INTRO.- Why would I preach about seeking happiness? Because I think this is a goal that most people have in life. Most people would like to have a certain amount of happiness in life and they go looking for it in all kinds of ways but they don’t always find it.
Haven’t you noticed? The world goes at things backwards.
ILL.- Tiger is on top and Lance Armstrong is strong-arming the competition. The sports world is excited about Tiger Woods win at the 134th British Open in St. Andrews, Scotland. And most Americans are excited that Lance Armstrong is on track to win his 7th straight Tour de France, a record which no one has ever done before and no one is likely to match for many years to come.
These are well and good. I’m happy for Tiger (and wish that he was a member of our church) and I’ll be happy for Lance if he wins the Tour de France even though he is an agnostic and doesn’t believe in the Lord.
The world focuses on successes, not losses. The world’s idea of happiness is found in success, money, fame, etc.
ILL.- Someone wrote, “If you have money, people want to give you more. If you’re rich and famous, people love to give things to you. If you’re rich and influential, corporate boards invite you to join them. There you can make lots of money just by attending meetings and giving your opinion on the direction of the company you know nothing about.
“While CEOs take home millions of dollars even when their companies perform poorly, the lowest-paid workers are the first to be laid off in bad economic times. The average CEO still earns 728 times the salary of the average worker.
“There’s nothing wrong with people making lots of money, but the problem is that our society has convinced us that wealth alone equals success. We value people solely because of their checkbooks, regardless of what they did, or did not do, to make their money. Somehow we came to believe that rich people are better, smarter, more attractive and more successful than everyone else.
“We give tax cuts to billionaires but lectures to low-wage workers. We complain when our co-workers make a few dollars more than us but rarely object when our CEOs collect millions in salary while they bankrupt our companies. We idolize the rich and despise the poor.”
Brothers and sisters, these things just don’t make good sense, but that’s the way of the world. However, God’s program is different and if we want to find any happiness at all in this crazy world then we must adopt His program and His ways. Our focus must be different than that of most people.
PROP.- Again, if we are going to find any happiness in this life at all our focus must change.
1- We must focus on the positives, not the negatives
2- We must focus on praising, not griping
3- We must focus on giving, not getting
I. WE MUST FOCUS ON THE POSITIVES, NOT THE NEGATIVES
Phil. 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."
Paul is saying that we should focus on the good things of this life and the positive things of this life. The more we look at negative, the worse we are going to feel.
ILL.- Max Lucado tells the story about flying on a plane one time with a certain lady. He said, "She sat in 14E and I sat in 14D. She was rural and I was urban. She was homey and I was professional. But she could see and I was blind.
"I groaned. I had a bad attitude. My week had been hectic. The plane was late and overbooked. I had a toothache and had left the tooth medicine at the hotel. I wanted to sleep, but I had work to do. And now I was sitting next to Gomer Pyle’s mother.
"‘Oooh, boy, look at that one!’ She pointed at the plane ahead of us on the runway. ‘Is this one that big?’ ‘Yes,’ I hoped my brief response would show her that I wasn’t up for chitchat. It didn’t. ‘I’m hoping to see my boy in Dallas. Do you ever go to Dallas? I hope he’s OK. He had a stomach flu last week. He’s got a new dog. I can’t want to see it. It’s a Labrador. Do you know what that is? They are big and lovable...’
"She was uncanny. Not only could she add a syllable to every word, she could answer her own questions. As we were taking off, however, she got quiet. For several moments she said nothing. Then she suddenly let out a sound that would have called the pigs for dinner. ‘Oooooeeee, those trees down there look like peat moss!’ People around us stared like I was E. F. Hutton.
"’What river is that?’ I told her I didn’t know, so she flagged down a stewardess.
"When the drinks came around, I asked for a Coke; she asked for the list. ‘Tell me again?’ So the stewardess told her again, ‘Oh, it’s so hard to choose,’ she giggled. But she finally chose.
"When they brought her the drink, she exclaimed that she didn’t know apple juice came in cans. And when they brought her a sandwich, she opened the box and proclaimed loud enough for the pilot to hear, ‘Why, they even put mayonnaise in here.’
