PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: SPIRIT OF HUMILITY
A. Ecclesiastes 2:1 (READ). (Good News Translation: “I decided to enjoy myself and find out what
HAPPINESS is…”)
1. What will it take to make you happy?
a. That’s the question Psychology Today asked 52,000 Americans.
COMMENT:
And their answers in rank order included: Friends. A good job. Being in love. Recognition or success. Sex. Personal growth. A good house or apartment. Being attractive or beautiful. Good health. The city that I live in. My religion. Recreation and exercise. Being a parent. And,
ironically, the last one was: My partner’s happiness.
b. Do you know what’s INTERESTING about that LIST?
COMMENT:
Virtually everything that is LISTED is an EXTERNAL THING or an EXTERNAL SITUATION. In other words, the popular idea of HAPPINESS is that I’ll have it if I can ever
LINEUP the RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES.
VIDEO ILLUSTRATION:
In 2006 Will Smith and his son Jaden starred in a movie titled “The Pursuit of Happyness.” It’s based on the life of Chris Gardner and his son who were HOMELESS for 1½ years on the streets of New York City before he finally became a successful STOCKBROKER on Wall Street.
In the scene coming up Chris Gardner, played by Will Smith, is finally told after working a year in an UNPAID INTERNSHIP that they want to HIRE him for the JOB. (SHOW VIDEO)
COMMENT:
I liked this MOVIE, but Gardner’s “PURSUIT of HAPPINESS” is not the HAPPINESS Jesus described in Matthew 5:3-12. Being HOMELESS and finally getting a GOOD-PAYING JOB can certainly make one HAPPY, but such HAPPINESS is only TEMPORARY based solely upon GOOD THINGS HAPPENING.
2. Of course, this is not a NEW idea.
a. Our English word HAPPINESS is from the same root word as our English word HAPPENING.
b. So, if I can just get enough POSITIVE HAPPENINGS in my life, then I’ll be HAPPY! It’s
“WHEN AND THEN” thinking.
ILLUSTRATION:
WHEN I get out of school THEN I’ll be happy. WHEN I get a job THEN I’ll be happy. WHEN I get rich THEN I’ll be happy. WHEN I get married THEN I’ll be happy. WHEN I have children THEN I’ll be happy. WHEN all the children leave home THEN I’ll be happy.
B. We’ve all had the “WHEN and THEN” thinking.
1. That is what Solomon’s Ecclesiastes is all about. If you want to save yourself a lot of HEARTACHE
in your PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, read and re-read Ecclesiastes 2.
COMMENT:
Solomon was by far the most POWERFUL man in the WORLD in his day and likely the RICHEST man who ever walked the face of the earth (including Elon Musk who is currently the RICHEST man in the world with a net worth of 222 billion dollars – I don’t even know how many zeros that is). Yet, Solomon wanted desperately to find HAPPINESS.
2. In Solomon’s PURSUIT of HAPPINESS, he discovered THREE DEAD ENDS:
a. The first DEAD END was “Accumulating Things”- vv. 7-8 (READ and COMMENT) (If it was
AVAILABLE, Solomon had it.)
b. The second DEAD END was “Experiencing Pleasure”- vv. 3, 10a (READ and COMMENT).
c. And the third DEAD END was “Achieving Success”- vv. 4, 9a (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
Solomon tried to find HAPPINESS in MATERIAL POSSESSIONS, WORLDLY PLEASURE, and SUCCESS. And 3,000 years later, those are still the things we think will bring us HAPPINESS.
Did they make Solomon HAPPY? In v. 17 he says, “So I HATED LIFE . . . All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” Solomon, like countless others after him, realized that true HAPPINESS is not found in THINGS at all.
C. Turn to Matthew 5 and we’ll see what Jesus says about HAPPINESS.
1. I find it INTERESTING that of all the subjects that Jesus could have picked to start the greatest, most
famous sermon of all time?The Sermon on the Mount?He chose to speak on, “How to Be Happy.”
COMMENT:
Why would Jesus do that? Because He knew what it is that everybody WANTS and so few people FIND. So, Jesus began His SERMON with a LIST of what it takes to find TRUE HAPPINESS. And His LIST is vastly different from Solomon’s. Solomon’s LIST depended upon
OUTWARD CIRCUMSTANCES, whereas Jesus’ LIST depends upon one’s ATTITUDE.
In other words, “My happiness is not determined by what’s HAPPENING TO ME, but what’s HAPPENING IN ME.” Jesus wants us to understand that HAPPINESS is a CHOICE.
