March 2003 Archives

An entry in David Brainerd's diary is the perfect expression of me over the past couple of days and could have been written in my journal on Saturday in every way. Each word could have been mine.

In the evening, I was unexpectedly visited by a considerable number of people, with whom I was enabled to converse profitably of divine things. Took pains to describe the difference between a regular and irregular self love; the one consisting with a supreme love to God, but the other not; the former uniting God's glory and the soul's happiness that they become one common interest, but the latter disjoining and separating God's glory and man's happiness, seeking the larger with a neglect of the former. Illustrated this by that genuine love that is founded between the sexes, which is diverse from that which is wrought up towards a person only by rational argument, or hope of self-interest.

Mine was by way of instant messaging, though I was nearly frightened when I read that on Saturday, because as I said, that's exactly what happened to me, and the same line of logic I was using. I just hope I don't start coughing up blood.... ;o)

The main point I was making was that in order to love someone else in a genuine way, a person must have his own happiness clearly straight in his head. If you think that "love" is not doing what you want but what the other person wants or pursuing making other people happy, that is right up to a point but then falls short of a biblical understanding of what love is. I don't have time to get into the biblical argument, unfortunately (though I'd like to provide it as some point), but the summary of it being that love is pursuing your happiness in the happiness of another person.

Edwards puts it this way, which I've highlighted earlier:

In some sense the most benevolent, generous person in the world seeks his own happiness in doing good to others, because he places his happiness in their good. His mind is so enlarged as to take them, as it were, into himself. Thus when they are happy, he feels it; he partakes with them, and is happy in their happiness. This is so far from being inconsistent with the freeness of beneficence, that, on the contrary, free benevolence and kindness consists in it.

So to say that I deny entirely my own joy for someone else's joy is inaccurate. Rather, it is denying myself some temporal, private joy for the much greater joy of completing someone else's joy. This is horizontal Christian Hedonism.

Piper sums up just what Christian Hedonism is in the following way (from Desiring God, p. 23):

Christian Hedonism is a philosophy of life built on the following five convictions:

1. The longing to be happy is a universal human experience, and it is good, not sinful.
2. We should never try to deny or resist our longing to be happy, as though it were a bad impulse. Instead we should seek to intensify this longing and nourish it with whatever will provide the deepest and most enduring satisfaction.
3. The deepest and most enduring happiness is found only in God.
4. The happiness we find in God reaches its consummation when it is shared with others in the manifold ways of love.
5. To the extent we try to abandon the pursuit of our own pleasure, we fail to honor God and love people. Or, to put it positively: the pursuit of pleasure is a necessary part of all worship and virtue. That is,

The chief end of man is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever.

The fourth and fifth point are the ones I'm talking about. This is also what Brainerd seemed to be talking about. I find this to be such a freeing worldview that I have been commending it to anyone who will listen to me over and over and over again. I spill over and want to share my happiness I find in God by sharing it with others. That's what my life is all about.

A little quote and commentary from Rob, just like the old days. :o)

With all the talk of "freedom" and "liberty" going on, which on a horizontal scale I agree with, I wanted to highlight a definition of biblical freedom or liberty that I find to be carefully crafted and very well said. Follow me here:

The greatest freedom is found in being so changed by God's Spirit that you can do what you love to do and know it conforms to the design of God and leads to life and glory.

John Piper, What's the Difference? (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 54

He was speaking of this in light of a definition of headship and submission. However, when I read that, I felt such a strong agreement and approval of the statement that rang true with verses such as:

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (I John 5:3)

For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)

I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)

At the heart of sub-Christian living is sub-Christian thinking about God. When we speak of "rules" and "regulations" of the Christian life, we think the key is to be free of rules and regulations, because they are oppressive and keep us in bondage and all of that. If we try to keep these rules in order to meet some standard of excellence, then I can see how we can view them in this way. But as I read the above verses, I think we're missing something.

Freedom is delighting in doing what's right. Or enjoying. Or taking pleasure in. Or whatever other synonym you wish to use. Someone told me tonight, "The definition of love is that it's an act of the volition, of the will. 1 Corinthians 13 speaks of love being an action. Delight and being satisfied and everything else is the icing on the cake." This reminded me of two criticisms of the viewpoint I hold of the Bible as highlighted in Desiring God, Chapter 4:

Is it not the contention of morality that we should do the good because it is good? We should do the good and perform virtuously, I suggest, because it is good and virtuous; that God will bless it and cause us to be happy is a consequence of it, but not the motive for doing it.

And

For the Christian, happiness is never a goal to be pursued. It is always the unexpected surprise of a life of service.

I do not reduce love to a feeling. But nor do I reduce love to an action. As a matter of fact, the key is the heart, for out of it flows everything (Proverbs 4:23). Genuine love must have both feeling and volition.

If I say, "I love my wife," and yet do not hug her, do not kiss her, and simply treat her indifferently, I am a liar. You may conclude that when I said "I love my wife," all I was doing was mentally agreeing to a fact. You can see that my love isn't real because it is not followed by actions that would obviously give credence to my claim.

If I say, "I love my wife," and then I kiss her tenderly, hold her close to me, and tears stream down my face in praise to God for such a woman in my life, then you may conclude that my feelings were genuine because they were followed by actions that were consistent with them.

The same goes if I say, "I love my wife," but I don't go to work to earn money for my family, don't provide for them, don't do things that are uncomfortable to me for their sake, it's safe to say that I have shallow and insincere feelings. But if I do go to work and earn money, provide, and do things that are uncomfortable in and of themselves, but I do them for my family's sake, it may be safe to say I do love my wife and family. Their happiness is directly linked to mine. If I just think, "I need to earn money for my family because it's the right thing to do," that, to be blunt, is a stupid and heartless reason that doesn't honor my family, if that's the only motivation I have.

It is the right thing to provide for my family. But not simply because it's the right thing to do! Their happiness is my motivator, for when my family is happy, I am happy. I write this whole update to hopefully make you think about this, because when you are happy, I am happy. And by "happy" I don't mean giddy or goofy or like a clown. I mean satisfied, like when you're hungry and you finally get to eat, or hot and thirsty at an amusement park and finally find cool, pure water to drink. To be satisfied in eating or drinking in that way is what I mean by being happy.

Anyway, I want to address a concern that several people have raised lately, and I think it can be a valid concern. It's regarding how much we listen to men. I'll update later with my thoughts. Until then, delight yourself in the Lord.

Brothers and sisters, God is satisfied. God is satisfied. God is satisfied.

I have been listening to a three-part series of sermons on Romans 1:17 called "How God Saves Believers" by, you guessed it, my buddy John Piper. He came at this verse with such a grasp that I have gone to it over and over again myself to read and reread and savor the truth that is in it. Right now, I cannot yet articulate it, but O dear friends, the Gospel saves us every day. It is not something we share with only unbelievers, nor is it something we just occasionally look back on and fondly remember.

It's our life! It's the root and marrow of handling temptation! It's the zeal for missions! It's the comfort in suffering! With tears streaming down my face I beseech you, know this Gospel. Not just in the head, and not just good feelings in your heart. But clutch it to your breast and hold it close as your only hope!