"Religion Never Was Designed To Make Our Pleasures Less"

Have you ever had a book call out to you from the book shelves. Well this happened (figuratively speaking) to me this evening. I'm working on two sermons for this coming Lord's day and was considering a sermon I preached about a month ago based upon Question 1 of the Heidelberg Catechism—What is your only comfort in life and in death?

In particular, I was considering the fact that the authors of this catechism chose to start with the basic human desire for comfort. According to Webster's dictionary comfort is

a) relief from pain, grief, distress, etc.;
b) a state of ease and quite enjoyment, free from worry, pain, etc.
c) anything that makes life easy and comfortable

Well, here's where I "heard a call" from one of my books. I immediately thought of John Piper's Desiring God and went to find it. Along the way my eyes came across a book that I've had for about seven years but haven't read yet. This book is J. I. Packers Hot Tub Religion (1987). It "called out to me." I took it off the shelf, flipped through the table of contents and was drawn to Chapter 4: Toward a Theology of Pleasure. I'm compelled to share the following with you: Packer writes...

We need to emphasize the Christian's heritage of enjoyment. Unbelief makes us fear that God is a hard and unfriendly taskmaster who will begrudge us pleasure and require us to do things that we do not want to do and cannot enjoy. Scripture, however, shows us that the opposite is true. "You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand" (Ps. 16:11). "You give them drink from your river of delights" (Ps. 36:8). "God, my joy and my delight" (Ps. 43:4). "I will be glad and rejoice in you" (Ps. 9:2). "The kingdom of God is...righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit" (Rom. 14:17). "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him" (Rom. 15:13). A wonderful homespun hymn by the old Calvinist Isaac Watts, the songster of Puritanism, expresses the Christian's mood of exultant enjoyment with tremendous verve:

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
And thus surround the throne.

The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place!
Religion never was designed
To make our pleasures less.

Let those refuse to sing
Who never knew our God,
But children of the heavenly King
May speak their joy abroad.

The God that rules on high,
And thunders when he please,
That rides upon the stormy sky
And manages the seas—

This awful [awesome] God is ours,
Our Father and our love;
He shall send down his heavenly powers
To carry us above.

There we shall see his face,
And never, never sin;
There from the rivers of his grace
Drink endless pleasure in.

The sons of grace have found
Glory begun below;
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow.

The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden streets.

Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry!
We're marching through Emmanuel's ground
To fairer worlds on high.

Amen! Watts is right. Christianity, which some believe breeds gloom, actually drives it out. Sin brings sorrow, but piety produces pleasure. (pp. 71-72).

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Packer, J. I. Hot Tub Religion. (Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 1987). This has been reprinted by Crossway Books & Bibles under the title God's Plan for You (2001). [CBD | WTS]
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This has been a timely "word" for me and trust that it will stimulate you to consider the "glory begun below."

"Religion Never Was Designed To Make Our Pleasures Less"