Happiness Heard Your Name

Introduction

Matthew 5:1–16 ESV

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. 6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. 7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. 8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. 10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. 14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

If you are a parent, and you’re paying attention one of the things that you will find to be true is that you will learn from your children. As mother or father, you are in the position of instructor, teacher, guide. But it’s not a one way deal. Children, intentionally or unintentionally, teach their parents quite often. This happened to me in recent years with our second born, Nabil.

Back in 2015, during his sophomore year in college, he released his first major music project. He titled it, I Heard God Laughing. It has nine original songs. The third song is called, Happiness Heard Your Name. Maybe it’s the former engineer in me, but my tendency is to critically analyze lyrics from a theological perspective. Let me tell you that’s not always a helpful and healthy habit. It can restrict me from appreciating beauty in art.

In the song, God is the Beloved One. He is personified as happiness. And the refrain in the song goes like this,

Ever since happiness heard your name, it’s been looking everywhere through the streets trying to find you. Several times in these last days, God sweetly asked me for the address to your whole room. Wanting the beautiful warmth of your heart’s fire.

I love these words from pastor and counselor Chuck DeGroat. “People are not problems to be fixed, they are image-bearers to be known.” In other words, at the core of what it means to be human is to be known by God and to know God. And this is actually the heart of happiness.

You see, what my son wrote is beautiful because the Bible doesn’t just talk about joy, it talks about happiness. Happiness is looking for you, desiring the warmth your whole heart’s fire. Jesus comes on the scene in the passage that we read, in this first and monumental sermon in the Gospel of Matthew to declare and demonstrate happiness for his disciples. The Sermon on the Mount, as one writer puts it, “describes what human life and community look like when they come under the gracious rule of God.”

These verses that we have read are commonly known as the beatitudes. We hear Jesus say, “blessed are, blessed are, blessed are,…” Jesus is painting a portrait of the life of his followers, his disciples. He is describing the whole room of the disciple’s heart’s fire. What is the character of those who give their hearts to Jesus? Graduates, as you begin this transition from seminary to ministry practitioner—whether that is pastoral ministry, counseling ministry, academia, or whatever the Lord calls you to next with this degree—what is your happiness? And I’m not speaking of happiness as we would ordinarily think about it. Things that Jesus lists, being poor in spirit, mourning, being meek are not traits that we would normally associate with happiness.

Let me tell you what’s going on here. Jesus has announced in chapter 4 that the kingdom of heaven has drawn near. He began to preach, Matthew says in 4:17, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Then we see in 4:18-25 Jesus begin to demonstrate the truth of that declaration by going throughout Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing all kinds of diseases among the people. His fame has spread throughout all Syria. He has called his first disciples, but there are many more now—great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and beyond the Jordan.

So Jesus is clearly backing up his preaching with action. It’s obvious that this man is blessed of God and worth listening to. Why is he famous? It’s because his giftedness is like nothing they’ve ever seen. He spoke words that were resonating with their hearts. He was the embodiment of the answer to their prayers. Who wouldn’t want to follow someone like that? Can you hear the buzz among the people? “I like the good news of the kingdom. That man can preach! He knows what he’s talking about. I want to follow him. I want to get close to him. I will travel from afar just to get near this man because he’s not just a teacher, he’s a healer.” His fame is spreading because people are happy with him. They’re happy with what he’s doing. They come into contact with him and they are made whole. They are made well, and are therefore happy. Jesus wasn’t just healing people in order to demonstrate that he was the legitimate king of the kingdom. He was also doing it to demonstrate his love and his care that people are made whole and complete.

Yet, in this life, that was not to be the definition of happiness. Having everything be as it ought to be could not be the determination of what it means to be happy. Before they get caught up in the fame and the crowds, his disciples need to know what the happy life looks like for citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Graduates, before you get caught up in the adulation and praise side of ministry work, you need to know what the happy life looks like for citizens of the kingdom of heaven.

So, after seeing the crowds, Jesus went up on the mountain. When he sat down, his disciples came to him. Understand this please. Jesus wanted disciples, not crowds. He wasn’t after fame. He was after followers. He was seeking to turn the hearts of people in a godward direction. Let me talk about three things and then we’ll be done. I want to talk about Desire, Devotion, and Dedication.

Let me talk about three things and then we’ll be done. I want to talk about Desire, Devotion, and Dedication.

