God and Leisure

Question About Leisure

As a follower of Jesus, what is the best way for me to enjoy and benefit from leisure?

Where we can find true pleasure

Pleasure in the presence of God, delighting in Him.

“The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10).

Where we can find pleasure Pleasure in the presence of God,

delighting in Him. Rejoicing in the life, death and resurrection

of Jesus.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”

John 10:10

Where we can find pleasure Pleasure in the presence of God,

delighting in Him. Rejoicing in the life, death and resurrection

of Jesus. Eternal pleasure in God’s presence in

Heaven.

Where we can find pleasure Pleasure in the presence of God,

delighting in Him. Rejoicing in the life, death and resurrection

of Jesus. Eternal pleasure in God’s presence in

Heaven. Pleasure when someone commits their life

to Jesus in faith.

Where we can find pleasure Pleasure in celebrations and festivities

Wedding feast at Cana, Jesus helping celebration to continue

Old Testament feasts. Central element of remembering and celebrating God

Joyful picture of pleasure when the prodigal son returns home

Where we can find pleasure Animals playing and have fun.

Psalm 104:2625 There is the sea, vast and spacious,    teeming with creatures beyond number—    living things both large and small. 26 There the ships go to and fro,    and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. Job 40:20

20 The hills bring him their produce,    and all the wild animals play nearby.

Where we can find pleasure

It is good to undertake physical exercise.

8 For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

1 Tim 4:8

Where we can find pleasure

Pleasure to be found in close friendships.

Pleasure to be found in a loving relationship between man and women.

Warnings about sinful pleasure

Ecclesiastes describes the empty attempts of some to find hope from the satisfaction and pleasure from their leisure pursuits (Ecc 2:1-11)

10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;    I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work,    and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done    and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;    nothing was gained under the sun.

Warnings about sinful pleasure

2 Tim 3:1-5 1 But mark this: There will be terrible times in the

last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with them.

Warnings about sinful pleasure

Titus 3:1-7 Old life of Christians that were once slaves to the pleasures and patterns of sin

3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.

Luke 9:23-25 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would

come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?

Self-Denial

Gal 2:20.

20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Self-Denial

Pleasure in our sinful desires

 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:19-21

Follower’s of Jesus & Leisure

Deliberate Separation in the Pursuit of Holiness

Going with the Flow / Following the Crowd

Engaging in Leisure with the Hope of Transformation

Leisure Suggestions

Less Busy by Committing to Leisure

Leisure Suggestions

Variety

Leisure Suggestions

Being Good Stewards. Comparing my leisure to the Greatest Commandment.

Is my leisure time helping me to love God and to love others?

Can I be more deliberate about what I do with my leisure time?