Last night we watched part 4 of the video series we’ve been watching at our Church on Wednesday nights. This series was taped in 2003 (I think) at a youth conference hosted by John Piper’s Church in Minnesota. I already linked to Piper’s site, and the explanation of Christian Hedonism therein, but I wanted to revisit it because for me this concept is drastically reshaping my faith. Here, again, is Piper’s explanation (which is surely better than my own).
In his explanation of why we are not to approach obedience, and all that glorifies God, as a obligatory duty, Piper cites scriptural texts and offers insight to why this is wrong. He points out that throughout the history of the universal church there has been a tendency to state that we are duty-bound to obey God, and any joy that might accompany that is frosting on the cake. Piper used another analogy: joy accompanying your duty is like the head on a beer–it can be blown off and what remains is just the beer. Thus, duty is an obligation on our part, but God is not required to offer us joy in return. Does that sound correct to you? It did to me, and always has. And, frankly, it has made long-term obedience difficult for me.
In approaching our faith in that way we behave like the Pharisees. Worse, we dishonor God. The key points of what Piper is teaching are these:
1. God’s glory is the single most important factor in anything and everything. God is gravely serious about His glory.
2. God demands obedience, but He also rewards obedience. Both the obedience and the reward give Him glory! And they work together. The reward is not something that may or may not happen, and which should be viewed as the head on a beer or frosting on a cake.
3. God does not just want us to obey for the reward; He demands that we do so. For all aspects of obedience, which include the reward, bring glory to God.
“But,” you ask, “isn’t it wrong to seek the reward? Isn’t that too much like the false prosperity gospel?” No. The reward here is not earthly riches but peace, joy, contentment and a stronger spirit. Are we not to seek such things?
3seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
4For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
5Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge,
6and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,
7and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.
8For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. {2 Peter 1:3-8}
I will honestly admit here that this passage has always been something of a stumbling block for me. How many Christians do you know who have attained these goals? And are they constants in their lives? I saw this as impossible for me, and it made me feel awful that I could not achieve that which God told me to achieve. Finding yourself in this position can lead to daily wrestling with yourself and left feeling quite down. When I find myself in that place how capable am I of serving Jesus Christ? Truth be told, if I seek to serve Him from that place it is a flawed service. And don’t be expecting your reward in that case either, because you are not going to receive it. If we approach obedience as the legal means by which we can overcome our faults and grow nearer to God then we will spend our lives failing to reach our goal.
But some will say, “No, no. These texts only describe what reward will result if you act disinterestedly. They do not teach us to actually seek the reward.”
Two answers to this objection:
1) It would be foolish to say, “If you take this pill, I’ll give you a nickel,” if you expect the desire for the nickel to ruin the pill. But Jesus was not foolish. He would not offer blessing to those who obey him and then hold it against us if these blessings motivated our obedience.
2) Even more importantly, there are texts that not only commend that we do good in the hope of future blessing, but command it.
Luke 12:33 says, “Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.” The connection here between alms and having eternal treasure in heaven is not a chance result—it is the explicit purpose: “Make it your aim to have treasure in heaven, and the way to do this is to sell your possessions and give alms.”
And again, Luke 16:9 says, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into eternal habitations.” Luke does not say that the result of using possessions properly is to receive eternal habitations. He says, “Make it your aim to secure an eternal habitation by the way you use your possessions.”
Therefore, a resounding NO to the belief that morality should be inspired more by duty than delight. {John Piper on Christian Hedonism}
Here’s another point: how many among the lost will look at us and our duty-bound drudgery and find it appealing? How many will say, “Giving up all joy to obediently serve God sure sounds good to me”? But, how many of this world will see a believer who possesses joy, peace, contentment to be appealing? And when those worldly folks not only see that, but see you joyfully serving your Lord in obedience what will they say? They cannot call you a hypocrite, a favorite argument against believers (and rightfully so, unfortunately). They cannot attempt to portray God as some heartless beast who demands that His minions serve him and give up all joy in their lives. You are not only reflecting the light of Christ, you are radiating it!
Hebrews 11:6 teaches, “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” You cannot please God if you do not come to him looking for reward. Therefore, faith that pleases God is the hedonistic pursuit of God.
As Christian Hedonists we know that everyone longs for happiness. And we will never tell them to deny or repress that desire. It is never a problem to want to be satisfied. The problem is being satisfied too easily. We believe that everyone who longs for satisfaction should no longer seek it from money or power or lust, but should come glut their soul-hunger on the grace of God. We will bend all our effort, by the Holy Spirit, to persuade people
* that they can be happier in giving than receiving (Acts 20:35);
* that they should count everything as loss for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus their Lord (Philippians 3:8);
* that the aim of all of Jesus’ commandments is that their joy be full (John 15:11);
* that if they delight themselves in the Lord he will give them the desire of their heart (Psalm 37:4);
* that there is great gain in godliness with contentment (1 Timothy 6:6);
* and that the joy of the Lord is their strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
We will not try to motivate anyone with appeals to mere duty. We will tell them that in God’s presence is full and lasting joy (Psalm 16:11).and our only duty is to come to him, seeking this pleasure.
Why is it so hard to give up those worldly things which bring us pleasure? Because we want to be happy. We want to enjoy life. What the believer learns, through the Spirit’s revelation, is that the things of the world are fleeting, empty and do not bring true happiness. So are we to stop seeking happiness once we receive Jesus Christ in faith? No! It is in our nature to seek out happiness. The difference is where we seek and from whence we obtain it. Ours is to be a lasting happiness, not a fleeting one. We are to seek it at the bosom of Jesus Christ, not in the sinful offerings of Satan that are found in this world. Hedonism is merely seeing after satisfaction, and it is viewed negatively because it is always coupled with worldly things. John Piper wants us to be Christian Hedonists because God instructs us to be, and because it is the source of so many rewards/blessings. If you seek out your satisfaction from God then you will have it, and you will have it in spades. Obedience and servitude become the source of your satisfaction. Rather than finding satisfaction with worldly hedonism, you find it in Christian Hedonism. The rewards of serving Him are that you will obey, you will find deeper peace, you will find deeper contentment and you will want to do it always. This is not a route to perfection on earth, for there is no such way. But it is a better way that what I have known before.
I have always believed that we have to obey and serve. Period. Sure, God said we would be rewarded, but Jesus died for me, and if I live Him I should give up everything and serve him as my obligatory duty. Doesn’t sound very rewarding, does it. And it doesn’t sound like a recipe for happiness either. This approach can be backed up with scripture, but it’s not the whole story. I see this approach as something akin to laboring in a salt mine for the rest of my life. “Read your Bible daily, because it’s the law! Stop doing what you enjoy and serve Christ, because you must. Don’t you worry about being happy because He will take care of you. Just do your work, and that work will set you free.” Goodness, that sounds like a Communist state, not the Kingdom of God!
Instead of giving up the search for happiness, simply turn it from worldly things to God. If God IS the source of your joy then of course you should continue seeking happiness and satisfaction. In fact, God tells you to do so. And if this pattern leads to my happiness then bully for me, but more importantly it glorifies God Almighty!
