ATTN: I was brought up in a church background where I was taught, probably more implicitly, it was somehow wrong to be happy. “There is something wrong with you spiritually if you are happy!” A Christian is supposed to have joy but not happiness. What is the difference? Joy is from God. Happiness is from the world. So, we should not find happiness in anything other than God – like in sports, or movies, entertainment, or vacations, or even family. We are to find joy in reading the Bible, in prayer, in church worship services, and in watching Christian movies, but not in “secular” things. What this did was to create a set of standards that judged who’s a good Christian and who’s not. Those who did these spiritual things – reading the bible, praying, attended church regularly – were the good Christians and more pleasing to God. But those who liked to have parties, watch movies, enjoy sporting events, go on vacations, were somehow less spiritual. So, I was brought up to think….

But when I read the Bible more carefully, God wants us to be happy. And it’s not just in “spiritual” things like the Bible, prayer, and worship services, but also in everyday things. “Rejoice always. Again I say rejoice!” the Apostle Paul says. We are to rejoice, or to be happy in all things God has given to us. But what does that look like?

Jesus starts out His famous sermon on the mount by saying, “Happy are the….” He spells out what makes for a happy person. This assumes that God wants us to be happy. And also that He knows that we want to be happy. And that’s good because God and us are in agreement. We want to be happy. God wants us to be happy. So, who are the truly happy ones?

“v.3 Blessed (or Happy) are the poor in spirit…4 Blessed are those who mourn… 5 Blessed are the meek…” Two weeks ago, we said that means: 1. Happy are those who admit their helplessness.

2. Happy are those who are broken over their sins. 3. Happy are those who committed their cause to God and thus have no need to defend themselves.

This is quite different from what the world tells us will bring us happiness, isn’t it? To be happy, we need to be strong, whole, confident, competent, and not helpless, broken and completely dependent upon someone else – namely God! But we said true happiness is found in God. He is the source of true, lasting happiness. And the only way to get Him is for us to admit that we are utterly incapable of obtaining lasting happiness for ourselves. Have you realized the futility of asking “only if?” ILL:  I tell my high school seniors, “I know you think “only if” you are out of this dump of a high school and be in college, you will be happy.” But I’ve had plenty of college students who told me they couldn’t wait to get out of college and “only if” they get a job, and then they will be happy. But then, I’ve had young adults who were working full time tell me that “only if” they were married and had a home, they would be happy. Then again, I’ve had young married couples who told me that “only if” they can take a year off on vacation and travel the world, they would be happy. Then, I’ve also talked to retirees who told me that only if they can turn back the time and go back to their younger years, such as in high school, they would be happy. We are forever chasing after happiness and unable to obtain it! The world makes us think that only if we can achieve certain status, have certain wealth, be in certain position, we will be happy, but the very one who created us presents a very different picture. “Happy are those who are helpless, broken over their failures, but who are dependent on God for approval! Why? Again, because we are created for God and to be in God, we find our ultimate happiness in God.

Question 1: So, Jesus is saying that God is the source of happiness and thus if we have God, then we should be happy no matter our current circumstances? Yes! ILL: John Newton gives this illustration: Imagine you are on your way to New York city in your carriage to collect your inheritance of $1 million! (He lived 200 years ago. So $1 million was a lot more money back then….) But 1 mile from the city, your carriage breaks down. And as you are walking to the city to collect $1 million, the whole time you are complaining, “My carriage is broken. My carriage!” How stupid? If we are made sons and daughters of God, we will inherit the earth. All things are ours, God said! It would be stupid to complain that we don’t have a good job, or don’t own a home, or our car broke down…

Question 2: If we are to find happiness in God, does that mean that we are to find happiness only in “spiritual” things – such as the Bible, prayer, church service and praise music? Short answer, “No.” What makes a thing spiritual or worldly is NOT the thing itself, but whether we are giving God the glory for it. For example, a person could be reading the Bible, but if he’s doing purely academically to pass a college course, then that’s not spiritual. On the other hand, you could be eating a meal, a thing everyone has to do, but as you are eating, you are thanking God for it and thanking God for giving you the taste buds to taste the food, and living in the U.S., you never have to worry when your next meal is coming from, then it’s spiritual! In that way, we are to find our happiness IN God THROUGH things.

ILL: C.S. Lewis: The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”

For example, on our way to VA last week for Spring break, I was looking at my family sleeping in the plane and I was thanking God for providing enough resources for our family to make that trip possible and thanking him for our church to sustain itself without me being there. I was thanking him for the opportunity to worship with other believers on Sunday and reaffirming my commitment to Him. That’s finding happiness IN God THROUGH our vacation.

