The Self-interest Worship of Christian Hedonism At the beginning and the end of his book, Desiring God author John Piper makes it clear that the worship promoted by Christian hedonism seeks personal pleasure for self through worship of God. He writes at the beginning, Then I was converted to Christian Hedonism. In a matter of weeks I came to see that it is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure to be had in Him. (Don t miss those last two words: in Him. Not His gifts, but Him. Not ourselves, but Him.) 1 The context of the paragraphs preceding his statement makes it evident that the author is talking about his personal experience of pleasure. Don t miss the phrase than the pleasure to be had The phrase explicitly declares that it is one s personal experience of pleasure which is in view. Thus, when a Christian hedonist says God is His pleasure what he actually means is that God and worship of God are his means for experiencing pleasure. This is similar to an addict saying crack is his pleasure. What the addict means is that the crack is his means to a high. If there is no high from the drug there would be no reason to take it. The addict might say something like, It is useless to try crack for any other reason than the high to be had in it. Likewise, Christian hedonism maintains that, it is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure to be had in Him. The statements in the author s paragraph quoted above indicate that God is not the end of worship. Instead, the author s words treat God and worshiping God as being merely the means by which pleasure is experienced. The teaching is not saying that God is the end and pleasure is a by-product. Instead, note the explicit phrase, it is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure to be had in Him. According to Christian hedonism the reason to worship God is for the pleasure to be had in Him. Furthermore, trying to worship God for any other reason is unbiblical and arrogant. The author straightforwardly says that if a person is worshiping God for any other reason than pleasure then that person s worship is unbiblical and arrogant. Stressing the phrase in Him to divert attention away from the obvious problem of using God as a means to an end is unsuccessful. He has already stated, it is unbiblical and arrogant to try to worship God for any other reason than the pleasure to be had The same theme carries to the book s end where the author defines his own usage of the word hedonism, I would be happy with the following definition as a starting point for my own usage of the word: Hedonism is a theory according to which a person is motivated to produce one state of affairs in preference to another if, and only if, he thinks it will be more pleasant, or less unpleasant for himself. 2 Thus, in Christian hedonism God is either merely a means to a more pleasant experience for one s self or at least a lesser unpleasant experience. 1 Desiring God, Published by Multnomah Press, Inc. 1986, 1996, 2003, by Desiring God Foundation, Pg. 18. 2 Ibid., 368.
It is obvious from these quotes taken from the book Desiring God that the Christian Hedonist does not worship God for nothing. Instead, the hedonist s purpose for worshipping God is to gain pleasure or happiness. While the pleasure experienced is to be had in God may make this belief system religious (God is in the equation), it does not make it biblical. In this system God is merely the means to pleasure which is the payoff. Now let s put the worship model suggested by Christian Hedonism beside Scripture s model. Specifically, God s model as demonstrated in Job. Examine Job 1:9, Then Satan answered the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing? As the context of Job 1 reveals, this verse is a portion of a conversation between God and the devil. After God asked Satan Have you considered my servant Job? and stated that Job feared (worshipped) God, Satan responded with, Does Job fear God for nothing? This demonic response was loaded. The implication being that Job s worship of God was not worship rendered to God merely for the sake of God but a false worship that viewed God as a means to an end and not the end Himself. As if to say that God in and of Himself is not worthy of worship and therefore pays His creation in order to get them to worship Him. Note Satan s comments in the next verse, "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. Job 1:10 To attempt to prove his position Satan offered a proposal, "But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face." Job 1:11 After Satan s first proposition failed (Job 1:12-22) he offered a second, Satan answered the Lord and said, "Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. However, put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh; he will curse You to Your face. Job 2:4-5 However, as the book of Job reveals Satan was wrong and God Himself is worthy of worship not as a means to an end but as the end Himself. Job s worship was genuine worship as expressed by each of his responses following each assault, Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Job 1:20-21
Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die! But he [Job] said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job 2:9-10 Naturally, Job s genuine worship was not news to God. From the beginning God knew the validity of Job s worship, that s why God said of Job before each trial he was a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil (Job 1:8 and 2:3). When one considers the fact that in both cases it was God, Who knowing the validity of Job s worship, instigated the conversation with Satan (1:7-8; 2:2-3), it becomes apparent that God s purpose was to reveal that genuine worship of God is worship that worships God for nothing other than for the sake of Who God is. Job was God s example of genuine worship. Job not only knew what genuine worship of God is as revealed by his responses (1:20-21 and 2:9-10); he also knew what is not genuine worship. In 2:10 Job hinted at what genuine worship is not when he told his wife she spoke as one of the foolish women. Job s wife also suffered the losses mentioned in chapter 1, including the loss of all her children and now she was facing the trial of her husband s loss of health and his intense suffering. It appears it was all she would take so she asked Job why he still retained his integrity and then told him to curse God and die (2:9). Job displayed the integrity of his worship when he reminded his wife of the lack of genuine worship among others when he said she spoke as one of the foolish women and then he added, Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? Non genuine worship is that worship that worships God for the sake of getting something good from God. In this kind of worship God is not the end but the means to the end. No doubt this was the worship of the foolish to whom Job referred. As mentioned, this was but a hint at what genuine worship is not. Later Job made it clear what non genuine worship actually is. Describing wicked men in Chapter 21 Job said they say, 15 'Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, And what would we gain if we entreat Him? Job 21:15 Note in Job s description of the wicked that their service to God is centered on what is in it for them! God is not the end, they are. They do not serve God. Instead they serve themselves. When God is brought into the context of their lives He is viewed as merely a means to further their worship of self. This text could not be made clearer. On the surface it may appear that the worship is genuine. The words are religious and God may even be highly praised but in the end their motivation for praise to God is some benefit to the self, And what would we gain if we entreat Him? Remember, that according to Christian hedonism God is either merely a means to a more pleasant experience for one s self or at least a lesser unpleasant experience as indicated in the following phrases taken from both the beginning and ending of the book Desiring God,
The growing conviction that praise should be motivated solely by the happiness we find in God seemed less and less strange. 3 I would be happy with the following definition as a starting point for my own usage of the word: Hedonism is a theory according to which a person is motivated to produce one state of affairs in preference to another if, and only if, he thinks it will be more pleasant, or less unpleasant for himself. 4 These statements do not view God as the end. According to these statements God is not to be worshipped solely on the basis of being Who He is. Instead, He is to be praised (worshipped) for the happiness that He provides. In which case it is not God Who is served but one s self. However, and consistent with God s example of Job s genuine worship, Jesus said in Matthew 4:10, You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only. No wonder that the characteristic of the believer is to be that of denying self (Lk. 9:23). If God is not the end then He is not truly worshipped. The prosperity movement worships God as a means to prosperity. The health and wealth movement worships God as a means to health and wealth. The word faith movement worships God as a means to getting what one speaks. The hedonism movement worships God as a means to being happy. In each, God is not the end but a means to an end. Although most proponents of these movements would not readily admit it or perhaps are even mindful of it, but in each movement there lurks that selfish statement Job attributed to those whose worship is not genuine, And what would we gain if we entreat Him? Although many advocates of Christian hedonism deny the doctrine s selfish aspect, the author of Desiring God readily admits the self interest of the movement. Commenting on his life prior to Christian hedonism he says, All those years I had been trying to suppress my tremendous longing for happiness so I could honestly praise God out of some higher, less selfish motive. 5 The author previously defined or allowed Pascal and then C. S. Lewis to define his longing for happiness as an empty space that can only be filled by God. While this empty space idea has been and continues to be the thought of many, nowhere in Scripture will such a definition of the natural man s longing be described this way. This description is man s description crafted to minimize the lustful self-seeking nature of the lost state. It is on this unbiblical definition of man s lost state that Desiring God s author constructs the doctrine of Christian hedonism. Furthermore, the author s statement gives the impression that when God is worshipped solely for Who He is and not as a means to an end that such worship is not honest. Then, on the next page the author explains the higher, less selfish motive statement above as an effort to achieve worship with no self-interest in it... 6 While he is correct that worship with no self- 3 Ibid., 21. 4 Ibid., 368. 5 Ibid., 21. 6 Ibid., 22.
interest is a higher worship as God demonstrated in Job, it is not this higher worship with no selfinterest that the author espouses. Instead, the author, with his Christian hedonism both exonerates and exalts worship with self-interest. Piper s confusion over worship without selfinterest led him to develop a doctrine where self-interest becomes the worship. Instead of simply worshipping God for Who He is as Job (Job 1), hedonism must have a self-benefitting reason tied to God in order to properly worship God, i.e. happiness or joy. By its very definition when Christian hedonism speaks of valuing God, it cannot mean at the expense of the worshipper s joy or happiness. Therefore, the author not only admits his Christian hedonistic worship is a self-interested worship but he actually denounces worship that possess no self interest when he says, We have a name for those who try to praise when they have no pleasure in the object. We call them hypocrites. 7 In the context of his remarks regarding selfinterest in worship and the definition he gives of hedonism, the pleasure he speaks of is that pleasure one derives from God. Therefore, even though its proponents deny it, in experience, the worship of Christian hedonism becomes a man-centered form of worship instead of being Godcentered. It is important to understand that the integrity of worshipping God for nothing, that is, with no self interest as did Job who worshipped God for the sake of Who God is, does not negate the fact that God does bless those who worship Him in this manner. Certainly, God blessed Job (1:1-3) and God protected him before his trials (1:10). Even after the trials God blessed Job s latter days more than the former by restoring his fortunes (42:10-17) but it must be remembered that Job s worship of God was not for these or even because of them. Job worshipped God and His worship of God terminated in God as God demonstrated to Satan. Furthermore, worshipping God for nothing does not mean that the genuine worshipper is ungrateful for the blessings God gives or indifferent toward God. On the contrary, true Christian worship is genuinely grateful to God for His blessings and expresses thanks to God continually. However, it is not for the blessings or anything to be had that true Christian s worship is continually expressed toward God. Genuine worship never terminates in self. Certainly, God gives enjoyment/pleasure to the believer and in God s presence there is fullness of joy. At His right hand there are pleasures forevermore (Psalm 16:11). However, such blessings are not the end. They are consequences and God Himself is the end. Genuine worship is not self-serving. Neither is genuine worship reciprocal. Jesus said, "Go, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'" 2012 David Martin Pastor, Liberty Christian Church lccut.org 7 Ibid., 23.