How to Be Happy, Part 1 (#1 of 3)

Greg Laurie: Studies reveal that people with faith in God are the happiest.
Guest (Male): So many believe happiness comes from fame and fortune and buying whatever they want. But Pastor Greg Laurie points out how quickly those people find their lives disappointing.
Greg Laurie: So it really comes down to this: happiness does not come from what you have, it comes from who you know. In the Bible emphatically says, "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord."
Guest (Male): Our country has the strongest economy in the world. Is it the happiest country? No. It didn't even make the top 10. It didn't make the top 20. Money is not the key to happiness. So what is? Well, Pastor Greg Laurie addresses that pressing question today on A New Beginning. The Bible isn't silent on the subject. In fact, Jesus himself addressed the issue in a memorable way. If happiness seems to be in short supply these days, you've tuned in for the right study.
Greg Laurie: Well, we're starting a brand-new series today on the Sermon on the Mount. And we were trying to think of some clever thing to call it, and we decided to just call it the Sermon on the Mount. Let's grab our Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew chapter 5. And the title of my message is "How to Be Happy." When you get down to it, pretty much everyone deep down inside wants to be happy. It's even in our Declaration of Independence where we speak of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. So here's the question: are we happy? According to a recent study, Americans are less happy than they were 30 years ago. Well, maybe we should start by trying to define happiness. What exactly is happiness? Over the years, many have opined on the topic. Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, summed it up this way: "Happiness is a warm puppy." Okay, that's one definition. Albert Schweitzer said, "Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory." George Burns, comedian, said, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring family... in another city." Okay. Oscar Wilde said, "Some cause happiness wherever they go; others cause happiness whenever they go." Dave Chappelle, the comedian, said, "The higher up I go, for some reason, the less happy I am." You've heard of Shakira? She's experienced global success and fame. Of happiness she's said, "It's reserved for a very select number of people, and I can't say I'm part of that club at the moment." So what is happiness exactly? Why can't Shakira find happiness? Why does Dave Chappelle say the higher up he goes, the less happy he is? Well, let's start by saying where you won't find happiness. You will not find happiness by pursuing it in and of itself. You won't find happiness in any object. You won't find happiness in anything this world or this culture has to offer. It's been said, "There are two sources of unhappiness in life. One is not getting what you want, and the other is getting it." You've heard the expression "Careful what you wish for." And many have all of their dreams realized and they have all the things that this world promises will bring happiness, and they find that is not the case. Money can buy you some things, but it cannot buy you the most important things. Money can buy you a bed, but it cannot buy you a good night's sleep. Money can buy you books, but it can't buy you brains. It can buy you a house, but it can't buy you a home. Money can buy medicine, but not health. Money can buy amusement, but it can't buy happiness. C.S. Lewis summed it up this way: "God designed the human machine to run on himself. He himself is the fuel for our spirits that they were designed to burn or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other way. This is why," says Lewis, "it's just no good asking God to make us happy in our own way without bothering about faith. God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from himself because it's not there. There is no such thing." And that's so true. One of the foremost experts on happiness made this candid admission: "I don't have a religious or a spiritual bone in my body. Yet I have to acknowledge that studies reveal that people with faith in God are the happiest." So it really comes down to this: happiness does not come from what you have, it comes from who you know. And the Bible emphatically says, "Happy are the people whose God is the Lord." Why is the Christian faith a happy faith? The Christian faith is a happy faith because it's a hopeful faith. Because we have hope in this life and we have hope in a better life to come. And here's something that might surprise some people: God wants you to be happy. I don't think that's the view many people have of God. They think that he is just the ultimate party crasher. He's out to rain on your parade. He's out to make your life miserable. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is, God wants you to be happy. When the angels announced the birth of Jesus, they brought good news of great happiness. And know this: God himself is happy. Jesus said, "I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am." We don't think of Jesus as happy. We think, well, he was the suffering servant, and he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, which of course is true. But having said that, that doesn't mean that's the way he always was. When he bore the cross headed to Calvary, certainly he was a man of sorrows. When he saw Jerusalem reject him, yes, he wept. So there were those moments of sorrow. But generally, by and large, how do we sum this up? Jesus was a happy guy. I think he would have a smile on his face. Why else would children be drawn to him? Paul writes about the glorious good news given to him by the blessed God. Or another way to translate that would be the good news from the happy God. I like that: happy God. Now, when I say that God wants you to be happy, that doesn't mean that you walk around with a phony smile permanently plastered on your face. So like when you're going to the dentist to get a root canal, you're smiling. You're waiting in line at the DMV for the third hour, you're smiling. Wherever you go, you're smiling. You're going to look mentally ill, not happy. As a Christian, we will have times of sorrow. The Bible even says there's a time to laugh and there's a time to cry. As Christians, we will still face tragedy, but what the Bible is saying overall, you can have happiness. But we have to come to this: God's definition is probably different than our definition of happiness. And it's laid out before us here in the greatest sermon ever preached: the Sermon on the Mount. This is effectively the worldview of Jesus Christ. And it's important to know that everybody has a worldview. The question is, do you have a biblical worldview? What does that mean? That means as I become familiar with the Bible, as I read the Bible, as I memorize the Bible, as I internalize the truths of Scripture, my thinking begins to change. And I start thinking biblically. And I see things through a biblical lens; hence, I have a biblical worldview. So if you want to know what the worldview of Jesus is, read the Sermon on the Mount. We cover so many topics in it. Jesus talks about what happiness is. Jesus talks about the purpose of marriage. Jesus talks about prayer. Jesus talks about worry. Jesus talks about what foundation your life is built on, and so much more. You want to know what Jesus thinks? Read the sermon. And by the way, you can read the entire Sermon on the Mount in one sitting. You want to know how his heart really beats? Study this sermon. You want to know how he feels about living and life in general? Read the Sermon on the Mount.
Guest (Male): Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Have you downloaded the Harvest Plus app yet? This is something you need to get on your phone or your tablet or even on your television set. It's full of messages that I've given and others. It has all the movies that we have done over the years like Johnny Cash, redemption of an American icon; Steve McQueen, the salvation of an American icon; A Rush of Hope, and many more, as well as my sermons, as well as our brand-new podcast and our radio show, while the list just goes on and on. And the best thing of all, it's free. Download it now for your device and start enjoying this library of spiritual resources right there at your fingertips to watch or listen to on-demand. It's called Harvest Plus. So download it now. You'll love it. We're glad you're along today as Pastor Greg begins our study of the Lord's Sermon on the Mount. We're in the fifth chapter of Matthew today.
Greg Laurie: The Sermon on the Mount is the longest recorded message that Jesus ever gave. It's also one of the most beautiful and best-known portions of Scripture. There's a lot of phrases that have entered our vernacular that are popular in culture today that all come from the Sermon on the Mount, like "turn the other cheek." That's from this sermon. "Go the extra mile." That's also from the Sermon on the Mount. "The Golden Rule." All from this sermon. By the way, this is not what the people were expecting. Maybe it's not even what they were wanting to hear from Jesus on this particular day, but it's exactly what they needed. It begins with Matthew 5:1 when it says, "Seeing the multitudes, he went up to a mountain, and when he seated his disciples, he opened his mouth and taught them saying." So back in this culture, when the rabbi would speak, he would sit and the people would stand. So I think we should observe this tradition. Why do I have to stand here for 45 minutes? You stand, and I'm going to sit. What do you say? Okay, well, we don't have to do it. Someone might like it. But normally the rabbi would sit down. And it's interesting because this phrase, "he opened his mouth," is a colloquialism in Greek used to describe someone delivering a message that was solemn, dignified, and weighty. I want you to also notice that Jesus did not give this to the multitudes. I think the traditional view of the Sermon on the Mount is the crowds gathered and he addressed them with these words. But that's not what the Bible says, is it? It says that the multitudes were gathered, but he gathered his disciples around him and taught them saying. I bring this up because only the Christian can live by the Sermon on the Mount. And even that is very challenging. When someone says, "I live by the Sermon on the Mount," my question is, have you ever read the Sermon on the Mount? I'll be honest with you, there's some hard things in this sermon. These are not easy things to do. So you might say the Sermon on the Mount is for believers only. Only the child of God can live out these truths. Now, the Sermon on the Mount begins with what we often call the Beatitudes. They've been described as the "beautiful attitudes" or attitudes that should be. Another way you could sum them up is the "be happy" attitudes. Now, the first four Beatitudes deal with our relationship with God. The second four deal with our relationships with others. And we're going to focus on the first four in this message. Now, I want you to remember that the word "blessed," each Beatitude begins with the word "blessed." The word "blessed" is interchangeable with the word "happy." All right, so basically Jesus is saying if you want to be happy, be these things and do these things. All right, so let's read them together. We're going to read Matthew chapter 5, verse 2, down to verse 9. "Then he opened his mouth and taught them"—that would be the disciples—"saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." So there are the first Beatitudes. And it's interesting that the word "blessing" is used again and again. You know, people use these words, even people who are not believers. They'll talk about blessings. Well, only the believer can genuinely experience blessing. I think sometimes we use the word "bless" to get rid of someone. Someone's talking too long, we say, "Great seeing you, God bless you." This is "go away now," right? But here's point number one: God wants you to be blessed and happy. God wants you to be blessed and happy. Jesus both began and concluded his earthly ministry blessing people. When he met those two downhearted disciples on the Emmaus Road after he was crucified, we read that he blessed them. When children came to him, he took them into his arms and he blessed them. After his resurrection, we read that he lifted his hands and he blessed them. So God wants to bless you. We see this from Genesis to Revelation. There was the blessing that the priests were to pronounce over the people of Israel, and they would say, "The Lord bless you. The Lord keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." God wants to bless you. Let me take it a step further: God loves to bless you. Sometimes we think God is stingy. He's holding back his blessings. Do you know a stingy person? "No, you can't have that." Do you know a generous person? "Yes, you can have that, and even more." God is generous, not stingy. He loves to bless. It's like me giving something to my grandchildren. I don't do that because I have to; I do that because I want to, right? And I feel it is the responsibility of the grandparent to bless the grandchildren, or another word we could use is spoil them. Right? It's not my job to parent them; I've already done that. That's the job of the parents to parent. The job of the grandparent is to be grand, right? And to enjoy them and indulge them. Not in a bad way, but maybe a little bit, I don't know. Maybe give them too much sugar or whatever it is, but this is the idea. God loves to bless us. I love how Jesus says, "Fear not, little flock, it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." It's his pleasure. God wants to bless you; God loves to bless you. Happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Coming back to what Chappelle said: "The higher up I go, the less happy I am." Does that describe you? There are certain things you thought "If I had this thing, if I had this experience, if this happened to me, I know I would be happy. If I reach this goal, if I reach this position, if I get this many followers on my social media, if x, y, or z happen, I'll be happy." And all those things happened for you and you're not happy, and you're wondering why. The reason is you can't find it by chasing it. It comes from a relationship with God. Again, the only way you can be a happy person is to be a person who knows God.
Guest (Male): Some plain truth from Pastor Greg Laurie today here on A New Beginning. We're just getting started in our study of the Beatitudes, a study of how to be happy, and there's so much more to come. But listen, if you want to remedy the situation Pastor Greg just talked about, you can do that today. You can have a relationship with God and find the happiness that the Beatitudes are talking about. Pastor Greg, what would you say to the person who wants to make that kind of change today?
Greg Laurie: What I would say is he's only a prayer away, which means if you will call upon the name of the Lord right now through prayer, he will hear your prayer and answer your prayer. Listen, if you want Jesus Christ to come into your life, if you want him to forgive you of your sin, if you want to know that you'll go to heaven when you die, just pray this prayer right now after me. Just pray: Lord Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner, but I know that you're the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I turn from my sin now, and I choose to follow you from this moment forward as my Savior and Lord, as my God and my friend. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
Guest (Male): Amen. And listen, if you have just prayed along with Pastor Greg and meant those words sincerely, we want to welcome you into God's family. And we want to help you get started in your new faith. Pastor Greg wants to send you his New Believer's Bible free of charge along with some other helpful resources. Just let us know you prayed with Pastor Greg and that you want the New Believer's Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime at 1-800-821-3300. Or go online to harvest.org and click the words "Know God." Well, Pastor Greg, I saw a t-shirt for sale online. Maybe some of our listeners saw this too. It was a picture of one of our nation's forefathers, and the quote said, "Oh no, that's due tomorrow." Signed Thomas Jefferson, July 3, 1776. Yeah. Well, in reality, there are plenty of us that wait until the last minute. And even some of our listeners may have thought about investing in this ministry, but they just haven't gotten around to it yet. And you would say?
Greg Laurie: I would say, well, we all do that, don't we? We say we want to do a certain thing and we never get around to doing it. So here's what I would say to you: why don't you support our ministry financially? We could really put it to good use. I think we get a lot of bang for the buck here at Harvest Ministries and A New Beginning. We don't have a high overhead. We try to use it wisely, and we try to use it effectively so we can reach more people. And I think you know if you listen to our broadcast on a regular basis that one of the unique features of A New Beginning is we lead people in a prayer to accept Christ. And thousands of people pray that prayer with us every year. Thousands. And it's an amazing thing. I've heard, I don't know the exact stat, but somewhere around 30 to 35% of those that listen to Christian radio are not Christians. And so they're kind of eavesdropping on our conversation, if you will. That's not different, really, than what happened to me when I first was exposed to the gospel. It happened on the front lawn of my high school campus. Some Christians were meeting and singing songs about Jesus. If you saw the *Jesus Revolution* film, you would know this, of course. And I sat down close enough to eavesdrop on what they were saying, but not so close that people would think I was joining. That was the first time I heard the gospel. And I think there are people that eavesdrop on us. In other words, they're thinking, "Well, what is this all about? What do these Christians believe?" So I believe in our program we should speak to them directly and say, "Hey, would you like to accept Jesus? And if so, here's how to do it." You know, the Bible tells the story of a man from Ethiopia that went to Jerusalem searching for God. And as he left that city, he had not found what he was looking for, but he did obtain a scroll of the book of Isaiah, which he was reading out loud in his chariot. The Lord directed the evangelist Philip to approach him, and Philip asked this question: "Do you understand what you're reading?" The man from Ethiopia said, "How can I unless someone shows me the way?" There's a lot of people out there that are just waiting for someone to show them the way. So we like to do that and say, "Hey, here's the gospel. If you would like to accept Christ, pray this prayer." And as I said, many do that every year. So help us to continue to do that. Help us to continue to reach new people in new places. And one of the ways you can do that is by supporting us financially. And one of the more specific ways you can do this is by becoming a Harvest Partner. A Harvest Partner is someone who invests in our ministry, who gives to us every single month. Do whatever you can, and we'll put it to good use. Become a Harvest Partner today so we can show people the way to accept Christ.
Guest (Male): Yeah, that's right. And we so much appreciate your partnership. You can contact us today by calling 1-800-821-3300. Reach us anytime. Again, the number is 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or go online to harvest.org.
Greg Laurie: Did you know that we put our services that we do on Sundays online? It's called Harvest at Home. And you can be a part of our extended congregation no matter where you are, and people watch from literally all around the world. So if you want to watch Harvest at Home or view it later if you like, just download the Harvest Plus app and then join us for Harvest at Home.
Guest (Male): Well, next time, more insights on the pathway of real happiness, the happiness prescribed for us in God's word. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie.