What Is True Happiness?
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What Is True Happiness?
Psalm 1
Intro
Once a year we football fans and even those non football fans gather together to cheer on our favorite team or it might just be an opportunity to gather together. You may be just like me and enjoy the creative advertisements that companies spend millions of dollars to air during the game. Sometimes people don’t even remember what product they were advertising but it was still fun to watch.
add photo of GM vehicle and Pepsi logo
There is one theme runs through all the ads—how can my life be more enjoyable and fulfilling. General Motors will tell you the secret is on the showroom floor as we speak.
Pepsi will tell you it comes in a 12-ounce can or 16-ounce bottle. Those advertisers understand what motivates people—people want to be happy and enjoy life. So if they can market their product around that basic reality they will make money.
Add photo of a happy family
But what does a happy life look like? And how can I have that kind of life? Fortunately, the text in Psalms 1 that was read at the beginning of this service addresses those very questions—“Blessed is the man...” (Psalm 1:1).
Today’s message is titled “What Is True Happiness?”
Our Scripture is taken from Psalms 1:1-6
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.
Today’s I want to talk to you about “True Happiness” verse one with these words, “How bless is … ” and then it goes on to describe the source and cause being truly bless or just plain happy,from a biblical view point.
What makes you truly happy?
A happy person enjoys God’s favor resting upon his or her life.
First thing is that you must be able to live with yourself (who you have become) in order to live happily.
How is your relationship with yourself? Is there an answer of a clear and affirming conscience echoing in your soul? Have you found satisfaction in fulfilling your very purpose of existence? Happy people have discovered purpose and are living in that purpose.
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Or are you disappointed in what the world may think of you? The world may say that you are a failure if you don’t have a million dollar plus in the bank, 15 Rolls Royal , 5 mansion, if you can think of it, you just have to have it.
But, when the Bible talks about our happiness it looks beyond temporary thrills and pleasures and addresses our need for a deep sense of peace about who we are. Biblical happiness involves an abiding joy of living.
One thing is for certain for every one of us—wherever I am I’m going to have to find a way to live with myself. I’m going to have to find a way to celebrate who I am in God and celebrate life itself. And there are lots of things in the world that can rob me of that celebration. Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
show only John 10:10
10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
God wants you to really live. God’s wants you to be full of life and enjoy life.
But, we need to remember that there is a thief who will try to steal all that away from you.
“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12) You know, there is pleasure in sin for but just for a season
— and in the long run it always leads to misery—it only leads to a diminished capacity for enjoying life. Sin will implode your capacity for living.
add photo of a coke can
Think for a moment about those soft aluminum cans of coke for a just a minute, because even I can take one in hand and crush it. I started to bring one with me this morning so you could watch me do that, but ..... Realize that a can that has been crushed has a diminished capacity. It can no longer hold 12 ounces or even 4 ounces for that matter.
Sad thing is that when a life has been imploded by sin it loses ,not gains abundance of life.
Ask the person who has lived under the bondage of an addiction. The dream of fun and happiness became a nightmare of bondage and sorrow. There is a way that leads to misery and destruction and it has to be avoided at all costs.
Listen to the stark contrast in our text between the godly … in Ps 1:1-3
READ
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
and now listen to the ungodly in verse 4 — the one living under the blessing of God verses the one who has rejected God and become rejected by God.
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4 The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
After a wonderful description of a blessed life the Psalm takes an abrupt turn—“Not so the wicked!” Not everyone will enjoy the life God desires to give that person. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
He passionately desires that all come to repentance and live eternally with Him. But in this life we choose our eternal destiny by our response to God’s offer of life. In this brief life we set our course for an eternity.
BLANK
The contrast between a life that is blessed in God and the existence of the wicked is sketched out in this Psalm using two metaphors. On the one hand we are given the picture of a well-watered, fruitful tree representing a godly life enjoying God’s provision. In contrast to that, we have chaff—the worthless residue of the wheat stalk.
What does a blessed life look like? Well let me show you ...
