Happiness in the Lord

I don’t know of any person on this earth who wouldn’t want to experience true happiness. Some seem to think they can find happiness in the things of this world. Solomon certainly thought that he could for awhile. He had everything a worldly person would want. He had plenty of wine, women, money, he had all kinds of wisdom, and he had fame and power but as Solomon reflected upon all of these things he realized there wasn’t any true happiness in these material worldly things. In fact he got bored with what he that is why he said,

Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

Solomon came to the realization of what really matters in life and what can bring about true happiness as we read in,

Ecclesiastes 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man's all. ¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil.

You see true happiness can only be found in the Lord and of course we learn about how to be happy by looking to God’s Word. Solomon also point this out in a couple of his proverbs as well.

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; But happy is he who keeps the law.

Proverbs 16:20 He who heeds the word wisely will find good, And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

When a person gets to point in their life where they can trust in the Lord, it is at that point they can know without a doubt that if they keep his commandments they can have the confidence that they will have something to look forward to beyond this meager existence and this should bring about true happiness in a persons life. Let us now take a look at several reason of why every Christian should be able to find happiness in the Lord.

First of all we should be happy in the fact that we know there is a God and that Jesus is our savior. Could you imagine going through life not knowing about Jesus? Think about how sad life would be thinking that all you have is this short time we have on this earth. We should also be happy that we live a free country to where it was possible for us to have easy access to the knowledge of Christ. Think about how sad it is for those who in the world who are cut of from the word of God who desperately need to hear the saving message of the gospel call. You see we should have a great joy in our life knowing the we have God that loves and cares for us and is always there for us.

Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." ⁶ So we may boldly say: "The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"

Now think about how happy this should make us as Christians knowing that God loves us so much that he will never forsake us. This is why so many Christians are happy and blessed because they know the Lord and they trust him with all of their heart mind and soul. We also learn that God doesn’t miss any of the details in our lives as David expresses in,

Psalm 139: For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. ² You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. ³ You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether. ⁵ You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. ⁷ Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? ⁸ If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. ⁹ If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰ Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. ¹¹ If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me; ¹² Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. ¹³ For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

So not only should we be happy in Lord because we know him, but we should be happy that he knows us so well and that he willing to care for each and everyone of us as Luke 12:7 say the very hairs on our heads are numbered. Paul certainly conveyed his confidence in the Lord and his providential care in,

2 Timothy 1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, ⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, ¹⁰ but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹ to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. ¹² For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

You see Paul didn’t worry about his situation he had learned from Lord to be content where he was and no matter how much suffering or obstacles came his way he could rejoice and find happiness in the Lord because he knew the Lord and trusted in his promises and in this same way we to can find happiness in the Lord.

The second way we can find happiness in the Lord is in the fact that we can pray to God and have the confidence that he will do what is best for our problems. Again, ask to imagine not having access to God through prayer. I would certainly be very sad to me to know that all I could do is learn about God but yet never talk to him. It would also cast a great shadow of doubt on the love God if he wasn’t willing to listen to me. But fortunately for us, we all Christian have access to God through prayer thanks to Jesus.

Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

It so wonderful to be able to speak to God through prayer and turn all our problems and worries over to him knowing that he will make things work out for the best. As Paul says in,

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

You see God always has our best interest at heart and it should make us very happy to know that he is charge and that he will do things according to his will. It should also make us happy that we have this kind of relationship with our God. It important that we don’t neglect prayer in our life as Paul says,

Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

If find that you don’t have happiness in your life perhaps you prayer life is not what is should be.

Now the third thing that should make us happy is studying the word of God. There many today who hardly ever open their Bibles unless they are at church and I can tell you if this describes you, you are missing out on another great source of happiness. As Jesus said,

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

This word Blessed can also defined as happiness. I can tell there is a great joy in trying to learn as much as you can about God and living the righteous life and the way that you can do this is by studying your Bibles because it contains every thing we need to know to be pleasing to God.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

I can promise you one thing you can never exhaust the Bible because there is always something new to learn and not is their only great happiness in learning more about God the more we read and study those verses that talk about how much God loves us and how much he is involved in our lives the easier it will be for us to find ways to rejoice in the Lord no matter what our situation may be. Not only can studying God’s word make us happy it also necessity. Please note following scriptures.

