Does James Say Not to Pursue Joy?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Joseph from Atlanta writes in to ask about James 4,
00:00:07.440 | specifically verses nine and 10, which read,
00:00:09.680 | "Be miserable and mourn and weep.
00:00:11.700 | "Let your laughter be turned into mourning
00:00:13.580 | "and your joy to gloom.
00:00:14.800 | "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord
00:00:16.440 | "and he will exalt you."
00:00:17.760 | End quote.
00:00:18.880 | Joseph asks, "It seems rather explicit
00:00:20.720 | "that James is saying to not be joyful.
00:00:22.720 | "Pastor John, in light of this text,
00:00:24.000 | "are there times when the pursuit of joy in God
00:00:26.420 | "isn't the chief goal in every season of life
00:00:28.720 | "or are the two cohesive?"
00:00:31.720 | - Oh, that's a sharp observation.
00:00:33.840 | I love questions like that.
00:00:35.480 | Anything that helps me take my Christian hedonism deeper
00:00:40.000 | to wrestle with seeming contradictions is just great.
00:00:44.080 | So here we have, how can you say,
00:00:48.680 | seek to be happy in God, Piper,
00:00:51.720 | and at the same time with the text say,
00:00:55.440 | be wretched, mourn, weep, let your joy be turned to gloom.
00:01:00.440 | That's the opposite of be happy, isn't it?
00:01:03.820 | Let your joy be turned to gloom.
00:01:06.020 | So let me just, let's stay with the text.
00:01:09.840 | I don't think it's good to run away from texts
00:01:11.840 | that feel problematical.
00:01:13.360 | Just stay with them.
00:01:14.360 | So verse four, he's talking to people who are adulterous.
00:01:18.760 | He says, "You adulteresses," it's a feminine, really,
00:01:22.420 | "You adulteresses, don't you know that friendship
00:01:25.640 | "with the world is enmity with God?"
00:01:29.560 | So he's talking to people who are finding their joy
00:01:33.720 | by using God as their so-called husband to get the money
00:01:38.720 | and go out and make friends with the world.
00:01:40.760 | They're making a cuckold out of God.
00:01:42.760 | They're cheating on him.
00:01:44.320 | And that's the people that are being spoken to.
00:01:45.880 | Or verse six, "God opposes the proud,
00:01:48.280 | "but gives grace to the humble."
00:01:50.720 | So he's talking to proud people.
00:01:53.580 | Or verse eight, "Cleanse your hands, you sinners.
00:01:57.200 | "Purify your hearts, you double-minded."
00:02:00.020 | And that's back up with these adulterous people.
00:02:01.740 | They got half the time they're in bed with God
00:02:04.420 | and half the time they're in bed with the world.
00:02:06.320 | They're double-minded.
00:02:08.060 | So that's the context when he says,
00:02:12.220 | "Let your laughter be turned to mourning."
00:02:15.980 | This is not wholesome laughter.
00:02:17.940 | This is not godly laughter.
00:02:19.940 | This is the laughter of an unfaithful wife
00:02:23.460 | in a bar with her boyfriend.
00:02:25.900 | This is sinful laughter.
00:02:28.700 | They're laughing behind the backs of the employees
00:02:33.580 | that they are treating unjustly.
00:02:36.220 | They're not taking joy in God.
00:02:39.140 | They're not treasuring God.
00:02:41.620 | And that's why he calls them adulteresses
00:02:44.260 | and double-minded.
00:02:47.100 | So you ask, are there times when,
00:02:50.700 | I'm seeing Joseph asks,
00:02:52.460 | are there times when the pursuit of joy in God
00:02:57.060 | isn't the chief goal in every season of life,
00:03:00.300 | every situation?
00:03:01.580 | That's a really good question.
00:03:03.660 | And let's just drop the word chief for a minute
00:03:07.500 | 'cause that's a little ambiguous to me.
00:03:09.040 | I'll come back to it.
00:03:10.860 | There are times, so here's my admission, my concession.
00:03:14.520 | Next thing is biblical.
00:03:16.960 | There are times when the most immediate goal
00:03:20.560 | is stop being happy in the world.
00:03:25.300 | Stop being happy in sin.
00:03:28.700 | Start weeping over dishonoring God
00:03:32.740 | by finding happiness in things.
00:03:36.180 | That's what the text is saying.
00:03:37.700 | Yes, right now, stop that happiness.
00:03:40.420 | Stop that laughter.
00:03:41.980 | Be brokenhearted.
00:03:45.060 | Don't rejoice.
00:03:47.220 | But wouldn't it be true, Joseph,
00:03:49.700 | that the ultimate aim here,
00:03:52.420 | the ultimate aim is,
00:03:56.380 | and maybe I would even say the chief aim,
00:03:59.020 | depending on what you mean by chief,
00:04:00.180 | the chief goal at this moment
00:04:01.860 | that James is after is not their long-term misery.
00:04:07.740 | He wants them to start honoring God
00:04:12.020 | by finding pleasure in their husband.
00:04:14.140 | Get back in bed with your husband and stay there.
00:04:16.920 | Don't go cheat on God by finding pleasure
00:04:21.340 | in what he has declared to be sin.
00:04:24.900 | So the pathway to that joy is sorrow,
00:04:30.620 | and that reminds us of another text, doesn't it?
00:04:33.280 | Second Corinthians 7, 10.
00:04:36.540 | Godly grief produces a repentance
00:04:40.620 | that leads to salvation.
00:04:43.620 | That's joy.
00:04:44.460 | And worldly grief produces death.
00:04:49.940 | So at this point where he says,
00:04:52.640 | stop rejoicing, weep, be brokenhearted,
00:04:57.360 | don't take joy anymore,
00:04:58.900 | what he means is start having godly grief for your sin.
00:05:03.900 | And that leads to repentance,
00:05:07.380 | and that leads to salvation,
00:05:09.580 | and salvation is full of joy.
00:05:12.700 | So even in the summons to be broken,
00:05:16.540 | the summons to weep,
00:05:18.660 | he is pursuing our joy.
00:05:21.120 | - Thank you, Pastor John,
00:05:22.860 | and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:05:24.540 | Email your questions to us
00:05:25.660 | at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org.
00:05:28.060 | You can visit us online at desiringgod.org
00:05:30.180 | to find thousands of free books, articles, sermons,
00:05:32.380 | and other resources from John Piper.
00:05:34.620 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:05:35.460 | Thanks for listening.
00:05:36.500 | (upbeat music)
00:05:39.080 | (upbeat music)
00:05:41.660 | [BLANK_AUDIO]