Who is a Christian?

For many years, I have called my understanding of the enormous role of joy, not only in the life of a Christian but in all of creation and God’s purposes in it, Christian hedonism. And the shortest description of Christian hedonism is this: God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.

My journey to this understanding over the past thirty years has been largely influenced by Jonathan Edwards, C. S. Lewis, and the apostle Paul, but it also goes back to my father. My father was probably the happiest man I ever knew, and yet he was completely consumed with the glory of God. So there were these two aspects of his life that had to be explained in time. The overflowing joy and the complete devotion to the glory of God had to somehow come together.

Small desires for big things

After my father, C. S. Lewis came my way with this incredible statement: Our problem as humans is not that our desires are too strong, but that they are too weak. I thought my desires were the problem. But Lewis says, «No, your desires are not the problem. The problem is the weakness of your desires. You are like a child playing in the mud, not imagining what a vacation at sea would be like.» In other words, your desires for the big things that God offers you are too small. Your problem is not your big desires, but your small desires for big things.

Jonathan Edwards had the greatest influence on my understanding. He said that God is omnipotent in His Trinitarian essence: God the Father has an idea of Himself, which is embodied in the Son of God, and He enjoys Himself, which is manifested in the Holy Spirit, who acts between the Father and the Son as a Person. So when God creates man in His image, we are called to glorify God not only by a correct idea of Him—by correct doctrine—but also by corresponding, passionate feelings for Him.

Thus, I have two great gifts: the ability to think, glorifying God through right thoughts about Him, and the ability to feel, glorifying Him through right feelings toward Him.

And above all this is the Bible, which calls us again and again to glorify God, and also calls us again and again to enjoy Him. How do these two covenants fit together?

This question led me to the Westminster Catechism and its first question: «What is the chief end of man?» The answer: «The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.» And I wondered: Is it just to say «and»? What does this «and» mean? Isn’t the chief end of man to glorify God by enjoying Him forever? That’s what Edwards said. That’s what Lewis meant. That’s what seemed to be happening in my father’s life. But is that biblical?

Why is death an asset?

This brings us to the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Philippians. The verses in the first chapter became a key text for me, confirming that God is most glorified in us, or Christ is most magnified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him: «According to my expectation and hope, that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain» (Phil. 1:20–21). And that little word «for» became extremely important. «For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain» (Phil. 1:21). With this word Paul confirms the confidence that Christ will be glorified in his body both in life and in death. Why? Because to him to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

How does this work? What is the logic behind it? It became clearer to me when I temporarily removed the topic of «life» and focused on the topic of «death.» Let’s put it this way: «My sincere hope is that I will not be put to shame at all, but that Christ will be glorified in my body through my death, for to me death is gain.».

Does that make sense? The confidence that Christ will be glorified in my death is based on the fact that death is gain for me. If Christ is gain in my death, then He will appear great in my death. But there is still a missing piece in this argument. In verse 23 Paul says, «I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.» So the gain he is talking about in verse 21 is Christ. If I die and be with Christ, that is far better. That is my gain.

Now let’s go back and see if this logic makes sense. My sincere hope is that Christ will be glorified in my death because I will experience death as a gain; namely, as Christ being more satisfying to me than anything life has to offer. The basis of my belief in Christian hedonism is based on the logic of Philippians 1:20–23.

An example from family life

Let's imagine an example. It's our anniversary. I say to my wife, Noelle, "I'm going to ask you out to dinner tonight because it's our 47th anniversary, and spending this evening with you would make me really happy.".

No wife would ever say, and Noel would never say, «You’re so selfish. All you think about is yourself. It’s nice of you to invite me to dinner and spend time with me.» No wife complains about that behavior. Why? Because when I seek complete satisfaction in my wife, she feels honored. It’s the same with God. If we seek to be with God, if God is our treasure and our delight, then God is honored.

This truth—that God is most glorified in us, or that Christ is most magnified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him—is not something secondary. It is not something peripheral to the Christian life or to Philippians. It is at the very heart of what it means to be a believer, what it means to belong to Jesus Christ, what it means to value and trust Him. It is not just the icing on the cake of Christianity. It is the core of Christianity.