What Makes You Happy?

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ.

No matter what I've made of my day, no matter how difficult my yesterdays have been, they will not rob me of my happiness today. That's what sin and guilt does. You see, He said, thanks be to God. There is no condemnation.

What do we call that? Grace. In other words, if you want to be happy this day, you bathe in the grace of God. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. What makes you happy? By the look of most of your faces, you have no idea. See, if you knew what it was that made you happy, then you would be happy and then you would stay happy. Every day we're sort of bombarded in our culture with what I call if only happiness. Many of you may have that. If only I owned that, if only I wore that, if only I drove that or only if I lived in that, then I would be happy.

But that doesn't work. America, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Thirty five million Americans take antidepressants every day. Thirty five million.

One quarter of all women in America in their 40s and 50s take antidepressants. So it appears as though happiness is elusive. You see, you can't market happiness. You see, I started out as though it were a question. What makes you happy?

But it's not a question. What I want to do is tell you what makes you happy. You see, happiness is more about who than it is about what. I mean, we kind of know that.

Think of this past Christmas season. And it's a wonderful life. And George Bailey is not that happy because he had to give up his life's dream.

He wanted to be a builder, if you remember. He wanted to make his life count and all of that. And it turned out that the lesson that he ended up learning by the end of the movie was that happiness is never about what.

It's always about who. And how about the Grinch stealing Christmas? The Grinch actually thought that if he would take all of their what, he could make them unhappy. And yet there they were in that circle, all singing. Why? Well, it's Whoville.

They were surrounded by whos. And that's what makes us happy. You see, if it were different, all you would need then is a happy what? You just find out what makes you happy and you just be happy. But a happy what always becomes what else?

Or what next? An aging what? Because of the law of diminishing returns deflates your happiness. Happiness is much more about a who than it is a what. Think about it this way. When people come to the end of their lives, do they have relational regrets? Or do they have possessional regrets? Could you imagine a woman saying to her husband as she's in intensive care in our last hours of life, please bring me my Chanel handbag so that I can spend my last moments with it?

Or a man saying to his nurse, please wheel me out to the parking lot so I can die waxing my car. Happiness is a lot more about who than it is about what. God created us.

To be happy. And he expects us to be happy. Open your Bibles to Psalm 118, Psalm 118. We're going to look at one verse, verse 24. Very famous verse. But the verse encompasses everything.

Verse 24 of Psalm 118, the psalmist writes this. This is the day which the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Before we rush through it, I want you to stop and really look at it. The first word, this is the day. This is the day.

That's right. Today is the day. This is the day. I think often when we think about that, we sort of think this way. Well, I know he made like holidays because we're pretty happy then. And he's likely to have made like wedding days and birthdays and, you know, vacation days and Saturdays. And for some of you, the first day of hunting season, those are the kind of days.

But that's not what he says. He says this is the day. By the way, that includes divorce days, surgery days, audit days and exam days. This is the day that the Lord has made.

There's the who. This is the day that the Lord has made. The inference is for you and for me. This is the day. And then he says, let me show you the opportunity in the second part of the verse. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. That word rejoice is a good translation. It's the Hebrew word Gil. But the word glad in it may be a little bit different.

That is the word Samak. And it really means to be happy. He said, let us rejoice and be happy in it. The Lord has made this day.

By the way, there's something else that you can see just by thinking about this verse. A happy life is built one day at a time. That's how you become happy. One day at a time.

The ultimate who here. God has given you this day and then giving you the opportunity to rejoice and to be glad in it or to be happy in it. You mean any day?

Yes. Turn with me now to Romans Chapter seven. I want to look at two things that I want to say this morning about how we can become happy this day because of who God is. Romans seven. We're going to begin in verse 15. And I hope that what Paul writes there sounds a lot like your life, because I know it sounds a lot like mine. In verse 15, Paul says, For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing that which I would like to do, but I'm doing the very thing I hate.

Sounded all like some of the days you have. He said, But if I do the very thing I do not want to, I agree with the law, confessing that the law is good. So now no longer am I the one doing it, but sin, he said, which dwells in me.

