Pleasure in Moderation: Excess Pleasure is Unpleasant

Excess Pleasure Is Unpleasant

Please turn your Bibles to Proverbs chapter 25. Go ahead and stand when you have that. Proverbs 25, verse 16. If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

Amen. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We ask that you would help us to understand the pleasures that you have given, that we might enjoy them as we ought, and that we might enjoy you as we ought.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, as you can see from the bulletin, today begins a new series that I'm going to go through called Pleasure in Moderation. I've wanted for some time to do a message on fasting and then another message on feasting.

And in the process of studying for that, really ballooned into more material that could just be contained in two messages. And I have a lot of things that I think will be beneficial to you from the word of God about enjoying pleasure in moderation as God intended.

So this first message, simply that excess pleasure is unpleasant, which you can plainly see from this verse. If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.

Now there are several other things in this passage that deal with the same issue of excess pleasure. In fact, even the next verse does in some measure. It says, let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house lest he have his fill of you and hate you.

Too much social discourse makes you odious to another rather than being a pleasant thing. If you spend time with someone else, that typically develops a fondness for one another. But if too much, you become odious to another person.

Excess pleasure, whether it be a food, a drink, social things, other things, excess by definition means too much. It is too much. Pleasures can be enjoyed too much so that they cease to be profitable.

There are several things that I'd like to walk through here and I'll go ahead and lay them out for you right now. The first is that man was made to be served by pleasures. Second is that man was not made to serve pleasures.

And the last is that we are made for even greater pleasures than the pleasures of this earth. Okay, so man was made to be served by pleasures. This is evident in a number of passages in the Proverbs, but if you look back to the previous chapter in 24 .13, it says, my son, eat honey for it is good.

And the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. So here we have something that says, don't eat too much honey, but it's not saying don't eat honey at all. In fact, we have a commandment in the previous chapter that says, do eat honey, do enjoy good things.

Humanity Made to Enjoy God’s Good Gifts

Good things are made to be enjoyed. You can see this also just in your own experience as a person enjoying things, that you were made to enjoy things. You were made as a person who has needs. And we usually think that having needs is something that is a bad thing, right?

It makes us weak in some senses that we have to depend on the world around us or that we have to depend on God, but it is in him meeting those needs, it's a very pleasant experience. Food is one of the most pleasant things that a man can enjoy.

And we eat food typically multiple times a day. God has made us so that we would enjoy his creation in a substantial way as we continue sustaining ourselves and as he continues sustaining us. Sleep, a pleasant thing.

Procreation, very pleasant thing. There are all kinds of things that God has put into creation and into his makeup of man so that man would have pleasures to enjoy. We are made to enjoy pleasures. We are made to be served by pleasures.

Then there's also the fact that you can see that in sickness and in old age, those pleasures decline. Job complains in the book of Job that he cannot taste food anymore because of his illness. And so he has no appetite for anything.

He can't enjoy any food because it all tastes like mush to him. He says it's like the slimy juice of the mallow. Someone who is sick whose body is not working well does not enjoy things. Someone as they grow older, their sense is dim, their eyes are not able to enjoy pretty pictures anymore.

Their body is not fit for pleasure anymore because as the body decays, it ceases to do the things that it was meant to do, which were enjoying pleasures. This is part of how God has created us to enjoy pleasures.

And if you compare man to other creatures, for example, to the angels, there are many ways that man enjoys all kinds of things that angels do not enjoy. What angel knows experientially the feeling of being satisfied by a good meal?

What angel knows the pleasures of conjugal intimacy? What angels understand these things? But God has made man to enjoy many pleasures. It is a privileged thing that man has to be created in a body. This is also why when we are separated from our bodies at death, that though man can continue living as a disembodied spirit, you will long for your body.

If you've ever wondered why that is, why would we long for our body? Part of it is not just because there's just some innate sense that yes, the soul is supposed to be knit together with the body, but in addition, there are very real pleasures that the body gets to enjoy because of the way that God created it and created it to have needs that would be satisfied by him in a pleasant way.

Man was meant to be served by pleasures. He was made to be served by pleasures. However, man was not made to serve pleasures. This is where pleasures go awry. Okay, pleasures are a wonderful servant. They are a horrid master.

Pleasure as Servant, Not Master

1 Corinthians 6, 12 says, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything. What Paul is talking about is changing from being served by pleasures to serving pleasures.

Food was made for the belly, but that does not mean that he should be mastered by food. You can see this in all kinds of things, even the example given for us here in this passage. If you eat too much honey, you will have your fill of it and vomit it.

I would guess most people in here have an experience around some holiday where they had, as a child, a lot of candy. And they were so excited because their parents had always stingily withheld the candy and only given them one cookie at a time.

And finally, they were gonna have their fill. They were going to just eat all the candy that they could. And so you did that. And what happened? Got a bellyache. It was not pleasant. Excess pleasure is unpleasant.

If you have too much honey, you will vomit it. Most of us have had this experience. I'm sure all of us have had this experience, beating too many sweet things and just feeling disgusting after a while.

God has made us to be served by pleasures, but not to serve pleasures. This is true of other things. Of course, if you drink too much alcohol, you throw up all the alcohol. That's true of sleep. If you sleep too much, then you have a very wasted life.

And many of the excess pleasures that man might enjoy ultimately lead to his destruction in his health. Right, if you eat too much, what happens? You get obese, you get diabetes, you get all kinds of things, right?

That can happen. There's all sorts of things that happen if you have excess pleasure. And it's not just excess pleasure in terms of purely physical pleasures that you would consume like food. It's also true, as mentioned here, of social things.

Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he have his fill of you and hate you. Too much social time is destructive. It is not, it might be pleasant for a little while, but after a while, it is destructive.

Several things happen. One, it normalizes a different baseline for pleasure so that pleasures become less pleasurable, right? If you eat certain kind of food all the time, it stops being interesting. And maybe you've done that.

Maybe you've been excited about a certain kind of food that was good and you just ate it over and over and over again. Suddenly, you're just sick of that thing. I can't eat any more of this. All sorts of pleasures have that shape where if you continue enjoying that pleasure, it changes the baseline so that next time you would have to have more and next time you would have to have more.

But that doesn't necessarily, but that ends up being more destructive so that it's not actually more pleasant each time or even as pleasant each time, but the pleasures decrease. And as I mentioned a moment ago, it is destructive.

It is destructive to the body. There's a proverb that comes soon after these in Proverbs 30, verses 21 through 23. It says, under three things, the earth trembles. Under four, it cannot bear up. A slave when he becomes king and a fool when he is filled with food.

An unloved woman when she gets a husband and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress. Okay, four things that the earth trembles under. The first and the last one, very relevant here. A slave when he becomes king and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.

Pleasures are a very good servant. They are horrid masters. They are the servant that has become king and then reigns over the subjects very cruelly. This is what happens when you engage in too much pleasure.

We live with a world full of all kinds of pleasures that people go after and end up being mastered by so that those pleasures are not aiding them and assisting them through this life, but rather those pleasures control them so that they have to serve those pleasures so that they have to serve their own bellies, their own appetites.

Not actually benefiting from these things, but being harmed by them, being mastered by them. The problem with all this is, if you ask yourself, why is it that it is this way? Is God just arbitrarily testing us?

If he had made things good and to be pleasant, why didn't he make them so that they would be pleasant even in greater measure? Well, the answer is because we were made for greater pleasures. We were made for greater pleasures.

The Greater Pleasure of Seeing God

Many of you probably know Westminster Shorter Catechism question number one, what is the chief end of man? Chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This is the greatest pleasure is to enjoy God forever.

Matthew five, verse eight says, blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God. This is generally understood, I believe rightly understood as being the chief pleasure that the Christian is after.

He is after the sight of God. Just as seeing things is very pleasant, seeing, you know, paintings and things like that or good scenery, a good view, it's very pleasant. To see God will be to have the fullest experience of the joy that can be had from him.

I don't believe that this is limited only to physical sight. Believe that there will be all kinds of senses involved in this, but the sight of God is something that will be transformative even as it says in first John, when we see him, we will be like him.

This is the greater kind of pleasure that we are made for. And if we serve other sorts of pleasures and we serve those in ways that they are not assisting us in pursuing that ultimate pleasure, they will not be good for us.

So God has designed them so that we are not, that apart from, of course, our sinful nature would direct us otherwise into excess pleasure, but that there would be feedback within our bodies telling us, keeping us away from that thing that would lead us to the greater pleasures that are to be found in Jesus Christ as we know him, as we experience him.

Images, Worship, and the Deferred Vision of God

Why is it that the second commandment, which we are going through in the catechism right now, is focused on images? If it's really about all kinds of false worship, why is it focused on images? This is what mankind wants.

Mankind wants the sight of God. He wants that blessed vision of God. Men have, in their pursuit to have that pleasure of knowing God, crafted images of him to make him closer to them. This, of course, accomplishes nothing.

It does not give any sort of real sight of God. And this is why the Christian religion forbids all of this. We should not, even in a little bit, be trying to get that sight of God now when it is to be had ultimately in the end.

This sight of God is something that is to wait until that time. It's something I wanted to read here. I need to pull it up, sorry. This is true in part for our preservation. 1 Corinthians 7, 29 through 31 says, this is what I mean, brothers.

The appointed time has grown short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none. And those who mourn as though they were not mourning. And those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing.

And those who buy as though they had no goods. And those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away. Paul instructs us to live as though this world is passing away because it is passing away.

As you enjoy pleasures, whether it be marriage, whether it be buying things and enjoying the riches that you have, any of those things, as you enjoy them, you need to enjoy them as someone who is recognizing that they are not going to last.

Those who mourn need to mourn as though they were not mourning. Those who are rejoicing need to rejoice as though they are not rejoicing. It's a very paradoxical way of framing it. But what he's saying is, all of these different human emotions that you would engage in, all the different pleasures that you would enjoy, take on a different shape when you are in this short-lived world.

When your time here is very limited, you instead should only be going to these things in order to help you get to those greater pleasures. Paul, in describing those who had departed from the faith, in Philippians 3 .19, he said that their God is their belly.

This is why they left the faith. It is because their appetite for things led them away. This is how the thorny soil is described, is that the desire for the pleasures of this world led that faith away, away from true faith.

If you satisfy your pleasures in excess and you are not focused on the pleasure that is to come, then there is a danger for your soul that you would not persevere. Now, God perseveres all His saints, but what you may find is just like those that Paul spoke about to the Philippians, that they never had that faith to begin with.

And so if you are to persevere through this life, you have to keep this in mind, that you need to enjoy pleasures knowing that there is a limited time that you will enjoy them with. And so therefore, they need to be enjoyed in a way that recognizes that, that recognize that they are not the ultimate purpose, rather their purpose is in assisting you in getting to the next life.

Holiness and Capacity for Heavenly Joy

The same is true with sanctification. In sanctification, we are made more holy. We are made more holy in order that we can have that blessed vision of Christ. Hebrews 12, 14 says that without holiness, no one will see God.

Holiness is needed in order to see God. Now, you might be thinking to yourself, well, isn't it upon death that we are made holy and we're no longer unholy in any kind of sinful ways so that we can see Christ?

Yes, that is true. But given that this verse tells us that we need to pursue holiness in order to see Christ, given that other verses associate these things together, it seems very much so that there is a relationship between the holiness that we achieve and our ability to see Christ.

First Corinthians 15, 41 says, there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars for star differs from star in glory. This is describing the glorified state when man is raised from the dead.

There will be different kinds of glory for different kinds of bodies. Different people will enjoy different glories. The holiness that you have in this life will be indicative or will be proportional to your ability to appreciate Christ in the next.

The way that theologians have talked about this and there are many who have, they almost always talk about it as vessels. Okay, in heaven, every vessel, every person will be a vessel who is filled to the brim, perfectly content with Jesus Christ, having everything they need and not wanting anything.

Yet some vessels will, by their pursuit of holiness in this life, be greater than other vessels, to be not fuller since all vessels will be full, but to contain much more and to have the capacity for a greater appreciation of him.

These verses cease to make any sense unless that is what they are talking about. Why is it that we need to increase in holiness if that holiness will already be satisfied just through death? Why is it that people will have different glories if, how is that relevant if the primary joys of heaven are knowing God and the sight of God?

Is it not that that glory has to do with our knowledge of God? And the one who pursues the pleasures of this life in excess not with the design to get to the next and to grow in sanctification for the next is trading greater pleasures that are to come.

A Biblical Rubric for Enjoying Pleasure

Let me give you a rubric for the ways that you can consider the pleasures that you would enjoy in this life and how to go about them. Some have, in considering these things, come to the conclusion that pleasures are only to be enjoyed in as much as they are absolutely necessary.

For example, you would only eat just what you need to eat and that's it. That is not the right way of thinking about it. God has made us to be served by pleasures. And just to read another verse on that, Ecclesiastes 5, 18.

Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him for that is his lot.

Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil, this is the gift of God. For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

Okay, so enjoying pleasures in the right measure is more than just about meeting needs. It is about carrying us through this life in the way that God intended. Okay, so several things that you can keep in mind.

Pleasure That Restores Us for Work and Piety

First of all, pleasure is good if it restores you for work and piety. All right, that would be pleasures like sleep and food would be basic examples of these, but there are many kinds of pleasures that might restore you for work and piety.

Now, be careful with this because a lot of people will go overboard and lie to themselves about restorative properties of rest. All right, I think I've mentioned before, maybe a few times that a lot of people will talk about vacationing as a kind of rest in a way that it is not.

Now, it might give you some bodily rest, but a lot of people will talk about idleness as giving a spiritual rest that idleness does not actually give, right? Idleness does not work the same way for the soul as it does for the body.

The body, if it rests for a little while, how much can you sleep and then it's recovered? And once you've done that, adding more sleep doesn't actually fix anything. What people do is they take that truth for the body and if the body is injured, then maybe it needs more sleep cycles, et cetera, right?

But then they apply that to the soul and they say, okay, well, maybe the same sort of idleness, maybe the same sort of just total downtime where you're not doing anything applies to the soul and then they will just engage in idleness and unproductive behavior.

That's, okay, so don't lie to yourself about this. Make sure it's true that it is actually restorative for purposes of work and piety. Piety meaning reading the Bible, prayer, spending time with the Lord, that kind of thing, okay?

So that's the first thing. Second is if it equips you for some kind of calling, right? There are different kinds of pleasures that could equip you for something that God has called you to. Maybe you might spend a lot of time singing and with music in order that in the church service, in the worship of God, you would be able to sing well, you would be able to play music well for the sake of the Lord.

That would be an example of something that is equipping you for a calling. Now that calling does not just have to be holy callings, it could even be your secular calling. So different kinds of pleasant ways of preparing for your work, depending on what your work is, those are valuable things.

Pleasure That Trains Us in Virtue

Then it might train you in virtue. Paul says in Philippians, in Philippians chapter four, that he knew how to be content whether with much or with little. If you think about it, pleasure and riches, they have temptations associated with them.

There is value in engaging in those pleasures simply for the purpose of training yourself and being able to handle those with gratitude. In fact, a good parent is going to think about it that way with his child, right?

He's going to take his child and he's going to say, all right, I'm going to trust you with this kind of money, I'm gonna trust you with these kinds of toys, I'm gonna trust you with this, in order not just so you can enjoy those things on their own, but in order that you can learn to enjoy things appropriately in good measure.

And I'd like to give you even more things so that you can enjoy more things and learn to be responsible with them. All right, so training in virtue. And then if it produces a knowledge of God and a gratitude of Him, right?

Pleasure That Produces Gratitude to God

So God is evident in all creation, as it says in Romans one, as it says in Psalm chapter 19, the heavens declare the glory of God. There are different kinds of recreations that you can choose. Some of those are very direct in this, that you can appreciate God, especially just witnessing the creation that He has made if you are out in nature.

But even like we were talking about this morning, artificial things, things created by man, even those give opportunity to appreciate God. If you are engaging in them in a way that has gratitude, in a way that is truly thankful.

Pleasure That Directs Us Toward Christ and Heaven

And then finally, any kind of pleasure that would whet your appetite for Christ, whet your appetite for the eternal state. These might be the pleasures of fellowship here in the church. It might be feasting as you thank God for the things that He has done for you.

There are all kinds of pleasures that are appropriate as they whet your appetite for the pleasures of heaven. Because you want to be focused not on the pleasures that are now, those are instead supposed to assist you in anticipating and preparing for, and growing you in holiness for the pleasures of heaven, which are found in Jesus Christ.

We have a wonderful Savior. He has done far more than just saved us from the state to which we were headed. He has also prepared for us an excellent inheritance that He has earned. And then also given us Himself in order that we might enjoy far more than any man could enjoy otherwise.

Adam, if he had lived perfectly before the Lord and never sinned, maybe he would have achieved a glorious state. Indeed, he would have achieved a glorious state. But apart from knowing the incarnate Christ, he would not have the pleasures that we are headed toward.

We are headed toward seeing our Savior and in seeing Him being transformed by that sight of Him enjoying pleasures that no man has known. No eye has seen, no ear has heard. And isn't that a wonderful thing too, that we will see these things.

We will hear these things with real eyes, with real ears. The Bible speaks of angels singing. And Christ is a man. He is sitting at the right hand of the Father. I don't doubt that there is audible sound in heaven, yet the angels not having physical bodies, how do they even experience their own singing?

Is it as pleasant to them as it is to us who have ears? Are sights that angels see because they are able to observe things, but they aren't doing so with eyes. Is it pleasant to the kinds of senses that angels have?

It is to us that no eye has seen, no ear has heard, but we will have eyes and we will have ears that have been raised from the dead, made glorious like the glorious body of Jesus Christ in order to enjoy Him fully.

Anticipate this and if you anticipate this and that is the guideline under which you enjoy the pleasures of this life, you will enjoy them in right measure. Amen. Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the pleasures of this earth, that you have made us to be served by pleasures.

We pray that you would keep us from serving pleasures, from being mastered by them. And we ask that you would help us to look forward to the greater pleasures that are in store, most especially the sight of our Savior.

In Jesus' name, amen.