James Teaches Worldliness and HedonismJames 4:1-5
REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church
REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church
James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of
mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of
righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church
James 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions
are at war within you?
REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
James 4:4a You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with
the world is enmity with God?
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
Exodus 34:12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst.
13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut
down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the
LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a
covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to
their gods and you are invited, you
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons
whore after their gods.
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
James 4:2a You desire and do not have… You covet and cannot
obtain…
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this
is the whole duty of man.
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
James 4:5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says,
“He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in
us”?
REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
James 1:17a Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
“The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever!”
Westminster Shorter Catechism
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
“My shortest summary of it is: God is most glorified in us when we are
most satisfied in him. Does Christian Hedonism make a god out of pleasure? No. It says that
we all make a god out of what we take most pleasure in. My life is devoted to helping people make God their God, by wakening in them the greatest pleasures in
him.”John Piper
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
James 4:2b You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do
not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your
passions.
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
Luke 6:35a But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting
nothing in return, and your reward will be great.
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for
whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek
him.
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you,
and that your joy may be full.
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
“God is glorified not only by His glory being seen, but by its being
rejoiced in.” Jonathan Edwards
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
“Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its
healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the
enemy’s ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure.
All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures:
all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans
to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He
has forbidden.
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any
pleasure to that in which it is least natural. An ever-increasing
craving for an ever-diminishing pleasure is the formula.”
C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters
REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design
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