Desire

There are parts of these beatitudes that we wouldn’t blink an eye, that we’re quite content to affirm. In other words, we desire to possess the kingdom of God. We desire to be comforted in this world where there is so much pain and evil and death. We desire to inherit the earth. Everybody from the supporters of the New Green Deal Greenpeace to brokers on Wall Street has some concept of what it would mean to inherit the earth.

We desire to have our appetites satisfied. We want our physical appetites satisfied. We want our spiritual appetite satisfied. We want our emotional appetite satisfied. We desire to receive mercy. When we do wrong, we don’t want to receive judgment and condemnation, we want mercy. If we believe in God, we definitely want to see him, and we desire to be called children of God.

This is our desire for a happy life. This our desire for a blessed life. We would just love it if Jesus would define happiness according to our desires. When do you find yourself happy? What is it that brings you to a place of delight? Is it simply when you feel well? Is it when you receive a gift? Is it when something works according to plan? Is it when you finally have a few moments of peace and quiet? Is it when you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones? We could go on for hours asking and answering that question. And those are all good things. But what I want us to see is that the answer is always based on what we desire. The answer to what makes us happy is always conditioned by our desires.

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”

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“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”

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“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.”

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“Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!”

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“Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts!”

We find this word 26 times in the psalms. And if you have an English translation like the new Christian Standard Bible, you’ll see the word translated in the Psalms as “happy,” or “joyful.” Jesus is using that word in the same sense here. We would just love it if Jesus would define happiness according to our desires. When do you find yourself happy? What is it that brings you to a place of delight? Is it simply when you feel well? Is it when you receive a gift? Is it when something works according to plan? Is it when you finally have a few moments of peace and quiet? Is it when you’re surrounded by friends and loved ones? We could go on for hours asking and answering that question. And those are all good things. But what I want us to see is that the answer is always based on what we desire. The answer to what makes us happy is always based on what we desire. It’s always conditioned by our desires.

What Jesus does in describing happiness for his disciples is flip the script. Jesus’ kingdom is an upside-down kingdom. He says, happiness is based on what God desires. The starting place for happiness, for blessedness, is not the desire of your heart. It is first the desire of God’s heart. Or, let me put it another way. For Jesus, happiness is more than just a feeling about your condition or circumstance. Happiness is having a heart that desires what God desires.

Devotion

In other words, for Jesus, happiness is reflected in a life that is internally and externally devoted to God. He is explaining for them in these beatitudes what that devotion looks like. This is why the middle clauses are important, spiritually poor, mourning, meekness, hungering and thirsting for righteousness, being merciful, purity of heart, peacemaking.

Oswald Chambers, a Scottish evangelist and teacher in the early 20th Century said, “Faithfulness can be defined as the staying power in the alarm moments of life.” Dr. Diane Langberg, commenting on that statement of Chambers said faithfulness “means not being moved no matter the external or internal pressures.” She said, “The crisis moment exposes who we really are. If we want to know what the true habits of our hearts are, we must watch and pay attention to ourselves in the crisis moments.”

Notice with me please that these beatitudes are structured with an internal devotion that is reflected by an external dedication. The first three beatitudes are an internal reflection and confession of need. Who does the kingdom of heaven belong to? It belongs to those who are poor in spirit. It belongs to those who are spiritually poor. To be poor in spirit is to be keenly aware of your spiritual neediness. It is to know that you need to know the grace and mercy of God because you’re sinful. It’s to know that it’s not Ok in God’s eyes that you’re not perfect.

What are we to do? We realize that our spiritual condition is not based on our goodness. We realize that we live daily as debtors to the grace and mercy of God. You don’t get Jesus without getting your spiritual poverty. The spiritually poor say to God, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling. Naked, come to thee for dress; Helpless, look to the for grace; Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die.” The kingdom of heaven is only given to people like that! There is no room for a boastfulness or pride that says, “I’m the master of my fate. I’m the captain of my soul.”

So, the poor in spirit are also those who mourn. That is, you find an internal grieving over sin. The mourners are those who find themselves grieving over their sins, and the sins of others, the systemic sins in society of injustice and oppression. My brother, and Covenant Seminary professor Dan Doriani put it this way, “How can Jesus say mourners are happy? Jesus does not bless all mourning; he blesses the mourning that coheres with kingdom values. There are kinds of mourning that God does not bless: criminals mourn their arrest; corrupt politicians mourn their loss of power. God does not promise to comfort everyone who mourns for every reason. But God does promise to bless those who mourn over the right things.” Why? Because those are the things that God mourns over. He mourns over sin in all of its forms.

