HOW TO BE REALLY HAPPY.
"How to be Really Happy" is based on the letter
Paul sent to God's believers at Rome about A.D.
57. You'll find references to Romans as you
read on and brackets indicate our comments.
REAL HAPPINESS COMES FROM JESUS CHRIST.
(Chapter 1 verses 1-17)
Jesus Christ is Good News. He is God's power to
give you a new life and the strength to live it
when you believe in Him. He can do this because
he proved to be God's son by being raised from
death.
REAL HAPPINESS CAN'T COME FROM THE WORLD.
(Chapter 1 verses 18-32)
The world is in a mess and here's why:-
God's eternal power and divine nature are
clear for all to see in the world He
created.
Men know God, but instead of using this
knowledge, they choose to suppress the
truth and lead Godless lives. Being
unwilling to honour or thank Him they have
no excuse for the results, which are:-
- Futile thinking.
- Darkened foolish hearts.
- Claims to wisdom proving to be
foolishness.
- The worshipping and serving of created
things rather than their creator
exchanging the truth of the immortal God
for a lie.
This angers God, so He lets men have their
hearts' desires which are:-
- Sexual impurity in which:-
- Women exchange natural relations for
unnatural.
- Men lust for one another and receive in
themselves the due penalty for their
perversion.
- Depraved minds resulting in depraved actions
such as:-
- Every kind of wickedness, evil, greed,
depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit
malice, gossiping, slander, God hating,
insolence, arrogance, boasting,
inventing evil, disobedience to
parents, senselessness, faithlessness,
heartlessness, ruthlessness.
- The deliberate continuation of the
above and the approval of others doing
likewise, though they know God's just
decree that those who do these things
deserve death.
REAL HAPPINESS - GOD WANTS YOU TO HAVE IT.
(Chapter 2 & 3, verses 1-20)
Where does this leave you? God knows the truth
about you and He has been kind, tolerant and
patient hoping you'd "wake up to yourself" and
turn to Him. If you are contemptuous, stubborn
and unwilling to turn to Him, you are storing
up wrath for the day you face Him. Then He will
accept no excuses and judge you according to
your actions and secrets through Jesus Christ.
No favouritism will be shown on that day. If you
turn to Him consistently and with His help, do
good, you'll get honour, peace and eternal life.
But if you reject the truth, follow evil and are
self seeking, there will be wrath and anger. You
get right with God not by knowing what God
wants, but by doing it.
This is why people who have never heard this
Good News about living God's way and yet
instinctively do it, (thus showing His law is
written on their hearts), will get eternal life.
You ask, what about all the so called Christians
whose lives and organisations put people off
wanting to know God? The answer is that God
judges not according to man made denominations
or "Christian" outward "labels" but by what a
person is inwardly, by whether God's Spirit
dwells there. Man's praise means nothing, God's
praise means everything.
You ask, "Is there any advantage then in being a
Christian?" The answer is yes - after all, they
have been entrusted with the very words of God.
If some aren't "fair dinkum" and don't have true
faith, it's not God's fault.
The "bottom line" is that everyone is "in the
same boat." No one gets right with God by their
own efforts to live by the Bible.
REAL HAPPINESS - HOW TO GET IT.
(Chapter 3, verses 21-31 & Chapter 4)
IF THE BAD NEWS IS THAT EVERYONE'S GOING DOWN
IN THE SAME BOAT, THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT GOD HAS
COME TO THE RESCUE.
He has shown how you can get right with Him
without first keeping a whole lot of religious
rules and regulations, a way that totally
excludes religious pride.You do this by putting
your faith in Jesus Christ -
- Through whom God shows His love and
puts you right as an unearned and
undeserved free gift.
- Who ensured justice was done (for
sin) by sacrificing Himself and
dying as your substitute on the
cross.
- Whose sacrifice God accepted - So He
could offer you the gift of
reconciliation with Him.
(Accept His offer now, by praying
like this, "Dear God, I have been
going my way but now I want to turn
and go yours. I believe you will
forgive all my past sins and give me
a new life as a member of your
family. I believe the way to do this
is through trust in your Son Jesus
Christ. Thanks for accepting me.")
The above solution doesn't mean that being
right with God by faith replaces all the laws
for good living God has given in the Bible.
It does mean that you desire to keep His laws
out of thankfulness that He loves you so much
that He died for you.
This is vastly different to the pressure of
trying to earn God's favour (and boost your
pride) by keeping His laws. (Most religious
systems work on this basis. Even "Christian"
churches, while assenting to this truth, may
develop their own rules and try to make you
conform to them. Only a close and continuing
personal relationship with Jesus Christ will
enable you to identify and avoid such
pressures.)
REAL HAPPINESS - WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU.
(Chapters 5, 6, 7 & 8)
You'll find that once you get right with God by
faith in Jesus Christ you'll -
- Have peace with God.
- Have confidence that God has
a goal for your life that He
will enable you to achieve
i.e. that you'll become what
He wants you to be.
- Be able to rejoice even if
you have to suffer because
you'll know that -
- Suffering produces
perseverance
and
- Perseverance produces
character
- Character produces
- hope and
- Hope will not
disappoint you
because God has
poured His love into
your heart by the
Holy Spirit whom He
has given you.
- Know that, while still a sinner, God
showed His love for you by Christ
dying for you.
- Know that since, while you were
still God's enemy you were
reconciled to Him through the death
of His Son, you'll certainly be
saved by His life.
- Rejoice in God through your Lord,
Jesus Christ.
- Understand that, just as through the
disobedience of one man, Adam, death
entered the world and all were made
sinners, so through the obedience of
the one man, Jesus, all who believe
are put right with God.
- Understand that your old sinful
nature was crucified, dead and
buried with Christ and now
resurrected with Him to live a new
life; the way of the Spirit of God.
Do not therefore, offer the parts of
your body as instruments to do wrong
but for doing right.
You'll then give thanks to God for
setting you free from sin so you can be
"enslaved" by the desire to do what God
wants. The benefit of this will be a
life that pleases God and the result
eternal life.
In short, you'll understand that sin
earns death but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus your Lord.
Getting right with God doesn't stop you from
sinning. Before you believed in God, His laws,
for example the Ten Commandments, showed you
what sin was, but you kept on breaking them,
the result being spiritual death.
But now you're right with God and mentally
"delight in His law," you'll still be involved
in a constant struggle with your desire to
continue sinning.
Christ alone gets you out of this dilemma
because:
- No one can condemn you now that
He has given you the spirit of
life and set you free from the
law of sin and death.
- God sent His Son to "be a sin
offering" and so ended sin's
power so that the laws' requir-
ements are fully met in us. We
live, not according to the sin-
ful nature but according to the
Spirit of God within, and so
have life and peace.
You therefore have an obligation to live by the
Spirit, instead of sinning and so show yourself
to be a child of God. The Spirit will confirm
this to you inwardly - that you are co-heirs
with Christ if you share His sufferings so
you'll finally be with Him in Heaven.
Sometimes you won't know how to pray but the
Spirit will pray for you according to God's
will.
As you struggle with sin and endeavour to be
controlled by God's Spirit it's great to know
that God works all for good for you who love Him
and have been called according to His purpose.
Since God is for you no one can prevail against
you. He didn't spare His Son for you so won't He
give you every good thing you need? No one can
condemn you now because of sin because Christ
Jesus is at God's right hand speaking up for
you.
Nothing can separate you from God's love now -
trouble, hardship, persecution, famine,
nakedness, danger, war, death, life, angels,
demons, present, future, powers, height, depth -
nothing in all creation can separate you from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus your
Lord. In all these things you are more than a
conqueror through Him who loves you.
REAL HAPPINESS - WHY DON'T SOME CHRISTIANS AND
THEIR CHURCHES HAVE IT?
This question causes sorrow and anguish to the
heart of God. He put them right with Himself,
(as already explained) He showed them His glory,
His new way to live through Jesus, His Word, how
to worship and His promises.
These people have fallen again into the trap of
thinking that getting right with God and
staying right depends on their desires and
efforts. Anyone at all, no matter
how bad they are, can get right with God by
faith in Jesus Christ but these so called
Christians try to do it by their own "good"
works. Their zeal for God is not
based on true knowledge of Him. Forgetting,
or not understanding that getting right with
God is His gift, they try to do it by their own
efforts. But being right with God is a matter
of faith, expressed by confessing verbally that
Jesus is Lord and truly believing God raised
Him from the dead.
The "bottom line" is there is no difference
between non Christians and these so called
Christians - the same Lord is Lord of all and
the only way to get right with Him is to call
on His name. Many so called Christians and
churches have heard, but apparently not
understood, this message. God says to them
today "All day long I have held out my hands to
a disobedient and obstinate people."
Nevertheless, God hasn't rejected them. People
have been "crucified" by so called Christians
and cried out to God for justice - His reply is
that there is always some who are "fair dinkum,"
who understand they are right with Him by His
undeserved love not their own efforts. Some of
those who now aren't "fair dinkum" will get the
message and turn from their unbelief.
You are right with God by faith but at present,
they are separated by unbelief. Don't therefore
be proud of your status. God didn't spare them
so let it be a warning to you. Once you were
disobedient and by God's mercy you have now been
put right with Him and the same will apply to
them.
REAL HAPPINESS - WHAT IT LEADS US TO SAY ABOUT
GOD.
(Ch 11 vs 33 -36)
O how deep are the riches of His wisdom and
knowledge. How unsearchable are His judgements
and His paths beyond human understanding.
Can we know His mind?
Does He need our advice?
Is He in debt to us that He should repay us?
No!
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all
things!
To Him be the glory forever!
REAL HAPPINESS COMES FROM LIVING GOD'S WAY.
(Romans Chs 12, 13, 14, 15 & 16)
(Now you have seen God's solution to the
world's problem and have become His person by
faith in Jesus Christ, here's how to live your
life His way.)
- Present yourself to God daily as a living
sacrifice which is real worship.
- Let God control your thinking - then
you'll do His will instead of going along
with the latest opinion poll or what
everyone else says is right.
- See yourself through God's eyes and so
avoid being "big headed" about yourself.
Then you'll be able to show devotion and
love to other believers, looking up to and
not down on them.
- Just as your body has different parts,each
with a different job, so you are a part of
Christ's body (His church family) with a
special job to do.
So if your job is to:
- Explain God's Word, then get on with it!
- Serve others, then get on with it!
- Teach God's Word, then get on with it!
- Encourage others, then get on with it!
- Give generously, then get on with it!
- Lead others, then get on with it!
- Show kindness to the sick, needy, poor
etc., then do it cheerfully.
- Do everything with a sincerely loving,
cheerful and generous attitude out of
gratitude to Jesus Christ.
- Cling to the good and shrink from evil.
- Serve the Lord with spiritual fervour.
- Be joyful in hope.
- Be patient in affliction.
- Steadfastly continue in prayer.
- Share with those in need.
- Welcome people into your home.
- Bless those who persecute you.
- Rejoice with those who rejoice.
- Weep with those who weep.
- Live in harmony with others.
- Be close to the poor and needy and avoid
pride and conceit.
- Do what's right in other people's eyes.
- Repay evil with good, (not more evil).
- Live at peace with others (as far as
possible).
- If your enemy is hungry, feed him, if
thirsty give him a drink.
- Never take revenge, leave it to God.
- Overcome evil with good (and so avoid being
overcome with evil).
- Have a clear conscience by obeying the law
of the land (including the tax laws).
- Pay your bills on time and keep out of
debt.
- Give honour and respect to whom it is due.
Pay your continuing debts, namely:
- To love the Lord your God with all your
heart, soul, strength and mind.
- To love your neighbour as yourself.
(The entire Bible, - all God requires of
you are summed up in these above two
sentences.
You may say "easier said than done." My
reply would be "impossible to do," except
by the person who has turned to and trusted
in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and
thus is indwelt by God Himself in the
person of the Holy Spirit.
Then God in you does the impossible and His
new era dawns through you).
Another way to describe this is to "clothe
yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ,"
trusting in Him for your physical needs
instead of being preoccupied with providing
for yourself.
- Live on the basis that you will meet Jesus
Christ soon (the meeting is as close as your
death and who knows how soon that may be?),
i.e., live your life in the full light of day
with nothing needing to be hidden and no
thinking and hankering for non believers'
pursuits such as:
- Orgies and drunkenness.
- Sexual immorality.
- Strife and jealousy.
- Don't judge or look down on other Christians
who have different views about non essential
matters. (The 2 basic Christian creeds which
are a guide to the essentials upon which
Christians need to agree, are at the end of
the book). For example, one Christian feels
he should eat meat and another only vegetables
or one Christian considers one day more sacred
and another that every day is alike.
All these Christians are giving thanks to God
and doing what they feel He desires.
Christ died and returned to life and finally
you will stand before Him to give an account
of yourself and be judged.
Remember that, it's His job not yours to judge
others.
- Nevertheless, don't let your freedom, for
example, to eat or drink, be an obstacle to
another Christian. If you distress him over
such non essentials, being not a matter of
faith, it is sin and you are not acting in
love. Remember that when Christ, in the person
of the Holy Spirit, controls your life, right
living, peace and joy are what counts, not
eating and drinking.
In other words, by faith in Jesus Christ, make
every effort to do what leads to peace and
building up of other Christians.
- Bear with the failings of those weaker than
you, encourage and accept them just as Christ
accepted you and so bring praise to God.
- Watch out for and avoid those who cause
divisions and put obstacles in your way by way
of teaching contrary to what you have been
reading.
CONCLUSION
Let's sum up what we have been saying.
The bad news is that the world is in a mess
because men and women choose to live their way
instead of God's way.
The good news is that God, in the person of
Jesus Christ, has come and now gives everyone
the option of enjoying real life by living His
way.
Choosing to live God's way doesn't mean you'll
be perfect, in fact many "Christians" and their
churches have ceased to live God's way which is
no help at all to those genuinely trying to
find God.
Some of the practical everyday aspects of
living God's way have been outlined, but there
are others in the Bible and you ought to
specially read the words of Jesus Christ in His
gospels.
Now we conclude with some of the words of St.
Paul from the New International Version of the
Bible.
May the God who gives endurance and
encouragement give you a spirit of unity among
yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that
with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Chapter 15, verses 5 & 6)
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and
peace as you trust Him, so that you may overflow
with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(Chapter 15, verse 13)
Now to Him who is able to establish you by my
gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, so
that all nations might believe and obey Him - to
the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus
Christ. Amen.
(Chapter 16, verses 25b & 27)
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