Idol – Pleasure, Part 1

Many of God's children have gotten so used to the favor of God that we will have fun without the Father. Dr. Tony Evans says it's easy and risky to forget where our blessings and happiness come from. If you're having fun and God isn't, that becomes an act of idolatry. This is The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans, author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of The Urban Alternative.

The United States Declaration of Independence states life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are three rights given to all humans by their Creator. But Dr. Evans warns it's easy to obsess over happiness, and that can come at a great price. Let's join him as he explains. We've been talking about American idols, the designer idols of the 21st century. And what we are saying is that of all the sins in the Bible, idolatry is the greatest one named because it becomes the foundation for everything else that is anti-God. Again, an idol is any noun, person, place, thing, or thought that you look to as your source, that you either place alongside of God as an equal or over God. That becomes an idol. In Western civilizations, we don't have by and large the primitive idols of stones, rocks, trees, water. No, we have American idols.

We have the sophisticated ones, the ones that are easily justifiable in our own minds. Today, I want to look at the next idol, the idol of pleasure. And make no mistake about it, God does put pleasure in that category. Paul wrote Timothy and said in 2 Timothy 3, 4, he says, men become lovers of pleasure more than the lovers of God. They place pleasure over me, making it pleasure and idol. The idol of pleasure is anything that you enjoy in the creation that leaves out the Creator. The idol of pleasure is anything you enjoy in the creation that leaves out the Creator. If you're having fun and God isn't, that becomes an act of idolatry.

Solomon, who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, has talked about this. He said he sought pleasure and he could afford it. He's a billionaire if we would use today's dollars. He didn't go to the party, he was the party. He says, and nothing he wanted did he deny himself. He said he stimulated his mind with his alcohol. He said, this man had 300 wives and 700 girlfriends, he operated on the pleasure principle, and yet he says here and throughout the book it was all vanity, that is, emptiness.

Why? Because of chapter 2 verse 25, for who can eat and who can have enjoyment without him. Who can eat and who can have enjoyment without him, referring to God. So we're talking about the world of pleasure. Anything in the creation that you enjoy independent of the Creator becomes idolatrous pleasure.

Now the world has become expert in offering us the idol of pleasure without making it seem like it's an idol. The world, that system headed by Satan that leaves God out, it wants to draw you in while keeping God out, and one of its primary tools is the tool of fun, enjoyment, desirability, pleasure. Now the Bible has a whole litany of things that could fit in this category. In Ephesians chapter 5 verses 3 to 8, he gives a list of things that would fit in the category of pleasure that would also be equally anti-God. So let me just categorize some of them so that we're on the same page. Let's talk about entertainment pleasure.

All of us love our televisions, we love our movies, they are designed to entertain us. But I'm sure you would agree that a lot of it leaves God out. And I don't mean just overtly leaving God out, it becomes anti-God in what it is promoting. And while we are laughing, sometimes God is crying because we are finding pleasure in that which excludes Him, in the creation not consistent with the Creator. And so you'll have people who will always find time for their favorite show who never find time to get in God's Word.

And even if they miss it, they're going to record it because they got to get it because they don't want to lose the flow of what's been happening in the series while they don't mind losing the flow of what's happening with their relationship with God. Sports, a form of entertainment, can be an idol. By the way, the Bible is full of sports. You've got racing in the Bible, boxing in the Bible, wrestling in the Bible. So the Bible has a lot to say, positively even, about sports, but it can become an idol. You've got Christians who can quote the stats of players who can't quote Bible verses because they've studied it, they followed it, they know yards gained, home runs hit. They are fully engaged in the world of sports.

They wouldn't miss the game. They would rather miss time and worship with God than miss the game because they've switched and they've turned what could be legitimate into an idol so God takes the back seat because they don't want to miss their entertainment. The Bible talks about, in Ephesians 5, sexuality or immorality, which has become today as common as shaking hands. It talks about the fact that that which leaves God out of physical intimacy, where God is not a part of it and for the desire of it, for the appetite of it, for the fun of it, people will disregard God in order to pleasure themselves. And so he speaks about that as one of the idols.

