Are Christian Hedonists Happier Than Unbelievers?
00:00:00.000 | [Music]
00:00:05.000 | As we anticipate the annual celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, Chip in Georgia writes in to ask this,
00:00:11.600 | "Pastor John, Christian hedonism seems to say that our deepest longings in this life can only be satisfied by God,
00:00:18.100 | and it's only in Him that we can be truly happy.
00:00:21.100 | If God makes us happier than people who simply pursue the world,
00:00:24.600 | why does Paul say we are to be pitied, most of all men, if there is no resurrection?
00:00:30.100 | Isn't our life now, even now, more satisfying than that of the non-Christian?"
00:00:36.600 | What do you say, Pastor John?
00:00:38.600 | I'm smiling real big. I love sharp, biblically-rooted questions.
00:00:46.600 | So I've asked this. In fact, I've spoken on it.
00:00:49.100 | Years ago, I spoke to the Wycliffe folks in Cameroon on this very question.
00:00:53.600 | So I was trying to remember what I said.
00:00:56.600 | It is a really important and good question rooted in 1 Corinthians 15.
00:01:04.600 | So let me just bring Chip up and the rest of us to where I'm thinking today.
00:01:11.600 | I don't know that I have the completely satisfying answer, but I have some answers that have helped me.
00:01:19.600 | Just a clarification to start with about Christian joy in this painful life.
00:01:26.600 | A huge part of our joy as Christians is what Paul calls "rejoicing in hope," from Romans 5.
00:01:35.600 | In other words, joy is not complete in what we can know and have of God here now.
00:01:44.600 | Our joy is in hope of what we will know and have of God in the future also.
00:01:52.600 | Our joy here is a foretaste of the fullness of joy there, and so it's not complete now.
00:02:03.600 | We see through a glass darkly, and we know in part, so our joy is in part.
00:02:10.600 | It's strong now, it's deep now, it's enough to carry the day now, but it's nothing near like what it will be.
00:02:18.600 | So Romans 5 says, "Through him we have obtained access by faith into the grace in which we stand,
00:02:26.600 | and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
00:02:31.600 | That means that the joy we anticipate in the age to come flows back into this age in measure,
00:02:39.600 | but not in fullness, but in measure.
00:02:42.600 | "We rejoice in our sufferings," he says, "knowing that our suffering produces endurance,
00:02:47.600 | and endurance produces character, and character produces hope."
00:02:50.600 | So we are people who have this strange emotional experience of rejoicing in what we don't yet have to make us happy.
00:03:01.600 | So I don't want to overstate the joy of the Christian hedonist in this age.
00:03:09.600 | It is not nearly what it will be in the age to come, and much of it is anticipatory now.
00:03:18.600 | So here are the key words that create the problem in 1 Corinthians 15.
00:03:24.600 | The context is Paul's talking about whether Christ has been raised from the dead or not.
00:03:29.600 | He says, "If Christ has not been raised from the dead," this is verse 14 following,
00:03:34.600 | "If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.
00:03:40.600 | We are even found to be misrepresenting," that is, we're false witnesses of God, liars about God,
00:03:47.600 | "because we have testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it is true that the dead are not raised."
00:03:54.600 | And then verse 17, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins,
00:04:01.600 | then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished," we're going to come back to that, that's really crucial,
00:04:07.600 | Christians have gone to hell, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, they've gone to hell,
00:04:13.600 | "If in Christ we have hope only in this life, we are of all people most to be pitied."
00:04:22.600 | And the question is, how can Christians who have more joy than anybody else be most to be pitied?
00:04:29.600 | That's the question. And I'm asking, why'd you say that, Paul?
00:04:34.600 | And here are the, I think I see four reasons for why Paul says this.
00:04:39.600 | Number one, evidently Paul believes that delusion, a life of delusion, is to be pitied, even if it's a happy delusion.
00:04:50.600 | It's not just that we are experiencing in this, what we're experiencing in this life proves to be more or less happy in the other,
00:05:00.600 | it proves to be non-existent in the other.
00:05:03.600 | If Christ is not raised from the dead, then my joy in the living Christ is not joy in the living Christ.
00:05:12.600 | There is no living Christ, and therefore I am not experiencing joy in the living Christ.
00:05:20.600 | I am an absolute idiot, I'm a fool.
00:05:23.600 | Paul's first conviction, it seems to me, is that this is not true, Christ is raised,
00:05:29.600 | and his second conviction is that it's a delusion if he's not raised,
00:05:36.600 | and it's an enormous delusion, more pitiable than anything he could think of, evidently.
00:05:43.600 | So that's the first reason. A delusory life, a life lived in absolute delusion, is to be pitied.
00:05:51.600 | Number two, Paul's life would be pitiable because he willingly embraced so much suffering that he could have avoided.
00:06:04.600 | Those sufferings were sustained by Paul's joy in Christ, not the other way around.
00:06:13.600 | The sufferings didn't create the joy in this life.
00:06:17.600 | So if there's no resurrection, those sufferings were absolutely pointless.
00:06:24.600 | That's the second one.
00:06:25.600 | Number three, we deny ourselves many pleasures here precisely for the sake of the reward of the age to come.
00:06:39.600 | So Jesus said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you
00:06:44.600 | and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.
00:06:47.600 | Rejoice and be glad now, for your reward is great in heaven."
00:06:54.600 | So we renounce retaliation and the joy of getting back at people.
00:06:59.600 | We renounce that. We renounce the comforts of fitting into the world so that we don't ever have to be criticized or reviled.
00:07:08.600 | We renounce that. Why?
00:07:10.600 | Precisely because we believe it will be made up to us in heaven,
00:07:16.600 | which means we didn't just fail to maximize the pleasures we could have had here,
00:07:23.600 | but we bargained that the self-denial would be rewarded in the resurrection.
00:07:30.600 | And there is no resurrection, and the bargain failed.
00:07:34.600 | And here's the fourth and last reason I think he said this.
00:07:38.600 | This one comes straight out of his words.
00:07:41.600 | If Christ and we are not raised from the dead, then Paul doesn't infer atheism.
00:07:50.600 | He infers hell.
00:07:53.600 | That we enter a worse punishment in hell than others because we didn't just make a mistake.
00:08:04.600 | We actively misrepresented God.
00:08:08.600 | Oftentimes I've read this chapter and this argument as though,
00:08:12.600 | "Well, if there's no resurrection from the dead, the whole biblical religion is false.
00:08:16.600 | There is no God. Cesaros or others, each one can be married."
00:08:19.600 | That is not what Paul does. He didn't argue like that.
00:08:22.600 | He says, "If Christ has not been raised, God's going to send me to hell
00:08:28.600 | because I've been telling everybody that this is his son, and he's been raised from the dead,
00:08:34.600 | and I am a false prophet.
00:08:38.600 | And therefore, I am, of all people, most to be pitied, for I'm going to get the worst punishment."
00:08:46.600 | So in sum, I would sum it up. Here they are.
00:08:50.600 | If there is no risen Christ, no resurrection of believers unto eternal reward and joy,
00:08:59.600 | then number one, Christian life is a delusion.
00:09:02.600 | Number two, voluntary suffering is painfully pointless.
00:09:06.600 | Number three, hope in heaven is futile.
00:09:10.600 | And all of our basing our self-denials on it was ridiculous.
00:09:14.600 | And number four, any attempt to speak for the living Christ would be a damnable scam
00:09:21.600 | and a false prophecy which would deserve hell even more than others,
00:09:26.600 | and we would perish under that severe sentence.
00:09:29.600 | So we are, of all people, most to be pitied.
00:09:33.600 | Profoundly sobering connections. Everything hinges on the resurrection.
00:09:38.600 | Thank you for that reminder, Pastor John.
00:09:40.600 | And thank you for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast today.
00:09:43.600 | We have over 60 hours of episodes which you can search through and browse in our new landing page.
00:09:49.600 | Go to DesiringGod.org.
00:09:51.600 | At the top of the page, click on the tab that says "More" and then click on "Ask Pastor John."
00:09:55.600 | And there you can search hundreds of past episodes.
00:09:58.600 | You can get the free apps, and you can ask John Piper your most baffling questions.
00:10:03.600 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow.
00:10:06.600 | (end)
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