Why we long for happiness?

The topic that I was given is, have you ever wondered why we long for happiness?

! Have you ever wondered why we long for happiness?

And already you may be wondering what I'm going to say about this.

What does the Bible have to say about happiness?

And it's a fairly intricate and complex subject for a Sunday evening.

And as I was preparing this week, I had to flow this week, so I wasn't in the best of conditions.

And as I was lying in my bed with my head pounding and my body aching,

I thought, well, this is a topic that is not one that I want to be thinking about.

How do I long for happiness? I was certainly longing for happiness this week.

But as I went down the rabbit hole, as it were, of what the Bible says about happiness,

that you realize it's actually not a rabbit hole, it's a whole warren.

There's a word from worship down, if you can remember that from your high school days.

It's a whole warren about what the Bible says about happiness.

Now, I've chosen the passage that we have read tonight from Philippians chapter 4.

Philippians 4 · chapter mention

And you might find, you might have already picked up on the clue about where we're going with this.

But let me just dive into a question for you.

So, have you ever wondered why we long for happiness?

Now, Nelson, not Samuel, but Nelson Rockefeller once asked, he said this, they asked him this,

how much money does it take to make a person happy?

And I'm sure this has actually been put on the screen here in Brunswick before.

But his answer famously was this, just a little bit more.

And I think this frank response gives us an insight into the human soul.

We are tempted to think that we'd be happy with just a little bit more.

But I think actually we'd be tempted to admit that for many of us, it's actually going to be a lot more to make us happy if we were to truly answer that question.

Let me share another rather shameful and shallow but true story of a conversation that I had over 20 years ago.

So, I was in a group of friends, Christian friends, and we were talking salaries.

I don't know if that's a taboo subject, but we were talking salaries.

And I had just come from a very meagre salary.

I was earning 5,000 pounds, 100 pounds a week.

And I sat in a new job and I was earning 10,000 pounds.

And I said, in that company, I said, you know what, I think I'd be comfortable if I was earning 30,000 pounds.

And I was kind of mocked at the time because the average age, believe it or not, in 2004, the average wage was 22,000 pounds.

That's the average wage in the UK.

And here was me saying, well, I'd be comfortable if I earned 30,000 pounds.

Well, it's not long.

30,000 pounds comes and goes and you realise that maybe you need double or triple that.

And then that comes and goes and, well, you could keep going down that route, right?

And that is probably a shameful story for me, just to repeat that.

But that was a conversation that we had over 20 years ago.

But what would it make, what would it take to make you happy?

You see, I don't think the question of do you want to be happy is a difficult question for us to answer.

It's a self-answering question in a sense.

But the more tricky question is this.

What would it take to make you happy?

You know, the lie, the lie, I would be happy if.

And it's not really a new thing, is it?

It's the same lie that the serpent whispered to Eve in the garden saying, yes, you know, you would be happy if you ate off that forbidden fruit.

And it's the same empty lies that he uses today.

You know, I'd be happy if I had a better job.

I'd be happy if I had more money.

I'd be happy if I had a bigger house.

I'd be happy if I had a partner.

Or I'd be happy if that partner treated me better.

I might be happy if I had a different partner.

I might be happy if I had a child.

Maybe I've had two children.

You know, and it's, I would be happy if.

And it is always just out of reach.

You know, we humans always seem to think that we want what we cannot actually have.

Though in many cases, in many senses, we've actually already got what we wanted.

But our, our, our, I'd be happy if moves, the goalpost moves very, very quickly.

You know, that's true with jobs.

It's true with houses.

It's true with talents.

And as I say, maybe even very often with spouses.

And I shouldn't say that in a Christian context.

But if we want to look at this question from a worldly point of view, then that would be the case.

You know, the job never seems to be enough.

The ideal job just seems to be slightly out of our grasp.

Or it is just not available.

You know, the house never seems to be big enough.

Or not in the right location.

Or it's not quite one that we want.

We might recognise even the talents that we've been given.

And that we have.

But there's just this niggling envy about somebody else's abilities.

And you just need to look at divorce rates in this country to notice that there is always something that we're looking for more in marriage.

And that is quite a sad place to be.

You know, the problem is made worse, I think, by the fact that we think that if we had the right job or the right house or the right skills or the right partner, then we'd be happy and content.

But these things are always just out of our reach.

And so is contentment.

Or so the world's wisdom would have us believe.

The search for happiness based on our circumstances in life creates this restlessness and this discontent in our souls.

And that brought me on to thinking about this passage that we read tonight.

And I'm just going to reread it because you might just see where we're going to go with this.

And in verse 10 it says this,

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me.

You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity.

Not that I'm speaking of being in need.

For I have learned in whatever circumstance I am to be content.

I know how to be brought low.

And I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

And I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Well that's the Apostle Paul.

He testifies that he has learned to be content in any and every circumstance.

His is not a constant search for the right circumstances that will bring him happiness.

He is content wherever he is.

But that's not the position of so many in the world today.

And it's sadly so of many Christians too.

I want to share with you a quote of C.S. Lewis.

And he says this,

If I find myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy,

the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

And I know that that has been on the screen downstairs before.

Or it's certainly a quote that many of us will have heard.

You see I think this is the crux of the matter.

You know when we preach the gospel to the lost,

we tell them that they have a God-shaped hole in their lives.

That there's only one who can save them from themselves,

from their sin and from a certain eternal death.

And that is Jesus.

And yet Jesus is not only the answer to man's sin problem,

but Jesus is the answer to tonight's question as well.

You see, Paul isn't some kind of self-help guru

who's taught himself to be content for being contentedness,

or for being content's sake.

So that he might be able to say that he's happy

in any and every circumstance that he finds himself in.

No, Paul is pretty clear that it is Christ within him

that has enabled them to learn to be this way.

And I use that word learn because that is a word that we find in here.

And Paul uses that in his passage in verse 11 there,

for I have learned this contentment.

You know, Paul is pretty clear that it is Christ in him

that has enabled them to be that way.

There's another quote that Rachel did contribute.

I will give her that.

So there's another quote that I'll use tonight as well.

It's from Elizabeth Elliott.

And I'm sure some of you guys will have read this as well.

And it says this,

The secret is Christ in me.

Not me in a different set of circumstances.

And she is speaking on the same line.

She's speaking about being content as well.

You know, I could fill, any of us could fill pages and pages

of I would be happy if.

But here's the truth.

Our ultimate happiness will only be found

in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

You know, the answer to our question about why we long for happiness.

Well, tonight we're going to focus on the word happy.

But the adjective, or rather the noun,

the word longing is maybe where the root of the question lies.

Why do we long for happiness?

And I don't think that I'd probably need to tell you this,

but it is just good to reaffirm it to ourselves tonight.

But we are created in the image of God.

God says that.

He says, let's make man in our own image.

And God wants to have a relationship with us.

In fact, there's another verse in Scripture that would say

that the dwelling place of God is with man.

But our sin has separated us from him.

And so in the very heart of our souls lies this void

that we as humans so desperately want to fill.

Now, I've kind of skipped from the word happiness

to being content without really covering it.

And as I was going through this, there's a lot of verses.

In fact, you'd be amazed.

There are thousands of verses that covers the words

that we might associate with happiness.

And some of them will be joy, or joyful, or cheerful,

or happy, or pleased, or sometimes the word merry.

Okay.

And they each have a slightly different aspect to them,

whether it is something that is caused by a set of circumstances,

or whether it's coming from within.

Or I'll give you a verse that I'm going to read just now.

It's in Esther chapter 5.

Esther 5 · chapter mention

And it's not one that we should take any lessons for.

But it's this.

It says,

So not every time that we come across a word about joyful,

or gladness, or to be glad,

it's going to be always in a positive context.

Because, well, if you read the story of Esther,

you'll find out that Haman's so-called happiness was very short-lived.

But it is interesting when you start to just look at where all the words,

and you just need to read through Paul's letters,

as we've read Philippians, and as we're going through Galatians,

every time the word rejoice, or joy, or pleasure, or delight,

that comes up in Scripture.

