February 3, 2025 • 26 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Everybody wants it, but few can find it, and most
who do find it we're never looking for it in
the first place. Why is happiness so elusive?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Today?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
On Turning Point, Doctor David Jeremiah continues his series on
finding the kind of happiness Jesus defined in his sermon
on them out how to be happy according to Jesus.
Here's David to introduce the conclusion of his message, Life
outside the Amusement Park.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know, I've been a pastor now for over fifty years,
and really I've only pastored two churches, one in Fort
Wayne for twelve years and one here in San Diego
for forty some years. I've watched a lot of people
start out in the Christian walk and grow and sometimes
have little stalemates where they have to stop and reconnect.
(00:54):
And I've also watched a lot of people struggling for
some kind of meeting in life and yet being unwilling
to even consider the fact that meaning in life comes
in Christ. I hope this series will help you to
understand that the Christian life is not a bit of roses.
It is a difficult life in many respects, but it
(01:15):
is a life full of joy and happiness. When you
live it according to the rules according to the Scripture.
And one of the best places for these scripture rules
to be laid out is in the Beatitudes, which is
Matthew chapter five, and that's the source of our teaching
today and for the month of February. We want you
to know that this can be a great and exciting
(01:37):
time for you. By the way, we have a beautiful
study guide for this series. If you'd like to have
the study guide, you can go to our website which
is David Jeremiah dot org. There you will find it
and you can order it right into your own home,
along with the audio package that we prepare for every series. Well,
here's part two of life outside the Amusement Park. Open
(02:00):
up your heart to the truth. As we begin to
study together.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
In Matthew chapter five, there is an entire discourse from
the lips of Jesus on happiness. It is in what
we call the Sermon on the Mount. And most folks
have said the Sermon on the Mount is the essence
of the Christian faith in life. And everybody believes that
the Beatitudes are the essence of the Sermon on the Mount.
(02:28):
So what we're talking here is the essence of the
essence of the Christian life, the very core, the very
center of what Jesus said was the values of the kingdom.
And in these eleven verses the word blessed occurs nine
different times. Some modern translators have changed the rendering of
(02:53):
the Greek word makarios from blessed to the word happy.
Blessedness has kind of a richer, deeper, larger spiritual meaning
than happiness, but they come together in this teaching. The
word blessed in the Greek language is the word which
(03:13):
means a blessing that kind of goes along with being
a god. In the beginning of the use of the word,
it was never attached to anyone but the gods, the
blessed gods. But then in the New Testament we read
it twice concerning our God. One Timothy one to eleven
says the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God. Also in
(03:37):
One Timothy, chapter six and verse fifteen, we read the
blessed and only potentate, the King.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Of kings, the Lord of lords.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
And if you read the Book of Matthew chapter five,
verses one through eleven, you will notice that the little
word are in all of the verses is in italics,
which means that it is not really in the text.
It is added by the English translator to give fluency
to the reading of it. So, in essence, there is
no verb in the beatitudes. If you were to read
(04:10):
it correctly, it would read like this, Blessed the poor
in the spirit, Blessed those who mourn, Blessed those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, Blessed the merciful, and on
through the text. It is an exclamation of exquisite joy
and happiness for those who possess these qualities. And we remembered,
(04:35):
don't we in reading the Psalms, that once in a
while that word jumps out of the psama's mouth. For instance,
do you know someone that goes like this, Oh, the
bliss of the man who walketh not in the council
of the ungodly. Blessed is the man who walketh not
in the council of the ungodly, happy, blissful, exquisitely happy
(04:59):
is the man or this one in Psalm thirty two
to two, Oh, the bliss of the man to whom
the Lord does not impute iniquity?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Can I get a witness to that one. Aren't you
glad that God.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Doesn't keep the page in his record book that has
all your sins listed on.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It after you once came and applied the blood of
Jesus Christ to it.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
And the writer of the Psalm says it this way, Oh,
the bliss blessedness is the man's who does not have
iniquity applied to his account. So this is the form
of expression that the Lord Jesus used. We call it
the blessings, the be attitudes. Someone has called it to
(05:46):
be happy attitudes, the blessings of true happiness, And I
want to talk with you about them because they are
truly incredibly unique. The greatness of the beatitudes is not
that they are some wistful glimpse of some future day.
