Www.corningmennonite.org/pleasure-real.pdf

www.corningmennonite.org/sermons/pleasure-real.pdf "Where to get the real Happy Meal" The things you can buy for.your hair alone are staggering: You can wash it, "Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine condition it, mousse it, dye it, curl it, straighten it, wax it (if it's growing where it or milk—it's all free! 2 Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for
food that does you no good? Listen, and I will tell you where to get food that is good for the soul!
shouldn't), and Rogaine it (if it's not growing where it should).
3 "Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, for the life of your soul is at stake. .
8 "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond
we Americans have gotten richer over last 50 yrs . so have been able to go anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
for increasingly-expensive "Happy Meals." higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
10 "The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth.
They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. 11 It is the
if you sat down with a pencil and graph paper to chart the trends of American same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it life since end of WW II, you'd have lot of arrows pointing up. will prosper everywhere I send it. 12 You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst
home size, cars per driver, phone calls made annually, trips taken into song, and the trees of the field will clap their hands! 13 Where once there were thorns, cypress
trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up. This miracle will bring great honor to the
Lord's name; it will be an everlasting sign of his power and love. July 6, 2006 Washington Post talked about trend toward luxury bathrooms.
predicted Americans would spend $22 billion on luxury bathrooms in 2006.
described couples who deck out their bathrooms with every amenity John Ortberg is pastor and parent. had humor column in (prob biggest) --including wide-screen TVs with surround sound! here's something wrote --not in humor column; in a mag . (CT May 17 '93 p38-40) profiled one couple who upgraded bathroom w new sinks and a 9-by-4-foot shower, "a palace of iridescent glass tile, a human carwash When we take our children to the shrine of "the Golden Arches," they always with five shower heads, four body sprays, instant steam, a soaring skylight want the same thing. If they get it, the trip is a success; if not, it is sheer misery. and portable speakers connected to a wireless iPod transmitter." The odd part is that what they are after is not the food. They want the prize. The www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/05/AR2006070501682.html prize.is.worth maybe 10 cents; but for the moment, getting it is all thatmatters. none of us spend $120,000 on our bathroom (that one included floors that are McDonald's, in a fit of marketing genius, gave [a] package of food and [this] heated marble, a shower w a heated mirror, a tub that's a Jacuzzi w a prize a special name: the Happy Meal. You're not just buying fries, McNuggets, plasma TV & remote. then, was toilet that comes with a control panel).
and a dinosaur stamp, you're buying happiness. Their advertisements haveconvinced my children that they have a McDonald's-shaped vacuum in their but nonetheless our bathroom surely is larger & more elaborate than what little souls: "our hearts are restless till they find their rest in a Happy Meal." we (or our parents, or grandparents) had 50 yrs ago.
[Ortberg describes standing at counter, trying to talk them out of getting one.] all those trends of American life the last 50 yrs --w arrows pointing up-- .the cry goes up, "I want a Happy Meal!" All over the restaurant, people include not only our income & spending crane their necks to look at the tightfisted, penny-pinching cheapskate of a but also longevity, IQ scores. personal health, safety, freedom --espec for parent who would deny a child the meal of great joy.
women and those handicapped. reduction of bias against minority grps .
So I buy each child his own, and they're happy--at least, for a minute and 30 seconds. The problem with the Happy Meal is that the Happy wears off. . No just about every indicator has been heading upward for 2 gens . except * child discovers lasting happiness in one. Years later, no child says, "Remember happiness.
that Happy Meal? What great joy I found there." the number of people who say they are "very unhappy" has risen 20% since Ortberg goes on to pt out that when we get older, that our "Happy Meals" and rates of depression are 10 times higher than they were 50 yrs ago.
we adults are bombarded all day long w msgs that tell us happiness is only how can that be * when we're buying all these Happy Meals! one step away if we'll just use this /eat /wear /try /drive /put this in our hair.
www.corningmennonite.org/sermons/pleasure-real.pdf did you know that we human beings aren't designed to work well when we fixate among impoverished peoples w few luxury items/resources, sex is on gratif of our phys & emot desires? repeat : we human beings aren't greatest pleasure most readily available.
designed to work well when we fixate on gratif of our phys & emot desires.
