It was an upbeat song with an upbeat message.
While there was no theological message intended in the song, I think we Christians could take a lesson from the concept it employs.
This song’s concept of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy!” should be the desire and experience of every Christian.
In the world of Psychology, the psychologist divides mankind’s personalities into four temperaments.
Every one of us falls into one of these four categories. In fact, some might have two of these personalites.
Let me read this list to you and as I do you probably will began to recognize people who have these different temperaments. Perhaps you might recognize yourself.
1. Choleric - easily irritated; inclined to anger; These have a short fuse and the least little thing sets them off.
2. Phlegmatic - hard to rouse to action; specifically sluggish; dull; apathetic; calm; cool.
3. Melancholic - one affected with a gloomy state of mind; one characterized by excessive gloom, mistrust and depression.
4. Sanguine - cheerful; optimistic; hopeful.
Let me show you from God’s Word HOW YOU CAN BECOME A HAPPY CHRISTIAN.
First, let’s look at…
I.OUR ASSOCIATION
Who we associate with has much to do with if we are going to be a happy Christian or not.
• Someone said, “Evil influence is like a nicotine patch, you cannot help but absorb what sticks to you.”
• Someone else said “Announcing the intended arrival of some people is kind of like issuing a hurricane warning. ”
• Patricia Highsmith said, “He seems to be making you that way too - enough to tolerate people like him. And once you start tolerating them, you're going to end up being like them yourself.”
Illus: In the coal mines of West Virginia you can sign up for a tour into a coal mine.
One morning a group was ready to make the tour when the tour guide notice one woman had a beautiful white dress.
He said, “Lady, that is a beautiful white dress but I can assure you when you come out of this coal mine your dress will not be a beautiful white dress.”
The world in which we live is filled with filth of all kinds and we have to be careful not to allow it to rub off on us.
God’s Word warns us many times not to associate with bad company.
Illus: A farmer, seeing a lot of crows picking up seed he had sown in a field, took his shotgun and fired at them. All the birds flew away except one that lay wounded on the ground.
Going to the wounded bird, the farmer discovered that it was his own talking pet parrot. It had gotten out of its cage and flown with the crows in the field. Its wing was broken from the shot.
Picking it up, the farmer said, "Polly, this is what happens from keeping bad company."
He put the wounded parrot under his arm and headed back to the house. As he neared the house, his little girl ran out to meet him. She said, "Have you shot any crows?"
The farmer replied, "I have shot Polly." And before he could tell his little girl what happened, Polly piped up and said, "Bad company. Bad company."
Bad company have cost some people their lives, and has literally imprisoned literally thousands.
Listen, Paul warns Christians even about bad company in the church.
1 Corinthians 5:11 “…I wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not to eat.
It is impossible to be a HAPPY CHRISTIAN if you associate with people who is constantly draining the life out of you.
WHY HAS AMEICAN BECOME SUCH A WICKED NATION?
It has not always been a wicked nation!!!
It is because we associate with the ungodly people.
Illus: That is, people set in their homes and day after day watching all of this ungodliness on television being pumped into them twenty four hours a day, hate, lying, rebelliousness, murder, adultery wondering why our society is so ungodly.
Day after day they spend hours and hours each day with the SCUM OF THE EARTH from Hollywood. GUESS WHAT? THEY HAVE BECOME JUST LIKE THE ONES THEY ARE SPENDING TIME WITH EACH DAY.
We become like those we associate with!!!
Ungodliness does not lead to a life of happiness.
Psalms 1: Blessed (Happy) is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, Nor standeth in the way of sinners, Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers:
If you associate with:
• Liars you will soon become a liar
• Gossipers you will soon become a gossiper
• Sex freak you will soon become a sex freak
• Thief you will soon become a thief
• Bragger you will soon become a Bragger
We become like those that we associate with and that is why we can not associate with the ungodly!
It’s not that we do not love them and pray for them, we just simply do not want them to rub off on us.
If we associate with them WE WILL SOON BECOME LIKE THEM!!!
Have you ever associated with a bunch braggers that was bragging and you did not want to be left out so you started bragging. That is, you became like them and started bragging also.
Illus: Makes me think of three young boys bragging about their dad.
