Time to Be Happy

April 27, 2014 Acts 2:14, 22-32 1 Peter 1:3-9 “Time to be Happy” Second Sunday after Easter Year A What are the things in life that make you happy? Bacon makes me happy. I hear all of the reports of how bacon is not good for you. But no matter what else I may have for breakfast, bacon makes me happy and starts my day off right. Warm weather makes me happy. Gym shoes makes me happy. Last week was Easter, and I had on a new pair of dress shoes with a heal – that didn’t make me happy. But a good pair of gym shoes that fit – works every time – I am happy today. What is it that makes you happy? THE IMPACT OF OPTIMISM Just a few years ago (2004), Fox News reported on a study that came from the Archives of General Psychiatry. Researchers studied 1,000 people aged 65-85 trying to determine the importance of a positive attitude in dealing with life. After almost 10 years of follow-up, these researchers found that people who described themselves as optimistic had a 55 percent lower risk of death from all causes and a 23 percent lower risk of heart-related death. The study found that optimistic people tend to be more physically active, drink less, and smoke less. They also cope with stress more effectively. (E. Giltay, Archives of General Psychiatry, November 2004, vol. 61, pp. 1126-1135; www. foxnews.com/story/0,2933,137312,00.html) Our attitude makes a crucial difference in dealing with life, and we as believers in Christ have every reason to be optimistic. Our future is guaranteed! We have an incorruptible inheritance and the power of God protecting us until we get to glory (1 Peter 1:4-5). (From a sermon by C. Philip Green, The Holiness of Grace, 4/29/2011) This is the season of being happy I have noticed that with Pharrell Williams new song happy out – everyone is obsessed with being happy. Happy times seems to be everywhere. Everyone is happy. But what is the real source of being happy? Easter makes me happy. Now I am not talking about the bunnies, and the easter eggs and the candy, and the easter lilies. But the true meaning of Easter makes me happy. The good news of the resurrection of Christ makes me happy. The thought of new life and new beginnings make me happy. The thought of a victory so powerful to overcome death makes me happy. The Sunday after Easter This is actually happy Sunday. The day that we celebrate being happy in Christ. For many this is low Sunday – those who think of Easter as just one day. For many, Easter is over – when the truth is that every Sunday is Easter, and everyday that we can come to celebrate the resurrection is a good day – a day to be …happy. Scripture tells us to be happy I choose both of our scriptures for today – because they both talk about being happy – in Christ. In Acts, Peter is preaching to the jews on the day of Pentecost. He is telling them all about the miracle of the resurrection. He is telling them how his life was changed from witnessing the miracle of God himself. He is telling of how God raised up Christ, and that God will raise us up too. But today I am going to focus on 1 Peter – which was written a generation later. Scholars don’t think it was Peter who wrote this. Acts is the story of those who witnessed the resurrection themselves, and are celebrating the difference it made in their lives. 1 Peter was written for those who had not witnessed for themselves, but were depending on what they had heard. 1 Peter was written to a group of people who were discouraged, and unhappy – and needed some words of encouragement. They needed to know how to be happy in unhappy times – like many of us. The first sentence of the verse says it all – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ By his given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, indefiled, and unfading,kept in heaven for you who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to revealed in the last time. Now I know that was a mouthful- and I could preach a sermon series in just that one topic. He had given us new birth in resurrection, we have a living hope, a hope that cannot be taken away from us, but is kept for us in heaven, protected by our faith, that we will finally understand when Christ returns. Today I want to focus on two parts of that sentence – a living hope and an imperishable inheritance. In "Man's Search for Meaning", Viktor Frankl recounts what happened to his friend, a fellow inmate in Auschwitz: "I would like to tell you something, Doctor. I have had a strange dream. A voice told me that I could wish for something, that I should only say what I wanted to know, and all my questions would be answered... I wanted to know when we, when our camp, would be liberated and our sufferings come to an end." "And when did you have this dream?" I asked. "In February, 1945," he answered. It was then the beginning of March. "What did your dream voice answer?" Furtively he whispered to me, "March 30." When my friend told me about this dream, he was still full of hope and convinced that the voice of his dream would be right. But as the promised day drew nearer, the war news which reached our camp made it appear very unlikely that we would be free on the promised date. • March 29, my friend suddenly became ill and ran a high temperature. • March 30, the day his prophecy had told him that the war and suffering would be over for him, he became delirious and lost consciousness. • March 31, he was dead. This shattered hope lowered his body's resistance against the latent typhus infection. His faith in the future and his will to live had become paralyzed and his body fell victim to illness - and thus the voice of his dream was right after all" (p. 97). This is a story of a man who had hope, but it was not a living hope and it was not a hope grounded in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus it was a hope that did not serve him. A living hope is a hope that makes us happy and makes a difference in our lives. If you have a living hope in the living Christ you can deal with your past failures and present difficulties because of your future blessings (CIT) When you understand who Christ is and what Christ has done for you, then you cant help but to be happy, because you cant help but to have an unfailing hope in today – because Christ has guaranteed your future. Whatever happens to you now, is not the final story. Through God’s grace – the battle has always been won. You don’t have to worry about what is going to happen or what God is going to do – because God has already done – through the resurrection. Peter is trying to tell us that is Jesus is alive and well after