What Do We Mean By Happiness?
The Church of the Wayfarer
Dr. Norm Mowery, Pastor
January 23, 2010
John 1:29-42
What do we mean by happiness?
In our Gospel lesson Jesus recruits his first two disciples, Peter and Peter’s brother Andrew by asking,
“What are you looking for?” or
“What do you want?”
If we were asked that by Jesus I think that we would answer by saying that we are looking for happiness.
But, what do we mean by happiness?
The Simple Living Magazine says that being happier doesn't have to be a long-term ambition. It says that you can start right now. In the next 30 minutes, tackle as many of the following suggestions as possible. Raise your activity level to pump up your energy. Rid yourself of a nagging task. Create a more serene environment. Do a good deed. Act happy. Fake it 'til you feel it. Learn something new. Some people worry that wanting to be happier is a selfish goal, but in fact, research shows that happier people are more
sociable,
likable,
healthy,
and productive―
and they're more inclined to help other people.
By working to boost your own happiness, you're making other people happier, too.
Most people equate happiness with a hot Caribbean beach, but it turns out that cold temperatures can improve your mood.
Researchers at the University of Michigan discovered that blowing cold air up participants’ noses put them in a better frame of mind than did blasts of hot air. Aren’t you glad you know that?
A reporter was interviewing a 104-year-old woman: “And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?” the reporter asked. Her simple reply: “No peer pressure.”
Three elderly gentlemen in their 80s were talking about what their grandchildren would be saying about them 50 years from then.
“I would like my grandchildren to say, ‘He was successful in business,’” declared the first man.
“Fifty years from now,” said the second, “I want them to say, ‘He was a loyal family man.’”
Turning to the third, the first man asked, “So what do you want them to say about you in 50 years?”
“Me?” the third man replied. “I want them all to say, ‘He certainly looks good for his age!’”
Last Sunday I discovered the happiest place on the Monterey Peninsula. It is ‘Dennis the Menace Park’ in Monterey. Linda and I took our two granddaughters there. No one is too old to go there. Do it today!
Again I ask, “What do we mean by happiness?”
This past week at the Chamber of Commerce Mixer I asked a young woman what happiness was to her. She came up with a list:
It’s a beautiful day.
I live in Carmel.
I have a lovable dog.
I like my job.
Is this what we mean by happiness?
As the first wave of baby boomers reach retirement age they are asking, “Is retirement happiness?” Actually retirement is a fairly recent phenomenon. Even as recently as 1900, most Americans died by age 47. In 1870, only 2.5 percent of all Americans made it to age 65.
As Jesus is beginning to call his disciples it is as though he poses the question, “Is there a retirement age for disciples?” The most permanent lifelong vocation is being a disciple of Jesus—a vocation from which you never really retire.
Jesus says that this is what happiness is all about. “Follow me” and “Come and see” are both commands and invitations to check out a new vocation and lifestyle that—it is an invitation to a life worth living. The disciples would see many things:
people being healed,
pious leaders put in their place
and multitudes fed.
Jesus kept trying to tell them they were following him to a cross, the ultimate symbol of failure, but doing so they would find a life worth living.
Jesus’ disciples never got to hang up their sandals and collect a pension. Most of them met pretty horrible fates, dying in some brutal ways.
1. Can happiness be found by empirical research or public opinion polls?
I’m not sure that modern happiness research tells us very much about happiness. Happiness is a feeling. Happiness is personal. Happiness is found in the center of our being.
2. Standards of living have improved, but levels of happiness have not. Happiness is found in the basic human relationships. People
who sustain lasting marriages,
contribute to charities,
engage in community service,
maintain close friendships
and participate in organized religion
seem to be on average considerably happier that those who do not.
3. People are poor judges of what will make them happy. People tend to overestimate the effects that changes in their lives will have on their levels of happiness. They predict that a new car, more money or a move to a warmer climate will bring them more happiness than these things do.
When our children were young Linda and I bought a motor home. I thought that it was the happiest thing that I ever did when we bought it. A few years later I discovered that it was a much happier thing to sell the motor home!
4. The call of Jesus to follow has no expiration date. The work of the kingdom is ours to do whether we’re 7 or 70. Living life with an eternal perspective means we see our lives as belonging to Christ from beginning to end. During the course of Jesus' ministry, it would become blatantly evident just what some of his so-called "followers" were looking for.
- As his reputation spread, there were the throngs that crowded around him with various diseases and ailments. They were looking for healing. - As his popularity spread, there were the religious authorities who began to question his theology. They were looking for a fight. - As his miracles increased, there were the crowds just there for the show. They were looking for entertainment. - As his wisdom spread, there were seekers who tried to second-guess his meanings. They were looking for an easy way into heaven. Everyone is looking for Jesus even if they don't realize it.
The answer to Jesus' soul-searching question, "What are you looking for?” can't be brought home from the shopping mall.
Each one of us has a hole in the heart searching for happiness that only Christ can fill. The eternal answer then and now is, ‘Come and See’.
Come and see what happiness is.
You will only find it when you leave everything to follow Jesus. Come from where you are.
Come from all that holds you back.
Come from the place you are.
Come to a new life.
What do we mean by happiness? We mean a life that has a purpose.
I know that I am happiest when I have a goal for my life. A goal to serve others and to be outside of my problems.
Happiness cannot be found in what we have or what we do. It is found only in who we are.
There is a huge difference between having a job at church and having a ministry at church.
... If you are doing it because no one else will, it's a job. If you aredoing it to serve the Lord, it's a ministry.
... If you're doing it just well enough to get by, it's a job. If you'redoing it to the best of your ability, it's a ministry.
... If you'll do it only so long as it doesn't interfere with otheractivities, it's a job. If you're committed to staying with it even whenit means letting go of other things, it's a ministry.
... It's hard to get excited about a job. It's almost impossible not toget excited about a ministry.
A great church is filled with people involved in ministry.
At the end of Albert Schweitzer's book "The Quest for the Historical Jesus" he writes these words:
He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside. He came to those who knew Him not. He speaks to us the same word: "Follow thou me!" and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands, and to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, he will reveal Himself in the toil, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is.
In a cathedral in Copenhagen, Denmark, Linda and I saw a most interesting statue of Jesus. The brochure told us that when it was first completed the sculpture the sculptor gazed upon the finished product with great satisfaction.
It was a sculpture of Christ with face looking upward and arms extended upward. It was a statue of a majestic, conquering Christ.
Later that night, however, after the sculptor had left his fine new work in clay to dry and harden something unexpected occurred. Sea mist seeped into the studio in the night and the clay did not harden as quickly as anticipated.
The upraised arms and head of the sculpture began to drop. The majestic Christ with arms lifted up and head thrown back was transformed into a Christ with head bent forward and arms stretched downward as if in a pose of gentle invitation.
At first the sculptor was bitterly disappointed. As he studied the transformed sculpture, however, he came to see a dimension of Christ that had not been real to him before. It was the Christ who is a gently, merciful Savior.
He inscribed on the base of the completed statue, "Come unto Me."
That Christ asks you: “What are you looking for?”
And says, “Come and see!”
That is what we mean by happiness.
