The Pursuit of Pleasure & Potential Perils
We all naturally seek and want happiness or pleasure. Jonathan Edwards said it is the spring which moves all men to action. This is true of grand scale life motivations, identities, and goals as well as day to day activities such as eating and going to the bathroom. Blaise Pascal noted it is even the motive of the man that hangs himself…he is hoping to achieve a happier state. In the Bible God is a God who pursues his pleasure (Is 46:10) and God is a God who calls us to find pleasure in him since he is its ultimate source (Ps. 37:4; Phil 4:4).
Most don’t have difficulty embracing the concept that we are made for pleasure. No one ever says they hate being happy. It’s either when we run into suffering or sin that we pause and wonder whether such an idea could perhaps be harmful instead of helpful.
When suffering strikes we want out of it.
When suffering strikes, we want nothing but out of it and relief does not seem to come or come quickly enough. It’s then we wonder if the enjoyment of health and happiness is a sham we would do better if we could find a way to turn off the desire and need to feel well. Eastern meditation and western nihilism are both different ways of giving up on joy by an eternal embrace of suffering. The pursuit of pleasure is then replaced by an acceptance of pain.
Would we be better off to quit the quest of pleasure?
When sin results, we realize its destructive and damaging force both externally in the world and internally in our hearts. It’s then we wonder whether our pursuit of pleasure is at fault and if we all would be a lot better off if we simply quit the quest. Stoicism and legalism are both attempts live a life a part from things which please us. The pursuit of pleasure is then replaced by abiding by a set of rules.
The gospel gives us a third option which protects us from the perils which come from suffering and sin and enables us to be the happy creatures we were made to be.
Advent Week 3 – The Shepherd’s Candle of Joy: Elizabeth
This week is an exegetical sermon looking at Luke 1:39-45 focusing on the character of Elizabeth. The sermon is titled, “The Mom Whose Baby Knew Jesus and Rejoiced”and how Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and recognizes God’s hand at work, confesses baby Jesus as her Lord, identifies Jesus as the source of God, and celebrates the promise of God. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Duane Smets on December 13th, 2009 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
Acedia, Affection and the Atonement
Yesterday, Tuesday May 5th a study was released and published in the Wall Street Journal reporting that over the most recent 10 year period the use of prescription medication for “mental health” increased 73% in adults and 50% in children.
Adbusters, a Canadian activism magazine subtitled “Journal of the Mental Environment,” frequently cites that the United States is the most medicated country in the world, that “doctors are too eager to prescribe drugs, patients are over-willing to medicate” and that we are not better off as a result.
“Mental health” or the lack thereof, known in many terms such as depression, anxiety, and the increasingly popular “bi-polar” is not something new or previously unknown to theologians. For centuries it has gone by the Greek term “acedia” and is listed as “sloth” in the seven deadly sins first identified by Gregory the Dialogist (pastor, theologian, and pope) in the sixth century.
Thomas Aquinas defined it as “the sorrow of the world.” Martin Luther called it anfechtungen, or “spiritual trials.” Charles Spurgeon says, “Fits of depression come over the most of us. Usually cheerful as we may be, we must at intervals be cast down. The strong are not always vigorous, the wise not always ready, the brave not always courageous, and the joyous not always happy.”
Advent – Week 3 | The Shepherds Candle: Joy
This is the third week of Advent, the Shepherds Candle dealing with the theme of joy. This year’s text is Luke 2:8-20 and deals with the subjects of the nature of shepherds, angels, fear, and the joy Jesus brings. This sermon was originally preached December 14th, 2008 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
What is Advent?
The word “Advent” comes from the Latin word Adventus, which is a translation of the Biblical Greek word parousia, meaning “coming” “arrival” or “appearing.” Out of the 24 times it occurs in the New Testament, only one of those actually refers to the incarnation or birth of the God-man: Jesus, on earth (2 Pet 1:16). The majority of all the other occurrences refer to the time when Jesus promised he will come once again to earth, a second advent or coming when he will not come as a baby, poor and lowly but as a powerful king full of glory.
Thus interestingly, the Christian season of advent is really a season which anticipates and looks forward to the future day when Jesus will come again. The first coming birth of Jesus is only significant in so far as Jesus isn’t just a figment of our imagination but in fact a real person who is alive because he conquered death and is now currently sitting on a throne as the victorious king awaiting the appointed day when he will advent once again for all his people. To say it in a fancy way, the birth of Jesus is elliptical and eschatological and therefore the celebration of Advent is really a celebration of the reality of the Christian faith and the longing for the appearing of Jesus once again for us.
