Jonathan Edwards, Christian Hedonism, and the Glory of God

[Music] it is my great honor and pleasure that's an okay word pleasure to introduce to you dr. paster chancellor professor john piper here is her older brother and the Lord to help point us a little clearer to Jesus so will you join me in welcoming him thank you Mark and thank you all especially those of you in overflow let's pray Jesus you said I am the door whoever enters by me will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture and so that's where I find myself now saved and going in and out and Ian right now to this pulpit to enjoy pasture as you feed me and I pray that we would feast on you together so give us pasture lord give us still waters and and green pastures and satisfy our souls on yourself I ask this in Jesus name Amen 72 times in the Book of Ezekiel God says that he does everything he does that you may know that I am the Lord 10 more times he simply says I am the Lord whether it's terrible punishments or thrilling salvation the aim is the same that you may know that I am the Lord Ezekiel 33 29 they will know that I am the Lord when I have made the land a desolation because of all their abominations Ezekiel 20 verse 44 you shall know that i am the lord when i deal with you for my name's sake not according to your evil ways o house of israel so 72 times plus 10 that you may know that I am the Lord that you may know that I am the Lord that you may know that I am the Lord why now we need to reflect on the word Lord for just a moment to get the real force of this you know that when the word Lord occurs in your Old Testament in all caps it's not referring to a title king governor monarch it's referring to a proper name Yahweh or the old King James Jehovah it's not a title it's a name like might Mary and most people have names in the Bible that have meaning like you would name your daughter charity because you hope she grows up to be a compassionate and kind young woman and God gave himself a name not a title a name with a meaning and I'm gonna read you the paragraph where he gives the meaning of his name so that every time in the Bible that you may know that I am the capital L Ord it's like that you may know that I am James which doesn't make any sense at all except that James would have a meaning Yahweh has a meaning so here's the meaning this is if you've got a Bible but you don't I'm sure this is a lecture I suppose but some of you are reaching us great you all have phones this is Exodus chapter 3 verses 13 to 15 then Moses said to God if I come to the people of Israel and say to them the god of your father's has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name what shall I say to them God said to Moses I am Who I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you God also said to Moses say this to the people of Israel Yahweh the God of your father's the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations so the name Yahweh is built on the name the verb I am I am Who I am has sent you tell them that's my name Yahweh therefore when Ezekiel 72 times +10 says God is doing everything that you may know that he is Yahweh he is reminding us over and over and over again never never never forget you're dealing with the God who absolutely is he is who he is he does what he does he wills what he wills he has mercy on whom he will have mercy he hardens whom he will harden he is not owing to anybody for any thing he's not becoming he's not what he is because something went before he's not striving to be something nothing outside himself is shaping him into what he is he just is he's absolutely there forever 72 times don't forget this it's why I do everything I do you must no no no no no no 72 times know this so she was no Ezekiel wanted us to know that the ultimate absolute all important primary reality in the universe that should dominate our consciousness all day long every day is the God who is Yahweh I am Who I am and do what I do when you look at your watch you should be aware this watch is dependent on God and God is not dependent when you look at the starry skies at night you should think God flung them out with his little finger and they are utterly totally every millisecond dependent on his willing them to be and he is not the least dependent on this universe to be when you look at each other your family you should think that person is absolutely totally dependent for being on God and God is not the least shaped by them we are dependent on God sustained by God designed by God governed by God and he is not dependent or sustained or designed or governed by us at all and Ezekiel says 72 times don't you forget that that's my name that's my name and you should know it know it know it know it the point of Ezekiel saying over and over and over again you should know that I'm Yahoo you shall know that I'm Yahweh you shall know that I'm Yahweh 79 + 72 + 10 is that God is absolutely the point of every sing he is the supreme reality in the universe in America in Texas in your family in your bedroom in your kitchen in your heart Yahweh is his name he absolutely is he is more important more pervasive more relevant more glorious more beautiful more satisfying than anything the reason Jonathan Edwards has a dominant place in my life is because outside the Bible no one in the last 50 years has helped me more than Edwards to live in the light of Ezekiel's God entranced vision of life nobody nobody that I've ever read nobody that I've ever met who is living is more god besotted than Jonathan Edwards nobody that I know nobody that I've ever heard of is more God entranced as he looks at the world then Jonathan Edwards was and no one has helped me more than Edwards to see and experience the relationship between the supremacy of God and the satisfaction of the soul like Edwards in other words nobody outside the Bible has shaped my Christian hedonism more than Jonathan Edwards the most important one sentence commentary or description definition of Christian hedonism that carries all the radical implications of the pursuit of joy if you think it through is this one God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him in other words the fulfillment of Ezekiel's mandate to live constantly in and under and for the supreme importance and centrality and glory of God's absolute being the fulfillment of that vision by Ezekiel will not happen in the life of anyone who is half-hearted about the pursuit of your joy in God few people if any have made this clearer than Edwards here's the key quote I would rank this in the top three quotes that have impacted me from Edwards God glorifies himself toward the creature in two ways one by appearing to their understanding two in communicating himself to their hearts and in their rejoicing in and delighting in and enjoying the manifestation which he makes of himself God is glorified not only by his joy his glory 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 his glory is then Seve by the whole soul both by the understanding and the heart that's the seed and the summary of Christian hedonism here's the key sentence God is glorified not only by his glories being seen so when you read your Bible or you look at the Stars and you see the radiance of God's beauty and you write a poem or a sentence or a theological treatise about it that's good and to some degree reflects God's glory and if you feel little about what you just wrote you rob him you dishonor him he gets half his glory your head half it's not a saving half by the way because the devil can do that he can't do the other half once you plant this seed all I do is make it rhyme God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in God once once you plant that in that seed in your mind and water it with a little reflection the implications for your life they spring up and grow in every direction like branches laden with delicious fruit for example here's Edwards persons need not and ought not that word ought there is right at the heart of the meaning of Christian hedonism persons need not and ought not set any bounds to their spiritual and gracious appetites rather they ought to be endeavouring by all possible ways to inflame their desires and to obtain more spiritual pleasures and ever to promote spiritual appetites by laying yourself in the way of allurement that needs a lecture take that phrase home tonight lay yourself in the way of allurement there is no such thing as excess in our taking of the spiritual food there is no such virtue as temperance in spiritual feasting it's not a virtue to have limited appetite spiritually it's just a disease of our church's appetites for Jesus are so constricted they're so limited and appetites for the world are massive and being cultivated every day by every media possible here's his implication for preaching I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers affections is this is an 18th century word for in his vocabulary spiritual emotions don't treat them as some kind of ethereal something other than real happiness real pleasure real joy real hate real gratitude real hope real fear this constellation of this this thing in here is a desire factory it's a longing fact it's an emotion factory and there are dozens of emotions with all kinds of extensions to them I'll start that sentence over again I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my ears as high as I possibly can provided that they are affected with nothing but truth and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with like dopes smile when preaching on hell and and don't frown when celebrating the glories of heaven bring your heart and your whole bearing into what it's his word agreeableness to the nature of what you are affected with and then you can lift the affections as high as possible provided they are rooted in truth and conformable to the nature of what you are being affected by that's really a good sentence for every preacher my thesis here is that n words is a Christian hedonist so I posed the question my answer is yes so a Christian hedonist brief definition Christian hedonist is a person who lives to maximize the depth and the height and the duration of joy in God in all the ways that God in Christ has made it possible for us to do we live we live to maximize our joy in God in its depths and Heights and duration in all the ways that God in Christ has made it possible for us to pursue that's a Christian hedonist and my contention is that not only is he a Christian hedonist Jonathan Edwards but that he is one of the most God be sought heed God and for all God and tranced God centered Christian hedonist who ever lived and that even though he was a mere New England pastor who died 260 years ago who never traveled outside of New England got voted out of his church after 23 years of ministry served as a missionary to a handful of Indians for the last seven years of his life died at age 54 only 300 books in his library not hundred thousand [Applause] he is worthy of our attention and that's what we're going to do is pay attention to Edwards now for the next little while here's the way I would like to pay attention to Edwards and his worthiness to be listened to I want to hear him respond to two criticisms that I have heard from people to the effect that he was not a Christian hedonist two arguments against my thesis so I'm gonna let him respond and then secondly I want to hear his response to six or seven criticisms of me and my Christian hedonism instead of me defending me none of that Edwards defend me tonight okay that's that's the plan so here's number one two arguments against his being a Christian hedonist the two arguments are these number one he criticized a life devoted to self-love that's argument number one argument number two he promoted a life devoted to quote disinterested love of God disinterested love of god that's a 18th century phrase now the problem with the first argument is that Edwards uses the term self-love in two senses at least not just one approving of one and disapproving of the other and in the approving of one definition he shows himself to be a Christian hedonist and the problem with the second argument is that what you think in your head as a typical 21st century person unless you're schooled in 18th century thought by the phrase disinterested love is not what he meant by it probably okay so that let me take those one