death, the our hope should alive and well in all circumstances. We as Christians go through the same struggles as anyone else. We ask the same questions, but we don’t have the same answers. Faith in Jesus Christ, means faith that all will work out for those who love the Lord. The Jews live in the promise of Abraham, the Easter people live in the promise of Jesus. Not a different promise, but a better understanding. Inheritance in the bible One of my favorite psalms is Psalm 16 verse 5 says you alone are my inheritance, you make my lot sescure. Lamentations 3:24 says you alone are my inheritance, my hope is in you. Inheriting Faith George and his wife were visiting his widowed sister Elaine in their hometown in Nebraska, Elaines and George’s mother had died two years ago and this was the first time George and his wife had been able to visit Elaine since the funeral. So there was a good deal of reminiscing about their mother and father and life in the farm that they grew up on. They talked about the years of the Great Depression, the dust storms, the drought, the joys of growing up in a large farm family. They always had enough to eat and often wore hand me down clothes, yet in spite of some hardships, they spoke warmly of those earlier years. As their conversation drifted back to their late parents, Elaine suddenly said with excitement in her voice, George, do you know what, when mother died I got that old trunk of hers, and I have never opened it. With a feeling of childlike excitement, the three of them hurried down the basement steps. Sure enough, in the corner of the basement was the familiar old trunk. After they removed numerous items from the top of the trunk, they gingerly opened it so see what treasures it might hold for them. As the trunk lid squeaked open, the three seekers were met with nothing but stale air. The things is empty, so much for our inheritance. After they had returned upstairs and were sipping coffee, the three of them laughed at their peek in the trunk. We all knew that there was nothing in that trunk. Elaine said, we knew good and well that the folks never did have much in terms of material goods, so there was not anything for us to inherit. Doug told her not to jump to conclusions. He said that they inherited things far more valuable then money. They inherited good values, honesty, integrity, hard work. That is far more valuable than money. They both agreed that the most important thing that they got was their faith in Jesus. 1 Peter takes it a step further in reminding us that Jesus , more importantly the resurrection is our inheritance. Kept safely for us in heaven. No matter what else we may have inherited, we have inherited happiness – through what Christ has done for us. he died for our sins, He gave us new life, he showed a better way to live, he assured our future in heaven. In spite of all that is going on in our lives, we have a lot to be happy about. Despondency Changed into Abounding Joy THERE came to me one night at the close of a meeting a man with as sad a face as I had ever seen. He asked me to pray for him. I tried to show him the way of life. He would listen intently but did not seem to be able to grasp it. Night after night he would come to me with the same look of hopeless gloom in his face. I was afraid the man would go insane. In fact, I afterwards learned that he had at one time been in an insane asylum. He would profess to accept Christ, but when I showed him the Word of God that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” and tried to impress him with the fact that he had God’s own assurance for it that he had everlasting life, he seemed utterly unable to grasp it and would go away with a despairing look, asking me if I would still pray for him. This went on for weeks and I almost dreaded to see the man approaching me. But one night as I was about to strike a match to light the gas Peter N. came in through the front door as I struck the match and lighted the gas. I saw there was a still brighter light in his face. The gloom was all gone. He was radiant. The Spirit of God had shone into his heart. He had full assurance of sins forgiven. His gladness was not for a day, nor for a week, nor a month but continuous. He gave himself to God’s work with an earnestness that I have seldom seen equalled. He was a skillful workman, receiving large pay, but he gave almost his entire income to the Lord’s work, keeping scarcely anything for himself to live on. Indeed I sometimes felt he did not keep enough to live on. Out of working hours, he was always witnessing for Christ in public or in private. Hopeless gloom had been transformed by the power of the Spirit of God into triumphant joy. I will ask you again, what is it that makes you happy? What is the source of your happiness? The source is a living hope and an imperishable inheritance. The resurrection of Christ is the source of our happiness. May we live in the power of the resurrection and truly live a happy life! Amen. How To Find Inexpressible Joy by King Duncan Passage: 1 Peter 1:1-12 • Lectionary: Easter 2 Item 20 of 29 | Back to Results Lesson: Many of you may have tennis shoes or running shoes at home like these. Some of you might have some shoes that say "Nike" on them. It is not my purpose this morning to give a commercial for Nikes. It is the name that interests me. We are told that back before the time of Jesus there were terrible wars just as there are sometimes today. When an invading army approached a city, the defenders would go out to face the army. The fate of the city would be determined. If there was defeat, the men would be killed or enslaved, the women would be abused, families would be torn apart, and children would be sold as slaves. The people in the city had no way of knowing the news of the battle except by a message carried by a runner. If there was defeat, he tore his clothes, put on ashes and cried, "Woe, woe, defeat." People would try to get away but rarely could. When there was a victory, the runner would be stripped to the waist. He carried a palm branch in his hand. As he ran, perspiration would cover his body. He would be shining in the late afternoon sun. People knew the message even before he arrived. He would run through the city gates and cry, "Nike! Nike!" Nike means victory. The runner was shouting, "Victory! Victory!" This is the first Sunday after Easter. This is a time of putting on our running shoes and shouting, "victory, victory." In our lesson from Peter today, we read about "inexpressible joy." That is what Jesus' resurrection brings us--inexpressible joy. Nike. Victory.