Reflections on “Worship is a Feast” from Desiring God by John Piper

John, in the opening statement of the devotional reading, asserts that the overall downfall for true, genuine worship in churches and hearts is the so-called “revolt against hedonism”. If people adopted a hedonistic approach to worshiping God, then they, Piper argues, would have a more genuine and satisfying experience in worshiping the Lord instead of doing it out of duty or obligation.

Piper says, “The widespread notion that high moral acts must be free from self-interest is a great enemy of true worship”. In essence, Piper implicitly says that self-interest would play a minimal, if not an essential, role in how a child of God would engage in worship. In other words, there wouldn’t be a scenario where self-interest and worship would be separable entities but would often cohabit together.

Piper goes on to say, “Worship is the highest moral act a human can perform, so the only basis and motivation for it that many people can conceive is the notion of morality as the disinterested performance of duty.” Notice that in the latter part of this quotation that Piper seems to equate divorcing self-interest from worship with a disinterested performance of duty! If one does not bring in self-interest when he worships God, then he is, in a way, doing it out of duty with no particular interest at all, other than for duty’s sake. This is a remarkable claim!

It seems obvious, to me at least, that if one does something for God (either in worship or elsewhere in life) ultimately out of duty, then there doesn’t seem to be any motivating reason for doing it other than to either (1) avoid punishment (in the case of the Muslim and some Christians) and (2) to gain some reward from it, as opposed to doing it for its own sake. If one wishes to add another reason, along with the ones I’ve provided, he is able to do so.

Another factor that makes me ponder is the notion that Piper doesn’t seem to think that self-interest or pleasure is morally disadvantageous or wrong in of itself. He believes that we can do something for God, out of love and self-interest, and that would not be a presumptuous thing to do. Now of course, one might ask rightfully so “Is self-interest a necessary or essential component for doing something that is right or glorifying to God, in the case of worship?” I think we say no in certain cases but I think that can also largely depend on how we define self-interest.

Since Piper is addressing Christians, who not only have been born again, are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, whose essential self-worth is grounded in who they are in Christ Jesus, and who are being conformed daily (Praise God!) to the image of Christ through the inner working of the Holy Spirit, it seems that Piper thinks that, given those above truths about us, it would be in our self-interest to worship God with pleasure and joy! Given that our sinful nature or bent towards sinning doesn’t define who we are (our identity comes from being in Christ which frees us from the ownership of sin), self-interest (according to Piper) wouldn’t be something we should avoid but actually pursue!!!

Now the inevitable issue is that despite our identity in our position to Christ, we still battle daily with the flesh and have to live in light of who we are in Christ. So it’s often a struggle. What are we to do on those days when we just don’t sense that inner longing or thirst for the Lord’s presence in the way Piper described? Piper doesn’t directly answer this question but I think one thing could be mentioned.

I think our knowledge of God the essential starting place to working out way through this difficulty. Let me give an analogy that might help. A man is meant to adore his wife sexually, emotionally, and spiritually. How well he is capable of doing that with his wife is largely going to depend on how well he knows his wife. Or imagine this scenario. If you are walking through a forest, and notice a bridge that leads to a place that resembles a paradise, you might become curious as to what kind of place it might be. If you venture over there but don’t cross the bridge, but just observe from a far distance, you might find it attractive to an extent but you won’t adore it in the way you could have. However, if you cross the bridge, venture on over to the paradise and spend countless hours exploring the beauty of the place, your adoration not only will go up but your desire to abide and not return to the forest will dramatically intensify.

I believe something is similarly true of God. If our passion for knowing God or worshiping Him is lacking (whether often or occasionally), I think it could be possibly be the result of a lack of knowledge of who God is. This is not always the case as I’m sure there are counterexamples. It’s just to say that how much we know of God and how well we know Him can largely influence the level of passionate affections we have for Him.

So me personally, I sometimes don’t get excited about worshiping God partly because I tend to discard any emotional components related to worshiping God. Before I would express much emotion in worshiping God both through prayer, music, and hearing a sermon. However, I think that it can unfortunately turn God into some kind of academic endeavor and maybe trivialize His being personal.

I think we would all agree that there are two extremes to be avoided when it comes to knowing God and worshiping Him. First, like I said above, is reducing God to an intellectual exercise in most, if not all, ways and not considering Him in any other way. Second, is disengaging our minds and thinking that we are somehow honoring God all the more by turning off our minds and just using our emotions in relating to Him. I do believe personally that emotions play a role in knowing God and relating to Him in worship. We need to be in a position to be moved by the Holy Spirit. But God is dishonored when we adopt this false notion of “greater spirituality” by being careless and unreflective on how we perceive God in our thinking. God wants us to use both our minds and emotions in knowing and relating to Him so long as neither faculty of the human nature is used in a way to shut each other out.

Self-interest and pleasure must be defined in a clear, coherent way and understood properly in their contexts so as to avoid misunderstanding. I agree with Piper’s usage of self-interest with respect to who we are in Christ but of course would caution that this isn’t an exhaustive treatise on how self-interest is utilized in other areas of life independently from God. I hope and pray that as I seek to be the person God wants me to be (to grow in character and virtues – moral and intellectual -), God will become increasingly glorious and beautiful to my soul so as to bring about a self-interest in me that will be incredibly powerful in my expression of adoration, love, honor, and worship to God.