"When I pulled out my laptop computer, she was enthralled. ‘Now isn’t that clever.’ And that went on the whole flight. She didn’t miss a thing. If she wasn’t staring out the window, she was amazed by a magazine.
"If she wasn’t talking, she was ‘ooohing.’ She played with her fan. She turned her light on and off. She toyed with her seat belt. She savored her lunch. When we went through turbulence, I looked over at her to be sure she was all right, and she was grinning. You’d have thought she was riding the Ferris Wheel at the county fair!
"It occurred to me, about mid-journey, that she was the only person enjoying the trip. The rest of us, the ‘sophisticated,’ were too mature to have fun. And as I was staring at a computer screen -- eyes tired, mouth hurting, stressed-out, trying to find a message for stress-filled people and never noticing that the message was sitting beside me.
"And I might never have noticed had she not leaned over and said to me at the end of the flight. ‘Son, I may be out of place in saying this, but you’ve worked the entire trip. You need to relax, boy. You need to put that machine up and enjoy the journey.’ GULP."
"I smiled weakly and mumbled some excuse about needing to get the work done before tomorrow. But she wasn’t listening. She was squeezing her hands together in excitement as we landed. ‘Wasn’t that a fu-un trip?’ she asked as we were leaving the plane.
"I didn’t say anything. I just nodded and smiled. Off she walked, bouncing down the concourse as curious as a six-year-old. I watched her as long as I could, then turned to go to my next flight with a lesson learned. I resolved to keep my eyes open." Lucado concluded, "It does little good, I decided, to make the trip and miss the journey."
Brothers and sisters, most of us are so caught up with the negative stuff of life that we fail to see the good, the positive, the blessings, the excitement, and the enchantment of life. No wonder we’re not as happy as we could be. We need to slow down and focus on all the good stuff that is around us instead of dwelling on the negative.
II. WE MUST FOCUS ON PRAISING, NOT GRIPING
Phil. 2:14-15 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”
ILL.- A customer was bothering the waiter in a restaurant. First, he asked that the air conditioning be turned up because he was too hot, then he asked it be turned down cause he was too cold, and so on for about half an hour.
Surprisingly, the waiter was very patient as he walked back and forth and never once got angry. So finally, a second customer asked him why he didn’t throw out the pest.
"Oh, I really don’t care or mind," said the waiter with a smile. "We don’t even have an air conditioner."
This just shows you that some people don’t even know what they are complaining about. They complain just to have something to do.
Someone said, “You know you’re getting older when your memory is shorter and your complaining is longer.”
Most of the time, our complaints are not justified and they are certainly not helpful. They are not helpful to us personally or to the people around us. They don’t build up anyone or bless them.
ILL.- Preacher Marvin Phillips tells about riding on a plane one time with an elderly couple seated next to him. They were talking louder than they realized and the wife was complaining, “I don’t like riding on these airplanes. Folks get on them with guns and knives and they take you places you don’t want to go.”
The woman’s frail little husband said, “Now, honey, it’s gonna be all right.” Marvin said “I smiled. We taxied to the end of the runway and took off. It was beautiful day for flying. And I didn’t think about the little lady anymore until our wheels hit down on the runway at the next airport.
“At that precise moment her husband said optimistically, “YOU SEE, HONEY, WE MADE IT ALL RIGHT.” And she shot back, “WE AIN’T THERE YET!”
Are you like that woman? Can’t see anything but the negative in most situations in life? If so, you’re a thief! You’re stealing the joy out of people’s lives!
Even though most people think it is their God-given right to complain, Christian people should realize that complaining is not pleasing to God.
I Cor. 10:1-5 "For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. NEVERTHELESS, GOD WAS NOT PLEASED WITH MOST OF THEM..."
I Cor. 10:10 "And do not grumble, as some of them did and were killed by the destroying angel."
That doesn’t sound very good, and it wasn’t. God is not pleased when we gripe and complain. Especially, when we have it so good.
ILL.- And besides, someone said, "Whenever you are tempted to tell your troubles to other people, remember that half your listeners aren’t interested, and the rest are glad you’re finally getting what’s coming to you."
Instead of complaining about what we don’t have or what we don’t like in our lives, we should look at what we do have and thank God for it! We should praise more and complain less.
Phil. 2:14-15 “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.”
The only way I know how to shine like stars in this crooked world is by being a grateful, thankful people.
ILL.- Erma Bombeck is quoted as saying years ago, “An estimated 1.5 million people are living today after bouts with breast cancer. Every time I forget to feel grateful to be among them, I hear the voice of an eight-year-old named Christina, who had cancer of the nervous system. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she thought long and hard and finally said, "I don’t know. I have two sticker books and a Cabbage Patch doll. I have everything!" Bombeck said, “The kid is right.”
We all have a whole lot more than we realize. Perhaps we need to spend more time thanking God and praising Him and then we just might find greater happiness in life.
III. WE MUST FOCUS ON GIVING, NOT GETTING
ILL.- John D. Rockefeller is an example of the benefits of giving. He achieved what our culture calls success. Rockefeller had amassed more wealth than he could ever spend. By the time Rockefeller was fifty-three years old his life was a wreck. Throughout his business career he said, “I never placed my head upon the pillow at night without reminding myself that my success might only be temporary.”
He was the richest man in the world and yet he was miserable in every sense of the word. He was sick physically, mentally, and emotionally. There was no humor or joy in his life.
Then a transformation occurred. He determined to become a giver rather than an accumulator. He began to give his millions away. He founded the Rockefeller Foundation, dedicated to fighting disease and ignorance around the world. He lived to be ninety-eight years old and was a happy man in those years because of his new and revitalized definition of success.
Giving worked for John D. Rockefeller, but does it work for us?
ILL.- NORWOOD, Ohio, Clayborn and Joyce Chinn don’t mind working the Christmas season. “It’s the Lord’s work we do — the joy of giving. And as long as we have the ability, we’ll keep doing it and taking on more, God willing” said Mrs. Chinn.
From the homeless to the drug dependent to shut-ins, the Chinns have made the underprivileged their mission. Working hard to brighten the holidays for the needy, Joyce and Clayborn Chinn collect donated goods each year. “We like to bring a little joy to people during the Christmas season. Doing it is our Christmas,” Mrs. Chinn said.
“At the nursing homes, we dress as Mr. and Mrs. Claus,” said Mr. Chinn, 66, a retired General Electric machinist. “We drop off the personal hygiene products, and let their staffs deliver those because some people are allergic to some things.”
What Mr. and Mrs. Chinn do sounds like a pretty extreme form of giving to most of us, but I’m not sure we can ever give too much of our money for a good cause or too much of ourselves. IT ALWAYS COMES BACK TO YOU!
Prov. 11:17 “A kind man benefits himself…”
Prov. 11:24 “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.” That poverty could also be a poverty of joy.
When we fail to give of ourselves and of the goods that God has given us, we fail ourselves. We cheat ourselves. And perhaps this is why so many people are miserable.
ILL.- The general manager of the Trees ‘n Trend store is a good friend of mine and HE ALWAYS SEEMS HAPPY, JOYFUL OR JOY-FILLED. Why? I know one reason for sure. He is a giver. He is quick to respond to the needs of others. For years, he has gone to nursing homes to minister to people and give them fruit just for the fun of it.
Some people I know won’t even darken the door of a nursing home, but my friend goes to minister. He goes to every room and offers to pray for the people and he often takes them fruit as a gift. AND HE IS A HAPPY MAN! Surely this must tell us something!
Acts 20:35 Jesus is quoted as saying, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The greater blessing comes from giving, not in getting.
If you are not as happy or joyful as you think you should be, perhaps there is a very good reason.
CONCLUSION--------------------------------
ILL.- Dennis Wholey, author of "Are You Happy?" reports that according to expert opinion, only 20 percent of Americans are happy.
One prominent psychiatrist said, "Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the living to the dead, now usually attributed by adults to children and by children to adults."
In other words, happiness is something that we think someone else has. We think or say, "He must be happy. Look at his job. Look at the car he drives, the house he lives in, the money he has, etc."
Brothers and sisters, I think happiness boils down to a proper focus. We must focus on eternity, not earth. People, not possessions. Service, not self. God’s grace, not our goodness. The Spirit, not the flesh. Positives, not negatives. Praising, not griping. And giving, not getting.
