Living Happy-Behappitudes

God wants us to be happy. But what does that look like? How do we find happiness?
Is happiness still within our reach? Can there be a full, happy life in an empty generation? How can we be happy?

When asked on Facebook, “what is happiness” these were some of the responses
“Knowing that I am loved”, “Family”, “Smiles on my sons faces”, “Being content with the knowledge that each day I’m doing the best I can to love and help my family, friends and God”, “Happiness is a state of mind”

New King James Version
Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD! Psalm 144:15 How blessed [fortunate, prosperous, and favored] are the people whose God is the LORD! AMP

C.S.Lewis
“Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other. That is why it is just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about religion. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.[“

The first 4 deal with our attitudes towards God and the last 4 is our relationships with others.

Blessed is quite often interchanged with the word Happy.
Blessed in the Greek is O HOW HAPPY.
The Beatitudes could also be called the Attitudes that should be/Attitudes that make me happy.

The Greeks called the Island of Cyprus the Happy Island, the Island of happy people. They believed that because of its geographical location and climate, that anyone who lived on this island had it made!
The expression was MakaRios Self Contained Happiness Island!

If we apply something geographical personally, it means our happiness is independent of our circumstances and is self -contained. Storms that would invade its beaches never changed the culture although it may have changed the landscape! Jesus is my Makarios!

The way to be truly happy is to be truly human, and the way to be truly human is to be truly godly.
–J.I. Packer

Thomas Edison said, “His inventions were only bringing out the secrets of nature and applying them to the happiness of mankind”

Rudyard Kipling expressed the sentiments of Solomon in a poem that he wrote, ”The craft that we call modern and the crimes that we call new,
John Bunyan had them typed and filed in 1682” Nothing is new that satisfies without Jesus!

SLIDE OF CHURCH Fact: Roman Catholic Church built the Church of the Beatitudes in 1936 on what was believed to be the topographical theater overlooking the Sea of Galilee where Jesus preached. It was an octagon shape to commemorate the 8 beatitudes.

Interesting that Jesus begins with 8 points of encouragement because the rest of the sermon is very challenging. This sermon is the jelly at the end of a sword message. As you read and study Matthew 5-7 you will be confronted and convicted at some stage. A sermon that does not challenge you, confront you and convict you at some level is really nothing then an………….empty comment.

It is his longest recorded sermon with 107 verses that can be read in 10-15 minutes! He sat down to teach this which was how most Rabbis taught back then. The Rabbi would sit and the congregation would remain standing.
It was intended for his disciples because they were the ones that were supposed to be the most disciplined! LOL

The purpose of this sermon was to challenge us about what it looks like as a follower of Jesus Christ motivated by the heart rather than the law.

What is interesting is this message is it was not intended for the general public. It was an intense, hard core message for the committed!!! It was not just a passage of principles but more a practical pathway in life.

These instructions were counter intuitive (The definition of counterintuitive is something that goes against what you believe would be logical, or something that goes against common sense.)
and counter cultural for sure. It was as radical and revolutionary as it could be at the time. That is why it challenged to the core all those who loved to live by the law.

John Stott Anglican theologian (passed in 2011) said, “The sermon on the mount is probably the best known part of the teaching of Jesus though arguably the least understood and certainly the least obeyed.

What’s interesting is that the Beatitudes have been compared to the 10 commandments in the OT. Where the 10 were a list of what you should not do, these 8 in the NT are what you should do.

These are not multiple choice! Pick and choose what you like and dislike. They are the key identifying makers of a believer. This is not a la-carte, it’s the full package. If you examine them closer they get more intense as you go down the list.

They open the door to inner happiness;
Attached to each character trait is a corresponding promise.
Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount: The Beatitudes Matthew 5:3-102
5:1-2 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him,2 and he began to teach them.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Poor in Spirit is to admit personal bankruptcy. Poor in spirit, lacking, in need of, independently impoverished, seeing our destitute sinful conditions. Happiness begins when we see our emptiness and His fullness.
True happiness is when we realize that without God we are nothing, but with him all things become new. Blessed are the poor in spirit! It doesn’t say blessed or happy are the poor!
Poor (verb) means to shrink, cower or cringe. This was something beggars did in that day. This was a person destitute and dependant on others.

The Kingdom of God is not just our future destination, but the present. The KOG in the present, Romans 14:17; it is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

KOG is God’s rule in your life: Luke 17: 20-21 The Coming of the Kingdom of God
20 Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, 21 nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Or within you; the KOG is where God reigns.
Happy are the unqualified for with God you are qualified. God acquits/approves the arrogant when they admit they are absent/empty/lost without him.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. (Happy people are unhappy people) Happy are the unhappy who mourn the dead. Believers mourn those who are spiritually dead and those who have physically died.
Charlie Brown may have had something when he said, GOOD GRIEF!! Good Mourning. Blessed/Happy are those who mourn!!

When you mourn, you immediately gain a new perspective. Personal priorities change.
Eyes are opened and you are enlightened to the fact that life is a vapor. For some, you’re jealous because you want to go to heaven. You see what matters more and that things can’t make you happy. You find that the things you love the most are those things you are willing to leave.
Life is about Living! Get a life!
How many of you know people who are living but don’t have a life???
How many of you know people who hate their job?
How many of you are bothered by bored believers?
How many people do you know that own the least but are the most happy? Silver and Gold have I not but what I have, in the name of Jesus Rise up and walk!!

When you mourn, you immediately gain a new perspective. Personal priorities change. Eyes are opened and you are enlightened to the fact that life is a vapor. For some, your jealous cuz you want to go to heaven. You see what matters more and that things can’t make you happy. You find that the things you love the most are those things you are willing to leave. Life is about Living! Get a life!
How many of you know people who are living but don’t have a life???
How many of you know people who hate their job?
How many of you are bothered by bored believers?
How many people do you know that own the least but are the most happy? Silver and Gold have I none, but what I have, in the name of Jesus Rise up and walk!!

He comforts the uncomfortable. Psalms 56:8 “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

Psalm 147:3, “He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds.”
Psalm 91:4, “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.”

Happy are the sad who see themselves for who they are, then they take action to change that! Your sorrow will lead to joy because only Jesus has the eraser that can eliminate sin. I have never seen a happy person in bondage!!!

2 Corinthians 7:10 “Godly sorrow leads to repentance.” It is in freedom where happiness is expressed. The happiest people seem to be those without a care in the world!!

Romans 4:7 NIV: “Blessed (happy) are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.” …

2 Corinthians 1:3-7 “3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.”
5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. A weak person can’t do anything but a meek person can but chooses not to. A meek person is one who is under control at all times. Someone who shows patient restraint. Meekness is essentially an attitude or quality of heart whereby a person is willing to accept and submit, without resistance, to the will and desire of someone else.

Meakness is not thinking less of myself, it is thinking of myself less..
Meakness in the Greek means to domesticate a wild animal.
The picture is, I was once a wild unbroken stallion.

The word meek can often come with negative connotations. It may be that people see being meek as being a doormat, for people to walk all over.

In fact, one dictionary defines meekness as “overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.”

“Moses was very humble [meek], more than all men who were on the face of the earth.” Numbers 12:3. Yet when he saw the golden calf and the dancing he cast the tablets of the law out of his hands and broke them. (Exodus 32:19)
Jesus, encouraged us to learn meekness from Him, burned with such zeal that He overturned the tables of the money-changers and drove them out of the temple with a scourge. (John 2:13-17) Do not go looking for meekness in such situations.

1. A meek person is secure in their identity in Christ
A meek person doesn’t feel compelled to defend himself and his reputation. He knows who he is in Jesus Christ and is secure in that. When our identity is in Jesus Christ we give others the freedom to express their differing opinions without feeling compelled to defend our own.
2. A meek person resolves conflict with restraint
Meekness isn’t passivity. In fact, meek people – just like any other person – will find themselves compelled to confront others. The difference between a meek person involved in a conflict and another person is the discipline with which they resolve conflict.
A meek person is restrained by their ability to recognize the true enemy and identify the ultimate goal and desired outcome of the conflict
People are not our enemy, Satan and his cohorts are, and the ultimate goal for every conflict is to defend the gospel and to see God’s will established here on earth.
When we are able to fully embrace this, we can enter into a confrontation with restraint, not attacking the person and not defending our own territory, but targeting the real enemy and keeping our eyes fixed on the real goal.
Meekness restrains us from fighting in the flesh!
3. A meek person lives from a position of humility
Humility is a lack of preoccupation with ourselves. Humble people are not insecure, quite the opposite. Humble people are fully secure in who they are, and therefore are not preoccupied by what people think of them.
This frees them to be able to give to others; to build other people up, to give them room to be who they are and what God called them to be.
It also allows them to deal gently with others, because they are not in a constant state of defending themselves and their rights.
This is why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, taught us about Agape love.
Agape love, God’s love, is what gives us the ability to live with true meekness. When we are secure in God’s love for us; when we embrace that love and freely give that love to others, the natural outcome will be meekness.
That love will fuel our passion for God’s kingdom and the gospel, but also restrain us from selfish ambition and pride.
So meekness is power under restraint.
Sadly, we don’t celebrate or recognize meekness in North America.

We applaud strength, will power, assertiveness, confidence and courage, getting what’s mine at whatever cost! Get in, Get out or Get Runover is the mantra.
The Biblical view is much different! LAST is FIRST, GIVING is RECEIVING, DYING is LIVING, LOSING is FINDING, LEAST is GREATNESS, MEEKNESS is STRENGTH.
The Meek will inherit the earth!

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled. A happy person passionately pursues a righteous life. They have a hunger for holiness. They have an unquenchable thirst for a righteous milkshake.

Notice the first 3 were about emptying yourself/dying to yourself. Poor in Spirit/Meek/Mourn.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Shows that we could not live up to the letter of the Law. Gods righteousness is a gift and imputed to us by faith rather than us trying to make ourselves righteous by trying to obey the letter of the law which makes no one happy!!
The promise is we will be filled

7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Be merciful because we received mercy. We can’t sit on our own carved out throne judging people and being hypocritical (hyper critical) to others saying they don’t deserve it.

Luke 6:36 “Be merciful just as your father is merciful”

9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Peacemakers are different than peacekeepers. Peacekeepers silence quarrels and conflicts. Peacemakers change the atmosphere. They never compromise truth for the sake of making peace.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (John 14:27).
Jesus said that peacemakers are blessed because they will be called sons of God. In other words, they will have the honor of being identified as children of “the God of peace”
A peacemaker actively works toward peace. As believers, the Bible instructs us to “make every effort to live in peace” (Hebrews 12:14). Peacemakers build bridges between people

10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

BONUS 5:11-12 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You may have to mentally prepare one day for potential persecution. What kind of Christian will you be then? Will you be passive or hold true to your passion and your position? Will you still be bold, loud and sometimes obnoxious? Will you still wear that Jesus shirt?

Living happy is a condition of the heart that reflects on the outside. It has nothing to do with things.

2 Corinthians 4:16-17
New International Version
16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.