THE PATH TO HAPPINESS
MIKE CUNNINGHAM
JULY 27, 2008
Last Sunday the Lord blessed our congregation through
Justin and Mike of “The Navigators”
sharing their testimonies during our Worship Service. I wish we could have had
heard those of the rest of that great bunch of young women and men who seemed
to delight in fellowshipping with us the past couple of months. In listening to
Mike and Justin my memory was jogged about how my own unhappiness was one of
the principal instruments God used to draw me to the Risen Savior. I know I’ll
be eternally grateful He allowed me to go through those dark years of being
unhappy which were sometimes interspersed with fleeting moments of happiness.
An ancient ruler named Abd
Er-Rahman III of Spain (960 A.D.) once described his experience with happiness this way: “At the present time I have reigned in victory and in peace for about 50
years. I’m loved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies and respected by my
allies. I’ve experienced riches and honors, power and pleasure. It doesn’t
appear I have lacked any earthly blessing. I have diligently counted the days
of pure and genuine happiness that I have experienced. They amount to fourteen.”
Although the Constitution guarantees
every resident of our nation the right to pursue happiness; how many
truly happy people do you know? Does any of the following sound
familiar? “If only I had enough money to pay my bills I would be happy. If you
were married to the nut case I’m hitched to you wouldn’t be happy either. How
can anyone expect me to be happy when I’m dumped on all the time because I want
to follow Jesus instead of going along with the crowd? It’s impossible to be
happy when you have serious self-esteem issues. My kid is still whacked out on
drugs and I’m supposed to be rejoicing in the Lord all the time? I don’t care
what the Bible says. Be real! It can’t mean what it seems to be saying. I can’t
possibly be expected to rejoice with all the stuff I have on my plate”. But the
Bible really does mean what it says and God really does want His children to be
happy in the midst of their sometimes very painful circumstances.
4 Rejoice in the Lord always [delight,
gladden yourselves in Him]; again I say, Rejoice!
5 Let all
men know and perceive and recognize your unselfishness (your
considerateness, your forbearing spirit). The Lord is near [He is coming soon].
6 Do not
fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and
in everything, by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving,
continue to make your wants known to God. 7 And God’s peace [shall be yours, that
tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so
fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever
sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and
mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 8 For the rest,
brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is
honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and
gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything
worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these
things [fix your minds on them]. Philippians
4:4-8 (AMP)
Someone might wonder how it’s
possible to rejoice in all kinds of circumstances. Surely there’s a difference
between the meaning of the words joy and happiness. They can’t possibly mean
the same thing.” Well, they don’t! My American Heritage dictionary defines the
word joy as being “(1)-intense or elated happiness, and (2)-a source
of great pleasure.” This was the experience of Paul and those first
century Christians as they practiced what they preached.
4 but as servants of God we
commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships,
calamities, 5 beatings,
imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 (ESV)
8
We are
treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as
dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many
rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. 2 Corinthians 6:8-10 (ESV) 4 In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. 2 Corinthians 7:4 (ESV)
The Constitution guarantees every resident of
our nation the right to pursue happiness but, as we saw in my Father’s Day
message, only followers of the Risen Savior will be able to find, and, in
Christ, enjoy true happiness. Apart from being in Him, non-Christians doom
themselves to a lifetime of spinning their wheels and getting nowhere in their
never ending quest for happiness. It’s as though they are on a perpetual
treadmill; huffing and puffing and exhausting themselves, only to wind up with
nothing to show for their effort. How many of us know this from personal
experience. We saw a moment ago that in spite of experiencing horrendous
hardships, the Apostle Paul was able to rejoice in the midst of them. Paul
emphasizes that fact continually. For instance:
Philippians
1:15-18 (NIV) 15 It is true that some preach
Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. 16 The latter do so
in love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former preach
Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up
trouble for me while I am in chains. 18 But what does it matter? The important thing is that in
every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because
of this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,
You may recall that when Paul factored in the
Philippians loving prayerful concern for him together with his realization that
Jesus Christ Himself was working within him, and was Governing everything that
was going on in his life, Paul was a very happy man. I rejoice, says
Paul, Yes, and I will continue to rejoice (vs. 18).
