Just Because We Can Doesn't Mean We Should

SERMON SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

460 East Main Street Lexington, Kentucky 40507

“Life’s Greatest Temptation” Ecclesiastes 2:1-11; Luke 12: 32-34 March 5, 2017 Rev. Dr. Daniel T. Hans

As frost and flowers converge with the teasing of an early spring season, so pain and pleasure converge throughout the seasons of our lives. You and I go to great lengths to exchange pain for pleasure when that option is available to us. We believe pleasure to be the blessing of life while pain to be the bane of life. We see faith in God as the green light to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Martin Luther said: Both pleasure and pain are temptations but the greater temptation is pleasure. The greatest temptation in all of life is pleasure – the pleasure of taking the easy way and avoiding any struggle and sacrifice.

The path of life we travel forks continually. One branch offers the experience of pleasure, while the other branch presents the experience of pain. One path pursues the motto: Someday you can have it all, while the other path focuses on the reality that as we entered this world naked and possession-less, so will we exit it.

Our Scripture passages were spoken by two people each of whom sought one of these paths, each of whom desired to live life to its fullest, each of whom had to come to grips with the allure of pleasure and each of whom faced life’s greatest temptation. One sought to treasure pleasure and the other sought to measure pleasure. The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes is the former and our Lord Jesus Christ is the latter. I Three comments need to be made about the Book of Ecclesiastes. First, while being one of the most neglected books in the Bible, it contains some of the most pressing messages for our 21st century. Second, Ecclesiastes is part of the Bible’s Wisdom Literature which includes the books of Job, Song of Solomon, and Proverbs. The Wisdom Literature attempts to give a practical and faithful Hebrew response to the Greek influence that began permeating Middle- Eastern life around 300 BC. The Greeks worshipped the individual and saw personal pleasure as the highest good in life. They believed the freedom to pursue one’s pleasures (to do one’s own thing) was a sacred value. Does this sound familiar? Third, it was not uncommon in ancient times for a writer to attach the identity of a famous historical figure to his work in order to give the writing credibility and acceptance. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote in a way that suggests King Solomon, the richest and wisest of Israel’s kings, was the author. 2

This writer uses Solomon’s life as an example of where treasuring pleasure leads. He lists the various ways one might seek pleasure. Initially, he cites the happiness of happy hour. I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth. (Good News for Modern Man –version of the Bible) Next, he records the allure of labor. I accomplished great things. He notes the houses and gardens he built. Finally, he examines the promise of possessions. I bought many slaves. I owned more livestock than anyone else living in Jerusalem has ever owned. I stockpiled silver and gold. I had all the women a man could want. Bathing in all of this personal pleasure, he could have said: “Forget about someday having it all! I have it all today!” This one who had more than we could ever lust for said: Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them.

But, the lifestyle of the rich and famous was not all that it was cracked up to be. This prince of pleasure stepped back and, in a moment of truth, surveyed his acquisitions and accomplishments, and concluded: Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it and I realized that it didn’t mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind – of no use at all. II Pleasure is the greatest temptation because it becomes the most deadly trap. Our culture is filled with commodities and experiences that offer immediate enjoyment and that carry lasting enslavement. Having grown up in Cincinnati, I have been a fan of the Bengals football team since their inception. As a Bengals fan, I have known far more pain than pleasure! While in high school and college, I watched with great admiration the performance of Bengals defensive back Lemar Parrish. During his 13-year NFL career, he was repeatedly selected to the Pro Bowl. The success he enjoyed on the field was matched by the pleasure he sought off the field. Cocaine was his pleasure. Each year it would devour his sizeable six figure salary. When he was in early 40s and no longer in football and no longer with financial resources, he worked odd jobs for a lawn service. Like the writer of Ecclesiastes, Lemar Parrish looked at the way he treasured pleasure and he concluded: I never had any problems until I started making all that money. Fortunately, through rehab Lemar got his life together and coached football for many years.

A young single woman had been trying to get her life together. One problem after another cascaded down on her. First, it was the impossible monthly payments on the luxuries of a lifestyle beyond her means. Then, came the bout with venereal disease and the fear of AIDS. On top of all this was her growing dependency on alcohol that she kept telling herself was not an addiction. Unable to stay on top of things, she finally sought the help of a counselor. After listening to her inventory of problems, the therapist asked: Have you ever tried to give up some of these things? Have you ever let go of some of your pleasures that are causing your problems? Stunned by the suggestion, she responded: You mean I don’t have to do all the things I want to do? (Chuck Colson – Loving God)

Those who plot their lives in search of pleasure will find what they want. Pleasure is not illusive; it is very attainable. However, the reward of pleasure is not lasting. Its gain is at best temporary and at worst illusory. Trying to find a basis for life through pleasure is like trying to catch the wind. Even when we grasp hold of the wind our hands are still empty. III Saying that the treasure of pleasure is a deception does not imply pleasure is evil. The Christian faith is not built on a denial of pleasure. Those branches of the church that advocate self-denial to the point of becoming anti-enjoyment or those expressions of Christianity that suggest 3 physical activities are inferior to spiritual activities have deviated from a biblical view of the wholeness and goodness of life that is both spiritual and physical.

The Victorians and the Fundamentalists and the ascetics are not the models for a Christian understanding of pleasure. Those who censure all pleasure are as misguided as those who treasure all pleasure. This censure of all pleasure can be as great a temptation as the treasure of pleasure since both approaches focus on the human being - on what she does or does not do - rather than focusing on God who gives us all things and who is the source of the lasting pleasure to be found in experiencing God’s creation as it was intended. And that is what it means to measure pleasure. IV There is no one who is more able to measure pleasure than the One who said: I have come that you might have abundant life. Jesus is the fullest expression of true human existence and he is the gift from God who brings lasting joy to a hungering heart and a seeking soul. Repeatedly, Jesus faced that fork dividing the road into the way of pleasure and the way of pain; and repeatedly to Jesus as to us, the path of immediate pleasure always looked more appealing.

At the beginning of his ministry, he was tempted in the wilderness with the options of immediate power and instant success that would have enabled him to feed hungry people and gain universal following. He was tempted to take the easy way and to detour the cross. Yet, Jesus recognized that pleasure lies not in doing one’s own thing rather in doing God’s thing. The measure of pleasure lies in the answer to the question: Does it please God? Does this pursuit serve God’s broader purposes or serve only my narrow interests As Jesus measured pleasure, he revealed that pleasure is to be found not in getting too much or getting by with too little, but in getting as much as we can out of whatever we have and doing so for a purpose beyond our self. V The TV ads bombard us with the blatant and tempting message that to have anything less than too much of everything is failure. This is not some conspiracy by the advertising industry or big business. It is the driving philosophy that thrives on over-consumption and waste from misguided priorities. Commenting on the general failure of contemporary life to measure pleasure, the editor of “Campus Life” magazine wrote: ring around the collar, bitter coffee, and dingy kitchen floors replace the list of cardinal sins. Water-spotted crystal, baggy pantyhose and the threat of embarrassing foot odor produce fear and trembling among TV’s true believers. The danger for Christian believers is that our emotional and spiritual concern can be channeled away from the pressing human needs.

Our culture leads us down the path of pleasure for self alone. Our faith calls us to pursue the path of service to others- even if it is painful to us. The measure of pleasure requires us to ask: What pleases God? That question leads to another: Is my pleasure found in getting everything I want or in helping get things that another person needs? Ridiculous as it sounds, Jesus found pleasure in the way of the cross. Even though the cross was a path of pain and sacrifice for him, it was also a way of pleasure for it offered life to others. VI Jesus said: Where your treasure is there will your heart be also. And the reverse holds true: Where your heart is there your treasure will be found. If our hearts are set only on self, then our resources will only serve self and we will find ourselves with the rest of life’s empty- handed wind-chasers. But if our hearts are with others then our resources will reach beyond ourselves and we can begin to discover the abundant and eternal life that Jesus gives. 4

If we want pleasure, and let’s be honest, we all want pleasure in life, we must measure its meaning to insure that the pleasure we seek will be satisfying and lasting – abundant and eternal. Only that which is pleasing to God brings lasting pleasure to life; and that which pleases God most is that which serves other best.

There once was a man who died and went to the life beyond. Every pleasure he ever wanted became his for the asking. Day after day, he feasted on pleasure. Before long, he became tired of all the enjoyment, not that he disliked joy but the routine of self-satisfaction soon became a boring bondage. He asked to see somebody in charge for he wanted to file a complaint about the lack of variety. He complained: What good is pleasure if there is no adversity or sacrifice with which to compare it? The manager, who handled complaints, was busily working at his desk, his nose buried in a pile of papers. Without looking up, he mumbled: This was the life you sought, one of constant pleasure, and so this is the eternity you have received. The man then demanded a transfer declaring: If this is heaven I’d rather be in hell! With that the manager looked up from his work and laughed as he said: And just where do you think you are?