Why Aren't We Happy - Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You don't want to face your retirement years. You read our papers and stuff. You don't want to face your retirement years. Of all things, the worst thing, you could face it without enough money. And if you read the articles, I kept thinking, I'll never have that kind of money.

I mean, it's never going to happen. I'll never have that kind of money. Then I thought for a moment, wait, all the people I grew up with were all factory workers. My dad was, all my neighbors were. They all retired and they made it. But they said in the article, you can't make it unless you have all this money.

And so we try to acquire more and more to make it secure. 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.

Now let's get the background. Where do Adam and Eve live? Eden, right? Now off the top of your head, is it a nice place or not so nice? It's Edenic, right?

We use that word. It's a wonderful place. God comes and walks with them in the garden. There's no bad world out there. There's nothing but goodness.

And in that world, all that God did to them is he allowed them total freedom, except he gave him a one commandment dispensation, just one. And by the way, you can eat of any tree in the garden. And this one, I've told you this, there's nothing special about that tree. It wasn't like they were all green, but this one was gold. It's not like that. It's just he said you can eat of any tree.

I think it was the same as all the others, except that tree. That's the only one you can eat of a one commandment dispensation. And if you just listen to what I'm saying, you'll be happy forever.

It sounds like a good deal. Now, here comes Satan or the serpent, and he says, indeed, has God said you shall not eat from any tree of the garden? Well, he's questioning what God said, by the way, it always works this way. And then it says the woman said him from the fruit of the trees of the garden, we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree, which is in the middle of the garden, God said, You shall not eat it or touch it or you'll die.

Now, I don't think he said touch it, but she got it that way. But there's the one commandment. The serpent said to the woman, you'll surely shall not die. Let me paraphrase for God knows that the day you eat it, your eyes will be open and you'll be happy.

Ah, yeah, that's wrong. That's the temptation. It's always the temptation.

It's always the same. Has God said that's not really true? Think of think of the major areas in our culture of sinfulness. You think of sex and drugs and power and stuff, all those kinds of things. We fall into all kinds of temptations.

That's why the Book of Ecclesiastes was written. Solomon said, You know, everything that you think will make you happy on a temporal basis. I did it. Oh, by the way, I did it in a way you could never do it. I did it to the nth degree in every area. I did it. Here's my conclusion. It's all vanity. It didn't produce happiness at all.

It never did what it said it would do. Now, just think what happens to us. We live in a culture, by the way, where we have taken sexual perversion to sort of new heights. And the reason is, why would people do that?

Because they want to be what? Happy. This is going to make me happy. Now, please understand something. Did Satan invent sex?

No, God did. And he said, And this is the way it's going to work. It's a wonderful thing. It'll make you happy. And it's between a man and a woman in the context of marriage. You don't have it before. You don't have it with other people.

The whole idea of it is in a context. So what Satan say? No, you can take it out of the context and be really happy. You can be happy. That's what's going to make you happy. And we do it over and over again. I can still remember a woman that told me once she was having an affair on her husband and she said, Look, God wants me happy and this makes me happy. Now, she was in counseling because everyone was so miserable, but she said, God wants me to be happy.

You see, what ends up happening, you buy into that. Now, think of our culture. When you start reading the national statistics in America of sexually transmitted diseases, especially among young people, it's startling.

Never hear on the news. They don't talk about it. Now, do you think all these young people with sexually transmitted diseases that makes them happy? They're just happy to do this.

They're not. You see, you take something and then you make it worse. You just simply say, no, as God said, that's not the case at all. And that's what he does in every single area of our lives. And so we end up in courtrooms and we end up in rehab centers. We end up in therapy. We end up in bankruptcy because I thought it'd make me happy. I spent money I never earned.

I thought it'd make me happy. Bankruptcy is not happy. Sin will never produce lasting happiness in anyone's life.

It will always be temporal. And yet we fall for it over and over again. We choose not to be happy. We allow worry and sin to steal our happiness. We believe Satan's lies about happiness. And this is what happens often to Christians. We feel guilty about the things that God has put in our lives to make us happy.

