What Would Jesus Say About Happiness?

Rev. Dr. Christopher Carlson

Many of you probably remember several years ago waking up on a Saturday morning and learning of another tragedy that struck the Kennedy family.  You know the story, John Kennedy, Jr. and his wife and his sister-in-law disappeared in a plane over Martha’s Vineyard. In the wreckage they found the bodies and they determined the cause of the crash.  It was something called spatial disorientation and it’s something that can happen to pilots, particularly pilots who are not trained in instruments flying with those, or maybe the plane didn’t have the instruments; but in a plane sometimes you can actually fly sideways, up or down, or even upside-down and not even know it.  When you get disoriented like that you can make a turn that could be disastrous and that’s what happened. 

Today I’m going to start a series of sermons on “What Would Jesus Say?”  You know, we are so used to Jesus’ words that we forget how radical they were.  We forget how when he said something it was almost totally opposite what was believed by the culture and what the thinking of the culture and the people were at the time and for us as well.  Jesus, when he spoke, was trying to get people from being disoriented, from thinking wrongly.  So I am preaching a series of sermons using the Sermon on the Mount.  What would Jesus say?  What would Jesus say about relationships, purpose, judging, about prayer, about showing off, about having the right foundation for one’s life; and today, using the famous beatitudes, what would Jesus say about happiness?  Now we are probably aware that the beatitudes say “Blessed are those” that do this or that or who are that.   Well the word for ‘blessed’ can be translated and has been translated as ‘happiness’; but when we look at it we’ll see right off that Jesus’ view of happiness is a little bit different than ours, because he’s not talking about something shallow.  He’s talking about something very deep.  He’s not talking about “Don’t worry, be happy!  Don’t worry about anything.  Don’t be concerned; just ignore all the pain and the problems.”  He’s talking about not a happiness of circumstances he’s talking about a right relationship with God.  He’s talking about, if you will, a sacred delight, sacred because it comes from God.  You’re blessed.  You’re blessed.  It’s not so much what we do, though it’s part of that.  Jesus is saying you will be happy, you will be blessed if you, not if you do such and such so much, but if you are such and such, if you are in the midst of God’s blessing.  So as we read it today, substitute ‘blessed’ because that’s the word you’ll hear for ‘happy’. 

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God!

Now we know when he saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside and sat down.  His disciples came to him and he began to teach them saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful,

    for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,

    for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers,

    for they will be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.  Rejoice and be happy, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Please pray with me.

Father we come before you seeking wisdom from your word, we pray for it.  We pray that you would bless us and these moments.  We pray that you would help us to be oriented again and not disoriented as we listen to what Jesus has to say.  We pray in his name.  Amen.

Happiness is kind of a funny thing.  It’s a hard thing to sort of pin down.  Thomas Jefferson was right, though; all men are created equal and we are all given the right to pursue happiness and that’s exactly what we do.  All of us want to be happy.  We all pursue it in all kinds of ways but unfortunately most of them are not so good.  When we read the bible we find that happiness, first we find that it doesn’t consist in the pursuit of pleasure.  We already know this, but if we were to examine our lives we find that that’s exactly what we do.  Deep down inside we think we will be happy if our bank account is a little higher, if we had that digital T.V. where we can watch as many football games as we want, that we could take that great vacation, if we had that right kind of car or better house or a better spouse, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t say that.  But it’s true, isn’t it?  Different kids, different job, all kinds of things.  But happiness does not consist in the pursuit of pleasure; now there’s nothing wrong with some of the things I mentioned.  An ad appeared recently in USA Today for BMW.  The ad begins like this:  “Needless to say you can’t buy happiness; but for a mere $399 a month you can lease exhilaration.  Simply visit your authorized BMW dealer before September 30^th and lease a BMW 325.”  After extolling the virtues of the BMW, the ad concludes this:  “For a program of Spiritual Uplift on easy monthly terms, we commend you to visit the participating BMW dealer.”  A program of Spiritual Uplift on easy monthly terms, I just like that.  It is so right about our culture. 

But what does Jesus say?  Well he talks about being blessed.  Now I kind of divided these beatitudes as we call them, and move them around a little bit because I think, in general, there is a lot of overlap here.  You can divide them up into three categories.  The first is happiness, if you will, or blessedness, has to do with a right attitude, if you will, toward ourselves.  So Jesus says “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God.”  Then he says “Blessed are the pure in heart.”  Now these things have to do a lot with ourselves; but right away we can see that they almost seem contradictory to idea of happiness that we would have. “Blessed are the poor in spirit”? a person who’s down on themselves perhaps, is that what that means?  No, there’s kind of a radical comment going on here. You see in Jesus’ time when he opened up with this word, the Greek word is Makarioi, the people there would know exactly what he was talking about. You see in those days the blessed were those who kept the rules; the blessed were those that had it all together.  Might have been that “Blessed are those that keep all the rules because you will have earned the right to be in the kingdom of God.”  That was the message of the day and Jesus was in the midst of all these people on this hillside, in midst of the unwashed, if you will, saying “Blessed are you.”  And they’re there going “What, are you talking about?”  Blessed are the poor in spirit.  Now we’re not a lot different.  You see, Jesus is talking about something very specific. He’s talking about being dependent on God, for everything. 

A few years ago a very successful friend of mine was talking about the difference between his spiritual life now and when he was young and he didn’t have anything.  He said “You know I never really was poor but when I was young I lived from month to month often I didn’t know how I was going to pay the bills.  I was often praying to God for help.  I didn’t have anything and I knew where to go for help.  Now I don’t depend on God that much anymore.  I just sort of take everything for granted and forget that what I have now is part of God’s blessing.”  In our day the beatitude would read “Blessed are the self-reliant because they will do great things in themselves.  Blessed are the self-reliant because they don’t need anything or anybody.”  That’s the great danger for you and me who live like kings compared to the world.  We have most of what we need and sometimes we don’t really need God.  Being poor in spirit is realizing that we are dependent creatures and being pure in heart goes right along with that.  Often it’s been interpreted that being pure in heart means that we are to be holy, that we are to be away from the world.  I really believe that’s true.  I believe that what Martin Luther said is basically that we have this distinction between our outward and inward purity, and he said our Lord wants us to have a pure heart though outwardly the person may be a common laborer or a shoemaker or blacksmith.  He may be dirty and sooty on the outside and smell to high heaven; but though he stinks outwardly, this is good Martin Luther stuff, inwardly he is pure incense to God.  I like that; I think that’s true.  But there is another part of the beatitude which we need to take very seriously.  You see, God not only wants us to be pure inwardly, He wants us to be pure in our dealings with Him and with one another.  And friends, let me tell you something we all already know; it’s that every one of us here wears a kind of mask.  Every one of us here puts on an outward show for everyone. “How are you doing?”  “Fine.”  “I’m just fine.”  You may be hurting inside, you may be going through hell; but “you’re fine.”  We are not very honest with one another.  We put on the mask of having it all together; and, as such, we are hypocrites, because that’s the meaning of the word, to put on a mask.  And how often has the world called us hypocrites in the Church.  I think unfairly really, often.  And yet we give the impression that we are better than what we really are.  I love what Steve Brown says, he says “When I hear unbelievers calling Christians hypocrites, I realize how miserably we have failed in communicating the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A hypocrite is one who proclaims with his or her words or life what he or she does not believe.  When a pagan says those Christians pray (PRAY) on their knees on Sunday and prey (PREY) on their neighbors the rest of the week, they simply have not understood the gospel.  If I should say that the Christian faith is for good people, call myself a Christian and then I’m not good, I am indeed a hypocrite.  However, that isn’t what the bible teaches at all.  The bible teaches that Christ came to save sinners not good people.  Therefore my witness is not to my purity, kindness and love; it is to Christ’s purity, kindness and love.”  Being pure in heart is simply authenticity.  Happy are you when you don’t put on airs and you can be real.  How does that lead to happiness?  Well you know I find it kind of a burden to act like what I’m not.  I don’t know about you.  When I depend on the Lord and draw close to him who is the source of happiness, well, that’s where happiness is, isn’t it?  So it’s a right attitude toward ourselves, poor in spirit, pure in heart. 

