Title: The Point of Pleasure
Text: Nehemiah 8:10
MP: God has nothing against pleasure – he’d just rather give you joy.
SERMON NOTES:
“THE POINT OF PLEASURE”
1. Pleasure p_oints__ us towards h_eaven_
Gen 1:26 – We were designed for relationship
Intimacy is a foretaste, Sex is a shadow
The God-shaped hole
Our hands are too small
2. Perversion t_wists_ us to h_ell____
Why do we sin?
What’s a Gnostic?
What does the word ‘pervert’ mean?
Filling up on the bread
3. Joy puts pleasure in p_erspective___
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The story goes that an older man and his wife decided they were going to get fit. They exercised; they stopped eating deserts, and changed their diet to be only that which was required for optimal nutrition and health. Sure enough, their bodies responded positively, and as the aged they found themselves able to travel. But sadly, crossing a busy street in one of these cities, they were both struck by a bus and killed.
As they passed through the pearly gates, with Peter giving them tour of the ultimate heavenly city, they gawked at the splendor of the streets paved with gold, the cherubim sing praises to God, and generally marveled at all the joys around them. Swept up the emotion of the place, the man turned to his wife and said, “See Edna: If you hadn’t put us on that stupid diet, we would have been here five years ago!”
Yes, our text this morning is a little hard, because we are so conditioned to think that our bodies are Temples, and that fat is evil. Nowadays, we have to keep in shape – even pastors will preach healthy eating from the pews. Well, I am in shape! Round is a shape. Indeed, the ancients used to say that round was the shape of God himself.
This evening, I want to take us backwards in our text as we move towards rediscovering our joy. I hope you remember the context of this passage from last night – Israel’s great revival. The Wall has been rebuilt, the Temple has been rebuilt, and now God is rebuilding his people. But when they think about how far they have fallen, they weep. But God says – It’s ok. I want you to enjoy yourselves here. Take pleasure in what I have given you.
Notice how the priests tell the people: “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink the sweet drink!” If you’re having a hard time figuring out what they’re saying, just imagine going the Outback Steakhouse. The waiter brings out a bloomin’ onion, dripping with oil. Then he has a 16-ounce Prime Minister’s Prime Rib, perfectly marbled. And then there’s the salad. Which one brings you the most pleasure, eh?
Very simply, the priests are saying, have a good time! Enjoy the fat. God loves you. I should tell you that none other than Martin Luther is quoted as saying, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”
I think it’s time we stopped to ask ourselves a simple question: “If God wanted us to eat nothing but healthy green rabbit food, why did he make steak taste so good?”
Why does it so often seem that the things that are bad for us are so enjoyable? Why is sin pleasurable?
Pleasure points us toward heaven
I want to begin by thinking about pleasure for a moment. Now, ask any teenage boy what word comes to mind first when he thinks about pleasure, and you know what he’ll say. Sex. Of course.
At the risk of shocking you a little bit, I’m going to have to agree with the teenager. Sex is pleasurable. God made it that way.
Now, if you are offended that I have just used the word ‘sex’ in positive light in church, you can talk to me about it later. Before you get too far into your speech, I would like you to read this little book called The Song of Solomon – its in the middle of your Bibles – first.
So, what’s the one thing the world knows about sex? They think good Christians don’t do it. They fight their sexual urges. Why is it then that God made sex so pleasurable? Good question isn’t it.
When we do sex right, it models that intimacy. We get a taste of what it means to be one flesh – united in a fallen world that normally does nothing but tear us down and tear us apart.
In Genesis 1:26, God says, ‘Let us make man in our image.’ Already in one sentence you see the fundamental truth about the Trinity. The godhead lives in perfect relationship – perfect intimacy with himself. The Trinity is nothing but the perfect union of three in one. The closest thing I think about is when my wife and I become one flesh. Even that’s a pale image of it. But it’s a model.
You know way back there was a nun named St. Teresa of Avila who was well known for how intimate she was with God. When Bernini sculpted her, he portrayed a nun in the full throws of orgasm. It wasn’t crude or disgusting – Bernini was at that point a very pious man. He just knew there was no way of expressing the true intimacy she had with God – this was the closest facsimile he could find.
When I am intimate with my wife, I am modeling the closest thing I know of the Trinity. It’s not surprising to me that finding that intimacy – that relationship - is the most pleasurable thing we know. God designed us for pleasure – God designed us for Glory – God designed us to take pleasure in his glory.
Let’s face it, your average guy in a bar, trying to drunk so he can go out and get lucky, isn’t really looking to exchange body fluids – he’s looking for something to fill the loneliness in his heart. It has been said that every man who knocks on the door of the brothel is actually searching for God. We were designed for intimacy and relationship. Sex – in the context of a loving marriage – is foretaste of that.
You know the church has been complicit in trying to deny pleasure for far too long. Sadly, we were the ones, who for a thousand years taught that all sex was bad – even between a man and a wife. It’s a little sad to think that we were denying a model of communion, isn’t it?
Here’s a little fact that I hope will blow your mind: Do you know who in church history did the most to change that anti-sex mindset? The Puritans. That’s right – the Puritans! You wouldn’t think that strait-laced, bible bashers would do that, now would you?
But the truth is that Puritans were passionate about God’s pleasure. They understood that God wasn’t a killer of joy but the Creator of it. They understood that pleasure was designed to point us to heaven.
The great 5th Century theologian Augustine said of God that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee. Pleasure! C.S. Lewis talks about a God-shaped hole – something that only God could satisfy. The point of pleasure is to find our fullness in God!
The Bible has a lot to say about enjoying the pleasures that God has given to us. Indeed, if God has given us all this abundance, who are we to turn up our noses and refuse the gifts that God has bestowed on us. Doesn’t that seem the slightest bit ungrateful?
Presbyterians even say in their confession that the chief end of man is to “enjoy God forever.” There’s nothing wrong with a good time.
The only problem comes when we settle for momentary pleasure over the eternal joy of knowing God.
Perversion twists Desires toward Hell
I remember a Sunday School class once in which I asked the question, “Why, do we sin?” People were darting around in their Bibles, thinking about a good answer – finally one of my teenagers looked like she wanted to say something but couldn’t. So I asked her directly – “Why do we sin?” “Well,” she answered, “I sin because it’s fun.”
That girl just got an A+ in theology in my book. She’s right. Sin is pleasurable too. In fact, I would argue that until we admit that sin is fun, it will always have control over our lives.
Paul used to fight against a group of people called Gnostics. They taught that everything was evil: food, drink, your body. And so, they reasoned, if everything was evil, it didn’t really matter what you did. Abuse the wine, get fat, and if a girl strikes your fancy, go for it! They refused to see things as good, and so things lived up to expectations.
Well, if acknowledge that sin is fun, we can then ask ourselves, why would God allow sin to be pleasurable? Let me teach a deep theological term for sin. The word is ‘perversion.’ Ever heard that one? It just means twisted.
Sometimes in the suburbs, kids think it’s funny to twist street signs 90 degrees. A street sign, by itself, is a good thing – it tells you where you are. But you just twist it enough, and all the sudden something good points you in the totally wrong direction.
If you’ve ever seen judo, you’ve seen Satan’s M.O. at work. The whole idea of the martial arts is that you use an enemy’s strength against him. That’s all Satan ever does with us. He has no power of his own – all he can do is his enemy’s strength – God’s strength – against us.
Hmmm… Sex, intimacy – what if we twisted that into an all-consuming desire for lots of people instead of just one. Oh yeah, that could cause some discord and confusion, couldn’t it? One way to take away the joy.
Or, what about beer. A little bit can lower your inhibitions, make shy people open up. What would happen if we took down all the barriers – even the ones that we put up out of courtesy. Yup, Satan’s thinking – that’d be a good one.
Of course pleasure can be abused. But does that say that we throw the whole thing out? Does that mean we should cut ourselves off from all of God’s gifts? Well, let me read you some of C.S. Lewis again. This is from an address called The Weight of Glory, and let me tell you, if you ever want to spend 20 minutes changing your life you should read it. In The Weight of Glory, Lewis writes this:
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about 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.
Indeed, God is so concerned about our joy that he doesn’t want us to settle for lesser joys.
I spent seven years trying to get the hand of the most beautiful woman that God ever made. Susan made me go literally to the other side of the world – to Nepal – before we started dating. Wait, she was a missionary at the time, so we couldn’t date. We just had ‘fellowship.’ Let me tell you, I could have gotten a kiss in far easier ways – but the joy that came from waiting for her was worth it. I didn’t want to settle for any floozy. I wanted Susan.
I’m not going to settle for any old sin that comes along, I want the pleasure of God.
Joy is supposed to remind you about the author and creator of joy. Joy is notice of the God-shaped hole in you which will be filled. Joy is a little post-it note that God sends you say to say: “Hey, remember – heaven is a lot better than this.” Listen again to what C.S. Lewis writes:
The books or the music [you could add the food, the movies] in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshippers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
We are all destined for glory. We are all children of the King. We have set before us a table the likes of which no eye has yet seen, no ear has yet heard. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [1 Pet 1:8-9]
My joy comes knowing this: I’m going to be with him. It is going to be a
It’s like when you go to Outback. They bring out some pretty good bread. But if you fill up on the bread, you’ll never have room for the steak. Satan wants to fill you up with appetizers. It’s God who cautions you to wait for that gooey, yummy, marbleized steak. He knows what’s best for you, if only you can hold on.
Augustine has a prayer that I like to use sometimes. He likens us to a little child with our hands outstretched. God wants to fill our hands with all sorts of good things, but sometimes our hands are just too small. Every sin that we hold onto makes us unable to hold another blessing from our Father.
Joy keeps us perspective
And that brings me to the last point – real joy is a perspective that understands how pleasure can last.
In our text, you’ll remember, the priests said, ‘Go eat the fat and drink the sweet wine.’ You may not realize this, but what they were really doing was passing the offering plate. There’s a clue, when the verse continues – it says “and don’t neglect the one who has no portions prepared. But what they are doing is exactly in accordance with how you are supposed to take up an offering.
You’re probably scratching your head at that, so I’m going to read for you a few verses out of Deuteronomy. This is the where God first instituted the Tithe. But as I read it to you, I want you to realize that what we think of as a tithe has maybe changed a little bit. Here’s Deuteronomy 14:22 – 26.
You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
Did you get that? The tithe is supposed to be a party! You take a tenth, enjoy it, and share it.
These offering we take – they are preparation for joy. Oh sure, its fun to go out and get the toys – but those pleasures don’t last. God is saying to you, these things are gifts. Don’t confuse my eternal joy with these little trinkets. It is so easy to lose the eternal for the things that are passing. This tithe is an exercise in waiting for the joy that is to come.
So, why share it? Well, I have a grievous dislike of Hallmark cards, but there was one I read that got it right. It said: “A sorrow shared is but half a trouble, a joy that’s shared is a joy made double.”
Again, sorry for the cuteness, but it’s true. We are designed to be in relationship, and we are designed for pleasure. Whenever we share our pleasures, we share joy, because we are sharing the very nature of God.
Let me say that again:
Whenever we share our pleasures, we share joy, because we are sharing the very nature of God.
We are pointed toward heaven. This a practice run, a dress rehearsal. If we really want to be about God’s business, we should act like him. What we share is a reminder, a foretaste, of God!
Pleasures are given by God, but their chief end is joy. Don’t settle for sin. Don’t fill up on the bread. You aren’t looking for a cheap thrill, you’re looking for joy.
That joy is in heaven. That joy is already prepared for you if only you will take hold of the One who prepared it for you. He wants to live in intimate relationship with you. He wants you to be filled and feast on his goodness.
But every sin that stands you and him will make that joy impossible to reach. You need to clean out your hands so you can embrace him.
Tomorrow, we will conclude by seeing what it is that can restore us to joy – the thing that set this revival in motion. Until then, may God richly bless you, May he make you able to hold joy.
Would you pray with me?
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I want to make three points this evening about how we are to deal with pleasure. It can be hard for those of us who desire God to handle any other passion. But it is my goal to help you learn to choose amongst pleasures, by making a few simple points.
1. Pleasure points us toward heaven.
2. Perversion twists us to hell.
3. Joy keeps pleasure in perspective, so we can see where we’re headed.
Pleasure points us toward heaven
Let’s start with why God gives us pleasure. And, I want to start with a biggie. This may shock your sensibilities a little to hear it in church, but sex should be enjoyable.
God created every other creature to perform the act quickly and only on a set schedule. In animals, it’s nothing more than a male sneaking up from behind, doing his business, and moving on. We humans are the only creatures who face each other during sex. But, think about this. We were created in the image of God. God exists as three persons in perfect relationship with one another. Intimacy is core to who God is.
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Now, I know that 10 year olds will share dirty magazines too, but for the most part, I’d suggest that if your sharing good things, you’re probably on the right track.
I don’t think most people go the bar to get drunk – they go for their friends. The problem with drink is that as you get drunk, you get isolated. The problem with indiscriminate sex is that it’s indiscriminate – there’s no relationship for it to grow in.
“A sorrow shared is but half a trouble. A joy that’s shared…”
NEHEMIAH 8:9-12
9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. 10 Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 11 So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.” 12 And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.
RESPONSIVE LESSON
As the deer longs for the water, so my soul longs after you, O God.
I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go to stand before him?
“Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink— even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of fine wine and good milk— it’s all free!
Why do you spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why do you labor for food that does not satisfy?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.
Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands?
Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry. But then he fed you with manna,
a food previously unknown to you or your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Jesus told his tempter: “It is written, ‘Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Don’t be drunk with wine, because that simply will ruin your life. Rather, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts. And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Seek the Lord while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.
Let the wicked change their ways and banish the very thought of doing wrong. Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.
God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. You will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Ps 42:1-2;Is 55:1-3;Dt 8:2-3;Mt 4:4;Mt 5:6;Eph 5:17-20;Is 55:6-7;Ro 15:13
