Prescription For Happiness Sermon Vii: Be A Peacemaker Series

PRESCRIPTION FOR HAPPINESS

The Beatitudes – Matthew 5:1-12

Everybody I know wants to be happy. However, it appears to me that some folks may not understand what true happiness is.

There are those, for example, who seem to think that lots of money would make them happy; yet, some of the wealthiest people in the world have said that fortune brought misery to their lives.

Others seem to think that if they could just be famous, they would be happy; yet, many famous folks come to the end of their way feeling unhappy due to loneliness and sadness.

Neither fame nor fortune brings true happiness to any individual. This is as true today as it was when Jesus preached a sermon about happiness during his ministry on this earth.

Times have changed, but the search for happiness is still one of our top priorities.

Perhaps we would do well to adopt as one of our main goals in life: To be happy and to make other happy.

One of the memories that I cherish of my father-in-law is the note that he wrote to himself and taped on the mirror into which he looked every morning when he shaved.

The note read:

“Thursday mornings

Go to nursing home

Make people happy.”

Whether in a nursing home or not, we all want to be happy. We want to wake up each morning with a reason for living yet another day . . . with an inward feeling of assurance that life is worthwhile . . . with no thought as to whether or not our needs are going to be met that day . . . with as bright an outlook on life as possible . . . with the hope that someone who needs a word of encouragement will cross our path that day; so, “Lord, help me to encourage someone today.”

My father-in-law discovered happiness by making others happy. He could not make people happy by giving them money; nor could he make them happy by offering them fame. He did so simply by going where there was a need for encouragement. Oftentimes all he had to offer was a smile, a handshake, or a pat on the back, without saying a word. His actions spoke, as if to say, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee.”

When Jesus saw a multitude of people searching for happiness, he had pity on them – and then, “He went up on a mountainside and sat down, and he began to teach them.”

“How to be Happy” was the theme of the first lesson Jesus taught in His “Sermon on the Mount”. Here was the Great Physician, taking time to sit down with those longing for a happy life, giving them a prescription consisting of eight components of the blessing of happiness.

Think of these eight components as noted minister-author Robert Schuler and my long-time friend Harmon Born, along with other respected servants of God have suggested: BE Attitudes – the person God wants me (us) to BE.

When a medical doctor prescribes an antibiotic, the patient is advised to take the entire dosage over a period of time in order to realize the full benefit of the prescription.

Jesus our Great Physician advises those who desire true happiness to incorporate all eight BE Attitudes into daily life if they (we) want to benefit fully from God’s Prescription for Happiness. Amen.

PRESCRIPTION FOR HAPPINESS SERMON VII: BE A PEACEMAKER

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”

(Matthew 5:9)

What kind of person are you? What kind of reputation do you have? How would you like to be remembered? What kind of opinion do people have of you? Who do people say you are?

It’s okay to ask ourselves such questions. Even Jesus put the question to his apostles: “Who do men say that I am?” He wanted to know what kind of reputation he had; he wanted to know what people were saying about him; and, you will recall that opinions about Jesus varied.

I believe that I can speak for you in saying without reservation that most, if not all of you, above all else want to be known as “a child of God.” What a worthy goal in life! What a noble ambition! What a privilege - to be known as “a child of God!” “I am a child of God!” That makes me a very important person – a VIP. “I am somebody!”

Jesus thought so too. He stood before the people who had gathered that day on the side of a mountain to hear Him, and told them they were important in the sight of God.

He knew that every person in that crowd longed for happiness; but He also knew that, for the most part, folks were looking for happiness in the wrong ways and in the wrong places. He taught them how to be happy!