Psalms 146:5 (KJV)
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
While holiness might be more important than happiness, it would be very misleading to say that happiness is not an important Christian quality.
Let’s begin with the word
I. HAPPY
Psalms 146:5 (KJV)
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob…
You can blame this on my oldest son if you want.
Bohannan sent me a short video a couple of weeks ago.
It was produced by PragerU and it was good enough I began to check out some of the other things that they have produced.
PragerU is named after Dennis Prager, a conservative Jewish journalist. He has some pretty wise things to say.
I sort of look at his material like we did about William Bennett’s “Book of Virtues” a few years ago – it’s not the Bible, but it does highlight the Judeo-Christian values upon which our country was founded.
Dennis Prager produced one video – he calls it a course, called, Why Be Happy.
I think the video speaks for itself. Let me just add:
A. There is a happiness that is biblical
Prayerfully I have established that with the multitudes of passages we have seen this year that have to do with our blessedness or happiness.
B. There is a mandate for Christian happiness
Romans 14:19 (KJV)
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
The word, edify means to build up.
I could show you nearly a dozen more verses just like this one in the New Testament where the Bible teaches us as Christians to do things that build up people rather than things that tear them down.
There is a Biblical obligation to have the sort of countenance that encourages and strengthens and builds people up, not the kind that discourages and brings them down.
C. There is a biblical formula for happiness
I want to look at this passage of the Bible as a sort of mathematic equation.
You have seen 2+2=4 and
You have seen a+b=c
You’ve probably also seen the equation reversed to be something like
x=a+b
I want to propose to you that,
Happiness= Help+Hope
II. HELP
Psalms 146:5 (KJV)
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help…
It seems to me that the word help, as it is used in the relationship with man to God has to do mostly with navigating this life.
There is no question that there are some challenges down here, aren’t there?
Anita and I just got back from our trip to Virginia.
I wanted mostly to visit some Civil War sites, especially I wanted to see Manassas and Henry Hill, where General Thomas Jackson was nicknamed Stonewall.
Almost all of the famous heroes of the Civil War including Stonewall Jackson, were on the Rebel side.
The Civil War is a quandary yet today.
- • People still debate over what the war was fought.
- • People still argue over whether the right side won.
Someone famously asked Abraham Lincoln whether he thought God was on the side of the Union.
Lincoln is supposed to have answered,
“My concern is not whether God is on my side, but if I am on God’s side.”
Can you hear the question?
In his own mind he wasn’t sure whether the Union was right.
I think he believed the cause was just, I think his question was whether the war was the most appropriate way to do what was just.
At his second inaugural address Lincoln said, “Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully.”
What he was saying tis that sometimes it is really hard to know what to do in this life, and it is during those challenges that God’s help lifts us into happiness.
How does God help us in our times to challenge?
He helps us
A. With guidance from the Bible
It’s amazing how differently men and women see and hear things.
When we toured Mount Vernon we were taken to the bedroom where George Washington died.
Mount Vernon is built in three sections
- • There is one section of the house that was dedicated specifically for social events.
- • There is a central section of the house that was dedicated to housing Washington’s family and guests. And
- • There is a third section of the house that was dedicated to George and Martha Washington alone.
The Washington’s bedroom is on the second story of that section of the house.
I was fascinated with it because there was the actual bed that George Washington died in.
But what Anita heard was that it was well known that Martha Washington read her Bible in that room at least one hour every day.
- • While her husband spent eight years fighting the Revolutionary War
- • While he was in Philadelphia helping to craft the Constitution of the United States of America and
- • While he was away as the President of the United States
Martha Washington found help by closing herself into their private room and, for at least an hour each day, reading the Word of God.
He helps us
B. With fellowship from the church
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (KJV)
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
The church is to be a place where Christian gather to
- • Learn God’s Word
- • Serve the Lord Jesus Christ
- • Urge the lost to trust Him as Saviour and
- • Comfort and edify one another as brothers and sister
Many of my happiest moments in life have been in this very room, and in this building.
- • God has taught me from here
- • God has encouraged me from here
- • God has introduced me to some of the best people I have ever known right here
There have been some heartbreaks here too. But this place has been a help to me far more than a place of hurt.
He helps us
C. With answers to our prayers
Hebrews 4:16 (KJV)
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
If you don’t already do it, I recommend you begin a list of prayer requests and of answered prayers.
When I need help I go to God and He answers.
As Abraham Lincoln suggested, sometimes my prayers aren’t answered exactly as I prayed them, but God has answered and helped.
He helps us
E. With men gifted to teach and preach
Ephesians 4:11-12 (KJV)
And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
The most influential people in my life have been those men
- • Who have pastored me
- • Who have instructed me in college or pastor’s fellowships and
- • Who have preached from this pulpit to you and to me
Psalms 146:5 (KJV)
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help…
Finally,
III. HOPE
Psalms 146:5 (KJV)
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
The word hope, as it is used in the Bible, is connected to our eternal salvation.
Titus 1:2 (KJV)
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
It’s important to see the distinction between how the Bible uses the word and how it is used by most people today because the Bible makes this distinction between people who have hope and those who do not.
People today have lots of dreams and hopes and aspirations:
- • Some people hope to get a new car
- • Some people hope to get a promotion at work
- • Some people hope to have the food to feed their children tonight
That’s not what the Bible means when it says, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 (KJV)
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
A. The Bible is specifically speaking about eternal life.
You see, really when it comes down to it there are only two sorts of people in this world:
- • Those who have hope of eternal life and
- • Those who do not
B. This hope of eternal life is based on a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 2:12 (KJV)
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
Do you see what that verses says?
Without Christ – no hope.
I am reminded of 1 John 5:12 (KJV)
He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
C. This hope is absolutely certain because God cannot lie.
Titus 1:2 (KJV)
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
1 John 5:13 (KJV) says
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
The reason we can know that we have eternal life is because God promised Romans 10:13 (KJV)
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And God said, specifically speaking about eternal life,
Titus 1:2 (KJV)
In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
Conclusion
This world needs happy people.
People around you need you to be happy – to be an overcomer.
They need you to pursue and obtain happiness.
And you can do it!
I don’t want to oversimplify this by any means.
Most of you know that I have spent all year so far preaching on the pursuit of happiness.
But our passage this morning boils it down into a very easy to hold onto formula:
Hope is God for eternal life and
Help from God through this life
equals happiness
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