The Happiness of God – Sunday, April 18, 1982
Happiness—a universal goal. But perhaps some of us have a hard time remembering when we were really happy; remembering when we laughed for the sheer joy of living.
Some of us have perhaps looked at the apparent happiness of people who do not live virtuously, who are less than honest, who live only for today; and we have mistakenly assumed that happiness is in some way attached to sin. Nothing could be further from the truth, although even the prophet Jeremiah was moved to ask God: “Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?”1
The answer the Lord gave him is that the happiness of sin is momentary and empty and for that reason, it is completely unlike the full and enduring happiness of righteousness, the happiness of God.
Nevertheless, we live in a world that has a misdirected devotion to happiness, that has turned happiness into a cult obsession. Many people have devoted themselves to a quest for personal fulfillment, have invested their lives in leisure and self-indulgence. And as they have done so, they have, as Jeremiah said they would, found themselves curiously unfulfilled, dissatisfied with their lives, and bored with living.
But simply because those who seek only happiness do not find it does not mean that God does not wish us to be happy. “Happy is that people,” wrote the Psalmist, “yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord.”2 The Gospel of Jesus Christ is by definition the “Good News” designed to make us happy, ordained to fulfill our lives and teach us the happiness of virtuous living. And we discover through it that the love and dignity the Gospel teaches are the only approach to true and enduring happiness.
God’s happiness frequently requires sacrifice, always requires service. But it is the only happiness that will not leave us lonely once achieved, will not desert us in the hours of our greatest need.
We love God and serve our fellowman so that we may be happy. So that in the words of the Psalmist, we may “Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord” and “serve” Him with gladness.”3
1 Jeremiah 12:1
2 Psalm 144:15
3 Psalm 100:1
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April 18, 1982
Broadcast Number 2,748