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 IV: BE RIGHT AND DO RIGHT
“Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)
Do you agree or disagree with this statement? “Most folks want to do the right thing.” Perhaps a bit of an overstatement; yet my sincere prayer for myself and for others is that we might desire to be right and do right.
Jesus might have said, “Blessed are those that do right, for their wish for happiness will come true.” What he did say was this: “Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
There is one thing I can say about most of us here in America – and NOT be overstating the case: Most of us do not know what it is to be hungry or thirsty in the same way as was the case in Jesus’ day.
Sure, we have gone without food and water during a time of fasting, either for spiritual or medical purposes – like engaging in a time of fasting and prayer; or like not eating food or drinking water for a period of time prior to having lab work done, or surgery performed at the hospital.
Recently I was told not to eat anything or drink any liquids for twenty four hours prior to a medical procedure. I tell you what’s a fact; as soon as they finished the tests and said I could go, I went as fast as I could to the nearest Waffle House and ordered a BIG breakfast!
I mean, you and I have no clue as to the predicament that exists in our day in third world countries – the starvation and malnutrition, the spread of disease due to contaminated water – let alone the conditions that existed in the world during the time of Jesus.
The hunger and thirst that provided the analogy for Jesus to draw from was not like my hunger that was satisfied by breakfast at the Waffle House; the thirst of which he spoke is not a thirst which could be quenched with a second cup of coffee or a few swigs from a water fountain.
Jesus is talking here about the hunger of persons who are literally starving for food; He is talking about persons who will die unless someone gives them a drink of water.
So, in reality, what this beatitude presents to us is a probing question and a powerful challenge. The question is: “How much do we CRAVE to be good and do right? How far are we willing to go out of our way to do the right thing? Do we really want to be a righteous person? Do we want it as much as a starving person wants food, or as much as a dying person wants water?
How intense is your DESIRE for goodness?
Jesus says that the way to obtain real satisfaction and happiness in life is for us to SEEK righteousness with the same intensity that a very hungry person seeks food and a very thirsty person seeks water.
The Psalmist spoke words of assurance to those who seek the Lord: “O Lord, you have never forsaken those who seek you.” (9:10)
Isaiah reaffirmed that assurance when he called upon God’s people to:
“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.” (55:6)
Jesus left no doubt, as he preached the Sermon on the Mount that we can be sure of happiness IF we seek the Lord: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all the things that cause you to worry will no longer be worrisome.”
Why is that so? Would you agree that, if we seek God’s Will and strive to do His Will, not only will our needs be met, but also we will busy ourselves meeting the needs of others.
Is there anything that can make us any happier than to see those who are hungry fed . . . those who are thirsty given a drink of cold water . . . those who need clothing clothed . . . those who are homeless housed?
I hope nothing makes us any happier than seeing OTHERS made happy!
Yet, it is something that we have to work at, isn’t it? The things that need to be done to meet the needs of others – or to meet our own needs – are things that require hard work on the part of some, financial resources on the part of others, and constant prayer on the part of all of us.
The prayer that the Lord taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven” was not intended by Jesus to be wishful thinking on our part. No, he was serious about it; we ought to take it seriously; we ought to do our part, in whatever way we can, to make sure that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.
Folks, we are talking about becoming truly happy by seeking to know the right thing to do, and finding a way to do it – whether in our own lives or in the lives of those whom we love.
The least we can do is pray. The best we can do is to get involved. The next best thing we can do is to give, so that those who are able to get involved can do the things that need to be done to make things right; and in the process of helping, guess what; we find that we are now happy!
So, the challenge in this beatitude is to keep on seeking to be a doer of the right, so that not only our needs are satisfied, but that also the needs of folks we care about are satisfied; and let us remember that those we care about must include those who live far away as well as those who live nearby.
Yes, there are people in this room, and there are people in our world, who really want to do the right thing. You no doubt could share a story, or two, of someone you have known, or of you yourself, of whom you are PROUD because they or you sought to do good when you had opportunity to do so. What a blessing!
I share with you just one example of a world renowned individual who discovered happiness, not by getting rich due to satisfying our sweet tooth with those delectable chocolate delights known as Hershey’s Kisses, but by meeting the educational needs of orphan kids.
Milton Hershey had no children of his own, and he had a terrible time growing up himself. He only had a fourth-grade education. He failed three times in business ventures, but he had the courage to keep on trying. The fourth time he started a business – a caramel company – he was successful.
He sold his caramel business for a million dollars and started the Hershey’s chocolate factory. Knowing that his wife could never have any children, he decided to start an orphan school.
When my wife and I visited Hershey, Pennsylvania, we went on a tour that included the chocolate factory; but the highlight of the tour, for us, was our tour of the orphan school – which today comprises practically the whole town of Hershey, Pennsylvania.
Milton Hershey discovered happiness in providing education for orphan children; and because of his discovery of happiness, he placed in his will a provision that fifty-one percent of the profits from the sale of Hershey’s chocolates will always go to fund education for orphan children.
Your happiness and mine has not been discovered on the large scale as was the case with the founder of Hershey’s chocolates; but our happiness, although on a much smaller scale, is discovered in the same way: we seek to do right – in our own lives and in the lives of others. Do right and be happy! Amen!
