A Broken Heart Series

PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: A BROKEN HEART

A. Many people believe that HAPPINESS is produced by EXTERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES or

SITUATIONS.

1. The world buys into the “WHEN AND THEN” philosophy: “When I get this...” or “When that

changes...” or “When this happens” “. . . THEN I'll be HAPPY.”

COMMENT:

In the most famous sermon of all times?The Sermon on the Mount?Jesus began by listing eight QUALITIES, ACTIONS, or SITUATIONS that produce HAPPINESS. I’m sure that Jesus PEAKED the INTEREST of those listening. I can picture them getting out their NOTEPADS and saying, “Okay, Jesus, we’re ready. What’s the first thing that will make us HAPPY.”

Then Jesus began, “Number one: Be POOR. . .in Spirit. Number two: Be MOURNFUL.” I’m sure that their PENCILS dropped, their MOUTHS flew open, and they started SCRATCHING their heads as they tried to figure out how Jesus’ LIST could possibly produce HAPPINESS.

2. Jesus wanted the people to understand that HAPPINESS is not a PRODUCT of CIRCUMSTANCE, but a PRODUCT of ATTITUDE.

B. Last week we looked at the first BEATITUDE.

1. We saw that TRUE HAPPINESS begins by becoming “POOR IN SPIRIT.”

COMMENT:

It’s when we HUMBLE ourselves before God?DEPENDING totally upon Him, REALIZING that we ARE NOTHING and can DO NOTHING without Him?will we be on the ROAD to finding LASTING HAPPINESS. It’s the PRIDEFUL?the ARROGANT?that will

never experience HAPPINESS.

2. The first BEATITUDE—“POOR IN SPIRIT” naturally flows into the second.

a. Matthew 5:4- “Blessed are those who MOURN, for they will be COMFORTED.”

b. Luke 6:21b- “Blessed are you who WEEP now, for you will LAUGH.”

COMMENT:

I like that. God will COMFORT the MOURNFUL. He will bring LAUGHTER to those who WEEP.

ILLUSTRATION:

Mother Teresa was known for her COMPASSION and MERCY shown toward the LEPERS of India. She was a person who truly LOVED and CARED for HURTING people. Although I did

not agree with her THEOLOGY, I admired her SERVANT HEART?and we can learn from her.

A few months before she died, an American newspaper interviewer asked her, “Given your ministry to poverty-stricken people, what can you tell us Americans we should do to live out the good life?” She didn’t say as we might expect, “Go, sell all you have and work with the poor,

like me.” Instead, she said simply and directly, “Smile at the people you live with.”

Well, the reporter was a bit surprised by her answer. He then pressed the issue. “That's easy for you to say. You don’t face family pressure and the work place.” “Oh,” said Mother Teresa, “I live with Jesus. And believe me; sometimes He’s a hard person to live with.”

3. When you understand what it means “To MOURN,” then you’ll UNDERSTAND more clearly what Mother Teresa meant when she said, “Some times Jesus is a HARD PERSON to LIVE with.”

MESSAGE:

COMMENT:

Jesus is talking about a BROKEN HEART. He uses a word for “MOURN” that means to mourn as one MOURNS for the DEAD. It is the STRONGEST WORD in the Greek language for MOURNING. The image is a LOUD MOURNING, not quietly SOBBING. It is a MOURNING which cannot be CONCEALED or HIDDEN. This is a GRIEF which brings INDESCRIBABLE HEARTACHE and UNCONTROLLED TEARS. But it is a GRIEF that will bring great HAPPINESS in the END.

I. OUR MOURNING BEGINS WITH A BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART

A. That’s what Jesus is referring to?GODLY SORROW.

1. It’s a HEART-PIERCING SORROW resulting from SIN that we COMMIT against GOD and

each OTHER.

a. It was a HEART-FELT MOURNFULNESS over his SINFUL LIFE that caused the TAX- COLLECTOR in the Lord’s PARABLE to BEAT his chest and CRY OUT, “God have

MERCY on me, a SINNER”- Luke 18:13.

b. It was a DEEP GRIEF over his DENIAL of Jesus that prompted “Peter to go out and WEEP

BITTERLY”- Matthew 26:75.

c. It was GODLY SORROW and AGONIZING REGRET that led the PRODIGAL SON back HOME where he said to his Dad, “Father, I have SINNED against heaven and against you, and I’m no longer worthy to be called your son”- Luke 15:21.

2. It was a “BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART” that prompted King David to write Psalm 51.

a. Psalm 51:1-4 (READ and COMMENT) (EXPLAIN DAVID’S SINS)

b. Psalm 51:9-10 (READ and COMMENT)

c. Psalm 51:16-17 (READ and COMMENT)

COMMENT:

You see, LIVING with Jesus is HARD because when you LIVE with Him, He CONVICTS you of SIN. You can’t LIVE with Jesus and not feel a BROKEN HEART as a result of SIN. When you are CONVICTED of SIN, it HURTS!

ILLUSTRATION:

When he was just 19-years-old, Al Johnson had joined two other men in ROBBING a Kansas bank. The CASE was CLOSED after two other CONVICTS were KILLED in a CAR ACCIDENT and were mistakenly IDENTIFIED by bank officials as the ROBBERS. So, Al