Introduction

Finding true joy in a world obsessed with fleeting happiness is one of life’s greatest challenges. In this powerful sermon from Matthew 6:25-33, Revd. Mark Fletcher explores why modern pursuits of possessions, prestige, and pleasure fail to satisfy our deepest longings. Discover how biblical joy differs from temporary happiness and learn the three essential elements that lead to finding true joy through God’s kingdom.

There is a crisis of happiness in our western world, especially tragically amongst the young. We are more anxious, more isolated, and increasingly unhappy, and it isn’t a new problem. Reported happiness has been declining for at least 50 years, despite a vast increase in our standard of living, but it has accelerated over the last decade.

Something is not working. And so fittingly, we come in this series on the fruits of the spirit to the subject of joy. And we start with this beloved passage from Jesus teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, which has perhaps never been more relevant or needed. Jesus says, “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothes?”

The problem with consumerism, the sort of ideal that dominates our culture, is not just that it’s terrible for the environment, that it’s using up rapidly the finite resources of our planet. It is also that it simply fails to deliver what it promises. It’s not that a new purchase, a new phone or a new car or something like that, doesn’t make you happy. It does. But it does so fleetingly and the happiness fades and then you will need something else and something more to get that same feeling of happiness. It is like a merry-go-round of consumption. And did you not hear Jesus ask that question? Is life not more than stuff? And we know that it must be, but our society is increasingly unclear on what that might be.

So Jesus addresses consumerism. The second thing he addresses is this whole thing of prestige or status. So verse 28, he says, “Consider the lilies of the field. Even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” And that sort of external appearance is about status. And when we treat life as a sort of a competition where we gain satisfaction by being seen as better than others, whether that’s through success or popularity or wealth or appearance or fame.

So that’s the game that we’re playing and it strikes me that’s always been the case, but that modern technology has accelerated that. There’s this whole online thing where we can curate a version of ourselves so that people will like us more, be more impressed by us. Is happiness to be found that way?

Those little clicks that you get, those little likes that you get on social media, they do give you just a little kick of happiness, a little microdose of pleasure. Does it last? Is that the way to happiness? Of course it’s not. And in fact one of the real problems of it is we end up hiding our real selves behind that version of ourselves and it cuts us off from real relationships with people. And we end up comparing an unreal version of someone else’s life with a very real version of our own lives, and it makes us more unhappy.

The irony is, we’ve never been so connected via technology and yet we are increasingly isolated from the reality of each other. Prestige, possessions, pleasure. Power. These are the idols of our age, the false gods, which promise so much. It’s not only that they don’t offer happiness, it’s that it’s counterproductive.

So where is happiness to be found? Can it be found? I think our starting point probably should be that happiness isn’t what we tend to think it is. We have this sense of a feeling and I’m not sure that’s the right thing. So it’s a little bit like a child raised on a diet of processed food with too much salt and sugar and fat.

In the same way we consume emotional fast food, we get these quick fixes of entertainment or distraction and it never really satisfies us, but also it leaves us no real taste for the subtle and complex flavours of real life. In fact, the Bible doesn’t really talk about happiness very much at all.

It says life is hard, is a struggle, and happiness is simply a fleeting emotion. But what the Bible does talk about and really does talk about is joy. And joy is something deeper and richer and more resilient and enduring and less affected by our external circumstances. So there’s been some very interesting research done on the whole question of happiness in recent years, and there are some things that those people who report higher levels of happiness have in common.

And I think these are fascinating because I think you’ll find a real resonance with that. There’s three things. The first thing that people who report higher levels of happiness have in common is that they have a greater breadth and quality of relationships. The most important thing it seems is to be part of a diverse network of social connections, where you have a place.

Where you believe that people have your interest at heart, that is trustworthy, where you are valued and respected, and where you can make a contribution. We are built for relationships and our happiness is tied to the quality of our connections. And that’s not just about friends and family, although they are of course really important things.

It’s about something much broader than that. It’s about community. Individualism and consumerism have contributed to a wider breakdown of the fabric of society that leaves us disconnected and suspicious of each other. And this unreal world that we inhabit has distanced ourselves from each other and from creation. We have that tendency to love things and use people. Instead of loving people and using things.

Don’t you think that is a strange irony that after decades of church being perceived as an arcane irrelevance, soon to become extinct, it turns out it is exactly the sort of thing, exactly the sort of community that gives people what they need to have the best chance of happiness. Church is God’s plan for humanity, a network of diverse people who do love and have each other’s best interests at heart, who are trustworthy, who will be there for you in a crisis, that offers you a place of belonging and respect and a place to make your contribution. Isn’t that an amazing thing? What we do here is one of the most important things for people if they’re going to find belonging and happiness in this world. And that’s going to take all of our investment in it. We don’t do this simply for ourselves. We do this for the sake of our community and our world. Second thing, that those who report higher levels of happiness have in common, and that is a sense of meaning to their lives.

So the kind of meaning that we are talking about is the sense that I’m part of something that matters, something bigger than me that is making a difference in the world and making people’s lives better. Those who are happiest have a sense that their life and their work means something. This is a world where people are working harder and longer hours to pay for a lifestyle that doesn’t make them happy.

A world where people have no real sense of what their lives are for. And Jesus asks a very pertinent question, is there not more to life than this? Verse 31, he says, “Don’t worry saying, what shall we eat or what should we drink, or what shall we wear? For the Pagans run after all these things and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.” It is never enough to simply look after yourself. We need to be working to build a better and more just world. You know the Bible’s diagnosis, the human condition, is that we have each individually gone our own way.

We have collectively rejected God as king. And the brokenness of our world is the result of that. And this church isn’t just a loving community. It is also a place where we declare that God is king and that is seeking to see that kingdom come to bear on our lives and on our world. And if that diagnosis is correct, it is no surprise that to be in this world is to find ourselves restless and unhappy.

As Augustine says, our hearts are restless till they find their rest in God. As someone said, there is a God-shaped hole in the human heart. Which brings us to the final thing that those who report higher levels of happiness have in common, and that is faith. So that doesn’t mean faith in a very specific way, although we may choose to interpret it that way, but it simply does mean a belief that you are not the last word and the final authority, and all of this doesn’t rest upon you.

People who believe are simply happier than those who do not because they’re able to put their trust in someone greater than themselves and admit that they can’t do it all by themselves. I’m struck that faith is an action. It’s not an abstract belief. It is a choice that I make to prayerfully say I put my life in God’s hands and to trust that he’s good and that he has my best interests at heart.

And that is the hard thing. We are so autonomous. We want to make our own decisions. We want to believe that we know best, but sadly, all the evidence would point to the fact that we don’t know best. Saint Ignatius of Loyola once said: “Sin is unwillingness to trust that what God wants for me is only my deepest happiness.”

Isn’t that marvellous? We find it so hard to trust, to put our lives in God’s hands and to accept his purposes, because we find it so hard to believe that actually his only goal is our greatest happiness. C.S. Lewis puts it this way. “If you want to get warm, you need to stand near the fire. If you want joy and peace and life, you must get close to the source of those things.”

God cannot give us joy and peace apart from himself because it is not there. There is no such thing.

Life is hard. It is a long journey through a barren land, but there is joy to be found. And that joy is a signpost. It is a joy which is deeper and more resilient. It is a light in dark times that sustains us in the hardships and endures even into eternity. And all of our experiences of joy, all of our glimpses of it, point us onwards.

It’s like a compass, which always points to the true north because all joy comes from God. He is the source of it, and if we pursue it, it will lead us to him. The idols of our world will never bring us satisfaction. Be ambitious for the things that will really bring happiness. Seek a better world, a more just kingdom.

Commit yourself to building communities of faith and serving others. And as Jesus says, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well.” Amen.