The Pursuit of HAPPYness
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The Pursuit of HAPPYness
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13
Introduction
* What is happiness? Different people define happiness different ways, but no matter how you define it, we all want it. Have you ever noticed that no one ever says, "I wish I weren't so happy all the time!"?
* Everyone wants to be happy. I want you to understand this morning that seeking one's own happiness is not a sin; it is a simple given in human nature.
* Well, even though everyone wants to be happy, even though God wants everyone to be happy, most people simply aren't. They often think happiness is just around the corner ‑ just a few dollars away, or a new relationship away, or one career achievement away.
* True happiness ‑ the kind that lasts through all of life's ups and downs ‑ eludes most people. If it eludes you, then today's message will hopefully give you a handle on how to find a happiness that isn't dependent on situations and circumstances, or what people say or don’t say.
* Simply put, happiness comes from experiencing the fullness of God in your life. (Eccl. 3:12) the word “happy”, (8055) hmaWA, samah, means “to rejoice, to be glad, to be in a state of happiness and to make others glad.”
* Nothing else can bring the joy that a personal relationship with God can bring, and once you learn to base your happiness on your relationship with God, nothing in the world can take it away from you.
* Therefore, here are three things that will help you get a handle on happiness. First of all, if you want to be happy ‑
- I. We Must Stop Making Excuses and Start Making an Effort: (No slide-John 5:1-14)
* In the fifth chapter of John, there is a story of a man who spent 38 years of his life lying beside the Pool of Bethesda, hoping to be healed. There was a belief that occasionally an angel would come to the pool and stir the waters, and the first one in the pool when the water was stirred would be healed. Jesus approached this man and said to him, "Do you want to get well?" Now, this is a simple, yes‑or‑no question, but instead of answering Jesus, the man made an excuse. He said, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred." Jesus didn't ask him if he wanted to get in the pool, he asked him if he wanted to be healed. But the man wasn't really thinking anymore about getting healed, he was just thinking of all the reasons why he couldn't get in the pool. Jesus said, in effect, "Forget about the pool. Get up, pick up your mat, and walk." And the man was healed that very moment.
* Many of us today are sitting beside some pool thinking, "If I just get in ‑ if I could just have this thing, or do this thing, or be a certain way, then everything would be wonderful and life would be a dream."
* Jesus is saying to the man, "Forget about the pool. It's not the pool you need to be happy and whole, it's me. Stop making excuses and start making an effort. Look to me."
* Most people who are unhappy can give a list of reasons why they're not happy. "How can I be happy when I'm so deeply in debt? How can I be happy when I have to work for my boss? How can I be happy when I'm so busy? How can I be happy when me and my spouse fight all the time?"
* The first step to finding happiness is to realize that whatever excuse we’re giving our self about why we're not happy is no longer valid. Whatever problems we have, there are people out there with the same problems who are happy anyway.
* In Proverbs 8:34, the word "blessed" literally means "happy."
* Proverbs is saying, "Stop making excuses and start living in obedience." Whatever you think is holding you back, isn't holding you back. God has eliminated all the barriers in your life to fulfillment, peace and contentment. Make an effort.
* Don't let our excuses hold us back from experiencing the fullness of God in our life.
* The problem is that too often we spend all of our time and energy making excuses for our misery because of what we don't have ‑ and those aren't the things we really need anyway.
* If we want to be happy, we’ve have to stop making excuses and start making an effort to find happiness. And true happiness is found only in Christ-take up our mat.
* If are going to find happiness then we must stop making excuses and start making an effort, secondly, if we want to be happy, we will have to-
II. We Must Eliminate Some Things from Your Life: (Eccl. 11:9)
* Do you know what I've noticed? There are many people who want to be happy, and their strategy for finding happiness is to do things that can only make them miserable.
* This is exactly what the writer of Ecclesiastes is referring to here. Many people live their lives just the way he described not to deny their hearts anything.
* Happiness comes when we:
* Eliminate Destructive Behavior- (Eccl. 11:9)
* Some people fill their lives with self destructive activities that are guaranteed to bring misery ‑ such as abusing alcohol, spending too much money, being promiscuous, taking drugs, and on and on.
* They do this thinking it will bring them happiness, but it doesn't. It can't. It is only hardening their heart ‑ and it leads only to emptiness and isolation. (Luke 12:17-19)
* In order to get a handle on happiness, we need to learn to identify those things we are doing that are destructive, and eliminate them from our lives.
* Eliminate Futile Behavior- (Eccl. 2:1-26)
* There are certain things we do that are not bad and destructive in and of themselves, but it is futile to expect them to make us happy. Most people who are unhappy fall into this category.
* For example, a career is good ‑ and necessary ‑ but no career can bring ultimate happiness. And yet, how many people pour their entire lives in a search for success, and then discover that it doesn't bring the happiness they had hoped for?
* Also, being married is good, but no relationship can ever provide the inner peace and contentment that we all need. How many people do you know that think, "If I could just meet the right person everything would be fine"?
* Some believe if they just had more money. But money can take you everywhere but heaven and can buy you everything but happiness. “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Prov. 23:5).
* A job is good, marriage, children and money are wonderful ‑ but why look to these things to give you more than they can possibly give? These can only add to your happiness, they cannot create your happiness for you.
* Why look for happiness in THINGS and PEOPLE that cannot make you happy?
* Solomon the wisest man to ever live tested his wisdom with all the things in this world and came to the conclusion that happiness and life is a gift of God and can only be found in Him and nothing else (Eccl. 3:12-13, 5:1-19, 8:15,2:26).
* HAPPYness is a gift from God in this life.
* The only way to find happiness is to experience the fullness of God through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
III. Embrace Your Relationship with God: (1 Peter 1:8)
* Pascal once said, “The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God. Not from God, but in God.”
* We all know of Christians who are grumpy ‑ who are always mad about something. There's an old joke about a guy who went to heaven, and as St. Peter let him through the gates, the first thing he saw was a complaint box. He said, "If everyone is so happy in heaven, why is there a complaint box?" St. Peter said, "We learned a long time ago the only way some people can be happy is if they have something to complain about."
* God wants to fill our lives with good things. He wants us to live, not just survive. Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10). And part of that abundant life is happiness!
* Embrace your relationship with God. Follow Jesus. Talk to him. Listen to what he says to you through His word, and put your hope for happiness in nothing but Him and He will give you happiness that cannot be put into words-inexpressible and glorious joy.
Conclusion
* The only way to get a handle on happiness is to experience the fullness of God in our life, through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
* If we're unhappy right now, let’s stop making excuses for being unhappy (job, finances, marriage, children, etc), and start making an effort to experience the joy that God has in store for us.
* Ask him to help you eliminate everything in your life that is keeping from being happy and from experiencing His fullness, and embrace your relationship with God.
* Cling to him as if He is your only hope for happiness in this world because He is.
* There is no better time than RIGHT NOW to be happy. Happiness is a JOURNEY with God, not a destination. So ‑‑ work like you don't need money, Love like you've never been hurt, and dance like no one's watching.
* BE HAPPY!
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