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PLEASURE IS A PARADOXBased on Esther 2:1-4By Pastor Glenn PeaseAlexander Selkirk was one of those men who always had to learn the hard way. Therecords of his church in Scotland show that he was disciplined several times forcausing trouble in the church. In May of 1703 he said good-bye to all that, and atage 27 went off to sea. He tried to run things on the ship as he did church, andhe got into a furious argument with the Captain. They were anchored off a smallisland four hundred miles from Chile. Alexander got so mad he packed up hispossessions and went ashore. "You don't dare sail without me," he shouted to theCaptain. The Captain was not impressed with his conviction, and gave the order tosail. Poor Alexander could not believe it. He thought he was indispensable. He waswaiting out up to his arm pits pleading for the Captain to forgive him, but theCaptain was as stubborn as he was, and he sailed away, never to return.Fortunately for Alexander the island had been inhabited by Jon Fernandez twocenturies earlier, and he had left some goats on the island. These gave him foodand skins. For four years and four months he depended on them for survival. Whenhe was finally rescued, he could hardly remember how to talk. When he got back toEngland he was a sensation, and several books were written about him. The mostfamous was fiction, but it used his experience as a model. The book was RobinsonCrusoe.That was a tough way to learn to keep his mouth shut. It is so hard not to dosomething, or say something foolish or destructive when you are angry. Even greatmen often have to learn the hard way that loss of temper can be costly. Xerxes wasthe ruler of the Persian Empire, he could have anything he pleased, but he losthis wife, whom he truly treasured, because of his anger. Xerxes had a reputationfor losing his temper when he could not have his own way. He once wanted to crossthe waters of the hellespont, but it was so rough his troops could not build abridge. He got so angry he took chains to the water, and he began to flog it. Likemost temper tantrums, it was not very effective.It is so hard to play God when nature and others will not cooperate. The waterwould not stop for him, and his wife would not start for him, and he blew hisstack. And why shouldn't he? He was the most powerful man in the world, and whyshould he not get angry for the same reason the rest of us get angry? Why do weget angry? Primarily because something or someone has spoiled our pleasure. We arenot different from King Xerxes. He had his heart set on seeing all his nobleleaders gape in envy as he revealed the beauty of his wife to them. Half the joyof possessing something is in showing it to those who don't. Vashti had theaudacity to rob him of this pleasure. He blazed with anger within, because shewould not grant his whim.If you examine your own life, you will discover that most of your anger is basedon the hindrance of your pleasure. You have plans, and somebody does notcooperate, and the pleasure you hope for is lost, and you are angry. Children crymost often because they can't have their own way. Somebody is always hinderingthem from having their pleasure. They want to play with the new camera you justbought, and you insist it is not a toy, and there heart is broken. They want torun barefoot in a junk infested lot, and you deny them of their pleasure. On andon goes the list of pleasures a child desires that are constantly being hinderedby parents, who get no pleasure out of picking up pieces of a two hundred dollarcamera, and rushing to the emergency room for stitches.
 
What we see then, is that from the beginning, life is a battle to see whosepleasures are met, and whose are denied. Striving for pleasure is a far morepowerful factor in all of our lives then we realize. Because we do not examine ourlives from the perspective of the pleasure motive, we look on the events of thebook of Esther with some degree of shock.It is scandalous that every beautifulvirgin in the empire was to be made available to the king, to meet his demand forpleasure. Keep in mind, he is the most powerful man in the world. The whole bookrevolves around his pleasure. What pleases him determines the life or death ofevery human being of his time. If he pleases, whole nations are destroyed,and ifhe pleases, they are spared. God's providence had to work through His pleasuremotive.The first two chapters reveal that he was dominated by sensual pleasure. His partylife and sex life established the environment in which the entire story takesplace. Xerxes is no different than the rulers of that part of the world today. Areporter who traveled to all of the oil rich Arab countries, and interviewed allof the kings and sheiks, reported that they lived just like Xerxes did. Wine,women, and song, and every pleasure man is capable of was a way of life. Xerxes issaid to have offered a reward for anyone who could invent a new pleasure. This isthe challenge today for those who have so much money they cannot think of any newway of spending it.The book of Esther is not dealing with something old and irrelevant, but rather,with a subject so real and relevant to all of us, but one that we often fail tothink about seriously, the subject of pleasure. Before we get all bent out ofshape about Xerxes, and his lust for pleasure, lets examine our own lives. When wedo, we will discover that we are not so different from this sensual king. The maindifference is that we do not have the power and wealth to command the pleasures hehad, but the difference is really only one of degree. We too enjoy parties withgood things to eat and drink, and we enjoy beautiful furniture and drapes. Weenjoy nice clothes, and I have seldom heard of a Christian who does not enjoysexual pleasure.The more we examine the Christian life, the more we begin to realize we are verypleasure oriented. We don't feel the lest guilt for enjoying the pleasure ofmusic, fellowship, an all that being a part of the body of Christ involves. Whyshould we? Jesus enjoyed the social pleasures of His time. He enjoyed the party,the wedding, the feasting, the singing, the fun of fishing, and fellowship. Sowhat we have is, the paradox of pleasure. It is both something we are to crave andseek and enjoy, and yet it is something that can be so dangerous that it canquickly lead us to fall, and be out of the will of God. Pleasure is both a virtueand a vice.The search for pleasure is the primary motivation behind the evil of man. Satanappealed to the pleasure nature to get man to fall. He said, taste the forbiddenfruit and you will have the pleasure of being like God, and they jumped at thechance. But good is also motivated by pleasure. The Gospel is an appeal to thepleasure nature as well, for Jesus says, "Come unto me all ye who labor and areheavy laden, and I will give you rest." Jesus offers men the joy of eternal life,and the pleasure of abundant life. There is not available anywhere in the world ahope for greater pleasure than what Jesus offers those who put their faith in Him.What this means is we cannot afford to be reacting as Christians so often do. Theylook at Xerxes, and his six months banquet of gluttony, drunkenness, and perpetualbeautiful virgins for his lust, and they say this is disgusting. Then they thinktheir mission in life should be to prevent as much pleasure as possible. This overreaction to evil pleasure in the world has caused Christians to totallymisrepresent Christ, and pervert the Gospel so that it loses its appeal to most
 
everyone but sadist who delight in pain. History is full of the folly of Christianascetics, who thought they pleased God by pain rather pleasure. They wore hairshirts to itch and be miserable. They flogged themselves thinking that sufferingwas the key to sanctification. Fun and pleasure were so related to sin that miseryand boredom were exalted to the level of virtues.To avoid this reaction to worldly pleasure we need to see where the Bible standson the issue of pleasure. The first thing we see, as we examine God's Word, isthat God is the Creator of pleasure. He made the world and man, and said it isvery good, and He took pleasure in all that He had made. He made man with anervous system capable of enjoying much pleasure of sight, sound, taste, smell,and feeling. He designed man to be a pleasure loving creature. Every pleasure weare capable of is a cause to thank God, for it is by His will we have thatcapacity. David acknowledges God as the source of all of life's pleasures in Psa.36:7-8. "How precious is thy steadfast love, O God! The children of men takerefuge in the shadow of thy wings. They feast on the abundance of thy house, andthou givest them drink from the rivers of thy pleasures."God gives rivers of pleasure, even in time, before the believers dwell by theRiver of Life, where all pain will be forever gone, and life will be endlesspleasure, for, "At God's right hand our pleasures for ever more." (Psa. 16:11).God delights in the pleasures of His servants says Psa. 35:27. God is apersonality who enjoys great pleasure Himself. Psa. 149:4 says, "For the Lordtakes pleasure in His people." As we, as parents and grandparents, take pleasurein seeing our children grow and develop, so God delights in His children.God wanted the temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, and He said to the people in Hag. 1:8,"Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasurein it and that I may appear in my glory, says the Lord." God is no where revealedas a vast cosmic machine. God is a person who feels, and His goal is to accomplishwhat is good and pleasurable. Phil. 2:13 says, "For God is at work in you, both towill and to work for His good pleasure." Jesus said in Luke 12:32, "Fear not,little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."Let's get it straight in our minds, God is not a sadist who loves pain anddelights in suffering . The goal of God is pleasure for Himself, and for all Hispeople. He makes it clear in Ezek. 18:23. "Have I any pleasure in the death of thewicked, says the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way andlive?" God's goal for every man is a goal of pleasure. Hell is pain and heaven ispleasure, and heaven is always God's goal. I looked in a dictionary of synonymsand antonyms, and found this list of the opposites of pleasure. Listen to them,and see if you catch the flow of heaven or hell.Displeasure Evil DesolationSorrow Pain AnxietyWoe Hurt BurdenGrief Wound AdversitySuffering Affliction TroubleVexation Anguish UnhappinessWorry Despair TribulationSickness MisfortuneThis is not an ideal shopping list for Christmas, or any other day in life. Infact, the only place you can get that list fulfilled perfectly is in hell. Not aone of them will be a part of heaven. So we are stuck with an enormous paradox.The entire plan of God, and the goal of Christians, is pleasure. Yet, that seemsto be the major problem of sinful man, and the primary method of worldliness. EvenPlato could see it and say, "Pleasure is the greatest incentive to evil." It is
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