(051) The Gospel of John XVIII: God’s Pure Joy
The Gospel of John XVIII:
God’s Pure Joy
John 10:10
November 9, 2008
Prep:
· Sermons: Sin as slavery, wine that glorified God, Glorify God.
· Context in John
· Piper: Passion for...pt 2
· Grudem: Satan (p. 412ff)
· Listen to lecture 8 of Teaching Co. (-11:30)
Opening
Some of us voted for McCain and some for Obama. Whatever your feelings about the election, your duty now turns to praying for the president-elect.
Prayer:
· Pray for president-elect.
· Give us a better glimpse of who you are.
WHo’s more fun?
Q Which word do you associate with “party,” holiness or sin?
Q Who do you associate more with “fun,” God or Satan?
In this sermon, I want to paint a picture of Satan as a miserly, miserable creature who hates joy, happiness, and pleasure, and craving to spread his misery across the universe.
I want us to see God not just as the source of love of joy, but happiness, pleasure, and life, as life of the party, seeking to spread joy through the universe.
Is this stuff we all know? Sure. But I am not certain that we feel it, that at our core we really believe that God is the ultimate fulfillment of everything we truly want.
There will be time for Q & A.
My basis for this sermon is found in John:
John 10:10 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
The arch-thief
The thief was reference to false messiahs and misguided leaders, such as the Pharisees, but more than that, it is the power behind all the thieves, The Thief, Satan.
We live in an age that doesn’t believe in him or else is too interested in him, either of which he is glad to encourage. In contrast, the Bible presents him and his demons as real entities, with real, though limited power.
· The Bible forbids either fear or flippancy.
We’re not told a lot about who he is or where he came from, but we know that he does what ever he can to hinder God’s work: Tempting, deceiving, accusing, bringing fear and confusion.
John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
These three things can be simply summed up as “he is up to no good,” which I mean in the most literal sense, there is not a hint of goodness in his motives or actions.
Absolute zero
Q Satan can come across as a caricature: What is his motive for being so bad?
· He is the demonstration of what happens when a great good is completely corrupted.
By thrusting himself fully away from God, he’s distanced himself from every possibility of good, joy or happiness, for these flow from God. He’s the great negative, evil at its worst.
· Yet, there is a limit to evil, like “Absolutes Zero” (-459 F).
Conversely, there is no limit to goodness. We know Absolute Zero, but we don’t know whether or not this is a hottest hot.
· That is why we must never think of Satan as God’s opposite.
In order to distance ourselves from cartoonish images of horns and pitchforks, it’s helpful to look a some literary version:
· Voldemort (Harry Potter), joyless and driven by fear of death.
· Sauron (Lord of the Rings), sometimes simply called “The Great Malice,” without personality or body, only pride and hatred.
· The Whitewitch, (Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe) who hates joy. Seeing a feast she ask, “What is the meaning of this gluttony, this waste, this self-indulgence?”
Ä More than most, C. S. Lewis clearly understood the joyless nature of Satan and evil.
Satan hates fun
Satan hates joy, and he hates pleasure. But doesn’t he tempt us with pleasure? Didn’t I say in another sermon that sin is fun?
Yes, sin is fun, and the enemy uses pleasure as the hook to capture us. But it is always tainted and poisoned happiness.
Sin can be fun, but trouble is always added to it. Think of a time that sin was fun. Given enough time, you will see the trouble that is added to it.
In sixth grade, I was a nerd, but for a few glorious weeks I was accepted by the bullies. It felt so good to be accepted. But in order to be accepted I rejected by only real friend at the school, which remains one of my few regrets in life.
Ä In utter contrast to that is the joy God gives:
God of pure joy
Proverbs 10:22 22 The blessing of the LORD brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.
God gives joy, acceptance, happiness, all without sorrow added to it. Hell has no pleasure of its own; all it can do is corrupt Heaven’s joys.
· Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights.
This is something that C. S. Lewis keenly understood, that all joys are God’s (in the words of the tempter demon Screwtape):
[God] is a hedonist at heart. All those fasts and vigils and stakes and crosses are only a façade. Or like the foam on the seashore. Out at sea, out in His sea, there is pleasure, and more pleasure. He makes no secret of it; at His right hand are ‘pleasures for evermore.’ [Ps. 18:11]...
He has filled his world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without his minding in the least – sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working. Everything has to be twisted before it is any use to us. Screwtape Letters, letter XXII.
And so the enemy gives us a little pleasure as possible in order to trap us in addictions and bondage, but God would give it to us endlessly and without regret.
John 10:10 10 I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
Don’t think “life” simply means heaven – it is also an earthly promise. And “abundantly” means “excessive.”
Q Is this what we think of when we and world think of when they think of Christians? Joy?
In the same way it pains me that Christians are known for judgmentalism rather than joy, it pains me that we are known more for being kill-joys than joy-bearers.
· Some of this cannot be avoided because the world’s idea of joy has been so tainted that they can’t imagine joy without sin.
Christian Hedonism
In contrast to this, John Piper referred to “Christian Hedonism,” by which he means that the proper motivation for Christian living is to seek happiness and joy.
Q Does that strike you as odd?
Our problem isn’t we are pursuing your pleasure when we ought to be doing your duty. The problem is we settle for too little.
We are half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. C. S. Lewis, Weight of Glory
I have known and used this quote for many years, but I feel like I am only just beginning to understand it. Sure, I knew that heaven was going to be great, but more feels likes it will be good for me than fun.
· It was like hoping Jesus wouldn’t come back before my Disneyland vacation.
Now I am starting to internalize that the joys of earth are reflections of God’s joy.
· If you want to understand heaven, think of your greatest moment of joy as a foretaste of God’s presence.
· Conversely, think of your darkest times of dread, loneliness, and bitterness as a foretaste of hell.
Ä So it is our happy duty to seek “infinite joy” by finding the source of all delight in God.
Delight in Him himself
We can be Christian Hedonist because God himself is the happiest of beings, from him flows happiness, joy, and pleasure.
· The problem comes when we seek God as a means to joy, not to seek God and find his joy in him.
A couple of weeks ago, I spoke against a doctrine that says God wants us all to be happy and if we are not “healthy and wealthy” it is because we don’t have enough faith.
Q Am I contradicting myself?
Actually, this makes the difference clearer. That doctrine would make God a means to the joys he gives, but Christian Hedonism seeks the joy that is found in God himself and sees all earthly joys as a reflection of that joy.
· But earthly joys frequently become a hindrance to the source.
· Perhaps one of the reasons for suffering is to prevent us from confusing these partial joys with real joy.
Q & A
closing: The Kingdom of God is a party
The kingdom of God is a party, not just “this is good for you” like vitamins and healthy food, but a genuine, joy-filled, regret-free party.
· Sorrow and repentance are vital at times, but then we get to get back to the glorious business of joy.
Nick Harris felt bad about laughing in church because it felt like when he had fun in the bars, but Larry told him the bar was a taste of the real joy.
· Satan is a miserly, miserable creature who hates joy, happiness, and pleasure.
· God is the very source of all that is good, joyful, fun, and desirable. He is (quite literally) the life of the party.
Prayer
Announcements
· Next week we will be making an announcement about the church leadership – nothing to be worried about, but it is important.