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Do You Want to Be Happy?
Everyone wants to be happy. We spend our money, time, and energy chasing our version of the good life. And on the way, we run ourselves into physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. But what if the happiness we’re all striving for isn’t the happiness we were created for?
Pastor and author Dr. Derwin L. Gray believes there is a better road to happiness, and it is found in the Beatitudes of Jesus. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus revealed the shocking, countercultural path to true flourishing. It comes not through wealth, fame, or laughter but through poverty, obscurity, and mourning.
True happiness comes from a heart directed toward the kingdom of God and satisfied in Jesus the King. This 8-session small-group study demonstrates how Jesus taught us to search for, find, and hold on to the good life.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Hey, what's happening? I'm Pastor Durwin Gray, and I want to thank you for joining me for this study. So this is what we're going to do, is we are going to learn how to be happy. Uh, we're going to learn how to experience • • • • the good life. Um, I don't know about you. I want to be happy. You want to be happy? I want to experience a good life. You want to experience the good life. So as a pastor, but also as a disciple, as just a person, right? We're all looking for this thing called happiness. • And for some reason, we think that following Jesus, • uh, doesn't lead to happiness. Whereas I think Jesus wants to teach us that. No, actually, following me, loving me, experiencing my grace, produces a happiness • • that transcends and transforms our lives. • • • • But, uh, we're kind of, like, on this journey, and • • we're struggling. So we're going to learn how to • • be happy • • because we're going to learn how to connect with Jesus at a deeper level. When I was a little boy, I grew up in San Antonio, Texas. • So, uh, • • we didn't have all these electronic gadgets and stuff. And when I told my grandmother I was bored, she was like, go outside. Do you guys remember those days? Like, go outside and play? Well, what I used to like to do is chase my shadow because I thought I could catch it. But, you know and now I know you could never catch your shadow. But nevertheless, it was fun. Or at least it started out as fun. But after a while, that fun turned into frustration. • • I often feel like life is like that. We're told when we're young, get a good education, • • • get a good job, and • • • • you'll, quote, unquote, get the good life. And so it's like chasing a shadow. And then as adults, that fun turns into • frustration, • disappointment, it turns into doubt, and we really, really struggle. But let me ask you a question. • • • • What if • • • • • the happiness • that we were created to experience • • • • • • • • • • • isn't the things that we think they are? What if the things that we're really chasing after • • • • • actually make us more unhappy? • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • As I was doing research for this study, • • • in the last ten years or so, there's been this happiness movement that we're going to be happy, we're going to be happy. But while at the same time, in this happiness movement of trying to be happy, people have actually become less happy. I just wonder if creative things can actually never, ever • • • • make us • • • happy. • • So if we want to be happy, what do we do? Uh, I think we need to go and look at the happiest person who has ever lived. I want to propose that Jesus is the happiest person who has ever lived. Now, does that mean Jesus was walking around laughing all the time? No, because Jesus's kind of happiness was a different kind of happiness. Typically, we think of happiness as good happenings. Whereas for Jesus, his happiness was rooted in something that was greater, that was bigger, that was more profound and more beautiful than simply happenings. • • • Jesus's happiness was consistent. • • Uh, whether if he was feeding • • five, uh, • • thousand people, • • • • • • whether if he was • • • hanging in agony on a Roman cross, whether if he was rebuking his disciples, • • • • whether if he was comforting little children, • • • • whether if he was in debates with Pharisees and Sadducees. • • • • • It didn't matter the circumstance, because circumstances were the windows in which • • • • Jesus's happiness expressed itself. • • • • Jesus's happiness was from another • • realm. Now, perhaps you're saying, all right, Pastor. Okay, so, all right, yeah, Jesus is happy. Well, because he's God. Well, yes. Jesus is eternally. The Son of God. But when he came to Earth, he was 100% a human being. As a matter of fact, the Bible says that he's the last Adam. Adam was to be the prototype, but he blew it. So Jesus came to reverse the curse of Adam, and he's the example of who we are to be. Um, salvation can actually be this. God rescues us from ourself so that we can lose ourself in Jesus, so that we become our true self. And so Jesus is the model for us of what happiness looks like. • • • • I was in Israel a couple