Christian Hedonism in Two Minutes

00:00:00.000 | Well, happy Wednesday and welcome back to the podcast.

00:00:06.760 | We talk a lot about this thing called Christian hedonism around here.

00:00:11.200 | So what is it?

00:00:12.200 | What's the best, simplest, shortest definition of Christian hedonism?

00:00:16.600 | Well, I have it for you today.

00:00:19.200 | Back in 2006, Pastor John was asked to define Christian hedonism in two minutes.

00:00:26.620 | And he delivered his response in one minute, 40 seconds, short of two minutes.

00:00:32.200 | When he was asked the question, here's what he said.

00:00:36.480 | Christian hedonism is the conviction that God is most glorified in us when we are most

00:00:46.080 | satisfied in him.

00:00:48.760 | I won't take the time to put all the textual foundation under that.

00:00:51.800 | I've done that in many places.

00:00:53.520 | But let me explain the implication.

00:00:56.600 | If God is made to look glorious by my being satisfied in him, then pursuing my satisfaction

00:01:05.640 | in him becomes essential to obedience and worship.

00:01:11.320 | And therefore, Christian hedonism says you must pursue your maximum joy.

00:01:20.680 | And maximum in two senses.

00:01:23.160 | Maximum in quality, maximum in quantity.

00:01:26.280 | In other words, I want fullness of joy and I want joy forevermore.

00:01:31.000 | That's from Psalm 1611.

00:01:32.920 | And that's only found in God.

00:01:35.040 | So I have no hesitation saying the Christian life is the pursuit of maximum joy in God.

00:01:44.760 | Because my soul is satisfied and God is glorified.

00:01:48.960 | And those two things, God's glory and my joy, are not at odds.

00:01:53.440 | And that's the beauty of Christian hedonism.

00:01:56.360 | God has sent Jesus Christ to die for my sins, to rise again, so that it's possible for me

00:02:02.160 | now to have total and complete satisfaction in God forever.

00:02:06.520 | And when I pursue that, I'm showing that God is infinitely valuable, infinitely satisfying,

00:02:12.060 | so that he gets the glory and I get the joy.

00:02:14.840 | Short, sweet, and profound.

00:02:16.960 | And it will take a lifetime to appreciate what that actually means.

00:02:19.880 | It will actually take an eternity to really experience this, that we seek our maximum

00:02:24.640 | joy in quality and in quantity in God forever.

00:02:30.600 | And when we find God to be infinitely valuable, infinitely satisfying to us, he gets the most

00:02:35.640 | glory from us.

00:02:37.840 | And we find our supreme joy in him.

00:02:40.440 | That's what we're all about here at Desiring God.

00:02:42.920 | Our eternal joy in God's eternal glory.

00:02:46.960 | In unison.

00:02:49.000 | In unison.

00:02:50.000 | I'm your host Tony Reinke.

00:02:52.520 | We'll rejoin the studio with Pastor John when we return on Friday.

00:02:55.920 | We'll see you then.

00:03:01.420 | [BLANK_AUDIO]