I’ve watched the Netflix documentary, 13TH, a couple of times. It, in part, details the horrific history resulting from the loophole in the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery. The amendment abolishes slavery with the exception of those who are convicted of a crime. This loophole laid the groundwork for the industrial prison complex of today. God mourns over the depravity in the human heart that refuses to let go of the desire to oppress. He says, rest assured, those whose hearts are devoted to a mourning over their own sins and the sins of others have found my heart. And they will also find comfort.

Those who are spiritually poor, and who mourn over sin, cannot help but be meek. What is this meekness? We hear meek and we think feeble. We hear meek and we think weak. But that cannot be what it means because Jesus, later in the Gospel of , says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jesus was anything but feeble and weak. This meekness is a heart condition that is marked by humility and gentleness. Jesus was bold. Jesus confronted people. Jesus was forceful at times, overturning the tables of the money changers in the temple. Yet, he was always meek. For us, when we know our spiritual poverty, when we know our sin, we are forced toward gentleness and humility of heart because we know that God doesn’t treat us the way we deserve to be treated. It’s these kind of people, Jesus says, who will inherit the earth.

Dedication

The hinge in the whole thing is hungering and thirsting for righteousness. It’s at the center of a life that has an internal devotion to God through spiritual poverty, mourning over sin, and meekness of heart. Hungering and thirsting for righteousness becomes the condition of those who are spiritually poor, morning, and meek. And it leads to a life dedicated to externally expressing mercy, purity of heart, and peacemaking. You’ve got to love the vivid language that Jesus uses. You know what it’s like to be hungry. You know what it’s like to be thirsty. When you’re hungry you can’t wait to get something to eat. When your stomach is growling, you just want to be satisfied. It’s all you can think of. You can’t concentrate. You can’t work. When you’re thirsty and your mouth is parched, all you want to do is find something to drink.

My father’s side of the family is from Trinidad. In Trinidad they make this drink called Mauby. It’s supposed to have heath benefits. It’s derived from a tree bark. And when they make Mauby, they make it sweet, adding plenty of sugar. And it fools you. You drink it and you’re enjoying the sweetness of it. Then, it punches you in the mouth with this strong bitterness. How many of you know that it’s hot in Trinidad? You can’t just drink water from the tap in Trinidad. You’ve got to boil it first, then make your ice cubes and drinking water. I can remember visit family as a kid. We’d be playing, talking, laughing and get thirsty. When all the drinking water is finished, ice cubes are used up, soda is gone, what do you think is the last thing standing in the refrigerator ready to drink? Even though I know the bitter punch in the mouth is coming, I’m thirsty. I’d wait until I couldn’t handle my thirst anymore. I’d go get the Mauby and drink it!

Jesus says happiness is found in those who treat their spiritual condition just like their physical yearning for food and drink. They see the righteousness of God, and they’re hungry and thirsty to see righteousness grow in themselves and in the world. They heard the psalmist say in , “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!...Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress…Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness hear the Lord say through the prophet Isaiah in , “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come buy and eat! Come, buy without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

Let me bring it back to Nabil’s words. Ever since happiness heard your name, it’s been looking through the streets trying to find you. Several times in these last days, God sweetly asked me for the address to your whole room. Wanting the beautiful warmth of your heart’s fire. Have no doubt about it. God wants your whole heart’s fire. He wants the burning, passionate desire of your heart to be aligned with his own heart. Jesus says, this is what happiness is. Has happiness heard your name? Has happiness found you?

Happiness for the followers of Jesus doesn’t come from being thanked for their efforts to pursue peace and reconciliation. Happiness doesn’t come from a life without opposition, where no one slanders you, where no one reviles, insults, or persecutes you. Happiness comes from this one thing and this one thing alone. Because of Jesus Christ, the God of all creation declares, “You are a crown of beauty in my hand. I delight in you.” As you go out from this place into the next chapter of your life, be reminded of your poverty of spirit, of you utter dependence on him. And be reminded me that he is the source of your satisfaction and happiness. Not applause from people, not getting everything right, but giving him your life over and over again…