Last month, I began giving some of my thoughts on Christian Hedonism (CH). In this article, I want to continue that discussion. But first, I want to clarify something.

The core tenet of CH is summarized with the phrase, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” And just to be clear, with these articles I don’t intend to minimize the need to be satisfied in and to rejoice in God. Rejoicing in God is a clear command of Scripture (e.g., Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, rejoice!”). Experiencing joy int he Lord has also been the heart-cry of every true saint down through the ages (see Psalm 90:14 and Psalm 70:4). It is what has provided strength for believers to continue walking by faith even through times of difficulty, hardship, and suffering (Nehemiah 8:10). I am very thankful for all the ways that Dr. John Piper has reintroduced this emphasis in our day.

As R. C. Sproul wrote:

“Serving God with joy is not an option or added luxury—it is a duty and obligation.”[1]

I whole-heartedly agree.

However, I do have concerns with the way CH defines the genuine Christian life in terms of joy. And to be clear, that is all these articles are designed to communicate—my concerns (it might be better to call them “cautions”). As I wrote last month, I am labeling all of these as potential problems. This is partly because I want to acknowledge that these concerns may simply be the result of misunderstanding on my part. You, dear reader, do not have to agree with my evaluations of CH. I’m simply writing these articles as an attempt to communicate why I do not claim to be a Christian Hedonist— at least, not yet.

With that said, let’s jump back into it. In the last article, I expressed one of my concerns with CH, which is a conflation of faith and joy. Faith and joy are often found together, both in God’s Word and Christian experience (c.f., 1 Peter 1:8). However, as Romans 15:13 says, faith and joy are not the same thing— one (joy) is granted by God as a result of the other (faith). As we exercise faith (“in believing”), God grants the blessing of joy and peace [2]. It seems to me that conflating the two is not only unwise (because Scripture does not do that), but also can cause believers to be unsettled in their faith. Which leads me to two other concerns I have with CH.

2. Exalting the fruit of joy above the other fruits of the Spirit leads to imbalance in the Christian life.

Another potential problem seems to be created when CH exalts the fruit of joy above the other fruits of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 lists various spiritual fruits that the Holy Spirit produces in the lives of true believers. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” From the testimony of those verses, it is clear that joy is just one among nine fruits of the Spirit mentioned. If we make joy the supreme and definitional fruit of true Christianity, it seems to me that our understanding of what it means for “God to be most glorified” in our lives will necessarily be imbalanced. If, for example, I am not gentle with my children, or patient with my wife or Christian brothers and sisters, or if I exhibit a lack of self-control (etc.), then no matter how much joy I experience in the Lord, the reflection of God’s glory in my life will be lob-sided. We ought to pursue joy in the Lord (Psalm 43:4).

However, should we not equally pursue the other fruits of the Spirit as well? Galatians 5:24 calls believers to “keep in step with the Spirit”. At the very least, wouldn’t that mean walking in all of the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in the previous verses? I agree with brother John that all true worship of God must involve the affections of the heart. “Without the engagement of the heart, we do not really worship.”[3] However, joy is not the only affection of the heart that makes our worship genuine. If we exalt one fruit of the Spirit and do not have equal concern for the others, then it necessarily follows that God is not being most glorified in us.

3. Christian Hedonism minimizes (negates?) the reality and acceptability of joyless worship.

In the chapter on worship in Desiring God, brother John writes, “Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth.” He says it more specifically: “[I]t is necessary to define worship not simply as a way of reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth, but, more precisely, as a way of doing it gladly.”[4] So, gladness is definitional to true worship according to CH. Well, I agree that gladness in God is what we aim to reflect in our worship, but I feel the urge to guard against the necessary conclusion of these statements: that the only true way to worship God acceptably is with gladness. Christian experience and the Scriptures themselves seem not to be so dogmatic.

What about when I am not experiencing gladness or joy in the Lord? What about when I am feeling deep, soul-crushing sorrow, or extended spiritual weariness, or even lethargy? Is it possible to “reflect back to God the radiance of His worth” in those moments, apart from an experience of gladness or any perceivable presence of joy? I believe so.

In the Bible, we find examples of believers who have learned to worship God, even during difficult, joyless times. And what’s most important for our discussion is that their worship was still acceptable to God. One example is Job. Anyone who has read the book of Job knows that as he walked through his time of testing, joy in God was noticeably absent. The hand of God’s providence had come upon him bitterly, and he was unable to account for it. As a result, he could not find any rest for his soul in God (Job 10:1-2)—that is, he was not experiencing satisfaction in God during this time. Job was left broken, crushed, conflicted, and confused. And yet, in the midst of that spiritual distress, he continued to wrestle with God by faith. I would argue that even these joyless wrestlings were themselves acts of worship. At the end of the book, though God brings correction to Job, He does not condemn or rebuke him for a lack of joy. Job is rebuked for his lack of faith, and for his ignorant, even accusatory, speculations about God’s dealings with him (Job 40:1-2; 42:1-6); but in the end, Job remained pleasing in God’s sight (Job 42:8-9). I cite this example just to prove that there is a time when joyless, yet faith-filled worship is all that we have to give, and Christians need to be confident in the fact that in those times, that worship is still acceptable and pleasing to God.

We see another example of this with David in Psalm 51. Most know that this Psalm was expressed from the heart of David by the pressure of deep conviction over his sins in the incident with Bathsheba. In this Psalm we find a man who, in spite of his sins, is still yearning after God’s own heart. His prayer stands as a tremendous example of a soul “reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth” in the midst of brokenness and godly contrition. And to our point, as Psalm 51:12 proves, this worship was offered apart from experiencing joy in the Lord. The absence of joy did not make his affectionate worship of God through sorrow and repentance less acceptable.

If we negate the reality and acceptability of joyless worship, I believe we will fail to worship God appropriately in those moments when we have no joy to offer. “The LORD is near to the broken hearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18). There is not much joy in being broken-hearted, or in experiencing the crushing of the spirit; but even there we can worship God acceptably (Job 1:21).

Maybe the emphasis of these two points of concern simply comes down to this: I agree that worship of God must be affectionate worship in order to be acceptable. But, there are more affections to be expressed to God in our worship than joy. Joy is important, but it does not exhaust the ways that worship is offered to God from the human heart.

1. R. C. Sproul, “Willful Joy” in Right Now Counts Forever, vol. II (Sanford, FL: Ligonier Ministries, 2021), 272.
2. Dr. Piper seems to acknowledge this in some places in his writings, including this statement from chapter 3 of When I Don’t Desire God: “[Joy] is a fruit of the Spirit that grows on the tree of faith.” Comparing statements like these with statements in chapter 2 of Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist leaves me thinking that there is an inconsistency in the way the teaching of Christian Hedonism is presented in these works.
3. See chapter 3 titled, “Worship: The Feast of Christian Hedonism,” in Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist. The quote is from page 87 in the edition printed in 2003 by Multnomah Books.
4. Brother John does acknowledge, “The word gladly is liable to misunderstanding because…worship at times involves contrition and brokenness, which we do not usually associate with gladness.” But, he writes, “I think… that in genuine biblical contrition there is at least a seed of gladness that comes from the awakening hope that God will ‘revive the heart of the contrite’ (Isaiah 57:15).” I appreciate these statements because they touch on my concern. However, I believe it is important to remember that hoping in God for joy is not the same thing as experiencing joy in God. Therefore, worshiping God in hope of being revived is not the same thing as worshiping God with the experience of gladness. This would contradict the sentiment that makes the experience of gladness definitional of worship. Piper also offers what he calls, “Three Stages of Worship” in this chapter. This section is intended to address the concern I have raised. I agree and am thankful for what he writes here. However, this section serves as an acknowledgement that seems to contradict his absolute, definitional statements about the nature of true worship—that true worship must be defined with gladness. Brother John acknowledges that these three stages are steps toward the “ideal” of worship. He also writes that in each of these stages, God is still glorified in the worship being offered, though it may not be the ideal that is desired. In my opinion, stating that there is an ideal of worship that we do not always experience or live up to in our worship concedes to my point: it proves that joyful worship ought to be seen as a right ambition in our worship rather than definitional of true worship.