(06:10):
They're not golden promises of some glorious future time. They
are shouts of joy and happiness that nothing in the
world can ever take away.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And they're available to us now.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
And Jesus says, if you want to truly be happy,
here's the formula, and we're going to take each of
these one at a time, and we're going to talk
about them the keys to true happiness. In preparation in
doing that, I'd like to take just a few moments
today and share some general thoughts about this section of
(06:44):
scripture that will lay a foundation for our study.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I have four or five things I want to say.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
First of all, I think this needs to be down
at the very bottom of all of our discussion, and
that is that the pursuit of true happiness is part
of God's purpose for you. He doesn't want you to
pursue it, he wants you.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
To have it.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Now, that may seem a little strange, because I know
a lot of folks who aren't really sure Christians are
supposed to be happy, and looking at them, they are
an advertisement for their philosophy. They are convinced that true
holiness produces a dour look, that in order for someone
to really be godly, he has to look like a
(07:29):
reject from a pickle factory. And you know them, don't you.
You've run into them. The fact that we would laugh
in our church would be greatly offensive to such a person,
for they are absolutely convinced that holiness and unhappiness are synonymous.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I'm reminded that C. S.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Lewis one time said a school child was asked what
he thought God was like, and the child answered that,
so far as he could make out, God is the
kind of person who's always snooping around to see if
anyone's enjoying himself so that he can put a stop
to it. Have you ever known anybody who followed that philosophy?
(08:11):
You know, that's kind of the way a lot of
folks think about God. But you know, this Jesus whose
words we have quoted here today, is the same Jesus
who said I have come that you might have life,
and that you might have it more abundantly. The joy
of the Lord Jesus is the desire he has for
(08:35):
each and every one of us. Whenever I think of
people who like to cast Jesus as a sorrowful, sad
player on the pages of the New Testament, I have
to believe in my heart they're reading some other book
than the one I've been reading. For what do you
(08:55):
do with the winsome Jesus of the New Testament of Nazareth,
who took such great delight in all the simple pleasures
that were around him, who came eating and drinking so
much that his enemies said he was a glutton and
a winebibber.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Remember that.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
The Jesus, who in his life, as recorded for us
in the Gospels, enjoyed wholesome activities, who was at home
at a wedding, who enjoyed himself at a banquet, who
was always seemingly the center of the gathering of friends
in anyone's home, who mingled with publicans and sinners, and
(09:39):
attracted little children to him. Now that's a thought, isn't it.
You notice that there are certain kinds of people that
draw children to them, and there are others that scare
them away. Jesus attracted children to his knee. And I
don't think I'm reading too much into the story when
I tell you that he had an awesome sense of
(10:02):
humor because of the translation out of that culture into ours.
We may not always see it. But do you remember
the word picture that he painted on one occasion, a
ludicrous word picture of a man with a plank hanging
out of his eye, painfully squinting as he tries to
remove a speck of soughtust from the eye of his brother.
(10:25):
I tell you when Jesus told that story, in those days,
there were some people who put their hands over their
mouth and turned their heads so that they could hide
the snicker in the giggle.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Jesus got him with his sense of humor.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
So when the bloodhounds of a sad life try to
paint Jesus into this morbid picture that so often we see,
even in the portraits that are made of him, I
have to tell you they haven't read about the Jesus
I know who wanted us to find happiness so much
(11:00):
much that in the Sermon on the Mount he devoted
all of these verses to tell us what it means
to truly be blessed. So I want to just go
on record today as saying to all of us him
to remind myself again. I know in my heart that
Jesus Christ wants David Jeremiah to be a happy man.
(11:20):
He wants me to walk with joy in my spirit
and have a smile on my face. Not a silly,
superficial kind of ecstatic sentimentalism, but a deep seated joy
that can come only from him. And he wants you
to have that joy too. He wants you to know
that kind of happiness. I was rather shocked, in preparing
(11:45):
for this message, to read a book that someone had
given me on the subject of happiness, written by.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
A rather well known writer, someone whose.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Name you would know if I told you, who has
taught us much about the Christian faith. And when in
the introduction to his book he was explaining why he
would pick such a subject in his older years to
write on happiness.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
His explanation was that looking.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Back on his life, even as a Christian leader, he
had discovered that there were far too many places where
he was profoundly unhappy. And you know, as I travel
and talk with people in the Evangelical church, and as
I meet often with Evangelical leaders even here in our
own community, and as I examine my own life, that
(12:32):
is a statement which is far too true for many
of us. God wants his people to be a happy people.