2. Matthew 5:3-12 (READ)
COMMENT:
The word “BLESSED” actually means HAPPINESS. And, yet, it seems that Jesus’ LIST will produce MISERY not HAPPINESS. That’s the PARADOX. It was Solomon’s LIST that
produced MISERY. Jesus’ LIST, if intensely APPLIED, will produce LASTING HAPPINESS.
MESSAGE:
I. FIRST ATTITUDE OF OBTAINING TRUE HAPPINESS IS BEING “POOR IN SPIRIT”- v. 3
A. Can you imagine what the people must have thought when they came to hear Jesus preach on the
topic HOW TO BE HAPPY, and the first thing they hear is “HAPPY ARE THE POOR IN SPIRIT.”
1. Such teaching is a RADICAL IDEA even today because it CONTRADICTS what most
people believe will produce HAPPINESS.
COMMENT:
Our SOCIETY would argue that POVERTY OF SPIRIT leads to DESPAIR, not HAPPINESS. They would say, “HAPPY are the SUCCESSFUL, the POWERFUL, the
AGGRESSIVE, the SELF-RELIANT.”
Being POOR IN SPIRIT is equated with being DEPRESSED, TIMID, and PASSIVE?with having a POOR SELF-ESTEEM. And everyone knows that this is not how you GET AHEAD IN LIFE.
2. That’s not what Jesus is talking about at all.
a. He’s not telling people that they must walk around with some kind of INFERIORITY
COMPLEX in order to be HAPPY. (That’s certainly not how He LIVED.)
COMMENT:
To be POOR IN SPIRIT means that we see our total SPIRITUAL POVERTY before God and our utter DEPENDENCE upon Him. It means to be HUMBLE. It means ADMITTING daily that we don’t have it ALTOGETHER?that we are absolutely NOTHING without God.
b. Jesus is talking about having a SPIRIT OF HUMILITY before God and others.
COMMENT:
The more we DEPEND upon God and LESS of ourselves, the more we OPEN the DOOR to TRUE HAPPINESS.
B. But the question is “HOW.” How does being HUMBLE produce HAPPINESS?
1. HUMILITY REDUCES STRESS.
a. When I’m HUMBLE, I can live in the TENSION between the IDEAL and the REAL and don’t STRESS OVER of “WHAT MIGHT BE”. (You know what I’m talking about?)
b. I’ve got an IDEAL for all PARTS of my LIFE, don’t you?
ILLUSTRATION:
I’ve got an IDEAL PICTURE of how I’d like to do my MINISTRY and all the things
about me.
I’ve got an IDEAL PICTURE about all of my HABITS that I wish I had.
I’ve got an IDEAL PICTURE for my MARRIAGE—perfect without any PROBLEMS.
I’ve got an IDEAL PICTURE about my CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN.
I’ve got an IDEAL PICTURE of what I would like Garfield Christian Church to be.
COMMENT:
I’ve got an IDEAL about all these things, and then I’ve got the REAL. And guess what? The REAL is never the IDEAL. And the PROBLEM that many people have is they think they’ll only be HAPPY when the IDEAL comes along. And it seldom gets here.
c. HUMILITY accepts the fact that THINGS aren’t IDEAL, and yet I can still be HAPPY because I’m DEPENDING upon the “IDEAL”?my HEAVENLY FATHER.
2. HUMILITY IMPROVES YOUR RELATIONSHIPS.
a. How many of you like to be around BIG-HEADED, EGOTISTICAL people?
ILLUSTRATION:
How many of you wake up on a Monday morning and say, “Wow, I hope I can take an irritating, conceited blockhead out to lunch today.”? How many of you do that? (Don’t TURN around and STARE at anybody, okay. . . . Don’t POINT.)
The fact is, PRIDEFUL people are a PAIN to be around. Do you know why they WRECK RELATIONSHIPS? Because SELF-CENTERED people are never HAPPY, never JOYFUL, and they TEND to DRAG everybody else DOWN.
b. On the other hand, how many of you like to be around HUMBLE people?
ILLUSTRATION:
Don’t you just love that? They’re always LIFTING you UP. And don’t you love to be around somebody who when you tell a STORY, they don’t have to TOP it? You’re FISH STORY is always the BIGGEST. You’re VACATION TRIP is always the BEST. HUMBLE PEOPLE are never in COMPETITION with you.
c. When you are HUMBLE, you GET ALONG better with others, not because you think LESS
of yourself but because you think MORE about others- Phil. 2:3-4 (READ & COMMENT).
