TEXT: Proverbs 17:22

SUBJECT: The Christian View of Humor

Humor is a fact of human existence. Wherever you find men, it won't be long until you hear them laughing. And this is true of university professors, primitive bushmen, and most of us in-between. Nearly everybody likes a good joke. A sense of humor, it seems, is an inborn quality--and an irrepressible one as well. The very terms "black comedy" and "gallows humor" remind us that man is able to find something funny in the worst of conditions--even in death. So intractable is this trait that some psychologists define man as "the laughing biped". Even the stern Dabney quoted these men with approval.

Thus, nearly everyone has a sense of humor--and most people like to laugh. But its popularity does not make it right--or wrong. God's Law is the final arbiter of moral questions. So, we must ask ourselves, "What role should humor have in the Christian life, if any?" Should we all be clowns? Or morticians? "What saith the Scripture?"

The Bible teaches, in the first place, that God is capable of laughing. The Second Psalm opens with the world arming itself against "the LORD and against His anointed". They are taking themselves very seriously; truly believing that they can thwart the will of heaven. But what does God think of them? Is He disturbed, fearful or anxious? No; "He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the LORD shall hold them in derision". He sees their pitiful efforts to upset His plan, and bursts into laughter! Why, they are accomplishing the very thing they are trying to stop! And God finds this folly downright hilarious. If then, God will laugh at the absurdities of life, a sense of humor cannot be inherently wrong.

It teaches, in the second place, that laughter is a blessing. "When the LORD turned the captivity of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, `The LORD has done great things for them'. The LORD has done great things for us, whereof we are glad" (Psalm 126:2-3). We find here that it is not inconsistent with the praise of God or the remembrance of His saving work. Just the opposite, in fact. Here, at least, it is the product of the pious mind; the result of thinking on the great things God has done. And this verse is not alone. The Promised Seed, after all, was named "Isaac"--in view of the fact that "God has made me to laugh". If then, laughter is a blessing of God, then it cannot be wrong in itself.

The Scripture also teaches that good men have used humor, without guilt.

But the best argument in support of humor is the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some have said "He never laughed". But that is mere conjecture. We have no example of Him laughing--but that proves nothing. "If everything He were written, the world itself could not contain the books". Jesus may not have laughed Himself--but He sure made others split their sides. His most obvious use of humor is Matthew 23:24. There He ridiculed the Pharisees as "...straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel". This was pointed humor at its sharpest. These men were puntilious in the little things of life, things like "tithing mint, anise, and cumin". But they weren't so careful about the bigger things, like "mercy, justice, and faith". They made "long prayers"--while at the same time "devouring the inheritance of widows". Here is how He pictured their hypocrisy: they pour their water through a screen so fine that even an unclean gnat won't defile them. But in doing this, they don't notice that the biggest of unclean beasts, the camel, is swimming in their drinks! This must have left the Pharisees red-faced and the common people, glad.

This should be enough, but maybe the testimony of good men would also be helpful. A friend of C.H. Spurgeon remarked that "I laughed more with him than with everyone else I ever met, combined". Or, J. Gresham Machen, while at Princeton, advised his students to "study harder and have more fun". And, most curiously, Jack Overduin credited a good sense of humor as key to his survival in the Nazi death camp.

From these arguments we must draw a conclusion: Humor, wit, and laughter are not necessarily wrong--but are often good, even holy. Thus, we needn't take the morose and humorless Christian half as seriously as he does himself.

Humor, then is a good thing.

But laughter, like anything else, must be subject to the Word of God. Not all humor (even if it's tremendously funny) is pleasing to the LORD. Thus the same Bible that praises a good laugh in one place, condemns it in another: "For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool; this also is vanity".

There are certain things to avoid in your humor, especially:

It may seem that I have preached two--diametrically opposed--sermons. In the first, I lauded humor as worthy of Christ; in the second, I condemned it as a tool of Satan. But this inconsistency is only apparent. Humor is good. And humor is bad. It all depends on what it is about and how it is used.

When it is used an "an instrument of righteousness", it is good and pleasing to the Lord. When it is used as "an instrument of unrighteousness", then it is bad and abhorrent to heaven. Thus, like anything else, it must be employed with discernment.

And so, for the gift of humor, you ought to be thankful. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning".

But you must also be careful. The ultimate test is this: "Therefore, whatever you do, whether you eat or drink (or laugh) do all to the glory of God". Amen.