Seeking Joy: Why Pursuing Happiness Leads to Disappointment

And sing. Very good job. I'll pay you later. Well, it is good to be back home. And when we talk about our home church, we always refer to this church.

And my pastor is Eric Crawford, and bless his heart, he's gotten a lot of phone calls from me lately, and if y' all would send him on a trip or get him some therapy for dealing with me and the things we've been going through, there's not a more generous church in this world than Heritage Baptist Church. There's not a more generous pastor than Eric Crawford. And I just want to let you know I appreciate you guys, your prayers.

I try not to get emotional, but it's going to happen. I've been so emotional lately, and somebody told me I was going through, man, a pause, so.

And I guess I need to pause, but my wife says I'm embarrassed everywhere I go. But I know this church has invested a lot in ministries I've been a part of, and especially this last one. And I just want to say thank you.

I know this side of heaven, things may look like a waste of time, and maybe. I know I've gone through it. Sometimes you feel like a failure. Sometimes you feel like a nut. Sometimes you don't.

But I do know this is that when we get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be. And I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you've invested in me and my family.

And we're just looking for what God has for us next. I am doing some modeling now. I'm doing men's maternity clothes. And so we do have a job. And so got to lighten it up.

How many of you would agree tonight, And I know I got a time window tonight, but how many of you would say, this world's tough. People are tough. Ministry is real tough. Pray for your pastor. Love your pastor.

And I'm telling you, we live in a society today that is not God fearing, not God loving. I would say most of us tonight, we face stress. Not me, but y'. All. Do y' all face depression? I've never faced that. No.

We face a lot of things in this world, don't we? And we face a lot of things that God said in the end, times are going to come. These days are going to come when men be lowers of themselves.

And all the things that we see today, it's here. We're just waiting on a trumpet to.

Sound, and we're out of here. We're so close. Paul thought he was close in his day. Think of how much closer we are.

Tonight than ever before. If you're discouraged tonight, I want you to take your Bibles and go with me to Ecclesiastes. And I want to help you get more discouraged.

No, I'm just kidding. I want you to look at something. Tonight we're going to look at a few scriptures out of Ecclesiastes.

Remember that Solomon is writing as an older man, looking back on his life and looking back on all the things that he had done in his life. And tonight I want to preach on the subject of the pursuit of happiness.

Maybe y' all have heard this before, but we hold to these truths to be self evident. That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.

That among these are life, liberty and, and say it.

Class.

And the pursuit of happiness.

When you read the life of Solomon.

You'Ll see the life or the pursuit of happiness.

And tonight when we get to the.

End, we're not going to read the entire book of Ecclesiastes. I don't get scared.

But we are going to read the last chapter and see where he was at at the end of this. Because if you read verse one, he says a word of the. Notice what he says. He's not king, he's not the son of David, yet He will say that.

He says, now I'm a preacher. He says, now looking back on my life, I want to go back and I want to tell others. I want to be a proclaimer.

I want to be a herler of those truths that I found out in my life. Because Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes tells us that. Here's what I did. I tried to pursue happiness in my life. And guess what it was.

Notice what he's going to say in verse two. It says, vanity, vanities. He said, earth.

Or Seth the preacher, vanity of vanities. He says, in case you missed this, all is vanity.

Solomon had 700 wives. Yeah, I thought I'd get more reaction out of that.

700 wives. Could you imagine waking up every day.

And going, whose birthday is it?

Whose anniversary is it? Just every day you got candles and a cake ready to go.

Because every day he had 300 concubines, a cake that wasn't enough, and servants, and he had cattle. Matter of fact, somebody said if you took all of what Solomon had and you put it in today's worth, he would be worth $2.1 trillion. He had everything.

He pursued happiness. And when you read here, especially in chapter One.

Chapter Two.

He says, look, I went after this. I went after this.

And he said, but all is vanity. I don't know who wrote this, but it's so true. It says, the search for happiness is one of the chief sources of unhappiness. Let me read that again.

The search for happiness is one of.

The chief sources of unhappiness.

See, there are people in this world today, and maybe they're not sitting here tonight, but they're in the world today and they're trying to find happiness. They're trying all they can can to pursue something that'll make them smile, that'll make them forget all their troubles just for a moment.

People are begging for a timeout.

But can I remind you that Solomon writes, and he says, all is vanity. I'll give you three things tonight, and then we'll hit the last chapter. Number one. The pursuit of happiness will leave you empty.

You know the word vanity means emptiness, worthlessness and meaningless.