It is also an attitude toward ourselves and the world and there’s a little overlap here but I find it interesting that Jesus would say “Blessed are you, Happy if you mourn.”  Now we are so used to hearing that but he is actually saying “Happy are the Unhappy.”  Isn’t that strange?  What could Jesus mean about that?  Let me ask you a question.  I think there are two orientations here, one is toward ourselves.  Have you ever wept over your sins; just cried over them?  You know there is a sense in which we ought to mourn over the garbage that’s in here and in here, and there’s a lot.  I ask the question all the time if somebody could video tape your thoughts over the last three months would you want anybody to see them?  I wouldn’t.  We should mourn over our sins.  Steve Brown tells the story about a young woman who came to him just crying and she said “I really messed up.”  She had slept with her boyfriend.  That doesn’t happen to often anymore that somebody would weep over that.  She wasn’t weeping over the fact that she had sex, she was weeping over the fact that she had done something she knew her Lord didn’t want her to do.  And Pastor Brown looked at her and said “You know you have a great opportunity here.”  She said “Really.”  “You should go to your boyfriend and tell him what you’ve done.”  And she did.  She said “You know what I did with you last night was in many ways wonderful but it wasn’t what the Lord wanted me to do and I think it’s hurt my relationship with him.”  And the boyfriend didn’t know how to handle any of that.  But you know in the end he started listening and came to the Lord himself.  But you know we mourn not only on our own sins but we mourn over the sins of the world.  We are so busy making out like the world’s a wonderful place.  We’ve made it so.  We’re so comfortable and that’s not a bad thing.  We’ve been able to get rid of all kinds of diseases; and you know when we walk out, it’s cold between here and our cars, and we turn our cars on and, gosh, they’re heated.  You know, I’ve got in a habit around here of not even carrying a coat with me sometimes.  That’s crazy because my car could break down.  We have heated houses and we have enough to eat.  When we get sick we run off to the doctor and get whatever it is that we need, the MRIs on our heads and our bodies and everything else to make sure that nothing happens to us; and that’s not all bad either.  But the rest of the world doesn’t live like that.  There is injustice and sickness and hurt out there that you wouldn’t believe, and maybe you would; but you just haven’t seen it for a while and we see it on T.V. and we are shocked by death and destruction.  How could this be this way?  Well it’s this way normally.  I’m not being negative, it just is.  There is a sense in which we should mourn over it.  Again how can that make us happy?  Well if we mourn over our sins we draw closer to the Lord and if we mourn over the hurts of the world we’re motivated to do something about it.  How many times have people had something terrible happen to them and they say “I’m not going to take it anymore.  I’m going to do something about it.”  And they do.  And the world becomes a better place because of the heartache.  Which leads to the hunger and thirst for righteousness.

This is God’s righteousness not just any righteousness.  And yet, we have become so complacent in this world, complacent about what happens in it, complacent about what we do.  Give up!  We can’t fight City Hall.  We can’t fight it…. But we can.  But it’s more than just doing what’s right in the world; well that’s part of it, but it’s God’s righteousness we are to proclaim the kingdom.  You see the whole context of this Sermon on the Mount is Jesus saying “The kingdom is here!”  Not just in heaven it’s here.  And we are to work for his righteousness.  So it’s an attitude toward ourselves.  It’s an attitude toward the world.  It’s an attitude toward others. 

