MPC 27th January 2008.January 27 - James 4:1-5:6 - "Hedonism: Is There a Good Kind?"
MPC 27th January 2008.
Derek Hanna
What is the defining characteristic of a Christian?
Well it was Australia Day yesterday... or "Austraya" Day as true Australians call it, and we're going to celebrate it tomorrow by the only way Australians now how... by not going to work, and putting on some fireworks.
And I was reading in the Sydney Morning Herald online yesterday a list of things which indicate whether you are really Australian or not. Let me give you five of the best.
But I'd want to add one more to that list. And I think this is really what sums up the Australian way of life.
"Hedonism. The pursuit of pleasure. The theory that pleasure (in the sense of satisfaction of desires) is the highest good and proper aim of human life."
Being Australian is about being a hedonist.
Now this is not just about aiming to become a millionaire... it's about working out what will make you happy, and following it.
So it may be money, and for many people it is. And doesn't society put money and materialism out there as the solution to happiness? You just need to live through one Christmas to know that.
But equally, it may be prestige and status in society. That's what drives I think those strange people who go on that Big Brother show.
But it may also be a desire to find meaning contentment in relationships - and so when it stops being pleasurable, you move on to the next one.
You see it can be different for each person, but the drive is the same.
Determine what makes you happy, and go for it.
Now in your experience, is this any different for Christians? If you don't come to church, or if you wouldn't call yourself a Christian - would you say that Christians are any different? Of if you've been to church your whole life and you can't remember a time when you didn't think you were a Christian - can you see any discernable difference between what drives those around you at Church or even yourself?
In this section of James, he lets us in on the problem that was plaguing the Jewish Christians he was writing to. And the problem was this - hedonism. He says it twice in the first three verses.
They pursued their own selfish pleasure and gain, and it was causing all sorts of problems. But James won't just tell us what does define the Christians he was writing to... he tells us what should define all the people of God.
See what he identifies in v.1 - "what's causing the fights and quarrels among you?"
It's the desires that battle within you. That word desires there, that's the word for hedonism.
The problem among them is that they are all seeking their own desires, their own good, and so they're at loggerheads with each other.
It's like the problem you have if you go to choose a video with a woman. One of you wants a movie with plot, in-depth characters, real relationships, and meaning... and the other wants a Sylvester Stallone movie. Two people, different desires, heading in different directions, it's a no-win situation.
The only solution I've ever found to this is to get a movie called The Bridges of Madison County. Now technically this is a chick flick, but because it's got Clint Eastwood in it, if you're a guy there are points in the movie where you can close your eyes and pretend he's got a .44 Magnum in his hand.
But the problem stands says James. Two people; different desires.
See how James explains it in v.2-3.
They want something but don't get it, and so they resort to violence, bickering and in-fighting. And even when they remember to ask God for that which they desire... they don't get it, because they don't ask out of a desire for others benefit, but their own. See v.3 - They ask with wrong motives, that when they get what they ask for, they can spend what they get on their own pleasures.
Now just in case you're wondering exactly what this might look like, James gives us 3 examples. And funnily enough in 2000 years the problems in churches are exactly the same as when James wrote.
Here are James' 3 case studies of pride and the desires of people's hearts.
First case study: people whose desire is to build themselves up while they tear others down (4:11-12).
Those people who think they have such a grasp on what God requires and are so quick to point out to people where they're falling short.
But James says these people are the biggest hypocrites of the lot! Because while they know that people fall short of what God requires... they think they're the exception.
And in thinking they're the exception they've broken the law at its most fundamental point. That God alone is lawgiver and judge.
Instead of being gracious and compassionate, mixing with those who are struggling and outcast as our Lord Jesus did... we look down our noses at anyone doesn't measure up to our standards... all the while forgetting we don't measure up to God's.
James says don't be misled by what you think is your own goodness. It may well be your downfall.
Second cast study: people are misled by their own sense of importance and control (4:13-17).
Now those who have struggled through life, those who have experienced loss and tragedy - these people rarely struggle with this particular delusion.
And it's because they have learnt the hard way that control of life is a delusion.
No matter how much you wrap your kids in cotton wool or what you provide for them, you cannot stop your children from being hurt or making stupid decisions.
No matter how much you store up your wealth, you cannot be assured that you won't lose millions on the stock market or be made redundant.
But James has a word for those who make plans as if they'll live forever.
That word is - don't be stupid. You can't even control whether your milk will go off tomorrow, let alone whether you will survive the year. In terms of the world - we are like a mist... here in the morning, gone by midday.
How many business-men have we seen humbled because their business wasn't quite as strong or robust as they thought it would be?
How many families have we seen on the news whose words after a tragedy have been - "We never thought this would happen to us".
James says your attention should be on this - what is the Lord's will for me today? What is the Lord's will for me this week? What is the Lord's will for me this year?
How many of you asked that question when making new year's resolutions?
Your energy, James says, should be focused on working out the good you ought to do - from day to day, week to week, year to year - and doing it. That much you can control.
