Week 1: Christ: The Source of True Happiness Week 2: Happiness, the Gospel and Living Well Week 3: kNOw Christ = kNOw Happiness Week 4: Enduring in and for Happiness Week 5: Contentment: More Than Feeling Happiness Week 6: Happiness and Humility
“Happiness, whatever else people may say, is the great concern of our life… To be happy, to know happiness, is the great desire of every man and woman. We may differ perhaps in the means by which we attain happiness, but we all want to be happy. That is our great aspiration” (Jean Vanier, Made for Happiness , ix).
Made for Happiness • We all crave happiness • We are all at risk of unhappiness • No one can be truly happy without being alive • Happiness is a gift from God
Made for Happiness Augustine • “[The] supreme good of the city of God is perfect and eternal peace” • Such peace is characterized by “the supremely cooperative ordered association of those who enjoy God and one another in God”
Made for Happiness Thomas Aquinas • “Happiness is another name for God.” • “… happiness is above all the activity of contemplating the things of God… The complete happiness of [humanity] lies in what will essentially fulfill his mind… [and happiness] is the cleaving to God as the mind’s all fulfilling subject”
What is “gospel” happiness? • More than a feeling or an assessment of one’s mental and emotional status • A condition of life, one that is fortunate or enviable …enjoying God and one another in God.
“Happy” (Parrell Williams) (Because I'm happy) Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof (Because I'm happy) Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth (Because I'm happy) Clap along if you know what happiness is to you (Because I'm happy) Clap along if you feel like that's what you wanna do
“Happy” (King David) – Psalm 144:1-4 1 Blessed be the L ORD , my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; 2 my rock and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues the peoples under me. 3 O L ORD , what are human beings that you regard them, or mortals that you think of them? 4 They are like a breath; their days are like a passing shadow.
“Happy” (King David) – Psalm 144:5-8 5 Bow your heavens, O L ORD , and come down; touch the mountains so that they smoke. 6 Make the lightning flash and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them. 7 Stretch out your hand from on high; set me free and rescue me from the mighty waters, from the hand of aliens, 8 whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false.
“Happy” (King David) – Psalm 144:9-11 9 I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, 10 the one who gives victory to kings, who rescues his servant David. 11 Rescue me from the cruel sword, and deliver me from the hand of aliens, whose mouths speak lies, and whose right hands are false.
“Happy” (King David) – Psalm 144:12-14 12 May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown, our daughters like corner pillars, cut for the building of a palace. 13 May our barns be filled, with produce of every kind; may our sheep increase by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields, and may our cattle be heavy with young. 14 May there be no breach in the walls, no exile, and no cry of distress in our streets.
“Happy” (King David) – Psalm 144:15 15 Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the L ORD .
Does God promise too much? – Proverbs 3:1-12 1 My child, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments; 2 for length of days and years of life and abundant welfare they will give you… 9 Honor the L ORD with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce; 10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.
The Upside-down Happiness of the Gospel Matthew 5:3-5 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Philippians 1:20-24 20 It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23 I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; 24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
Living is Christ… 1. Life in the body of Christ means… …regarding others above oneself (2:1-4) 2. Life with the mind of Christ means... … embracing our weak and lowly estate (2:5-8) 3. Life in the way of Christ means… … submitting to his lordship (2:9-11)
Philippians 3:7-9 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith.
Philippians 3:10-11 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Happiness & Suffering The cross is not the mark of suffering itself but instead the transforming reality of God manifest at the point of need and pain (125). Not suffering for sufferings • sake Absolute reliance on God in • the midst of suffering
… and dying is gain. • Our perspective is shaped by resurrection (3:10-12) • Christ’s is behind us • Ours is before us • Our identity is marked by resurrection (3:12) • Our actions are directed by resurrection (3:13-14) • Heavenly calling • Earthly perseverance • Our flourishing is conditioned by resurrection (3:15-16)
A Gospel of Happiness? Human beings are made for happiness… …and God’s children are predestined for it! Philippians 1:6 – “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Jeremiah 29:10-11 10 For thus says the L ORD : Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the L ORD , plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.
Philippians 3:18-21 18 For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself.
Micah 6:8 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the L ORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
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