The Canaanites: "pleasure is the highest-of-what-life-offers-us. it's our goal/ our Creator didn't intend us to organize our life around finding pleasure.
ultimate value. so any way we can get sex, any form of it, we'll enjoy." if he had, all those "Happy Meals" would bring us peace / joy.
in time of Abr , think of when 2 angels visited Lot in his home in Sodom.
didn't create us to carry long-term anger/ bitterness. thus our bodies don't Gen 19. men of city not know angels. thot handsome strangers.
gathered outside Lot's home. "send out so we can have sex w them." didn't intend us to be filled w worry/ anxiety. --our bodies aren't built to didn't create us engage in homosex sex --our bodies aren't arranged for Leviticus 18 refers to Canaanites several times.
and didn't create us to order-our-lives around satisfying our desire for chapt lists every extramarital relationship can think of.
a human being is not "built" to thrive when pleasure is the goal of that life.
people of Isr going to settle in land of Canaan. & God instructed them:
Leviticus 18:26-28 .you must not do any of these detestable things, 27 for all
we are too adaptable . we too quickly "adjust" to new pleasures we acquire.
these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, all-too-quickly a new pleasure is no longer special. and we are bored.
and the land became defiled. 28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you
so we find new ones. .which we will soon also get "used to"! out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. the Wash Post reporter said guy w the $120,000 bathroom was rather blasé is it only our culture that is plunging headlong into trying to find happiness from as he talked about it all. bec "This week, he and his wife were flying to the persons who organize their life around finding pleasure
how often do we recognize our self, not only our society, in this? remain restless
how often are we restlessly seeking our next exper of pleasure / purchase /pick-me-up ? when our aim is to satisfy our desires, we can find happiness for the "minute God does not forbid his people to find & enjoy all the possible sexual expers --a good game-for-the-computer-or-TV can keep entertained for a whole but bec it is a life where "can't get no -- satisfaction." --a life of short-lived highs & constant frustration.
--a new car can give mild "high" for a whole week or mo.
can give you anecdote after anecdote.
--a new purchase we got from catalog or Mall, or new make-over or --a life where possessions, relationships, & the pleasures of life are used in outfit, can give us a thrill/ pick-me-up.
--a life the human body-&-soul wasn't designed for.
our pleasure "set point" just adapts to the new things-we-have.
and then our toys have to be more expensive to produce the old high.
so what are we to do?if we are not to plunge headlong into trying to find happiness in next Happy we Amers are healthier, richer, eat better, dress better, .play more-than-ever are we to purse our lips / tighten our belts & squeeze the desire for pleasure but we not happier. just healthier, wealthier, --w nicer hair.
several times in OT, B describes another culture : Canaanites in land of Palestine during span of time from Abr to Moses.
www.corningmennonite.org/sermons/pleasure-real.pdf & look at what happens when our focus is obeying God! -- God himself built these desires within us. God gave us these hungers/ thirsts.
are obeying the One who knows what is best for us & the universe.
so will be doing things that start good chain reactions. will find all kinds of unexpected joys --and pleasures-- as things turn out to have been wisest & "Come, all you who are thirsty" - Hey, you!
You who are thirsty. Come to the "waters." --to some springs of fresh, pure
water / to glistening mountainside streams.
eg last yr Karen & I planted packet of wild flower seed.
You who are hungry. come to the market/restaurant--come "buy & eat".
as much fun this yr : those flowers seeded that end of garden ! oh, you don't have any money?"you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk as a couple sows good-"seed"-of-obeying-God in their marriage, will enjoy .
I would hold the pleasure K & I exper in our marriage --as obeying God Come, (mid v2 NIV) eat what is good.
/seeking to serve each other-- up against any couple who just seeking to Let your soul delight in the richest of fare.
maximize pleasure.
measure the two. ours - both more steady & more intense.
Our God calls for us to come! There is * a feast that can come w the-package called "human existence". available to everyone hearing these words.
I would hold the pleasure of eating a simple, hearty meal after a day of doing duty (working up appetite & need for food) don't have to already be rich, have resources / power . Come! alongside the pleasure of fancy meal served in expensive restaurant.
or the pleasure of small children eating a Happy M at McDs when it is part of a celebr of their family & their parent's love for themrather than just part of the children's "give me" attitude.
Have we come to God? Have you come Have I the child is still going to be basking in glow of that Happy M at end day.
what does this mn to "come to God"? receive from God? as we obey God, we are living as life designed.
will exper all kinds of unsought joys / pleasures.
well, how do we "come" and "receive" from Dr ? spend time w them. put self under their authority. listen . obey their instr .
bec God delights to give good gifts.
God has nothing against pleasure. to contrary, has filled world w that's way to get true happiness, "where to get real Happy Meal." 1 Tim 4 says he creates many good things for us to receive w thanksgiving.
say to God, "how do you intend life to be lived?!" "persons who organize their life around finding pleasure remain restless" but persons ordering their life around obeying God experience
don't be thinking: "what can bring me the most pleasure? most happiness?" joy and peace and many unsought pleasures
actually, think we exper more pleasure than those seeking pleasure.
(& often not sure what God wants, do what common sense .
seeking-a-pleasure does "a number" on it.
but quite often we do know . spks as read B / as pray / listen to bro/sis. ) whereas not-expecting-pleasure enhances it.
www.corningmennonite.org/sermons/pleasure-real.pdf eg. sometimes we go to a movie, expecting it to be "great." & then if only v11 - my word always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will somehow unsought pleasures deliver more enjoyment.
one summer man in Caton on my mail route told me about the Amish who built described their child-like enjoyment of any unusual thing that happened.
Jesus in obeying God / loving others suffered death on cross.
but obeying God/ following J is only way of hope.
tho is war going on, one day triumph of God and his k will be fully revealed.
my hunch is that as our goal is "to get our duty done" (rather than to get pleasure) (our "duty" is love/obey God, love neighbor), then the simple 12 You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song,
pleasures that come our way unbidden are more enjoyable.
and the trees of the field will clap their hands! 13 Where once there were thorns,
cypress trees will grow. Where briers grew, myrtles will sprout up.
when we're seeking pleasure, when the pleasurable event happens, our myrtle - low tree sometimes ten feet high, with green shining leaves, and reaction is just "that's what was supposed to happen." snow-white flowers bordered with purple, "which emit a perfume more it doesn't delight us unless it is real novel or exceptional.
exquisite than that of the rose. --Smith's Bible Dictionary (& then something in us automatically raises a bar within us to that newlevel, making it harder for us to get pleasure the next time.) there is a way to stop our unending & futile search for pleasure & way to receive peace & much unexpected pleasure and joy : but God's way enhances our pleasure.
place our focus on loving God & serving him. & everything else falls into God has nothing against us experiencing pleasure.
it's not like going-without-some pleasure is a virtue.
in God we get the real Happy M . of pleasure. of love. for eternity.
securing-good-things-for-others --that is the virtue. & sometimes we will go without something so we can give more to 12 You will live in joy and peace. The mountains and hills will burst into song,
and the trees of the field will clap their hands! 13 .Where briers grew, myrtles
but the goal is not our-abstinence but their-happiness. justice.
will sprout up. This .will be an everlasting sign of [the Lord's] power and love. the marvel of heterosexual sex is that in the very act where the husband-or- wife is seeking-to-give-the-other pleasure, they receive-it-themselves.
(I think when the Creator came up w that one, shook his head & grinned!) has God been challenging you begin changing something in your life so the human way is to seek the pleasure, & in so doing, diminish it.
God's way: seek to obey him / love those around.
this afternoon / tomorrow morn you can take an action to change something I'm inviting you begin it right now . prayer.
8 "My thoughts are completely different from yours," says the Lord. "And my
ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. 9 For just as the heavens are
higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
higher than your thoughts.

Source: http://www.corningmennonite.org/sermons/pleasure-real.pdf