INTRO.- Where is happiness to be found? I can tell you where it is not to be found. In material things.
ILL.- The last time I bought a new car was 1988. It was a Buick Skylark. Admittedly, a Buick Skylark is not the most popular or luxurious car in the world, but I liked it. It was on sale. The sticker price was $14,000 and the sale bill on the windshield read: St. Patrick’s Day special: $12,000.
I got a good trade and drove the car home. It was a two-door, sporty-looking Skylark. Burgundy color, auto, AC, power windows, power brakes and it had that new, powerful quad-four engine and was quite peppy.
I was in hog heaven driving that car. That is, until it broke down the first time with a blown head gasket. I thought that was something of a fluke until it happened a 2nd time on the way to St. Louis and had to have it towed in to a nearby garage. Fortunately, it was still under warranty, but they had it two weeks before I got it back. WHAT A HEADACHE!
Brothers and sisters, I have discovered that the joy of material things don’t last. Haven’t you? And it really doesn’t matter what it is: car, house, TV, clothes, etc.
There will always come a time when these things WILL NOT SATISFY.
Luke 12:15 Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
ILL.- Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family said it very well. He wrote, “Though I can make no claim to wealth, I have tasted most of the things Americans hunger for; new cars, an attractive home, and gadgets and devices which promise to set us free. Looking at those materialistic possessions from the other side of the cash register, I can tell you that they don’t deliver the satisfaction they advertise!
“On the contrary, I have found great wisdom in the adage, ‘That which you own will eventually own you!’ How true that is. Having surrendered my hard earned dollars for a new object only obligates me to maintain and protect it; instead of its contributing to my pleasure, I must spend my precious Saturdays oiling it, mowing it, painting it, repairing it, cleaning it, or calling the Salvation Army to haul it off! The time I might have invested in worthwhile family activities is spent in slavery to a depreciating piece of junk.” This would be funny if it weren’t so true!
I think we would have to agree. There may be some satisfaction in certain material things, but none of them last nor do they bring lasting happiness.
Brothers and sisters, I wish we all could find greater happiness in this life than we have found! And some can be found! But probably not where we think! Ultimately, our happiness or greatest joy will be in heaven!
PROP- Let me list some things that we can do in the meantime to acquire greater happiness in this unhappy world. Our focus must change in order to have greater happiness in this life.
1- We must focus on eternity, not earth
2- We must focus on people, not possessions
3- We must focus on service, not self
I. WE MUST FOCUS ON ETERNITY, NOT EARTH
ILL.- Newly arrived tourist speaking to man wearing loud Hawaiian shirt.
Tourist: Do you say Hawaii or Havaii?
Shirt guy: Havaii.
Tourist: Thank you.
Shirt guy: You’re velcome.
ILL.- Have you ever visited Hawaii? Many years ago, my older brother Larry visited Hawaii. He and his wife had a luxurious hotel to stay in, great food, and they sunned on the beach daily and took life easy. My brother sent me a postcard, saying, “Man, this is the life!” To him at that time, Hawaii was pretty good living!
ILL.- My twin sister Sharon and her husband Mike just got back from a 7-day cruise in the Caribbean. She wrote me about their cruise. She said, “At Key West we took the island tour on the bus and went to an aquarium and a museum. Then we did a little shopping and got some key lime pie.
“At the Grand Caymans we took an island tour and stopped at the town of Hell (named for the rock formations) and also stopped at the Turtle Farm. There were all kinds and sizes of turtles, and we could hold one of them. We had box lunches from the ship and did a little shopping.
“At Cozumel we went to the mainland and took the bus ride and tram ride to see the Mayan Ruins, which was real interesting but hot. Then we ferried back to Cozumel and did a little shopping.”
She said several times that they “did a little shopping.” Sounds to me like they did a lot of shopping! Anyway, Sharon and Mike loved the cruise and said the food was fabulous.
Brothers and sisters, no matter how good this world is or seems to us, it is nothing in comparison to heaven!
ILL.- Two Christians lived very good, and also very healthy lives. They eventually died and went to heaven. As they are walking along, marveling at the paradise around them, one turned to the other and said, "Wow. I never knew heaven was going to be as good as this!"
"Yeah", said the other. "And just think, if we hadn’t eaten all that oat bran we could have been here ten years sooner."