And so we become unhappy because we believe somehow that's wrong. I want you to go with me to First Timothy, chapter six. First Timothy, chapter six in verse 17. This area has had enormous effect over the church throughout the centuries. It's the kind of thinking that caused the whole monastic period.

Remember, we used to go to monasteries, separate yourself from everything in the world, wear some very uncomfortable garments, eat dry bread and drink water, be isolated. And that'll make you happy. Just the thought of it doesn't make you happy. But people thought it would make you happy because you don't want you can't get happiness.

Many of the things God gives you. That's not true. Let me show you this in verse 17. He said, instruct those who are rich in this present world. These are rich people in the church. He said, I want you to instruct those who are rich in this present world. Well, you can't be rich and happy.

It's not true. You can be rich and happy just like you can be poor and happy. You can be rich and happy. But I want you to instruct those who are rich in this present world first not to be conceited.

Wow. Rich people are never conceited, are they? Not rich people.

Is there a temptation there? You see, the word conceited means do they get their significance from being rich? Do they think they're better than other people because they have money? There's a real temptation with getting your significance from your wealth.

He said, no, don't do that. Don't get your significance from being rich. And then he says, secondly, or to fix their hope when the uncertainty of riches. That's their security. Don't think you get your significance and your security from having money. Now, none of us would ever fall for that, would we?

I mean, isn't that the whole key? We don't get any security from money. If we have more money, you don't want to face your retirement years.

You read our papers and stuff. You don't want to face your retirement years. Of all things, the worst that you could face it without enough money. And if you read the articles, I kept thinking, I'll never have that kind of money.

I mean, it's never going to happen. I'll never have that kind of money. Then I thought for a moment, wait, all the people I grew up with were all factory workers. My dad was. All my neighbors were.

They all retired and they made it. But they said in the article, you can't make it unless you have all this money. And so we try to acquire more and more to make it secure.

Wow. I think Jesus addressed that, didn't he? Remember the guy had so much wealth. And he said, you know, I know what I want to do. I want to I want to accumulate more. I'm going to build bigger barns to hold all my wealth.

And Jesus said, you fool. Don't you know, this very night, your life's going to be expected of you. You're going to be dead tonight.

So what bigger barns are going to help you? They're not going to help you at all. You don't get your you don't get your hope, your future certitude, he said, for money.

Don't do that. He said, don't get your significance. And he says, don't get your hope from it. And yet you see it with people. We gain our significance because we accumulate stuff. And we actually, whether we want to admit it or not, think we're better than people. And we're more secure in people because we've acquired stuff. Don't do that.

No notice. He said you could be rich, but don't do that. When we first moved here years and years ago, someone in the church took us to a very prestigious country club to have dinner one night. And so it was prestigious and all that. And I remember going in there and sitting down and I was just shocked by this. I looked around the country club and I and this is just my memory of it. And I might have been a bad night for them. And you you you're wonderful in your country club. I don't care.

That's fine. But when I look when I looked around, this is all I saw. They were miserable. These are people who live in big homes right on the by the country club and they were miserable. And I thought, wow, money didn't make them happy. There was no happiness at all because it doesn't make you happy.

You see, but there's a temptation in American culture with capitalism. That's the key to becoming happy. All I need is more if I can become happy. He said, look, don't, he said, become conceited or fix your hope and uncertainty of riches.

But on God, who richly supplies us with all things. This answers the question. If you have money, why do you? Now, don't tell me. Don't lie. But you know what you think? Because I'm smart. Really? You don't think there's any smart people in Haiti?

Now they're all done there. I'm smart. By the way, even if you were smart, why are you smart?

Being you took advantage of opportunities, where does opportunities come from? You see, the whole point of it is, he said, I supply everything, God said. He said, I set kings up on the throne. If your station in life is a good station, it's because of me.

See, you have to think that way rather than it's because of you. He said, that's the danger that you have. So he said, if you have wealth, great. But he said, I want you to remember, no matter what, he said, that I'm the one that richly supplied it to you. And then those last two words are important.

