SCRIPTURE:
MATTHEW 13:44__46
# 1 > The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sels all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a marchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Last week we saw that the infinite and overflowing happiness of God is the foundation of Christian Hedonism. God is happy because he takes perfect pleasure in the excellence of his own glory, especially as it is reflected in his divine Son. God is happy because he is sovereign and therefore can overcome every obstacle to his joy. And God's happiness is the foundation of Christian Hedonism because it spills over in mercy to us. When God calls men and women to himself, it is not out of a deficiency that he needs to fill but out of fullness that he loves to share.
# 2 > We concluded last week by saying that not everyone has an eternal share in God's joy, because there is a condition that must be met. The condition is that we obey the command: Delight yourself in the Lord ( PSALM 37:4 ). But many people take more delight in riches and revenge and recreation than they do in God. And so they have no share in God's saving mercy; they are lost. What they need is conversion to Christ__which is nothing more than the making of a Christian Hedonist. That's what I want to talk about this morning.
# 3 > Someone may ask, "If our aim is conversion, why can't we just say, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved'? Why bring in this new terminology of Christian Hedonism?" It's a good question. Here's my answer. We live in a superficially Christianized society where thousands of lost people think they do believe in Jesus. In most of my witnessing to unbelievers and nominal Christians, the command, "Believe in Jesus and you shall be saved," is virtually meaningless. Drunks on the street say they do. Unmarried couples sleeping together say they do. Elderly people who haven't sought worship or fellowship for forty years say they do. Every stripe of world-loving church attendees say they do.
# 4 > My responsibility as a preacher of the gospel and a teacher of the church is not just to repeat precious biblical sentences, but to speak the truth of those sentences in a way that will prick the conscience of the hearer and help you feel your need for Christ. What I am trying to do is take a neglected and essential teaching of Scripture and make it as pointed as I can in the hope that some hearts will be stabbed broad awake. And therefore I say, when a person converted to Jesus Christ, that person is made into a Christian Hedonist. Unless a man be born again into a Christian Hedonist, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That's what I want to try to show from Scripture.
# 4 > Created by God
Before we can focus on conversion, we need to review the great thruths about reality that make conversion necessary. The first truth we have to face as human beings is that God is our Creator to whom we owe heartfelt gratitude for all we have. The best evidence for this is in your own heart and life. Why is it that the judicial sentiment of your own heart automatically passes judgment on a person who snubs you when you have done him a favor? We automatically hold a person guilty who falls to have any gratitude to someone who has shown him great kindness. Why? You know it would be a totally unsatisfying answer to say: I feel that way merely because I got spanked as a child for not saying thank you.
# 6 > We don't let people off the hook that easily. The quickness with which our hearts judge inconsiderate people bears witness to our true belief: ingrates are guilty! The real reason for why our hearts respond this way is that we are created in God's image. Your judicial sentiment, which automatically holds me guilty if I ignore you after you've saved my child from drowning, is the voice of God in you. An aspect of the image of God in you is that you involuntarily hold people accountable for ingratitude. Therefore, you know in your heart that there is a God to whom we owe heartfelt gratitude.
# 7 >
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