Before I go any farther, I must admit that I stole the title for today’s message from a book that was written some time ago that I haven’t even read yet called; “Happiness is a Serious Problem”. In fact, I don’t have to read the book to agree with the premise, but fully intend to purchase and read this work by Denise Prager as a homework assignment.

And now, I have actually worked with you my church family, a way to justify buying books to my much better half, by simply mentioning them here on a Sunday morning. Is this a great country of what? And when I do, get that book, I’ll be happy. But the kind of happiness that I want to talk with you about this morning is the kind that is of a much more lasting, sincere, and edifying nature.

Today, I would like to talk with you about How God instructs us to be happy, and the genuine happiness we receive, as we mature in our walk with the Lord and grow from:

• A deeper understanding of our lives
• Our relationships in other people through God
• The gifts from our Lord supernal.

Again, truth and accountability; I started to think deeper about the seriousness of happiness as I recently read the Prager commentary of Deuteronomy, and some pieces in my line of thought started to fall together. This thought process has led me to today’s message about the status and importance of happiness in our lives, and how consistent God is on this subject.

I guess the first thing we should address is where does happiness comes from. My thought is that it comes from a couple of things, so here is a short list of random thoughts that I had this week:

• Being able to leave the past, forgive, and live.
• Gratitude for the miracles happening in our lives.
• Understanding God’s love for each of us.

Since I have the children of Israel on my mind from our visit to the Tabernacle this week, I am thinking of God’s command for them to forgive those who had harassed or imprisoned them in their past. Reading from Deuteronomy 23:7;

⁷ Do not despise an Edomite, for the Edomites are related to you. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you resided as foreigners in their country. 

The Lord is instructing the Israelites that in spite of slavery, mistreatment and even genocide, that they were to forgive and not despise their former captors. There is a solid lesson here for our whole country to learn from in the here and now. When we are able to forgive, and move on, we free ourselves from a bondage most cannot see, but it is real, and corrosive.

When we are able to move on, we are in a better position to get a deeper understanding of our own lives, because we are demonstrating to ourselves, others and even the Lord that we are able to process deeper understanding about this thing called life.

I am now in a position to better understand today’s Call to Worship in a deeper light than perhaps before. Reading again from Deuteronomy 12:7 and Psalm 32:1-2,

⁷ There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

*I want to jump in to say; Rejoice here means joy, to be happy. And why wouldn’t we. Here the children of Israel are bringing their offering and eating the sacrifice by sharing the meat with the Priests, and eating it together as the family of Israel in the presence of the Lord at the Tabernacle, later the Temple of our God. Again let me read Deuteronomy 12:7;

⁷ There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

       God is saying that He wants you to eat in His presence the bounty He has given you, and wants you to rejoice (be happy) in and with Him. God is loving you more than you might realize when we are in the midst of our own pain and challenges in this life. And now, today’s Call to Worship continues with Psalm 32:1-2;

¹ Blessed is the one
    whose transgressions are forgiven,
    whose sins are covered.
² Blessed is the one
    whose sin the Lord does not count against them
    and in whose spirit is no deceit.

Blessed is happiness, and happiness is our ability to be forgiven because we have honestly come before our Lord and with broken hearts have asked for forgiveness, and God stands ready to move on with you, and for you to be happy about moving on in and with Him and His family!

By the way, as we move on, we can still learn from the past in order to avoid reliving our own or other people’s mistakes in life. And as we move on, we are in a position to be ever more grateful for all that God is doing in our lives. The Lord instructed the children of Israel this very lesson in Deuteronomy 26:6-11;

 ⁶ But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. ⁷ Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. ⁸ So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. ⁹ He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; ¹⁰ and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. ¹¹ Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

In other words, we have suffered terribly and God walked with us even though it took a long time for us to be freed from our torment (400 years), God is delivering us each day to a new reality of this majestic moment in time. And since we are grateful, we remember to thank our Lord through our offerings and service to our God. This is accomplished by remembering to serve others like the less fortunate whom we know in life. Those without family, widows, and strangers, are continually remembered by our Lord in scripture, as depicted in Deuteronomy 16:9-12;

⁹ Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. ¹⁰ Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. ¹¹ And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and follow carefully these decrees.

       You see, our lives are a reflection of those in our family of God who have gone before us, and who learned about humility first hand through oppression and abuse, and yet our Lord has been consistent in teaching us to forgive, learn, be grateful for all that He is doing, and then happily move on with our beautiful lives that we are building in and with Him. And when we feel overwhelmed by the meanness that exists, sometimes directly at us in our lives, our Lord instructs us personally in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:11-13;

¹¹ “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

       If salt equates to happiness by rejoicing in our Lord, and if we have lost that sense of joy and happiness, our salt has lost its zing: … Who wants to follow us into a tasteless, bland, and listless world of sackcloth and ashes? Another reason, our God wants us to be happy, and to not be consumed when we are insulted, persecuted, or people call us bad names. Our family, and destiny with God, is so much beyond the pettiness of the day!

       I mention this because, there are people right now out there looking for something better, and not knowing what that is. Well, we have found joy and kindness, love that doesn’t come with strings attached, and we are ready to share with people like the person depicted in today’s Message Reading that Jesus came upon. Zacchaeus! Reading again from, Luke 19:1-10;

¹Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.

*Let me interrupt to say; Zacchaeus was like a lot of us in the world. Someone who might be going to church or just roaming and looking for something that makes sense, and they are lost and the world just don’t make sense. And then comes someone (Jesus), and you know He is special because you can feel the love emanate from within, there’s a joy and a future connected to His very presence. That’s the joy we want to convey with those in our lives, whom we want to share the love we have found here with others. Continuing now at verse 5;

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

**Interrupting again to say; Remember when the Lord instructed us when people say all kinds of things evil and hurtful, to rejoice. That’s how they treated the prophets before us, and will treat those who come after us I might add. I am reminded of another place in the Gospel where the Lord teaches us about how we will know our shepherd’s voice (our Lord), when He calls. Reading from John 10:2-4;

² The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. 

       When we have God’s word in our hearts, and our actions reflect it, our joy is bound to radiate as well. This is when we must be sharing the Gospel joyfully with all who are willing to listen, and they will hear our master’s voice in our words, actions, and countenance. Continuing now with the Message Reading at verse 8;

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

       Another household that is instructed by the Lord to be happy, rejoice, because what was lost (a whole household), is now found and saved with God for eternity! Zacchaeus and his family will now be a living testament of joy for others who come along their way, of what is possible, what is achievable through the grace of our Lord.

       If you are today sitting in sadness, please hear my words. There is no sin in being sad. I know for a fact that there are those with us today going through a terrible time of hardship. Sometimes the only cure for that hardship is to go through that grieving process and let it run its course, followed by getting back into the working day of life. In the meantime, we will be there to grieve and then rejoice together with you, as family does.

 Only you can determine when your time of grief has come to its closure. God will help you, if you are available for His voice in the matter. Making Happiness a Serious Proposition! Indeed.

Today we have talked about where happiness comes from in part by;

• Being able to leave the past, forgive, and live.

Easier said than done I know. For some of us, we will be working this for a life time, and it will be worth the effort.

• Gratitude for the miracles happening in our lives.

Again, living a life of gratitude is a project of life long proportions, and worth the work. Because it will transform who you are and how you attract others to your Lord.

• Understanding God’s love for each of us. Is the subtle but real gift that we get to own together. Making Happiness is a Serious Proposition!               Amen!