Pleasure and the Battle With Sin
Sep 08, 2009
Matthew 5.8: Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see
I Timothy 6.6: Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment.
Mark 10:28-30: Peter began to say to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
Matthew 6:19-20: Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Luke 12.32: Fear not little flock [about money], for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
Hebrews 13.5: Keep yourself free from the love of money and be content with what you have for He has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”
In the fall of 1982 Leadership magazine carried an unsigned article by a pastor who confessed to years of bondage to pornography of the grossest kind. He had tried desperately to free himself of this addiction but every attempt at discipline, accountability, and willpower failed him and left his heart further entrenched to his lusts.[1]
For the last two weeks we’ve been talking about God’s command for us to pursue our own pleasure. Seemingly, that ‘s what this pastor was doing—going hardcore after pleasure. This of course would severely misconstrue my meaning. On the contrary, it is the pursuit of pleasure in God, and only that pursuit, that will free the bound pastor and you and me. Last week we saw that pursuing pleasure in God levels our pride and makes us desperate for him. This week we will see that it is to be our strongest basis for battling sin.
Why do you and I sin? Do you get up in the morning and say, “Well, I didn’t get enough sin in yesterday, I better ratchet up my efforts today?” Of course not. Nobody sins out of duty; we sin because sin makes promises for our delight and pleasure. We sin because we are tempted with a different way to joy, pleasure, and excitement. The sin makes us go after it so that we can have what it promises—wealth, status, sex, relationship, whatever. Such pleasures are very entrenched in our hearts. For instance, if you are addicted to pornography or if you love money, then it is impossible to wake up in the morning and simply will those things out of your heart and mind. It can’t happen. However, if there is a greater pleasure to be gained than money and greater beauty to be gazed upon than naked women and men, then your head can be turned. The great pastor Thomas Chalmers called this the “Expulsive Power of a New Affection.” Translation: Only a new and better love can expel an old love. So, if you’re in love with your status in the world, then the only real way to change is to have that love of self be expelled by a love of something greater. We are slow to take up the forsaking of our sins unless God makes us better promises, and that’s exactly what He does!
If God is our delight, we can battle sin. Instead of looking to the weak promises of sin to fulfill us, we are called to see the superior promises and joys offered by God. Notice above in Matthew 6.19-20, Luke 12.32, and Hebrews 13.5 how God teaches us to fight for pleasure in Him instead of money. He doesn’t just say, “don’t love money.” He doesn’t even just say it with warning, “You know money will destroy you, right?” He says that you fight sin with the superior pleasure that comes from Him. We don’t keep treasures here because they may not last, instead God offers better treasures that nothing can destroy (Matt. 6). We do not have to fear losing our money because God takes pleasure in giving His entire Kingdom to His children (Luke 12). We can be free from loving money because God has promised never to leave us. If He will be with us no matter what, then money loses its importance. It is more pleasurable to have God than to have money (Hebrew 13)!
How about pornography and the pastor above? After years of addiction, it was Matthew 5.8 that finally released Him, concluding that there is only one reason to seek purity, the one Christ Himself gives: “Blessed (Happy) are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” The pastor himself said it this way:
The thought hit me like a bell rung in a dark, silent hall. So far, none of the scary, negative arguments against lust had succeeded in keeping me from it…But here was a description of what I was missing by continuing to harbor lust: I was limiting my own intimacy with God. The love he offers is so transcendent and possessing that it requires our faculties to be purified and cleansed before we can possibly contain it. Could he, in fact, substitute another thirst and another hunger for the one I had never filled? Would Living Water somehow quench lust? That was the gamble of faith.
We can only fight sin like lust by latching on to the promises of superior pleasure that the pure in heart will see the glorious God face to face. Therefore,
Faith is not content with ‘fleeting pleasures.’ It is ravenous for joy. And the Word of God says, ‘In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.’ Thus, our aim is not merely to avoid the negative, but to gain the excellent…The challenge before us in our fight against lust is not merely do what God says because He is God, but to desire what God says because He is glorious. The challenge is not merely to pursue righteousness, but to prefer righteousness.[2]
[1] As told by John Piper, Battling Unbelief, 145-146.
[2] Ibid.