You see the houses we live in, the cars we drive.

Public service announcement. Don't drive a Kia. Mine's down in Louisiana right now. It broke down on us coming here. It's down there. We left it in Louisiana. I just.

I left it by the bridge. I said, you know, I'm just kidding. It's getting. I wanted to, but. Amen. Y' all know too, right? But it had.

The pursuit of happiness leaves you empty. It's all vanity. 33 times in Ecclesiastes, he used the word vanity.

He reminded that things that we pursue in this life that are not for God and not for eternity or just vanity. It's just emptiness. It's just.

Listen, how many times did Jesus say, look, you can have your riches, you can have all the things, but you still are going to be empty inside.

Emptiness, worthlessness and meaningless. You realize if you're a child of God tonight, that God doesn't want your life to be meaningless. He wants us to be meaningful. Why?

Because he saved you.

He gave the very best for you so that you could invest in eternity for Him. We see that. Number two. Not only will the pursuit of happiness leave you empty, but it'll also leave you exhausted. Amen. You ever just get back from a.

Day'S work and you go, I'm not doing nothing. I'm just going to go sit on the couch and I'm not doing nothing. Why?

Because you're tired? It's been one of those days where everything was just going wrong or something like that. And that's happened a lot here lately.

Man, you're just exhausted.

Somebody calls you and says, hey, you want to come over? No. Until they say the magic words. Well, I was going to take you out to eat. I'm feeling better. No end. Or the pursuit of happiness has no end.

It will leave you exhausted. Happiness does not last. Somebody said, you can't buy happiness. I don't believe that. I believe you.

Can you take me to an ice cream shop?

I'm pretty happy for a little while. You give me five minutes after eating ice cream, and I'm like, the happiness is gone. You could take me on a vacation.

And for a week I'm like, praise God. And then you look at your credit card statement or your bank account and.

You go, oh, no, I shouldn't have went there.

I shouldn't have done this. Happiness is only for a short time. And here Solomon reminds us. As a matter of fact, he tells us in verses one through three, it leaves us empty.

Us. In verse eight.

Look at verse eight, if you will. It says, all things are full of labor. Man cannot utter it. The eyes. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with learning.

He said, listen with hearing. He says, look, you can pursue this happiness. You can pursue things online, but you know what it does?

It leaves you exhausted. You know, I think one of the hardest professions in this world is being a mom. All you men should have said amen right there.

Cause, you know one thing, she leaves you alone one day, a half a day with the kids, and she comes home and you go, you got a.

Little twitch to you.

You're like, you know, and the kids are scared to say anything because you, you know, I mean, we know how it is, but, you know, it's so funny to see a mom who has two or three. And I don't know why people keep having them after that, but they do. And, you know, we were with Cody yesterday.

My days are messed up, too. They got 15 kids, you know, and.

They were sitting in front of us.

They have six and five and one on the way.

And they were sitting in front of us. And I was watching poor Cody. And bless his heart, he didn't get nothing out of the messages because those kids were everywhere.

And I was back there praying for him, going, you did this. But you ever see that mom when you come home and she just has that look of, I am exhausted.

I see my wife sometimes when you have a special needs daughter, and I can come home and I'm like, you know what? How about you go somewhere and I'll watch Bailey for A while. Or I'll take Bailey.

I've had to take Bailey on drives out in the country before, because I can tell my wife's exhausted. But you know what happens when we pursue the things of this world that are not eternal and they're not part of God's will for our life?

It leaves us exhausted. People are exhausted tonight because they're trying to go after the almighty daughter, or they're trying to go after building this.

And trying to do this and trying to do this. And listen, you need to work, and you ought to do the best you can.

And if you can make $100,000 a year, praise God and do it so you can tithe and give to missions. Hallelujah for that. And listen, here's what God wants us to. God wants us to be exhausted because.

We work for the kingdom. Pastor said this yesterday in his message. The only part I really listened to. Just kidding.

But pastor said this, is that so many times in talking about just being exhausted and doing things for not eternity's sakes, he said this. He says the reason that God blesses Heritage Baptist Church is because we work and our people work. And you know what? Look around. God bless that.

Look at what God's doing here. Because you are. Yes. You're like, I'm exhausted. Got visitation tonight. Hey, listen, you're exhausted from working. Yes.

But you ought to be exhausted because you know what? You work for the Lord. And then the last thing we see. And we can see this in chapter two.

And I don't want to read all the verses tonight, but look at verse chapter two, if you would. I don't know why in chapter two, that Solomon all of a sudden turns Irish.

