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 V: BE MERCIFUL
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matthew 5:7)
One of my favorite sayings of Mark Twain is one with which I can identify. He is quoted as saying, “I’m an old man, and I have known many problems in my life, most of which never happened.”
Is it not true of most of us that we have known many problems in our lives? But is it not also true that many of the problems we worried so much about never happened?
The biggest cause of anxiety, for which many of us have been known to take medication, is more often than not due to worry about things we fear might happen, not things that actually do happen.
How I wish that somehow we could come to an understanding of the fact of human nature: It’s not what happens to me that matters most; it’s how I respond to what happens to me!”
You can be sure of this: If you have the attitude that you should forever be spared from all pain, hurt, and grief, you need to be reminded that someday you will be jolted with a shock of reality. Bad news, sorrow and rejection hit all of us at some point in our lives as if a psychological hand grenade exploded in our brain and we have to go through the slow process of extracting the fragments one at a time.
To expect that somehow we are privileged persons and should be immune from hurt and hardship is unrealistic.
Some even feel, “Because I am a Christian, I should experience no pain and suffering. Because I am a God-fearing person and a good person, I should experience no rejection or ridicule.”
If this is our attitude, we will react to adversity with self-pity. “It’s not fair!” we exclaim. But the sooner we learn that life is not always fair, the sooner we can achieve emotional maturity, and go on with our lives.
The good news is that God promises mercy adequate enough to meet any tragedy. Jesus left us this promise: “Happy are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
Throughout the Bible God promises that He will be merciful to us:
“His mercy is on those who trust him” (Luke 1:50).
“God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us . . . made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:46)
“He saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but by virtue of his own mercy.” (Titus 3:5).
The promise is there! It is for you! Wonderful news! Blessed assurance!
No matter where our road may lead, no matter what pain may hit, no matter what happens to us, God will be there with His mercy to forgive us our trespasses, to lift our sagging spirits, and to carry us through the tough times.
“Footprints” is the title of a poem, mounted in a beautiful gold-edged picture frame – a gift I cherish because it was presented to me by my youngest son, whose untimely death brought me face to face with the reality of what I am talking to you about. Listen to the message of this poem:
One night a man had a dream,
He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Scenes from his life flashed across the sky and he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
Dismayed, he asked, “Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you’d walk with me all the way.
Why, at the troublesome times of my life, the times I needed you most, would you leave me?”
The Lord replied, “My precious child, I love you and I would never, never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering - when you saw only one set of footprints -
That was when I carried you.”
During those times in our lives when it is hard for us to see the goodness of God, it is during those times that we experience His mercy!
The Bible promises us that God will be merciful to us. Now hear this: The Bible also teaches about the power of a principle which appears not only in this Be Attitude but over and over again in other scriptures, although stated in different ways. Listen to these words from God’s Word:
“If you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15).
“The measure you give will be the measure you get” (Matthew 7:2).
“Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).
Perhaps you have heard it said, “What goes around comes around.” Or, “Give a little, you get a little back. Give a lot, you get a lot back.”
This is what you might call the law of proportionate return that Jesus teaches in the fifth Be Attitude. If you are critical, you can expect people to criticize you. If you gossip about people, you can be sure these same people are going to gossip about you.
If you really want to be happy, adopt as your motto “Be Merciful” - and then live it. It really works. It’s impossible to give anything away. Want to know why? Whatever you give away will always come back to you.
If you are nice to people, they will probably be nice to you. If they’re not, that’s their problem, not yours. You treat people the way you would want them to treat you, and if they treat you ugly in return, I can promise you that one day someone will treat them ugly too. It happens every day.
The surest way to be happy in life is to be kind to people – even those we may not like or do not agree with. In a recent meeting when I met with a gathering of community residents, who wanted to express their concerns to their county commissioner, my admonition to them was this:
Be firm, but be polite.
As a general rule – as taught by Jesus – the kinder you are to others, the more kindness you are likely to receive in life.
This part of the prescription for happiness as taught by Jesus is simple: If you want to be happy, treat people right. If you carry someone else’s burden with them, in the process you will discover happiness.
There are those in our world who try to obtain happiness by being selfish, yet so many of them end up living in a hell on earth. There are others who try to obtain happiness by living and practicing the golden rule, and they have learned, as did the apostle Paul, in whatsoever state they find themselves, therein to be content.
You can create for yourself a heaven or hell on earth by your attitudes that translate into actions – whether for better or worse.
The story is told of a man who had a dream one night. He dreamed that he died and found himself in a large room. In the room there was a huge banquet table filled with all sorts of delicious food. Around the table were people who were obviously hungry. But the chairs were five feet from the edge of the table and the people apparently could not get out of the chairs. Neither were their arms long enough to reach the food on the table.
In the dream there was one single large spoon, five feet long. Everyone was fighting, quarreling, and pushing each other, trying to grab hold of that spoon. Finally, in an awful scene, one strong bully got hold of the spoon. He reached out, picked up some food, and turned it to feed himself, only to find that the spoon was so long, that as he held it out, he could not touch his mouth. The food fell off. Immediately someone else grabbed the spoon. Again, the person reached far enough to pick up the food, but he could not feed himself. The handle was too long.
In the dream, the man who was observing it all said to his guide, “This is hell – to have food and not be able to eat it.”
The guide replied, “Where do you think you are? This IS hell. But this is not your place. Come with me.”
Then they went into another room. In this room there was also a long table filled with food, exactly as in the other room. Everyone was seated in chairs, and for some reason, they too, seemed unable to get out of their chairs. Like the others, they were unable to reach the food on the table.
Yet they had a satisfied, pleasant look on their faces. Only then did the visitor see the reason why. Exactly as before, there was only one spoon. It, too, had a handle five feet long. Yet no one was fighting for it. In fact, one man, who held the handle, reached out, picked up the food, and put it into the mouth of someone else who ate it and was satisfied.
That person then took the spoon by the handle, reached for the food from the table, and put it back to the mouth of the man who had just given him something to eat. And the guide said, “THIS is heaven.”
Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
Another Bible verse says it in another way. ‘Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2).
The thought I want you to remember is this: Selfishness turns life into a burden. Unselfishness turns burdens into life! Amen.
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