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The Pursuit of Happiness Psalm 126:1-3 |
July 16, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
Let’s begin the day with a little quiz. A multiple-choice question. Are you ready? Here’s the question. In which of the following will you find this quote: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Is that statement found in:
(A) The Bill of Rights
(B) The Constitution
(C) The Declaration of Independence
(D) Genesis
(E) The new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.
The answer is, (C). Written by Thomas Jefferson and signed by our founding fathers on July 4, 1776, that statement comes in the early portion of The Declaration of Independence.
Our nation was birthed out of the conviction that…
…God created all of us in such a way that some rights are absolutely essential to our humanity;
…that to deny the existence of those rights would be nothing short of absurd because, in fact, they are self-evident;
…and, consequently, we must work together to secure and guarantee those rights for everyone.
And what are these essential human rights? The right to life; the right to liberty and the right to pursue happiness. It’s that last phrase that I want us to consider this morning. The pursuit of happiness.
I think the founders absolutely nailed it when they recognized that God created everyone…not some people, not even most people, but everyone…with a passionate desire to seek happiness. It’s a passion that knows no boundaries. It transcends age, culture, class, race, gender, economic levels, educational levels… Everyone wants to be happy.
It is truly a universal desire. It is also an incredibly elusive goal. And do you know what you get when you combine a universal desire with something as elusive as happiness?
--You get $12.5 billion dollars spent this year on elective cosmetic surgery for things like facial peels, botox injections, chin enhancements, and bicep, breast, pec, calf and buttock implants because, “Surely, then I’ll be happy.”
--You get an estimated 65 million Americans currently living with an incurable sexually transmitted disease, with 15 million new cases every year because, “Surely, this experience will make me happy.”
--You get $80 billion spent this year on gambling because, “Surely, this will make me happy.”
In short, you get a whole bunch of people looking in a whole bunch of places where happiness is nowhere to be found. But the good news is that you can be happy if you pursue the right thing. And the right thing to pursue is the One who gave you that desire for happiness in the first place—namely, your Creator, God.
Folks, God not only wants you to be happy but He also wants to satisfy that desire for happiness through a personal relationship with Him. God’s great desire is that your desire for happiness will ultimately lead you to Him so that you can get to know Him personally and as you do so discover that in that relationship your desire for happiness has been completely satisfied.
And it’s this deep and abiding sense of happiness that comes from a personal relationship with God that is at the heart of the psalm that we’re going to examine this morning. As we join the text, God’s people are going through a difficult time. A painful time. A time of hardship and struggle. They were going through the kind of experience that can easily lead to despair and discouragement.
Then, in the midst of the struggle the writer of this psalm stands up among the people and says, “But it hasn’t always been like this. I can remember when things were good. I can remember when we were full of joy. I can remember when we were genuinely happy. And I also remember that during that time of happiness we were focused on God.
We had our eyes fixed on God. We were amazed at God’s goodness. We were overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness. Times may have changed…circumstances may have changed…but God hasn’t changed at all. He’s still our God. We’re still His people. If we stay focused on Him, He’ll satisfy us once again.”
The text is Psalm 126 and beginning in verse 1 it says this:
“When the Lord brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”
The writer of the psalm is looking back to a time of incredible joy for God’s children. After long years in exile in Babylon, God has set them free and brought them back home to Israel and back into a full and healthy relationship with their God. They were the grateful recipients of God’s blessing and attention. They were loved and they knew it.
And this restored and vibrant relationship with God resulted in a sense of happiness that was so intense that the writer says here in verse 1 that, It was like a dream. Their connection to God was so real and so powerful that they couldn’t help but laugh and sing. Just to live each day with the confidence of God’s presence, God’s provision and God’s protection was such a profoundly satisfying experience that it was like being in a wonderful dream from which you never wake up.
--Have you experienced that kind of happiness in your life?
--Has the pursuit of happiness led you to the experience of happiness that only comes through a vibrant personal relationship with God?
And if it’s not true today, can you remember a time when it was true?
Folks, times may have changed…circumstances may have changed…but God hasn’t changed at all. He’s still our God. We’re still His people. If we stay focused on Him, He will fill our lives with happiness. And He will do so by providing us the 3 components that are absolutely essential to lasting happiness.
The first of those components is acceptance. God has created us in such a way that we simply cannot experience happiness until we first feel accepted. From the moment we enter this life we bring with us a burning desire to be welcomed. And that desire stays with us throughout our lives. And we will never be happy until that desire is satisfied.
--Now, obviously, the first place we look for acceptance is to our family. Every child longs to be welcomed by their family. But as we grow we quickly discover that that’s not enough and our search for acceptance broadens.
