Luke 8:14 A sower went out to sow seeds...
"That which fell among thorns are they, who, having heard, go forth, and are choked with cares, and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection."
Question:
Who's sin fastened Jesus of Nazareth, The Christ, onto that cross?
Answer:
"Treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God"
(2 Timothy 3:4)
Today, much of our American culture is living out what can be termed as Axiological hedonism, essentially affirming that only pleasure has any real intrinsic value. In short, "if it feels good do it", and if it feels good it must be good. Happiness, blessings, joy, all good things come from pleasure centers. Today humanist psychologists urge people in the measured tones of academia that sin is passé, that traditional values and principles are not the god given uncompromising truths they know, or give weight to. Today it's all about achieving pleasure.
Motivational hedonism - All our actions aim at increasing pleasure and avoiding pain.
Ethical hedonism - Is determing the rightness of an action measured in terms of pleasure and pain. It ignores values of justice, friendship and objective truth that might restrict pleasure.
So the question begs, should we expect God to bless us when we choose to take sovereignty unto ourselves?
Today many of Christ's ministers back away from the Bible's authority by seeming to respect it no more than a mere writing of men. Human nature is hedonistic, and risky business. It can deceive even one who is converted into taking the grace of God for granted. Our hedonistic nature has a tendency to pull and pull at our will power and further and further into sin. Be aware believer, just because the penalty does not occur immediately does not mean it will not come. We who confess Christ as our Lord and profess faith in Him need to understand this as part of the way God operates; He gives us the time necessary to learn lessons, to come to a better knowledge of Him, to understand cause and effect. Yes...he seeds us among the thorns and weeds. He knows us better than we know ourselves. And as a merciful gift to us He is giving us more time to repent, overcome, and grow. God's kindness is meant to lead us to repentance. And we'll miss that moment of grace if we focus mostly on our own pleasures. We will always come up short if we seek pleasure in ways that rebel against or ignore God (Jeremiah 2:13).
What is pleasure that pleases God?
When we love someone, we find delight in being around them. To enjoy being around someone brings pleasure to us and value to them. When we truly delight ourselves in God, He is glorified in us. God desires our obedience, but it is important for us to know that He is more glorified through our delight in Him and its resulting overflowing of obedience than He is by an emotionless obedience to ritualistic traditions and spirituality. And likewise participating in the postmodern neo-Calvinist "Christian hedonism" can be very dangerous for those who seek to please God. This dangerous Christian philosophy flips the focus from pleasing God and instead focuses on the pleasures that can be found in the believers experience in the name of God. It encourages the believer to pursue pleasure with all that God mightily inspires within them. In fact it goes beyond finding contentment in the knowledge that God loves them and offers forgiveness of sin with life everlasting; but the believers are obligated to pursue their own maximum joy in God. Since God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, therefore, in everything we do, we should always be pursuing maximum satisfaction in God. It sounds reasonable doesn't it?
The thing is, the focus is hedonistic. It focuses on the human nature and human pleasure, not God's nature and what pleases Him. Everything that we know about what is true and just, right and holy, is defined by the character and nature of God. Sin is what it is because God is who he is: holy, just and righteous. Lying is wrong because he is truth. Murder is wrong because he's the giver of life. Immorality is wrong because he is pure. And objective truth is what it is, based on the character and nature of God. Evil is the opposite of adherence to the character and nature of God.
Friends,
God isn't keeping a record of how much pleasure you take in him, he's not seeking more and more hedonism from you, even if it is in His name. It's not like your grocery bill, building up points for every dollar you spend. Your spiritual accountability isn't focused upon a life filled up with pleasuring in God's blessings to your fullest. He's looking for obedience. Does the Word of God state, "by this we know that we know him if we pursue our pleasure in him." Is that what it says?
1 John 5:3. "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome."
Jesus said John 14:15. "If you love me, keep my commandments."
Jesus also said John 15:14? "You are my friends if you do whatever I command you."
You want to please God? You want to show God you love him?
"walk according to his commandments." (2John 1:6)
God said to Adam:
“Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I COMMANDED you, ‘You must not eat from it'...the ground is cursed because of you."
And it was because of the disobedience of one man that sin entered into the world. Adam (and Eve) was living in God's blessings and he desired more. He wished for more wishes. He gave into his hedonistic nature. And the Evil One convinced them that they could be like God if they consumed all they could from his blessings, even that which he commanded they should not. They wanted to be more than what God had created them to be. They pushed God's commands aside to make room for the desires of their hearts. Rather than committing themselves to the Lord and thereby getting the desires of their hearts in him and his mercies, they sought to become him and then gave all the desires of their hearts as they choose. In the manner they choose. By the path they made, and the choices they loved. They made themselves gods. And they considered themselves their own salvation.
Friends,
Your spiritual works are the fruit of your salvation, not the root of your salvation. Even pleasurable joy filled spiritual fruits are the by products of your salvation, they are a blessing, an ointment, a salve. They are to be used by his grace, for his glory. Believers must not seek or value them for those purposes to which sin abuses them. The source of our salvation is found in Him, Jesus Christ (the root). And it is obedience to his commands that pleases him. The more we love the world the more our love for God decays. It's all about pride.
"The pride of life: a vain man craves the grandeur and pomp of a vain-glorious life; this includes thirst after honour and applause." (Matthew Henry Commentary)
1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
Trust in Him.
Embrace Him.
Live in Him.
Love Him.
May God's blessings reign forever in your heart and may your life be one of obedience.