Christian Hedonism & Our Battle With Evil

[ 3 ] October 24, 2012 |

john-piperI loved the following excerpt from John Piper’s sermon, “God Is Most Glorified in Us When We Are Most Satisfied in Him.”  Christian Hedonism he says will transform the way we look at evil.

First off, what is Christian Hedonism?  In a nutshell its focus is on enjoying and delighting in God.  Summarized in the last statement of the Westminster Shorter Catechism that says, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  God is our joy.  He is our delight!  In Christ we have a might Savior sent to us by a loving Father, how could we not delight in Him?  And when we delight in Him we please our Father for He wants a love relationship with us.  When He is the source of our satisfaction, He is glorified.

When He is our ultimate desire we are who He made us to be.

Our pleasure and our happiness isn’t self-centered, as some accuse Christian Hedonists of, when you consider this: we place the most value in what we delight in the most.  Right?  We delight in our friends, we delight in our family, and if we delight in God in the upmost we treasure Him.  That’s worship.  That propels us to be that “living sacrifice,” (Romans 12:1).

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) made a statement that encapsulates this well.  He wrote:

Now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed? An understanding of the perfections of God, merely, cannot be the end of the creation; for he had as good not understand it, as see it and not be at all moved with joy at the sight. Neither can the highest end of creation be the declaring God’s glory to others; for the declaring God’s glory is good for nothing otherwise than to raise joy in ourselves and others at what is declared” (Jonathan Edwards,The Miscellanies [Entry Nos. a-z, aa-zz, 1-500], The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 13. Edited by Thomas A. Schafer [New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994], no. 3, p. 200).

And again:

God is glorified not only by his glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. God made the world that he might communicate, and the creature receive, his glory . . . both [with] the mind and the heart. He that testifies his having an idea of God’s glory [doesn’t] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation [i.e., his heartfelt commendation or praise] of it and his delight in it” (no. 448, p. 495).

Passionately, joyfully admiring God is the sole purpose for our existence.

Now how do we apply this to our fight against evil, our battle with our flesh?  Piper says:

Christian Hedonism changes our combat with evil. Jeremiah 2:13 — the Christian Hedonist definition of evil — “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

What’s evil? The suicidal preference of empty wells over the river of delights flowing from heaven. That’s evil!

So the battle against evil is not to constantly say “No, no, no. Bad, bad, bad.” There’s no power in that. The power of the flesh is coming at you, the power of the devil is coming at you, and you’re going to screw up your willpower and make that the victory? You’re not. You’re not.

One thing will give you the victory: Faith is the victory that overcomes the world. And faith is a being satisfied in all that God is for us in Jesus Christ. You’ve got to stoke that engine every morning so that the evils that are clawing at you lose its fangs. You can’t have me, I’ve seen Jesus this morning. Lust, you can’t have me. Greed, you can’t have me. Fear of man, you can’t have me. Bitterness and anger, you can’t have me. I’ve seen Jesus this morning.

The battle against evil is totally transformed by Christian Hedonism.

We don’t have to focus on the “nos” we encounter on life when we can look upon our ultimate “Yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20).  I’m reminded of Hebrews as the author wraps up talking about the great hall of fame of faith.  “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Amen.

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Category: Faith

About the Author ()

Shane Vander Hart is the founder and editor-in-chief of Caffeinated Thoughts.  He is also the President of 4:15 Communications, LLC, a social media & communications consulting/management firm.  He is a communications director for American Principles Project’s Preserve Innocence Initiative.  Prior to this Shane spent 20 years in youth ministry serving in church, parachurch, and school settings.  He has also served as an interim pastor and is a sought after speaker and pulpit fill-in.  Shane has been married to his wife Cheryl since 1993 and they have three kids.  Shane and his family reside near Des Moines, IA.  You can connect with Shane on Facebook or follow him on Twitter and Google +.
  • http://twitter.com/kevinsubra Kevin Subra

    Not a fan of Piper’s extra-biblical “Christian hedonism” theme. Not a normal or Biblical use of this terminology. Hedonism is always bad in Scripture. Here’s a good article that summarizes objections: http://www.thescripturealone.com/BookReview_Piper_Desiring.htm

    • http://shanevanderhart.com/ Shane Vander Hart

      Remove the term “Christian Hedonism” and what are your feelings?

      • Frankie Carpenter Kemp

        Thanks for posting this article, Shane. I read it, and my soul sighed, “Ahhh . . . so beautiful.” Yes. Jesus is beautiful.

        Then . . .I read the comments. No offense, Kevin–I’m sure your heart wants us to be careful and not present the wrong image of what it means to be a follower of Christ. I am sure that you are motivated by your firm belief in staying true to scripture–and that is a good, good thing to be firm about. With that in mind, though, I would ask you to reconsider your evaluation. Does the word “hedonism” or any form of it occur in scripture? If we want to mince words or be so focused on the use of one word, how does the scripture itself use the word? I’m not a Biblical scholar, so I don’t know the answer.

        What I’m driving at, here, is this question: Why do we do that? Why do we want to discount something really beautiful another brother or sister says about what it means to be captivated by the Lord? What is wrong with an all-out, passionate pursuit of our Savior? What is wrong with the image of being enthralled with the Love of Christ? We live here on this earth in fleshly bodies–we understand so much in fleshly terms. Jesus himself used fleshly terms to describe what He had to offer us–living water that we could drink and never thirst again–the bread of life. What is wrong with seeing our relationship with our God as one that completely satisfies every longing we’ve ever had?

        I can’t help but hear Jesus’ words to the pharisees in Matthew 23: “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.”

        Thank the Lord for people who will challenge us and who will search scripture and who will question because telling the Truth is so, so important . . . but let’s not get so wrapped up in mincing words that we end up distracting from a wonderful insight. I don’t think Piper is “extra-biblical.” I think he’s talking about worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth with an all out abandon . . . the kind of devotion that results from realizing how much He loves us and how much He wants to give us of Himself always results in a change in all those other “fleshly” behaviors that destroy our lives.

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