In fact, throughout the Scriptures, when you see idolatry associated with it as immorality because the idols would give you permission to be immoral and the God of the Bible wouldn't. One step further, it has now gone to endorsing the immorality. When you watch, they don't just present it, they endorse it. They want you to buy into it. They want you to accept it. And it's amazing how Christians who used to say, well, that was sin, who now say, well, that'd be sin for me.

They dumb it down. They changed the standard because they bought into the idolatry. The Bible says food. Uh-oh. The Bible says food can be an idol. Philippians 4, 19 says, and their belly is their God. Where their love for food is so dominant that we become gluttonous, which is an ungodly use of his provision of food.

That's quiet in here. So, an idol then is anything in the creation. It is pleasure where God is not welcome to participate. And that makes it an idol. The world is set up.

It is set up. It's built to call you and me, us, because all of us, except for the few spiritual people here, all of us have to wrestle with idols. And the world is set up to draw us to an idol by making it fancy, desirable, pleasurable, by making us want it bad enough, by making it new and improved. So we gravitate to it because the world is set up to draw us from God, for God will not be intimate when we are intimate with an idol. And since the system is set up to draw us to idols, the system is set up to draw us from God. So if you and me, if we are in league with an idol, the Bible is clear that you won't be in league with God. This explains a lot. This explains why we don't hear more from God, experience more power from God, experience more victory in our lives, experience more answers to prayer, because while we may be doing the spiritual thing, we're doing it hanging out with an old boyfriend, hanging out with an idol. And God says, you can't have an idol over here and call on me over there and expect me to respond.

Dr. Evans will take us to the happiest place on earth when he continues our message in just a moment. But first, this. Why is America falling morally, culturally, economically, and politically? What is at the core of these issues and how can we recover as a nation? Dr. Tony Evans' brand-new message series called American Idols and his book America, Turning a Nation to God, will help you find answers. Now is the time to stand together, give hope in the name of Christ to those desperately seeking peace. Visit tonyevans.org and be a part of the greatest revival in history. And if we hear from you right away, both the book and the message series can be yours as our thank-you gift in appreciation for your contribution to make this listener-supported ministry possible.

Tony's current American Idol series contains eight full-length messages, and you'll get them to review on both CD and digital download, along with his popular book, America, Turning a Nation to God. Just visit tonyevans.org to get the details and make the arrangements. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Or give us a call at 1-800-800-3222 and speak with one of our friendly resource team members. They're ready to help you around the clock, again at 1-800-800-3222. I'll have that contact information for you again after part two of today's message.

Here's Dr. Evans once again. When my kids were small, one of the vacations was to Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom. Disneyland is set up for one thing, fun. You go to Disneyland for the family to have fun. It is a whole kingdom of fun. You walk through the gates and you're greeted by Mickey and Minnie and Donald Duck and you have the rides and the food and the fanfare and the parades and the clowns and all of the things that just makes Disneyland nothing but all-day fun. Well, we were at Disneyland and it was fun.

It was pleasure. Everybody was enjoying themselves. However, after a period of time, we couldn't find Jonathan. He's the youngest, of course way back then he's the smallest and we're looking up and we're asking, where is Jonathan? There are thousands of people at Disneyland, so trying to find a needle in a haystack, where is he? Everybody spread out looking for Jonathan. We're calling Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan.

All the noise, the music playing. We can't find him. Panic is setting in because minutes are going by.

Now, now, 30 minutes are going by. Now, an hour is going by and we can't find Jonathan. We're looking all over. Where is our son? I went and I found a security guard. I alerted him that we couldn't find my son and he called people to help find my son who had gotten lost in a place full of pleasure. He had gotten lost in a place full of fun. After an extended amount of time, we found Jonathan. We found Jonathan playing. We found him being entertained by one of the cartoon characters.

We found him in a game store. He was lost and didn't even know it because he was having so much fun and he was having so much pleasure that he didn't even know he'd become disconnected from the Father. He didn't know because the fun was so real, so deep, so rich, so large that he wasn't aware that he had lost the one who paid the price for him to have the fun. You see, I paid the price to get into Disneyland. I paid the price for the food. I paid the price for the things that you had to pay for. He didn't pay for anything.

It was all free because Daddy paid for it. But he got so used to what Daddy paid for that he lost sense of the Daddy who paid for it. Many of God's children have gotten so used to the favor of God, the provision of God, and the fun of God that we will have fun without the Father. We will enjoy the creation while being disconnected from the Creator. And so, pleasure can be an idol, and once it is an idol, you become disconnected from God.

So if you're living with an idol, whatever that idol is, you're living disconnected because God will not have fellowship with idolatry because we've raised a false god and asking the true God to accept it. Now for some good news because I can hear what some of you are thinking because some were raised in churches that made it look like God doesn't have fun. You were told no makeup. You were told, you know, long dresses down to your ankles. You were told to send a dance. You were told, you were given a list of rules of what you can't do if you are a Christian and it made it seem like if I'm going to follow God, I have to prepare to be miserable because God is a joy killer.

So now let me take you to the other side of this coin. God is full of pleasure. Let me say that again. God is for fun. First of all, God is so full of pleasure that everything He does, He does with the mindset of making Himself happy. Psalm 115 verse 3 says, God does what He does so He is pleased, so He is pleasured in it. When God went public, called creation, that's when God went public, every day He did something, He looked at it and said, oh, you're good. He comes down to the last day and He says, you're not just good, you're very good.

You're in a class by yourself. He looked at Himself and said, ain't nobody like you. He was enthralled. He was pleased. He was pleasured in what He did. So He's for pleasure.

And let me take it one step deeper. In Isaiah 43 verses 6 and 7, it says, God created us for His pleasure. Oh, you were made, I was made, because He wants some pleasure. So He created us to bounce back to Him something enjoyable. So God is in the pleasure. Now, the theological word of His pleasure is His glory.

That is, that which amplifies His attributes. He is for pleasure. 1 Timothy 1.11 lets us know that God exists to be gloriously happy. He's blessed in His happiness.

He loves to be excited with the things He enjoys. So if you are a boring Christian, that simply means you are not in proper contact with God, who loves himself some pleasure. If you get up every morning and say, oh boy, I've got to live this miserable Christian life again because of all the stuff I can't do, then the God you're talking about is not the God of the Bible, because that God of the Bible is in Himself.

He's into some pleasure. For all things were created by Him and for Him. You say, but that's God, what about us? Okay, 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17, and God gives us all good things to enjoy. So He exists in a realm of pleasure, and He gives us all legitimate, all beneficial, all good things, and He expects us to enjoy it.

He told Adam and Eve from every tree of the garden, you may freely eat. Go for it, girl. Go for it, Adam. Go for it. Enjoy this fruit.

I want you to, I want you to shop till you drop. I want you to maximize the moment of my creative purposes. All good, every good and perfect gift cometh from above from the Father of lights. So God is not against pleasure. He's against idolatrous pleasure. He's not against pleasure. The joy of the Lord is my strength. Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. God is not against pleasure.

Let me go a little deeper. He says in Luke chapter 12 verse 32, He says it is my pleasure to give you the kingdom. To give you what the king rules over is my pleasure. So God not only exists for His own pleasure, He exists for our pleasure. So He wants you to enjoy legitimately the pleasures that He Himself enjoys as God. So God is not against pleasure. If we're going to not become idolatrous with pleasure, then we have to say there's certain things I won't watch, certain songs I won't sing, certain downloads. I won't take certain internet pages I won't read because while it may be pleasurable, I'm not willing to lose God for the pleasure.

God wants to be the basis of your highest pleasure. Dr. Tony Evans, with an encouraging reminder to seek joy and fulfillment from God, the Creator of all good things. As I mentioned earlier, today's lesson is part of Tony's brand-new series, American Idols. And right now, for a limited time, you can get all eight messages in this powerful collection as our gift, along with his popular book, America, Turning a Nation to God, all in appreciation for your contribution that helps us keep this program coming your way. Call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements.

It's open around the clock. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit us at TonyEvans.org, where you can make your donation and instantly download all the messages in this series. Just do it, a simple advertising slogan that has come to characterize much current thought. But tomorrow, Dr. Evans says that blindly following our impulses without counting their costs can lead to big regrets. Be sure to join us. The Alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by The Urban Alternative and is made possible by the generous contributions of listeners like you. ...