Thankfulness

Anthony Stephens

The Search for Happiness • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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Introduction

Imagine with me that you are hiking in the mountains along a trail and just taking in God’s creation. You notice the trees and animals. Before too long, you realize that you have wandered off of the main trail as you were wanting to take in some of the surroundings. What do you do?Many people would try to retrace their steps to the point where they got off the main path, wouldn’t they?

As we have been going through this series on Sunday nights called “The Search for Happiness”, we have been looking to God’s word to show us where it can be found. This search for happiness that happens by so many people is the result of getting away from the true source of happiness.

For us to find it again, it would do us well to return to the point where it was first lost and find out what made that tragedy happen. We find that we got off track back in the Garden of Eden. I want to look at that tonight and see how this happened and how it can be remedied.

Happiness Lost

Genesis 3:1–7 CSB

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ” “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

In , we find the first man and woman enjoying life in the Garden of Eden. Everything was perfect. They didn’t have a care in the world. All their needs were provided by God. They even got to walk around with God in the Garden from time to time.

The Bible tells us that there was only one thing that God had told them not to do. They were not to eat from one particular tree in the Garden of Eden - the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Every other tree was there for the taking including the Tree of Life.

We see the happiness that Adam and Eve experienced was lost in as they had an encounter with Satan. The deceiver came and began to cast doubt on God and His goodness. Satan would tell them that God was holding out on them and keeping them from reaching their full potential.

Satan continues with this strategy today. He will tell us that God is keeping us from what we really want and tempts us to disobey what God has commanded us to do.

From this, we can see that Satan is the direct opposite of what God calls us to be. He is prideful and ungrateful. When God first created the being that we now know as Satan, he was created as an angel named Lucifer. That name means “bearer of light.” Isaiah and Ezekiel tell us about how Lucifer became prideful and wanted to take God’s spot. This sin cost him and 1/3 of the angels who followed him their position in heaven.

Satan now works to disrupt everything God is doing. He still wants God’s position, but he can never get it. He comes to us with temptations trying to “recruit” more people to turn from God and follow him in his rebellion. He did this in the Garden of Eden and still does it today.

We see Satan turning Adam and Eve’s appreciation away from God and His provisions. Satan begins by attacking God’s word and God’s intentions. He tells Adam and Eve that they will not die, but rather, they would be like God.

In , we see that Eve began thinking about Satan’s words. She thought about how every tree had provided good food for them. How each tree had given them something amazing. As she looked at this forbidden tree, she noticed that it looked good. What would be the harm in one little bite, right?

Our happiness begins to fade when our thankfulness and appreciation to God begins to fade. They are connected. We see this as Adam and Eve began to not appreciate what God had done for them and go their own way. We see this in our own lives as we allow our desires for what we do not have begins to outweigh what God has graciously given to us.

This avenue of lacking appreciation creates a pathway that leads us towards uncontentment and ultimately failure.

Returning to Happiness

If we are seeking happiness, we have already said in this series that it will not come from anything from the outside. It can only come from within - the relationship that we have with God through Jesus Christ.

If we want to experience that happiness that we so desperately seek, we must return to where it was lost. We must go back to the point where we began to let our desires for other things outweigh God’s provisions. We must confess that we have been uncontent with what God has given us and then let Him fill our hearts once again. It is then that we will find the happiness that we are looking for.