A Corridor To Knowing Him Not
How Porn Stops You from Knowing Him And Being Satisfied In Him
“You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship.” N.T. Wright
We all have an inborn desire to worship something. As natural as it is for a baby to latch on and suck on its mother’s breast, we have a natural desire to worship. If you desire God, you will eventually walk away from anything that isn’t of God. It all comes down to what you set your affections on and what you choose to walk away from.
I speak from within the mind of an ex-porn addict. Although a long time has passed since then, I still feel it’s a tough and painful admission to make. But I’ve realised that my life isn’t after all, a secret. I want to openly testify of what Christ can miraculously do to someone whom His Father sends to Him (John 6:44). Although it has been almost seven years since my salvation experience, I still struggle with sin and in my seeking to knowing Him more. I find so many competing interests lining up to rob my attention from knowing Him more. Whether it be my job, ambitions, education, excelling in music, starting a new business, making more money… the list goes on. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing all these, but does it come at a cost of knowing Him more?
“God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.” John Piper
This blog is about your objects of worship and how they steal your desire from knowing Him more. Here’s my argument:
the more objects of worship you have, the more your attention is now on those other objects and knowing them rather than knowing Him. The less you know Him, the less satisfied you are in Him because you can’t be satisfied in someone you know very little about right? And because you are not satisfied in Him, He can’t be glorified in and through you. I mean ask yourself, why would God choose to be glorified in and through someone who isn’t satisfied in Him?
Can you see a connection here? You either spiral upwards towards Christ and being satisfied in Him, or spiral downwards to Satan and being a slave to him, all depending on one thing — your object of worship. This is the game changer!
The pinnacle of your Christian journey is — being most satisfied in Him while God is most glorified in you. What a beautiful relationship and perfect unity between man and his Creator! That was how it should have always been. Everything you do points to this one outcome. When you know by faith and absolute certainty of who you truly are in Christ, you become most satisfied in Him. You begin to worship Him freely, singing hymns of praise and adoration in harmony with your local congregation, in a manner that is ‘good, pleasant, and beautiful’ (Ps. 147:1 NKJV). A standard of worship described by Piper as,
‘savouring Christ, treasuring Christ, and being satisfied with Christ’.
Sex and pornography
Pornography utterly destroys your interest in knowing Him. It does this by replacing your natural desire to worship Him by a sinful desire to worship yourself and your lust instead. As mentioned at the start of this blog, author and theologian N.T Wright said we take on the character of that which our heart is set upon as our ‘object of worship’. Meaning, if you gaze upon the face of God and meditate upon his attributes, you eventually take on the character of God. But if you gaze upon pornography, you will eventually take on the character of this pornographic material. It’s a simple connection. What you’ve done is you have taken the true and living God, the One you were designed to worship since you were born, and replaced it with a new god. Instead of studying scripture, you become a student of pornography, and study that instead. Instead of being transformed into His image by the renewing your mind (Romans 12:2), your mind is now being transformed into one that is saturated with sex and greed. It is impossible to now know Him more because He is no longer the object of your worship.
Two or more objects of worship?
But could I indulge in a bit of porn, have a bit of sex once in a while, but go to church on Sunday and sing loudly during the worship. Maybe even teach Sunday School and play piano in the worship band. Sounds like I’ve got the ‘god’ part way heavier than the ‘sex’ part. Sounds like a fair enough balance, right?
No. Absolutely not.
Jesus bluntly puts says it in Matthew 6:24,
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
The Greek translation for the word ‘wealth’ as used in the above verse, is mammonas; meaning ‘object of worship’; something that is opposed to God, not just financial wealth. You cannot serve Christ and pornography. You will either serve Christ or be devoted to pornography.
But… why?
Apostle Paul answers that in Galatians 5:17 by saying,
“For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”
In other words, you cannot walk by the spirit while carrying out the desires of the flesh. According to scripture, it is impossible. These two words “in opposition” means in conflict of each other; going in two opposite directions — if the flesh goes to the left, the Spirit goes to the right. They cannot mix and will not walk hand in hand. It isn’t this and that. It’s either this or that.
But… what if I choose to reject God and deliberately pursue my lustful desires?
Well, unfortunately, God’s stand is quite simple. If you constantly abandon God, He will abandon you. Theologian Dr. John MacArthur comments on Romans 1:24 by saying that God carries this out by “removing His restraint and allowing their sin to run its inevitable course”. The below verses support this statement:
Yet you abandoned Me and served other gods; therefore I will no longer save you. Judges 10:13
… and if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you abandon Him, He will abandon you. 2 Cor 15:2
“But My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, to walk by their own plans. Psalms 81:11–12
Ephraim is allied with idols; Leave him alone. Hosea 4:17
In past generations He permitted all the nations to go their own ways. Acts 14:16
24 Therefore God gave them up to vile impurity in the lusts of their hearts, so that their bodies would be dishonoured among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Romans 1:24–25
The reason I quote so many verses is to drive a strong point across. God does explicitly warn in multiple verses that run right throughout Scripture about His approach toward stubborn and unrepentant sinners. He will eventually abandon you and leave you to your sinful desires. But, 1 Thessalonians 4:6 refers to God as the avenger against those who commit sexual immorality. Apostle Paul points us to the severity of this crime and that God will not delay in bringing forth His wrath to deal with you justly. Sexual immorality is a severe crime that brings severe consequences. One could argue, in light of what happened at the crucifixion, that God abandoning someone is no different or maybe a precursor of a scourging wrath awaiting you. You might choose to go your way, but if you are a part of His elect, he will scourge you (Hebrews 12:6), and bring you back to Him even if it means breaking every bone in your body just to make you His. He will complete the good work He has started in you (Philippians 1:6) whether you like it or not. Remember, its for His glory, not yours!
Our problem
We need to stop thinking of God and Scripture as being all about us. It was for our redemption, but it’s not about us. It is all about Him. We who are His creation, are all about Him and His glory. God is at the centre of it all. This entire story of redemption is all about Him and His saving grace upon us, the depraved creatures, from His eternal wrath. We are not at the centre of all this. He is. Christ and Him alone.
“God gets glory from his creatures in worship by our knowing him truly, and by our enjoying him duly. Where knowledge of God is defective, his glory will be diminished in our defective knowing. Essential to glorifying God is seeing him clearly and savouring him dearly.” Dr. John Piper: Expository Exultation.
In this blog, we’ve seen that our object of worship has a direct relationship to knowing Him more. The more you know Him, the more satisfied you are in Him. The more satisfied you are in Him, the more glorified He is in you! Seek Christ only! Worship Him only! Turn that downward spiral into an upwards heavenly spiral that leads us to a joy unspeakable, one that passes all human understanding, towards knowing Him more today than you did yesterday.
