Twenty-five years in the past, I used to be a freshman at Furman College in Greenville, South Carolina. I had grown up within the church. I made a occupation of religion at age eight and was baptized. God had blessed me with a house church that beloved the gospel and taught me that I may belief the Bible. Nonetheless, trying again now, I can see that one thing was lacking in my Christianity.
There was a deep wrestle in my soul: I wished to be completely satisfied, and I felt responsible for wanting it. My ache to be completely satisfied, I suspected, was extra a legal responsibility than an asset. Residing the Christian life, I assumed, was about my means to place apart what I actually wished to do.
You too wish to be completely satisfied. And you’ll’t escape it. All of your life you’ve been making an attempt to fulfill your deep-down eager for actual pleasure by discovering that good possession or good partner, having fun with good meals, figuring out influential individuals, accumulating dependable pals, touring to scenic locations, profitable at sports activities (whether or not as a participant or a fan), attaining success at college or work, and getting your fingers on the newest devices. Our unhappy longings gnaw at us late at evening as we scroll by social media and flip from channel to channel and let one other episode autoplay.
Now, most of us aren’t endlessly depressing. Not but. Not at nineteen or twenty. We discover measures of satisfaction within the second, however we don’t keep glad, not deep down. Did God make us this fashion? And in that case, why did God hardwire us to ache for pleasure? Why this common seek for satisfaction?
Stunned by Pleasure
I keep in mind as a university freshman, with my very duty-oriented religion, starting to really feel a form of fascination with pleasure. As a child, I had sung, “I received the enjoyment, pleasure, pleasure, pleasure down in my coronary heart.” Pleasure, when talked about in church, typically got here off so mild and flippant. And but that one fruit of the Spirit’s 9 (Galatians 5:22–23) related most with the deep longings for happiness I used to be simply starting to comprehend as a university freshman.
As I learn extra of the Bible, I used to be amazed by what I discovered about pleasure and delight. It was the Psalms specifically that woke up me to the likelihood and promise of actual pleasure — pleasure that’s not icing on the cake of Christianity, however a vital ingredient within the batter. Three psalms particularly captured my consideration.
Soul-Thirsts for God
First, Psalm 37:4: “Delight your self within the Lord.” And never simply this command, however then this promise: “and he will provide you with the wishes of your coronary heart.” You imply at root God isn’t suspicious or annoyed by my wishes? He made my coronary heart to need, and means to fulfill, not squash, my deepest longings? And the place will that occur?
Second, Psalm 16:11: “In your presence there’s fullness of pleasure; at your proper hand are pleasures forevermore.” Actual pleasure comes not solely from God as a present from his hand, however in looking for his face. God himself — figuring out him, having fun with him — that’s what he made your wishes for. He made your stressed human coronary heart for actual satisfaction — in him. He made your soul to thirst, and he meant for you to not deny your thirst however to fulfill it, in him.
Third, Psalm 63:1: “O God, you might be my God; earnestly I search you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land the place there is no such thing as a water.” This resonated deeply with me. I wished this, and wished to be extra like this.
The Psalms had my consideration. Repeatedly, they tapped into my soul, discouraged my sense of mere obligation, and highlighted the central place of the center — each in honesty in regards to the many sorrows on this life, and in hopefully commanding me to “rejoice within the Lord” (Psalm 40:16; 64:10; 97:12; 104:34; 105:3; 118:24).
It was virtually too good to be true to find that my simple longing to be completely satisfied wasn’t simply okay, however good, and that the God who made me truly wished me to be as completely satisfied as humanly potential in him. For me to be taught, after which start to expertise for myself, that God wasn’t the cosmic killjoy I had as soon as assumed, however that he was dedicated, with all his sovereign power and energy, to do me good (Jeremiah 32:40–41) — it took weeks, even months, for such excellent news to land. I’m nonetheless not over it as we speak.
And extra excellent news was nonetheless to come back.
