THE WAYS OF HAPPINESS
By Warren Coe
South Suburban Evangelical Free Church
INTRODUCTION
1. Christianity is a life of joy. The Lord has designed Christian living to be joy-filled, happy & blessed. Ps 37:4 commands us to delight in Lord. Ph 4:4 Rejoice in Lord always
- Joy & blessing are not secondary to God’s purpose in living, they are primary.
- In creating & saving, he meant it all for joy. God means us to be happy.
- J. Taylor once said, God threatens terrible things if we will not be happy
2. But this raises a question. If the chief end of man is to glorify God, isn’t the pursuit of happiness at odds with the pursuit of God’s glory? Answer: God is glorified when our joy is found in him
- Jn15:7-11 If you abide in the Father, He is glorified, obey and joy results. God gets glory and we get the joy.
- It is not wrong to seek God for blessing. His is glorified when we feast on inexhaustible resources.
- The reason folks aren’t happy is they value what can’t satisfy. Seek God, find happiness.
3.This is the sole purpose of Ps1—Ps God the Holy Spirit wants us to live in blessing & happiness. We don’t know the author of this chapter, though some think it’s David.
- Providence decreed Ps1 as 1st Ps to begin the Book of Psalms. Why?
- Because of its theme. Ps1 has been called the summary of the Christian faith.
- Entire message of God’s law is stated in Ps1. God wants us to be happy and he shows us how.
4. Last week we considered the nature of the happiness God has ordained for his people. We noticed it was attention getting happiness—penultimate, spectacular.
- Its abundant happiness. In the original Hebrew, blessing is plural. God really wants us happy
- God isn’t stingy in blessing his people. He is liberal in generosity!
- Today from Ps1 we discover the road map that leads us to inexhaustible joy.
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The road best traveled is the road that leads away from the godless.
I. IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY DON’T WALK WITH THE WICKED
1. Read V1. It says the godly never get involved with anything tainted or with evil. He never walks in counsel of wicked, nor stands in path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers…
- The Godly man & woman is determined & intentional in avoiding ways of wicked
- What does writer mean by wicked? It is label for the immoral person.
- The wicked man cross moral boundaries all the time with out any guilt.
2. Now sin is fun. If it weren’t fun we would not practice sin. We are tempted to look upon the wicked & say, Wow! They are having fun! Are they? Is57:20.
- They are a tossing sea of refuse & mud living agitated & unsettled lives.
- Restless. Disturbed. Anxious. Tormented & tormentors. This is the wicked.
- In contrast, God’s people are blessed & happy. They walk with the Lord not the wicked.
3. How is the church doing obeying road sign to happiness? L-Jones quote of the problem in world is the church strayed! The Barna Research Group in Lost in America found…
- Christians more likely to experience divorce than non-Christians. Atheists stay married longer.
- Moody Magazine March 2002 234,000 evangelical Christian women aborted babies.
- Philip Yancey in Christianity Today Oct2003 Surveys reveal little difference with church attendees & non- attendees in rates of premarital intercourse & cohabitation. This explains joylessness in the church!
If you want to be happy don’t walk in counsel of wicked. Secondly,
II. IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY DON’T STAND IN PATH OF SINNERS
1. Bible is giving us the Don’t do list.! This approach is a turn off to our be-positive culture, where affirmation & humor is mostly used. Ear hears upbeat.
- The soul of man is schooled with God’s prohibitions. God in Jo1:8,9
- Jesus in Mt10:38 he who does not take up cross is not worthy of me.
- Lets not be afraid of God’s negatives. Vinegar of warnings is a good as honey of promise
2. The 2nd negative in Ps1 tells us be happy by not standing in path of sinners. What does he mean by path? Path means lifestyle or general direction of life.
- What is meant by “sinners”? I’m a sinner does he have me in mind?
- Chataim signifies the openly wicked. They don’t care about righteousness.
- They are confident they will not be punished for, in their mind, there is no judgment.
3. We’ve all had friends of this sort. At one time I was a chataim. Then Christ saved me. All my friends were chataim. They hounded & ridiculed all Christians.
- I’ve thought about how my chataim friends have done in life. Divorced several times, killed by drugs
- Many of them lived the nightmare of addictions. They are miserable and lonely!
- My neighbor Ed summed it up, You got to live straight & narrow! No burden only joy
Be happy! Don’t walk in counsel of wicked and don’t stand in path of sinners.
III. IF YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY DON’T SIT IN SEAT OF SCOFFERS
1. Avoid the wicked, the sinner & now he tells us avoid the scoffer. Scoffers are people who make fun of divine & holy things.
- Like the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, they mocked & scoffed him.
- Like the Roman emperors who put our people to death in horrible fashion
- They mocked them and the Christ they loved.
2. Scoffers hold God in open contempt. Several examples of scoffers are presented in the Bible. Pharaoh mocked God and Moses. Philistines mocked the Ark of the Covenant.
- Prophets of Baal scoffed at Elijah. Scoffers are hostile to the sacred.
- They are school-mates, philosophers, college professors who ridicule faith
- Yes, college is a great test for Christian kids. Christianity will be openly refuted.
3. A friend of mine was an evangelist on the campus of Stanford University. It was during the years when open sex was practiced & Vietnam was hated.
- They would set up a microphone & speakers in public quad & have them stolen.
- While they were preaching they were ridiculed & spit upon. Scoffers!
- Bible warns, stay away from them. They are joy-killers. Don’t sit in their seat!
- (Note: It is easy for Christians to scoff at a person or church or movement. It will kill joy! )
CONCLUSION:
1. Aesop has a fable called “A Donkey and His Purchaser. A man wanted to buy a donkey & agreed with its owner to try out the animal before he bought it.
- He took the donkey home & put him in the straw-yard with his other donkeys
- The new animal left all the others & joined up at once with laziest donkey
- When he saw this the man put a halter on him & led him back to his owner
2. When asked how, in short time, he could’ve tried him out, he answered I don’t need to try him out; I know that he will be just like one he chose for company
- Moral: a righteous man is careful about choosing his close companions.
- Bird of a feather flock together. A man is known by the friends he keeps.
- A person intent on happiness makes a conscious decision who his friends will be.
3. I want to close by talking to our young people. It is hard to find good Christian friends. It is harder to stay away from the people described in Ps1
- In school they are popular & you want to be popular. They are cute, too.
- Christian girls or Christian boys make a lifetime mistake when they become friends with the wicked.
- Don’t fall for that trap. Heed God’s warnings. Stay away from wicked, sinners & scoffers and God will reward you with a lifetime of blessings.
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