--Now we begin to seek friends who will make us feel welcome. And, in time, most of us discover that that’s also not enough.
--We recognize within ourselves a desire to be welcomed in a more intimate way by one special person and this leads us to marry. And, still, it's not enough.
Even when all of these relationships are in place there remains within us a nagging sense of incompleteness. And that’s because God has placed within all of us a desire to be accepted by Him. We long to know that God, our Creator and Sustainer…the ultimate power and authority in the universe… approves of us and finds us acceptable.
But standing between us and God’s acceptance is a huge problem called, “sin.” The Bible says clearly and unambiguously that all of us have sinned, that none of us can ever be accepted by God until our sin is dealt with and there is not a thing that we can do to bridge the gap that our sin has placed between us and God. Our only hope is for God to do for us what we could never do for ourselves. And that’s exactly what He did.
God so desired to accept us, that He allowed His Son, Jesus to die on a cross to pay the penalty of our sin so that we could be completely forgiven and experience His acceptance. Jesus died to bridge the gap that our sins had created between God and us. That’s an historical fact. It’s already taken place. Consequently, the only thing that now stands between us and God’s acceptance is our confession and our belief.
Romans 10:10 says it like this, “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” In other words, when we acknowledge our sins and accept by faith His forgiveness the distance between God and ourselves disappears, God accepts us as His children and welcomes us into His family. And, finally, our need for acceptance is satisfied.
The second component that God provides us that is absolutely essential for us to experience happiness is love. We will never be truly happy until we know that we are loved. And it’s not enough just to hear that we are loved. Words are nice, but we want proof. We want tangible evidence. We want to experience love demonstrated.
Some months ago I was listening to my favorite attack counselor, Dr. Laura, and she read a wonderful letter from a mom in her radio audience. The mom wrote that her 9-year-old son had been having a particularly rough week in school. A major project was due and he was convinced that his project wouldn’t be as good as the ones’ turned in by his classmates. He was also facing a big test in his weakest subject area. And, as if that wasn’t enough, some of the bullies at school had selected him as the latest target for their cruel and demeaning comments. As she saw the tension and fear in her son’s face mom’s heart was breaking. So, here’s what she did.
As he was just about to walk through the front door on his way to school she stopped him, turned him around, wrapped her arms around him and as she held him tight she said, “I am surrounding you with my love. And I want you to remember that no matter what else may happen to you today there is someone who loves you and thinks you are the most wonderful, special child in the whole wide world.”
Now, folks, that’s love demonstrated. That’s tangible love. And that’s the kind of love that God wants us to experience in Him.
Romans 5:8 says, “God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
In John 15:13 Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
First he told us he loved us. Then he proved it…giving up his life so that our sins could be forgiven and we could experience firsthand the tangible, proven, demonstrated love of God. Finally, our need for love is satisfied.
And that brings us to the final component essential to happiness: significance. Deep within the heart of every one of us is a passion to know that our life matters. Consequently, we will never be truly happy until we are secure in the knowledge that our presence here is purposeful. And there is no greater sense of purpose than in knowing that God not only accepts you and loves you but He also has plans for you. And, folks, He has plans for each and every one of His children. No exceptions.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says, “Now about spiritual gifts…I do not want you to be ignorant. To each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” And then he goes on here and also in Romans and Ephesians to identify a wide range of spiritual gifts that God gives us to equip us for service. They include things like teaching, preaching, organizing, encouraging, leading, helping and many, many more. But the key thing to understand is this: God gives these gifts to each and every one of His children because God has included each and every one of His children in His plan for building His church.
God doesn’t plan for us to become spectators. He plans for us to become servants.
The church…that’s us…has not been commissioned to be God’s fan club. The church…that’s us…has been commissioned to be God’s work force.
--Knowing that God accepts you is great. And it’s key to your happiness.
--Knowing that God loves you is great. And it’s key to your happiness.
--But you will never know the full measure of happiness that God has for you until you are serving Him according to His plans for you.
So, how goes your pursuit of happiness? Is it just a pursuit or has the pursuit of happiness led you into the experience of happiness?
I realize that there are lots of things that can keep us from being happy, but if you’re feeling a bit deficient in the happiness department I want to urge you to focus the next stage of your pursuit around these 3 questions:
#1 Are you absolutely secure in your sense of God’s acceptance and is your security rooted in the fact that you have received the forgiveness of your sins offered through Jesus?
#2 Are you absolutely secure in your sense of God’s love for you and is your security rooted in your belief that only love would have moved God to allow Jesus to die for you?
#3 Are you absolutely secure in your sense of the significance of your life because you are using your gifts to serve your God according to His plan?
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum