Part 1: A Biblical Study of the Theological Foundation of “Christian Hedonism”

A Biblical Study of the Theological Foundation of

“Christian Hedonism”

Written by Craig W. Booth

Introduction

“Why am I here?” It is not that the scriptures do not contain the answer, more specifically, it is that the scriptures contain the answers, plural. The problem is not with the Bible, the problem is that man has asked the wrong question.”Why am I here?” is not really one question with one simple answer, but several questions all bundled together. Each question demands a separate answer. What the inquirer genuinely wants to know is:

1. What motivated God to create the universe?
2. What is the ultimate destiny of mankind?
3. As a created being, what are my obligations to God and to His world?

What motivated God to Create the Universe?

Scriptures tell us that one of God’s motives for making all that He created, the universe along with the spiritual and mortal beings that populate it, was to demonstrate His glory, and to receive back glory from His creations. Isaiah 43:7 tells us that some men, specifically those who are “called by My Name” were created for His glory. Isaiah 43:20 says that the “beasts of the field” and “the jackals and the ostriches” were also made for His glory. While such statements as this do not limit God to this as His only possible motive for creation, it is the one which He chooses to share with us in the Bible.

What is the ultimate destiny of mankind?

All men die (Romans 5:12). All men will be judged by God (Hebrews 9:27). Eternity in the presence of God awaits those who believe in Christ as Messiah, Lord, and Savior (John 6:40). Separation from God for eternity awaits those who have rejected God’s merciful salvation; these will go into the Lake of Fire and never ending torment (Rev.20:15). Those who live on with God in heaven will praise and serve Him forever (Rev.22:3). What all the types of specific services are which we will perform in heaven are not told to us. Paul simply says he is not permitted to tell us the details of heavenly life and that no one has ever seen or heard of the things that await us there (2Cor.12:4, 1Cor.2:9).

As a created being, what are my obligations to God and to His world?

What am I supposed to do with my life to please God? This is perhaps the single most important question to ask. Indeed, the other two questions, while extremely interesting and full of meaning as to God’s sovereignty and His relationship to Man and to the universe, still leave man impotent because mankind cannot influence the answers.

For example, you cannot change God’s motives for creating the universe, it is created already. You cannot stop creation from happening, it is done and man had no hand in it.

As for the ultimate destiny of man, death will claim every man and God will preside at the final judgment. No man can quench the fires of Hell, nor drain the Lake of Fire. No man can bar the gates of Heaven, nor rip up the streets of gold.

So it is clear, the Bible certainly does answer these questions concerning the meaning of life. It is also clear that man does not control the mind of the Creator, nor does man dictate the terms of eternity to come. But it is arguable that man does influence the third and final, very important question. “What are my obligations to God and to His world?” To be more precise, man does not influence what his obligations are, but rather, whether he chooses to live up to them. To make this choice, man must discover what he must do to please God.

Again, God does not disappoint in His word. He readily answers our third great question of life, “What are my obligations to God?”:

• • Do nothing from selfishness (Phil.2:3)
  • Consider your body dead to greed, which amounts to idolatry (Col.3:5)
  • Give preference to one another (Romans 12:10)
  • Do not seek your own profit, but the profit of the many (1 Cor. 10:33)
  • Regard one another as more important than yourself (Phil.2:3)
  • Glorify God in your body (1 Cor. 6:20)
  • Do everything in an honorable manner which glorifies God (1Cor.10:31)
  • Do everything without complaining (Phi.2:14)
  • Be sober in everything and endure hardship (2Tim.4:5)
  • Pray at all times (Luke 18:1)
  • Praise God (Psalm 147:1)
  • Serve the living God (Hebrews 9:13)
  • Obey God (John 3:36)
  • Love God (Matthew 22:37)
  • Serve the Lord with gladness and sing joyfully (Psa.100:2)
  • Edify your neighbor (Romans 15:2)
  • God has commanded us to perform the Ten Commandments (Deut.4:13)

This list is not even close to exhaustive. So many obligations, and all of them commandments of God. But which command is God’s highest priority for us? Which is the most important? What does God expect of us? What is our primary duty? What should be our first pursuit?

Entire books and lengthy papers of reasoning and logic have been written to persuade us that one thing or another is man’s foremost obligation before God. But man most often ignores the fact that God has explicitly answered this question, unambiguously in the scriptures.

God Defines the Most Important Pursuit of Man

What is the “greatest” of all the commandments given to men?

“And [Jesus] said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.’” Matthew 22:37-40

The phrases “on these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” and “this is the great and foremost commandment” means that no other statement or purpose or command of God is more supremely binding on man than “love the Lord your God”; not the command to sacrifice, not the command to worship, not the command to praise, not the command to glorify God, not the command to rejoice, not the command to be joyful. All these other commands are secondary commands that depend on “love God” and “love your neighbor”.

God erases all doubt for us about his foremost (literally “chief” in the Greek) obligation for man when we read the same exchange from Mark 12. A scribe hears Jesus arguing with the Sadducees and dares to ask his question.

“‘What commandment is the foremost of all?’

Jesus answered, ‘The foremost is,

‘Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

There is no other commandment greater than these.’” Mark 12:28b-31

How do we know that to “love God” is the most supreme of all God’s commands? Because the actual words of Jesus tell us “there is no other commandment greater.” To “love God” is the foremost commandment that God has given man to perform.

What does “foremost commandment” and “no other commandment greater” mean? The command to “love God” is the highest priority (foremost literally means “first” or “chief”) thing a man can do on Earth to please God. There is no higher attitude, no higher motivation, emotion, or activity that God has given for man to do than to “love God”. No other pursuit, task, or good work can stand in line in front of the command to love God. There is no higher calling. Not even the commands to “glorify God in your body” (1Cor.6:20) or to “glorify Him, and stand in awe of Him” (Psalm 22:23) are more chief than to “love God”.

That is how it is with God. He simply tells us what our chief duty is, in very direct language.

And what does it mean to “love God”? How do we know if we are loving God? What precisely should a man do or feel to fulfill this greatest of all commandments?

• • If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. John 14:15.
  • He who has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me…John 14:21
  • If you keep my commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. John 15:10
  • …for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet’, and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’…therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Roms.13:8a-10
  • …what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God. 1Cor.7:19
  • …you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God…for you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 1Thes.4:1,2
  • And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 1John 2:3
  • But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. 1John 2:5a
  • By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. 1John 5:2

• • For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. 1John 5:3
  • And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. 2 John 1:6a

To love God is to obey God’s commandments. To love God is to walk according to what He has commanded. To observe and keep His commandments with all your mind, heart, soul, and strength is to love God.

Again, we need not guess what it means to “love God”. He tells us, in simple words. There is no argument or ambiguity. God sums up love for Himself in a simple yet elegant statement: “And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”

God’s single highest priority for mankind, or for any specific man, is that a man love God by obeying His commandments. This is the truth. This is from God. There is no more important pursuit, no greater commandment, no more supreme duty. If any man dreams up a higher calling then he fails to grasp the very nature of “the whole Law and the Prophets”.