The truth is this: none of us know how great and glorious heaven will be! If we did, our focus would be different and our lives would be different! We might not stop eating oat bran but we would change some things that we do.
I Cor. 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
What is Paul talking about? Most people think he is talking about the glory of heaven. And we do believe that it will be greater or grander than anything we have ever known, seen or felt in this life! Of course, there is little we can do to imagine it other than consider Scripture.
Rev. 21:1-4 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Probably one of the best descriptions of heaven is this: No tears, no crying, no pain. Nothing hurtful from this life. Nothing negative or nasty from this life. The presence of God our Father, soothing us, loving us.
ILL.- One day when George MacDonald, the great Scottish preacher and writer, was talking with his son, the conversation turned to heaven. "It seems too good to be true," the son said at one point.
A smile crossed MacDonald’s whiskered face. "Nay," he replied, "It is just so good it must be true!" IT IS TRUE. We must believe God’s Word. We must trust Him. He can be trusted.
Col. 3:1-3 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
If we are ever going to find any happiness in this life then we must realize there is more to life than this life. We must focus on that which is eternal! We need to change our focus from earth to eternity. We must anticipate, not dread what is going to happen. We must glory in it. Prepare for it. Sing about it. Dream about it. Live for it.
ILL.- C. S. Lewis in Mere Christianity wrote, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.”
To find some happiness in this life and be effective as a Christian, we must set our focus on eternity and heaven!
II. WE MUST FOCUS ON PEOPLE, NOT POSSESSIONS
ILL.- Comedian Jay Leno said, “They say John Kerry is the first Democratic presidential candidate in history to raise $50 million in a three-month period. Actually, that’s nothing. He once raised $500 million with two words: ’I do.’"
We all know that money and material possessions are the great goal of most people in life. We often gauge how a person is doing by the size of their bank account, the size of their house and the accumulation of their possessions.
ILL.- Take Jay Leno, for example, the host of The Tonight Show. He may be one of America’s funniest comedians, but he is also a serious car enthusiast. His three garages near Burbank, CA, are packed with sports and special-interest cars, antiques and classics, old motorcycles, oil company signs and "automobilia."
He hasn’t counted everything up recently, but he owns more than 50 cars and about as many vintage and modern bikes. No car or bike in Leno’s collection is a museum piece; he drives everything and nearly everything runs at all times. Blessed with an assigned parking space at NBC Studios, Leno takes a different vehicle to work every day.
It is said that If you want to see Leno get really enthusiastic, just ask him for a ride in his 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II with its 1,000-horsepower Merlin V-12. He said, "It’s got 1,806 pounds of torque. There’s nothing like it. That’s real power."
Leno would rather hang out in the garage than do almost anything else--except write and tell jokes. So his spare time is spent tinkering with his cars, or riding his bikes.
Leno is partial to Duesenbergs. "This car is not a myth," he insists, pointing to a J. "Any 70-year-old car that can keep up with modern traffic in L.A. and drive like a normal car is pretty amazing. At a time when the speed limit was 45 mph, a Duesenberg could go 120 mph."
How does he decide what to buy next? "I just see something. If it catches my eye, it’s like a pretty girl...But I’m quite happy with everything I have. I don’t lust for new things (yeah, sure). But, if I do see one and think, ’Oh, that’s nice...’ Well, that’s cool, too."
And his wife, Mavis, is tolerant of this passion? "Yes. It’s cheaper than hookers and cocaine," he jokes, "Most guys in Hollywood have 20 girlfriends and one car and I have 20 cars and one girlfriend. She always knows where I am. I’m here in the garage.
"Having these cars is great fun," Leno says. "And there’s a sense of history to all this stuff. We don’t really own these cars, we just keep them for the next owners."
Jay Leno is passionate about cars, BUT WHAT ABOUT PEOPLE? You get a sense that he is somewhat passionate about people, at least, about making people laugh, but not to the degree of passion that he has for cars. And, of course, if he can make people laugh in a big way that means money in his pocket!
Cars are just cars (Leno’s or otherwise). They can’t hug you. They can’t cry with you. They can’t laugh with you. They can share life with you. They can’t encourage you. They can’t love you. They can’t appreciate you. BUT PEOPLE CAN DO ALL OF THESE THINGS AND MORE!