at a time and let him solve the issue for us first the self-love issue Edwards uses the term self-love neg actively disapprovingly when he gives it the meaning of selfishness meaning a narrowing down of what pleases us to private pleasures that exclude your happiness from my happiness so if I can be happy and step on you to get there not a problem just so I get happy that's narrow constricted exploitive self-love and Edwards hates it and criticizes it so here's what he says negative sense he says that people who are governed by self love quote place their happiness in good things that are confined or limited to themselves to the exclusion of others this is selfishness this is the thing most clearly and directly intended by that self-love which the scripture condemns and of course no one should live that way but then he explains another meaning of the term self-love which shows that he's a Christian hedonist here's what he asks quote whether or not a man ought to love God more than himself that's the question he poses whether or not a man ought to love God more than himself here's his answer self-love taken in the most extensive sense and love to God are not properly capable of being compared with one another for they are not opposites self love is only a capacity for enjoying or taking delight in anything now surely it is improper to say that our love to God is superior to our general capacity of delighting in anything it's like ask this is me talking now it's like asking should my happiness be in God should my happiness in God be more intense than my happiness it's like asking should I love God more than I love does their nonsense questions and they are nonsense questions because they attempt to contrast to things that are not distinct the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of happiness in God you can't ask which of those is stronger it's not a reasonable question it's a nonsense question so self love is rejected by Edwards as evil when it means the confinement of our desire for happiness to our private self exalting benefits but when it means the love of happiness without any confinement and with God as its chief object expanding to include others in it then self love is not only permitted it is necessary to an eternal life of joy that the Bible promises so this the self love that Edwards approves is desiring your greatest happiness and finding it in God and all that he is for us in Christ which is exactly what a Christian hedonist believes now that doesn't make any sense you need to write on a question and say say that again or whatever but that's my answer to the first objection that Edwards disapproved of a life of self-love therefore he can't be a Christian hedonist and my answer is he disapproved of one kind of self-love he approved of the other kind and the other kind is what makes him a Christian hedonism because the other kind defines self-love as the pursuit of your happiness and you maximize it by finding it in God here's the answer to the second question now the second argument against his being a Christian hedonist namely that he commended a life of disinterested love to God which sure sounds like to most modern ears mine anyway sounds like you're supposed to love God without pursuing any interest any benefit and enjoy any reward from him and Edward shocks us out of our misunderstanding of that phrase by using another one namely disinterested delight which is a total oxymoron for most modern ears like bored enthusiasm sad happiness right disinterested delight like he doesn't even crack a smile when he uses that phrase that makes as much sense and to his 18th century philosophical contemporaries as anything why would that be it just shows how careful you have to be when reading things outside your little world and you think they look anti-christian hedonist how slow you need to be to jump to that conclusion so here's the quote from religious affections where he talks about disinterested delight what in the world as it is with love the love of the same so it is with their joy and spiritual delight and pleasure the first foundation of it the first foundation of your spiritual delight is not any consideration or conception of your interest in divine things but it primarily consists in the sweet entertainment that your minds have in the view or contemplation of the divine and holy beauty of these things as they are in themselves so disinterested love to God cannot be contrary to Christian hedonism because it consists in the sweet entertainment that the mind has as it contemplates God's beauty if you took away the sweetness and the delight there would be nothing left of the essence of love for God wonder if you'd agree with that I bet some of you don't so whatever words means when he commends love that is disinterested is that we love God that is delight in God enjoy God find satisfaction in God as our supreme treasure first and foundationally because of his intrinsic worth and beauty not because of any benefits other than that delight like health wealth and prosperity Christian hedonism abominates the prosperity gospel first criticism I got when I wrote my first article in his magazine in 1970 something was from a missions leader in California who said here just another American expression of the old prosperity gospel I said you didn't read it you didn't read it what he's saying here is if your delight your satisfaction your happiness your joy in God is not in God but only the kickback of health the kickback of the marriage that works the kickback of kids that followed Jesus you don't love God you love your kids you love you wife you love your job you love your fame and you're an idolaters so this is not part of the prosperity gospel this is an axe to the root really radical sharp axe to the root of the prosperity gospel because it says God is glorified when we are satisfied in him and not his gifts which is why suffering and sacrifice and death are the way God chooses for many of his children to glorify him most because they find full of satisfaction in him at that very moment so my conclusion on this first part namely that there's these two arguments brought against Edwards oetiker as a Christian he knows that he he renounced a life of self-love and he promoted a life of disinterested God both of those arguments collapse when you listen to Edwards when you learn how to read and watch how he unpacks each of those phrases in a radically Christian hedonist way so here's the here's the last section of this talk namely what help can Edwards to John Piper who over the years has listened as criticisms come against Christian hedonism does Edwards help me answer those criticisms and the answers yes and I want you to listen to him and and in the process I think your understanding of Christian hedonism and his role in it will become clearer objection number one and will I don't even see when I started here but will tick these off as quickly as we can there's six or seven of them and they go by pretty fast so hang on write your questions down objection one doesn't Christian hedonism God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him doesn't Christian hedonism make me central in salvation doesn't it put me at the bottom of my joy and make me the focus of the universe Edwards answers with a very penetrating distinction between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the true Christian here goes like this this is the difference between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the true Saint the hypocrite rejoices in himself self is the first foundation of his joy the true Saint rejoices in God true Saints have their minds in the first place inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God this is the spring of all their delights the cream of all their pleasures but the dependence of the affections of the hypocrite is in a contrary order they first rejoice that they are made much of by God and then on that ground he seems a sort lovely to them that's devastating that is devastating I mean I've grown up I've administered for the last 50 years in you know in a world where self-esteem it's kind of faded in the background now but for for decades it was the motif of counseling it was the motif of Education it was the motif of incarceration fixing it was just it was the air everybody breathe and God was made a servant to it and the Cross was turned into an exaltation of it and Edwards just slices it to pieces and saves us he saves us read that last sentence again the hypocrite first rejoice that they are made much of by God and then on that ground he seems a sort lovely to them that's totally upside down I will love you provided you are making much of me which means whose God that's his answer to my first objection doesn't it make me central emphatically it does not number two won't this emphasis of christianism on pleasure play into the central corruption of our age the unbounded pursuit of personal ease and comfort and sensual pleasures won't this emphasis soften our resistance to sin I like these objections I wrote them I feel them I feel the dangers of them I know how deceitful my heart is there are many Christians who think stoicism is a good antidote to sensuality and we live in an age drowning in sensuality just turn on any program and if the program isn't the ads are drowning sensuality and many people think stoicism is a good antidote Paul emphatically in Colossians 2:23 said it will never work it will never work willpower religion will not work against the flesh and the reason it fails is that the power of sin comes from its promise of pleasure nobody sins out of duty we sin because sin promises pleasure and it is meant to be defeated by the promise of a superior pleasure in God not a religion of real power it will work wilt our religion even when it succeeds fails because the will gets the glory it produces legalists not lovers Edwards saw the powerlessness of this approach and here's what he said we come with double forces against the wicked to persuade them to a godly life the common argument is the profitable nests of religion but alas the wicked man is not in pursuit of profit his pleasure he seeks now then we will fight them with their own weapons in other words Edward says the pursuit of pleasure in God is not only not a compromise with the sensuality of the world it's the only weapon that can defeat it because it produces lovers of God not legal as who boast in their willpower if you love holiness and if you weep over the moral collapse of American culture you will do well to get to know Edwards vision of the power of the pleasure of God as the acts laid to the root of the promises of sin you tried to raise teenagers wilt our religion will not take hold it will last about as long as they're in your house they've got to love God a miracle has to happen they gotta love holiness they got to delight in him above everything the world is throwing at them so my answer is no Christian hedonism does not play into the sensual corruptions of our culture it points to the one power that provides God exalting freedom namely the promise of superior pleasure in God objection number three surely contrition sorrow for sin is a painful thing and will be undermined by the stress on seeking our own pleasure surely the beginning of revival is broken hearted contrition for our sin but you seem to make the awakening of delight the beginning the answer to this objection is that no one can feel brokenhearted for not treasuring God until that person tastes the pleasure of having God as their treasure that's a complicated sentence maybe I better say it again no one can feel brokenhearted for not treasuring God which is what contrition should be not treasuring God you've treasured other things more than God no one can feel brokenhearted for not treasuring God until that person tastes the pleasure of having God as his treasure you can't feel remorse for not having what you don't want I know this sounds paradoxical pleasure makes the pain of broken heartedness possible the sort of marketing pleasure in God makes the pain of broken heartedness for not having the pleasure possible you'd never recognize that otherwise in order to bring people to the sorrow of contrition you must first bring them to see God as their supreme delight so that they can regret that he hasn't been so let me read Edwards this is where I you know when you when you read somebody who's thought a hundred miles ahead of you on almost everything it's wonderful wonderful though repentance be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God's excellency and mercy but the apprehension of excellency and mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure and it's impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God and his willingness to be merciful to us and love us and not be affected with the pleasure at the thoughts of it but this is the very affection that begets true repentance how much so ever a paradox it may seem it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow so that the more of the sorrow the more pleasure there are people in the world who have gone very deep with God and we need to listen to them this is astonishing and true what he just said if you have lived long with Christ and are aware of your own indwelling sin you will have found it to be so yes there is contrition yes there are tears of remorse and broken heartedness I dare say every day but they flow from a new taste of the soul for the pleasures at God's right hand that you have scorned and if you don't taste them you won't feel remorse for scorning them I don't know how to make it clearer right now this is really important for you for all of us so no gospel contrition is not undermined by Christian hedonism it is made possible by revealing what we missed objection number four surely elevating the pursuit of joy to such an importance as you do Piper will overturn the teaching of Jesus about self-denial how can you affirm a passion for pleasure as the driving force of the Christian life and at the same time embrace the teaching of Jesus about self-denial Edwards turns this objection right on its head so did Jesus so many people read mark 8:34 he would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me period stop cross Behr suffered deny period like wait a minute there's another verse for foreground he who would save his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake in the Gospels saved it what kind of an argument is that you wanna you want to save your life lose it that's a strategy for saving it Jesus isn't interested in sending people to hell he came to save so lose it now Edwards turns this objection in his own way on its head like this he argues that self-denial not only does not contradict the quest for joy but in fact destroys the root of sorrow and paves the way for joy here's though here's the quote self-denial will also be reckoned among the troubles of the godly yes it is but whoever has tried self-denial can give in his testimony that they never experienced greater pleasure and Joy's then after great acts of self-denial self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow and is nothing else but the lancing of a Grievous and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation you've tasted this you've tasted this you're sitting there at the computer right pornography is just one click away everything in you 30% of you women all of you Meno I'm talking about there's at least that's what I've read know anything about women I've never been more so you're just a millisecond away women out of curiosity man out of lust just pure lust you'd that far away and God shows up and you sever that craving for worldly two-bit half pleasures and he triumphs for you and you lose it you lose the pleasure sleep don't think self-denial is about making you miserable it's about saving you objection number five becoming a Christian adds more trouble to life and brings persecutions reproaches suffering even death witness a week ago it is misleading therefore to say that the essence of being a Christian is joy there are overwhelming losses there are overwhelming sorrows in the Christian life Piper get a life this would be a compelling objection in a world like ours so full of suffering so full of hostility to Christianity if God were not sovereign and God were not good and God were not wise Edwards is unwavering in his biblical belief God designs all the afflictions of the godly for the increase of their everlasting joy say that again Edwards argues God designs all the afflictions of the godly for the increase of their everlasting joy he puts it in a striking way when he says this religion meaning Christianity brings no new troubles upon a man but what have more pleasures than trouble religion brings no new troubles upon a man except those troubles that have more pleasure than trouble in other words the only troubles that God permits in the lives of Christians are those that will bring more pleasure than trouble with them when all things are considered he cites four passages of scripture number 1 Matthew 5:11 blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven James chapter 1 count it all joy my brothers when you meet various trials for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness Acts chapter 5 verse 41 then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and Hebrews 10 34 you joyfully joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one in other words yes becoming a Christian adds more trouble to your life it does we should never win people to Christ by promising them less trouble we should tell them no count on more not less more count the cost yes becoming a Christian means more trouble and brings persecutions reproaches suffering and Jesus said some of you they will kill this is not unexpected alright if you think Christians being killed is unexpected you just don't read your Bible or don't take it seriously we better start taking it seriously yes there are overwhelming losses and sorrows but the pursuit of infinite pleasure in God and the confidence that Christ purchased it for us does not contradict these sufferings but carries them carries them objection number six doesn't the elevation of joy to such a supreme position lead away from the humility and brokenness that ought to mark the Christian does it have the flavor of triumphalism that very thing that Edwards disapproved of in the revival excesses of his own day it could be taken that way Christian hedonism could be taken that way all truths can be distorted and misused but if this happens it will not be the fault of Jonathan Edwards the God enthralled vision of Jonathan Edwards does not make a person presumptuous it makes him meek listen to these beautiful words I I think this is probably just about the most beautiful paragraph he ever wrote I can remember reading in in Germany from 71 in a rocking chair I can smell the book because it was a very very old book from the 17th 18th century all gracious affections are a sweet aroma to Christ that fill the soul with a Christian heavenly sweetness and fragrance see they are brokenhearted affections a truly Christian love either to man or God is a humble brokenhearted love the desires of the saints however earnest our humble desires their hope is a humble hope their joy even when it is unspeakable and full of glory is a humble brokenhearted joy I remember stopping I remember stopping when I read that thinking I've never had that category in my mind at all brokenhearted joy I've just never had that category in my head brokenhearted joy and there it was and I thought yeah I mean without that we are going to be triumph allistic we was strutting through the world till it be would be happy in Jesus and the flavour about it will be just all wrong it'd be all wrong even when it is unspeakable and full of glory it is a humble brokenhearted joy and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit more like a little child more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior now sensitive point I don't presume or claim that Edwards lived up to his teachings he himself would not have claimed that he lived up to his teachings no preacher lives up to his preachings if he does he's not preaching high enough Edwards fell seriously short on the issue of slavery he owned a slave and this has undermined his usefulness to many people and it is a sadness for those of us who love him wouldn't it be for you if you found out one of your heroes was not all you thought he was but this paragraph right here seems to me to contain seeds of broken heartedness for such failures the ones he didn't recognize the ones we do and these seeds are deeply embedded in his christian hedonism which leads finally to the last objection Piper you've talked a long time tonight well where's the cross of Jesus where's justification by faith alone where's the blood where's regeneration by the spirit the answer is that the wrath absorbing death of Jesus Christ crucified we call it propitiation the wrath absorbing death of Jesus Christ crucified and the divine act of God becoming 100% for us on the basis of Christ through faith alone we call that justification and the creation of a new heart in us a heart of faith which we call regeneration all of that Edwards makes plain is the great and indispensable foundation of eternal happiness with God so here's the closing quote and I'll be done the redeemed the redeemed have all their objective good in God God Himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption he is the highest good in the sum of all good which Christ purchased God is the inheritance of the Saints he is the portion of their souls God is their wealth and treasure their food their life their dwelling placed their ornament and diadem and their everlasting honor and glory the glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be forever will forever entertain the minds of the Saints and the love of God will be their everlasting feast the redeemed will enjoy other things they will enjoy angels and will enjoy one another but that which they shall enjoy in angels or in each other or anything else whatsoever that will yield them delight and happiness will be what will be seen of God in them that's what Christ died for that God would be eternally and supremely glorified through the saints being eternally and supremely satisfied in him that's the goal of Christian hedonism that's the goal of Edwards that's my goal I believe it's the goal of God in all of redemptive history so father as we turn now to think more together in questions and answers come apply these things to us this is not a mere we're academics exercise this is an encounter with biblical reality that says we do not glorify you if we are not satisfied in you above everything else in the world this is really serious so come work this in your people by your miraculous spirit I pray in Jesus name Amen what are the top three things that the Western church needs to change to reach an increasingly skeptical world and it doesn't have to be the top three but what off you've your head is something that the church needs to change to reach an increasingly skeptical well I'm not sure the world is increasingly skeptical I think it's always been deeply deeply skeptical it has new forms you're thinking America when you say that because America used to be such a predominantly white Protestant dominated reality it's not anymore it's over the story's over and we're waking up from the from the dream world of being a thinking we're not a footnote in world history we are a footnote so that's my first responses the second thing is become Christian hedonists I think you know we were at the I follow up on the debate with the panel there was concern on the panel or expressed that since you don't like the word fun what's your response to Christians who think to people who think Christians are duds and they don't have a good time I don't I don't think very many people are in Hell today because we don't have good parties I think a lot of people are inhaled today because we don't love well I mean seriously well parties don't save people come on give me a break we people are not brought to their senses by watching Christians click their heels they are brought to their senses by watching Christians lay down their lives for other people so let's do more of that I've got a new word for you the next time we have our dialogue instead of fun I'm gonna use the phrase sweet entertainment because I reckon you won't first work Jonathan any 18th century that's all I mean sweet entertainment how do you grow desire to be alert by God and kill shallow desires how do you grow desire to be a lord you know you know pray and read your Bible can I faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God doesn't just mean at the beginning of life it means all the way through life and faith according to John 6:35 is a coming to God to be satisfied in him in the bread of life who comes to me shall never thirst who believes in me shall never hunger and therefore if that's what faith is and faith comes by hearing then we need to listen everyday to the Word of God or Galatians 3:5 says does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you which is what we need to happen right if does he who supplies the spirit view works miracles among you do so excuse me do so by hearing with faith or by works of the law and the answer is hearing with faith hearing what hearing the Word of God so I don't know any other answer than the good old fashioned answers set aside an hour every morning or whatever you can and linger long meditatively and prayerfully crying out to God open my eyes to see wonderful things because if you see the wonderful things that are here your affections will be awakened if you don't see them they won't awaken your affections so prayer is what you you you pore over over this book may I add a word you may it's your party I will say sweet entertainment I will say I will say the same you just said but I'll use a different passage seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness all these things will be at it but here's the key for wherever your treasure is there you will find your heart so if you invest in your treasure in seeking God and who he is and what he has done for you and how he has changed your life the allure will be there if you invest your treasure in something else Fielder will be there where you invest your treasure there you'll find your heart there there okay well one out of two with him this weekend what what do you say to people struggling to shun worldliness and find satisfaction in God related question but what do you say in fact it's the same question okay then we're skipping no no no no no no no it gives me a chance to go back and clarify lest I was too hard on freak on willpower okay so I really dumped I got angry at willpower religion because Paul does in Colossians 2:23 however he does say kill sin you know if you live according to flesh you will die but if by the spirit you kill all sin that's not a gentle passage kill it so if it's in starting to creep up on you slit its throat which is which is which is why the the one weapon in the armor in in Ephesians six is is a sword it's the one offensive weapon it's the only weapon you killed things with right you don't kill people with your shield or your helmet in head but a reporter but you can't you can't you can't kill a reporter with your helmet but you can stick in so the if your what was the sentence again she said he said it's on the how do you you're struggling to what was the word something tion-tion-tion judge yes okay so like this and this is a this is a promise and you stick it you stick it with the promise of God and there is a sense of really strong willing at that moment I'm willing I'm not just passively saying give me more satisfaction give me more satisfaction I'm actually opposing my sin so I don't want to be unbiblical in my over emphasis on opposing willpower and again it is my party I'll add one more cause often we are told to stand and fight and stand against him but we're also told to flee from certain temptations to there comes a time where instead of standing and turn and run because you don't need to linger in front of the computer yep favorite book by Jonathan Edwards and why say that again favorite book by Jonathan Edwards and why related question also in here if someone wants to start reading Edwards where do they start yeah well Joe Rigney should answer the question you know the header is better than I do teaches it best name the most important book I ever read by Edwards was the end for which God created the world because it shaped the whole worldview the end for which God created the world the most the most practically convicting and moving book is the religious affections if you want to start with a book that's where I'd start I'd start with the religious affections it will devastate you you'll wonder if you're a Christian when you're done which is which isn't altogether bad provided God His mercy and rescues you from the pit of of self-doubt that it creates if you want to start with slower it's hard a lot of people don't read 400 page looks and his sermons just go online all everything ever ever is ever wrote is available online and and find a sermon with an intriguing title like like you know don't resist any appetite for Jesus or something in reading it'll take you 15-20 minutes to read it that's what I'd do if you don't want to do a big book alright I'm touched by this question what advice would you give if I have no joy in Bible reading in prayer yeah we all are in that situation from time to time so don't consider yourself unique this is not like oh I got over that season of my life that will never happen that will never happen in this life you'll you'll have seasons where every line shines like you're eating a feast and you'll have seasons where the lines seem as blank as they can possibly be for days on end maybe weeks on in maybe months on end so that's the first thing to say is you're not you're not a unique kind of person you're in a sad moment or season and what what I would say is don't be content to settle for willpower religion I can still read my Bible I can still pray and feelings don't matter they do matter they matter a lot so IOUs is what I I use Brian has it written in his Bible I haven't written in my head I pray incline my heart to your testimonies that's I I pray open my eyes that I may see wonderful things that's oh I pray unite my heart to fear your name that's you and I pray satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love that's s IOUs and they're all quotes from the Psalms which means Psalms are books that connect with our miseries and so linger over the song in praise ass amen okay how can one delight in God more than in the kickbacks help maybe if that doesn't seem like something that's rational or possible pick a person in your life spouse child whatever would would you say husbands would you say to your wife I just love you so much so that you'll make me a nice supper tonight she won't like that she'll say I don't think that's what love is I love you so much so that you'll fix me a nice supper tonight or that she'll be ready for sex tonight so if you know that you feel that she wants to be cherished because she is she not because she's gonna do something for you fix you a meal be good in bed work with you on some project she just can you just can I feel cherished by you and if you get that you can get that with God can't you you can get that but that so I'm sure if Jo who wrote a good book on things of Earth to answer that question better than I do he would say that all those gifts are not primarily designed by God as temptations because there they're going to be there in the new heavens and the new earth in some form like our bodily existence with all the benefits of bodily existence our is not going to be wiped out in the eschaton it's gonna be there well why if it's just trouble well it's not just trouble it's Revelation God means to be known better because of bacon for those of you keep so sure he's turkey bacon go ahead so did yell I just tried it this morning I first got my cereal did the best I could with the cereal they had over at the garden in which is pretty not what I eat at home and then when I was done and I had my back berries and my blueberries and my Special K and my granola and and and I was done I looked over there and I saw that bacon and I went over and I got three strips of bacon cuz I never eat bacon we don't cook breakfast wheat cereal so I never eat bacon and I just savored that bacon and and my language is i transposed the music of bacon taste to love for God I did here's the one more example cuz this is really where we all are after about a year preaching at Bethlehem in 1980 one of the men in our church he's still there 35 years late he's he's still there and he came up to me and he said I don't have any experience corresponding that your your your emotion talk and your delight talk in your satisfaction talking God that's a it's a foreign language to me I am not that kind of person this is a this is a Scandinavian church and I said I don't believe you you ever I said what do you do in summer for fun and he said guess start where people are right he said well I go to the Boundary Waters Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota tell me about it he said well you go to the Boundary Waters outside this city and you you put out your mat at night with no tent overhead and look into those stars I said whoa Mike Mike that's what I'm talking about that's what I'm talking about can you next time you go up there and you lie down on your back and it's you just before just search sleep and this is a sheet of white and you are drawn out of your little city self to feel something magnificent and big can you just transpose that music up to the maker can you do that just do that try it because that's I think that's the way it's designed I got a whole slew of quotes here from Louis but I won't take the time on this this is really important that all of you learn how to transpose the music of natural pleasures given by God into the music of delight in God if you can't do that you'll remain an idolatry you'll be a spirit a carnal unspiritual person just hitting the ceiling of the of the skies and never breaking through the heavens are telling the glory of God and if you if you only love the heavens you're not going to be saved and if you want a sample of that sort of Edwards read psalm eight what do we do about having mixed motives must my motives for doing something be only God's glory what if I still have remnants of selfishness should I wait until my motives are totally pure or do I accept that as part of being human you should not wait and you should not accept so nobody in this room has pure motives therefore if you wait you'll never do anything but if you say not a problem I'm just human you don't you don't hate sin enough and you'll never sing the song that talks about sin no more save to sin no more you'll never sing that song with tears the way a lot of people do and should so the answer is no you don't wait you move forward repenting all the way and loving the gospel just love in the gospel right I mean what else did he die for except those mixed motives my only hope my only hope of heaven is that my mixed motives are forgiven if I wait until John Piper has a pure motive not doing anything and then some of you know there's personality issues at work here some of you are wired to feel so guilty that you're paralyzed you can hardly move because you feel so bad about knowing what selfishness is still there in your heart and others have you never struggle at all and and and both of you need to move and you move by the gospel the gospel helps the the struggler break free from the paralysis if I'm just so bad I can't do anything right embrace the gospel and you do what you can do and the person who never you know never has any problem at all because they don't feel or don't have any introspective bone in their body they need to read the gospel hear the gospel and know that the gospel in Deitz them and then saves them [Applause] [Music] you

[Music] it is my great honor and pleasure that&#39;s an okay word pleasure to introduce to you dr. paster chancellor professor john piper here is her older brother and the Lord to help point us a little clearer to Jesus so will you join me in welcoming him thank you Mark and thank you all especially those of you in overflow let&#39;s pray Jesus you said I am the door whoever enters by me will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture and so that&#39;s where I find myself now saved and going in and out and Ian right now to this pulpit to enjoy pasture as you feed me and I pray that we would feast on you together so give us pasture lord give us still waters and and green pastures and satisfy our souls on yourself I ask this in Jesus name Amen 72 times in the Book of Ezekiel God says that he does everything he does that you may know that I am the Lord 10 more times he simply says I am the Lord whether it&#39;s terrible punishments or thrilling salvation the aim is the same that you may know that I am the Lord Ezekiel 33 29 they will know that I am the Lord when I have made the land a desolation because of all their abominations Ezekiel 20 verse 44 you shall know that i am the lord when i deal with you for my name&#39;s sake not according to your evil ways o house of israel so 72 times plus 10 that you may know that I am the Lord that you may know that I am the Lord that you may know that I am the Lord why now we need to reflect on the word Lord for just a moment to get the real force of this you know that when the word Lord occurs in your Old Testament in all caps it&#39;s not referring to a title king governor monarch it&#39;s referring to a proper name Yahweh or the old King James Jehovah it&#39;s not a title it&#39;s a name like might Mary and most people have names in the Bible that have meaning like you would name your daughter charity because you hope she grows up to be a compassionate and kind young woman and God gave himself a name not a title a name with a meaning and I&#39;m gonna read you the paragraph where he gives the meaning of his name so that every time in the Bible that you may know that I am the capital L Ord it&#39;s like that you may know that I am James which doesn&#39;t make any sense at all except that James would have a meaning Yahweh has a meaning so here&#39;s the meaning this is if you&#39;ve got a Bible but you don&#39;t I&#39;m sure this is a lecture I suppose but some of you are reaching us great you all have phones this is Exodus chapter 3 verses 13 to 15 then Moses said to God if I come to the people of Israel and say to them the god of your father&#39;s has sent me to you and they asked me what is his name what shall I say to them God said to Moses I am Who I am and he said say this to the people of Israel I am has sent me to you God also said to Moses say this to the people of Israel Yahweh the God of your father&#39;s the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations so the name Yahweh is built on the name the verb I am I am Who I am has sent you tell them that&#39;s my name Yahweh therefore when Ezekiel 72 times +10 says God is doing everything that you may know that he is Yahweh he is reminding us over and over and over again never never never forget you&#39;re dealing with the God who absolutely is he is who he is he does what he does he wills what he wills he has mercy on whom he will have mercy he hardens whom he will harden he is not owing to anybody for any thing he&#39;s not becoming he&#39;s not what he is because something went before he&#39;s not striving to be something nothing outside himself is shaping him into what he is he just is he&#39;s absolutely there forever 72 times don&#39;t forget this it&#39;s why I do everything I do you must no no no no no no 72 times know this so she was no Ezekiel wanted us to know that the ultimate absolute all important primary reality in the universe that should dominate our consciousness all day long every day is the God who is Yahweh I am Who I am and do what I do when you look at your watch you should be aware this watch is dependent on God and God is not dependent when you look at the starry skies at night you should think God flung them out with his little finger and they are utterly totally every millisecond dependent on his willing them to be and he is not the least dependent on this universe to be when you look at each other your family you should think that person is absolutely totally dependent for being on God and God is not the least shaped by them we are dependent on God sustained by God designed by God governed by God and he is not dependent or sustained or designed or governed by us at all and Ezekiel says 72 times don&#39;t you forget that that&#39;s my name that&#39;s my name and you should know it know it know it know it the point of Ezekiel saying over and over and over again you should know that I&#39;m Yahoo you shall know that I&#39;m Yahweh you shall know that I&#39;m Yahweh 79 + 72 + 10 is that God is absolutely the point of every sing he is the supreme reality in the universe in America in Texas in your family in your bedroom in your kitchen in your heart Yahweh is his name he absolutely is he is more important more pervasive more relevant more glorious more beautiful more satisfying than anything the reason Jonathan Edwards has a dominant place in my life is because outside the Bible no one in the last 50 years has helped me more than Edwards to live in the light of Ezekiel&#39;s God entranced vision of life nobody nobody that I&#39;ve ever read nobody that I&#39;ve ever met who is living is more god besotted than Jonathan Edwards nobody that I know nobody that I&#39;ve ever heard of is more God entranced as he looks at the world then Jonathan Edwards was and no one has helped me more than Edwards to see and experience the relationship between the supremacy of God and the satisfaction of the soul like Edwards in other words nobody outside the Bible has shaped my Christian hedonism more than Jonathan Edwards the most important one sentence commentary or description definition of Christian hedonism that carries all the radical implications of the pursuit of joy if you think it through is this one God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him in other words the fulfillment of Ezekiel&#39;s mandate to live constantly in and under and for the supreme importance and centrality and glory of God&#39;s absolute being the fulfillment of that vision by Ezekiel will not happen in the life of anyone who is half-hearted about the pursuit of your joy in God few people if any have made this clearer than Edwards here&#39;s the key quote I would rank this in the top three quotes that have impacted me from Edwards God glorifies himself toward the creature in two ways one by appearing to their understanding two in communicating himself to their hearts and in their rejoicing in and delighting in and enjoying the manifestation which he makes of himself God is glorified not only by his joy his glory 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 his glory is then Seve by the whole soul both by the understanding and the heart that&#39;s the seed and the summary of Christian hedonism here&#39;s the key sentence God is glorified not only by his glories being seen so when you read your Bible or you look at the Stars and you see the radiance of God&#39;s beauty and you write a poem or a sentence or a theological treatise about it that&#39;s good and to some degree reflects God&#39;s glory and if you feel little about what you just wrote you rob him you dishonor him he gets half his glory your head half it&#39;s not a saving half by the way because the devil can do that he can&#39;t do the other half once you plant this seed all I do is make it rhyme God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in God once once you plant that in that seed in your mind and water it with a little reflection the implications for your life they spring up and grow in every direction like branches laden with delicious fruit for example here&#39;s Edwards persons need not and ought not that word ought there is right at the heart of the meaning of Christian hedonism persons need not and ought not set any bounds to their spiritual and gracious appetites rather they ought to be endeavouring by all possible ways to inflame their desires and to obtain more spiritual pleasures and ever to promote spiritual appetites by laying yourself in the way of allurement that needs a lecture take that phrase home tonight lay yourself in the way of allurement there is no such thing as excess in our taking of the spiritual food there is no such virtue as temperance in spiritual feasting it&#39;s not a virtue to have limited appetite spiritually it&#39;s just a disease of our church&#39;s appetites for Jesus are so constricted they&#39;re so limited and appetites for the world are massive and being cultivated every day by every media possible here&#39;s his implication for preaching I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my hearers affections is this is an 18th century word for in his vocabulary spiritual emotions don&#39;t treat them as some kind of ethereal something other than real happiness real pleasure real joy real hate real gratitude real hope real fear this constellation of this this thing in here is a desire factory it&#39;s a longing fact it&#39;s an emotion factory and there are dozens of emotions with all kinds of extensions to them I&#39;ll start that sentence over again I should think myself in the way of my duty to raise the affections of my ears as high as I possibly can provided that they are affected with nothing but truth and with affections that are not disagreeable to the nature of what they are affected with like dopes smile when preaching on hell and and don&#39;t frown when celebrating the glories of heaven bring your heart and your whole bearing into what it&#39;s his word agreeableness to the nature of what you are affected with and then you can lift the affections as high as possible provided they are rooted in truth and conformable to the nature of what you are being affected by that&#39;s really a good sentence for every preacher my thesis here is that n words is a Christian hedonist so I posed the question my answer is yes so a Christian hedonist brief definition Christian hedonist is a person who lives to maximize the depth and the height and the duration of joy in God in all the ways that God in Christ has made it possible for us to do we live we live to maximize our joy in God in its depths and Heights and duration in all the ways that God in Christ has made it possible for us to pursue that&#39;s a Christian hedonist and my contention is that not only is he a Christian hedonist Jonathan Edwards but that he is one of the most God be sought heed God and for all God and tranced God centered Christian hedonist who ever lived and that even though he was a mere New England pastor who died 260 years ago who never traveled outside of New England got voted out of his church after 23 years of ministry served as a missionary to a handful of Indians for the last seven years of his life died at age 54 only 300 books in his library not hundred thousand [Applause] he is worthy of our attention and that&#39;s what we&#39;re going to do is pay attention to Edwards now for the next little while here&#39;s the way I would like to pay attention to Edwards and his worthiness to be listened to I want to hear him respond to two criticisms that I have heard from people to the effect that he was not a Christian hedonist two arguments against my thesis so I&#39;m gonna let him respond and then secondly I want to hear his response to six or seven criticisms of me and my Christian hedonism instead of me defending me none of that Edwards defend me tonight okay that&#39;s that&#39;s the plan so here&#39;s number one two arguments against his being a Christian hedonist the two arguments are these number one he criticized a life devoted to self-love that&#39;s argument number one argument number two he promoted a life devoted to quote disinterested love of God disinterested love of god that&#39;s a 18th century phrase now the problem with the first argument is that Edwards uses the term self-love in two senses at least not just one approving of one and disapproving of the other and in the approving of one definition he shows himself to be a Christian hedonist and the problem with the second argument is that what you think in your head as a typical 21st century person unless you&#39;re schooled in 18th century thought by the phrase disinterested love is not what he meant by it probably okay so that let me take those one at a time and let him solve the issue for us first the self-love issue Edwards uses the term self-love neg actively disapprovingly when he gives it the meaning of selfishness meaning a narrowing down of what pleases us to private pleasures that exclude your happiness from my happiness so if I can be happy and step on you to get there not a problem just so I get happy that&#39;s narrow constricted exploitive self-love and Edwards hates it and criticizes it so here&#39;s what he says negative sense he says that people who are governed by self love quote place their happiness in good things that are confined or limited to themselves to the exclusion of others this is selfishness this is the thing most clearly and directly intended by that self-love which the scripture condemns and of course no one should live that way but then he explains another meaning of the term self-love which shows that he&#39;s a Christian hedonist here&#39;s what he asks quote whether or not a man ought to love God more than himself that&#39;s the question he poses whether or not a man ought to love God more than himself here&#39;s his answer self-love taken in the most extensive sense and love to God are not properly capable of being compared with one another for they are not opposites self love is only a capacity for enjoying or taking delight in anything now surely it is improper to say that our love to God is superior to our general capacity of delighting in anything it&#39;s like ask this is me talking now it&#39;s like asking should my happiness be in God should my happiness in God be more intense than my happiness it&#39;s like asking should I love God more than I love does their nonsense questions and they are nonsense questions because they attempt to contrast to things that are not distinct the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of happiness in God you can&#39;t ask which of those is stronger it&#39;s not a reasonable question it&#39;s a nonsense question so self love is rejected by Edwards as evil when it means the confinement of our desire for happiness to our private self exalting benefits but when it means the love of happiness without any confinement and with God as its chief object expanding to include others in it then self love is not only permitted it is necessary to an eternal life of joy that the Bible promises so this the self love that Edwards approves is desiring your greatest happiness and finding it in God and all that he is for us in Christ which is exactly what a Christian hedonist believes now that doesn&#39;t make any sense you need to write on a question and say say that again or whatever but that&#39;s my answer to the first objection that Edwards disapproved of a life of self-love therefore he can&#39;t be a Christian hedonist and my answer is he disapproved of one kind of self-love he approved of the other kind and the other kind is what makes him a Christian hedonism because the other kind defines self-love as the pursuit of your happiness and you maximize it by finding it in God here&#39;s the answer to the second question now the second argument against his being a Christian hedonist namely that he commended a life of disinterested love to God which sure sounds like to most modern ears mine anyway sounds like you&#39;re supposed to love God without pursuing any interest any benefit and enjoy any reward from him and Edward shocks us out of our misunderstanding of that phrase by using another one namely disinterested delight which is a total oxymoron for most modern ears like bored enthusiasm sad happiness right disinterested delight like he doesn&#39;t even crack a smile when he uses that phrase that makes as much sense and to his 18th century philosophical contemporaries as anything why would that be it just shows how careful you have to be when reading things outside your little world and you think they look anti-christian hedonist how slow you need to be to jump to that conclusion so here&#39;s the quote from religious affections where he talks about disinterested delight what in the world as it is with love the love of the same so it is with their joy and spiritual delight and pleasure the first foundation of it the first foundation of your spiritual delight is not any consideration or conception of your interest in divine things but it primarily consists in the sweet entertainment that your minds have in the view or contemplation of the divine and holy beauty of these things as they are in themselves so disinterested love to God cannot be contrary to Christian hedonism because it consists in the sweet entertainment that the mind has as it contemplates God&#39;s beauty if you took away the sweetness and the delight there would be nothing left of the essence of love for God wonder if you&#39;d agree with that I bet some of you don&#39;t so whatever words means when he commends love that is disinterested is that we love God that is delight in God enjoy God find satisfaction in God as our supreme treasure first and foundationally because of his intrinsic worth and beauty not because of any benefits other than that delight like health wealth and prosperity Christian hedonism abominates the prosperity gospel first criticism I got when I wrote my first article in his magazine in 1970 something was from a missions leader in California who said here just another American expression of the old prosperity gospel I said you didn&#39;t read it you didn&#39;t read it what he&#39;s saying here is if your delight your satisfaction your happiness your joy in God is not in God but only the kickback of health the kickback of the marriage that works the kickback of kids that followed Jesus you don&#39;t love God you love your kids you love you wife you love your job you love your fame and you&#39;re an idolaters so this is not part of the prosperity gospel this is an axe to the root really radical sharp axe to the root of the prosperity gospel because it says God is glorified when we are satisfied in him and not his gifts which is why suffering and sacrifice and death are the way God chooses for many of his children to glorify him most because they find full of satisfaction in him at that very moment so my conclusion on this first part namely that there&#39;s these two arguments brought against Edwards oetiker as a Christian he knows that he he renounced a life of self-love and he promoted a life of disinterested God both of those arguments collapse when you listen to Edwards when you learn how to read and watch how he unpacks each of those phrases in a radically Christian hedonist way so here&#39;s the here&#39;s the last section of this talk namely what help can Edwards to John Piper who over the years has listened as criticisms come against Christian hedonism does Edwards help me answer those criticisms and the answers yes and I want you to listen to him and and in the process I think your understanding of Christian hedonism and his role in it will become clearer objection number one and will I don&#39;t even see when I started here but will tick these off as quickly as we can there&#39;s six or seven of them and they go by pretty fast so hang on write your questions down objection one doesn&#39;t Christian hedonism God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him doesn&#39;t Christian hedonism make me central in salvation doesn&#39;t it put me at the bottom of my joy and make me the focus of the universe Edwards answers with a very penetrating distinction between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the true Christian here goes like this this is the difference between the joy of the hypocrite and the joy of the true Saint the hypocrite rejoices in himself self is the first foundation of his joy the true Saint rejoices in God true Saints have their minds in the first place inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God this is the spring of all their delights the cream of all their pleasures but the dependence of the affections of the hypocrite is in a contrary order they first rejoice that they are made much of by God and then on that ground he seems a sort lovely to them that&#39;s devastating that is devastating I mean I&#39;ve grown up I&#39;ve administered for the last 50 years in you know in a world where self-esteem it&#39;s kind of faded in the background now but for for decades it was the motif of counseling it was the motif of Education it was the motif of incarceration fixing it was just it was the air everybody breathe and God was made a servant to it and the Cross was turned into an exaltation of it and Edwards just slices it to pieces and saves us he saves us read that last sentence again the hypocrite first rejoice that they are made much of by God and then on that ground he seems a sort lovely to them that&#39;s totally upside down I will love you provided you are making much of me which means whose God that&#39;s his answer to my first objection doesn&#39;t it make me central emphatically it does not number two won&#39;t this emphasis of christianism on pleasure play into the central corruption of our age the unbounded pursuit of personal ease and comfort and sensual pleasures won&#39;t this emphasis soften our resistance to sin I like these objections I wrote them I feel them I feel the dangers of them I know how deceitful my heart is there are many Christians who think stoicism is a good antidote to sensuality and we live in an age drowning in sensuality just turn on any program and if the program isn&#39;t the ads are drowning sensuality and many people think stoicism is a good antidote Paul emphatically in Colossians 2:23 said it will never work it will never work willpower religion will not work against the flesh and the reason it fails is that the power of sin comes from its promise of pleasure nobody sins out of duty we sin because sin promises pleasure and it is meant to be defeated by the promise of a superior pleasure in God not a religion of real power it will work wilt our religion even when it succeeds fails because the will gets the glory it produces legalists not lovers Edwards saw the powerlessness of this approach and here&#39;s what he said we come with double forces against the wicked to persuade them to a godly life the common argument is the profitable nests of religion but alas the wicked man is not in pursuit of profit his pleasure he seeks now then we will fight them with their own weapons in other words Edward says the pursuit of pleasure in God is not only not a compromise with the sensuality of the world it&#39;s the only weapon that can defeat it because it produces lovers of God not legal as who boast in their willpower if you love holiness and if you weep over the moral collapse of American culture you will do well to get to know Edwards vision of the power of the pleasure of God as the acts laid to the root of the promises of sin you tried to raise teenagers wilt our religion will not take hold it will last about as long as they&#39;re in your house they&#39;ve got to love God a miracle has to happen they gotta love holiness they got to delight in him above everything the world is throwing at them so my answer is no Christian hedonism does not play into the sensual corruptions of our culture it points to the one power that provides God exalting freedom namely the promise of superior pleasure in God objection number three surely contrition sorrow for sin is a painful thing and will be undermined by the stress on seeking our own pleasure surely the beginning of revival is broken hearted contrition for our sin but you seem to make the awakening of delight the beginning the answer to this objection is that no one can feel brokenhearted for not treasuring God until that person tastes the pleasure of having God as their treasure that&#39;s a complicated sentence maybe I better say it again no one can feel brokenhearted for not treasuring God which is what contrition should be not treasuring God you&#39;ve treasured other things more than God no one can feel brokenhearted for not treasuring God until that person tastes the pleasure of having God as his treasure you can&#39;t feel remorse for not having what you don&#39;t want I know this sounds paradoxical pleasure makes the pain of broken heartedness possible the sort of marketing pleasure in God makes the pain of broken heartedness for not having the pleasure possible you&#39;d never recognize that otherwise in order to bring people to the sorrow of contrition you must first bring them to see God as their supreme delight so that they can regret that he hasn&#39;t been so let me read Edwards this is where I you know when you when you read somebody who&#39;s thought a hundred miles ahead of you on almost everything it&#39;s wonderful wonderful though repentance be a deep sorrow for sin that God requires as necessary to salvation yet the very nature of it necessarily implies delight repentance of sin is a sorrow arising from the sight of God&#39;s excellency and mercy but the apprehension of excellency and