How to Be Happy

February 2, 2020 Matthew 5:1-12 How to be Happy 4th Sunday of Epiphany Year A Repreach of 2/214 Children’s Sermon Happiness Matthew 5:1-12 Exegetical Aim: Happiness comes from a life emptied and humble before God and not from a life full and easy. Props: Several dollar bills or a hand full of coins, a toy that laughs, some kind of food, and a toy sword like a light saber or any object to represent conflict. Also a box or big glass jar. Optional humorous prop: A football or some sports object that is presently in season. If there is a crucial local game then focus on that. Try to hide the sports object. Lesson: I have a question for you this morning: What makes you happy? (responses) With the items hidden behind your back and the jar out in front: Well, I have some things I want to show you. After each item is presented put it in the jar. What is this? (money) Would you be happy if you had this money? (response) Why would that make you happy? What would you do with it? (response) What is this? (laughing object) Listen to this. Make the object laugh. What is it doing? (laughing) Would you be happy if you laughed all the time? (response) Why would that make you happy? (response) What is this? (apple) Would you be happy if you had some food? (response) Why would you be happy? (response) What is this? (boxing gloves) Would you be happy if you had a gun (response) Why would you be happy? (response) This morning I brought something that makes me very happy. Do you want to see it? (response) Do you really want to see it? (response) All right, this makes me so happy! Bring out the football hold it up or toss it air. When Tennessee wins today I am going to be happy! Application: Each of us has something in our life that makes us happy. What makes you happy? (response) It could be chocolate chip cookies or a special toy or a pet. Happiness is pretty important. Jesus even talked about happiness. He said the truly happy people in the world are those who...take out the money...are those who don't have a lot of money. Fold the money and put it away. Then he said, the happiest people in the world are those who take out the laughing object and make it laugh again have some sadness in their life. He also said, the happiest people are those who take out the food are sometimes hungry and have nothing to eat. And he said, the happiest people are those who take out the sword...try to have peace in their life. Finally he said take out the football well, he really didn't say anything about football. But he did say that we could be happy if we remember that true happiness comes when we have a life that is empty. Show that the jar or box is empty. A life that is empty is a life that is ready to be filled with all the good things God wants to put there: His Kingdom, his peace, love, forgiveness, and comfort. Let’s Pray: Lord help us to empty our lives so we can be filled with your goodness. Amen. ChristianGlobe, , by Brett Blair Stewardship Moment A Quote from the Dalai Lama Giving material goods is one form of generosity, but we can extend an attitude of generosity into all our behaviour. Being kind, attentive, and honest in dealings with others, offering praise where it is due, giving comfort and advice where they are needed, and simply sharing our time with someone—-all these are forms of generosity, and they do not require any particular level of material wealth. Scripture Matthew 5:1-12 Common English Bible (CEB) 5 1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up a mountain. He sat down and his disciples came to him. 2 He taught them, saying: Happy people 3 “Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 4 “Happy are people who grieve, because they will be made glad. 5 “Happy are people who are humble, because they will inherit the earth. 6 “Happy are people who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, because they will be fed until they are full. 7 “Happy are people who show mercy, because they will receive mercy. 8 “Happy are people who have pure hearts, because they will see God. 9 “Happy are people who make peace, because they will be called God’s children. 10 “Happy are people whose lives are harassed because they are righteous, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. 11 “Happy are you when people insult you and harass you and speak all kinds of bad and false things about you, all because of me. 12 Be full of joy and be glad, because you have a great reward in heaven. In the same way, people harassed the prophets who came before you. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon Fill in the blanks When I'm teaching a class, and want to get a discussion going, I often begin with something that's called a sentence stem. I start a sentence and let the participants complete it. This morning, if I were to ask you to complete this sentence, what would you say? "Happy are those who...." What would you use to complete the thought? Happy are those who have lots of money and can go anywhere, do anything, have anything they want? Happy are those who are successful and well acclaimed in their businesses or professions? Happy are those who are healthy, or those who have good marriages, or who have perfect children? What is happiness? The reality is that is happiness in the world’s eyes. Today we are going to talk about happiness in the eyes of God. We are going to look at the text of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Jesus has gathered his disciples, and in Matthew he takes this opportunity to teach them. A rabbi teaches while sitting down. Scripture says that Jesus went up on the mountain and taught. We cant tell whether he was talking to just the twelve, or if he was talking before a large crowd. But we do know that he was teaching the secrets to a happy life. Jesus came preaching that he might defeat all ignorance, he came teaching that he might defeat all misunderstandings. He came healing that he might defeat all pain. We, too, must proclaim our certainties; we, too, must be ready to explain our faith; we, too, must turn the ideal into action and into deeds. The Sermon on the Mount Now scholars don’t believe actually this was one sermon. It is much too dense. Scholars believe that this was Matthew’s way of summarizing all of the teachings of Jesus. Jesus Christ also once set down eight principles for the measure of a person. His standards stand in stark contrast to the aforementioned. There would appear to be a wide gulf between the popular image of the successful person and what God sees as the successful person. Jesus encourages us to be humble, to hunger for righteousness, to be merciful, pure in heart, peacemakers, to endure suffering, to be encouraged when we are down and to give ourselves permission to mourn our losses. If we were to look at each of the beautitudes, each deserve a sermon within themselves. But today I want to talk about happiness. Funny things about that word happiness. The first syllable - hap means to achieve something by luck or by chance. We are happy according to our lot in life, we hang tend to hang our happiness on things that are external, and most of the time are beyond our control. We get attached to them by chance, and it is by chance that we keep them, and it is by chance that they make us happy – and yet we continue to seek this thing called happiness. If you are not happy without it, you wont be happy with it In the movie, Cool Runnings, John Candy played a former American gold medallist who became coach to the Jamaican bobsled team. As the story evolves, the coach's dark history comes out. After his gold medal performance, his competitors discover that he broke the rules by weighting the U.S. sled. By doing so, he brought ppiidisgrace to himself and to his team. One of the Jamaican bobsledders didn't understand why someone who'd already won a medal would cheat, so he asked Candy to explain. The coach said, "I had to win, but I learned something. If you are not happy without a gold medal, you won't be happy with it."2 Markarios Interestingly – Matthew does not use the word happy – he used that word blessed. Personally, I think that the word blessed, is just as misunderstood – but that is a sermon within itself. The word that is used in Matthew is actually – markarios – which literally means the happiness of the Gods. And the point is that the happiness of the world is not the happiness of God. Happiness of the world is based on external things which we have no control over. So the happiness of the Gods must be the joy that we have inside – right? Well actually that is wrong. The happiness of the Gods is not about what you have in your heart. It is about how your heart reacts to God. Jesus is trying to help us to understand that the only true way to be happy is to have a relationship with God. We all go through life, we all have feelings, the things that happen in life affect us all. But do we respond to those things according to how we feel, or according to the word of God? It is not what we want in life, it is what God wants. You can only be happy in your relationship with God The whole point of the sermon on the mount is Jesus is teaching us what it means to believe in the promises of God. What makes you a Christian is how you use these principles – hunger, mercy, peace, humility – in your life. Life is not easy for any of us. We all feel anger, hurt, pain, suffering and struggles. But when we experience those things how do you respond? Do you respond to pain with revenge or mercy? With hatred or peace? With righteousness or with what others deserve? When you respond to life with revenge, anger, and hatred – do you really find happiness – or more pain? Jesus wants us to know that blessed are those who follow the ways of God – even in a difficult situation. Last week I went to see the movie Just Mercy, about men on deathrow, one in particular who was wrongfully convicted, and a young lawyer from Harvard worked to get his aquitted. I thought that it was an important movie. But the one line that struck out at me was the lawyer said: Poverty is not the opposite of being rich, poverty is the opposite of justice. As Jesus was talking on the mountain, he would have been addressing a crowd that lived in poverty. They would have had no hope of life ever changing. Because of the circumstances of life. Just last night I heard someone say that poverty is not about how much we lack materially, but how much we lack in spirit. When life is hopeless, people are mourning the loss of something. He knew that no matter how good life is, there are always those amongst us who are mourning. Poverty is living a life in constant mourning. That is why in this lesson he addresses, poverty, and those who hunger for change. The good news for us, happy are those who realize that they need God in their lives. We are closest to God in our suffering, our mourning. We are Godlike in our happiness – blessed when we mourn, God hears us, God will bring us comfort and peace. Upside down glasses In the 1800’s there was a scientist who invented upside down glasses. When he put them on, everything in the world was upside down. For awhile, whenever he put them on, he was disoriented. But after 5 days, he adjusted and the world made perfect sense upside down. The mind has a way of doing that for us. Of making us comfortable in upside down situations. No one has ever been able to recreate his experiment. The good news is that there was another man who was able to turn our perspective of the world upside down. Jesus reversed the values of the world – he said blessed are those who the world considers unblessed – the poor, the vulnerable, the powerless. It all boils down to the power of mercy. Look at your life, where would you be without the God’s mercy in your life? God’s mercy covers all sins. The message for us is that in an upside down, topsy turvy world we all have a choice. We can seek our happiness in the world or in God. Said the wealthy woman to the disabled young man at the door, sure I will buy your magazine to help you through college. Possibly by education you’ll overcome your condition, although I’m sure it colors everything that you do. Yes maam it does, but I get to choose the color. (Gary Carver). No matter what it is that colors your life – God lets you choose the color. You can chooses to blessed. Let us pray….. Additional illustrations

Don't Worry Be Happy

November 2, 2014 All Saints Day Matthew 5:1-12 Don’t Worry Be Happy There seems to be a lot of talk this morning on the news about the spaceship crash on Friday. For $250,000 you can take a personal flight to the moon. And people are signing up, in spite of the accident that happened. I wish them well, me I prefer to keep my feet grounded here on earth. But as I was thinking about the meaning of All Saints Day - the founder of the Virgin company – Richard Branson said something that made me think. He said that we stand on the shoulders of giants, and yet we have failed. I think that we all stand on the shoulders of giants – that is why we are here. There is someone in our life who believed in us, someone who always gave us words of encouragement. Some of the very people that we honor today – made a difference in who we are. There was a rabbi who also said words of wisdom to me this morning and made me think – He said the only direction that God gives us to go is forward. The only thing we can do in life is to go on. There are times when we would like to be able to go back, and yet God does not give us that choice. No matter what we may be dealing with in life – we have to move on, we have to go forward. I think that is why the words of Matthew 5 – stood out to me this All Saints Day. Blessed are those who…. Says the King James version of the bible, and the New revised standard version says happy are those who….. This is the sermon on the mount. Where Jesus goes up to the mountain, the disciples follow him. And he gives them this special message. Be happy when you are hopeless, when your mourn, when you are humble, when you are hungry, when you are harassed for righteous sake. For your reward is in heaven. But how can you be happy, when you are hopeless, or hungry, or grieving, or treated unfairly? That is the question that plagues us all throughout this life. No matter who we are, no matter how long we go to church, no matter how much family we have, no matter how much money we have – there are going to be times when life causes us despair. This is one time when I feel that the later translations of the bible, don’t do justice to the meaning of the text. The first blessing in the NSRV says – Happy are people who are hopeless, because the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Yet the King James says blessed are the poor in spirit, for your shall inherit the kingdom of God. The difference. The original greek word for poor – tochos – means a person who is dirt poor and has nothing but God to depend on. Who has ever been in a situation in life when you felt that you didn’t have nothing. You could not depend on anything or anyone. And yet it was at that moment that you realized that in the midst of your nothingness – you still had God. And God was all that you needed to get through. Into every life sadness will fall. And Jesus says that it is okay to mourn, to mourn the loss of our people, to mourn the loss of situations in life. But when you believe in God, it is in those times of sadness, when you invite a special kind of joy to come beside you and give you comfort. It is not the joy of getting a something new, or winning the lottery. It is a joy of knowing that in times of sadness that you are not alone. And that the holy spirit will come to you in ways that you did not expect, and give you the strength to move forward. To help us understand that the only direction that we can go is forward. I like this verse for All Saints Day – because as I look at the blessings, the blessings are not just for those who have passed on – they are for all of us. Those in our lives who have gone on before us have had their hard times, but so have we. Those that we honor today have sacrificed so that we can have, but so have we. They are children of God, but so are we. And Jesus says that the now have their reward in heaven. And yet the struggle continues. Life is still hard for us. Jesus says that there will be times when you will be harassed, just because you are a Christian. And yet you are guaranteed comfort in the midst of the struggle. The only way that we can go is forward. Dr. Earl Palmer is a biblical scholar. And he says that Jesus got his inspiration for the sermon on the mount from psalm 1. Psalm 1 starts out by saying blessed are those who do not walk in step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. But who delight in the law of the Lord and meditate in his law day and night, they are like a tree planted by streams of water. Like sermon on the mount, Jesus takes a blessing and turns it into a story. He says that the word that Jesus uses for the word blessing is Ashur. Ashur means headed in the right direction, or on the right journey. Remember, the only way for us to go in this life is forward. When we know that we have God in our lives, we are headed in the right direction. The key is – just that – we have to believe that God is with us in the midst of our struggles. Only then can we truly be happy, - when others are stuck in sorrow. Dr. Carlyle Marney once remarked that a person can be understood as being similar to a house. We have our living rooms, where we entertain, and our basements, where we hide the trash. The way to observe All Saints’ Day, he suggested, is to walk out into your front yard and salute the people on your balcony. The balcony people in our lives are those who have gone before us, who have been our encouragers, who have left a legacy. (1) That’s what we do on this Saints’ Day. We salute all the saints who have gone before us, whose faithfulness provided us with the faith we have today. Amen