All to the Glory of God
I knew from rising up that “the glory of God,” which frequently appeared like a throwaway Christianese phrase, was necessary. Turning pages in my Bible, I discovered it all over the place, like 1 Corinthians 10:31: “Whether or not you eat or drink, or no matter you do, do all to the glory of God.”
God made the world, and made us, that he is likely to be glorified. The Bible may be very clear, and our personal sense of justice resonates with the rightness of it, that God made us to glorify him. However that creates a disaster for many people. Does God imply for me to pursue his glory or my pleasure? I would like so badly to be completely satisfied, and the Bible instructions, not condemns, my rejoicing in God. And I do know I’m imagined to need him to be glorified in my life. Are his honor and my happiness two tandem pursuits within the Christian life? If that’s the case, how can we pursue each?
Then got here essentially the most outstanding discovery: our happiness in God glorifies God. My pursuit of the deepest and most sturdy pleasure, and God’s pursuit of his glory, usually are not two pursuits however one. As a result of, as John Piper champions in his ebook Wanting God, “God is most glorified in us once we are most glad in him.” God’s design to be glorified and my wishes to be completely satisfied come collectively in a single wonderful pursuit: the pursuit of pleasure in God.
Do You Get pleasure from Him?
God will not be honored once we pay tribute to our personal iron will by saying to him in prayer or church, “I don’t even wish to be right here, however I’m right here.” What honors him, what glorifies him, what makes him look good, is pleasure and satisfaction in him. God is most glorified once we say with the psalmist, “You’re my God; earnestly I search you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,” and “In your presence there’s fullness of pleasure; at your proper hand are pleasures forevermore.” We are saying, “Nothing makes me happier than to know you, Father, by your Son, Jesus, and to be right here with you over your phrase, or in prayer, or in company worship. Jesus, you might be my pleasure. You’re my treasure. You’re my delight. You fulfill my soul.” In these phrases, and within the coronary heart behind them, God is glorified.
“Not solely does God invite us to consider him, belief him, concern him, obey him, and worship him, however to take pleasure in him.”
What’s crucial fact you’ve realized in school? I posed this query to myself in fascinated about what I wished to say to you this morning. Of the numerous new details and liberating discoveries I made in these all-important, trajectory-shaping school years, what has proved most life-changing? Right here’s a method I might put it: For me, the one most necessary breakthrough in all my school studying was discovering that God is not only the suitable object of the verbs consider, belief, concern, obey, and worship, but in addition he’s essentially the most becoming, most satisfying, most worthy object of the verb take pleasure in.
Imagine God, belief God, concern God, obey God, worship God, sure! However do you take pleasure in him? Not with the small enjoyment of chuckling at a intelligent business, however the giant enjoyment of basking earlier than an ocean. Not the skinny enjoyment of buzzing together with a pop music, however the thick enjoyment of coming to the long-anticipated pinnacle of a symphony or a fantastic novel. Not the shallow enjoyment of buying some new gadget, however the deep enjoyment of reconnecting and catching up with a longtime good friend.
Not solely does God invite us to consider him, belief him, concern him, obey him, and worship him, however to take pleasure in him. Psalm 34:8 says, “Oh, style and see that the Lord is sweet!”
Studying to Fly
So, in mild of that single biggest discovery in my school years, let me ask simply briefly this morning what it means for the each day and weekly rhythms of the Christian life.
In different phrases, how can we get entangled? What steps, humble as they could be, can we take? How can we place ourselves to obtain the grace of God, to obtain his pleasure? In his mercy, he has not stored it a secret how he supplies ongoing grace and pleasure for the Christian life. I wish to summarize it in three elements — three previews of what our focus will probably be tomorrow evening.
1. Hear His Voice
Every new day introduces a recent event to listen to his voice within the Scriptures, not primarily as marching orders, however as a meal to feed our souls. Not only for soul diet, however for enjoyment. God needs our common sitting down along with his E book to be extra like coming to dinner than going to the grocery retailer. Don’t attempt to retailer up fact for tomorrow or subsequent week. Come to take pleasure in him as we speak. Just like the Israelites within the wilderness, when God gave them manna, merely collect a day’s portion and luxuriate in.
2. Have His Ear
Some name it prayer. Once we take pleasure in God, prayer begins to be a means not simply to ask God for issues we might take pleasure in, however to take pleasure in God himself. In prayer, we reply to what God says to us in his phrase, and in doing so, we commune with him, each asking for extra of him and experiencing him in prayer, within the second, as our biggest enjoyment. The guts of prayer will not be getting issues from God, however getting God.
3. Belong to His Physique
Lastly, then, is belonging to his physique. One very important manifestation of life within the church is company worship. Once we pursue our pleasure in God, company worship turns into the gorgeous alternative to collect collectively, not simply with fellow believers, however with fellow enjoyers of God.
How may it change company worship for you — not simply in church on Sunday morning, but in addition right here in chapel — to go searching and suppose, “These college students and professors not solely consider within the fact of Christianity however they take pleasure in the God of Christianity.” As we sing, we’re having fun with Jesus collectively. As we pray, we’re having fun with him collectively. As we hear his phrase learn and his message preached, we’re uniting our hearts collectively within the God who himself, within the individual of his Son, turned one in every of us, lived amongst us, suffered with us, died for us, rose triumphantly from the grave, and now sits in energy — with all authority in heaven and on earth — at his Father’s proper hand, and is bringing to move, in his good endurance and ideal timing, all his functions in our world. For our eternal pleasure. Collectively.
One Nice Possession
Coming to take pleasure in God — not simply consider him, belief him, worship him, and obey him, however take pleasure in him — has modified all the pieces for me. It’s modified how I method the Bible, how I method prayer, and the way I method company worship and fellowship. However there’s nonetheless one final piece lacking: What about love for others, particularly when it’s pricey? Will having fun with God transfer me towards others, or away from them? Will pleasure in God transfer me towards arduous, painful, pricey wants on this fallen, sin-sick world, or away from them?
My reply, which I can testify to in expertise now for 25 years, is that discovering pleasure in God liberates us to really love others. I go away you with one wonderful testimony: Hebrews 10:32–34. The scenario is that some on this early church have been put in jail for his or her religion, and others, as a substitute of going into hiding, went public to go to them in jail. In doing so, they uncovered themselves to the identical persecution their brothers have been receiving:
Recall the previous days when, after you have been enlightened, you endured a tough wrestle with sufferings, typically being publicly uncovered to reproach and affliction, and typically being companions with these so handled. For you had compassion on these in jail, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, because you knew that you simply yourselves had a greater possession and an abiding one.
So, these early Christians put themselves in hurt’s means by coming ahead to supply meals and fundamental wants for his or her pals in jail, they usually too have been persecuted. Their possessions have been plundered, whether or not by official decree or mob violence. And the way did they obtain it? Hebrews 10:34: “You joyfully accepted the plundering of your property. . .” What? How? Are you able to see your self joyfully accepting the plundering of your possessions? The place did this come from?
The reply is within the final a part of Hebrews 10:34: “. . . because you knew that you simply yourselves had a greater possession and an abiding one.” The phrase for “property” is identical phrase, within the plural, because the phrase for “possession.” Actually, “you joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions [plural] since you knew you had a greater and abiding possession [singular].” Since you had God as your heavenly treasure, you have been in a position to settle for the lack of your earthly treasures within the calling of affection — and never simply settle for, however settle for with pleasure. You joyfully accepted the lack of your finite, earthly, restricted possessions since you had the infinite, heavenly, all-satisfying singular Possession, whose title is Jesus Christ.
So, do you take pleasure in God? Whenever you take pleasure in God, you might be lastly free to give up your small, personal enjoyments (referred to as sacrifice) for the larger enjoyment of assembly the wants of others (referred to as love).
