Happy??

A sermon by Brent Eelman

Abington Presbyterian Church

June 1, 2003

 

Psalm 1

¹ Happy are those

who do not follow the advice of the wicked,

or take the path that sinners tread,

or sit in the seat of scoffers;

² but their delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law they meditate day and night.

³ They are like trees

planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

⁴ The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

⁶ for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.[1]

 

The Declaration of Independence is a unique and powerful document that has shaped the consciousness of our nation.  One of the oft’ quoted lines in that document reads: “We hold these truths to self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.”   The pursuit of happiness is one of the core values of our society.  We use the word in so many expressions and clichés.  “As long as you’re happy.” “I just want to be happy.” “All I care about is your happiness.”    Yet the pursuit of happiness is a journey with many wrong turns.  Once again the clichés are rampant.  “Money can’t buy happiness.”  Most of us believe that, as we go to work every day to earn money with the hope that we will find happiness; if not in our earnings, then in our work.

 

The pursuit of happiness has permeated all parts of our culture.  Our jobs and professions now have the expectation of happiness. We leave jobs and careers with the explanation, “I just wasn’t happy.”  Our relationships are also valued for the happiness they bring.  We speak about the ideal: “the happy couple.”  Marriage is supposed to be happy.  Our leisure time is dedicated to the pursuit of happiness.  Be it golf, fishing, boating, exercise, or travel, we value these pursuits for the happiness that they bring. 

 

But the truth is that happiness is elusive.  The two question marks that I placed after the title emphasize the elusive nature of happiness.  The intensity of this pursuit was echoed by Richard Whately: “Happiness is no laughing matter.”  Perhaps it is our expectations for happiness. Fontenelle wrote: “A great obstacle to happiness is to expect too much happiness.” 

 

Today I want to briefly examine happiness in terms of Psalm 1, drawing three lessons from it and then a warning.

I

The first Psalm compared the happy individual to the wicked.  It is an interesting comparison, and it leads to a couple of conclusions about the Psalmist’ understanding of happiness. 1. Happiness has a direct relationship with ethics and how we live our lives.  2. Unhappiness is the result of an immoral life.  3. Happiness is almost synonymous with righteousness.  But that is too simplistic!  We need to go deeper into the psalm.

 

The psalmist compared happiness to a tree.  It is a metaphor that all of us can visualize and understand.  The tree is planted near some flowing water.  The nutrients for life are there.  It is able to sink deep roots, and those roots move toward the water filled with nutrients and it is nurtured.  I can remember visiting the Muir Woods in California and seeing the huge trees there.  Not only did they grow towards the heavens, they also had their roots planted deep in the soil.  We can only guess how deep the roots go, but ultimately the tree is dependent upon them.

 

Happiness is well rooted like a tree.  What are the roots of this happiness?  Victor Hugo, in Les Miserables wrote: “The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves.” The first root of happiness is the knowledge that you are loved.  I do not have a green thumb but a few years ago I made the decision to landscape our backyard.  It was a lot of work, but when it was done, the work was not finished.  Every day I had to water and nurture that backyard.  It was, in truth a labor of love.  I have the conviction that we are loved, just like the gardener loves the plant, the flower or the tree.  This is the love of God, and not only does God plant us… God continues to nurture and care for us.  That is the first root of happiness.

 

The second root is commitment to the one who loves us.  We might call this faith.  Faith is an amazing gift and it is often the difference between those who are happy and those who are miserable.  It doesn’t matter where you are or what is happening to you. Faith is a genuine source of happiness. Do you remember the story of Paul and Silas?  They were locked up in a prison.  What do they do?  They don’t whine and moan.  They sing hymns!  Faith is the second root of happiness.  It is an amazing gift that enables us to transcend the circumstances of life and respond with joy.  When you know that you are loved, when you have faith in Christ and believe that the promises of the resurrection are yours, all of life can be experienced with joy regardless of the circumstances.

 

The third root of faith is service and sacrifice.  This is perhaps a secret that many are not aware of.  When you are doing something for others, you don’t have time to whine.  When you give, you move outside of yourself and the egotism that makes us miserable begins to break down.  Would you like to experience happiness?  Then get involved in something that helps another person.  If you get a chance, take a look at the Habitat display in the hallway.  One of the things that I have discovered about Habitat for Humanity is that people are smiling and having fun while they are working.  They are happy!  And they are not getting paid.  They might not be doing something that they enjoy… but that’s not the point.  Serving others is the third root of happiness.

II

The warning of Psalm one is the story of the wicked. I am not sure that wicked is the term that I would use because it has so many connotations in our day.  Lost or miserable might be a better expression.   The psalmist uses a second metaphor.  The miserable are like chaff which the wind blows away.  How different that is from the tree, rooted firmly in the ground.  Chaff is useless.  It bears no fruit.  It just moves willy-nilly as the wind blows.  It is controlled by its environment and takes its cue from it and cannot transcend it.

 

We know that experience.  How often external events dictate how we feel.  We blame our feelings, our unhappiness and our mood on what happens to us.  Happiness is the discovery that we usually have little control over the events of life, but we have a great deal of control over how we respond to them…  The warning of this psalm is not to be blown about by this fad or that.

 

The pursuit of happiness is deeply imbedded in our nation and our society.  How do you pursue happiness?  Are you like the chaff or the tree?  Are you rooted?  Is there depth to your being?  Are you fulfilling Christ’s mandate to serve?  If you are, then you know the answer to the question in the title of this sermon…. This is the good news. Amen.