Paul says, Look, I know what I want to do in my life, but so many times I just don't I don't do that. That happened to you. You ever say the wrong words to somebody? You ever react in the wrong way when someone speaks to you? Did you ever start speaking when you should have been listening? Did you ever find yourself indulged when you should have resisted? That's what Paul is saying.

Days like that. He says in verse 18, For I know that nothing good dwells in me. That is in my flesh for the willingness present in me, but the good is not. He said, For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil I do not want to do. He said, But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it. But again, sin which dwells in me, I find then the principle that evil was present in me, the one who wants to do good. Now, up to now, you basically say, I don't know how you're getting to make this happy because this sounds like my sad life. You know, I get up every day and I end up not doing what I want to do and nothing makes me happy. And I end up disappointed.

And then I end up feeling guilty about how disappointed I am and how unhappy I am. But watch where he goes with this. He said, For I joyfully concur with the law of God and my inner man. I see a different law in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law. He said, of sin, which is in my members. Now, watch his assessment. Wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death? All he is saying is my life generally day in and day out stinks. You see, how do you deal with that?

How do you get to happiness? Now watch. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

So then on the one hand, I myself with my mind, I'm serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin. And then he says, Therefore, they should never have put a chapter there. Not ever. There's no place the chapters are arbitrary.

It's not starting a new idea. This is the conclusion of what he has just said. That's when you see it. Therefore, you always ask, what is it there for? And it's there to conclude. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Wow.

How did he turn this all around? No matter what I've made of my day, no matter how difficult my yesterdays have been, they will not rob me of my happiness today. That's what sin and guilt does. You see, he said, Thanks be to God. There is no condemnation.

What do we call that? Grace. In other words, if you want to be happy this day, you bathe in the grace of God. You saturate yourself with the grace of God. That's what you do. The unmerited favor of God.

It's an amazing thing. By the way, that's what John said. Dealing with our own frailties and sin in 1 John chapter 1 and verse 9. John said, But if we confess, and the word they confess is homilegeo, and it means to agree with. He said, If we confess our sins, if we agree with God about our sins, and that's what Paul is doing there.

It says, God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There's the cleansing. Saturate yourself. Bathe in the grace of God.

The unmerited favor of God. By the way, you can't really bathe in the grace of God once a year. That really won't help much. Once a month is insufficient and once a week simply won't do.

You need to do this every day. Are you sure? Is God willing?

Yes. Turn with me now to Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3 right next to Jeremiah. Jeremiah wrote both of these books in the Old Testament.

By the way, it's kind of interesting. Jeremiah struggled with the very principle he's writing. He is known as the weeping prophet, not exactly the happy prophet.

But he understands the principles. And in Jeremiah chapter 3. In verse 21, Jeremiah says this.

He said, This I recall to my mind. Therefore, I have hope. By the way, that's one of the great catalysts to happiness, isn't it? Being hopeful. By the way, how hopeful are small children on Christmas Eve? And you've got to know if you're a parent, that's one of the few times they're really happy.

Even by middle of Christmas Day. Not nearly as happy. He says this. I recall to my mind.

Therefore, I have hope. The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease. That's that great word I always speak of, hesed. It's the greatest word in the Old Testament other than a name of God.

There's no English equivalent. Lovingkindness is not really it. What does he mean? It means God's loyal love, his grace, his mercy, his forgiveness, his patience. It's all in this word.

It's hesed. He says the Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease. For his compassion's never fail. And then these words. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.

You see that? When is God willing to bestow his grace upon me? Every day. Well, what if I made a mess of yesterday? Doesn't matter. What if I made a mess of last week? Doesn't matter. What if I made a mess of last year? Doesn't matter. What if I made a mess of my whole life?

He goes, it doesn't matter. I want to store my grace upon you right now. I want to saturate you with my grace.

The unmerited favor. It's an interesting thing when you think about it. You don't even have to be a Christian to enjoy it. Think of Luke 23. Jesus is being crucified and everybody's mocking him in our two two criminals on each side, one on each side. And they're mocking him, too.

And then one of them has sort of a sort of this great insight in this point. He stops mocking and he basically understands, I think, who Christ is. And so he says to Christ, he says, remember, he said to the other criminal, look, this man has done nothing wrong.