Read it. Notice what he says. Just matter of fact, start at verse.

Verse 4. I made me great work.

I don't know why y', all, son.

I don't know if it's out of Irish. I don't know. I'm bad at stuff, so I apologize.

I builded me houses, I planted me.

Vineyards that made me gardens. Right. It's a little bit Irish, maybe, but.

Notice what he says in Archers. I planted trees in them and all kinds of fruit. I made me pools of water to water therewith and wood to bring forth trees.

And I got me servants and maids. And he goes down, he talks about all the. I did this, I did this, I did this, I did this. And he says.

I'm exhausted, and I never got to the finish line of happiness. You know why? Because happiness has no end. You just always will pursue it. It will exhaust you.

The last thing tonight we see that not only will it exhaust you, but it will engulf you. What does that mean? It will consume you. Engulf you. And pretty soon, it's all that you think about.

Your family will go by the wayside because you're in pursuit of happiness. Your job will go by the wayside. Your church will go by the way. Listen, every time you walk into the church, it's not about you feeling happy.

If it is, we're in the wrong place. Because I sat underneath some preaching this week that I needed so bad. And when I left there, I wasn't saying, I'm so happy.

And here's the reason why.

I was like, ow, that hurt, Lord, I thank you. I needed that, Lord. I needed to hear from God. I needed to hear from you. I needed to hear from your word. And sometimes, yeah, it does.

And by the way, we can be happy Christians.

Amen.

A merry heart doeth. I was actually going to preach on that tonight. Do you need some medicine? Because the Bible says a merry heart.

Doeth good, like a medicine.

But brokenness dries up the bones, and the brokenness of a spirit dries up the bones. And, boy, we're seeing that in our world today. We can smile. Why? Because we're saved. We can enjoy this life.

And how many times has pastor said, listen, this life is not made to be endured, it's made to be enjoyed. And we should enjoy the things that we should be happy at our family, we should be happy at our church. But that is not our pursuit.

Because as a Christian, here's what happens. The Lord God, when the moment you get saved gives you the Holy Spirit. And you know what you get? There is joy, unspeakable and full of glory.

There's a joy. See, happiness is brought on by happenstance or by outside things, right? Joy is an inward holy spirit working and doing.

And when you don't pursue the things of God and you pursue the things of the world, what happens is that it encompasses you or it engulfs you. You ever see a fire that is. I mean, it's just going. You know, we would say that thing is engulfed.

Sometimes in our life, we are engulfed by the pursuit of happiness. Go to chapter 12. I love chapter 12.

I always tell people, you know, when.

You get saved, probably not the first book you ought to read is the book of Ecclesiastes.

Nor probably the Song of Solomon. Amen. You ever read the Song of Solomon?

You kind of blush reading it. You're like.

You don't hear many messages.

Out of some of those scriptures, do you? You can maybe write your wife a love letter and say Song of Solomon, you know, SOS 13. I don't know what that one is.

But here Solomon says, you know what? I tried everything that I could to find happiness. I had my house full of things. I had the gold, I had the silver. I had the people.

I had people that if I just went like this, they would go, yes, King, what can we do for you? He was the wisest man that had ever walked the face of the earth, humanistically speaking. He was the son of David. He was king.

As a matter of fact, he called him king of Jerusalem and Judah too, at that time, because it was the united kingdom. But here he was. Here he's king. He's everything.

But later in life, Solomon's sitting down and going, it ain't worth it. But you know what is worth it? Here's what he tells us. Look at the good stuff. He says here two things, and I'm done tonight.

Instead of pursuing happiness, we should pursue God, who can give you happiness and joy.

Notice what he says.

He says, let us hear the conclusion. Chapter 12, verse 13 says, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. You know what that means?

That's when a pastor says, last point, 10 more minutes notice. Notice when you get to the last two verses of the book of Ecclesiastes. It's amazing because he's been real wordy up to this point.

You read it, he has. He said, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. I mean, he's giving you lists of stuff.

And he says two things right here.

Here's the whole matter. What is it? What is it, Solomon? Tell us, what is it?

Number one, fear God.

Okay, okay, give me sub points.

Solomon, now. Fear God. I want you to think about this for a moment. Do you know when Solomon was writing this, who people feared?

They feared the king because he could end their lives.

He could make their lives miserable. But he said, don't fear me. Don't fear the king, but fear the King of kings. Fear God. Listen, there's no fear of God anymore.

People will say the Lord's name in vain like never before. You can't watch a commercial anymore without them.