1) One boy said, Have you ever seen the twin towers? “My dad built both of them by himself on the weekends while he was building the empire state building.
2) Another little boy said, “Have you ever seen the grand canyon, my dad dug that hole by himself with a pick and a shovel.”
3) Third little boy said, Have you ever seen Niagara Falls, my dad is a plumber and he could stop that nasty leak if he wanted to.
Listen, when we associate with the ungodly, we will soon become like them!!!
This is why the Bible tells believers not to marry un-believers because you are not going to change them, they will change you!!!
Illus: Solomon kept taking in these heathen wives and the Bible tells us in 1 Kings 11:4 For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father.
We have to be careful who we associate with if we want to be a happy Christian.
Illus: Dr. Odell Belger when he was a young man he was a youth pastor. Of course teaching young men and women in their late teens they were concern about dating and marrying.
In one of the classes he was teaching a young lady said, I know I should not marry an un-believer, but how do I know if the man I marry will always be a dedicated Christian?
He told her, only God knows the answer to that question.
But there is a good formula you can use that works most of the time… …for example:
• If you are a girl and you do not like the way his father lives his life, you better not marry him. Why? Because the young man that you marry after about five or six years of marriage will probably become like his father who he has associated with most of life.
• And the same thing if you are a young man you can tell what a girl will be like after five or six years marriage she will be like her mother who she associated with most of her life.
The problem with bad association is WE BECOME LIKE THOSE THAT WE ASSOCIATE WITH.
Now the FLIP SIDE OF THAT COIN, if a child is raised up in a HAPPY CHIRISTIAN HOME, THAT HAPPINESS WILL RUB OFF ON THEM!!!
OUR ASSOCIATION many times, if not most of the time, WILL DETERMINE OUR HAPPINESS.
When it comes to the ungodly the most we can do for them is PRAY FOR THEM, but for our sake LEAVE THEM ALONE!!!
Illus: Let me ask you something suppose you were hungry and you wanted to find a restaurant to eat. You drove up in the front of a nice looking restaurant and people were coming out of the front door upchucking their meal in the parking lot. Would you go inside that restaurant set down at a table and tell the waitress give me what that man that is upchucking all over the parking lot just had!
No, you probably would not even go inside that restaurant, you would stay away from a place like that!!!
When it come to OUR HAPPINESS we must be conscious of OUR ASSOCIATIONS.
Also, if we seek to live a HAPPY CHRISTIAN life we need to have the right perspective of…
II. OUR MONEY
I want to read some verses of scripture from Matthew 5:1-11, and I want you to pay attention to the many times the word BLESSED is used.
The word blessed means HAPPY and every time I read it put in the word HAPPY…OK?
Here we go, “And seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain: and when he had sat down, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed(Happy) are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed(Happy) are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed(Happy) are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed(Happy) are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Blessed(Happy) are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed(Happy) are the pure in heart: for they shall see God. Blessed(Happy) are the peacemakers: for they shall be called sons of God. Blessed(Happy) are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed(Happy) are ye when men shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.”
Nine time the word BLESSED WHICH MEANS HAPPINESS is used in these verses that teaches us how we can be a HAPPY CHRISTIAN.
But in this list of things that God tells us to do to find happiness…MONEY IS NOT MENTION…NOT ONE TIME!
But yet the devil has convinced most people today the reason they are not happy is because they have a money problem.
Listen, YOU CAN NOT BUY HAPPINESS!!!
Let me prove this to you!!!
Some of the richest people on the face of the earth is that crowd in Hollywood. And once you began to invade their private life you will find this is not a happy crowd.
Sadly, money also cannot buy a cure for everything. Many wealthy people have battled with depression, anxiety, substance abuse, or have suffered from poor relationships (or lack of any real relationships) in their lives.
As a result, even those who are filthy rich have problems just like anyone else.
Here are some celebrities who discovered the hard way that fortune and success doesn’t always lead to happiness.
(1) MARILYN MONROE
Perhaps no one is a bigger Hollywood legend than Marilyn Monroe, one of the 20th century’s biggest sex symbols and one of the most iconic figures in American culture.
However, by most accounts, the beautiful blonde had a sad, if not disturbing, private life. Many of her biographers have written that Monroe had psychological issues and found it difficult to cope with fame.
