Jan. 05, 2022

“HOW TO BE HAPPY ACCORDING TO JESUS”

“HAPPY ARE THOSE WHO MOURN”

MATTHEW 5:4

Matthew 5:4 “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.”

Pain is a part of life, and there in no guarantee of happiness.

Dr. Joseph Fabry has said, “That the focus of man’s life is the pursuit of meaning, not the pursuit of happiness. If we expect everything in life to be pleasurable, we invite frustration.”

Where did we ever get the idea that there is something foreign about tears in life?

Psalm 56:8 “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?”

There are at least four ways happiness can come through hurting:

 1.    Happiness Comes When We Sacrifice The Present For The Future.

2.   Happiness Comes When We Sympathize With Those Around Us Who Suffer.

Happiness belongs to those who feel sorrow for fellow men and women. Jesus was often described as a man full of compassion for others.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.” 

3.   Happiness Comes When We Sorrow For Our Own Sin.

2 Corinthians 7:10 “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

When was the last time you shed tears over the sin in your life?

Have you ever come to God so brokenhearted over your failure that you wept?

Galatians 1:1 “Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead).”

1 Corinthians 15:9 “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

Ephesians 3:8 “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

1 Timothy 1:15 “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

In the span of a few years, Paul went from being an apostle to being the chief sinner.

4.   Happiness Comes When We Suffer The Losses And The Crosses Of Life.

An old Arabian proverb says that “all sunshine makes a desert.”

How do we deal with sorrow?

*Don’t Repress Your Grief; Express It.

First, God says to express grief, not repress it.

*Don’t Replace Your Loss; Face Your Loss.

Second, God says to face your loss, not replace it.

*Don’t Retreat From Others; Reach Out To Others.

Third, God says to reach out to others, not retreat from them.

*Don’t Depend On The Calendar; Depend On The Comforter.

Fourth, God says to depend on the Comforter, not the calendar.