it hurt my heart…a lot.
And where I could…I tried to fix the cause of their unhappiness.
But sometimes I could not fix it…it was necessary for them to become whole and healthy adults…or it was just beyond me to fix.
*I struggle with this still…I want to take unhappiness from my kids and grandkids…but I cannot.
Some of this is a necessary part of how God is developing them.
I do want to be a source of happiness for them…that choice is mine to make…but I cannot remove all the sources of unhappiness.
Grieve, mourn, wail: OT language for sorrow over sin.
We must not avoid this unhappiness…it is the path to joy.
2 Cor. 7:10: Godly sorrow leads to repentance that brings salvation and leaves no regret.
God in his love, wants us to grieve and mourn…when we need to.
If I have walked away from God…then grief and mourning…even tears are good and helpful and appropriate.
*Guilt, grief, mourning, even shame…are not our enemies…sin is.
When we sin, we have reason to feel shame and guilt.
The problem is that we stay in shame and guilt when we don’t need to.
The solution for shame and guilt is not to deny them…the solution is to be free of them.
Repentance is turning away from shameful things that make us guilty…back to forgiveness and freedom from both guilt and shame.
On occasion, I’ve had people attend our church and email me saying that I had made them feel bad.
I’m not perfect in my words or demeanor, and there are times I’m sure I played some role in how they felt.
But other times, it was simply a matter of them being unhappy with me saying that sin is sinful…and bad.
There are things that we must not do, say, think, or become…because they are wrong.
It would not be kindness to tell a person who is suffering because of their own choices…that their choices are good because you just don’t want them to feel bad.
We are certain that God has revealed truth to us…about the good path.
We don’t know everything…Advent: history and mystery.
But what God has made clear…we are certain about.
To act as if we are not certain is neither honoring to God or loving to others.
I read this week where an author wrote that “Certainty in the church is a sign of spiritual abuse.”
My first thought was, “Are you certain?”
My second thought was, “Everyone is certain about what they are certain about.”
The one who is hurt by Scripture’s rebuke of their sin and the certainty by which we believe Scripture is true…
Is, at the same driven by their own sense of certainty about their life.
Everyone is certain about what they are certain about.
Even if they are certain that you cannot be certain…. this is just unavoidable.
We believe that God has revealed himself to us and we can know how to live a faithful life.
This means that when we choose to not live that life…we are in sin…and we need to turn around.
Some of the very best times and worst times of my life have been the times that I have grieved, mourned, and wailed over my sin.
Difficult times…but powerful and important and transformational times.
They were terrible…and so wonderful in my life.
They have been times of God’s mercy to me.
- Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.
This is not a call for Christians to give up laughing.
If anything, we should out-laugh the world around us…but not in mocking, cynical, and other unhealthy ways…but in full-hearted, life-giving fun.
An expert in resiliency wrote that one of the most important resiliency factors is a sense of humor.
The idea here is not a light-hearted person, or a resilient person who has maintained an ability to laugh in spite of difficulty.
This is the person who laughs or makes light of folly…who finds joy in empty and vain things.
Who laughs in the face of God…that is not going to go well for them.
In college I had a friend who was bragging to a group of us about having gotten a girl pregnant over the summer…he was laughing about it.
I said, “You shouldn’t be laughing, you should feel ashamed.”
He later came to Christ and felt ashamed of his former approach to women and to life.
But his shame, his laughter turned to mourning…this was a good thing.
He eventually left shame for forgiveness and for joy.
He didn’t lose his sense of humor…he was a fun and a funny guy…but he was a changed guy.
- Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
He finishes off this section with a command that corresponds to the truth he wrote earlier.
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.
So don’t be a fool…humble yourself before the Lord.
There is no better picture of this verse than the one Jesus painted with his story in Luke.
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.” Luke 18:9-14
“God have mercy on me, a sinner.”
The humble went home forgiven…lifted up by God.
Humble yourself…turn from self…self-importance, self-will, selfishness, self-actualization, self-justification, self-promotion.
Being lifted up by God is equal to being forgiven of our sins, freed from the cause of guilt and shame.
GRIEF OVER SIN MEANS WE UNDERSTAND THAT SIN IS A TERRIBLE THING…PERHAPS AS WE MOURN OUR SIN, TEMPTATION WILL BEGIN TO LOSE SOME OF ITS POWER.
This is really good for us.
GOD’S PURPOSE IN REBUKE IS TO TURN US BACK TO HIM…HIS PURPOSE IS LOVE.
GOSPEL
HUMBLE YOURSELVES BEFORE THE LORD…HE WILL LIFT YOU UP…HE WILL FORGIVE YOU.
GOD’S KINDNESS LEADS US TO REPENTANCE.