THE TRUTH ABOUT HAPPINESS-Matthew 5: 3-12
I. CAN YOU HONESTLY SAY YOU ARE HAPPY?
1. People make the best of the situation; they give the appearance of being happy.
2. But, when it comes to sincerely being happy they are not.
3. The reason they are not happy is because people do not understand what real happiness is or how to obtain it.
4. Jesus tells us the truth about happiness.
II. SOME MYTHS ABOUT HAPPINESS THAT PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT ONLY LEAD TO MORE UNHAPPINESS.
A. HAPPINESS IS DESERVED.
1. Our constitution says that every individual has the “inalienable right to pursue happiness.”
2. Combine that with what Hollywood and TV commercials tell us what we come up with is not “the right to pursue happiness” but “you deserve to be happy.”
3. The problem with that kind of thinking is when you deserve something you can justify almost anything or any action to get it.
a. “I deserve to be happy that is why I am leaving my wife and kids.”
b. “I deserve to be happy that is why I am having an affair.”
4. Many people believe they deserve to be happy and because they do it is “okay” to do whatever it takes to make them happy, even if what they do is harmful or wrong.
a. Many families fall apart because someone in the marriage says, “I deserve to be happy so I am leaving.”
b. Many lives fall into ruin.
5. The truth is, when people do this they wind up more miserable than ever before because sin always has its consequences; it always costs you something.
6. Therefore, those who do wrong trying to find happiness will lose their integrity, their honor, their wife, their family, their health, their innocence; it will almost always make them look back and say, “Look what I had and what I threw away.”
7. The myth of “I deserve to be happy” only leads to more misery for everyone who believes it.
8. The Bible never tells you that you “deserve to be happy”; that is simply a lie from Satan to cause people more misery.
B. TRUE HAPPINESS IS DEPENDENT (USUALLY IT IS DEPENDENT ON THREE THINGS).
1. “It is dependent on what I have.” (“If I have a new house or a new car; if I have one of these or one of those”).
2. “Happiness depends on the cooperation of other people.” (“If my wife will just quit nagging”; “If my husband would just be more understanding”; “If my kids would just…if the people at church would do right…etc.)
3. “Happiness is dependent on the right circumstances.” (“If my health would improve”; “If my retirement fund would do well”; “If the Cowboys win.”)
4. Because we make happiness dependent on all these things we are seldom happy because the things you have are always breaking, other people seldom cooperate, and circumstances are almost never just right.
5. This idea that “Happiness is dependent” is another idea that the Bible does not support; see Ecclesiastes 2.
6. Those who seek to find happiness this way are greatly disappointed and made more miserable.
C. HAPPINESS IS FLEETING SO YOU BETTER GRAB WHAT LITTLE HAPPINESS YOU CAN WHEN YOU CAN.
1. The problem with this kind of thinking is, in most instances, people don’t really find true happiness; all they have found is a few moments of pleasure.
2. And what they did to find that few moments of pleasure often causes them to be more miserable the next day!
III. WHAT JESUS SAYS ABOUT TRUE HAPPINESS AND HOW TO FIND IT.
A. In Matthew 5: 3-12 notice the word “Blessed.”
1. “Blessed” in the Greek is the word “makarios” and it can be translated “happy.”
2. Christ isn’t talking about a shallow, fleeting, superficial happiness that you get out of a few moments pleasure.
3. He is talking about a state of being; a deep, inward joy that you possess and that persists regardless of circumstances and happenings.
B. Some of the circumstances Jesus mentions.
1. Vs. 10 "Blessed are those who have been persecuted
2. Vs. 11 "Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely,
3. Christ is talking about a happiness that is yours even in the face of this kind of treatment.
4. The “Beatitudes” are characteristics of “Kingdom People”; people who are pursuing the kingdom, the King, His agenda and not their own; a result of their pursuit they receive a happiness that persists no matter what it taking place.
C. The promises that gives them this happiness:
Vs. 3: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Vs. 4: “they shall be comforted.”
Vs. 5: “they shall inherit the earth.”
Vs. 6: “they shall be satisfied.”
Vs. 7: “they shall receive mercy.”
Vs. 8: “they shall see God.”
Vs. 9: “they shall be called sons of God.”
Vs. 10: “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Vs. 12: “for your reward is in heaven.”
1. All these promises go beyond the temporary, the moment’s pleasure, the troubles, what people do, and the material things that rust and are destroyed.
2. These are lasting, eternal promises that are sure.
3. The man who stands on these promises has reason to be happy regardless of what happens.
4. There are no paradises in this life; sin took care of that way back in Garden of Eden.
5. The only way to find lasting happiness is by pursuing the Lord’s agenda and kingdom because when you do you are subject to His promises resulting in true happiness.
D. John 15: 10-12: "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love. 11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full. 12 "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
1. Christ says, “If you want your joy to be made full keep His commandments.”
2. Notice one of those commandments in verse 12:
"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
3. The reason why some Christians seem so miserable is because they are still refusing to love some one in spite of the offense that has been committed; they are refusing to do what Christ says will make their joy full.
4. Some need to love their brother in spite of what might have happened and be happy.
CONCLUSION: Can you honestly say you are happy? It may be that you have listened to Satan’s lies and you are pursuing happiness in all the wrong ways, wrong places, and in the wrong things. There is only one way to find true, lasting, consistent happiness and that is by pursuing the King. Notice what Matthew 25: 21 says:
"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful slave; you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter into the joy of your master.'
Being a faithful servant of the Lord is the only way to find true, eternal happiness.