And literally, there are thousands and thousands of verses

that you could read.

And as I say, as you start, as I was going through this in the week,

there are so many different avenues that we could take tonight

to think about why we long for happiness.

And what does happiness really mean?

And where does it come from?

And you could spend hours and hours on it.

I actually hope that you go away and you start to maybe,

if you highlight your Bible, you may even just pick up on this,

if you've got a Bible that you do that with.

But as you start to read through and you start to look for those words,

I mean, even just on the page that we've just read there in Philippians,

you'll see that word numerous times in each of the verses about Paul's joy

and his rejoicing, and the fact that he encourages other people to rejoice.

So seeking for happiness and longing for happiness

really is because we are made for that.

We were made by God.

We have got a God-shaped hole in our lives

because we have rebelled against him,

and man is desperately trying to fill it with so many other things.

And yet, if we want to know what lasting joy looks like,

then we'll come to Scripture.

And I want to think about that over just five points tonight.

So we'll be fairly brief, but there's five points that I want to think about.

And that is out of so, so many points that we could have.

The first one I want to think about is the source of happiness.

What is the source of happiness?

And what I'm going to do is I'm going to have a quick look

at either a worldly type of wisdom and then what the Bible says,

or we'll have a look at what the Bible says,

and then we'll have a look at what the world would say.

You know, modern culture would say that the source of happiness

is an external source, and it's emotional.

You know, happiness is often seen as a feeling or a state of satisfaction,

and it's dependent on our achievements or our pleasure,

our comfort, our self-expression.

And in that kind of wisdom, you know, happiness is temporary,

and it's easily lost when our circumstances change.

And I think if you just think about the world today,

you just see that you don't have to necessarily...

In fact, you can pick up any newspaper and see that,

that in circumstances, people, happiness is either made or broken,

and that is the world's wisdom.

But when we come to the Bible,

we see that the Bible would teach us that happiness is internal.

I want to use that word guardedly, but I'll explain what I mean.

And it's not only internal, but it's spiritual.

You know, true happiness.

And often, when we come to Scripture,

we see that word used as joy or blessedness

comes from a relationship with God, trusting Him.

It comes from gratitude, not from external circumstances.

You know, it's described in Scripture as something that is stable,

something that is steadfast, that is enduring,

and something that we can have even in suffering.

Philippians 4 and 4, if we just looked earlier in our chapter,

it says this,

Rejoice in the Lord always.

True happiness comes from God, not from our circumstances.

Derek didn't know this, but Psalm 16,

the verse that Derek quoted tonight, said this,

You make known to me the path of life.

In your presence, there is fullness of joy.

At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

You know, real joy is found in God's presence,

not in worldless success or in comfort.

You know, Jesus teaching on happiness.

It equals this.

You come to Matthew chapter 5,

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

and we're dealing with the Beatitudes.

And each of the Beatitudes begins with blessed are.

Now, that word blessed,

it can also be a word that's translated as happy, satisfied.

But blessed are the poor in spirit,

those who mourn, those who make,

those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesus redefines happiness as being connected with

a spiritual quality,

not an external success.

You know, the key difference between a biblical,

what the Bible says about happiness

and what the world says about happiness

is this, that biblical happiness is rooted

in God's presence.

Now, that might not seem apparent on the face of it,

but there are a few verses that I want to leave further on.

When you cast your mind back,

I want you to think about this.

What is the source of our happiness?

What is the source of biblical happiness?

And it is found in God's presence.

Not what the world would say happiness is found in,

which is often rooted in our personal circumstances

that are so prone to change.

So, the first one I want to think about

is just the source of happiness.

The second thing I want to think about tonight

is just life goals.

So, what is the goal of life?

What are our life goals?

You know, the modern view is this,

that happiness is the primary goal in life.

Do whatever makes you happy.

And it's associated with self-fulfillment

and personal freedom.

You just need to look at what comes across

our television screens or your X feed

and you'll see that people just do what they like

because they think it will bring them

some source of happiness.