The Christian life is a joyous existence, and for us
to live in any other way is to fall beneath
the level than God intended for us. All, if you
(12:53):
don't have a sense of humor, we ought to put
you on the priority prayer list, because without a sense
of human and without an ability to laugh, life can
be very long, very long. Indeed, the second thing I
want you to note is that the pursuit of happiness,
according to Jesus' statements, is a journey inward. It is
(13:16):
not an outward thing, as we so often would purport
it to be. Let me tell you what Jesus said
about the truly happy people. His list does not include
one single reference to health or wealth, or work or
adequate income or financial security, or home or love or
(13:40):
even friends. Jesus knew that while all of these things
often accompany happiness, they do not ever produce it, and
so listen to his list. It so completely reverses the
world's standards. All the bliss of the poor, all the
bliss of the hungry and the thirsty, Oh the happiness
(14:03):
of the persecuted, Oh the bliss of the sorrowful. These
are such startling contradictions to the world's standards that no
man can hear them for the first time without a
sense of shock and amazement. Who is this one who
speaks so strangely about happiness? These beatitudes are a set
(14:26):
of paradoxes to.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
The human mind.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
They I believe were meant to destroy all the foolish
illusions that had grown up in the minds of the
people of Jesus' day, who were looking for a kingdom
that to them meant dominion and prosperity, and Jesus says,
let me tell you about the real kingdom. It is
not out there in dominion, and prosperity is in your heart,
(14:52):
in the attitude of heart. And let me tell you
about the kinds of attitudes which properly understand will bring true.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Joy and happiness to an end.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Individual, I read them, and have read them over and
over again, and I have to tell you that my
words today may have the same impression on some of
you that I'm sure our Lord's word had on the
people of his day. I'm sure that for some of
the people it disgusted them to have someone stand in
front of them and read this list and say, at
(15:22):
the core of this list is true happiness. It was
like throwing cold water on the hot enthusiasm they had
for material prosperity and kingdom dominion. So I want you
to know that to find true happiness, you won't.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Get it at that party. Let me tell you it
won't be there.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
You will find misery there, but you won't find true happiness. Thirdly,
the pursuit of true happiness is not a goal, it's
a byproduct. I think that's important because if we're not careful,
we can make happiness our goal, and it will never
come to us. Those who pursue happiness as their goal
(16:04):
very seldom finded. Happiness is the byproduct of finding something else.
I'm going to read a statement to you. You tell me
who you think might have said this. This is the statement,
I think I must be the happiest man in the world.
I have never met anyone who has had as much
fun as I have had. Who do you think might
have said that?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Well?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Was it a playboy who had run the gamut of
sexual pleasure and trotted around the globe in a kind
of bohemian existence. Was it an adventurer who had visited
the jungles of South America or scaled the slopes of
Mount Everest? Who could have said, I think I must
be the happiest man in the world. I have never
(16:47):
met anyone who has had as much fun as I
have had. The man who said that is Christian missionary
Frank Lawback, who spent his whole life teaching literacy to
the backward peoples of the world. Doctor Lawback never went
(17:09):
looking for happiness, but he found happiness as the byproduct
of a search for something more. In one of his writings,
he said, you cannot describe the delight of people when
they first discover that they can read. Men go hysterical
and women begin to weep for joy. There could not
be any other work in the world which could possibly
(17:32):
have brought me so much happiness. I truly believe I
am the happiest man in the world.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
No one could ever have had as much fun as
I had. Do you know what? I know people like that?
Do you know people like that? If you look at the.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Outer shell of their life, the things we normally evaluate,
you wonder, I mean, could those people really be happy?
When you get to know them. There is kind of
an inner joy that is enthusiastic, exuberant, and you realize
that they have found the core of what it means
to truly be happy in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
(18:11):
may not write anything else down I say today, but
this is a statement worth writing down.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
It is not my word, but it is one I
will never forget.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
It goes like this, If more people would get a
divorce from themselves, they might learn how to live happily
with someone else. You see, true happiness often is short circuited,
because if it is an inward journey we have never
taken the trip Number fourth and last, the pursuit of
(18:43):
true happiness will lead us ultimately to Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ was a supremely happy man, and there's no doubt
about the fact that there could be observable reasons. We
read the record in the gospels, and we could say,
(19:03):
by reading the record of his life in the gospels, well,
here's some things I.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Can think that would have made him happy.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
For instance, he had good relationships and close friends, and
at periods of time in his life he even had
a few creature comforts, not always and not most of
the time, but on occasion he did.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
He was entertained in.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
His life by some very wealthy people who cared for him,
and he had the opportunity to do what he loved
to do, which is a matter of great pleasure for
those of us who have been privileged to do what
our heart loves to do.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
He could teach, he could heal.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
He had fellowship with friends and with disciples. All of
these doors were open to him for his enjoyment and
for his pleasure.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
But now think with me for a moment.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
All through the final months of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
One by one, the doors of outer pleasure and happiness
were slammed shut in his face. If you read the
passion narratives in the Four Gospels, you can literally hear
the doors going shut, until at last they slam the
(20:19):
door in the upper room. His brief ministry, by all
outward standards is a failure.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What he has to look forward to the.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Next day is the cross, the Roman crucifixion. His closest friends,
who were a source of joy to him either have
betrayed him, deserted him, or denied him. And there in
the atmosphere of the gathering gloom, at the end of
(20:50):
his life, there in the upper room, Jesus said this
to his disciples, these things I have spoken unto you,
that my joy may be in you, and that your
joy may be full.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That intrigues me.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
All the support systems gone, all the doors to outward
happiness slam shut, And I hear the Master say, and now, gentlemen,
what I want you to know is the secret of
my joy, so that your joy.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Might be full.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Can you grasp in your imagination? Men and women, a
man about to die the most terrible death, talking of
his joy.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And of his gladness and of his happiness.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
There are only two explanations for a man like that.
Either he is crazy mad, or he knows something most.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Of the world does not yet know. And we know
the answer to that one, don't we.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
At the core of his life was the joy of
being in the center of his father's will. He said,
my meat is to do the will of my father.
Jesus learned how to live every day for the joy
of being in the center of his father's will. In
(22:23):
the words of the fifth chapter of Matthew, he will
teach us the building blocks for true happiness in our life.
Some of you are going to be a little bit
threatened by this. Maybe even now you're threatened. Maybe now
you're saying, well, as I read through this list, it
looks to me like a lot of things would have
(22:43):
to change in my life for me to be happy.
Don't throw anything away yet, because you see what Jesus
is talking about isn't the outward stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
It's the inward attitude of heart that makes it.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Possible for you, like Paul to say, I have learned
how to be content, whether I abound, whether I have.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
A little, I am a happy man.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
True happiness is at the center of life, or maybe
I could say it this way, true happiness.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Is outside the amusement park.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Well, I hope the little story and metaphor helps you
understand where we're going. And tomorrow we're going to talk
about how to be happy and be humble. Wow, Happy
are the humble from Matthew Chapter five and verse three.
During this month, we have a special resource we want
to give you. It's a very beautiful book that we
(23:53):
just finished. I wish I could tell you what colors
are on the front, but I'm colorblind, so that would
not be a good thing because you would be disappointed.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
But it's bright.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I can tell you that it's exciting to see. And
the title of the book are twelve Habits of truly
Happy Christians with Jesus Prescription for Happiness. If you get
this book, you will have kind of at the core,
twelve things that you need to think about as a
Christian as you walk into the Christian life. I'd love
(24:23):
for you to have this. This is a great resource
and it'll get you started in a way that will
be really positive in your life. So when you send
your gift today for the month of February, just say
send me the book Twelve Habits and we'll do it,
and we'll count on you being here tomorrow as we
explore happy are the Humble. Thanks for listening. I'm David Jeremiah.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
The message you've just heard came to you from Shadow
Mountain Community Church, your pastor, doctor David Jeremiah. We'd love
to know how this ministry encourages you, so write to
Turning Point po box thirty eight thirty eight, San Diego, California,
nine two one sixty three. Visit our website at Davidjeremiah
dot org, slash radio, or call eight hundred ninety four
(25:18):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of David's
valuable book, Twelve Habits of Truly Happy Christians with Jesus
Prescription for Happiness. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also download the free Turning Point mobile app
for your smartphone or tablet, or search in your app
store for Turning Point Ministries. To access our content, visit
(25:41):
David Jeremiah dot org slash radio for details.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Join us tomorrow as we continue how to be happy
according to Jesus on turning point with doctor David Jeremiah
Everybody wants it, but few can find it, and most
who do find it we're never looking for it in
the first place. Why is happiness so elusive?
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Today?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
On Turning Point, Doctor David Jeremiah continues his series on
finding the kind of happiness Jesus defined in his sermon
on them out how to be happy according to Jesus.
Here's David to introduce the conclusion of his message, Life
outside the Amusement Park.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
You know, I've been a pastor now for over fifty years,
and really I've only pastored two churches, one in Fort
Wayne for twelve years and one here in San Diego
for forty some years. I've watched a lot of people
start out in the Christian walk and grow and sometimes
have little stalemates where they have to stop and reconnect.
(00:54):
And I've also watched a lot of people struggling for
some kind of meeting in life and yet being unwilling
to even consider the fact that meaning in life comes
in Christ. I hope this series will help you to
understand that the Christian life is not a bit of roses.
It is a difficult life in many respects, but it
(01:15):
is a life full of joy and happiness. When you
live it according to the rules according to the Scripture.
And one of the best places for these scripture rules
to be laid out is in the Beatitudes, which is
Matthew chapter five, and that's the source of our teaching
today and for the month of February. We want you
to know that this can be a great and exciting
(01:37):
time for you. By the way, we have a beautiful
study guide for this series. If you'd like to have
the study guide, you can go to our website which
is David Jeremiah dot org. There you will find it
and you can order it right into your own home,
along with the audio package that we prepare for every series. Well,
here's part two of life outside the Amusement Park. Open
(02:00):
up your heart to the truth. As we begin to
study together.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
In Matthew chapter five, there is an entire discourse from
the lips of Jesus on happiness. It is in what
we call the Sermon on the Mount. And most folks
have said the Sermon on the Mount is the essence
of the Christian faith in life. And everybody believes that
the Beatitudes are the essence of the Sermon on the Mount.
(02:28):
So what we're talking here is the essence of the
essence of the Christian life, the very core, the very
center of what Jesus said was the values of the kingdom.
And in these eleven verses the word blessed occurs nine
different times. Some modern translators have changed the rendering of
(02:53):
the Greek word makarios from blessed to the word happy.
Blessedness has kind of a richer, deeper, larger spiritual meaning
than happiness, but they come together in this teaching. The
word blessed in the Greek language is the word which
(03:13):
means a blessing that kind of goes along with being
a god. In the beginning of the use of the word,
it was never attached to anyone but the gods, the
blessed gods. But then in the New Testament we read
it twice concerning our God. One Timothy one to eleven
says the Glorious Gospel of the Blessed God. Also in
(03:37):
One Timothy, chapter six and verse fifteen, we read the
blessed and only potentate, the King.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Of kings, the Lord of lords.
Speaker 4 (03:47):
And if you read the Book of Matthew chapter five,
verses one through eleven, you will notice that the little
word are in all of the verses is in italics,
which means that it is not really in the text.
It is added by the English translator to give fluency
to the reading of it. So, in essence, there is
no verb in the beatitudes. If you were to read
(04:10):
it correctly, it would read like this, Blessed the poor
in the spirit, Blessed those who mourn, Blessed those who
hunger and thirst after righteousness, Blessed the merciful, and on
through the text. It is an exclamation of exquisite joy
and happiness for those who possess these qualities. And we remembered,
(04:35):
don't we in reading the Psalms, that once in a
while that word jumps out of the psama's mouth. For instance,
do you know someone that goes like this, Oh, the
bliss of the man who walketh not in the council
of the ungodly. Blessed is the man who walketh not
in the council of the ungodly, happy, blissful, exquisitely happy
(04:59):
is the man or this one in Psalm thirty two
to two, Oh, the bliss of the man to whom
the Lord does not impute iniquity?
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Can I get a witness to that one. Aren't you
glad that God.
Speaker 4 (05:14):
Doesn't keep the page in his record book that has
all your sins listed on.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It after you once came and applied the blood of
Jesus Christ to it.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
And the writer of the Psalm says it this way, Oh,
the bliss blessedness is the man's who does not have
iniquity applied to his account. So this is the form
of expression that the Lord Jesus used. We call it
the blessings, the be attitudes. Someone has called it to
(05:46):
be happy attitudes, the blessings of true happiness, And I
want to talk with you about them because they are
truly incredibly unique. The greatness of the beatitudes is not
that they are some wistful glimpse of some future day.
(06:10):
They're not golden promises of some glorious future time. They
are shouts of joy and happiness that nothing in the
world can ever take away.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
And they're available to us now.
