Being Happy in Jesus Christ: Happiness According to God

Introduction

“I refused to be sad. This morning, I decided to be happy.” Gilles Bonneveau, who serves in the ministry of the Bon Samaritain church, preaches this Sunday at the Église Évangélique Vie Nouvelle, where he says he is always glad to be with the brothers and sisters: “it’s the same church, it’s the church of Christ.”

His subject is “crucial”: being happy, living happy. For him, being happy is both a desire and a decision. The Lord has already accomplished everything, but we need to take hold of the keys to understand why we should be happy. And this happiness is not the one the world imagines, nor the one our hearts imagine, because God says so: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts.”

The message unfolds in two stages: happiness by the world’s standards, then happiness by God’s standards, leading to a final question: can we be happy even in the middle of chaos? The preacher announces a second part for a future visit.

Outline of the message

1. The happiness the world looks for

• Some leave their country and go into exile to find happiness somewhere else. Others wait for retirement to move to the sun, far from the cold of the Île-de-France region, thinking happiness will be waiting by the sea. “That’s not certain.”
• He saw on television fans waiting for hours, even days, outside the hotel of a major star. Some had traveled more than 20,000 kilometers to see that star.
• An online dictionary defines happiness as a lasting state of satisfaction, peace and inner balance, with three components: an emotional state (more joy and calm than sadness or stress), a sense of meaning (a useful life heading in the right direction) and acceptance (appreciating what you have in the present).
• On social media, he notes other recipes: satisfying your needs and wants, having no money problems, being independent and autonomous, being self-sufficient, being proud of what you have achieved.
• Rappers’ music videos show cars, briefcases full of cash and restaurants. “That’s not certain,” because we later learn that some are struggling with addiction and drugs, and that others take their own lives. Romantic movies also sell their own version of happiness.
• Sincere relationships, health, meaning, inner peace: “That’s a lot of programs, all of that.” But the word of God says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts.”

2. Psalm 1: the portrait of the candidate for happiness

• The whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, speaks of God, of his relationship with man and of the happiness he wants for him. The preacher opens Psalm 1, which begins with “blessed”.
• Verse 1: a principle of wisdom, discernment and fear of the Lord. The happy man does not follow the counsel of the wicked, does not stop on the path of those who want nothing to do with God, and does not sit with those who are there “only to criticize, to mock.”
• Verse 2: his delight is in the Lord’s teaching, which he meditates on day and night. “Desire, will, thirst for the word of God, faith. That is what God gives as the criterion for the one who is a candidate for happiness.”
• Verse 3: a guarantee of success. He is like a tree planted by a stream of water, which yields its fruit in its season and whose leaf does not wither. “Everything this man does, and I will add this woman, prospers.” God becomes the guarantor of your success.
• Verse 4: it is not so with the wicked, who are like chaff that the wind drives away. A heart of wickedness can never be happy.

3. The Beatitudes: those Jesus calls blessed

• In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-11), Christ is “the teacher par excellence.” Every sentence begins with “blessed.” The preacher reads the Français courant version.
• “Blessed are the poor in spirit”: humility, simplicity, those who recognize that everything they have depends on the Lord. “He is the master, the one who sets every dial. He is the one who decides.”
• “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”: hope. You do not weep in vain; God sees your suffering.
• Those who hunger and thirst to live as God asks will be satisfied: this is faithfulness. “If I am obedient, it is impossible for my God to abandon me.”
• Those who have compassion for others: love, mercy, forgiveness. In the Lord’s Prayer, the Father takes into account how we forgive in order to forgive us (Matthew 6:14-15). Compassion means considering someone, welcoming them, being moved when you meet them.
• The pure in heart will see God: those who walk in holiness and integrity and who reject evil. Peacemakers will be called sons of God, “and I add daughters.”
• Those who are persecuted: “There is a price to commitment. You cannot follow Jesus without being persecuted.” Even your own family may reject you. He remembers evangelism teams being insulted in the middle of the street. But there is a promise, a crown: rejoice.

4. The revelation of Christ and obedience

• When Simon Peter declares, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus answers him: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). If you have understood that Jesus is Lord and Savior, Jesus says you are happy.
• A man he met while evangelizing once told him: “Me, I don’t believe in God, I only believe in my wallet.” He has the right to say so, and the preacher does not judge him. But it is God, the master of time, who defines happiness.
• “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21-23). Obedience is not a mere constraint: it is the concrete and sincere proof of our love for him. “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). According to Isaiah 48:17-19, happiness and blessing flow from obedience.
• We depend on a kingdom. He takes the example of Louis XIV: “I am the State.” The king rewarded whomever he wanted, and no one was allowed to dress better than he did, on pain of being charged with lèse-majesté. “Our God is sovereign. It’s not a democracy.” Whoever walks by the rules of the kingdom is rewarded, and whoever does not follow them runs into roadblocks.
• To the woman who cries out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you!” Jesus answers: “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:27-28). When his family comes looking for him, he points to those who hear the word as his mother and his brothers (Matthew 12:46-50). Jesus establishes a spiritual family.

5. Faithfulness, repentance and treasures in heaven

• Blessed are the servants whom the master, when he comes, finds watching (Luke 12:37). Blessed is the one he finds busy at his work: he will put him in charge of all his possessions (Luke 12:43-44). “You cannot entrust the management of your affairs to someone who is not faithful to you. It’s common sense.” Are you faithful in managing what God entrusts to you?
• After the massacre of the Galileans and the fall of the tower of Siloam, Jesus says: “unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way” (Luke 13:1-5). “True happiness requires each of us to change our behavior,” that is, repentance.
• Blessed is the one who stores up treasures in heaven rather than on earth (Matthew 6:19-21; Luke 12:32-34). Your beautiful car left outside can be scratched, stripped, have its tires taken. Thefts reach everything, even churches: “There is no more respect for what is sacred.” What is stored up in heaven lasts for eternity.
• Finally, unbelief is an enemy of happiness. Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

6. Happy even in the middle of chaos

• The world is dangerous: terrorist attacks, the war in Ukraine, drones striking people in their sleep, road rage, scams, cryptocurrencies. He advises praying before starting the car: “Lord, take control,” and he himself asks the Lord for plenty of patience behind the wheel.
• Faced with all this, the world turns to artificial intelligence, “the new Holy Grail, the tower of Babel.” He quotes a woman who wrote about it: “And man created God.” Thousands of billions of dollars are devoted to it, while a few tens of billions would be enough to eradicate hunger. “The world is walking on its head.”
• He pokes fun at the “know-it-alls” of television panels, modern-day Pico della Mirandolas who claim to know everything. “But who knows everything? Who is omniscient? It is our God.” In his humble opinion, the development of artificial intelligence and its consequences will hasten the coming of the Lord, because it “does not come from God”: God gave intelligence to humans so they could create, but putting your hope in a tool that is supposed to do everything and even replace God “will not work.”
• Can you be happy in distress? During the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7 to 12), a darkness so thick covered the land that no one could see their neighbor, but there was light where the Hebrews lived (Exodus 10:21-23). When the locusts devoured everything, they still had something to eat. “Even in chaos, God can make you happy.”
• “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it won’t come near you” (Psalm 91:7). During Covid, “it got hot” for many pastors, but people were praying, and the Lord protected them. In God, the Christian has a shelter able to keep him in the middle of chaos.
• In a news report, prisoners who had accepted Jesus and repented expressed joy, even in prison. He also mentions survivors of natural disasters, such as in Nepal: the one who comes out of it miraculously is happy because the Lord brought him out. Wars continue, in Ukraine, in the DRC, in Yemen, often met with indifference. “Despite all that, God keeps you in the midst of chaos.”

7. Do you want to be happy?

• Man’s happiness has been God’s will since the garden of Eden, when God resolved to make man in his own image. God is the God of love and joy, also called “the blessed one.” The child of God is meant to live fully happy, in the likeness of his heavenly Father.
• “If I told you my problems, you would say: that’s not possible. But in spite of that, I say: Lord, I will stay happy.”
• “I told my wife: I’m going to make you happy. You, too, make me happy.” He invites couples to say this to each other and to make their children happy: “They will give it back to you.”
• Happiness does not excuse you from working. Taking competitive exams, working the markets, driving for a living: “Do what you want, but God gives you the ability.” You cannot be lazy.
• “God has given us the ability to be happy. If you are not happy, either you have not understood, or you do not want to be.”

Key takeaways

• Happiness according to the world (money, autonomy, fame, success) is “not certain.” Happiness according to God rests on his criteria, not on ours.
• Psalm 1 describes the candidate for happiness: he avoids the counsel of the wicked, loves the word of God and meditates on it, and God becomes the guarantor of his success.
• Jesus calls blessed the humble, those who mourn, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the persecuted.
• Receiving the revelation of Christ, hearing the word and putting it into practice, staying faithful and storing up treasures in heaven: these are the keys to happiness according to Jesus.
• Even in chaos, God can keep his children and make them happy. Being happy is also a decision: refusing sadness.

Personal application

1. What are you resting your happiness on today: your wallet, your retirement, your independence, or God’s criteria?
2. What place does the word of God have in your days? Do you meditate on it “day and night,” or only on Sundays?
3. Among the Beatitudes, which one challenges you the most right now: humility, forgiveness, purity of heart, peace?
4. In what area is God asking you for a change of behavior, a concrete repentance?
5. In the middle of your difficulties, are you ready to say like the preacher: “Lord, I will stay happy”? Who in your household could you make happy this week?

Verses cited

• Isaiah 55:8
• Psalm 1
• Matthew 5:3-11
• Matthew 6:14-15
• Matthew 16:13-17
• Matthew 7:21-23
• John 14:15
• Isaiah 48:17-19
• Luke 11:27-28
• Matthew 12:46-50
• Luke 12:37
• Luke 12:43-44
• Luke 13:1-5
• Matthew 6:19-21
• Luke 12:32-34
• Hebrews 11:6
• Exodus 10:21-23
• Psalm 91:7
• Genesis 1:26
• 1 Timothy 6:15

Frequently asked questions

What does it mean to be happy according to the Bible?

For Gilles Bonneveau, happiness according to God has nothing to do with full pockets, independence or fame. In the Bible, the happy person is the one who loves the word of God, who has received the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, who hears the word and puts it into practice, who stays faithful and who stores up treasures in heaven.

What does Psalm 1 say about happiness?

Psalm 1 describes the “candidate for happiness”: he does not follow the counsel of the wicked, he does not sit with mockers, and he meditates on the Lord’s law day and night. He is like a tree planted by a stream of water, and everything he does prospers. The preacher sees in this a guarantee of success given by God.

Can you be happy in the middle of trials?

Yes, answers Gilles Bonneveau. During the plagues of Egypt, there was light where the Hebrews lived while darkness covered the land. Psalm 91 promises the Lord’s protection when a thousand fall nearby. Prisoners who accepted Jesus have expressed joy even behind bars: God can make you happy even in chaos.