Rebelling Against Hedonism

 
We’ve already talked about the cultural reality of Materialism and how it has shaped our world and today we get the chance to finish our series with a hard look at Materialism’s close brother, Hedonism! Many of us don’t realize how much time and energy we spend trying to pursue pleasure in our lives. The pursuit of pleasure looks different for each person, doesn’t it? I mean what pleases me may not please you at all.

Escapism
All of us seem to pursue pleasure at one time or another in our lives though. It can take many forms. Some people seek pleasure through relationships, others dive headfirst into the party seen, and I’ve seen many of these folks eventually end up using narcotics of one type or another. But even those of us who might not see ourselves as hardcore hedonists also have to admit that we do occasionally dive into escapism. After all that’s what drives the entertainment industry. We flock to movies in growing numbers every year in an effort to escape the realities of our own lives and enter a world of pleasure and entertainment.

But is it wrong to want to please ourselves and be a hedonist once in a while? In our culture it seems that hedonism is the end goal of life! Ever hear someone talk about retirement? Most people see themselves traveling, vacationing in some exotic land, or just plain goofing off. After all, they’ve worked hard all their lives, and they deserve a time to focus on pleasing themselves, don’t they? How many people do you hear saying that they can’t wait to get to retirement so they can finally do the WORK that God has designed them to do? How many are saying that they can’t wait to retire so they can begin an important LABOR?

I mean, our entire culture point to the pursuit of pleasure, and we’ve built entire cities upon the principle! I a place like Las Vegas (Las Hedonism) you can pretty much satisfy just about any hedonistic pursuit! Between the gambling, the spas, the food, the shows and just the general pomp and luxury of the hotels, Las Hedonism seems to be a Mecca for those who are pursing pleasure! And every year it gets more and more crowded. How many more hotels rooms can they add to this place?

Super-Sized
But even here, our culture of hedonism has injected its influence into our lives. I mean we are never satisfied with even a simple pleasure unless we are allowed to enlarge it! If a bag of French fries is good, than a super sized bag is better! And our culture spent a period of time there when everything seemed to be super sized! All just to reflect our constant desire to realize pleasure ion a more abundant way!

This idea of super sizing seems to have slipped over into our athletic endeavors! We might have been thrilled by the simple athletic pursuits in the past, but our human nature tells us that it’s not good enough to repeat the old experiences! We need to increase the rush by either doing the activity more often or increasing the thrill and drama of the event. And as a result, EXTREME sports have been born! Just about any common athletic activity now has an extreme version available. And you realize that eventually all this stuff will not be extreme at all! It will be common place!

Just two weeks ago we took several of our high schoolers to Knott’s Berry Farm. The first thing they did was run over to Ghost Rider. After all, it is the most thrilling of the roller coasters at the park. I noticed that they have broken ground on a new roller coaster and the entire park is starting to look more and more like Magic Mountain! Why? Because the stuff that used to satisfy us eventually becomes routine and we need something more exciting. And let’s face it, everything eventually becomes routine. We shouldn’t be surprised that the things of this world will eventually seem boring to us.

 
C.S. Lewis
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world”"

 
Let’s take a look at what God says the pursuit of pleasure can do to our lives:

 
James 4:1-4
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

 
Keyword “Hedone”
We've been looking at the Greek language as part of our study of rebellion, and today our key word in God’s holy language of scripture is the word used for “pleasures”.

It is the Greek word, “hedone” (hay-don-ay). It comes from the root word “to Please” and is translated in scripture as “Sensual Delight”, “Lust”, “Desire”, or “Pleasure”.

Inherent in the notion of desire or lust is the notion of “obsession” when we lust after some activity or person, when we strongly desire something; it begins to fill our minds, pushing out everything in its path. It is in our thoughts all the time. Even if it is something that we will be doing in the distant future, we are thinking about it right now. And in James 4:1-4, God is telling us that our selfish desire and lust for pleasure definitely has the ability to destroy our relationships with each other and with God. We are often willing to sacrifice the future with our friends and our God just to satisfy a desire for pleasure in the here and now! It’s amazing what we will pursue in order satisfy ourselves. Do you realize that there is a direct relationship between the amount of pleasure we can receive from something and the time it takes to enjoy it? Have you ever thought about that?

Temporary Satisfaction and Pleasure
Most of the pleasure we derive from life comes from our efforts to serve ourselves. Let’s just take a look at a few examples. Let’s say I am sitting around on a Sunday afternoon and I decide I want to enjoy myself. I decide to go down to Rubios and have some of their 99 cent fish tacos. It doesn’t matter that my family isn’t all that thrilled about Rubios, I want the tacos and I am the dad so away we go! James’ advice in scripture begins to become a reality, everyone else can walk down to Del Taco for all I care; I’m looking to satisfy myself at this point. But of course a simple pleasure like this doesn’t last forever, and it is only good for about 20 minutes. It is fleeting.

But pleasures that take a little longer are often more satisfying. If I am a nature enthusiast, I might decide to walk those tacos off, and based simply on the fact that the walk takes a little longer, I may find it a little more satisfying. Maybe that’s not even enough. Now in my search for satisfaction, I decide to escape to a movie. It lasts longer than the walk, so it is, in fact, more satisfying, but even that has to end, and I am off hunting for the next thrill. Hey maybe the answer is a relationship. So I find myself a girl and that sure does seem to be a lot more fulfilling than the taco, the walk or the movie! And it does last longer. But hey, after a couple of years the thrill just seems to be gone. And I want the thrill! SO maybe I start praying about it. “God, please make me happy!”

James is right, I am praying for all the wrong reasons! But you know, I continue to pursue longer and longer pleasures. Now maybe I buy a new house and pour my life into creating heaven on earth! 10 years later, I’m dissatisfied again, but hey this was a lot more satisfying than the 20 minute taco! Then maybe I decide to find a new career! Maybe I’ll have kids, after all they sure do last a long time! Or maybe a new career! With each new endeavor, each lasting longer than the one before, I continue to try to satisfy myself. By the time I am an old man it finally strikes me that there is a relationship between time and satisfaction. The longer something lasts the more satisfying and pleasurable it is. If I can just focus on the longest lasting of all adventures, I will certainly be the most satisfied I can possibly be! And that is what I do when I finally figure it out and put my eyes and heart on the matters of God! The pursuit of God IS the most satisfying and enjoyable thing I can do because it simply lasts the longest, taking us all the way into eternity. That’s why God calls is to get our eyes off the pleasures of this world and put them on the pleasure of HIM:

 
2 Corinthians 4:18
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal

 
Galatians 6:8
The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life

 
So how are you using your time? Are you spending it on the simple pleasures and distractions of this world or are you spending it on the most satisfying of all pursuits?

Imagine
Can you imagine a world where everyone pursues the satisfaction found only in Jesus Christ? It would definitely be a world without self serving hedonism! A world in which there would be far fewer quarrels, according to James! Wouldn’t that be a better world? This week, take a hard look at how you are spending your time. How much of it is spent pursuing your own interests? How much of it is spent pursuing fleeting pleasures? Now ask yourself this: What is the opposite of self serving hedonism? It seems to me that sacrifice lies at the heart of the rebellion we can lead against Hedonism:

 
Hebrews 13:15-16
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

 
Let’s take a look at what God would have us do while we are still here on planet earth:

 
Philippians 2:3,4
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.

 
Keyword “Kenodoxia”
I think God is trying to tell us something about joy and pleasure even in this passage of scripture. There is a mystical connection between sacrifice and joy! Let’s focus on the holy word used here to say, “empty conceit”.

It is “kenodoxia” (ken-od-ox-ee-ah), and it means “Empty Glorying”, or “Self-Conceit”

 
There is a Godly truth to be found in these words. God promises us that we can find true satisfaction when we empty ourselves out rather than try to fill ourselves up. It seems to be a reverse logic, but God is calling us to give something away so that we can gain something better. Think about it for a second. When we spend so much time pursuing the stuff that selfishly makes us happy, and personal happiness is our only goal, who is getting all the glory here? Who is at the center of the spinning universe? Who is the object of our energy? Who is God? Then we, as temporary fleeting beings, wonder why our pleasure has been fleeting as well! It’s because we are focused on the temporary all along! When we do that we are, according to scripture, putting an empty glory onto ourselves, and we are emptying the Glory that belongs to God. But when we take on the nature and commandments of God and step out in sacrifice, serving others rather than ourselves, we begin to enter in to a relationship with an eternal God, and he once again gets all the glory, just as he deserves.

That’s why, I think, missions trips can be such a joyous adventure. I’ve been on dozens and dozens of trips with young people, but by far the most incredible and joyous experiences have always been those mission trips when we took our eyes off ourselves and poured ourselves out into the lives of other people. We come back from those trips exhausted but full of joy and in many ways transformed. Why? Because we allowed God to take our eyes off the temporary and place them on the eternal by adopting his nature and love for the lost!

Imagine
Imagine a world in which people embraced sacrifice with the same energy with which they now embrace hedonism. A world that was far less inwardly focused and far more outwardly focused with the Love of God. Wouldn’t that be a better place? This week, step out in faith and taste the sweet flavor of service and sacrifice. Find a way to replace one self serving activity with an outward gesture toward someone around you. Come to understand the power of sacrifice. Ask yourself this question: Why do you think sacrifice is the key to real joy? It does appear that there is a mystical truth about service and sacrifice, doesn’t it? There is some discoverable secret that God is dying to tell us about. In fact, God did just that, he died to show us the beauty and power of sacrifice:

 
Ephesians 5:1-2
Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 
First is Last
Throughout the scriptures, God reminds us that his ways are not our ways. And the stuff that we used to think was so great, is in fact not so great in reality. God always surprises us. He seems to be full of contradictions and ideas that oppose our worldly values. Should that really surprise us? Would we expect God to be just like fallen man, or wouldn’t we expect him to surprise us at every turn? Jesus once said, “The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-only to take it up again.” In saying this he foreshadowed a wonderful reality for all of us. If we are willing to lay our lives down for God, to stop chasing the pleasures of this life, he will give us a new joy and a new life like never before. We lay it down, so it can be taken up again in a new and more abundant way. But it all begins with the reality that we first have to lay down our trivial pursuits. It begins as we lay down our gods.