Speaker 4 (06:24):
And Jesus says, if you want to truly be happy,
here's the formula, and we're going to take each of
these one at a time, and we're going to talk
about them the keys to true happiness. In preparation in
doing that, I'd like to take just a few moments
today and share some general thoughts about this section of
(06:44):
scripture that will lay a foundation for our study.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I have four or five things I want to say.
Speaker 4 (06:50):
First of all, I think this needs to be down
at the very bottom of all of our discussion, and
that is that the pursuit of true happiness is part
of God's purpose for you. He doesn't want you to
pursue it, he wants you.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
To have it.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
Now, that may seem a little strange, because I know
a lot of folks who aren't really sure Christians are
supposed to be happy, and looking at them, they are
an advertisement for their philosophy. They are convinced that true
holiness produces a dour look, that in order for someone
to really be godly, he has to look like a
(07:29):
reject from a pickle factory. And you know them, don't you.
You've run into them. The fact that we would laugh
in our church would be greatly offensive to such a person,
for they are absolutely convinced that holiness and unhappiness are synonymous.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
I'm reminded that C. S.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
Lewis one time said a school child was asked what
he thought God was like, and the child answered that,
so far as he could make out, God is the
kind of person who's always snooping around to see if
anyone's enjoying himself so that he can put a stop
to it. Have you ever known anybody who followed that philosophy?
(08:11):
You know, that's kind of the way a lot of
folks think about God. But you know, this Jesus whose
words we have quoted here today, is the same Jesus
who said I have come that you might have life,
and that you might have it more abundantly. The joy
of the Lord Jesus is the desire he has for
(08:35):
each and every one of us. Whenever I think of
people who like to cast Jesus as a sorrowful, sad
player on the pages of the New Testament, I have
to believe in my heart they're reading some other book
than the one I've been reading. For what do you
(08:55):
do with the winsome Jesus of the New Testament of Nazareth,
who took such great delight in all the simple pleasures
that were around him, who came eating and drinking so
much that his enemies said he was a glutton and
a winebibber.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Remember that.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
The Jesus, who in his life, as recorded for us
in the Gospels, enjoyed wholesome activities, who was at home
at a wedding, who enjoyed himself at a banquet, who
was always seemingly the center of the gathering of friends
in anyone's home, who mingled with publicans and sinners, and
(09:39):
attracted little children to him. Now that's a thought, isn't it.
You notice that there are certain kinds of people that
draw children to them, and there are others that scare
them away. Jesus attracted children to his knee. And I
don't think I'm reading too much into the story when
I tell you that he had an awesome sense of
(10:02):
humor because of the translation out of that culture into ours.
We may not always see it. But do you remember
the word picture that he painted on one occasion, a
ludicrous word picture of a man with a plank hanging
out of his eye, painfully squinting as he tries to
remove a speck of soughtust from the eye of his brother.
(10:25):
I tell you when Jesus told that story, in those days,
there were some people who put their hands over their
mouth and turned their heads so that they could hide
the snicker in the giggle.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Jesus got him with his sense of humor.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
So when the bloodhounds of a sad life try to
paint Jesus into this morbid picture that so often we see,
even in the portraits that are made of him, I
have to tell you they haven't read about the Jesus
I know who wanted us to find happiness so much
(11:00):
much that in the Sermon on the Mount he devoted
all of these verses to tell us what it means
to truly be blessed. So I want to just go
on record today as saying to all of us him
to remind myself again. I know in my heart that
Jesus Christ wants David Jeremiah to be a happy man.
(11:20):
He wants me to walk with joy in my spirit
and have a smile on my face. Not a silly,
superficial kind of ecstatic sentimentalism, but a deep seated joy
that can come only from him. And he wants you
to have that joy too. He wants you to know
that kind of happiness. I was rather shocked, in preparing
(11:45):
for this message, to read a book that someone had
given me on the subject of happiness, written by.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
A rather well known writer, someone whose.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Name you would know if I told you, who has
taught us much about the Christian faith. And when in
the introduction to his book he was explaining why he
would pick such a subject in his older years to
write on happiness.
Speaker 2 (12:08):
His explanation was that looking.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Back on his life, even as a Christian leader, he
had discovered that there were far too many places where
he was profoundly unhappy. And you know, as I travel
and talk with people in the Evangelical church, and as
I meet often with Evangelical leaders even here in our
own community, and as I examine my own life, that
(12:32):
is a statement which is far too true for many
of us. God wants his people to be a happy people.
The Christian life is a joyous existence, and for us
to live in any other way is to fall beneath
the level than God intended for us. All, if you
(12:53):
don't have a sense of humor, we ought to put
you on the priority prayer list, because without a sense
of human and without an ability to laugh, life can
be very long, very long. Indeed, the second thing I
want you to note is that the pursuit of happiness,
according to Jesus' statements, is a journey inward. It is
(13:16):
not an outward thing, as we so often would purport
it to be. Let me tell you what Jesus said
about the truly happy people. His list does not include
one single reference to health or wealth, or work or
adequate income or financial security, or home or love or
(13:40):
even friends. Jesus knew that while all of these things
often accompany happiness, they do not ever produce it, and
so listen to his list. It so completely reverses the
world's standards. All the bliss of the poor, all the
bliss of the hungry and the thirsty, Oh the happiness
(14:03):
of the persecuted, Oh the bliss of the sorrowful. These
are such startling contradictions to the world's standards that no
man can hear them for the first time without a
sense of shock and amazement. Who is this one who
speaks so strangely about happiness? These beatitudes are a set
(14:26):
of paradoxes to.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
The human mind.
Speaker 4 (14:29):
They I believe were meant to destroy all the foolish
illusions that had grown up in the minds of the
people of Jesus' day, who were looking for a kingdom
that to them meant dominion and prosperity, and Jesus says,
let me tell you about the real kingdom. It is
not out there in dominion, and prosperity is in your heart,
(14:52):
in the attitude of heart. And let me tell you
about the kinds of attitudes which properly understand will bring true.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Joy and happiness to an end.
Speaker 4 (15:00):
Individual, I read them, and have read them over and
over again, and I have to tell you that my
words today may have the same impression on some of
you that I'm sure our Lord's word had on the
people of his day. I'm sure that for some of
the people it disgusted them to have someone stand in
front of them and read this list and say, at
(15:22):
the core of this list is true happiness. It was
like throwing cold water on the hot enthusiasm they had
for material prosperity and kingdom dominion. So I want you
to know that to find true happiness, you won't.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Get it at that party. Let me tell you it
won't be there.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
You will find misery there, but you won't find true happiness. Thirdly,
the pursuit of true happiness is not a goal, it's
a byproduct. I think that's important because if we're not careful,
we can make happiness our goal, and it will never
come to us. Those who pursue happiness as their goal
(16:04):
very seldom finded. Happiness is the byproduct of finding something else.
I'm going to read a statement to you. You tell me
who you think might have said this. This is the statement,
I think I must be the happiest man in the world.
I have never met anyone who has had as much
fun as I have had. Who do you think might
have said that?
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Well?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Was it a playboy who had run the gamut of
sexual pleasure and trotted around the globe in a kind
of bohemian existence. Was it an adventurer who had visited
the jungles of South America or scaled the slopes of
Mount Everest? Who could have said, I think I must
be the happiest man in the world. I have never
(16:47):
met anyone who has had as much fun as I
have had. The man who said that is Christian missionary
Frank Lawback, who spent his whole life teaching literacy to
the backward peoples of the world. Doctor Lawback never went
(17:09):
looking for happiness, but he found happiness as the byproduct
of a search for something more. In one of his writings,
he said, you cannot describe the delight of people when
they first discover that they can read. Men go hysterical
and women begin to weep for joy. There could not
be any other work in the world which could possibly
(17:32):
have brought me so much happiness. I truly believe I
am the happiest man in the world.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
No one could ever have had as much fun as
I had. Do you know what? I know people like that?
Do you know people like that? If you look at the.
Speaker 4 (17:47):
Outer shell of their life, the things we normally evaluate,
you wonder, I mean, could those people really be happy?
When you get to know them. There is kind of
an inner joy that is enthusiastic, exuberant, and you realize
that they have found the core of what it means
to truly be happy in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
(18:11):
may not write anything else down I say today, but
this is a statement worth writing down.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
It is not my word, but it is one I
will never forget.
Speaker 4 (18:20):
It goes like this, If more people would get a
divorce from themselves, they might learn how to live happily
with someone else. You see, true happiness often is short circuited,
because if it is an inward journey we have never
taken the trip Number fourth and last, the pursuit of
(18:43):
true happiness will lead us ultimately to Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ was a supremely happy man, and there's no doubt
about the fact that there could be observable reasons. We
read the record in the gospels, and we could say,
(19:03):
by reading the record of his life in the gospels, well,
here's some things I.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Can think that would have made him happy.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
For instance, he had good relationships and close friends, and
at periods of time in his life he even had
a few creature comforts, not always and not most of
the time, but on occasion he did.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
He was entertained in.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
His life by some very wealthy people who cared for him,
and he had the opportunity to do what he loved
to do, which is a matter of great pleasure for
those of us who have been privileged to do what
our heart loves to do.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
He could teach, he could heal.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
He had fellowship with friends and with disciples. All of
these doors were open to him for his enjoyment and
for his pleasure.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
But now think with me for a moment.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
All through the final months of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
One by one, the doors of outer pleasure and happiness
were slammed shut in his face. If you read the
passion narratives in the Four Gospels, you can literally hear
the doors going shut, until at last they slam the
(20:19):
door in the upper room. His brief ministry, by all
outward standards is a failure.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
What he has to look forward to the.
Speaker 4 (20:29):
Next day is the cross, the Roman crucifixion. His closest friends,
who were a source of joy to him either have
betrayed him, deserted him, or denied him. And there in
the atmosphere of the gathering gloom, at the end of
(20:50):
his life, there in the upper room, Jesus said this
to his disciples, these things I have spoken unto you,
that my joy may be in you, and that your
joy may be full.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
That intrigues me.
Speaker 4 (21:12):
All the support systems gone, all the doors to outward
happiness slam shut, And I hear the Master say, and now, gentlemen,
what I want you to know is the secret of
my joy, so that your joy.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Might be full.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Can you grasp in your imagination? Men and women, a
man about to die the most terrible death, talking of
his joy.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
And of his gladness and of his happiness.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
There are only two explanations for a man like that.
Either he is crazy mad, or he knows something most.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
Of the world does not yet know. And we know
the answer to that one, don't we.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
At the core of his life was the joy of
being in the center of his father's will. He said,
my meat is to do the will of my father.
Jesus learned how to live every day for the joy
of being in the center of his father's will. In
(22:23):
the words of the fifth chapter of Matthew, he will
teach us the building blocks for true happiness in our life.
Some of you are going to be a little bit
threatened by this. Maybe even now you're threatened. Maybe now
you're saying, well, as I read through this list, it
looks to me like a lot of things would have
(22:43):
to change in my life for me to be happy.
Don't throw anything away yet, because you see what Jesus
is talking about isn't the outward stuff.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
It's the inward attitude of heart that makes it.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Possible for you, like Paul to say, I have learned
how to be content, whether I abound, whether I have.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
A little, I am a happy man.
Speaker 4 (23:13):
True happiness is at the center of life, or maybe
I could say it this way, true happiness.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Is outside the amusement park.
Speaker 3 (23:31):
Well, I hope the little story and metaphor helps you
understand where we're going. And tomorrow we're going to talk
about how to be happy and be humble. Wow, Happy
are the humble from Matthew Chapter five and verse three.
During this month, we have a special resource we want
to give you. It's a very beautiful book that we
(23:53):
just finished. I wish I could tell you what colors
are on the front, but I'm colorblind, so that would
not be a good thing because you would be disappointed.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
But it's bright.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
I can tell you that it's exciting to see. And
the title of the book are twelve Habits of truly
Happy Christians with Jesus Prescription for Happiness. If you get
this book, you will have kind of at the core,
twelve things that you need to think about as a
Christian as you walk into the Christian life. I'd love
(24:23):
for you to have this. This is a great resource
and it'll get you started in a way that will
be really positive in your life. So when you send
your gift today for the month of February, just say
send me the book Twelve Habits and we'll do it,
and we'll count on you being here tomorrow as we
explore happy are the Humble. Thanks for listening. I'm David Jeremiah.
Speaker 1 (24:56):
The message you've just heard came to you from Shadow
Mountain Community Church, your pastor, doctor David Jeremiah. We'd love
to know how this ministry encourages you, so write to
Turning Point po box thirty eight thirty eight, San Diego, California,
nine two one sixty three. Visit our website at Davidjeremiah
dot org, slash radio, or call eight hundred ninety four
(25:18):
seven nineteen ninety three ask for your copy of David's
valuable book, Twelve Habits of Truly Happy Christians with Jesus
Prescription for Happiness. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also download the free Turning Point mobile app
for your smartphone or tablet, or search in your app
store for Turning Point Ministries. To access our content, visit
(25:41):
David Jeremiah dot org slash radio for details.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Join us tomorrow as we continue how to be happy
according to Jesus on turning point with doctor David Jeremiah
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