9 Ways To Be Happy According to Jesus (Part 2)

This morning we look at three more requirements for happiness.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Have you ever really been starving? Or faced with the possibility of actually dying of thirst? Most of us have never really been in that type of desperation. So we miss the seriousness of these words. But in the days of Christ, life wasn’t so easy. We take a trip somewhere and we get a little hungry or thirsty we just whip into a drive-thru and instantly can fulfill our need. Our daily lives rarely if ever involve the dangers of getting caught somewhere in a desert with no food or water. So when Jesus speaks of hunger and of thirst He speaks of a life or death need.

How often I hear people, Christians, say they just don’t feel close to God. The truth is that if we are Christians then God is never not there. Jesus promises in Hebrews 13:5 that he “will never leave you nor forsake you.” James 4:8 says that if we “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” He is there, but you must hunger and thirst for Him. God is not interested in lukewarm relationships. It’s all or nothing. Jeremiah 29:13 is right from God’s mouth, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” 

But there is one thing that can separate us from God and that is our sin. Jesus is the bridge. In Him is the righteousness we need to approach God. We need the covering of His blood to give us access to the Father. As we read the Word of Christ in this sermon we must truly search our hearts. Do we hunger and thirst after Him? And are we willing to forsake everything to drink from His cup? It’s a question worth looking into. Without that hunger and thirst for Him we will never be happy.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”

So we say we hunger and thirst desperately for Christ. We go to Him and we confess our sins and we ask Jesus to forgive us. We cry out as the tax collector does in Luke 13 and beat our chests begging for mercy. And Jesus sends us home justified. Completely forgiven by the mercy of Christ Himself. But we won’t forgive Uncle Bob. We can’t we say. They hurt us too much. And down the list of excuses to not forgive we go. So we live out our Christian life. Then we wonder why it just doesn’t seem right. Why we just cannot find that intimacy with God we crave.

There is a basic Biblical truth here in this beatitude. If you want mercy you must give mercy. Otherwise there will never be true peace or happiness in your Christian walk. Jesus was clear. He was very clear a few verses down from this same sermon in Matthew 6:14-15, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Friends, I cannot judge your salvation. But you can and must. If you are unwilling to forgive others then according to Jesus you are not forgiven. Quite frankly this means you are not saved. This is not I judging you; this is what Jesus Himself has declared. I’m just asking you to see the truth.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

We will never be happy unless we have a relationship with God. He made us solely to have fellowship with Him and to bring glory back to Him in our lives. To see God we must be pure in heart.

What does it mean to be pure in heart? This really means that our desire deep within our hearts is to be holy, to be like Christ. This must be our life passion and goal. It is good to have goals in life. Education, job, marriage, and so on are good things to seek, but first and foremost what must drive our lives is a journey to holiness that seeks to make us exactly like Jesus.

Jesus says this later on in the sermon in verse 48, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Perfection is the goal. While this pursuit seems unreal, through the power of the Holy Spirit it is possible. I don’t think anyone has achieved it in this life, but the point is that we must accept no less of a thought process to permeate our minds. So the first step is to train our hearts through our minds to strive to be like Jesus. Be pure in heart and the mind, and the body will start to follow. But if purity isn’t in your heart then there is no chance you will seek to live it out.

Salvation is free but when we accept the gift we are also accepting the responsibilities that go with it. We struggle with happiness because we struggle with the cost of discipleship. Jesus warned us about this in Luke 14:27-30 saying, “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.  For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.”

There is much to think about in all this. We must get on our knees daily and seek forgiveness in our failings. It should humble us. Next time we will look at the final three beatitudes that teach us how to be happy.