The last two words. Why does God give us that? Notice the last two words, to enjoy. You mean you can have joy and have money? Yes, you can have joy. You mean I can have joy with the gifts of God? Yes, you can have joy. Enjoy it. Money gives, the best thing about money is it gives you choices.

You see, there's a lot of choices. Enjoy them. Enjoy what God is giving you. If he's giving you health, enjoy it. If giving your great friends, enjoy them. Whatever he's giving you, just enjoy it. You can enjoy the good things that God has given you.

Now, you don't get a pass on this, though. You can't nod your head and say, yes, God, if you give me enough money, I promise I'll enjoy it. And I'll say it came from you. He said, well, we'll see.

Let me get let me test you on this. Verse 18. First thing I want to test you, if I give you a lot of financial blessing, instruct them to do good. He said, too much is given, much is expected. If I give you a lot of financial blessings, you better do good with them. You see, and he wants to be clear that we understand and notice the next phrase to be rich in good works. You've got to be known as a person who is rich in good works.

You do good with what God's given you. You see, it's an amazing thing. And by the way, a lot of super wealthy people understand that.

They understand that they just didn't get out of life what they thought they would. I can still remember reading the whole life because I'm from Pittsburgh, of Andrew Carnegie. And he was the richest man in the world at the time with the steel industry in Pittsburgh. But it came a time in his life and he was not a really nice man. But there came a time in his life, he said, you know, if I don't start giving this wealth out and helping an awful lot of people, my life seems kind of pointless.

And so he started the Carnegie Museum, Carnegie. I mean, just a lot of really good, benefactor things. I think a lot of really wealthy people understand it has not made me happy.

But there's something I need to do. So it is understood that way. But notice he says to be rich in good works. And then he says, let me be more specific, to be generous and ready to share. So if I bless you financially, your job is to be generous. You see.

Wow. See, usually what we say is, you know, I don't have to be generous. Look, if there's a poor guy and he gives X amount of dollars to a good cause. I'm a rich guy. I'll give twice as much as him.

Now, wait a minute. I have a thousand times as wealth, but I'll give twice as much as he gave. That's not generous. That's not what generous is. He said, you need to be really generous.

If I bless you in that way. Now, what's really interesting is he tells us the reason for that. In verse 19, he says, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future.

Now, let me paraphrase that. God says, I'll never forget what you did. I'll never forget it. I remember that for all eternity to someone who's wealthy, who was generous and ready to share.

He said, I will say to you, well done, good and faithful servant. You see, there's a future for you to use this. There's something you can do.

And I'll never forget it. That's for the future. Look for the present, though the latter part of the verse. He said, so that or the result that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. If you do that, you have a great life. Let me paraphrase. If you do that, you'll be happy. You see, if you do that, you'll be happy. I remember reading years ago in psychology today, there was an article on the person that wrote it.

I still remember the line that they wrote. And they said, after all the studies we've done on happiness, I conclude it with one sentence. Happiness is giving yourself away. They said the happiest people we've ever tested are people who just give themselves away to others.

They're happy people who don't depending on what degree or less and less happy. Happiness is giving yourself away. And that's exactly what Paul says through Timothy.

He said, that's exactly the way this works. You will take hold of the meaning of life. You'll be happy.

So he says. If we're not happy is probably because we did not choose to be happy. We allow worry and sin to steal our happiness. We believe that Satan's view of temporal happiness is right and we end up not being happy. And we feel guilty sometimes about the gifts that God has given us to enjoy and to be happy with. And then one last one on one verse, Proverbs 16, verse nine, Proverbs 16 and verse nine.

And this is really a foundational basis of happiness. Solomon writes in verse nine, he says this. The mind of man plans his way.

But the Lord directs his steps. Ever make plans? Do you have plans for today?

Lunch, game, right? You have your plans. Then we have plans for like tomorrow. Then we have plans for the week. Then we we have plans for the next few months.

Probably make it plans for the holidays. And then we have plans for the year. And then we have plans. We have plans for five years, decades. We have plans.

I have plans when I retire. We have our plans. We make plans. We have a lot of plans. He said, well, there's only one thing wrong with your plans.

