TEXT: Psalm 1

SUBJECT: Kids’ Sermon #39: Blessedness

Kids, listen up!

Today is the second Sunday afternoon of the month, and time for another sermon—just for you. Now, I hope you listen to every sermon, because "every word of God is pure"—and good for you. But I hope you especially listen to the kids’ sermons. They’re always important. And besides, I’m going to ask questions!

Today, we’ll start a new series. A couple of months ago, we finished our study of The Fruit of the Spirit. There are nine fruits the Holy Spirit produces in people who believe in Christ. Do you remember what they are?

Well, now, we’ll move on to a new study. It’s Psalm 1. Now, this is a Bible passage you can easily memorize. It’s pretty short and we have music for it. If you don’t already know it by heart, I hope you will soon. Your parents can help you. And I hope they will!

Some parts of the Bible are hard to understand. But Psalm 1 isn’t one of them! The first word tells us what it’s about. What is the word?

What does "blessed" mean? It means happy. That’s what the Psalm is about; it’s about happiness.

Now, you know there are degrees of happiness. Some things make you sort of happy. What might do that? Other things make you very happy. What would do that for you? And, then other things make you super happy.

Psalm One is about the last kind of happiness. It’s about super-happiness! Think of the happiest thing that ever happened in your life. Got it? Now, multiply it by a million. That’s pretty happy, isn’t it? That’s the kind of happiness Psalm One is about. It’s about super, extreme, awesome, fantastic happiness.

DOES GOD WANT YOU TO BE HAPPY?

Some parents are a little unclear on this one. Maybe your parents are. They seem to think that happiness is bad, foolish, and wasteful. While unhappiness is good, serious, and productive. If they see you smiling or laughing or having a good time, they know you must be up to something.

This is not what the Bible teaches at all! Psalm One describes a holy man who is also very happy! Look what he doesn’t do. He doesn’t,

And also at what he does. He

Yet this very good man—so careful to avoid evil and to think about God’s Law—is also the happiest man in the world.

He’s not alone. The Bible says it is sin that makes you unhappy—"The way of transgressors is hard" (Proverbs 13:15).

It also commands us to be happy—Philippians 4:4.

A writer named Arthur W. Pink once said about this,

And so, does God want you to be happy? Prove it in three ways.

In heaven everyone will be happy. Perfectly happy forever. There, God will "wipe away every tear". But what about now? In this world, all kinds of bad things happen. We become sick; we do poorly at school; we get in trouble at home; loved ones die. Can you be really happen--even now?

Yes, you can be. The blessed man in our Psalm, for example, is not in heaven, but on earth. And that means he too got sick; he had family problems; he lost loved ones. In fact, the Psalmist is David, and very few people had more or bigger problems than he did.

Can you name some?

Yet even he is happy. He’s happy in this world.

This doesn’t mean that he’s never sad or that he’s laughing his head off every minute of the day, but still, he’s happy.

Can you think of Someone Else who had many problems but was still very happy?

I can. Luke 10:21, Psalm 45:7.

Thus, it is possible to be happy even in a world where bad things happen all the time.

Kids, you can be happy in the world. But you can’t be happy in your way. You can only be happy in God’s Way.

Seeking happiness your own way always leads to unhappiness—

"Your way" (and mine too) is just another way of saying "Satan’s way". And Satan’s way can only lead to one place,

Proverbs 14:12 says the same thing in different words,

So, you can be happy—wonderfully happy in this life. But only in God’s way. What’s that?

It starts with the forgiveness of sin, Psalm 32:1,

You will never be happy until you sins are forgiven. And they’ll never be forgiven until you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Once your sins are forgiven, you must stay happy. And you do this by staying away from some things—v.1b; and by following other things—v.2.

Everyone in the world wants to be happy. Even those who say they don’t really do. There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, it’s good. God made us to be happy.

But He made us to be happy His way. Until you seek your happiness in Him and His Word, you will not be happy. You cannot be happy. You can pretend to be happy, but you won’t be. Others may think you’re happy, but you’re not.

So why don’t you take God’s Word for it? He wouldn’t lie to you—"God cannot lie".

So why don’t you? Why don’t you seek your happiness by trusting Christ and obeying His Law?

I hope you do. God bless you. Amen.