COMMENT:
Church, this is a KEY to good, HAPPY SOCIAL LIVING. When you become more INTERESTED in others, you become more INTERESTING to others. So, you have better RELATIONSHIPS when you’re HUMBLE. You’re not TOO GOOD to say, “I'm SORRY. I MESSED up. I was WRONG. Please FORGIVE me. I’ll DO BETTER.”
3. HUMILITY unleashes GOD’S POWER.
a. This is the best one, because the Bible says the secret of SPIRITUAL POWER is to WALK
HUMBLY before God.
b. God- “…This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at
my word.” Isaiah 66:2b.
c. James- “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” --Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up”- James 4:6b, 10
COMMENT:
If we want to be ESTEEMED by God . . . if we want Him to bestow His GRACE upon us and LIFT US UP, then we have to HUMBLE ourselves before our Father in Heaven and before
each other.
We’ll never know God’s POWER in our lives unless we possess a SPIRIT of HUMILITY—an ACKNOWLEDGEMENT that we are NOTHING without God and UTTERLY HELPLESS without Him.
II. THE POOR IN SPIRIT POSSESSES THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
A. The POOR IN SPIRIT . . . are RICH after all.
1. Solomon looked for HAPPINESS through POWER, PLEASURE, POSSESSIONS and found
MISERY.
COMMENT:
And, yet, that is a WELL-WORN PATH that so many people TRAVEL DOWN in their PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS—a HAPPINESS that can never be SUSTAINED because it is dependent solely on POSITIVE CIRCUMSTANCES. And when your CIRCUMSTANCES CHANGE or become MONOTONOUS, there goes your HAPPINESS.
2. Yet, Jesus said, “If we become POOR in SPIRIT?if we HUMBLE ourselves before God and DEPEND entirely upon Him, we will find eternal HAPPINESS and God will give us His
KINGDOM.”
COMMENT:
Solomon’s KINGDOM was NOTHING! Elon Musk’s 222-billion-dollar PORTFOLIO is NOTHING, compared to what God GIVES US just by being HUMBLE before Him!
B. God makes us RICH when we strive to be POOR IN SPIRIT.
ILLUSTRATION:
I do not recall where I heard the story of an ALCOHOLIC who, though he lived in SKID ROW, always insisted that he had been a PROMINENT BUSINESSMAN before he HIT BOTTOM.
He SMELLED BAD, LOOKED BAD, SHOOK BAD, and DRESSED BAD. But he always told stories of BETTER DAYS?days when he was RESPECTED, WEALTHY, and had INFLUENTIAL FRIENDS. His SKID ROW buddies didn’t believe a word of it, and the more they RIDICULED him the more he FELT the need to TELL his STORY.
One day while he was TALKING about his GLORY DAYS and being MOCKED by his FRIENDS, he saw an obviously SUCCESSFUL man walking down the street. “That’s one of my old COLLEAGUES over there,” he said. That was a MISTAKE, because his friends called him a LIAR and asked him to PROVE IT by APPROACHING the man.
Feeling he had no other OPTION, he HURRIED across the ROAD and with great URGENCY said quietly, “Please, mister, I’m sorry to bother you. I don’t WANT any MONEY, but PLEASE, will you PRETEND that you KNOW me? Please!”
With a quick glance at the GAWKING FRIENDS, the stranger let out a big HOLLER, THREW his ARMS around him, SLAPPED his back, SHOOK his hand, and said loudly, “I haven’t seen you in years. I WONDERED where you’d gone. How on earth are you doing?” He took him down the road, CLEANED him up, got his HAIR CUT, put a new SUIT on him, FED him, and put MONEY in his POCKET.
The RICH man went on his WAY and the DRUNK back to SKID ROW, but now he had SUBSTANCE for his STORIES.
COMMENT:
We want so much to be “SOMEBODY.” We want to be APPRECIATED and ACCEPTED. So, we try to FOLLOW the WORLD’S FORMULA of SUCCESS and HAPPINESS to REACH the TOP, but instead end up on the SKID ROW of LIFE.
But it’s in SKID ROW where we can finally learn HUMILITY, and find the One who offers us NOT only a MEAL, CLOTHES, a BATH, and TEMPORARY RELEASE, but who GIVES us His NAME, His CLEANSING, and His KINGDOM.
CONCLUSION:
A. The FIRST STEP to TRUE HAPPINESS is allowing God to HUMBLE OUR HEARTS by taking on the attitude, “POOR IN SPIRIT”.
ARE YOU STRIVING TO BE HUMBLE
BEFORE GOD AND OTHERS?