mercy must necessarily and unavoidably beget pleasure in the mind of the beholder tis impossible that anyone should see anything that appears to him excellent and not behold it with pleasure and it&#39;s impossible to be affected with the mercy and love of God and his willingness to be merciful to us and love us and not be affected with the pleasure at the thoughts of it but this is the very affection that begets true repentance how much so ever a paradox it may seem it is true that repentance is a sweet sorrow so that the more of the sorrow the more pleasure there are people in the world who have gone very deep with God and we need to listen to them this is astonishing and true what he just said if you have lived long with Christ and are aware of your own indwelling sin you will have found it to be so yes there is contrition yes there are tears of remorse and broken heartedness I dare say every day but they flow from a new taste of the soul for the pleasures at God&#39;s right hand that you have scorned and if you don&#39;t taste them you won&#39;t feel remorse for scorning them I don&#39;t know how to make it clearer right now this is really important for you for all of us so no gospel contrition is not undermined by Christian hedonism it is made possible by revealing what we missed objection number four surely elevating the pursuit of joy to such an importance as you do Piper will overturn the teaching of Jesus about self-denial how can you affirm a passion for pleasure as the driving force of the Christian life and at the same time embrace the teaching of Jesus about self-denial Edwards turns this objection right on its head so did Jesus so many people read mark 8:34 he would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me period stop cross Behr suffered deny period like wait a minute there&#39;s another verse for foreground he who would save his life will lose it and he who loses his life for my sake in the Gospels saved it what kind of an argument is that you wanna you want to save your life lose it that&#39;s a strategy for saving it Jesus isn&#39;t interested in sending people to hell he came to save so lose it now Edwards turns this objection in his own way on its head like this he argues that self-denial not only does not contradict the quest for joy but in fact destroys the root of sorrow and paves the way for joy here&#39;s though here&#39;s the quote self-denial will also be reckoned among the troubles of the godly yes it is but whoever has tried self-denial can give in his testimony that they never experienced greater pleasure and Joy&#39;s then after great acts of self-denial self-denial destroys the very root and foundation of sorrow and is nothing else but the lancing of a Grievous and painful sore that effects a cure and brings abundance of health as a recompense for the pain of the operation you&#39;ve tasted this you&#39;ve tasted this you&#39;re sitting there at the computer right pornography is just one click away everything in you 30% of you women all of you Meno I&#39;m talking about there&#39;s at least that&#39;s what I&#39;ve read know anything about women I&#39;ve never been more so you&#39;re just a millisecond away women out of curiosity man out of lust just pure lust you&#39;d that far away and God shows up and you sever that craving for worldly two-bit half pleasures and he triumphs for you and you lose it you lose the pleasure sleep don&#39;t think self-denial is about making you miserable it&#39;s about saving you objection number five becoming a Christian adds more trouble to life and brings persecutions reproaches suffering even death witness a week ago it is misleading therefore to say that the essence of being a Christian is joy there are overwhelming losses there are overwhelming sorrows in the Christian life Piper get a life this would be a compelling objection in a world like ours so full of suffering so full of hostility to Christianity if God were not sovereign and God were not good and God were not wise Edwards is unwavering in his biblical belief God designs all the afflictions of the godly for the increase of their everlasting joy say that again Edwards argues God designs all the afflictions of the godly for the increase of their everlasting joy he puts it in a striking way when he says this religion meaning Christianity brings no new troubles upon a man but what have more pleasures than trouble religion brings no new troubles upon a man except those troubles that have more pleasure than trouble in other words the only troubles that God permits in the lives of Christians are those that will bring more pleasure than trouble with them when all things are considered he cites four passages of scripture number 1 Matthew 5:11 blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account rejoice and be glad for great is your reward in heaven James chapter 1 count it all joy my brothers when you meet various trials for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness Acts chapter 5 verse 41 then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name and Hebrews 10 34 you joyfully joyfully accepted the plundering of your property since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one in other words yes becoming a Christian adds more trouble to your life it does we should never win people to Christ by promising them less trouble we should tell them no count on more not less more count the cost yes becoming a Christian means more trouble and brings persecutions reproaches suffering and Jesus said some of you they will kill this is not unexpected alright if you think Christians being killed is unexpected you just don&#39;t read your Bible or don&#39;t take it seriously we better start taking it seriously yes there are overwhelming losses and sorrows but the pursuit of infinite pleasure in God and the confidence that Christ purchased it for us does not contradict these sufferings but carries them carries them objection number six doesn&#39;t the elevation of joy to such a supreme position lead away from the humility and brokenness that ought to mark the Christian does it have the flavor of triumphalism that very thing that Edwards disapproved of in the revival excesses of his own day it could be taken that way Christian hedonism could be taken that way all truths can be distorted and misused but if this happens it will not be the fault of Jonathan Edwards the God enthralled vision of Jonathan Edwards does not make a person presumptuous it makes him meek listen to these beautiful words I I think this is probably just about the most beautiful paragraph he ever wrote I can remember reading in in Germany from 71 in a rocking chair I can smell the book because it was a very very old book from the 17th 18th century all gracious affections are a sweet aroma to Christ that fill the soul with a Christian heavenly sweetness and fragrance see they are brokenhearted affections a truly Christian love either to man or God is a humble brokenhearted love the desires of the saints however earnest our humble desires their hope is a humble hope their joy even when it is unspeakable and full of glory is a humble brokenhearted joy I remember stopping I remember stopping when I read that thinking I&#39;ve never had that category in my mind at all brokenhearted joy I&#39;ve just never had that category in my head brokenhearted joy and there it was and I thought yeah I mean without that we are going to be triumph allistic we was strutting through the world till it be would be happy in Jesus and the flavour about it will be just all wrong it&#39;d be all wrong even when it is unspeakable and full of glory it is a humble brokenhearted joy and leaves the Christian more poor in spirit more like a little child more disposed to a universal lowliness of behavior now sensitive point I don&#39;t presume or claim that Edwards lived up to his teachings he himself would not have claimed that he lived up to his teachings no preacher lives up to his preachings if he does he&#39;s not preaching high enough Edwards fell seriously short on the issue of slavery he owned a slave and this has undermined his usefulness to many people and it is a sadness for those of us who love him wouldn&#39;t it be for you if you found out one of your heroes was not all you thought he was but this paragraph right here seems to me to contain seeds of broken heartedness for such failures the ones he didn&#39;t recognize the ones we do and these seeds are deeply embedded in his christian hedonism which leads finally to the last objection Piper you&#39;ve talked a long time tonight well where&#39;s the cross of Jesus where&#39;s justification by faith alone where&#39;s the blood where&#39;s regeneration by the spirit the answer is that the wrath absorbing death of Jesus Christ crucified we call it propitiation the wrath absorbing death of Jesus Christ crucified and the divine act of God becoming 100% for us on the basis of Christ through faith alone we call that justification and the creation of a new heart in us a heart of faith which we call regeneration all of that Edwards makes plain is the great and indispensable foundation of eternal happiness with God so here&#39;s the closing quote and I&#39;ll be done the redeemed the redeemed have all their objective good in God God Himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption he is the highest good in the sum of all good which Christ purchased God is the inheritance of the Saints he is the portion of their souls God is their wealth and treasure their food their life their dwelling placed their ornament and diadem and their everlasting honor and glory the glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be forever will forever entertain the minds of the Saints and the love of God will be their everlasting feast the redeemed will enjoy other things they will enjoy angels and will enjoy one another but that which they shall enjoy in angels or in each other or anything else whatsoever that will yield them delight and happiness will be what will be seen of God in them that&#39;s what Christ died for that God would be eternally and supremely glorified through the saints being eternally and supremely satisfied in him that&#39;s the goal of Christian hedonism that&#39;s the goal of Edwards that&#39;s my goal I believe it&#39;s the goal of God in all of redemptive history so father as we turn now to think more together in questions and answers come apply these things to us this is not a mere we&#39;re academics exercise this is an encounter with biblical reality that says we do not glorify you if we are not satisfied in you above everything else in the world this is really serious so come work this in your people by your miraculous spirit I pray in Jesus name Amen what are the top three things that the Western church needs to change to reach an increasingly skeptical world and it doesn&#39;t have to be the top three but what off you&#39;ve your head is something that the church needs to change to reach an increasingly skeptical well I&#39;m not sure the world is increasingly skeptical I think it&#39;s always been deeply deeply skeptical it has new forms you&#39;re thinking America when you say that because America used to be such a predominantly white Protestant dominated reality it&#39;s not anymore it&#39;s over the story&#39;s over and we&#39;re waking up from the from the dream world of being a thinking we&#39;re not a footnote in world history we are a footnote so that&#39;s my first responses the second thing is become Christian hedonists I think you know we were at the I follow up on the debate with the panel there was concern on the panel or expressed that since you don&#39;t like the word fun what&#39;s your response to Christians who think to people who think Christians are duds and they don&#39;t have a good time I don&#39;t I don&#39;t think very many people are in Hell today because we don&#39;t have good parties I think a lot of people are inhaled today because we don&#39;t love well I mean seriously well parties don&#39;t save people come on give me a break we people are not brought to their senses by watching Christians click their heels they are brought to their senses by watching Christians lay down their lives for other people so let&#39;s do more of that I&#39;ve got a new word for you the next time we have our dialogue instead of fun I&#39;m gonna use the phrase sweet entertainment