He said, they're yours. Notice the next part of the verse. The Lord directs the steps. God sovereign. You can have your plans. Remember the man who said, I'll build bigger barns to hold all my stuff. Jesus said, you're going to be dead tonight.

Won't help much. Why God sovereign? Now, he's not saying never make plans. He's saying, though, ultimately, God is sovereign.

James even wrote that. Don't say I'm going to go to another city and do business. Say I'm going to go to another city and do business if the Lord wills. In other words, I'm always recognize the sovereignty of God.

But there's something else about it. He's not only a sovereign God because he's God. He's loving.

He is a good, sovereign, loving God. He loves you in a way no other human has ever loved you. There's nothing you can do to make God love you more. There's nothing you can do to make God love you less. He loves you with infinite love. So you have this sovereign God who loves you with an infinite love.

So the point would be, why would you be happy? No matter if your plans go awry, whatever it is, I still have God. I still have this God who is sovereign and who loves me. Not only should that give me peace, but that should make me content and happy because of God. Look, we are created by God. That should make us happy. We are loved by God. That should make us happy. We are redeemed because of our sin by God. That should make us happy.

God took up residency in us through his indwelling spirit. That should make us happy. God has given us promises, not just for today, but forever. And he's promised us he's coming back.

Or we'll go into him. These are all given to us by a sovereign, loving God. How could we not be happy? You see, how could we not?

We allow certain things. We don't choose to be happy. We allow worry and sin to steal our happiness. We believe Satan's temporal view of happiness. We sometimes feel guilty about the good gifts that God has given us.

And lastly, we don't root our happiness in a sovereign, loving God. This may bother a few of you, but I don't care. You're going to be happy forever. You can't stop it.

You can't sit there and say, it's not me. You're going to be. You're going to be happy forever.

Do you understand that? It will never be diminished. If you're in the presence of the Lord, you will be happy forever. See, there's no depressed people there. You see, there's no people feeling sorry for themselves. There's no people victimized in heaven. You're going to be happy.

We're conformed to the image of Christ. You're going to be happy. We're going to be happy forever.

C.S. Lewis, I love his line about heaven. He said, just think of it. In eternity, every chapter will be better than the one before it. Think of that.

Every single thing forever will be nothing but great for you and for me. Shouldn't that make you happy? Shouldn't that have an effect on us as people? It surely should. Let me close with the words of A.W.

Tozer. He said, the people of God, that's us, ought to be the happiest people in the whole wide world. People should be coming up to us constantly, asking the source of all of our joy and happiness. Let me ask you, how many people come up to you and say, why are you so happy?

How many times does that happen? Why are you so happy? You see how that would work?

Imagine anything that's more effective as a tool for evangelism. Why are you so happy? You see, the reason that would be such a tool is, do you think they want to be happy? Doesn't everybody want to be happy? So if we're the happiest people on earth, wouldn't people want to know why you're happy? Peter said, you'll be able to give an account for the hope that's in you or the happiness that's in you. You want to know why I'm happy? I'm happy because of my relationship with God through Jesus Christ. That's what made me happy. I don't understand your happiness. It's prevailing. It's always there. But people, I think if we're really honest with each other, is that our reputation?

Is that what people think of when they think about us? Wow, these are happy people. Because it should be. So I'll end right where I started.

Same question. Are you happy? Let's pray. Father, I know it is your desire that we're all happy and that you're a happy God. It doesn't mean, Father, that we don't suffer.

We know that. But the apostle Paul even said when he viewed the suffering of his life, which was enormous, he said, these are just momentary light afflictions that cannot be compared to the glory to come. I would pray that would be our perspective. That there is a prevailing happiness about us, a prevailing delight and joy about us. Our sins are forgiven.

Our destiny is sure. We are indwelt by the very presence of God. Father, I pray that we understand these great, great blessings you've given us.

All of them designed to continue to make us a happy people. Father, I pray that each of us ask ourselves in our own hearts, what is stopping me from being happy? Father, I pray that if we understand the benefit of happiness, we know that it is for your glory and we know that it is for our good. Father, we pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen. 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.

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