We are being crucified, but we deserve it. You see, you know what kind of man he was, then what his life was like. And he says to Jesus, just remember me when you come into your kingdom. What did Jesus say to him?

Today. Now, I notice he didn't say, I'll think about it when I get to heaven, but I have a lot on my mind. He didn't say that. He didn't say, you know, I want to I want you to prove some stuff to me. He didn't say that either. He said this day or in that case exactly.

He said today immediately. Notice there's no purgatory purging. There's no Hades rehab. Today, you'll be with me in paradise. I believe with all my heart that that man died happy because of the who he died with. You see, that's where happiness comes from.

That thief on the cross heard what Moses heard when the land of Midian, what Elijah heard when he was in the wilderness, what David heard from Nathan the prophet and what Peter heard from Christ himself. The undeserved, unexpected grace of God. Well, when you really understand the scope of God's grace every day, it has to put a smile on your face.

It has to. You see, as you go along living your life, lusting and gloating and coveting and judging other people. Our great intercessor, Jesus Christ intercedes for us to the father and every single day says, I paid for that. I paid for that.

Bestow grace upon him. I paid for that. I guess another way of looking at it is this. You've won the greatest lottery of all time.

And you didn't even buy the ticket. That's what the grace of God is. Saturate yourself every day in his grace.

There is a second thing. Go with me now to Luke Chapter 17. Luke Chapter 17. You see, not only should we saturate ourselves or bathe in the grace of God every day, but you should saturate your day proclaiming. And this is key to your happiness, your gratitude.

Saturate every day, proclaiming your gratitude. Verse 11. Well, that's Jesus.

While he was on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, 10 leprous men who stood at a distance met him. 10 leprous men. Of all the things you could have ever not wanted to be in that world would be a leper.

When you are a leper, you are ostracized from every body. People recoiled when they were around the leper. Their appearance repulsed people. They had lumps all over their faces, foreheads. Often their nose had fallen off. They had no hair on their eyebrows. Very little hair sometimes on their head. The muscles they had had atrophied. Their hands had curled up, sort of like claws.

Many of the digits of their toes and fingers have fallen off. They were viewed by everybody as unclean. Nobody goes near a leper by the law.

They got no help from the religious leaders. The priest said the reason you're a leper is because of your sin. They raised their voices in verse 13 and they said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. They knew that's all they could ask for.

Jesus, Lord, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them. Go and show yourselves to the priest.

That was it. He didn't say anything. You think it's going to like he's winding up into a really something big.

He does, but he does it in such a subtle way. He says, go show yourselves to the priest. Now, whenever you were unclean in any way, before you could reemerge into society, a priest had to had to pronounce you clean. He said, go show yourselves to the priest. Now, I can imagine these 10 men looked at each other and apparently just started walking. That's an act of faith, by the way, on their part. They're walking to the priest. And as they were going, they were cleansed. I often wonder what that would have been like.

I mean, you've got to think you're just sort of going along like this. And I don't know if they all did it at once or maybe someone in the front went first. And all of a sudden you see one of the men sort of standing up and looking around and all of a sudden he doesn't look like you knew him at all. He's handsome. He has his nose.

He has his hair. And then all of a sudden you start feeling it. Just imagine what those 10 people felt like. At that moment, if that would have been what you thought your life was going to be like every day for the rest of your life. And then all of a sudden you're cleansed.

How would you feel? Well, it says then now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, he turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face and he said at his feet, giving thanks to him. And he was a Samaritan.

One guy runs back, falls on his knees. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And he was a Samaritan. By the way, sin makes lepers of all of us. We're all unclean. There's none righteous, not even one of us.

And that's what Jesus Christ offers. He offers that kind of cleansing through his grace. There's a cleansing. Jesus answered and said, were there not 10 cleansed? But the nine, where are they?

Was no one fond who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner? Where are they? What did they do? They didn't give thanks.

What did they lack? They lack gratitude. They just went on their way. You've been cleansed from sin. Do you turn back? Every single day, do you turn back? Do you feel and saturate your day with gratitude and thanksgiving for the cleansing work of Jesus Christ in your life? You see, if you want to be happy. Let me put it a different way. When it comes to the way you relate to Christ with gratitude, are you more like a dog or more like a cat?