^KJV 2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

There is great need to know the word because without knowing the word how can we know how to be pleasing to God or how to tell others about him.

1 Peter 3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ¹⁶ having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

How can you defend your belief if you don’t know what Bible says.

1 John 3:22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. ²⁴ Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.

How can possible know how to keep the commandments of God if we never study them? How can we have confidence that are prayers are being answered if we don’t every study our Bibles? How can we know that we are worshiping God in spirit and in truth if we do not study our Bibles? We cannot. If more and more people continue to neglect the word of God the church as we know will no longer exist and true happiness will be gone. I am reminded of the words of Hosea,

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge,…

We certainly have many examples of those that we should follow after when it comes to knowing God’s Word. For instance note Job says in,

Job 23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

Job considered the word of God more important than his necessary food. However, many today have this backwards because they place great importance of stuffing their faces 3 to 5 times a day yet they starve themselves to death spiritually because that fast on God’s Word. I like what Jeremiah says in,

Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.

You see he understood that word of God brought joy into his life and if we would only make the time to allow God’s word to be poured into our heart on a daily basis we do could express the feeling that Jeremiah had. Finally I want share with what David had say about this topic in,

Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. ³ He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper. ⁴ The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. ⁶ For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

So, please don’t neglect the word of God and you will be thankful that you didn’t because it will bring great happiness into your life.

The fourth thing that can bring us happiness in the Lord is by serving him and knowing that we are bringing him glory by what we do. We can certainly see this from the first century Apostle as they were arrested for a second time for preaching in the name of Jesus. Now the opposing Jews would have loved to have killed them but Gamaliel gave them the advice to leave them alone at this time and we pick up on this story in,

Acts 5:40 And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. ⁴² And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

You see it brought them great joy knowing that they were doing the will of God even though they were beaten for it. Don’t you think that we should have a great joy in doing things that God has asked us to do? Your answer should be yes, however some Christians don’t look at serving God as happy time instead they look at as being a grudging responsibility and so many simply avoid serving God. Friends if this is your attitude about serving God you are looking at the wrong way because when you start thinking about everything God has done for us and everything that he has promised us it should make you desire to want to things for the Lord. All though we can never earn our salvation we can certainly do our best to bring glory and honor to the Lord.

It doesn’t matter how you are treated when serve God because no matter what the result you will be blessed in what you do, just as Jesus said in,

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ¹¹ "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. ¹² "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

So as you can see there are many reasons of why we should be able to find happiness in serving the Lord.

Now our finally reason this morning of why we can find true happiness in the Lord is in that we have the forgiveness of our sins and the promises that go along with this.

Romans 4:7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; ⁸ Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin."

We all know that sin separates us from God and to have that sin removed and for it to no longer have power over us is certainly something worth being happy about. We can see this in action where Philip chases down the Ethiopian Eunuch and teaches him about Christ,

Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. ³⁶ Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" ³⁷ Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." ³⁸ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. ³⁹ Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

Here we clearly see that once the Eunuch accepted the gospel call he was baptized and his sins were forgiven and he rejoiced about this. Friends the next time you start feeling sad or you start feeling like everyone is out to get you remind yourself of how you obeyed the gospel call and you were baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins. Think about what that means because when you do it should be enough to make you happy instead of sad or defeated and of course the ultimate happiness will come to us when we remain faithful to God until the day we die as John says in,

Revelation 14:13 Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, "Write: 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' " "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them."

When we die in the Lord we will have much to be happy about and those who love us will certainly miss us but they to will be happy for us because they will know that we will be with Christ. We can certainly see that Paul was happy with his salvation at the end of his life as we read in,

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

With that being said I hope that his lesson this morning has been encouraging to you and has helped reminded you of just how much true happiness there is in the Lord. From our lesson we learned there is happiness in:

· Knowing the Lord and being known by the Lord.

· Knowing that we can pray to God and that He will take care of us

· Studying God Word which teaches us everything we need to know about God and happiness

· Serving the Lord with whole heart, mind and soul

· Having the forgiveness of sin and the hope of heaven

If you have found that you are not happy in your Christianity why don’t you reflect upon these things I have shared with you and if you do I feel confident that you will once again find true happiness that can only be found in the Lord.