The bible tells us, “Whatever you do, whether eating or drinking, do it all unto the glory of God.” That means, it’s not wrong to enjoy a Sunday afternoon football game. It’s not wrong to find happiness in our children. It’s not wrong to go to the movies and be excited. Give glory and thanks to God as you are doing those things. However, I do believe there are things that are closer to the heart of God than other things. The direct things versus indirect things. The things like the word of God, prayer and worship are what I’d call direct things – they are like receiving a love letter from God, speaking to God, and eating with Him. We can get the most accurate picture of God through those direct means. Then, there are indirect things, like nature walking, exercising, reading a good book, enjoying a sporting event – they are like looking at an art piece that our loved one painted. James 1:17, “17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…” They don’t communicate love directly to us like his love letters do, but still communicates something about Him…

Being a Christian means having God at the foundation of our joy. He is the ultimate source of our happiness. It is tracing every branch of joy or happiness to the tree of God where they get their sap from. Eventually, all things that are not God will let us down. Our beauty will fade. Our money will be depleted. Our taste-buds will become dull. Our children will grow up and leave us. Our spouse will die on us. Our knees and hips won’t sustain us in traveling. So, unless God is the ultimate bottom of our foundation of happiness, we won’t be truly happy forever.

So, Jesus continues….

4. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

It doesn’t say, “blessed are the righteous.” But blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. He’s appealing to desire. It’s those who strongly desire righteousness that will be satisfied.

What is righteousness? Jesus, I believe is, referring to two kinds of righteousness.

1. Personal righteousness (Being rightly related to God)– “I desire a right relationship with you.” “I want to be pleasing to you as I hope in you, obey you, and depend on You.” “I want moral uprightness in my life!”
2. God’s righteousness or justice in this world (Being rightly ruled) – “I desire your rule, your rein in this world. “Your kingdom come, your will be done!” “God, I want you to be prominent and your will to be done so that there would be no more injustice, discrimination and inequality in this world.”

This hunger and thirsting for righteousness goes with another saying of Jesus, “Seek first the kingdom of God and all His righteousness” – HIS rightness as opposed to this world’s wrongness. So, Jesus is saying, “Happy are those say and believe, “God, I desire more than anything else for your rule and your will to be done in me and in the world!”

The world teaches us to say the opposite, doesn’t it? It says, “Happy are those who can get away with as much wrongness as possible!” As the recent Las Vegas ad would put it, “Just the right amount of wrong.” Why? Because always doing right is boring. We need to be on the edge. Don’t do too much wrong because you will pay for the consequences, but just the right amount of wrong will give you both the thrill and not enough consequences to haunt you for the rest of your life.

But Jesus says, “No! True happiness is found in hungering and thirsting, in other words, strongly desiring God’s righteousness from inside out both in you and in the world.” Christians are not those who don’t have strong desires. We are not Buddhists who are trying to discipline ourselves to desire nothing because the world is evil. No, we are Christians who have stronger desire than the world for things that are better than what the world offers. We are not merely satisfied with a good job, healthy marriage, happy children, adequate savings, and occasional vacations. No. We want something more than that. We want God’s righteousness to shine through in us and in this world. We want the world to know Christ and follow Him. We have a burden for the world. We sigh and think to ourselves, “Only if they knew Christ.” “Jesus, when will you come? When will you make all things right? How long, O Lord?”

As you look at the world, not just yourself, do you sense that not all is right? Even though we live in the wealthiest country in the world, do you sense that there is something wrong with our world? Somehow it is skewed. It’s not what it’s supposed to be? Why? Because God’s rule, His kingdom is not fully here. God is not in primary place in most people’s lives. And you want God to be more glorified and central in people’s liver. You yearn for it. Your desire goes beyond your own happiness and well-being.

– That is a portrait of true, genuine, born-again believer – he is not completely at home here on earth. There is a better world coming and so he doesn’t try to find it here on earth. You won’t find it. Young people, you may think only if you are in the college of your dreams, you will be happy, you won’t be. Single people, you may think if you only met the one and married, you will be happy forever. You won’t be. Retirement won’t bring permanent happiness.

But we hunger and thirst for it because we know the God who is the source of it. We desire His rule in us and in the world. And we pray for it. We strive to bring it about on earth as best as we can. Knowing that it won’t be fully accomplish until Jesus comes back the second time to restore and renew all things, but until then, we fight, strive, clutch unto, refuse to give up, obtaining personal righteousness and God’s justice in the world.

CONC: I was so encouraged when I met up with old friends. Diane and Tee. All white church…. Why would they choose such a church to serve in when they don’t really fit in? God’s righteousness. His justice. Diversity being one of them..