of years ago. It was for my doctoral studies. • And as we overlooked the Sea of Galilee, the tour guide said, this is where the Sermon on the Mount took place. It was really cool. Now, it wasn't really a mountain, it was like a hill. But, man, it was awesome, though. And so you could picture there Jesus is beginning to teach his manifesto on the good life. He's sharing with humanity what happiness looks like, • • and he starts this way. • • This is from Matthew, • • chapter five. These are commonly known as the Beatitudes. It says this blessed are the porn spirit, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the humble, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed to those who hunger in thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. • • • • Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed to those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven is theirs. You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me. • • Be glad and rejoice, • because your reward is great in heaven, for that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. • • • So there's Jesus. He gives us this manifesto of happiness, and you go, Wait, Pastor. He said blessed. Well, I'm glad you caught that. It's interesting. In the Greek language, the word blessed literally means • • happy. • • And when you trace the word in the Old Testament, it means happy. So Jesus is saying, do you really want to be happy? But not only that you were created to be happy, but it's a God kind of happiness. • • • • Jesus himself • • embodied • • the beatitudes. Jesus Himself embodied the good life. And through faith in Him, he wants to share this good life with us. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The first beatitude. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of • • heaven. • • Why does Jesus start there? • • • Because the kingdom of heaven is only for beggars • • • in the new heavens and new earth. In eternity, when full redemption has taken place, the only boasting you will ever hear is, jesus is greater than our thought. Jesus is more epic than our thought. Jesus is more than I thought. The kingdom of heaven is for beggars. • • The kingdom of heaven is for those who said, • • • • I can't, but he can. • • • • I, uh, don't know about you, but God had to • humble me before he could heal me. • • Um, growing up in San Antonio, Texas, • • a, uh, product of single parents grow up on welfare, at risk environment, football becomes my way out. Football gets me a scholarship. Football leads me to the National Football League. I become a professional player. I'm living my wildest dreams. I've got a beautiful wife. I've got the cars, the houses. I have everything that I thought that was supposed to make me happy. But it turned out to be that I was just chasing shadows that I couldn't catch. • • But my problem was, when I tried to get on the outside to fix on the inside, could never fix it. I knew I needed forgiveness. • I knew I needed love. • • I knew I needed a purpose beyond tackling other human beings. • • And so through a teammate who literally would share Jesus with me • • after practice for five years. His nickname was The Naked Preacher, because he would share Jesus with just a towel wrapped around his waist and his Bible. And so for five years, he shared Jesus with me. And on August 2, 1997, that's when my ego, which stands for Edging God Out, was melted under the weight of God's grace. He had to humble me before he could heal me. In other words, everything that I tried • • • failed. Now, on the outside, it looked like it succeeded. But on the inside, where we really live, it failed. And that's where Jesus won me, because he's the one who gives unconditional love. He's, uh, • the one who gives forgiveness to the shed blood on the cross. He's the one who gives us purpose that we exist to experience his goodness. • • And so happiness in a good life • • • is not so much about good things happening to you, though. I like good things happening to me. But the reality is we live in a broken world, and that doesn't happen all the time. The good life, the God kind of happiness, is more about becoming good • • that Jesus, • • • who is the son of the good good father wants to live his good life through us. And so the first step in our journey to the good life, our first step into the journey of what it means to be happy • • • is to understand that happy are the beggars, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Grace is only for those who know that they can't achieve it, but only • • receive it. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • What it means to be happy. • • • • • • • • •
Speaker B
As you go to your groups, i, uh, have two questions for you. One • • read matthew M. • • Five. Three and how is your understanding of being poor in spirit transformed? Two • • • how does pride blind us to God's grace? • • I have one thought I want you to marinate on. • • • • Remember that being poor in spirit means • • • that we are humble enough to receive the unsearchable riches of Christ. I'll see you at the next session. Peace. I'm out. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •