Audio Transcript

Happy Wednesday, and welcome back to the podcast. We talk a lot about this thing we call Christian Hedonism around here. So what is it? What’s the best, simplest, shortest definition of Christian Hedonism? Well, I have it for you today.

Back in 2006, Pastor John was asked to define Christian Hedonism in two minutes. And he delivered his response in one minute, forty seconds. Here’s what he said.

Christian Hedonism is the conviction that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. I won’t take the time to put all the textual foundation under that. I’ve done that in many places. But let me explain the implication. If God is made to look glorious by my being satisfied in him, then pursuing my satisfaction in him becomes essential to obedience and worship. And therefore, Christian Hedonism says, you must pursue your maximum joy. And that’s maximum in two senses: maximum in quality, maximum in quantity. In other words, I want fullness of joy, and I want joy forevermore (Psalm 16:11). And that’s only found in God.

So I have no hesitation saying that the Christian life is the pursuit of maximum joy in God, because my soul is satisfied and God is glorified. And those two things — God’s glory and my joy — are not at odds. And that’s the beauty of Christian Hedonism. God has sent Jesus Christ to die for my sins and to rise again, so that it’s possible for me now to have total and complete satisfaction in God forever. And when I pursue that, I’m showing that God is infinitely valuable, infinitely satisfying, so that he gets the glory and I get the joy.

Audio Transcript

How do we overcome half-hearted spiritual laziness? That’s the question today and Thursday. And speaking of zeal for God, I should first mention again that this October we’re celebrating the Reformation — Martin Luther’s great stand against the pope and against Rome’s spiritual abuses and theological errors. But Luther didn’t stand alone. Other men stood for this same cause, before and after him — people like John Wycliffe, William Tyndale, Thomas Cranmer, John Knox, and John Calvin. And many other lesser-known names paid the ultimate price in the Reformation — men and women, even teenagers, who stood against Rome, and who bled and were burned and drowned for it.

These stories of sacrifice are our focus in the month ahead, in a 31-day tour you can complete in just 5–7 minutes each day. It’s called Here We Stand. You can subscribe to the email journey today by going to desiringGod.org/stand. Or just go to desiringGod.org and click on the link on the top of the website. I hope you’ll join us in remembering the price paid for the spiritual blessings and religious liberties we enjoy today.

Speaking of church history, this Saturday marks Jonathan Edwards’s birthday — his 321st, to be exact. Not a monumental year, but certainly a monumental man in your life and theology, Pastor John. Edwards was a pastor and theologian in New England during the First Great Awakening. His God-entranced theology and preaching became a powerful influence in your life over fifty years ago. And evidently that is still the case because just this last spring you delivered a commencement address at Bethlehem College and Seminary and again quoted Edwards as a key example of what you were trying to get across to those students in a message all about zeal. Revisit that message for us, and tell us what Edwards teaches us about overcoming spiritual laziness.

J.I. Packer wrote a blurb in 1986 for the cover of the first edition of the book Desiring God, and it said this: “Jonathan Edwards, whose ghost walks through most of Piper’s pages, would be delighted with his disciple.” Well, I really liked that endorsement very much — but it’s an open question to me whether Jonathan Edwards would be delighted with me as his disciple. But what’s not an open question is that he walks like a ghost through all my pages. That’s true, and in fact, the origin of that message that I gave at Bethlehem College and Seminary was not first from Edwards.

When You Really Want to Obey

I’ll get to Edwards in just a minute, but here’s where it came from. That message on zeal came from some morning meditation — maybe fifteen minutes of meditation — on Romans 12:6–8, where Paul says, “Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them,” and then you list gifts, and the last three go like this: “the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

“Seek to magnify the worth and the greatness and the beauty of the Lord in all that you do.”

I read that and I turned to my wife, who was sitting with me in the living room there, and I said, “Noël, what’s the common denominator between contributing generously, leading zealously, and showing mercy cheerfully? What’s the basic point in saying, ‘Do what you do generously, do what you do zealously, and do what you do cheerfully’?” She said, “Well, you really want to do it. You’re not being forced. You’re not half-hearted. You’re all in.” I thought, “Yeah, that’s it. That’s it.”

The transformed mind from Romans 12:2 not only discerns “what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” — it really wants to do the will of God. It’s all in, 100 percent, with the will of God. It’s not a half-hearted doing of the will of God. If God’s will for you is to contribute, do it generously. If God’s will for you is to lead, lead zealously. If God’s will for you is to do mercy, show mercy, do it cheerfully, not begrudgingly.

So, what Paul is getting at is that the renewed mind, the mind of Christ in Christians, this transformed mind is not only able to recognize what is the will of God but also is inclined how to do it — how to go about the will of God. God’s will is not simply that we do the right thing but that we do it with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might. That’s the point of those verses. That’s what got me thinking about zeal.

It’s not surprising, then, that the very next verse, Romans 12:9, says, “Let [your] love be genuine. Abhor what is evil.” In other words, really love and really hate. Don’t let your love be half-hearted and unreal, and don’t let your recognition of evil simply be a mild disapproval. Abhorrent — it’s a very strong word. This is the only place it’s used in the New Testament. It’s the way zeal responds to evil — abhorrence. Then to make it crystal clear what he’s so concerned about, one verse later, in Romans 12:11, he says, “Do not be slothful in zeal” — same word as in Romans 12:8 — “be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” So, the great object of the lives of believers is the Lord: “serve the Lord.” Seek to magnify the worth and the greatness and the beauty of the Lord in all that you do.

But what burns in Paul’s heart, as far as I can see, is that we serve the Lord in a certain way — namely, that we not be lethargic or slothful or lazy or half-hearted or sluggish or lukewarm in the way we serve the Lord, or the way we do everything, for that matter. So, that phrase “be fervent in spirit” literally means “boil” — “boil in the spirit.” In fact, the word “fervent” is the Latin word for “boil,” and Paul is saying, “You don’t get a pass if your personality is phlegmatic.” That’s an old word. If you were born passive, as a couch-potato-type person, you don’t get a pass. This is not a comment on your personality. This is a command for all Christians. Whatever your personality, make it work for you. When you know the will of God and you resolve to do it, which is what Christians do, be all in. Do it all the way. Do it with all your might and all your soul. Do it with zeal, ardor, fervency, eagerness. Pray that your spirit would boil with zeal for the will of God and the glory of God.

The Zeal of Jonathan Edwards

Now, here we come: Edwards. I was about fifteen minutes into my meditation on Romans 12, making notes in my little journal that I keep beside my chair, and I realized there was a ghost walking through my mind. He’s really there. Yes, it’s the apostle Paul. Yes, it’s the Holy Spirit. There’s another ghost, and his name is Jonathan Edwards — and he wrote seventy resolutions when he was nineteen. I read those resolutions decades ago, and only one of them could I quote verbatim to this day — only one, because it’s short, but it’s also very important.

Resolution #6: “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.” Let me say it again: “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.” Every time I read that sentence, my heart rises up with zeal and says, “Yes, yes. O God, don’t let me waste my life with lukewarm, half-hearted efforts to do anything.” “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with [all] your might” (Ecclesiastes 9:10). I think that resolution is just a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 9:10. Or Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work heartily” — from the soul — “as for the Lord and not for men.”

“God’s will is not simply that we do the right thing but that we do it with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might.”

Lest we think that this resolution to “live with all my might while I do live” was simply an overstated nineteen-year-old expression of youthful energy, seventeen years later, as a pastor in North Hampton, Edwards preached a sermon entitled “Zeal an Essential Virtue of a Christian.” I just reread it a few days ago just to stoke my engine on this. The text was Titus 2:14: “[Christ] gave himself for us . . . to purify for himself a people who are zealous for good works.” He didn’t die simply to make us able to do good works. He died to make us passionate about doing good works. That’s what it says: not half-hearted.

So, in conclusion, the booster rocket that sends zeal for good works — in fact, zeal for everything we do — into orbit, this booster rocket is: Christ died for this. He died for this. Christ gave himself on the cross to create a people with zeal — zeal for good works, zeal for the glory of the Lord. This is what pleases the Lord. He died for it. So, I pray that all of us will join Jonathan Edwards and say, “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.”

One by one, each of my children learned a catechism question that asks, “Have you a soul as well as a body?” And the answer, as it slowly and deliberately arose from tiny toddler lips, always tugged at my heart: “Yes, and my soul will never die.”

Though designed for children, this question and answer trained me as a parent. Whatever frustrations the child had caused me that day — spilled milk, broken toys, incessant questions, delayed naps — couldn’t continue to annoy me when I stopped to remember that the small person in front of me possessed an undying soul.

We become impatient with others when we fail to see that they have significant and lasting value. When they interrupt us, dawdle over their own responsibilities, or require more time and energy than we had planned to allow them, we start to consider them inconveniences. We become so focused on their behaviors in the moment that we don’t consider their value in eternity.

And when we fail to recognize other people as eternally important, we will not love them well. In Paul’s famous love chapter, he begins his list of love’s qualities with this simple declaration: “Love is patient” (1 Corinthians 13:4). In order to love someone, we must value that person’s undying soul more than we value our own temporary convenience.

God Is Patient

This, of course, is how God loves. In his second epistle, Peter writes,

Beloved . . . the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:8–9)

It seems that some of the members of the first-century church were becoming impatient — with God. Why hadn’t Jesus returned? Why weren’t their persecutors being judged? Why weren’t God’s promises fulfilled immediately? Why was God being so slow? Because, Peter explained, God cares about souls. God knows, much more than we do, the horrors of hell. He knows the dreadful extent of his own wrath. And he wants people to be saved.

God, who could justly destroy the earth at any moment, has chosen to wait. He is “the Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). He is not bothered by the passing of time — by the minutes and years and millennia that are ticking away — if it means that people will be eternally saved.

“Unlike us, God isn’t focused on the clock. He’s focused on doing good to people’s souls.”

In his saving purposes for his elect people, God doesn’t measure time the way we do: “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Unlike us, God isn’t focused on the clock. He’s focused on doing good to people’s souls. And if pausing his wrath means that his beloved children will reach repentance, then our God is willing to wait as long as it takes.

Jesus Was Patient

In his earthly ministry, Jesus too expressed love by patience. Mark’s Gospel tells the story of a time when Jesus was leaving for a trip. Just as he was “setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’” (Mark 10:17).

I don’t know about you, but the moment I’m “setting out” — on a trip, for an appointment, to run errands — is the worst possible moment for someone to interrupt me. My car keys are in hand, my agenda is planned, and my GPS has already declared my ETA. I don’t have time to stop and talk, thanks.

But when the rich young man interrupted Jesus, Jesus didn’t count the minutes slipping away. He counted the value of the man’s soul. He stopped. He looked at the man. He asked him a perceptive question, seeking to address the man’s heart: “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Jesus recognized the moment as an opportunity for eternity.

And even when the man persisted in his self-righteous narrative, Jesus didn’t give up and head out. He “loved him,” verse 21 says, and kept on talking to him. Jesus noticed what he lacked, he offered him riches beyond earthly worth, and he even invited the stubborn and arrogant man to come along with him. It was only when the man left Jesus that Jesus continued on his way. Our Savior was willing to wait — doing good to people’s souls — as long as it took.

Be Patient with Them All

Since we have been loved by this long-suffering God, and since we are being conformed to the image of this long-suffering Savior, we too must love others by our patience. Just as our Lord was not willing for us to perish, we shouldn’t dismiss the eternal future of the people around us. Our temporary delay may be a gospel opportunity. It certainly will be an opportunity for love.

“Our temporary delay may be a gospel opportunity. It certainly will be an opportunity for love.”

In the concluding words of his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gives a list of exhortations (1 Thessalonians 5:12–22). Writing to the household of faith, he publicly posts the house rules — explaining to the church how they should live as a family. He wants them to respect their leaders, to be at peace with one another, and to do good to everyone. He also commands them to be patient: “We urge you, brothers and sisters, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

Paul knew that life in the church is not always easy. The people whom God calls to himself can be immature, ignorant, and troublesome. We are each “being transformed” (2 Corinthians 3:18), but we haven’t arrived at perfect Christlikeness yet. And so Paul calls believers to be patient with one another.

As Long as It Takes

The reason we must be patient with other Christians, according to Paul, is love. In 1 Thessalonians 5:14, he grounds his command to long-suffering in the terms of family affection, identifying the believers as “brothers and sisters.” In the church, we are not mere acquaintances, or even fellow members of the same club; we are family. In the church, Christ’s love for us compels us to love one another (John 13:34).

And in this family — as an expression of our love — we bear with one another’s failings, point one another to Christ, and seek one another’s eternal benefit. Those who are our “brothers and sisters” should experience our patient love most. And those outsiders who are not yet family may be won over by our patient love.

If we can do good to someone, we can afford to be patient. People may cost us valuable minutes, but their souls are worth as long as it takes.