1. A blessed life is fulfilling its very purpose of existence.
The tree in our text is bearing the fruit it was meant to bear. An apple tree has not fulfilled its destiny until it produces apples and multiplies itself in some way. There is a biblical relationship between God’s blessing and our fruitfulness.
From the very beginning God has granted fruitfulness with His blessing.
Genesis 1:28 reads
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
What does a blessed life look like? It is a fruitful life. It is a life that is productive and generating what it was designed to produce. Fruitfulness can be expressed in a great number of ways. As Believers, we are fruitful when we are influencing others toward Christ. This is an evangelistic fruitfulness.
There is the fruit of the Spirit which gives evidence of God’s life in us. God designed you and me for a purpose and true happiness is never found outside that purpose.
A blessed life enjoys the satisfaction of knowing God has you here for an eternal purpose and the fulfilling of that purpose brings a great sense of satisfaction.
This tree in our text is full of sap[6]—full of life. In contrast, the chaff is dead. It has no life flowing through it. It has no capacity to produce fruit or multiply.
The chaff is good for nothing. Although the chaff exists it serves no good purpose.
What else does a blessed life look like?
2. A blessed life enjoys an ongoing source of nourishment and refreshment.
Planted by streams of water, he abides in God and God’s word abides in him.
“But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he meditates day and night.”
The word translated law is “torah” which is the first 5 books of scripture.
So don’t interpret that with a legalistic mindset. Certainly God’s Word sets boundaries for our own well-being. To transgress those boundaries is to step out of the provision of God’s best, to ultimately suffer a loss of joy and happiness.
Like this tree, a blessed person sends his roots deep into God’s truth.
And he allows that truth to impart life to his being. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”
SHOW ONLY
Matthew 4:4
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
How does a person draw life from the word of God? By “meditating upon it day and night.”
By drawing upon its counsel. By making decisions based upon its precepts. By allowing it to shape our thinking.
Our behavior is driven by our value system. Our value system is formed by the ideas we take in and embrace—by the ideas we hear and incorporate as our own.
If we mediate on the word of God and allow it to shape our thinking, we will make wise life decisions. If we meditate on the word of God night and day our minds will be renewed and our spirits will be refreshed.
This only happens when God’s word becomes central to our lives. This happens when we discover delight in God’s message to us. The man who is happy and blessed is the one who ‘Meditates on God’s word day and night—it is continually in his thoughts. He processes what he has read over and over until it has changed the way he views God and life.
Moving on to the third fact about a blessed life …
3. A blessed life enjoys stability in its environment.
The tree exists in the same environment as the chaff. The winds of adversity are hitting it at the same velocity as they hit the chaff—but with a very different result.
Yes, the branches sway as the wind blows through. Have you ever felt yourself sway a bit in the midst of adversity?
The winds of adversity do sometimes blow harder than we would like. But the tree is not blown away. It is rooted in the earth and cannot be moved.
However, that same wind drives the chaff away. In the ancient Hebrew culture the chaff was separated from the wheat by a very simple procedure. The wheat and chaff were thrown into the air.
The wheat, which was heavier, fell straight down to the ground. The wind would catch the chaff and drive it away.
After sharing the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 Jesus contrasted the godly with the ungodly using a story about house construction. Matt 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
25 “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
26 “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
27 “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Here is the same principle that is being taught in Psalm 1. Notice in Jesus’ story both houses got hit by the adversities of life. The winds and the rain hit both houses.
The reality is that God’s blessing does not exempt us from human experiences. But it does exempt us from destruction.
The house built on a good foundation of godliness is sustained in the midst of those experiences. The house with no foundation crumbles.
Conclusion
Let close by asking you to truly look in the mirror and answer these questions …
How well do you deal with adversity? Does it blow you away or just sway your branches a bit
Have you ever had a similar experience? How did you feel? What did you learn?
How would you contrast a blessed life to one that is not blessed?
READ
Psalm 1:1-6
1 How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, Nor stand in the path of sinners, Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, Which yields its fruit in its season And its leaf does not wither; And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4 The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish.
PRAY