Blessed are the meek.  That’s a strange saying, isn’t it?  Again we have it all discombobulated, I think, as we tend to think about meekness as being passive and cowardly.  We tend to think of it as being something that you know is bad.  I read how several years ago there was kind of a fun loving person named Diskson who wrote a book called Cower Power.  To get into the spirit of things he founded a group for submissive people that was called Doormats.  It stood for Dependent Organization of Really Meek and Timid Souls, if there are no objections.  Their motto was “the meek shall inherit the earth if that’s O.K. with everybody.”  Their symbol was a yellow traffic light.  I really need to go online and see if that still exists; this is several years ago.  You know that’s kind of the way we look at being meek.  Jesus is not talking about, we’re not saying that you can’t stand up for yourself, that you can’t have courage, that you can’t be aggressive, that you can’t go out in the world and do things.  What he’s really saying is what we’ve been hearing many people saying these days is that it’s not all about you.  What he is really saying is that we put others first and not ourselves.  There’s a cartoon strip called Cathy, and a while back there was a conversation between Cathy and Andrea and Cathy says “When I was little I put my own needs first and everyone said I was being selfish and inconsiderate.  Now everyone says I’m supposed to put my own needs first”; and Andrea answers “That’s right Cathy, putting your own needs first is one of the most important things you can do to maintain your self-respect and your self-esteem.”  Cathy looked sad and asked “How can I have any self-respect or self-esteem if I’m being selfish and inconsiderate?”  Indeed.  And yet, isn’t that what assertiveness is for us in many cases?  It’s putting others first and putting God first and being obedient to God that’s what meekness is.  We are to be meek toward others and merciful to others also. Blessed are the merciful.  You know I say all the time, remind myself of it, that you will never forgive anyone more than God has forgiven you.  Let’s say that again.  You will never forgive anyone of anything more that God has forgiven you.  We never think of it in that way, do we?  But because of that, because Jesus died on the cross for you, blood and guts and all of it for you and showed you mercy and me mercy, we are to have mercy toward others, and that’s hard, isn’t it?  Forgiveness is terribly hard.  It’s terribly hard. 

Which leads I think to the third thing in this category after the others is being a peacemaker.  You see we start with an attitude of mercy toward others; and I think peacemaking has gotten a real misunderstanding.  You know the absence of conflict is not necessarily the indicator of peace.  That seems to be a lot of the attitude of our diplomacy today.  But you know peacemaking begins right at home between individuals, and I would say before you start looking at the world, which we should, you should look at your own families.  I don’t know about your family but my family was certainly colorful in their relationships.  There was certainly some conflict there; certainly between friends and co-workers, right in our own world.  The absence of conflict is not necessarily the indicator of peace.  What I’m simply saying is that making peace is terribly hard; and the analogy I would just put before you is that in order to make peace between us and Himself, God sent His Son to die.  There was no peace between us and God.  We’re sinners and He’s not.  We’re unholy; He’s holy.  We’re at war with God in our minds and He not with us; and Jesus had to die for all of that.  So making peace sometimes means dealing with the hard issues of life.  Sometimes it means opening up the wounds before we can heal them.  I’m not saying we go about it on purpose all the time, sometimes it’s not; but sometimes it means dealing with the hard things. 

And yes happiness comes from all of these things, real happiness, not just the stuff that comes and goes.  Then Jesus leaves us with kind of a warning.  You know, we said at the beginning that happiness certainly doesn’t mean simply the pursuit of pleasure and happiness does not mean the denial of pain either.  Jesus says the most astounding thing of all.  He says, “Blessed are you when you are persecuted because of me.  Rejoice and be glad; be happy.”  It’s almost as though he says “I’m crazy and I just proved it.”  What does that mean?  There’s no real happiness when there is conflict around us, is there?  We will go to any length to avoid conflict.  We don’t deal with religion and politics, do we?...because it leads to conflict.  We don’t deal with hard issues with one another, we just ignore it, we ignore it.  We enable people in their behavior; we enable ourselves in our behavior because we don’t want to deal with conflict, because it produces pain.  But God Himself entered the pain of this world through Jesus and he was persecuted for it.  So doing all these things and being all these things may lead to people not liking you very much.  It happens; and yet, if we want real happiness, real joy, real blessedness, we reorient ourselves to right thinking, to the thinking that Jesus has for us in these words and other words throughout the sermon and throughout the bible.

Today we began the series What Would Jesus Say About things….. happiness and blessedness; and the end comes from being in the realm of God’s presence and God’s thinking.  It’s what God would have us do and be and say and think.  Be Happy.  Be Blessed.  In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen