INTRO.- ILL.- Bobby McFerrin sang the song, "Don’t Worry, Be Happy," which came out in 1988.
Here is a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy......
Ain’t got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don’t worry, be happy
The land lord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don’t worry, be happy
Look at me I am happy
Don’t worry, be happy
Here I give you my phone number
When you worry call me
I make you happy
Don’t worry, be happy
Ain’t got no cash, ain’t got no style
Ain’t got not girl to make you smile
But don’t worry be happy
Cause when you worry
Your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
So don’t worry, be happy (now)....
It’s cute but not exactly accurate. Worry is never the answer for our troubles in life but just to tell someone to be happy, won’t get the job done either.
ILL.- The angel asked, "You aren’t happy. How can I help you?" The poet replied, "I have everything. But I lack only one thing. Can you give it to me?" To which the angel happily said, "Sure. I can give you anything you desired."
The poet stared right into the angel’s eyes, "I want happiness."
"All right," the angel nodded. And the angel proceed to take away everything the poet possessed. The angel took away the poet’s talent, destroyed his looks, robbed his riches and killed his wife. The angel then left for heaven.
A month later, the angel appeared in front of the poet. The poet was lying on the ground, half dead, hungry and struggling for survival. The angel then returned him everything he once possessed and left for heaven again.
Two weeks later, the angel paid a visit to the poet. This time, the poet, together with his wife, thanked the angel profusely. He finally found happiness.
What’s the moral of this story? Most of us already have what we need to be happy. If we have it taken away from us then suddenly we would realize it.
Peter said, "In this you greatly rejoice." In what do we greatly rejoice? Basically, it’s our relationship to Christ.
ILL.- We’ve heard it said that when all else fails, please follow the directions. This is especially true when it comes to the Bible. In life, we often try many things. We try to find joy or happiness in many things, but when these fail, we need to follow God’s directions in His Word.
And His Word always points us to a relationship to Christ. Everything good is found in our relationship to Christ. And lasting and satisfying joy comes through Him as well.
PROP.- Let’s note how we can rejoice in life through faith in Christ.
1- We rejoice in spite of trials
2- We rejoice in honor of Christ
3- We rejoice in hope of salvation
I. WE REJOICE IN SPITE OF TRIALS
6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
I like that word "rejoice" but not the words, "in spite of." Why? "In spite of" always indicates something negative is here or coming our way.
Most of us have been through some things in life that we would rather not have experienced. TRUE? Declining health. Loss of loved ones in death. Financial difficulties. Problem or prodigal children. Marital unrest or difficulties.
ILL.- Two hunters came across a bear so big that they dropped their rifles and ran for cover. One man climbed a tree while the other hid in a nearby cave. The bear was in no hurry to eat, so he sat down between the tree and the cave to reflect upon his good fortune. Suddenly, and for no apparent reason, the hunter in the cave came rushing out, almost ran into the waiting bear, hesitated, and then dashed back in again. The same thing happened a second time. When he emerged for the third time, his companion in the tree frantically called out, "Woody, are you crazy? Stay in the cave till he leaves!" "Can’t," panted Woody, "there’s another bear in there."
Is there a bear in your cave? And outside your cave? Often, it seems this way, doesn’t it? We’ve got bears or bear problems coming at us right and left, in front of us and behind us and sometimes all around us.
ILL.- One man said: "Low on gas while on a vacation trip to Las Vegas, I pulled my van into a service station. As I was turning in, I spied lying on the ground a gas cap that looked like it might replace my missing one.
"I hurriedly parked by the pump, jumped out of the van, ran over and picked up the cap. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it screwed easily onto my tank. A perfect fit, I thought. And then I noticed the keyhole in the top of the cap." Poor guy.
Isn’t this the way life goes at times? Like another said: "About the time you think you got everything in the bag, then the bag bursts."
If it isn’t one thing, it’s something else. Or we get one problem taken care of and along comes another one.
6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
How can we learn to rejoice in spite of trials and difficulties in life? We can either look them in the eye or else we can look beyond them into the face of Christ. We can live like most people in the flesh or we can live by faith in the God who promises to care for us and see us through our difficulties.
Phil. 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
I Pet. 5:5-7 "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
How do we find joy or rejoice in spite of trials? We come to the garden alone and spend much time there.
We spend much time in quiet with the Lord, talking to Him, pouring out our soul to Him, praying to Him, and praising Him and HE WILL BRING PEACE TO OUR SOULS AND JOY TO OUR HEARTS IN SPITE OF TRIALS.
II. WE REJOICE IN HONOR OF CHRIST
7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
May result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed. And I think joy will result in HIS praise, glory and honor!
Rejoice because of the privilege of living for Christ. Joy comes when we live for His praise, His glory, and His honor! We’re not living for self glory!
ILL.- Charles H. Townes, who won a Nobel Prize for his work in laser technology, opened a talk with a disclaimer: “It’s like the beaver told the rabbit as they stared up at the immense wall of the Hoover Dam: “‘No, I didn’t actually build it myself. But it was based on an idea of mine.’ ”
We are often stuck on ourselves and like to pat ourselves on the back when in reality if we’ve done something good in life it’s because of the grace of God. It’s because God has been at work in us.
ILL.- President McKinley was considering the appointment of a minister to a foreign country. There were two candidates, their qualifications almost equal. Which one did he appoint? The President related a story of an incident that had decided his choice.
Years before, when he was a Representative, he boarded a streetcar one night and took the last vacant seat. Shortly afterward, an old washerwoman entered carrying a heavy basket. She walked the length of the car and stood in the aisle, no one offering her a seat.
One of the men, whom the President was to consider later, was sitting in a seat opposite where she was standing. He shifted the paper so as not to see her. Mr. McKinley walked down the aisle, picked up her basket of washing, and gave her his seat. The candidate never knew that this little act of selfishness had deprived him of perhaps the crowning honor of a lifetime.
This story of selfishness or self-centeredness is so very true of our society today. Most people today live for self with no thought of others or care for others.
ILL.- J. Sidlow Baxter tells of an incident that occurred in his home. It so happened that directly in line with a picture of Christ was a mirror. If one were to stand a certain way, the person’s image would blot out the picture. Dr. Baxter’s little daughter was one day standing before the mirror and happened to stand directly in line with the picture. When she moved, the picture again appeared.
She ran excitedly to her Daddy and said, “Daddy, I can see Jesus when I am looking at myself.”
This is the way it’s supposed to be but often we stand in the way of the picture of Jesus in our lives and HE CAN’T BE SEEN. People can only see us. But somehow we need to get out of the picture so people can see Jesus. HE IS THE IMPORTANT ONE.
I Cor. 10:31 "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
If we want to find true joy in life it will only come when we live for His glory and not our own.
III. WE REJOICE IN HOPE OF SALVATION
8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Rejoice in the hope of eternal salvation that you have.
ILL.- Have you ever heard of Meliorism? Here is what one person said about it. "I am neither an optimist nor a pessimist. I am a Meliorist. Meliorism cancels out optimism as being too bright, too airy; and rejects pessimism as being too dull, too heavy. Take life as it is, says the meliorist, with much that is dark, evil and undesirable: Life may be difficult but it can be changed.”
At first glance, this sounds pretty good, however, the meliorist doesn’t consider God. God is not included in the picture of change. And this is where we come in. And this is what we believe in very strongly! Christ is the author of change in our lives!
And not only is He the author of change, HE IS THE ONLY AUTHOR OF SALVATION! We rejoice in Him for the hope of our eternal salvation!
ILL.- One lady said: Rushing to work, I was driving too fast and as a result was pulled over by the highway patrol. The state trooper noticed that my shirt had the name of a local high school on it. "I teach math there," I explained.
The trooper smiled, and said, "Okay, here’s a problem. A teacher is speeding down the highway at 16 m.p.h. over the limit. At $12 for every mile, plus $40 court costs, plus the rise in her insurance, what’s her total cost?" I replied, "Taking that total, subtracting the low salary I receive, multiplying by the number of kids who hate math, then adding to that the fact that none of us would be anywhere without teachers, I’d say zero." He handed me back my license.
"Math was never my favorite subject," he admitted. "Please slow down."
What’s the point of this story? Here is one thing I would like to make of it. I am sure that lady was HOPING not to get a ticket. And she did pretty good to worm her way out of it. Better than most of us. She "hoped" for salvation from suffering in a sense.
We, too, have been caught speeding. We have been caught sinning. And by someone greater than any highway patrol officer. And he has every right to give us a ticket to jail (or hell). And there is no way in the world that we can talk Him out of it. Try as we might, our wrangling words or even our complimentary words mean little.
There is only one way out of that ticket to hell and that’s by the grace of the officer who could send us there.
We love Him. We rejoice in Him. We are filled with inexpressible joy because of the hope of our eternal salvation.
CONCLUSION------------------------------
ILL.- A man said: While walking along a busy street one day, I heard someone singing. His sweet voice was distinguishable even above the noise of the traffic. When I located him, I noticed that he had no legs and was pushing himself through the crowd in a wheelchair.
Catching up with him, I said, “I want you to know how singing from a person in your condition gives everyone else a lift.” He answered with a grateful smile, “When I stopped thinking about what I had lost and began concentrating on all I had left, I found much for which I could rejoice and be happy.”
We may have lost some things in life. And we may not have everything we want. But we have the Lord Jesus. And in Him we greatly rejoice.