Let me illustrate. Excerpts from my dog's diary. 8 a.m. Oh, boy, dog food. My favorite. 930. Oh, boy, a car ride. My favorite.

940. Oh, boy, a walk. My favorite.

1030. Oh, boy, another car ride. My favorite. 1130.

Oh, boy, more dog food. My favorite. 12 o'clock.

Oh, boy, the kids. My favorite. 1 o'clock.

Oh, boy, the yard. My favorite. 4 o'clock. Oh, boy, the kids again. My favorite. 5 o'clock. Oh, boy, dog food again. My favorite.

530. Oh, boy, moms home. My favorite.

6 o'clock. Oh, boy, playing ball. My favorite.

1030. Oh, boy, sleeping in master's bed. My favorite. Excerpts from a cat's diary, day 283 of my captivity, my captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.

They dine lavishly on fresh meat while I'm forced to eat some kind of dry cereal. I'm sustained by the hope of escape with a mild satisfaction that I derive from ruining a few pieces of their furniture. Tomorrow, I may eat another houseplant. I attempted to kill my captors this morning by weaving through their walking feet, nearly succeeded. Must try this strategy at the top of the stairs. Seeking to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again induce myself to vomit on their favorite chair.

Must try this later on their bed. To display my diabolical disposition, I decapitated a mouse and deposited the headless body on the kitchen floor. They only cooed and condescended, patting me on the head and calling me a strong little kitty, not working according to plan. During a gathering of their accomplices, they placed me in solitary confinement. I overheard my confinement was due to my power of allergies.

Must learn what it means and how to use this to my advantage. I am convinced that the other household captives are flunkies, perhaps snitches. The dog is routinely released and seems naively happy to return. He is no doubt a halfwit.

The bird speaks with the humans regularly. Must be an informant. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to his current placement in the metal cage, his safety is assured. But I can wait.

It's only a matter of time. Now, I realize there might be some overstatement in that. But when it comes to every day of your life, what are you more like?

You see, which are you more like? You see, one thing I know about dog, they're happy. They're happy. They're grateful every time they see you.

There's something else about that story. The returning leper caught the attention of Jesus. God always looks for grateful hearts. You see, why is gratitude so important? Because gratitude lifts our eyes off the things we lack so that we might be able to see the blessings we possess. How much time do you spend about things that aren't going your way, things that upset you, things that people that don't meet your expectations?

How much time do you spend thinking about that? And once you do, it's only a matter of time till happiness just eases away and there isn't any. One last passage, a famous one again, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 5, right at the end of the book. Paul was concluding, and he talks to us about how we should interact with other people, especially in the body of Christ.

And he says in verse 14, he said, we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone, see to it that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people. And then he says this, rejoice always. Be happy. Rejoice always. It should be the mark of us.

We are joyful people. He said, rejoice always. Pray without ceasing in everything. There it is, give thanks. People are always wondering, pastor, what's the will of God for me?

Here it is. Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing in everything. Give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

You know why? Because God is glorified because you are grateful, and guess what you are? That's right, you're happy. The NCV says, always be joyful. Pray continually. Give thanks for whatever happens.

That is what God wants for you in Christ Jesus. If you want to be happy, really, in your life, you have to make gratitude your emotional default. You should wake up every day and just start thanking God for what he's done.

You see, it's an amazing thing. We're bathed in his grace. It doesn't matter what happened to me yesterday.

It doesn't matter what I did yesterday. God says, my love for you is steadfast. My mercies are new every morning. I am faithful to you, even when you're not faithful to me. Happiness is found in a who? Not a what. This day, today, this day, every day, bathe in his grace and express your gratitude.

How about this? Tomorrow when you wake up, oh boy, it's today, my favorite. You've been listening to Pastor Bill Gebhardt on the Radio Ministry of Fellowship in the Word. If you ever miss one of our broadcasts, or maybe you would just like to listen to the message one more time, remember that you can go to a great website called oneplace.com. That's oneplace.com, and you can listen to Fellowship in the Word online.

At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word, 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana, 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org, that's F-B-C-N-O-L-A dot O-R-G. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online. Or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt, thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word.