And things that are on TV now that I'm telling you, you watch regular CBS or something like that or regular.

We used to call it regular tv. Remember when you could antenna, you know, regular tv? They didn't cuss on there. But if you had hbo. No, no, no, we're not getting that.

But today they'll say the Lord's name in vain like that all day long. You say, how do you know? Because somebody told me. I won't say Clay's name in front of everybody. Fear God. You know what Proverbs 17 says?

Guess who wrote this, by the way? Solomon. Fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Is the whole duty of man. If you want to know what to do tonight and you say, I don't know what to do. I told my wife, I said, I'm.

Going to print me a T shirt up and a hat.

And you know what it's going to say?

I don't know. People have been asking me, what are you going to do? I don't know. Where are you going? I don't know. You asked me a question.

That's probably going to be my. I don't know. I don't know. I've been waiting for the Lord to use billboards again. I don't know if he ever used them.

But I'd love to drive by a billboard and it says, michael Wiggins, move to. That wasn't like a manly, but take it. Keep his commandments. Do you know? First John is full of the statement, keep his commandments. And you know what?

First John deals with our relationship with our Father, the fellowship and the relationship we have with our Father. John reminds us over and over again, keep his commandments, keep his word. Solomon gets to the end of his life.

He's like, the pursuit of happiness is empty. It's so empty, isn't it? I'm telling you, people. People try. So exhausting. And it will engulf you. It will take over your life if you're not careful.

You say, how do I break free of that fear, God? Keep his commandments. Do you know what Jesus told his disciples when he chose them? He said something amazing that we just kind of look over.

I think sometimes he said this, follow me.

Matter of fact, he told me, he said, take up your cross and follow me. You know what that means? Pursue me.

I was driving through Saginaw getting here, and I thought Officer Biddle was working, so I was speeding through. I'm in a rental car that says Georgia tags on it. I'm just kidding.

I don't but you know what? If you.

If you got blue lights behind you and you don't pull over, guess what they call it?

A pursuit. You know what that means?

They're going to stay with you if they can and probably going to pitch you, and then you'll be on the news. No, they're going to pursue you. That means to stay with. God asked us to stay with him. Follow me, Pursue me.

I love what Solomon said in Proverbs 8, verse 17, in that little. There's like three verses there. He says that if you'll seek him, he says, you shall find Him. He says this, if you pursue God, guess what?

You'll find Him. Jesus wants us to pursue him tonight. He wants us to take up our cross and to follow him and pursue him tonight.

And in the midst of pursuing him, you're going to find happiness, you're going to find joy. You're going to find that God is going to lay up treasures in heaven that you don't even know about.

I was thinking about Brother Bake and me and him have a little. He was just at a church not too long ago. Anyway, we won't talk about that. But I was thinking about him the other day.

I was praying for him and I said, you know what? I don't know how it is. I've been everything in the ministry, but a missionary, okay, yeah, now I'm going. But you know what?

You know what you think about these missionaries? Sometimes they spend three years here pursuing the funds so that they can pursue what God has for them. There's a waiting period there.

Could you imagine if you called somebody to be your pastor and you had to wait three years for them to be your pastor? That'd be something, wouldn't it? But you know what? Here's what God says. You can pursue me and guess when you can start. Right now.

Fear God, Keep my commandments. Solomon said, this is the conclusion of the whole matter. So many times we pursue the things of this world.

And he reminds us where rust and moth and all that dust corrupted. I do not miss the Texas traffic. I do not miss the Texas wind. My toupee almost flew off twice today, I'm telling you. And just.

I mean, just the wind's just blowing. You know, what if God puts you in a place and you pursue him? If God calls you to Texas, God calls you to Africa. God calls you to China.

God calls you to the choir. God calls you to Sunday school class, you know what he's going to do? He's going to provide for you as long as you pursue him.

And so many times in this world we pursue the things of this world. At the end of it you just got nothing in your hands.

Breaks my heart to see people get to an age of retirement and that they pass away or whatever it may be and all that stuff's gone. Guess who gets it? The kids who don't deserve it. But you know what?

We can pursue God and at the end of it we are laying up treasures in heaven and I'm so thankful for that. You want to stand tonight and I'll pray and pastor you come. Father, we love you and thank you God for your love for us.

Lord, I pray you bless this time that we've had in your word. And Lord thank you for the words of Solomon, Lord that they were inspired by the Holy Spirit of God for us tonight.

And Lord help us to be in pursuit of you. We ask your blessing now in Jesus name, amen.