THREE WAYS TO HAPPY

Proverbs 14:21 (KJV)

He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

  

The title for this message is “Three Ways to Happy.”

As I was preparing for this message I found the phrase, “happy is he” here in Proverbs 14:21.

The exact phrase is only found:

·   Five times in the Bible.

·   Four of those times are in the Old Testament

·   Three of them are in the book of Proverbs

I want to take a look at each of those and develop a message from God for you from them.

Three ways to happy, the first being,

I. COMPASSION

Proverbs 14:21 (KJV)

He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.

Notice that there is a contrast here,

·   Despising your neighbor vs

·   Mercy on the poor

A good word for mercy is compassion.

The person who hasn’t got compassion for others, the Bible says, may as well despise them.

I am reminded of,

Luke 10:25-29 (KJV)

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

Jesus responded to the question with this parable,

Luke 10:30-37 (KJV)

And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

I wonder how often we try to justify our lack of compassion by reasoning that we don’t really have any connection to this need or that?

·   We avoid contact

·   We ignore the problem or

·   We turn a blind eye

The lawyer’s question was, “Who is my neighbor?”

You question might be, “Who is the poor?”

To that I suggest that the poorest of all people are those who do not have Christ as Saviour.

1 John 5:12 (KJV)

He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

I would therefore add then that, real compassion and real mercy would be to do anything and everything in our power to reach souls with the Gospel.

I note that the Good Samaritan first did everything he could:

·   He approached him personally

·   He bound up his wounds

·   He poured oil and wine on them and then

·   He transported him to an inn

There he gave money to the keeper with no restrictions other than to instruct him to use it for his care and to assure him that more would come later.

You do what you want to with that but to me it sounds like

·   He did his very best to personally witness to this poor man and then 

·   He brought him to the house of God to be ministered to more thoroughly and finally

·   He supported that house of God again and again to see that the keeper could keep on ministering

Back to our Proverb, that one who has mercy has found a way to happiness.

Go next to

II. CONVICTION

Proverbs 16:20 (KJV)

He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.

There is no contrast in this verse, but rather a coupling of two complimentary things:

·   Handling a matter wisely and

·   Trusting the Lord

The two fit together so well that it would not be difficult to assert that, we handle a matter most wisely when we entrust it to the Lord.

I think now of,

Matthew 8:23-27 (KJV)

And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him.

And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep.

And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish.

And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

A few things come to mind:

A. There wasn’t a ton they could do about the storm

Many of these disciples had experience fishing on this sea.

·   They were competent sailors

·   They were used to storms

But there comes a point in the storms of life when:

·   Skill

·   Experience and

·   Hard work

just won’t keep your boat afloat.

I promise you, the bottoms of the seas are littered with ships that were manned by skillful, experienced and hard working sailors.

B. They did the smartest thing they could possibly do,

·   They told the Lord they were in trouble and

·   They asked the Lord to save them

Now, I notice that there is plenty of:

·   Doubt

·   Fear and

·   Confusion

in the disciples.

It almost sounds like the Lord rebuked them, “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?”

But in his very next breath He DID rebuke the winds and the sea.

We have handled a matter wisely when we entrust it to the Lord; even when we don’t do it perfectly.

Why is it some people think they have to get everything all worked out before they can trust God or ask the Lord to save them?

I think one of the most foolish things we humans do is get too academic about the Christian faith:

·   I won’t get saved until I understand everything about Christianity

·   I won’t get baptized until I have learned some church catechism

·   I won’t join that church until I know they preach just what I want them to

·   I won’t tithe until I have it figured in my budget how to afford it

·   I won’t witness until I know I know all the answers to the questions people might ask

Why don’t you just trust the Lord with what you do know?

Why don’t you just step out in faith, even if you do trip a little bit?

In a similar passage as this, the disciples were again in the middle of a storm when they saw Jesus walking to them on the water.

Everyone was afraid it was a spirit until someone got the idea that it was Jesus.

Peter cried out, “Lord if it be thou, bit me come unto thee on the water.”[1]

Peter stepped out on the water, took a few steps but then got overwhelmed by the storm, took his eyes off the Lord and began to sink.

·   He didn’t do it perfectly but

·   He did walk on the water

We handle a matter most wisely when we entrust it to the Lord.

By the way, would you not agree that when the winds stopped and the sea became calm, all onboard would be happy?

Mercy is a way to happiness

Trust is a way to happiness

The third and final way I want to show you today is,

III. CONSERVATION

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

In this case we have two seemingly unrelated concepts.

·   Vision

·   Keeping the law

This verse is in fact preached as the reason for many dying churches.

The pastors of those churches, it is claimed, have failed to set before the congregation a vision:

·   They have set no goals

·   They have developed no five and ten year plan

·   They have communicated no mission statement

Consequently the people have no vision and they perish.

I have in my past been complicit in this message but it is not what this passage teaches.

I have wrestled and struggled with it, wanting to keep fellowship with my brethren in the ministry, but in this case it is just wrong.

The vision, without which people perish, is the preaching of the Word of God.

People do not need to see goals, plans and purpose statements.

People need to see:

·   God as their only sovereign

·   Christ as their only Saviour

·   Church as their only mission and

·   The Bible as their only rule of faith

That is the vision I want to project.

That is the goal for which I want to work

That is the plan about which I want to dedicate myself

The passage says, “He that keepeth the law.”

That is an interesting term.

It can actually mean a couple of different things, both apply in this case:

A. To keep – to observe or obey

Matthew 19:17 (KJV)

And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

Keeping the commandments is an obvious reference to obeying them.

B. To keep – to guard, or preserve

Genesis 2:15 (KJV)

And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

I calculate that these two concepts have kept the believers busy at least during the 2000 years of New Testament Christianity, if not also during the years of Old Testament faith.

·   There has been the personal battle to obey the law of God and

·   There has been the corporate battle to conserve the Law of God

We, as individual souls, struggle with obedience.

Christianity as a whole has struggled with those who want to pervert it.

I can say with confidence, however, that those who know they have God’s Word and set their vision on obedience to God’s Word – are, on the whole, happy people.

Conclusion

Mercy is a way to happiness

Trust is a way to happiness and most importantly

God’s Word is a way to happiness

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[1] Matthew 14:28