In my Father’s Day message I also mentioned
that just as billions of the earth’s human inhabitants refuse to accept
Christ’s love for poor lost sinners as exemplified on His cross, so also do
all too many Christians not accept the gift of happiness. That’s particularly
heartbreaking because our Father wants all His adopted children to accept His
gift, and also because chronically unhappy Christians are poor recommendations
for anyone to even consider invertigatine the Christian faith. And please don’t
get hung up on my using the words joy and happiness as if the meant the same
thing, because as I mentioned a moment ago, the word joy means intense or
elated happiness. And it’s this kind of happiness Paul said he experienced, and
it’s the kind of happiness God wants every Christian to have regardless of
their divinely ordained trials. In other words, God is commanding His children
to be intensely happy even in the midst of their sorrow and grief, and He has
made it possible for each of them to do so. All they have to do is accept “the
gift of happiness” just as they have already accepted “the gift of salvation.”
Commenting on Paul’s letter to the Philippians
Lloyd-Jones writes: “You can compare this letter to a symphony. The theme is
the question of Joy; Paul plays his variations on it., and then he goes back to
it. He has already told us at the beginning of the third chapter that this is
his theme: ‘Finally my
brothers, rejoice in the Lord…’ But he has not finished yet: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always;
again I will say, rejoice,’ he says in 4:4. So he goes on repeating
it. But why? Isn’t it clear that it was the thing that Paul desired for those
people above everything else? It was their heritage as Christian people, and to
Paul it was a tragedy that any Christian should be unhappy. Unhappiness was a
denial of their profession of faith. They were missing something, they were
being robbed of what was the most glorious thing about the faith, and so the
Apostle could not leave it alone. He did not know whether he was to live much
longer-he said that it was very doubtful, and he did not know whether he
preferred to go or to stay. But, he said in effect, ‘Whichever I do, the thing
that I am concerned about is that you should be right, and that no one should
rob you of this joy in the Holy Spirit that is possible for you and all who are
true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ,’(A).
As we also saw in my Father’s Day message that
God doesn’t want us to try to make ourselves happy by doing things such as
booze or drugs or attend great worship services in great churches known for
their great music provided by an awesome rockin’ band which compliments their
great kid’s and great youth programs and everyone gets to pig-out on great
food. On the contrary, just as there is nothing, absolutely nothing which
can prevent a Christian from accepting the gift of salvation; there is nothing,
absolutely nothing which can prevent a follower of Jesus from accepting the
gift of happiness; if he or she sincerely desires to have it.
Well
then, how are Christians to go about accepting this precious gift? What do they
have to do?
Philippians
4:8 (AMP) 8 brethren, whatever is true,
whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable,
whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue
and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and
weigh and take account of these
things [fix your minds on them].
The bottom line is that no one
will ever be able to rejoice in the Lord unless he or she frequently takes the
time to think about Him and everything He had to endure on their behalf.
I firmly believe one major hindrance is that all too many Christians have never
really seen the magnitude of their own sinfulness because they compare their
sins with those of others and conclude they’re good people in comparison. But
they are greatly mistaken! For instance, consider the following “sampling.”
Genesis 6:5
(AMP) 5 The Lord saw that the
wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every
imagination and intention of
all human thinking was only evil continually.
Genesis
8:21 (AMP) 21 When the Lord smelled the
pleasing odor [a scent of satisfaction to His heart], the Lord said to Himself,
I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the imagination
(the strong desire) of man’s heart is evil and wicked from his youth;
Psalms 51:5
(AMP) 5 Behold, I was brought forth in [a state
of] iniquity; my mother was sinful who conceived me [and I too am sinful].
Jeremiah
17:9 (AMP) 9 The heart is deceitful above all
things, and it is exceedingly perverse and
corrupt and severely, mortally sick! Who can know it [perceive, understand, be acquainted with
his own heart and mind]?
Mark
7:21-23 (AMP) 21 For from within,
[that is] out of the hearts of men, come base and wicked
thoughts, sexual immorality, stealing, murder, adultery, 22 Coveting (a
greedy desire to have more wealth), dangerous and destructive
wickedness, deceit; unrestrained (indecent) conduct; an evil eye (envy),
slander (evil speaking, malicious misrepresentation, abusiveness), pride (the
sin of an uplifted heart against God and man), foolishness (folly, lack of
sense, recklessness, thoughtlessness). 23 All these evil [purposes and
desires] come from within and they make the man unclean and render him unhallowed.
Jesus and
John remind us that all human beings enter this world as members of the devil’s
family. Speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus said: John 8:44 (AMP) 44 You are of your father, the devil,
and
it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are
characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does
not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a
falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the
father of lies and of all that is false.
1 John 3:10
(AMP) 10 By this it is made clear who
take their nature from God and are His children and who take
their nature from the devil and
are his children: no one who does not practice righteousness
[who does not conform to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action] is of God;
neither is anyone who does not love his brother (his fellow believer in
Christ).
1 John 5:19
(AMP) 19 We know [positively] that we
are of God, and the whole world [around us] is
under the power of the evil one.
Psalms
143:2 (AMP) 2 in Your sight
no man living is [in himself] righteous or
justified.
We will be able to cultivate a deeper appreciation for Christ and all
He endured on our behalf if we truly accept the fact that we are filthy sinners
saved by God’s grace alone, (Eph. 2:8). Another fact to ponder is
that “The Bible teaches that God has absolutely predestined all things and
rules sovereignly over all. He has infallibly chosen all those who will be
saved, extending His irresistible grace towards them; and He has determined who
will be damned, withholding His grace from them,” (B).
Matthew
11:25-27 (AMP) 25 At that time Jesus began to
say, I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth [and I acknowledge openly and
joyfully to Your honor], that You have hidden these things
from the wise and clever and
learned, and revealed them to babies [to the childish, untaught, and
unskilled]. 26 Yes, Father, [I praise You that] such was Your gracious
will and good pleasure. 27 All things have been entrusted and delivered to Me
by My Father; and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Son
except the Father, and no one fully knows and accurately understands the
Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son deliberately wills to make Him
known.
Matthew
22:14 (AMP) 14 For many are called (invited
and summoned), but few are
chosen.
Mark
4:11-12 (AMP) 11 And He said to them, To you
has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, the secret
counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside [of
our circle] everything becomes a parable, 12 In order that they may [indeed]
look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, lest haply they
should turn again, and it [their willful rejection of the truth] should be
forgiven them.
Luke
4:25-27 (AMP) 25 But in truth I tell you, there
were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were closed
up for three years and six months, so that there came a great famine over all
the land; 26 And yet Elijah was not sent to a single one of them, but
only to Zarephath in the country of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
27 And
there were many lepers in
As I mentioned in my opening remarks, Mike,
Justin and my own unhappiness were used by our Sovereign God to draw us to His
Son. And we can be absolutely
certain that, among other things, any unhappiness we may be currently be experiencing
has been ordained by God to draw us into a more intimate relationship with
Jesus.
Philippians
4:4-9 (NIV) 4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say
it again: Rejoice!
5 Let
your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious
about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,
present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers,
whatever is true, whatever is noble,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. 9 Whatever you have
learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And
the God of peace will be with you.
Don’t deceive yourself into
believing your loved ones or your health or possessions or finances or anything
else in God’s creation that means so much to you is the source of true
happiness because none of them are. The time will come when you will have to
leave this world and everyone and everything behind. However, you will be able
to bring along your joy in the Lord and in Him only. The more a Christian takes
the time meditate upon the kinds of truths I have spoken about this morning; the
more he or she will become intensely happy in the midst of their sorrows
because it is in doing so that they will be traveling through this sin infested
world on “the path to happiness.” I pray that it
may please the Lord to make this message a blessing to you folks who have just
heard it and to all who may read the Internet version later.
(A) The Life of Peace, © 1990 Mrs. Bethan Lloyd-Jones, Baker Book House,
(B) The Days of Vengeance, by David Chilton © 1987 by Dominion Press,
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