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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.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • M. Welcome back. So as we are exploring the attitudes, as we're learning, • uh, what the good life is, we're learning that happiness is more about God and his happening to us and what he accomplished on the cross in Christ, that the good life is becoming good. And so it's like the Beatitudes • • • allow us to reimagine what life could be. The Beatitudes are the Kingdom of God invading the kingdom of man and sweeping up kingdom of men people and transforming them into children of God with a code of conduct that's birth out of the resurrection, power and life of Jesus. And so the Beatitudes help us to reimagine what life could be. Our imagination is one of the greatest gifts God ever gave to us. For example, • • • before the right brothers could develop an airplane to fly, they had to imagine it. Before Mohammed Ali could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, he had to imagine, uh, • • it. And so Jesus says, I want you to imagine what life could be like as a citizen of my kingdom. But not only do you have to imagine it, I'm going to show it to you through my life, I'm going to teach it to you through my teaching. But then through faith in me, I'm going to come and live • • this new imagined life through you. • • Happy are the Peace Makers • • • god, um, • is interested in making peace, • • • that there's something about peace making. • • • • And what I love about God is he doesn't ask us to do something that he first has not done himself. • • That when Jesus of Nazareth come fully God, fully man, when he comes to humanity, it's a peace offering saying, I'm going to liberate us from sin and death and evil. I'm going to remove shame and guilt. The apostle Paul even goes as far as to say that even while yet we were enemies of God, we became God's friends through Jesus. That, uh, what he did on the cross wipes away our sin, • • clears our record. But it also says, you have peace with me. So one of the likenesses of following Jesus, • the good life, is we engage in peace making. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • We live in a time in our country where it is incredibly divided. • Uh, one of the old tactics of war is if you ever want to make a friend, • • • find somebody that disagrees with you and make them an enemy, and those who agree with you will become your friends. We live in a political age like that now. So let me ask you a question. If Jesus was to sit down with you as you navigate Facebook, as you navigate Instagram, if Jesus was to sit down with you when you navigate social media, • • • would he see you as a person making peace? • • • Are you a peacemaker or are you a bridge builder for God's kingdom? In Matthew 544, Jesus says, • • • love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you. Why does Jesus tell us to do that. It's because we are reflecting the grace that we have received. But also, when you and I love our enemies, it's healing to us. Our hearts were not desired to carry hurt. Our hearts were not created to carry bitterness. Our hearts were not created to carry hate. We were created to be conduits of the same mercy and grace that we've received. Uh, the apostle Paul says this in Romans, chapter 1219 through 21. He says this • • • • • • friends, do not avenge yourselves. Instead, leave room for God's wrath, because it is written, vengeance belongs to me. I will repay, says the Lord. But if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for in doing so, you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good. • • • • • That's the good life. • • The good life is a life in which we find happiness and pleasure from trusting God to be who God's called us to be. Instead of being reactionary to those who've harmed us or wounded us, we're responsive to the one who's forgiven us. So are you and I making peace through our lives because we have peace with God? Ah, are we looking for ways to make peace? Because that correlates to our happiness. Happy are the peace makers. • • • • Now, • • • • • it doesn't say happy are the conflict. Avoiters. Oftentimes we think that avoiding conflict is keeping the peace, when in reality, that's anything but keeping peace. Being a peacemaker means I'm willing to go into the conflict with the goal and the purpose of giving away grace, giving away mercy, of giving away what Jesus has given to me. • • • In Jesus's day, • • • • the first century, Jews, they wanted peace • by the Messiah eradicating • • • • • the Romans out of the Promised Land. And for Jesus, his way of making peace between Jews and Romans was by transforming the heart of the Romans. And the Jews never forget this. Oftentimes • • those who oppress other people are more hurt than the people they actually oppress. And so Jesus's method of bringing peace is, I'm going to change your heart. I'm going to take out your stony heart, and I'm going to give you my heart of peace. Now, perhaps you're saying, well, they don't deserve me making peace with them. And I'll just say, listen, I understand. • • • I get that. But you and I didn't deserve God's peace.
Speaker B
You.
Speaker A
And I didn't deserve God's grace. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Years ago, when I first became a follower of Jesus, I didn't have peace with my biological dad. He, uh, was 19 years old when I was born. Uh, he struggled with various, um, issues. • • And so throughout middle school, throughout high school, throughout college, throughout the pros, he never, ever seen me play football, and I held that against him. • • And the thing about holding bitterness towards another person is that the person you hold bitterness towards • • is not affected. You are, uh, affected I was affected. Um, holding bitterness is like drinking poison and hoping that the person that you're bitter at gets sick or even dies. So one day, I'm sitting in my office • • • and I'm a brand new Christian, and I'm writing letters to all my friends about how awesome Jesus is, how much peace he's brought to my life. And I hear a voice. I don't know if it's God's voice, but I hear a voice that says, find your father and forgive him. And I literally in my office by myself, • • was triggered. And I started cursing. I said, no, he doesn't deserve my forgiveness. He doesn't deserve my peace. And it was as if I was a child having a tantrum. Um and God the Father just scooped me up, put me on his lap, put my head near his heart, and he said, well, son, • • you didn't deserve my forgiveness. You don't deserve my grace. I gave you grace. I gave you forgiveness. I made peace with you so you can be forgiving, so you could be gracious and so you could be a peace maker. • • So I end up writing the hardest letter I've ever had to write. • • • Eventually, I found out that my father was incarcerated in prison, and he wrote me a letter back. And, uh, I heard the words that I'd never, ever heard him say before. He said, Son, I love you. Thank you for forgiving me. And our relationship • • • was restored. You see, happy are the peace makers, for they will be called sons and daughters of God. Making peace, engaging in conflict is a character trait of those of us who follow Jesus.
Speaker B
Is it easy?
Speaker A
No. Is it painful?
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
Is it hard?
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
Can you get taken advantage of from time to time?
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
But is it worth it? • •
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
How do we know? Because Jesus is God. The fathers.
Speaker B
Yes.
Speaker A
He is the ultimate peacemaker. Through the shedding of his blood, he makes peace between us • • and his daddy, and in that same blood gives us the power to be peacemakers in a world • • that is not peaceful. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Speaker C
In this session, I got a couple of questions I want you to marinate on. The first one is this what did Jesus do to make peace between • • you and his father? • • • • Second question is this is how does the peace that Jesus give us empower us to be peacemakers? And what I mean by that, to go into conflict with the desire of reconciliation. • • • • And I want you to think about this. • • • • Jesus gave us peace through his shed blood so that not only we can be connected with God vertically, but then we could connect with others horizontally. That makes a cross. And so this happiness that we want is found in the greatest happening of all. Jesus and his cross and the power of the resurrection. I'm Durwin peace.
Speaker A
I'm, um out. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •