Audio Transcript

Welcome to October. This month we’re celebrating the Reformation together — Martin Luther’s great stand against the pope and against Rome’s spiritual abuses and theological errors. Luther did not stand alone, of course. 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. If you haven’t yet, subscribe to the email journey today, online at 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, again, the birthday of Jonathan Edwards falls on Saturday, October 5. Pastor John, on Monday we talked about Christian zeal — an old-fashioned word, but an important one. You called zeal an “essential virtue” to Christian obedience. To make the case, you quoted Paul’s biblical exhortations, like in Romans 12:11: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.” And in Titus 2:14: “[Christ] gave himself for us . . . to purify for himself a people . . . who are zealous for good works.” Then you brought up Jonathan Edwards and his seventy resolutions that he made as a young man, especially the one you can recite from memory after almost fifty years since you first read them — namely, number 6: “Resolved, to live with all my might, while I do live.”

But here’s today’s question. Both you and Edwards are Christian Hedonists. And he is a major source of your own understanding of Christian Hedonism. A point that was not made clear last time, as you were talking about zeal: Does Edwards see a connection between zeal and delight in God? Do you? Do you see a connection between zeal to live with all our might for the glory of God and the Christian Hedonist’s passion to maximize his joy in God?

Yes, and the best way I think to see it is to follow a certain sequence of thought in Edwards’s mind and my mind that moves from (1) zeal for the glory of God to (2) zeal for good deeds to (3) the inner motivation of those deeds in love for God or delight in God or treasuring God (different ways to say the same thing) to (4) the Christian Hedonist principle that we should seek to maximize — zealously seek to maximize in every way we can — our joy in God now and forever.

Christian Hedonist Zeal

Let’s try to follow that sequence of thought. And we’re going to bump into another amazing resolution of Edwards that really brings clarity to his Christian Hedonism.

1. Zeal for God’s Glory

Remember, in Romans 12:11, Paul said, “Never flag in zeal, serve the Lord.” So, clearly, Christian zeal is directed toward serving the Lord. And since the Lord is not needy — he doesn’t need any servants to make up for any lack in himself — what that means is that we should avail ourselves of his power to do his bidding to make him look great. I think that’s what “serve the Lord” means.

“We must pursue joy with zeal, with passion, with all our might.”

The apostle Paul said, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Everything in our lives should be calculated to make God look more glorious than people think he is. Edwards defines Christian zeal as “a fervent disposition or affection of mind in pursuing the glory of God.” That’s step one.

2. Zeal for Good Deeds

This zeal for God’s glory implies being zealous for good deeds — good deeds to people — because this is one crucial way God is glorified. Titus 2:14 says that Christ died to create a people “who are zealous for good [deeds].” Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” So, that’s step two. Zeal for God’s glory implies zeal for good deeds since that’s how Jesus said we will glorify the Father. Or as Edwards says, Christian zeal is a “fervency of spirit that good may be done for God’s and Christ’s sake.”

3. Zeal from New Hearts

Step three is to realize that good deeds toward man and outward acts of worship toward God are of no spiritual value without a new heart that loves God, values God, delights in God, treasures God above all else. Jesus said, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain [emptiness] do they worship me” (Matthew 15:8–9). Outward acts of worship without inward affections of love are worthless. Jesus speaks of moral acts of good deeds in the same way: “You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean” (Matthew 23:26). They did all kinds of good deeds, the Pharisees did, but were hypocrites, because those deeds were not coming from the right kind of heart. They just wanted to be seen by men.

So, if we want our zeal for the glory of God to be real, and we want our zeal for good deeds to be morally significant in God’s sight, we must be changed on the inside, so that we value and treasure God above all things. Or to say it another way, we must delight in God, be glad in God, find God to be our superior satisfaction so that our outward acts of worship are authentic and our good deeds toward people serve to glorify the value of God and not ourselves. Psalm 16:11: “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Tasting that right now — tasting that in the heart — is the heart of worship.

And at the horizontal level of good deeds, Jesus said, “It is more blessed” — more glad, more happy, more satisfying — “to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). We should find more gladness in good deeds than in having security and comfort and riches. That’s true now, in measure, and he says it’s true lavishly in the future. “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for great” — that’s an understatement! — “great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12). Which leads to step four.

4. Zeal to Maximize Joy in God

If this is true, if worship is authentic because our hearts are treasuring and delighting in and being satisfied with God above all things, and if good deeds are morally significant because of the present experience of gladness and blessedness and because of a future hope or reward in God, then we simply cannot be indifferent to the pursuit of joy in God himself and the joy that comes from the overflow of that Godward joy into the lives of other people through good deeds. We can’t be indifferent to that joy. We must pursue it with zeal, with passion, with all our might — which is what makes us Christian Hedonists.

Edwards on Zeal and Joy

Now, that was a long argument to get to the point that, yes, there’s a connection between zeal for God’s glory and being a Christian Hedonist. Here’s the amazing way Edwards connected zeal with the pursuit of this joy in God. This just boggled my mind when I first read it. Number 22: “Resolved, to endeavor to obtain for myself as much happiness, in the other world” — that is, in God, in heaven, or in the age to come, not in earthly ease — “as I possibly can, with all the power, might, vigor, vehemence, yea violence, I am capable of, or can bring myself to exert, in any way that can be thought of.” That’s just off the charts. Zealous for joy. Zealous for happiness with God in heaven forever. That’s like saying, “Resolved, to live with all my might while I do live.”

There’s the connection between Christian Hedonism and zeal in his own resolution language. “To live with all my might while I do live” — namely, in the pursuit of maximum joy in God, with him, forever, by whatever means on earth I can. Of course, that means by doing as many good deeds as I can, even if it costs me my violent death. That’s the point of referring to violence. It’s not violence against others he’s talking about, but the kind of violence that cuts off your hand or tears out your own eye if it would diminish your doing of good and your avoidance of sin and your experience of joy in God through loving other people.

So, my conclusion, Tony, is yes, there is a powerful connection in Edwards’s mind — there certainly is in my mind — between zeal to live with all our might for the glory of God and the Christian Hedonist passion to maximize our joy in God. They come together as our joy in God extends itself to make God look great through deeds of love. We pursue our joy in the joy of others in God because zeal for his glory and for their good impels us in the Christian Hedonist pursuit of maximum joy in God forever.

The ever-growing body of literature on productivity overwhelmingly agrees with what we all know by experience: interruptions reduce our productivity. So naturally, most of the literature focuses on ways we can reduce our interruptions because they distract us from productive work.

And for good reason: many of our interruptions are distractions. But not all interruptions are distractions. Some interruptions are more important than our current productivity. The problem, however, is that we often struggle to recognize these important interruptions in the moment.

As Christians, the stakes rise when we consider that what may appear at first as a simple interruption is actually an unplanned assignment from our Lord. So, how can we discern the difference?

First, I should define what I mean by interruption, distraction, and unplanned assignment.

Interruption: An unplanned occurrence that urges you to shift your attention away from one of your responsibilities to something else.
Distraction: An unplanned occurrence that tempts you to shift your attention away from something of greater importance to something of lesser importance.
Unplanned assignment: An unplanned occurrence that calls you to shift your attention away from something you think is a good use of time as a servant of Christ to something Christ may consider a better use of the time.

“Not all interruptions are distractions. Some interruptions are more important than our current productivity.”

Of course, God has not given us a formula we can apply to all situations. In fact, an interruption that’s an unplanned assignment on one day might be a distraction on another day. In other words, this is an issue of discernment. And discernment is learned by constant practice (Hebrews 5:14) as we are transformed in Christ by the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2).

But the Bible does provide principles we can use in honing our discernment. Two stories provide needed help.

Apostolic Distraction

In Acts 6, a potentially explosive situation was developing in the new, rapidly growing church. “A complaint by the Hellenists [Jewish Christians from Greek-speaking nations] arose against the Hebrews [Jewish Christians native to Palestine] because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1).

We’re not told why these vulnerable women were being neglected. But it’s clear the problem wasn’t being addressed, and frustration was spreading. The complaints carried strains of ethnic tension. As the past few years have reminded us all, such issues can quickly sour relationships, break trust, and sow suspicion. So, the situation was growing serious, and an appeal was made to the apostles to get involved.

This situation came as a potential interruption to the apostles’ work. Was it a distraction or an unplanned assignment?

After the apostles prayed and discussed this issue together, here’s what they discerned:

It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:2–4)

The apostles discerned this was a distraction.

This example illustrates how much we need discernment. An interruption may initially appear (to us or others) as God’s unplanned assignment for us because the issue is important, and we might even bear responsibility to make sure it’s addressed. But it is still a distraction if our direct involvement is not more important than remaining focused on our primary callings. Christ has given this assignment to someone else.

Parabolic Assignment

In Luke 10, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, who, while traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, came upon a severely injured man lying in the road, a victim of robbers. This situation interrupted the Samaritan’s journey. Was it a distraction or an unplanned assignment?

Jesus’s story works as an example because all of his listeners knew it was based on real events. Jericho Road was notoriously dangerous because of robbers; real travelers came upon real injured people.

Here’s what the Samaritan man discerned:

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, “Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.” (Luke 10:34–35)

The Samaritan man discerned this was an unplanned assignment.

This example also illustrates how much we need discernment. An interruption may initially appear to us (or others) as a distraction. The issue may be important, but it doesn’t appear to be our responsibility. And it’s going to consume precious time, and perhaps other resources, and derail or delay our plans. But it’s an unplanned assignment since our direct (and costly) involvement is more important than remaining focused on our planned work.

Discernment Principles

What principles can we distill from these two scriptural examples to help us discern what might be a distraction or an unplanned assignment? Consider three.

1. Clarify your calling.

What has God objectively called you to focus on in this season of life? It’s important to recognize what season we’re in because our callings change over time. In a different season, it was right for the twelve disciples to serve tables (remember the feeding of the five thousand). But once Jesus ascended, he left his men as specially appointed apostles, as witnesses to his life and resurrection and as his mouthpiece as teachers. Clarifying your clear (not just aspirational) calling in any given season of life can help you discern what God wants you to prioritize.

2. Seek counsel.

When you struggle to discern whether you should resist or receive an interruption that doesn’t require immediate action, seek the advice of wise, spiritually discerning counselors. The apostles had each other. Who are your trusted counselors?

3. Ask yourself, “What does love compel?”

When the Samaritan man saw the wounded man in the road, I’m sure he would have had numerous reasons to just keep going. But for the sake of love, he took up this unplanned assignment. On the other hand, it was for the sake of love that the apostles resisted the distraction of getting personally involved in making sure the widows were fed. They discerned others could address this need, but others couldn’t give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word like they could.

Martial Art of Discernment

Most martial arts teach students how to respond in self-defense when attacked. No attack situation is ever the same, so students learn techniques that can be adapted for whatever a situation requires. And they grow in their skill by continually practicing in increasingly difficult situations.

Learning to distinguish unplanned assignments from distractions is like a martial art. No interruption situation is ever the same, so we must learn techniques we can adapt for whatever a situation requires. And our “powers of discernment [are] trained by constant practice” (Hebrews 5:14).

“Clarifying your calling in any given season of life will help you discern what God wants you to prioritize.”

Rarely is it clear at first if an interruption is a distraction or an assignment. This ambiguity pushes us to pray, “What should I do, Lord?” It pushes us to embrace humility in seeking counsel from others. And it pushes us to test our hearts. Are we being governed by our love for God and neighbor or by our selfish desires? Do we see time, money, reputation, and productivity as stewardships we’ve received from our Lord to be used as seems best to him, or do we see these resources as “ours”?

Cultivate faith-filled responsiveness to God’s leading. Be willing to say no to a distraction that feels urgent to faithfully focus on your clear God-given task at hand. And be willing to say yes to an inconvenient, costly interruption to your plans to faithfully respond to a God-given, unplanned assignment.

And when in doubt, err on the choice that you discern requires you to extend the greatest love to another and exercise the greatest faith in God.

Some milestones in our children’s lives stick with us. I cannot forget teaching our children to read — a pleasure that continues as I help our youngest son.

I remember the weight of my charge to help my young children’s developing minds grasp written language! This skill enables them to read God’s word for themselves. What could be more motivating for me as their mom and teacher? Yet the process of training them to read started long before they turned four or five or six or seven. It started when they were babies being read board books by Mom and Dad.

Cultivate the Right Tastes Together

Reading doesn’t begin as an activity your child does by himself. It begins with fathers and mothers. It begins with us reading aloud. We increase our kid’s appetite by narrating books that they enjoy and understand. These books are not the books you would choose to read in your alone time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them together.

This is a benefit of being a mom — getting to find joy and delight in the things that our children find joy and delight in. We get to reexperience every stage of childhood, which means we get to reexperience every stage of reading. Are there moments when this is more duty than delight? Of course! But not often if you’ve taken care to put off that sinful sort of adulthood that can’t enjoy the childlikeness that marks the very kingdom of God.

I have memorized many books over the years (even longer ones!) simply because my young children wanted to hear the book over and over, day after day, night after night. This sort of repetition is good for them and us. We often benefit more from knowing one good book inside and out than we would from barely knowing ten books, so welcome your child’s love of repetition.

Discipling Readers

From the earliest books you read to your children, remember that you’re cultivating tastes — tastes for rhyme, rhythm, and cadence; tastes for artwork, color, and illustrations; tastes for themes, plots, and morals.

Books are not inherently virtuous. Books can have good content and bad content. The cadence can be off, the themes can be foolish, the illustrations can be gaudy. As mom, you get to help weed out the bad and offer up the good. It won’t do to send young sons or daughters to peruse the aisles of the children’s section at the public library or bookstore without your steady hand to guide them.

“From the earliest books you read to your children, remember that you’re cultivating tastes.”

Books can teach and catechize all sorts of ungodly ideologies, but thankfully, that’s why children have a mom — so that she can help to discern between books that are junk food, books that are snack food, books that are poison, and books that are healthy. And, as a Christian, it’s perfectly acceptable to avoid the public library altogether if you find it unhelpful. That was my approach. Instead, we started our own home library — a decision I’ve never regretted.

The Good, the True, the Beautiful

One of our favorite family pastimes has been to listen to books together while in the car — either a lengthy book series over a long trip, or shorter books on the way to weekly activities. We made the decision early on to avoid screens for our kids in the car, but instead to listen to books and music, and talk to each other.

Once we were driving a fifteen-hour trek from Montana home to Minnesota in one day, and we had been listening to The Chronicles of Narnia. It was our first time listening to the whole series as a family, and our five children ranged from infant to grade school. We finally arrived home late at night, but we still had about fifteen minutes left of The Last Battle. So, at the older kids’ request, we parked the car in the garage and sat for fifteen more minutes going further up and further into True Narnia, as tears streamed down my face at the wonder of it all.

But why do we encourage our kids to read? I’ve noticed that there is a sort of strange pride we moms can have about our children being “readers,” as though a child with his head in a book must be a good kid, or at the very least, a smart one. But we moms need to know better. Reading is a means, not an end. And it ought to be a means to Christian virtue — to the good, the true, and the beautiful — and to help sharpen or challenge thinking, to inspire courage, and glean insight. If reading is desirable merely because it’s better than the TV or iPad, then we should probably raise the bar.

“God knows how to write the best stories. We want our children to read of him, trust him, and enjoy him forever.”

Just as we must be discerning readers and help our children develop into discerning readers, we also must be discerning moms — seeing clearly whether our children’s reading habit is cultivating virtue or suppressing it. As our children have grown to love reading, I have frequently confiscated (good!) books, and reminded them they have stories of their own to be living. Get outside, solve a problem, talk to people, do your chores, tell some jokes, make music. Do I want them to be “readers”? Yes, inasmuch as reading cultivates virtue, not a malformed introversion.

Expect the Eucatastrophe

When our oldest daughter, Eliza, was ten, she was finishing up a book in the back seat of our minivan. Seth, her younger brother, was reading the last chapter along with her, not having read the rest of the book. He commented to her, “It looks like it’s going to be a happy ending.” She responded, “Oh, I don’t like happy endings. That means the book is over.” Then she gave this insight, “But when things are scary or sad at the end, you know there will be another chapter or book coming.”

Haven’t you known the sinking feeling of ending a book that you love? J.R.R. Tolkien said that the best kind of stories (which he calls fairy-tales) don’t have an ending. But what they do have is the eucatastrophe, which Tolkien describes in one of his letters:

I coined the word eucatastrophe: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. It perceives . . . that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made. And I concluded by saying that the Resurrection was the greatest eucatastrophe possible. (The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, 100)

Perhaps the greatest virtue we aim to instill in our children through reading is to recognize the eucatastrophe, and learn to expect it — which is integral to the Christian faith and story. This reality is why we would have them daily become acquainted with the stories and rhythms and plots and cadence and themes of the Scriptures through reading.

The Best of Stories

The great Eucatastrophe has happened — God the Son was crucified and buried, then raised to life on the third day. But there are more eucatastrophes to come for those who are in Christ.

That is why the chief book we encourage our kids to read is Scripture. The God who brought his people through the Red Sea as they were pressed by Pharoah’s army, and who toppled the walls of Jericho with trumpets and shouts, and who used a young shepherd to take down Goliath, and who kept Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego unsinged in the hottest fire, and who rescued his people with a beautiful young woman turned Queen Esther — he knows how to rescue the godly when all seems lost. He knows how to write the best stories. We want our children to read of him, trust him, and enjoy him forever.