SERIES: THE BIG CON
SESSION TWO, FALL 2017
YOU SHOULD BE HAPPY OUR CULTURE DID NOT ALWAYS TELL US THAT WE SHOULD BE HAPPY For centuries there was an understanding that joy was a by-product of living well. Happiness was experienced as the result of a good and virtuous life, not the _______ of life that could be created or achieved independent of virtue and righteousness. Aristotle (3rd century BC): living a life of virtue, serving a cause greater than yourself, and being of benefit to your community would produce happiness. Jesus (1st century AD): You are blessed – you have a reason for happiness and contentment when you begin to evidence certain _____________ traits. Blessed are the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the meek, those who are merciful, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Enlightenment (roughly the 18th century): embraced Protagoras’ dictum that “man is the measure of all things” and how we understood happiness in the west began to change. Alexander Pope (18th century): Oh, happiness! Our being’s end (goal) and aim (purpose). Jeremy Bentham (18th century): The greatest happiness of the greatest number – that is the measure of ___________________. Darrin McMahon writes that as a result of this cultural shift people came to the conclusion: “They can be happy, and they should be happy.” Today the search for happiness has become an _________________. Ruth Whippman: People in America spend more time, emotional energy, and money in the quest for contentment than any nation on earth. The systematic packaging and selling of happiness is an industry estimated to be worth more than $10 billion, about the same size as Hollywood (the other great purveyor of happily ever after). Dr. Darrin McMahon: We no longer live our lives according to beauty or honor or virtue. We want to live in order to be happy. Without our being aware of it, the culture redefined the purpose of life from being good to ___________ good. Happiness is no longer seen to be the result of a virtuous life but as personal gratification, sensual pleasures and the avoidance of pain. There’s no better definition of a “cultural Christian” than someone who believes in Jesus and at the same time just wants to be happy and believes he’ll find happiness the same way the _________ does.
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REASONS NOT TO MAKE HAPPINESS YOUR LIFE GOAL 1. IT DOESN’T _________. Ruth Whippman: Despite all of the effort and money they are pumping into the endeavor, Americans consistently rank as some of the least happy people in the developed world. One recent survey even placed … the American people two places behind the citizens of Rwanda. What’s more, according to the World Health Organization, Americans are far and away the most anxious people on the planet, with nearly one third of people in this country likely to suffer from an anxiety disorder in their lifetime. Adrian Furnham: (Happiness) is like soap in the bath. The more you try to grab it, the more cloudy the water; the more difficult it is to find. UC Berkeley psychologists discovered that the more intensely people value and pursue happiness as a distinct goal, the more likely they are to display symptoms of unhappiness, anxiety, loneliness, and even depression. These findings are not surprising because Jesus taught that the fullness of life comes not from focusing on ourselves, but from ___________ ourselves and serving others. WHAT LEADS TO HAPPINESS? A balanced life that includes sufficient sleep, exercise and taking a regular __________. Enjoying the world God created – that means spending time outdoors. Living with the positive mindset of faith and gratitude for our blessings. Good relationships with friends and family. Using our time in ways that are meaningful, especially _________________. Giving generously to people in need and to causes we believe in. That’s what the research says and that’s the way God tells us to live. But what doesn’t work is striving for lasting happiness through personal gratification, physical pleasures, or material ________________. Living a life that is balanced and meaningful and that you are proud of – that’s what produces lasting joy. Happiness is the result of a ________________ life; it’s not the purpose of life. 2. YOU WILL __________ THE PAINFUL EXPERIENCES THAT WILL MAKE YOU WISE AND STRONG AND GOOD. A. If your goal is to be happy right now, you will fail to benefit from your unpleasant emotions. “Negative” emotions, that are often painful, have much to teach us. Your pain is painful; but your pain is not your ___________.
