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 I: BE POOR IN SPIRIT
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3)
“O the happiness of the poor in spirit!”
Happiness, as the world thinks of it, depends on luck. If you take your chances and are lucky, you find yourself with nothing to worry about because good luck will bring you fortune; and if your luck holds out, you will become famous; therefore, you will be happy. WRONG!
The truth is that real happiness, from the Christian perspective, has nothing to do with luck. It has everything to do with your relationship to God through Jesus Christ. If you have made your peace with God, you will experience contentment and joy that are unspeakable. Just knowing that you are a child of God makes you so happy that no amount of bad luck or dire circumstances can take it away from you.
Jesus made a promise to his disciples, and it applies to you and me: “No one will ever take away your joy” (John 16:22).
Folks, the Christian has an untouchable joy that comes from walking day by day in the company of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart. Your sins he’ll wash away; your night he’ll turn to day. Your life he’ll make it over anew. If you want joy, real joy, wonderful joy, let Jesus come into your heart.”
Day by day, read his words, meditate on them, take your burdens to the Lord in prayer, and leave them there.
It does sort of surprise us that Jesus began his prescription for happiness by saying “blessed are the poor in spirit.” How can folks who are poor, whether materially or spiritually, be happy? Let me explain.
In the day in which Jesus lived, it was not unusual to speak of someone as “poor” in the sense that a person might be going through a time of disturbance or distress; and folks looked upon that person as “that poor soul.” Aren’t we prone to be that way ourselves? “Why, the poor soul!” The Psalmist spoke of someone along that same line when he said, “This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him from all his troubles” (Psalm 34:6).
So, the word poor was used in this beatitude to describe a person who is so helpless that he or she becomes very dependent on someone else. What Jesus is talking about is someone who realizes that the only recourse he or she has is to depend on God for divine help.
“O the happiness of the person who realizes his or her helplessness, and therefore places their trust in God to do for them what they cannot do for themselves.”
We who put our trust in God for salvation experience the joy of sharing in the kingdom of heaven! What greater joy can there be than the joy of sharing in the happiness of heaven!?
We sing, “When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.” We don’t have to wait until we get to heaven to experience joy and happiness in the Christian life.
The Christian Church is a Fellowship of Believers; as believers in Christ, we are already in possession of God’s gift of eternal life; therefore, the wonderful peace that only He can give is ours in the here and now as well as in the hereafter.
The beatitudes speak of: happiness that ought to be ours even though we suffer pain . . . happiness which loss and grief are powerless to touch . . .happiness which shines through our tears . . . happiness which nothing in life or death can take away.
“Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Amen!
