Henry Louis Mencken was born in 1880, lived into the 1950s, and was highly influential in journalism. He was a critic of American literature and had a pervasive sarcastic humor. I bring him up because he took a famous shot at puritanism, describing their attitude in life. Puritans were Christians in the 16th/17th century marked by spiritual fervor. Mencken famously described them, “Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Whether he was right or wrong, that’s funny. And the truth is sometimes Christians give the impression that to be Christian means to be unhappy, to be morbid. The truth is, some churches gather on Sundays for what feels like a boring funeral. Did someone die and not rise or something?
Maybe our theology somehow feeds this, telling us that happiness is a low priority for God or perhaps plain wrong. If we think, “I really enjoyed reading my Bible today”, we conclude that something must be wrong. But good news, John 3:29-30 is going to prove Martyn Lloyd-Jones right: “Nothing is more important than that we should be delivered from a condition which gives other people…the impression that to be a Christian means to be unhappy, to be sad, to be morbid, and that the Christian is one who ‘scorns delights and lives laborious days’.”
In John 3:29-30 John the Baptist says, “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.” What is John the Baptist so happy about here, really? To answer that, we have to answer a few other questions that arise from the text. Let’s start with, who is the bridegroom?
In John 1:1 we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” John here goes back to the very beginning of creation and says the Word is distinct from God in one sense (being “with” God) and yet the Word is not distinct from God in another sense (being God). Through the Word everything was created, so the Word is not created but Creator. Who is the bridegroom, really? He is Jesus, the eternal Son of God in the flesh. Leading up to John 3:29-30 we are told Jesus is the only Son from the Father, the Son of God, the Lord, the King of Israel, the Son of Man, he is at the Father's side, he has made the Father known. the world was made through him; in Jesus was life, he’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, He baptizes with the Holy Spirit, He is the Messiah, the Christ. Jesus is the long-awaited Savior, God in the flesh.
To what kind of world did Jesus come? “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Things. have. gone. dark. Darkness for the book of John is a world of people who do not know Jesus, do not receive Jesus, are not worthy of God, need new birth, need new life. It’s a world dead in sin. A world with a corrupt aversion to trusting, loving, wanting, and worshipping God. The problem with us is not merely that we don’t know who Jesus is but that we don’t want Him.
So, why does Jesus come to this dark world? We are getting close to answering what John the Baptist is so happy about here. In John 1:16 we read, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” Not judgment for our corruption, condemnation for our aversion to Him, doom for our sin, or rejection for our rejection of Him. That is what we deserve to read and expect to read when we know sin. But what we read instead is mesmerizing: “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Grace upon grace happened and was accomplished because Jesus didn’t come to give the Law. Jesus is not a new and improved Law-Giver.
The reason Christianity, a church, your walk with Christ can feel like a funeral is here explained, because Jesus to you, to a church, to us, is just a new, better, final law-giver. I didn’t say it feels like a funeral because you value God’s Law and want to obey it. I said because you think Jesus is just a law-giver. We think things like: “Moses gave the 10 commandments and Jesus came to give us an example to follow.” “Moses gave the 10 commandments and Jesus came to show us how it all applies to our hearts.” “Moses gave the 10 commandments and was harsh but Jesus came to give a more tender law.” “Moses was all about rules but Jesus came to make it all about a relationship of love.”
Michael Horton summarizes the problem with this kind of thinking when he writes that for many the Good News is that “Jesus was a ‘kinder, gentler Moses,’ who softened the Law into easier exhortations, such as loving God and neighbor from the heart.” We feel no joy or little joy because we go to Jesus as a new law-giver and life under the law feels like a funeral. If Jesus came to just set an example we have a problem because I fail to follow his example. If Jesus came to just show how the 10 commandments apply to our hearts we have a problem because my heart is corrupt. If Jesus came not to be about rules but a daily relationship we have a problem because I am not good at sustaining a great relationship with Jesus. Again and again I do not measure up.
This is exactly how Satan would love for Christians to think. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said it perfectly: “It is because we belong to [Jesus] that that the devil will do his utmost to disturb and upset us….while he cannot rob us of our salvation he can make us miserable. He can, if we are foolish enough to listen to him, seriously limit our enjoyment of our salvation.” Want to be miserable? Just relate to Jesus as though he came to just give you more law.
Yes, Jesus preached the Law and upheld the Law but remember, the Law always exposes our sin. It doesn’t take it away. Jesus came do something better than expose our sin. John the Baptist answers why Jesus came - “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The bridegroom, Jesus, came to be your Lamb who dies for law-breakers. The Gospel is the news that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, in the flesh, who is the Lamb of God who takes away your sin that you might have eternal life through faith in Him.
What is John the Baptist so happy about? Look at John 3:29, “The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.” John sees and hears Jesus and has joy. If there is one thing the Gospels make emphatic about receiving Jesus is that you must brace for the impact of joy. Life in Christ is life under unending grace upon grace & it brings you the heights of happiness. Your joy is a core aim of God.
Let’s get more specific. What are we so happy about according to John 1-3? We are happy that we are made new, have eternal life, are adopted by God, receive grace, have our sins taken away, have salvation, that we receive the Holy Spirit, and that we receive life not condemnation. That’s what get in Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. That is why “Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible…” (1 Pt. 1:8-9).
In Christ, you have been invited not to a funeral but to a party. Know that it’s only getting better from here.
