(A) Introduction

If someone tells me to be joyful I am inclined to say, "Don't be silly." I silently fume whenever a Christian uses the expression: 'Happiness happens but joy abides.' Nothing could be further from the truth. I have even heard rather dour believers say, "Our joy isn't all bubble and froth - it is real, deep down, joy." It is so deep down that there is never any evidence of it.

I share C.S. Lewis' view of what joy is. He describes its characteristics in his autobiographical book, 'Surprised by Joy.' It is the sweetest and most intense of emotions. It comes unsought and is inclined to fade even as you try to hold on to it. There is no doubt when someone is experiencing joy because the emotion is accompanied by physical manifestations. A footballer who scores the winning goal in a World Cup Final is joyful! It is obvious to everyone. The goal-scoring footballer leaps and dances and generally goes stir crazy. The Olympic gold medal winner often weeps for joy on the winner's podium. I can remember my mother weeping for joy when my brother Peter, after years of study, finally got accepted into a Teacher's Training College. Her face actually shone. I was stirred to the depths of my being and the tears coursed down my cheeks when a passage from John Bunyan was read at the Queen Mother's funeral. Amidst all that pomp and ceremony the Bedfordshire tinker had his part to play. Briefly a member of my own religious tradition made his contribution.

Sometimes the Bible uses the word joy to describe this most powerful and moving of emotions. No doubt when David brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem he danced for joy. See 1Chron15vs20to29. The crippled beggar was full of joy when he went with Peter and John into the temple walking and jumping and praising God. Acts3v9. He didn't need to be told to rejoice - he was overwhelmed by joy after being raised up by the power of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This emotion does not last, nor can it be conjured up. It is absolutely pointless telling someone to be joyful.

There is actually not a single reference to happiness in the Bible. I realise that in the Authorised Version there are verses like: "If ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them." John13v17. However the word translated, 'happy', is better rendered, 'blessed' or 'fortunate.' In the N.I.V. John13v17 reads: Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them. It is amazing that there are no references to such a universal and commonly experienced human condition as happiness. The reason is simply due to the fact that there is no Greek or Hebrew word that distinguishes between joy and happiness. There is just one word for both joy and happiness and it is always translated 'joy' in our versions of the Bible. This is a mistake because it is obvious from the context that happiness would usually be the better choice.

When Paul tells the Philippians to rejoice he is actually saying: be happy. It is impossible to induce joy but it is not impossible to be happy. Happiness depends a lot upon our state of mind. Paul deals with the Christian's state of mind in his letter to the Philippians. It is this that determines whether or not the we are happy. I want to look at four thieves of happiness and the four strong rooms identified by Paul in which to safeguard it. I am heavily indebted to Warren Wiersbe's chapter entitled, 'The Joy Stealers,' in his book on Philippians entitled, 'Be Joyful' for the subdivisions below. (I think it would have been better if Wiersbe had called his book, 'Be Happy!')

(B) Circumstances and the single mind

We cannot control our circumstances but nor should they control us and destroy our happiness. This is easier said than done! I was for many, many, years a very keen cricketer and quite a successful batsman. I found it difficult to be happy when I struck a bad patch of form. I was saved from total misery by having one ruling principle. When I went out to bat I was single-minded - I would do my best. That is a very good ruling principle and does save us from a lot of heartache and distress. Sometimes things went badly at school. My pupils did not do as well in their exams as I expected. Occasionally I received unjust criticisms. I could always console myself with reference to my ruling principle. I was a single-minded teacher and I did my best at all times.

Paul's ruling principle was to do his best for Jesus whatever the circumstances. He writes: For me to live is Christ. Phil1v21. Whatever happens conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Phil1v27. Paul did not see himself as a prisoner of Rome but a prisoner of Christ and he was happy because this encouraged others to speak the word of God more courageously and fearlessly. Phil1v14. Paul did not see himself in Roman chains but in bonds for Christ - in a position where he was able to preach the gospel to the whole palace guard. Phil1v13 He summarises his position in these stirring words: The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice (am happy). Phil1v18

The situation at my church is depressing with an elderly, dwindling, congregation. I can be happy if I concentrate on serving Jesus in the situation to which I have been called and use every opportunity to preach Christ. God has put me where I am for a purpose.

(C) People and the submissive mind

People rob us of our happiness. My pupils would, from time to time, rob me of my happiness. In the weeks leading up to my retirement it remained necessary to discipline unruly elements. The children at Debenham did not give me an easy or tranquil final term. One boy, who will be nameless, whom I found it necessary to punish, muttered, just loud enough for me to hear, "I will be glad when the old bastard has gone." Such little incidents can easily rob us of happiness. Last week I was organising games for six to nine year olds at the church youth club and had to tell them off for cheating at musical chairs. After dealing with disruptive children for 37 years I found this most disenchanting!

One Saturday, not so long ago, I scored 90 runs at cricket. I should have been happy - but I wasn't. One of the feckless youths in the side was asked to collect up the boundary markers. He left over half in place. I was so mad! I had put them all out. Why should I have to collect them in?

Paul gives us an antidote to unhappiness of the sort that I have described. It is not the most palatable of medicines! He writes: in humility consider others better than yourself. Phil2v3. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God ..... made himself nothing. Phil2v5and7. We have to learn to put Christ first, others second and ourselves last. So often we are robbed of our happiness because our pride is injured. We would not get stressed and resentful if our mind set was the same as Christ Jesus.

Mrs Costin, the farmer's wife of whom I wrote in the previous exposition, was a happy, contented, woman. She was at the beck and call of her family and was largely taken for granted; yet she was happy - because she had acquired the submissive mind and had learned to put herself last. Hers was not the attitude of the 'modern women'!

The world says: 'Stand up for your self'. My sister-in-law used to foster a little girl with Down's Syndrome. The father of this little girl had told her, "If you are picked on at school; kick 'em." She did and soon she was kicking everybody. Sandra brought her to cricket and she kicked our president and our captain. She kicked our captain so hard he had a lump on his shin. She didn't kick me!

We must be careful how we stand up for ourselves. We can cause mayhem and hurt others. The best route to happiness is not to fight back but to acquire the genuinely submissive mind and to be happy in serving.

(D) Things and the spiritual mind.

Warren Wiersbe uses the following anecdote to illustrate how things can rob us of our joy:
Abraham Lincoln was walking down the street with his sons, who were crying and fighting. "What's the matter with the boys?" a friend asked.
"The same thing that's wrong with the whole world," Lincoln replied. "I have three walnuts and each of the boys wants two!"

The attitude of Lincoln's sons is recaptured in a TV commercial currently showing in Britain. Three boys squabble over the number of roast potatoes their mother puts on their plates for Sunday lunch. They argue about whether three small ones is the equivalent of two large ones. Certainly an extra piece of broccoli is no compensation for the lack of a roast potato!

We are quickly made unhappy because we do not have what others have and what we think we deserve. I retired at the same time as another colleague. He got a much better deal than I did. He was able to retire a year early without financial penalty and he also received a long service award. My pension was reduced for retiring four months early and in spite of working for the same employer for 37 years I did not receive a long service award. I was able, by the grace of God, not to let this affect my actions. I could have kept working and gone sick! However, it did affect my happiness. The financial implications of my employer's decisions were unimportant but I was unhappy about the lack of recognition.

Paul would say that I was unhappy because I had my mind on earthly things. See Phil3v19. Paul reminds the Philippians and all Christians: Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who.....will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. We need to be spiritually minded to remain happy when the recognition we anticipate is not forthcoming. We have to mentally reaffirm the teaching of Jesus who said: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. Luke12v15. Jesus said this to a man who seems to make quite a reasonable request, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

We should be content to leave the judgement of our worth to Jesus. Ultimately his judgement is all that matters. If we are able to do this then our happiness will not depend upon the imperfect judgements of men. Jesus taught that the first will be last and the last first - those that are exalted on earth have had their reward.

I once taught a boy called Gavin. He started school with an enormous handicap - he could hardly read and write. I taught Gavin for five years. It was very difficult for him. In spite of his best efforts he had very little success. Stupid people, who say that no-one is incapable of success, have never experienced Gavin's problems. It is incredibly hard to persevere in the face of repeated failure. In the end Gavin got a grade F in G.C.S.E Geography. Most people would dismiss that as a poor result. I know what it cost Gavin and it is one of the finest grades any pupil of mine achieved in a public exam. I was proud of him! Jesus knows all about our struggles, set backs, failures and disappointments. On that final day our worth - or lack of it - will be revealed.

(E) Ourselves and the secure mind.

The greatest thief of happiness is not found without but within us. We allow our moods and our worries to rob us of happiness. We are a puzzle to others because we have nothing to worry about and nothing to make us unhappy. We get worked up and anxious over trivialities. My brother Peter worries and he admits that it is about trifles. My father was just the same. He spent hours and hours mulling over problems that never in reality arose.

Anxiety is the greatest thief of happiness. I listened some time ago to my friend KB talking about his long-suffering wife, Ann. Their son had just left for a holiday in Ibiztha. He said, nodding at his wife, "She won't be happy till he's back. She'll be right miserable for a fortnight. She'll worry all the time something will happen to him....." Ann is not the only one who worries about what might happen. The, 'what if,' approach to life is futile. It is a thief that robs us of happiness.

We need to guard our minds against that slippery thief, anxiety. Paul says And the peace of God which passeth understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Phil4v7. However, God's peace does depend upon - a life of prayer, positive thought and practicing the truth. The secure mind is a disciplined mind. It cannot be acquired without effort.

I have just finished reading the biography of John Wesley by John Pollock. Wesley was not especially happy as a young man but in old age that had changed. This is what Alexander Knox of Londonderry wrote about him in 1789: So fine an old man I never saw! The happiness of his mind beamed forth in his countenance: Every look shewed how fully he enjoyed, 'The gay remembrance of a life well spent.' The serene tranquillity that the great evangelist enjoyed as death approached was the product of a disciplined life. No thief could rob him of his happiness.

I think nothing more clearly explains the secret of Wesley's happiness than the final paragraph of his obituary in, 'The Gentleman's Magazine,' a secular journal that had often criticised the little preacher: Though his taste was classic, and his manners elegant, he sacrificed that society in which he was particularly calculated to shine; gave up those preferments which his abilities must have obtained, and devoted a long life in practising and enforcing the plainest duties. Instead of being, 'an ornament to literature', he was a blessing to his fellow creatures; instead of, 'the genius of the age,' he was the servant of God!