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God created us with the ability to feel pain because pain tells us there’s something we need to ___________. Sadness, anxiety, anger and guilt tell us there’s something we need to look at in our lives. When our goal is to be happy, we’ll try to make the symptom – the unpleasant feeling – go away without addressing the real problem beneath the feelings. Often, we’ll try to make the unpleasant feelings go away in unhealthy and __________ ways that create an immediate feeling of happiness but that keep us from growing emotionally and spiritually. Your pain is not your enemy; your pain is your ___________. It is telling you there’s a problem you need to address so your life can become better. If you are unwilling to live with and learn from the pain of unpleasant emotions, your growth as a human being and as a follower of Christ will be __________. B. Much of our spiritual growth ____________ suffering. Romans 5.3-4: We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. God’s goal for you is not happiness but ___________ which means becoming more like Jesus – more loving, more patient, more faithful, more forgiving, and more courageous. None of these will happen in your life unless you go through difficult times when you are hurt, challenged, sinned against, annoyed or overwhelmed. Hugh Mackay: We’re kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position — it’s rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don’t teach us much ... I’d like just for a year to have a moratorium on the word “happiness” and to replace it with the word “wholeness.” Ask yourself “Is this contributing to my wholeness?” and if you’re having a bad day, it is. Much of our spiritual growth requires suffering, struggle and sorrow. Don’t cheat yourself by running away from those times or giving up and walking away or finding some way to erase the pain because you’re not happy. James 1.2-4: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
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3. YOU WERE MADE FOR ____________. Would Americans rather be happy or achieve great things? ____% said they’d rather achieve something great. ____% said they’d rather be happy. People 45-64: ____% said they wanted to achieve something great. ____% said they wanted to be happy. What made the Greatest Generation the Greatest Generation? They did something hard that ____________. Hebrews 12.1-2: And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
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UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH AND SERVICE Hurricane Harvey: Sign up individually or as a group to work on homes damaged by Harvey. Four hour slots, morning or afternoon. Go to www.thewoodlandsumc.org/storm and scroll down to Clean Up Crews. Fall Mission Trip to Honduras: November 2-5, $1300. You can register on the church website under “Missions.” Always a great trip. And we always need scholarships if you can’t go. The Conqueror Series: A 5-week program that offers proven principles and practical tools for overcoming addiction to pornography and other sexual compulsions. The Conquer Series lays out Biblical strategies along with scientific facts that help men seeking purity to use God’s weapons to conquer sexual compulsions. A separate support group for female loved ones who have been hurt, confused or impacted due to the sexual addiction of a spouse, boyfriend or child will be held concurrently in a different space. Thursdays, 6:30- 9 pm, Room D210, October 5 – November 5. Prison Ministry October 26-29: Eastham Unit, Contact John Van Fleet
[email protected] October 5-8: Polunsky Unit, Contact Dave Mefford
[email protected] October 5-8: Wynne Unit, Contact Bob Bunch
[email protected] November 2-5: Estelle Unit, Contact Guy Barba
[email protected] November 3-5: Lewis Unit, Contact Bob Lukefahr
[email protected] November 10-12 Lychner Unit, Contact Bob Lukefahr
[email protected] To see if this might be a ministry for you, you can attend a “closing service” on October 15, October 29 or November 5. Contact Bill Awalt
[email protected]. Mentoring Inmates – Contact Rick Neville
[email protected] Two different opportunities, both very structured with support. One is via physical mail correspondence. The other is a 14 session course on accountability, repentance, restitution, etc. You can attend a “graduation” ceremony on Dec 7 to get a feel for this ministry before you sign up. Wesleyan Covenant Association Global Gathering 2017: A dynamic group of pastors, theologians and laypersons will cast a powerful vision for the future of Methodism, centered on the theme “Move: On Mission with God.” The WCA is a global association of Methodist pastors, parishioners and churches committed to the orthodox Christian faith and a vibrant Wesleyan witness to the world. The conference will stream to over 50 regional sites. October 14, 9 am to 3 pm. Register at www.wesleyancovenant.org.
The Woodlands United Methodist Church
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www.thewoodlandsumc.org