because I reckon you won&#39;t first work Jonathan any 18th century that&#39;s all I mean sweet entertainment how do you grow desire to be alert by God and kill shallow desires how do you grow desire to be a lord you know you know pray and read your Bible can I faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God doesn&#39;t just mean at the beginning of life it means all the way through life and faith according to John 6:35 is a coming to God to be satisfied in him in the bread of life who comes to me shall never thirst who believes in me shall never hunger and therefore if that&#39;s what faith is and faith comes by hearing then we need to listen everyday to the Word of God or Galatians 3:5 says does he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among you which is what we need to happen right if does he who supplies the spirit view works miracles among you do so excuse me do so by hearing with faith or by works of the law and the answer is hearing with faith hearing what hearing the Word of God so I don&#39;t know any other answer than the good old fashioned answers set aside an hour every morning or whatever you can and linger long meditatively and prayerfully crying out to God open my eyes to see wonderful things because if you see the wonderful things that are here your affections will be awakened if you don&#39;t see them they won&#39;t awaken your affections so prayer is what you you you pore over over this book may I add a word you may it&#39;s your party I will say sweet entertainment I will say I will say the same you just said but I&#39;ll use a different passage seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness all these things will be at it but here&#39;s the key for wherever your treasure is there you will find your heart so if you invest in your treasure in seeking God and who he is and what he has done for you and how he has changed your life the allure will be there if you invest your treasure in something else Fielder will be there where you invest your treasure there you&#39;ll find your heart there there okay well one out of two with him this weekend what what do you say to people struggling to shun worldliness and find satisfaction in God related question but what do you say in fact it&#39;s the same question okay then we&#39;re skipping no no no no no no no it gives me a chance to go back and clarify lest I was too hard on freak on willpower okay so I really dumped I got angry at willpower religion because Paul does in Colossians 2:23 however he does say kill sin you know if you live according to flesh you will die but if by the spirit you kill all sin that&#39;s not a gentle passage kill it so if it&#39;s in starting to creep up on you slit its throat which is which is which is why the the one weapon in the armor in in Ephesians six is is a sword it&#39;s the one offensive weapon it&#39;s the only weapon you killed things with right you don&#39;t kill people with your shield or your helmet in head but a reporter but you can&#39;t you can&#39;t you can&#39;t kill a reporter with your helmet but you can stick in so the if your what was the sentence again she said he said it&#39;s on the how do you you&#39;re struggling to what was the word something tion-tion-tion judge yes okay so like this and this is a this is a promise and you stick it you stick it with the promise of God and there is a sense of really strong willing at that moment I&#39;m willing I&#39;m not just passively saying give me more satisfaction give me more satisfaction I&#39;m actually opposing my sin so I don&#39;t want to be unbiblical in my over emphasis on opposing willpower and again it is my party I&#39;ll add one more cause often we are told to stand and fight and stand against him but we&#39;re also told to flee from certain temptations to there comes a time where instead of standing and turn and run because you don&#39;t need to linger in front of the computer yep favorite book by Jonathan Edwards and why say that again favorite book by Jonathan Edwards and why related question also in here if someone wants to start reading Edwards where do they start yeah well Joe Rigney should answer the question you know the header is better than I do teaches it best name the most important book I ever read by Edwards was the end for which God created the world because it shaped the whole worldview the end for which God created the world the most the most practically convicting and moving book is the religious affections if you want to start with a book that&#39;s where I&#39;d start I&#39;d start with the religious affections it will devastate you you&#39;ll wonder if you&#39;re a Christian when you&#39;re done which is which isn&#39;t altogether bad provided God His mercy and rescues you from the pit of of self-doubt that it creates if you want to start with slower it&#39;s hard a lot of people don&#39;t read 400 page looks and his sermons just go online all everything ever ever is ever wrote is available online and and find a sermon with an intriguing title like like you know don&#39;t resist any appetite for Jesus or something in reading it&#39;ll take you 15-20 minutes to read it that&#39;s what I&#39;d do if you don&#39;t want to do a big book alright I&#39;m touched by this question what advice would you give if I have no joy in Bible reading in prayer yeah we all are in that situation from time to time so don&#39;t consider yourself unique this is not like oh I got over that season of my life that will never happen that will never happen in this life you&#39;ll you&#39;ll have seasons where every line shines like you&#39;re eating a feast and you&#39;ll have seasons where the lines seem as blank as they can possibly be for days on end maybe weeks on in maybe months on end so that&#39;s the first thing to say is you&#39;re not you&#39;re not a unique kind of person you&#39;re in a sad moment or season and what what I would say is don&#39;t be content to settle for willpower religion I can still read my Bible I can still pray and feelings don&#39;t matter they do matter they matter a lot so IOUs is what I I use Brian has it written in his Bible I haven&#39;t written in my head I pray incline my heart to your testimonies that&#39;s I I pray open my eyes that I may see wonderful things that&#39;s oh I pray unite my heart to fear your name that&#39;s you and I pray satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love that&#39;s s IOUs and they&#39;re all quotes from the Psalms which means Psalms are books that connect with our miseries and so linger over the song in praise ass amen okay how can one delight in God more than in the kickbacks help maybe if that doesn&#39;t seem like something that&#39;s rational or possible pick a person in your life spouse child whatever would would you say husbands would you say to your wife I just love you so much so that you&#39;ll make me a nice supper tonight she won&#39;t like that she&#39;ll say I don&#39;t think that&#39;s what love is I love you so much so that you&#39;ll fix me a nice supper tonight or that she&#39;ll be ready for sex tonight so if you know that you feel that she wants to be cherished because she is she not because she&#39;s gonna do something for you fix you a meal be good in bed work with you on some project she just can you just can I feel cherished by you and if you get that you can get that with God can&#39;t you you can get that but that so I&#39;m sure if Jo who wrote a good book on things of Earth to answer that question better than I do he would say that all those gifts are not primarily designed by God as temptations because there they&#39;re going to be there in the new heavens and the new earth in some form like our bodily existence with all the benefits of bodily existence our is not going to be wiped out in the eschaton it&#39;s gonna be there well why if it&#39;s just trouble well it&#39;s not just trouble it&#39;s Revelation God means to be known better because of bacon for those of you keep so sure he&#39;s turkey bacon go ahead so did yell I just tried it this morning I first got my cereal did the best I could with the cereal they had over at the garden in which is pretty not what I eat at home and then when I was done and I had my back berries and my blueberries and my Special K and my granola and and and I was done I looked over there and I saw that bacon and I went over and I got three strips of bacon cuz I never eat bacon we don&#39;t cook breakfast wheat cereal so I never eat bacon and I just savored that bacon and and my language is i transposed the music of bacon taste to love for God I did here&#39;s the one more example cuz this is really where we all are after about a year preaching at Bethlehem in 1980 one of the men in our church he&#39;s still there 35 years late he&#39;s he&#39;s still there and he came up to me and he said I don&#39;t have any experience corresponding that your your your emotion talk and your delight talk in your satisfaction talking God that&#39;s a it&#39;s a foreign language to me I am not that kind of person this is a this is a Scandinavian church and I said I don&#39;t believe you you ever I said what do you do in summer for fun and he said guess start where people are right he said well I go to the Boundary Waters Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota tell me about it he said well you go to the Boundary Waters outside this city and you you put out your mat at night with no tent overhead and look into those stars I said whoa Mike Mike that&#39;s what I&#39;m talking about that&#39;s what I&#39;m talking about can you next time you go up there and you lie down on your back and it&#39;s you just before just search sleep and this is a sheet of white and you are drawn out of your little city self to feel something magnificent and big can you just transpose that music up to the maker can you do that just do that try it because that&#39;s I think that&#39;s the way it&#39;s designed I got a whole slew of quotes here from Louis but I won&#39;t take the time on this this is really important that all of you learn how to transpose the music of natural pleasures given by God into the music of delight in God if you can&#39;t do that you&#39;ll remain an idolatry you&#39;ll be a spirit a carnal unspiritual person just hitting the ceiling of the of the skies and never breaking through the heavens are telling the glory of God and if you if you only love the heavens you&#39;re not going to be saved and if you want a sample of that sort of Edwards read psalm eight what do we do about having mixed motives must my motives for doing something be only God&#39;s glory what if I still have remnants of selfishness should I wait until my motives are totally pure or do I accept that as part of being human you should not wait and you should not accept so nobody in this room has pure motives therefore if you wait you&#39;ll never do anything but if you say not a problem I&#39;m just human you don&#39;t you don&#39;t hate sin enough and you&#39;ll never sing the song that talks about sin no more save to sin no more you&#39;ll never sing that song with tears the way a lot of people do and should so the answer is no you don&#39;t wait you move forward repenting all the way and loving the gospel just love in the gospel right I mean what else did he die for except those mixed motives my only hope my only hope of heaven is that my mixed motives are forgiven if I wait until John Piper has a pure motive not doing anything and then some of you know there&#39;s personality issues at work here some of you are wired to feel so guilty that you&#39;re paralyzed you can hardly move because you feel so bad about knowing what selfishness is still there in your heart and others have you never struggle at all and and and both of you need to move and you move by the gospel the gospel helps the the struggler break free from the paralysis if I&#39;m just so bad I can&#39;t do anything right embrace the gospel and you do what you can do and the person who never you know never has any problem at all because they don&#39;t feel or don&#39;t have any introspective bone in their body they need to read the gospel hear the gospel and know that the gospel in Deitz them and then saves them [Applause] [Music] you

Transcript for:Jonathan Edwards, Christian Hedonism, and the Glory of God

Transcript for:
Jonathan Edwards, Christian Hedonism, and the Glory of God