In fact, her life was quite difficult from the onset: she didn’t have a father and had a mentally unstable mother, then she grew up in foster homes, and as a teenager was reportedly sexually assaulted.
As an adult, she might have made it as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars and had an estimated net worth of $27 million, but continued to be sad despite her fortune: she was married three times, but all three marriages ended in divorce. She suffered from miscarriages.
The final years of her life were filled with illness, personal problems, and an overall poor reputation. The circumstances of her death at age 36 are still contested and have been classified as a probable suicide.
Money cannot buy happiness!!!
(2)FRANK SINATRA
Although “old blue eyes” provided many people with a lot of happiness through his beautiful, soulful music, he was plagued with unhappiness throughout his life.
Sinatra is said to have suffered from depression and from mood swings throughout his life. The singer even attempted suicide twice in 1953, once after he had a fight with his second wife, Ava Gardener, and then again later that year.
MONEY CAN NOT BUY HAPPINESS!!!
(3) CAMERON DOUGLAS
Cameron Douglas is the oldest son of actor Michael Douglas and grandson of legendary actor Kirk Douglas, and has played a few roles in films.
Although he grew up with a life of privilege thanks to his famous Hollywood family, he has battled addiction for most of his life and has spent years in and out of prison.
He was arrested for drug offences at least three times and is currently in prison, where he is serving a sentence for drug possession.
(4) MICHAEL JACKSON
The legendary singer and performer has been said to have battled various demons throughout his life that no degree of fortune (he was worth $600 million in 2013).
Before Jackson's death in 2009, he supposedly had financial difficulties and was clashing with the promoters of a series of concerts, "This is It," that he was preparing to put on. His two bodyguards also wrote a book following his death that painted a picture of him as a sad, lonely superstar who had desired a more normal life.
Listen, I could go on and on, Elvis Presley, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Elizabeth Taylor, Mickey Rooney, Howard Hughes and singers, wealthy business men who had large amounts of money but they also had large amounts of unhappiness.
The Bible tells us about a man called Solomon he had everything the world could offer a man but in the book of eccleastes he states over and over again ALL IS VANITY AND VEXATION OF SPIRIT.
Inside each of us there is a vacuum…
• We can fill it with the things of the world that does not satisfy.
• We can invite the Lord Jesus to come into our heart and we can experience the abundant life.
Jesus said, I HAVE COME THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE LIFE AND THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE IT MORE ABUNDANTLY.
Listen, if you are not a happy Christian you have no one to blame but yourself.
• Not your parents fault…
• Not society fault…
• Not your children fault…
• Nor God’s fault…
It is your fault!!! The problems is that you have been chasing after the wrong thing.
Illus: Solomon who turned over every rock in his life trying to find happiness, finally found the answer. Look at Ecclesiastes 12:13 This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
Illus: I can meet a man that is sinner for the first time and I can tell you upfront he is not a happy man.
It is not because he/she is not looking for happiness, they are turning over every rock in their life trying to find it.
They might have:
• A nice house to live in,
• Nice car to drive,
• Nice clothes to wear
but these things have only brought temporary happiness.
Illus: These things are like drinking water out of ocean, the more they drink the more they want.
Now that happiness has worn off and again they are trying to find happiness some where else.
Conclusion:
Some believe if they could marry a certain person they are certain they will be happy.
Did you know:
• Mickey Rooney has been married eight times.
• Elizabeth Taylor was married eight times.
• Zsa Zsa Gabor was married nine times.
• Jennifer Oneal 9 times
• Lona Turner 8
• Larry King 8 times
• George Foreman 5 times
• Clark Gable 5 times
• Henry Fonda 5 times
• Tony Curtis 6 times
WHAT DID ALL THESE PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON?
They all felt if they could be married to a certain person they would be happy.
They all had this in common, they all made the same mistake happiness can only be found in a person called the Lord Jesus.
When the Lord created us He was smart enough to put a vacuum in a man’s life and only He can fill that vacuum!
Now how long will it be for you to come to your senses and recognize you need to come to the Lord(Your Creator) and give Him your life.
To be a HAPPY CHRISTIAN you can not find it
I. OUR ASSOCIATION
II. OUR MONEY
