Don’t Waste Your Humor, by C.J. Mahaney

I am posting early again because tomorrow I’ll be on the plane all day on my way to Chicago. Hopefully I will arrive in one piece, Lord willing,

I commended this sermon (to listen, play mp3 above) to you all in the previous post on Chapter 8 of John Owen’s “Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers,” and have actually found time to listen to it myself. Mahaney gives three points during his sermon, which is aimed at painting a Biblical perspective on humor.

1. Humor generates joy.
The importance of joy in the Christian life is key. Mahaney points us to Nehemiah 8:10, the famous verse of the joy of the Lord being our strength. He is quick to note that the joy of the Lord can and will be experienced without humor, but humor can and is a means of experiencing this joy as well.

2. Humor cultivates humility.
Only the humble are truly happy and only the humble are able to laugh at themselves. Humor can cultivate humility through practicing self-deprecating humor as well as being the object of humor pointing out true deficiencies as an expression of affection. If we can laugh at others when they are the object of affectionate humor and not when we are objects of it, there may be a problem. Thus we are agents of God’s sanctifying work by using our humor to cultivate humility in others and also being the object of such humor. I think one great example of this is our mutual love for Sammy, our mutual joking about his height, and Sammy’s own self-deprecating humor about his vertical challenges (all this said with much love).

3. Humor serves others.
All humor needs to be theologically informed and edification of others to the glory of God (Ephesians 4:29). This means we do not laugh at things that God does not find humorous and instead finds offensive, and we should examine all motives and content of our humor. Our primary purpose should be to care for people whereas humor is a means of that. We do not try to learn to be funny as a way of drawing attention to ourselves, but try to serve others as the ultimate goal. We should have gospel-centered laughter/humor (Psalm 126:1-3).

A Biblical Understanding of Sleep, by C.J. Mahaney

This message by C.J. Mahaney is the first of four in a series titled “Sanctifying the Ordinary.” The basis of the entire series is on Psalm 24:1

¹The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein,

This verse shows the sovereignty of God over all of life. God is always present and active in all of life. All mundane events are opportunities to praise God. When we see a work of art, we should not just give praise to the artist, but to our “wildly generous” God who has willingly bestowed the artist a gift and also that He has given it for us to enjoy. Glorifying God in all of life is the desire of genuine Christians and a command clearly stated in 1 Corinthians 10:31. The New Testament as a whole paints this view of Christian living. The whole of life is a service to God and we must be good stewards of our lives.