2. James Teaches Worldliness and Hedonism James 4:1-5

3. REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church

4. James 3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

5. REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church James 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

6. REFLECTION 17: Worldly hedonism infects the church

7. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God

8. James 4:4a You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

9. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God Exodus 34:12 Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13 You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim 14 (for you shall worship no other god, for the L ORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), 15 lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you

10. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God eat of his sacrifice, 16 and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods.

11. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God James 4:2a You desire and do not have… You covet and cannot obtain…

12. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

13. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God James 4:5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”?

14. REFLECTION 18: Worldly hedonism is adultery against God

15. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design

16. James 1:17a Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights…

17. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever!” Westminster Shorter Catechism

18. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design “My shortest summary of it is: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Does Christian Hedonism make a god out of pleasure? No. It says that we all make a god out of what we take most pleasure in. My life is devoted to helping people make God their God, by wakening in them the greatest pleasures in him.” John Piper

19. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design James 4:2b You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

20. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design Luke 6:35a But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great.

21. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the L ORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

22. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

23. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design John 15:11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

24. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design “God is glorified not only by His glory being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.” Jonathan Edwards

25. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design “Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the enemy’s ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways, or in degrees, which He has forbidden.

26. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural. An ever-increasing craving for an ever-diminishing pleasure is the formula.” C.S. Lewis Screwtape Letters

27. REFLECTION 19: Christian hedonism is God’s design