The Way of Happiness
Do y’all know why people go to the State Fair? … Because they want to be happy.
Y’all know why people don’t go to the State Fair … Because they want to be happy.
We were at the fair last night, and it won’t be the last time we go. I tend to enjoy the fair. I love that it’s called the “Great Minnesota Get-Together” — because it does that. We live in a day when there’s so much division; it’s amazing that we can still be brought together … for food on sticks. We all love the food! We at least have that in common, right?
We actually have a lot more in common than that. In fact, did you know that the longing of every single human heart is basically the same?
Every human being, most fundamentally, desires to be happy. This is without exception — and you don’t take my word for it! This is the repeated observation of the world’s greatest philosophers all throughout human history.
Those who have thought most deeply about humanity and what we really want, they all agree that the ultimate motivation for everything we do is our own happiness, whether that means going to the fair or not going to the fair. We might do different things, but those different things each have the same goal. We all want to be happy.
I know that about you. I know you want to be happy.
And this morning, if you’re willing, I’d like to tell you how you can be happy. We see it here in Psalm 84. And it’s straightforward.
Three different times in this psalm the word “blessed” or “happy” is used. Right away, I want you to go ahead and see this in verses 4, 5, and 12:
Verse 4, Blessed (or happy) are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!
Verse 5, Blessed (or happy) are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
Verse 12, O Lord of hosts, blessed (or happy) is the one who trusts in you!
These are beatitudes like in Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. The psalmist is telling us the way to supreme blessedness. He’s saying: Hey, here is real happiness! Happiness is found in three ways.
And that’s what I want to show you in the sermon: Three truths about what happiness is. We’re going to look at each one, but first let’s pray:
Father in heaven, this morning we gather here in your joy. Would you shine upon us? Speak to our hearts. Show us your glory. In Jesus’s name, amen.
In Psalm 84, we learn …
1. Happiness is getting to be with Jesus.
Again, we see this in verse 4, and the keyword in verse 4 is the word “house” — “Blessed are those who dwell in your house …”
Just listen to how many times this idea of “house” is repeated in Psalm 84. The word “house” is in verse 4, but look at verse 1,
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!”
Then verse 2,
“My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord.”
And the word “courts” and “house” are mentioned again in verse 10.
“Altars” are mentioned in verse 3.
Then verse 7 mentions “appearing before the God in Zion.”
Different words are used but it’s all the same idea. The theme here is the presence of God, and at this time in Israel’s history, God’s presence would have been in the temple. The temple was an actual building built by King Solomon in 950BC — and it was the focus of Israel’s worship because within the temple, in the holy of holies, is where the ark of the covenant stayed, and that represented the presence of God. So when the Israelites thought about God’s presence they thought about the temple.
So for us, in Psalm 84, we should think:
God’s presence = the temple; The temple = God’s presence.
But now why is Psalm 84, all of a sudden, focusing on this?
84 in Context
Okay, well remember what we’ve seen in the previous psalms, going all the way back to Psalm 73. From Psalm 73 to Psalm 83, they’re all Psalms of Asaph — Psalm 84 is a psalm of the Sons of Korah — but if we were to go back and look at the Psalms of Asaph, from 73–83, we’d notice that the theme is God’s judgment on Israel through their enemies. Psalm 73, the first psalm of Asaph, starts with Asaph reveling in the presence of God. In Psalm 73, Asaph says to God,
“I’m continually with you. You hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel. … For me it is good to be near God.” (vv. 23–24, 28)
The nearness of God is my good — Psalm 73! But then after 73 it’s judgment, judgment, judgment. Israel has rebelled against God, and God judges them by allowing their enemies to triumph over them.
And that was the actual experience of the first readers of this psalm! Remember the individual psalms were all written at different times, but the Book of Psalms was compiled and organized later in Israel’s history when they were in exile. Israel had experienced judgment. The temple, the place of God’s presence, had been destroyed.
In 587BC — just 363 years after the temple was built — the Babylonians, enemies of Israel, came into Jerusalem and demolished the temple. And that’s when God sent Israel his prophets who told of a newer, greater temple that would come in the future (see Ezekiel 40ff).
And so talk of the temple here in Psalm 84 is meant to be partly a memory of what the temple was. It’s nostalgic. Psalm 84 is put here so that people in exile would read this and think: Wow, those who got to be at the temple were so lucky.
Psalm 84 is partly about the memory of what the temple was, but it’s mainly about hope in what the new temple will be. This is really important. The topic of the temple in Psalm 84 is pointing to the hope of its restoration. One day God will dwell with his people again. That’s the message here.
Story of the Temple
And this is where we begin to see one of the most central messages in all the Bible: it’s that God will have a people for himself in his presence. God’s people in God’s place.
That’s what the Garden of Eden was. Adam and Eve were God’s people, created in his image to reflect his glory in the world. They lived in God’s presence and were meant to enjoy and expand his presence. But then, because of their sin — what happened? They were exiled from the Garden, banished from God’s presence.
Then later God chose Abraham, and he told Abraham that he would bless him and make a nation come from him. Then there’s Isaac and Jacob, and Jacob becomes Israel, and he has 12 sons, and they all end up enslaved in Egypt, but God raises up Moses to set them free. Israel becomes a nation, and God leads them out of Egypt as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and God says he’s going to bring them to his own mountain where he’s going to be with them (see Exodus 15:17). And he told them to build the tabernacle where he would meet with them. In Exodus 29:45, God says,
I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. 46 And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.
See the point? This is God with his people. The tabernacle was temporary until Solomon built the temple. But the temple was also temporary, because it was destroyed. Now a “Second Temple” was built around 518BC. Herod the Great later renovated that temple around 20BC and it was glorious. It was beautiful, but even that was still temporary. And when Jesus came to Jerusalem, he said as much.
What Jesus Says
Do you remember what Jesus did when he came to the temple?
In the Gospel of John, Chapter 2, Jesus comes into the temple and turns over tables and wrecks the place. He says, basically, You’ve got it all wrong. And the Jews asked Jesus how he could presume to make such a judgment. And “Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up’” (John 2:19).
And the people are confused by this. What in the world is he talking about? It’ll take decades to rebuild this temple. But then John tells us that Jesus was speaking about “the temple of his body” — wait a minute, John. Do you mean Jesus is the temple? Do you mean that Jesus is the presence of God with his people?
Yes, that’s exactly what John means. Because Jesus is the Word of God made flesh to dwell among us. And Jesus did. Remember what Jesus told the woman at the well in John Chapter 4? He said that now the place of worship is neither here nor there, but the place of worship is me. Jesus said it was himself. Jesus says: I’m the temple. I’m the way to God. I’m the place where God dwells.
Jesus is who the physical temple had been pointing to this whole time. Therefore, Jesus is the ultimate vision of Psalm 84.
“Blessed are those who dwell in your house” means “Blessed are those who are in God’s presence” which means Blessed are those who get to be with Jesus.
Those are the ones who are happy. Happiness is getting to be with Jesus.
The Greater Happiness
But, are any of us with Jesus right now?
No.
Now, we know people who are. Kayla is with Jesus right now, but we’re not. Jesus and the “church triumphant” are together in the heavenly dimension, but we’re here, in this world, and that’s why Jesus has sent us his Spirit. His Spirit is our Helper. His Spirit is the minister of hope who lives inside us as the “down-payment” of that greater happiness that is to come.
So, what does that mean about happiness now?
I love dogs. Not all of us do, I get it, but a dog is my favorite animal, and I enjoy a good dog video. For some reason, I get a lot of dog videos in my feed. The other day I saw this video of a dog in a living room, and on the TV there was a cooking show zoomed in on a pan frying bacon, and this dog was standing at this TV, licking the screen. The dog was licking the bacon on the TV screen — and I thought: “Is that like joy in God in this world?”
We know there is a greater future happiness, but is our happiness now just like a screen version of what will be?
No, because of the Holy Spirit.
Because of the Spirit, our bodies become temples (see 1 Corinthians 6:19), and when we gather together like this, the Spirit is here and active in our midst, and there is real happiness in this. We are not licking a screen. It is possible for us to experience sublime happiness in God in this world because of his Spirit, but even the highest experience of happiness in this world is only a faint foreshadowing of the happiness that we will know when we get to be with Jesus. I mean to really see him … to stand beside him. When, as Revelation 21 tells us,
Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Real happiness is possible here, but it is only a small, real taste of the fuller happiness to come when we get to be with Jesus. According to Psalm 84, happiness is dwelling in God’s house — happiness is getting to be with Jesus. Fact.
2. Happiness is wanting to be with Jesus.
This is verse 5:
“Blessed (or happy) are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.”
The keyword in verse 5 is “highways.” It’s the idea of journey and direction. It means you carry in your heart the reality that you’re not yet where you’re meant to be, but you’re headed there, and you want to be there.
Verse 5 gets at the level of desire — and Psalm 84 is loaded with desire language. Just look at this:
Verse 1, “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” — that’s an assessment. The psalmist is saying that God’s presence is lovely. It’s desirable.
Verse 2: “My soul longs, yes, faints.” “My heart and flesh sing for joy” (or literally, cry out) — this is not a moderate desire. This is not just some thing the psalmist does on the side as long as other things don’t conflict. The psalmist is positioning his entire life in pursuit of this thing he cannot live without.
He wants to be in God’s presence so badly that, in verse 3, he envies the birds, and in verse 10 he says it’s better to spend just one day in God’s presence than to spend a thousand days somewhere else. …
Now, a lot of times, a thousand is better than one. Do you want me to give you a $1,000 or $1? But see, in verse 10 it’s not the same currency. The psalmist says it’s better to have one day with God than a thousand days anywhere else. And he’s not done in verse 10 …
Would You Rather?
Any of you like to play party games? I think the best party games are conversation games, and there’s a ton of them out there. Do y’all know the game “Would You Rather?” You ask a question with two options and the person has to choose — Would you rather have the power of flight or the power of invisibility?
And sometimes there’s a dilemma …
Would you rather get a paper cut every time you turn a page or bite your tongue every time you eat?
Would you rather never go to the state fair ever again or be forced to go all 12 days every fair for the rest of your life?
These are questions that help us get to know one another. We learn what we really care about, our values — that’s what we see in verse 10.
The psalmist says,
“I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
Now a doorkeeper is a lowly station. Think about it: you’re always right on the edge. You’re making a way for everyone else to get in, but you have to stay put at the door. It would be more comfortable to dwell somewhere. Because then you’re kicked back and relaxed. You have a seat.
You put those two things beside one another — opening doors or sitting relaxed — sitting relaxed is better. But those are not the options here. It’s not the action that makes the difference, it’s the place.
The psalmist says he’d rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. He’d rather be lowly and last in line in God’s presence than to be esteemed and comfortable among the wicked.
This is another assessment. He is telling us what he wants. And church, oh that we would want Jesus the way that this psalmist just wants to be near God!
Desire As the Difference-Maker
I can tell you that one of the biggest problems of Christian witness in this country is that too many so-called Christians don’t really want Jesus. We know this exists, but I think it would still be shocking to us how many people claim the name of Christ when it’s convenient, but they’d trade him in with a snap for the trifles of this world. “You want power? Popularity? Influence? Do you want to be liked?”
Whenever we find that there is no “Christian backbone,” it’s because there is no Psalm 84:10-desire.
What do we really want? Do we want Jesus?
Or do we, like Demas, in love with this present world, really just want other things and we try squeeze Jesus in? (See 2 Timothy 4:10)
See, it’s one thing to know the fact of happiness — it’s getting to be with Jesus — but do you want the fact? Do you want him more than comfort, more than success, more than being liked? Church, Jesus is worthy of our wanting!
See, a big part of the real happiness possible in this world is in the wanting it. Are the highways to Zion in your heart? You’re not home yet, but you’re headed there, and you wanna be there!
That makes a difference in life. It means when you go through the Valley of Baca you make it a place of springs, verse 6. That’s a desert land. It’s where things are difficult, and there’s not a lot of fruit. But even there, you have living water, and you know you are going to be with him. Happiness is wanting to be with Jesus.
3. Happiness is trusting that Jesus wants to be with you.
This is verse 12:
“O Lord of hosts, blessed (or happy) is the one who trusts in you!”
This is not a generic trust, but it’s trust in God as he has revealed himself. This is trusting, verse 11, that God is our sun and shield, that he bestows favor and honor, that he does not withhold anything good from those who walk uprightly — that is, his people who trust him. God is good and he does good. That’s the basis of this trust. And the psalmist is even more specific in verses 8–9.
“In Jesus’s Name”
Most of Psalm 84 is all statements; verses 8–9 are the only petitions. The psalmist is asking something of God, verse 8: “O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; give ear, O God of Jacob! Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!”
Now in verse 11, the psalmist says that God is our shield. Here in verse 9, he is asking God to behold his shield, who is the anointed. Do you see that?
In that first line of verse 9 he says: “Behold our shield, O God.” …
Then he restates that same petition in the second line of verse 9. “Behold our shield, O God” as in “Look on the face of your anointed.”
And the anointed one, in the Book of Psalms, is the Messiah. The psalmist is asking God to hear him, to help him, by looking at the Messiah, in reference to the Messiah. This is the Old Testament way of praying “in Jesus’s name”!
We don’t generically trust God, and we don’t generically pray to God, but we trust that God is good and we pray that God does good through the Messiah Jesus. Jesus is the one through whom we experience God’s favor and blessing. All the goodness that is mentioned in verse 11, and all the goodness that we could hope for from God, comes to us through Jesus. That is what we are believing when we say in our prayers “in Jesus’s name.” We’re saying,
Hear me, Father! Do good to me! By looking at your Son! Jesus is my shield. He is my security! He is my trust! And all your promises to me are Amen in him!
In Psalm 84, Jesus is the one the temple is pointing to, and Jesus is the object of our trust. Happy is the one who trusts in Jesus.
What Jesus Desires
And there’s more.
You know, a lot of times when we think about our faith, we think about it from our perspective. We think about our faith in Jesus from our side of faith. But I think it’s also important to know that Jesus, on his side of our faith, he’s not indifferent to us.
Now, if he was just an idea — if Jesus was just a set of truths and guidelines — then of course that doesn’t have any relational reciprocity. But remember Jesus is real. He’s a person. We have a real relationship. We want to be with him and he wants to be with us.
Can you believe that? … Some of us can’t. … But don’t brush this aside.
Listen, I can show you a conversation that Jesus has had about you. In the Gospel of John again, Jesus was praying to God the Father, and in John 17 he says,
Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (v. 24)
Jesus has a desire. He wants something. He tells the Father that he wants us to be with him. You! Jesus wants you to be with him where he is, in his glory, in the fullness of his joy.
And he wants you to know that he wants you to be with him, which is why he put this in the Bible.
And this really is vital to happiness in this world. It’s central to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God’s love poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5), and when Paul prays for us in Ephesians 3 he prays that we would have the Spirit’s power to know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17–19). The power of God in us means we know the love of Jesus.
It’s true, in the most profound way … Jesus loves you.
And trusting him to love you is happiness. Blessed are you if you can sing:
Jesus loves me, this I know,
For the Bible tells me so.
Happiness is trusting that Jesus really means it when he says he wants you to be with him.
The Way to Happiness
We all want to be happy, we have that in common. And Psalm 84 shows us the way of happiness:
Blessed are those who dwell in God’s house!
Blessed are those in whose heart are the highways to Zion!
Blessed are those who trust in God!
Which means …
Happiness is getting to be with Jesus.
Happiness is wanting to be with Jesus.
Happiness is trusting that Jesus wants to be with you.
Lord Jesus, everything that you have said is true. We’ve talked a lot about you in Psalm 84, and now I want to talk to you. Because you know every heart in here. You know all the details of everything we’ve got going on. And Jesus, Master, would you create in us a greater happiness in you? By your Spirit, here in this world, make us to comprehend more of your love for us. Deepen our joy, in your name, amen.
