A Post-note to Christian Hedonism

Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. (Psalm 43:3-4 ESV).

I hope you have been encouraged and challenged with the last few devotionals focusing on the topic of “Christian hedonism.” It certainly has prompted more replies than usual! With that in mind, I thought it might be of benefit for us to look at a post-note in regard to this concept. Two basic principles are true: one intellectual, the other emotional. We will have to be convinced intellectually that the objections to Christian Hedonism are not valid, and we will have to awaken new and powerful emotions in our hearts for God. Let me address four objections to Christian Hedonism as it relates to worship. 1. First, Christian Hedonism does not mean that God becomes a means to help us get worldly pleasures. The pleasure of any believer must be found in God himself. He is the end of our search for joy, not the means to some further end. He is our exceeding joy, not the streets of gold, or reunion with relatives, or any other blessing of earth or heaven. God cannot be seen as a divine vending machine. 2. Second, Christian Hedonism is aware that self-consciousness kills joy, and therefore kills worship. As soon as you turn your eyes in on yourself and become conscious of experiencing joy, it’s gone. We must know that the secret of joy is self-forgetfulness. We must set our whole attention on the object of the source of our joy, and not on our emotions. Therefore, in worship there must be a radical orientation on God, not ourselves. 3. Third, Christian Hedonism does not make a god out of pleasure. It says that you have already made a god out of whatever you find most pleasure in. Therefore, seek the one true God, who is the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ. 4. Fourth, Christian Hedonism does not put us above God when we seek him out of self-interest. A patient is not greater than his doctor because he comes to him to be made well. A child is not greater than his father when he wants the fun of playing together. Suppose on December 21, I bring Mary fifty long-stemmed red roses to celebrate our 50th anniversary. And when she says, “They’re beautiful, thank you,” I respond, “Don’t mention it. It’s my duty.” With that word, all moral value vanishes. Yes, it is my duty, but unless I am moved by a spontaneous affection for her as a person, the very exercise of my duty belittles her. Worship involves a radical orientation on God, not ourselves. That is what has to be changed in our lives. We belittle God when we go through the outward motions of worship and take no pleasure in his person. The chief end of man is not just to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying him forever. And if we don’t enjoy him, we don’t glorify him. Therefore, I hope you will become a worshiping people who cannot tolerate anything less than the presence and power of God in a personal and pervasive relationship.