Birth of Christian Hedonism
What I have covered in this Four Week Series:
Jeremiah 32:37-42
The Confessions of a CH – How did I get here
The Foundations of CH: God’s commitment to God’s Glory (God centered thinking)
The Birth of a CH – New birth; depths of our sinfulness and the power of redemption
The Hope of CH – Gods power/commitment to our sanctification; how to fight for our joy; power over sin.
The Motivation of CH – Reward; joy as motive for CH
Def of CH: God is most glorified when you are most satisfied in him. Seeking our happiness in Him is not optional. Last week we saw that God loves/ pursues his own glory in all that he does. All the omnipotent energy that that drives him to glorify himself is the same omnipotent energy that he seeks to satisfy the human heart that as we seek our joy in him because as the human heart is most satisfied in him, he is mot glorified.
ESV Jeremiah 32:37
(Ezek 36)
But God does not do this for all people. God does not commit himself to all people only to those who believe. So today I want to describe what it means to believe, what it means to be a Christian. My concern in the church today is that there is no difference in the lifestyles between professing Christians and those who do not profess to be Christians. (stats - Ie premarital sex, cheating on taxes, loan applications, live for self, not died to the world, sin, no appetite for fellowship, bible, ie Rays comments.)
1. We are created for Gods glory
ESV Isaiah 43:6 I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, 7 everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made."
You and I were created above all other reasons, for Gods glory. That is God formed you in your mothers womb for his glory. He will do that in a multitude of different ways and different means for every single individual but it is all for his glory.
2. We fall short of the glory of God
ESV Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Most of us have been taught that this verse means falling short in comparison to God, as in quality, moral value, as in comparison to God. But I want to suggest to you that is not what it main point is. Romans 1:21, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” Why does humanity exchange the glory of the immortal God for idols? Because our hearts are sinful, foolish and we do not honor him and value we value man made idols more than God. Ie exchanging cars; Aaron. All my sin and your sin flows out of not valuing God and his glory. That is the essence of all sin. Ie reasons why or why marriages do not break up; MR.
Have you ever considered why the punishment for sin is sin is so horrifying? If God is the most valuable being, he is of infinite value, then he deserves us to value, love, and desire him infinitely. So if we do not value him infinitely the consequence of this must be commensurate to the ethical breach or violation. The violation of sin is infinitely immoral and therefore the consequence must be infinitely punishable. That is why hell is just. Sin, not valuing God as he ought, deserves infinite punishment.
But not only do we choose to sin but we are sinful. Sin is not just a choice, sin is the condition of the heart. All actions outside of Christ are sinful. Rom 14:23 says anything outside of faith is sin. Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” We do what we desire as unbelievers. We sin because we are sinful, our hearts desire and crave sin. You and I cannot do anything contrary to that sinful nature, we cannot not sin. As a matter of fact we cannot even submit to God! “For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:7)
3. Salvation is a miracle wrought by the work of God.
Salvation is not the work of man but the work of God. Repentance and faith flow from a prior work of Good in the heart of every person. John 3:5-8, “Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. The verb is a perfect passive meaning completed in past with abiding results. Faith is the evidence of new birth not the cause (all happens simultaneously).
Now let’s look at the nature of saving faith. In its simplest form faith is a child like trust, such as in Rom 10:9-10, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.” Or Acts 16:31, "Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved." But we also see that this act of believing has something more to it than just cognitive recognition of the historical facts. ESV James 2:17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder! James 2:26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Then we have one of the most troubling passages for me, Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Let’s look at some more verses to help us fill out the nature of saving faith.
ESV Matthew 13:44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” This describes as total abandonment of joy and happiness, trust, confidence, allegiance in the treasure when compared to everything else in life. He has found in this treasure everything that all the rest of life promises to bring. What does life promise us?
Listen to the way Paul describes everything in his life prior to Christ, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ (Phil 3:8).
There is not just this abandonment of what this life promises or offers but a recognition of how dependent upon him we are for life and sustenance. Look at John 6:51 – 58, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" 53 So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever."
Or John 7:37 – 39, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" 39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
There is a sense that his is everything and that death looks good because in his presence there is pleasures evermore, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil 1:21).
Life of obedience flows from faith, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36) parallelism, ie MR.
Luke 8:9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, a"To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that 'seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and a bear fruit b with patience.
Perseverance is necessity
ESV Hebrews 3:14 For we share in Christ, aif indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Where the rubber meets the road:
What motivates me as a follower of Christ?
What am I worshiping?
What gives me the greatest pleasure and satisfaction in life?