Material things were not meant to be our all-consuming passion in life. If they are, then we have certainly missed the boat on what God desires of us and we will miss out on a great deal of happiness in life.
Phil. 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”
Our interests are important to us, but they should not be to the point that we pay little or no attention to people. People are eternal. Our pleasurable interests are not. TRUE JOY IS FOUND IN PEOPLE! Therefore, our focus must be on people rather than possessions if we are to find greater joy in life!
III. WE MUST FOCUS ON SERVICE, NOT SELF
Gal. 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
ILL.- Mother said to her son Bobby, “Why Bobby, you ate all that cake without thinking of your little sister.”
Bobby replied, “I was thinking of her all the time. I was afraid she would come in before I finished it.”
Many people are like Bobby. More self-oriented than service-oriented. More interested in getting than in giving.
ILL.- Tertullian, the church leader of the early years of the Lord’s church, wrote, “He who lives to benefit himself confers on the world a benefit when he dies.” In other words, the world is blessed or benefited when selfish people die.
Brothers and sisters, we are called by Christ to serve others, not self. God put us here for others! This is something that we should have learned long before Rick Warren’s book, THE PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE, came along!
ILL.- Preacher/writer, Charles Swindoll, tells an interesting story in his book COME BEFORE WINTER. It happened on a cold, blustery night in January in 1973. Senator John Stennis, democrat from Mississippi, drove from Capitol Hill to his northwest Washington home. Although he was 71 years old, he was still the powerful chairman of the Senate Armed Service committee. At 7:40 p.m. he parked his car and started toward his house 50 ft. away.
Out of the darkness jumped two young robbers. One nervously waved a .22 caliber pistol as the other relieved the senator of his wallet, gold wristwatch, etc. Stennis didn’t fight with them but he did argue with them. One of them said, “Now we’re going to shoot you anyway.” He fired twice, piercing his stomach, rupturing his pancreas, and damaging his intestinal tract. The other shot lodged in his left thigh.
The assailants fled into the night as Stennis stumbled into his house to call for help. For 6 and a half hours surgeons at Walter Reed Medical Center labored to repair the damage and save his life. At 9:15 that same night another politician was driving home from the Senate, a man from the other side of politics, a Republican who had often clashed with Stennis. He was Senator Mark Hatfield. The tragedy was reported on Hatfield’s car radio. Disregarding the strong differences the two had, Hatfield drove immediately to the hospital to help.
Hatfield said, “I had no skills to offer, but I knew there was something I must do – and that was to go to that hospital and be nearby where I could be helpful, if possible, to the family.”
There was untold confusion at the hospital as people overwhelmed the hospital’s telephone operators. Hatfield quickly scoped out the situation, spotted an unattended switchboard, sat down, and voluntarily went to work. He said, “I know how to work one of these. Let me help you.” He continued taking calls until daylight.
Hatfield finally stood up at daylight, put on his coat, and quietly introduced himself to the operators. “I’m Mark Hatfield and I was happy to help out on behalf of a man I deeply respect.”
The press didn’t know what to make of the situation when it came to them. It didn’t sense for a liberal Republican to give a conservative Democrat the time of day, not to mention all night service.
Brothers and sisters, service, not self is the name of the game. Hatfield could have ignored that tragic situation, but he didn’t. And I don’t what his faith was, but he certainly did what a Christian might do. I suspect that he was, indeed, a Christian.
God put us here to serve one another in love, not watch out for ourselves, not live for ourselves. And sometimes this may mean that we will have to go out of our way to help someone or serve them.
ILL.- Albert Schweitzer said, "I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: The ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
The way to greater joy in life is not though self. It’s through service to others.
Gal. 5:13 “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.”
CONCLUSION--------------------------------------------
ILL.- William Lyons Phelps stated, "If happiness truly consisted in physical ease and freedom from care then the happiest individual would not be either a man or a woman; it would be, I think, an American cow."
ILL.- Alexander Solzhetsyn said, "If humanism was right in declaring that man is born to be happy then man wouldn’t be born to die."
There is a certain amount of happiness available to us in this life, but the ultimate happiness will come after this life.
Jesus said in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (or have it more abundantly).
Only Jesus offers any lasting happiness at all. It’s a matter of following Him, doing His will. It’s a matter of focusing on eternity, not earth. People, not possessions. And service, not self.