The Bible tells us, though,

that happiness is not our ultimate goal.

It actually says this,

it says that happiness is a by-product

of living righteously and loving God

and, by extension, loving others.

Matthew 6, verse 33 says this,

Matthew 6:33

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

and all these things will be added to you.

Which is contrary to what the world would tell us

about happiness and that happiness is not the ultimate goal,

but it is a by-product.

You know, obedience to God brings happiness.

We probably know that in our own lives.

Psalm chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 said this,

Psalms 1:1

Blessed, there's that word blessed again.

That can be translated as happy.

But blessed is the man who does not walk

in the counsel of the wicked,

but his delight, in verse 2,

but his delight is in the law of the Lord

and doing what God would have us to do.

You know, it brings about this deep sense of well-being

that comes from living according to God's ways.

And there are so many scriptures

that I could take you to tonight

that would show you this,

that if we did what the Bible said that we should do,

we would probably avoid a lot of the circumstances

that make us unhappy.

You know, there's loads of choruses

that we're going through my mind as we're preparing,

but you remember that one that we used to sing,

trust and obey, trust and obey.

There's no other way but to be happy in Jesus,

but to trust and obey.

And obedience brings about this sense of well-being.

And I'm using slightly different words,

but you'll see how they're all connected

to what we might just refer to

as an umbrella term as happiness.

So the key difference between what the Bible says

and what the world would say

is that the Bible would say that happiness

is a fruit of godly living.

But the kind of modern world would say

that, you know, happiness is the purpose of life

rather than the by-product.

So we've thought about the source of happiness

is in God's presence.

God's presence itself brings about

that deep, enduring joy and peace and rest

as different words that you will see will come up

in relation to happiness.

And then second of all, life goals.

So our life goal is not to be happy.

Our life goal is to be obedient to God

and the by-product of that is happiness.

But I want to think about something

a little bit more deeper than that.

And it's this, what is happiness's relationship

with suffering?

Because life is not a bed of roses.

And if you were ever in a Bible study

with my granddad, he would say,

well, I don't know why you call it a bed of roses

because I wouldn't like to land in a bed of roses.

But what is happiness's relationship to suffering?

Well, the modern view would say this,

that suffering is typically seen

as an obstacle to happiness.

It's something to be avoided or to be minimized.

And happiness often means being free from pain

or difficulty.

Life is a breeze.

That's what the world would have us think.

But when we come to the Bible,

we see that suffering can produce joy

because it develops faith and character and hope.

You just read about that in Romans chapter five.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings,

knowing that suffering produces endurance

and endurance produces character

and character produces hope.

And hope does not put us to shame

because God's love has been poured into our hearts

through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

You'll see that some of the references

that I've used will help us to just underline

the point that I made earlier,

that happiness is found in God's presence

and God's presence comes to live

within each and every child of God.

You know, there's joy in trials.

It's something that we don't often want to think about.

But again, you come to James chapter one

and it says this,

count it all joy, my brothers,

when you meet trials of various kinds,

for you know that testing of your faith

produces steadfastness.

You know, the Bible acknowledges suffering,

but it teaches that even trials

can lead to deeper joy,

deeper reliance on God.

And as we are put through some of these trials

of various kind,

then the testing of our faith on God

produces this steadfastness.

And that is what, when we ask people,

excuse me,

why we long for happiness,

we're not just longing for some kind of,

some kind of merriment on a Friday night,

but most people are looking for something

that is deep and lasting and enduring.

A peace, a rest, a happiness

that carries them through life

rather than bouncing from one weekend

to the next.

Again, we can come to 1 Thessalonians,

reading chapter five,

verses 16 to 18,

and it says this,

rejoice always,

pray without ceasing,

giving thanks in all circumstances.

You know, trusting and thanking God,

even in hardship or trial,

leads to a lasting kind of joy.

And that is so contrary to what the Bible,

what the world would believe,

which is this,

that modern happiness usually requires

the absence of these things,

but yet biblical joy can exist

through pain and hardship.

Only on point three,

and I hope they can last to the last two.

The first point was about the source of happiness.

The second point was on about the,

you know,

the goal of life.

The third point was its relationship with suffering.

The fourth point that I want to just cover briefly

is around the focus.

The focus,

and this is around our focus,

and what I'm thinking about here is,

is our focus on ourselves,

or is it on others?

And when I say others,

again,

the chorus that we used to sing in Sunday school,

if you were brought up in a,

if you were brought up,

going to Sunday school,

you might have sang a song that says,

Jai,

so Jai for Jesus,

Jai,

O-I,

Jai,

O-I,

this is what it means,

Jesus first,

yourself last,

and others in between.

They might not have sung that,

but that was one that came to mind

as I was thinking about this,

but it's the focus on ourselves,

or is it on others?

You know,

the Bible says this,

that joy grows from,

joy grows within us

from loving and serving others.

Happiness comes through

humility and service.

You read in Acts chapter 20,

Acts 20:35

verse 35,

it says it is more blessed.

That's that word,

blessed again,

it's more happy.

People are,

you're more satisfied to give

than to receive.

The modern view is this,

that happiness is very self-centered.

It's what we're taught in school,

it's what we're taught on our TVs,

it's how we've been conditioned,

and it's very self-focused.

It's about maximizing our own pleasure,

our own comfort,

our own success.

However,

I just want to slightly caveat that,

because

modern psychology would,

as it kind of starts to align with scripture

in a sense,

because it supports

what the Bible teaches

around gratitude

and purpose,

and anybody who's been on

any kind of mental health,

whether you're in a

line management position at work,

and it's dealing with

employees with mental health,

or in other circumstances,

and we've all been touched by this,

you'll have heard of these things,

about being grateful,

and about journaling,

and about serving other people,

that makes us happy.

So,

actually,

we've kind of come through,

maybe like the last,

I mean,

for all times it's been the same,

we're very much self-centered people,

but some modern psychology

would maybe affirm

some of the things

that the Bible would say,

but they're not right

because they're right enough themselves,

they're right because they agree

with what scripture says.

So,

maybe both nowadays

the world's view

and the biblical view

are slightly aligned,

but the Bible

tells us that

that

is God's

design for love,

and

love is demonstrated

by serving others,

by

looking after others,

by being selfless

in a way,

and

you'll even

see some of the rhetoric

that came out of

Turning Point USA

after the death

of Charlie Kirk,

where that was very much

his

motto,

which was

faith and family

and sacrifice

and serving others,

and I'm sure

many of us have

seen some of that

recently

is very much

taking away

focus from ourselves

and putting on

other people.

You know,

in the day

in which we live,

that is the way

that we have been

conditioned very much

to focus on self,

and we live in a day

of comparison,

you just need to

flick through

your Instagram feed

for any length of time,

and you're always comparing,

and I've actually

looked at some of yours

this week,

not that I want

to compare,

but you know,

I wish I had

the legs

and the bikes

that some people have,

or I wish I'd been

on the holiday

that other people

had,

or whatever it is,

that nice restaurant

that you went to,

you just compare

what you've been doing

to what somebody else

has been doing.

It's a natural thing

that happens to us all,

but we live in a world

where comparison

is really

a dangerous,

dangerous thing,

and we start

to compare what we have

to what other people have,

and I don't think

anybody has been

affected on this,

not been affected

by this,

but it's certainly

affected my family

over the last few years

where,

and I want to say

this very kindly,

but setting aside

the clinical

and the medical issues

that may be associated

with this,

a number of people

in my family

have taken their own lives

in the last few years,

and some of the,

some of the things

that they,

and I'm going to use

the word guilty of,

but say that carefully

and it's affected me

rather than anyone else

in these circumstances,

but they were very

self-absorbed.

Now, as I say,

set aside the clinical

and the medical issues

that may have surrounded

some of these incidents,

but they very much

were focused on

how they were different

to other people,

and it was,

and it was,

I'm saying,

I use the word game,

but it was a,

it was a,

it was a game of comparison

in that sense,

and it was a very dangerous

and a disastrous outcome

to be caught in that

where you're always comparing

and you always think

that you don't have

what other people have

and you'd be happy

if you had what they had,

and it goes back

to what we said

at the beginning

of this,

this topic tonight

that we,

we think we would be happy

if,

and that can have

disastrous,

disastrous outcomes,

and I'm sure

that everybody will know

people who have been

affected by that,

but I say that kindly

because,

as I say,

that has affected

our family

in many ways

over the last few years,

but lastly,

I just want to think

about this,

number five,

and it's about duration,

what is the duration

of happiness?

You know,

I think we,

in our world,

we see people

that bounce

on a Monday morning,

they are not happy,

when you come

midway through the week,

they're a little bit

more happy,

and when it comes

to a Friday afternoon,

they're absolutely elated

to get out the door

at whatever time

that they are skipping

out slightly early,

but then they just

do it all again

week after week,

and they bounce

through this,

almost from a crisis

to a crisis,

and they turn to things

to fill that void,

and it never really

fills the void,

but happiness,

what the Bible teaches

this,

happiness is something

that is eternal

and unchanging,

I want to be careful

when I say that,

because what I mean

by that is that

it's anchored

in God's promises

and in eternal life.

John chapter 16

John 16:22

verse 22 says this,

no one will take

your joy from you,

and that is the lot

for us as Christians,

that is our lot,

we can have

a deep-rooted

and a steadfast

and a stable happy,

a stable joy,

a rest,

a peace,

I'll come on to

some of these words

in a little second,

and it's not necessarily

the circumstantial happiness

that the world thinks

is happiness,

but it is something

that is much more

deep and meaningful,

and as God gives us that,

we find that that

is amplified

when we're in His presence

and when His presence

is in us.

You know,

as I say,

the modern world view

is this,

that happiness

is often temporary,

it's a fleeting emotion,

and it's tied

to changing circumstance.

Excuse me.

So I guess the question

is this,

should we be happy?

Well, actually,

I've got a little

curveball in here,

right,

but should we be happy

if we are rebelling

against God,

right?

Three people

that I want to think about,

two have definitely

been rebelling,

one hasn't,

but remember

the question

that God asks Cain,

and he says this,

why are you angry?

Why has your countenance

fallen?

And it's because

he was trying to do things

on his own way,

how he thought

he should live,

rather than how

God would have him.

You then come to David,

and the same question

can be asked,

you can read several Psalms,

and you know,

Psalm 13,

34,

51,

different times

where David

has gone out,

and he's rebelled

against God,

and he's committed adultery,

and he's lied,

and he's committed murder,

and he poses the question

about why the joy

of his salvation,

why the joy of the Lord,

why just the joy

that he should have

within him

has been removed from him,

and he pleads with God

that that might be restored,

and some of these circumstances

are very much

David's own doing,

some of them are

other circumstances

that David finds himself in,

and he's away from Jerusalem,

and we've covered that recently,

and,

but,

the question about

should we be,

expect to be happy

when we're rebelling

against God,

well,

the fact is,

if we are actively

rebelling against God,

if we're not living

according to his word,

if we're not obeying him,

then we'll not know

the joy of his presence

in our life,

we'll not know the joy

of the salvation,

and therefore,

there should be

some kind of trouble

within us,

there should be something

that is restless within us,

as we long for God

to be part of our lives,

to be in our lives,

to be controlling,

to be guiding,

to be sustaining us,

to be comforting us,

and if we are,

if we have chosen a life

that is pushing God out,

and we're actively sinning,

then,

then,

maybe that,

maybe that rest,

and that peace

that he affords

might just be absent.

I was also thinking

about Mary Magdalene,

she comes to the tomb

on that morning,

and she meets the angels,

and they ask why

that she has been crying,

and she says this,

they have taken my Lord.

Again,

the Lord was taken

from her presence,

and that's what had upset her,

and that should upset us too.

When the presence of the Lord

is not with us,

we should be,

I would use the word troubled,

you know what I mean by that?

I don't think we should necessarily be,

there's no despair,

but certainly we should be like David,

and we should be seeking

to restore that,

and a verse that I'll often use

in 1 John,

if we are faithful,

if we confess our sins,

he is faithful and just

to forgive our sins,

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness,

and our relationship

is restored,

and God's presence

can come back in,

and even though the Holy Spirit

never believes a believer,

once they are saved,

we definitely experience

the loss of the joy

of the presence of the Lord,

when we follow a path

that is not in accordance

with the scripture.

Then sometimes other than that,

just the normal cares of this life

can get us down,

and it comes down

to the last three verses

that I want to leave with us.

One of my favourite verses

that I used to,

again,

if you grew up in a Sunday school,

you would remember this,

in Matthew 11,

the Lord Jesus says,

come to me,

all who labour

and are heavy laden,

and I will give you rest.

And this word rest

is associated with the word

that we've been thinking about,

about the happiness,

that underlying joy

and peace and rest

that comes from the Lord Jesus.

The Lord Jesus often also says,

my peace I give to you,

John 14,

but the helper,

the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send

in my name,

he will teach you all things

and bring to your remembrance

all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you,

my peace I give to you,

not as the world gives peace.

Jesus is acknowledging

that the world does give peace,

does give happiness,

but nothing that is lasting,

nothing that is true,

nothing that can compare

to the joy and the peace

and the rest

that can come from him.

He says,

let not your hearts be troubled,

neither let them be afraid.

Which takes me to the beginning

of that chapter in 14.

It starts like this,

let not your hearts be troubled.

Believe in God,

believe also in me.

In my Father's house

are many rooms,

if it were not so,

would I have told you

that I go to prepare

a place for you.

And if I go and prepare

a place for you,

I will come again

and will take you to myself

that where I am,

you may be also.

You know,

in a sense,

true,

enduring,

godly,

God-honoring happiness

will only be ours

when we are removed

from this world

and we are present

with Christ.

But we're given the ability

and the resources,

the Holy Spirit,

I've just read that

in the last few chapters,

the last few

verse quotations there,

the resources

to be content

in this world

with what we have

and with what we do.

So I just want to ask tonight

that it might be

our desire

that we may live lives

that encourage,

that challenge,

that support,

that we pray for each other,

that we become like Paul,

that we be contented

in each and every circumstance

that we find ourselves in

and that we are not contented

when we don't have that peace

and that presence

that only God affords us

when we come to him.

Now let us pray.

Heavenly Father,

we come before you tonight.

Thank you for this opportunity

that we've had to think about

this subject of contentment.

Our Father,

we remember that Paul

would write to Timothy

that contentment

with godliness

is great gain.

Our Father,

something to be sought after,

something to be treasured.

And our Father,

we thank you

that you have given us

the ability

to experience

this contentedness

in our lives

by sending your Holy Spirit

into our lives

to help us,

to guide us,

to keep us.

And our Father,

as we have just considered

why we long

for happiness tonight,

our Father,

we just pray

that these scattered thoughts

may be helpful,

that we might just think on them

and ponder them

and that it might just help us

to answer some of the questions

that our unbelieving friends

may have.

And even when,

Father,

we as your people

find ourselves

in times of difficulty,

that we just draw

close to you

for your comfort

and your care,

that you may support us,

that you may lead us

through the difficult

times of life.

And our Father,

we thank you

that you have given us

this hope

that is within us,

that we will one day

go to be with you

and that we will be like you

for we will see you

as you are.

And our Father,

we thank you

that all of that

is promised to us

in and through the person

of your Son,

the Lord Jesus.

And so,

our Father,

we just ask

that we might remember

what we have thought

about tonight.

And our Father,

as we ponder this

during the week,

our Father,

we just ask

that you would

bring us into the knowledge

and the good of this,

that we might be happy

and contented people,

happy to serve you

and happy to serve others

as we make our way

through this life.

And so,

our Father,

we just ask

that you be with us.

We thank you again

for our time together.

We just ask

for these things.

Give them thanks

in Jesus' name.

Amen.