Third case study: people are misled by their own sense of accountability (5:1-6)
And this is by far the most confronting of James' words here.
James' real issue is that there are some who think they are not accountable to anything or anyone but themselves.
Their desire is their comfort and security. And how they get there they don't care.
It reminds me of the documentary I saw on the oil company Enron. Those in charge knew what they were doing was wrong. They knew that it was hurting people. And yet their desire for wealth was greater than their desire for doing right.
But James says that those people are just fattening themselves up for the slaughter. Their selfish desires, their hedonism, will in the end be their downfall.
God will judge them, and it's not going to be pretty.
In the end though, for all of these case studies that James gives us, there is one thing that's clear. People's actions betray their desire.
Why is it that people in God's church fight and bicker amongst one another? Why is it that even in the church (where there should be a clear understanding that we're all sinners) that we have people who are unwilling to admit their sin, and exclude those they think are below them? Why is it that even in a Church where we confess God as the Lord of all, we are seduced into thinking that a good income, an expensive house and a big superannuation package equals security?
James' answer is simple - it's the desires that battle within us. It's our pride. And this is where I think James brings us to the heart of the problem and the solution as he sees it. In many ways I'd say this is the centre of James' argument in his book.
You see he says it really is a simple equation (v.4-5). Actions betray desire.
Are you a friend of God - as you're claiming? Or are you a friend of the world - as you're actions are suggesting?
You see, there is no suggestion in this letter that people were turning away from God, denying the teaching of Christ, or promoting the virtues of the world.
But James' argument again and again is that their actions in discrimination against people (2:1-13), their negative speaking about others (3:1-12), their bitter envy and selfish ambition (3:13-18), and their pursuit of their own desires and pleasures were markers that they loved the world more than God.
But God tolerates no rivals. In James' words, to call yourself a Christian, and yet behave as the world does, is to love the world more than God, and in fact, to be an enemy of God. How does that sit with you?
If you're a Christian, at the point that you slander and gossip against others (inside or outside of the church) you're behaving more as an enemy of God than his child - even if you call it a prayer point. And at the point that your frustration with others in the church, or the leadership of the church, makes you pull back and form factions and groups within groups at the church - it is that point you're behaving more as an enemy of God than his child.
You see these things aren't from God. They're from the world. They're examples of hedonism. The pursuit maybe not of pleasure, but of self-gratification, of self-indulgence. They're not examples of pursuing God. And James says it grieves God to see his people like this. God is jealous when we are more like the world than like his people. What a God that he should care for his people so much!
But James says there is another way (v.6-10). So much so that he provides the means by which we can say no to the world, and live as his children. You see that in v.6 - he gives us grace in order to overcome worldliness.
Because in the end, it is those who are ruled by their desires, those who are proud, that God will oppose. But those who humble themselves before God, he will give them the grace to overcome. That is James' call then, and really I think it summarises what James want from those he writes to.
Give in, submit, bend the knee not to the world... but to God. Resist the tempter, and he'll flee from you. He has no more hold than temptation over Christians - the temptation to be divisive instead of unifying, the temptation to be lured by wealth instead of geNerous by nature.
There's the promise here that for those willing to bend their knee, the God of the universe will draw near to them. It's a reversal, you see. Instead of those with lots to offer being the bunch God is impressed with... it's those who know they have nothing to offer that he will raise up. The heart of the issue is the heart itself. A proud heart will brought low. But a humble heart before God will be lifted up.
John Piper, a Christian pastor and writer has a different way of looking at it. He says that God's people should be Christian Hedonists. He explains it like this:
The shortest summary of Christian Hedonism is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. We all make a God out of what we take the most pleasure in. Christian Hedonists want to make God their God by seeking after the greatest pleasure - pleasure in him. By Christian Hedonism, we do not mean that our happiness is the highest good. We mean that pursuing the highest good will always result in our greatest happiness in the end. We should pursue this happiness, and pursue it with all our might. The desire to be happy is a proper motive for every good deed, and if you abandon the pursuit of your own joy you cannot love man or please God.
You see what he's saying there - it's just like what James is saying.
That whatever your heart desires, that's what will become your God. But everything apart from God will fail to bring about the pleasure and enjoyment you desire. In fact, desire that begins apart from God will always turn destructive. It will ruin relationships, it will ruin your enjoyment of material things, and it will ruin your eternity. Because at every point your pride and your selfish desires will corrupt what should be good.
So my question to you is this - what is it that you desire? The answer will be clearly seen in your actions.
Those whose desires are selfish will cause division, will look down their noses at others, will seek their own good and their own future. But those whose desire is for God, Christian Hedonists, will be humble, will resist gossip and slander, won't consider ourselves better than others, will live day to day seeking God's good.
That is the kind of people we want to be in MPC. Not proud, but humble. People who define what it means to be part of a community, but are not defined by it. A People who have been washed clean by the death and resurrection of Christ... and are grateful for it.
What kind of person are you? Is your desire for God or do your loyalties lie elsewhere?