Holiness Is True Happiness

Holiness Is True Happiness 1 Peter 1:13-16 For the past 2 week’s we’ve been talking about what Truth is and what Truth is not. We learned in the first week that truth is not Half-Truth, and last week, we saw the danger in sugarcoating the Bible. Today, we’re going to see what is happiness. After all, everyone wants to be happy, right? I know I do. But what a lot of people do is they look in the wrong place for happiness. They look for happiness first and God to bless it second. I’ve heard people say they’re going to “live it up” because life is short. The problem is, Time is fleeting and so is happiness. We forget that God exists outside of time. God made time, and all we know is time. Since all we know is time, we search for happiness within time. But when we do this, happiness will eventually come to an end because sooner or later all of us will run outta time. It’s the one thing we can’t get back, and we can’t make more of! So instead of living with a limited version of happiness, it’s wise to look to God who created time and who lives outside of time to find His unlimited version of lasting happiness that will transcend time. The truth is there are TWO versions and ONLY Two versions of happiness. God and mans. Some seek worldly pleasures and call it happiness. Christian’s look to God and call happiness, Holiness. Every Christian is enabled by grace to live a holy life, hence the word holiness. To be holy is to be set-apart. It means being devoted and dedicated to God by being set apart from the influence of sin. Last week we said that truth is not following the crowd. That’s because we are set-apart (holy) with God’s qualities and priorities that now influence our lives. Our focus is now God-centered and is a way of life that reshapes all our actions and our relationships. If we are to reflect God’s light and speak with salt, we must walk in holiness. Worldly happiness comes and goes. Holiness creates eternal happiness called JOY. Happiness is temporary. Holiness is eternal. Happiness is external. Holiness is internal. Happiness is found in life, but Holiness is life-changing. So what is truth? It’s not telling someone God just want’s them happy. The truth is, God wants them Holy, because only in holiness can one be truly happy. Think about it; If God only wants us to be happy, then why are we still here? Every Christian’s longs for the day to be in heaven with Jesus Christ because we know and have placed our hope that in heaven we’ll live eternally in paradise where there’s no more death, or pain, or mourning or crying because all the former things have passed away (Rev. 21:4). To be happy is to be satisfied, but how can you be completely satisfied with the former things that will eventually pass away? Our hearts long for something more than this world can give because we weren’t made for this world. The apostle Peter tells us in 1 Pet. 2:11 that we are foreigners and urges us to abstain from sinful desires. Jesus says in John 15:19 that if the world hates you, it’s because you’re not of the world, but in Christ. To be a Christian is to be a foreigner on earth because “our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). The way to find happiness by setting “your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth,” (Col. 3:2) because “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Truth is revealed in what you love and what you set your mind to. As Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Now don’t get me wrong; God does want you happy. But God wants your happiness based on His holiness. So what is happiness according to God? Happiness is “laying aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and to run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith ,who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1-2). It's finding “joy and peace in believing so you can abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13). “Happy is he who trusts in the LORD” (Proverbs 16:20) because His presence “is the fullness of joy and at His right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). True, lasting happiness can only be found through God because He created us and knows us better than we know ourselves! Happiness is a by-product, not the goal! If happiness was our only goal, then how can we “Rejoice in the LORD always” (Phil. 4:4) as Paul says, and “count it all joy when we fall into various trials” (James 1:2-3) as James instructs us too? Our goal is Christ, and happiness comes as we endure life’s various trials by running our race with the power of the Holy Spirit. What other reason could explain the hundreds of thousands of martyr’s who found peace and joy in death? How else could Paul remain joyful while awaiting death? And how could Peter and John sing hymns while in prison? It’s simple; they didn’t look at circumstances for happiness; they looked to God who is greater than their circumstances. Christians and unbelievers both find happiness in life. It’s true that material things bring happiness. Family, friends, careers, money, vacations, lots of things bring happiness. But all these things are temporary. And one difference between a Christian and an unbeliever is hope. A Christian’s hope is in Christ, and that death is not the end. But what hope do unbelievers have? Even an unbeliever’s happiness is not true happiness because it ends in the grave. Christian’s maintain hope and lasting happiness because we know that Christ has conquered the grave and that this earthly life is just the beginning. We are called to holiness, not happiness. And if we tell anyone that God just wants them to be happy, they’ll be anything but happy, because I’m still looking in the Bible for the verse that says God just want’s Justin to be happy. Because if you believe that God just wants you to be happy, then at some point you’ll make the jump to, and since I’m not happy, in this marriage, then God must want me out of this marriage, so I can find a new person to be happy with. I’m not happy with this job; God must want me in another job. If God only wants me happy, then I must be doing something wrong because I’m not rich, I don’t own a large house, so on and so forth. If God only wants you happy, it’s constantly saying, “the grass is greener on the other side.” But folks, the grass can only get so green! The truth is God does care about our happiness. But God cares more for our holiness because He knows that happiness is fleeting. Life is full of valley’s and mountain tops, and if all you have is happiness, you’ll be happy for a while and get your kicks, but then you’ll lose it. God knows that holiness draws us closer to Him so that even in the valley’s of life, we’ll find true and lasting joy. To answer Jesus’s command to “Be holy for I AM holy” cannot be done on our own. It comes from repentance from sin and faith in Christ who gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit, who guides and provides us the power to overcome sin. It’s God removing your heart of stone and placing His Spirit within you (Ezekiel 36:26-27), so we can live a new life with holy desires that make us eternally happy. God doesn’t take away your happiness; He enhances it. Life doesn’t become boring when you become a Christian. Instead, your life is just beginning, and I can tell you firsthand it’s an amazing adventure! Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” “Good, pleasing, and perfect,” 3 words that sound like happiness to me, because it comes from God Almighty, who alone is Good and Perfect. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus tells us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” To be perfect is to walk in holiness. While we’ll never be totally perfect on this side of eternity, Christian’s are disciples and meant to continually grow in our relationship with Christ. So I ask you now before we come to partake of the Lords Table, do you walk in happiness or holiness? It’s possible to have both if you invite Christ to be Lord of your life. So “examine yourself to see if you're in the faith,” (2 Cor. 13:5) and give your brokenness, your sadness, your worry, and your longings to Christ because “Happy are the people whose God is the LORD” (Psalm 144:15). Amen.