The Pleasure Of Praise Series

In the movie, Chariots Of Fire, the great runner Eric Liddell was

talking to his sister about going back to China as a missionary.

Jennie was so pleased with his decision, but then Eric said, "I've got a

lot of running to do first." When her look of happiness vanished, he

responded, "Jennie, Jennie. You've got to understand. I believe God

made me for a purpose-for China. But he also made me fast, and

when I run I feel His pleasure. To give it up would be to hold Him in

contempt."

Eric felt the pleasure of God when he did his best to use what God

had given him. He was saying, pleasure is a two way street. God gives

us pleasure, and we give God pleasure. Is this a Biblical reality? Yes

it is. We can give the Lord of the universe great pleasure just as our

children and grandchildren can give us great pleasure. The pain can

be equally real, but that is so well known it is not a question. But the

pleasure of God is seldom considered, even though a quick count

showed 28 verses in the Bible that deal with the pleasure of God.

One of the things He is most pleased with is the praise of His

people. If they feel pleasure in Him, and rejoice in thanksgiving for

His goodness to them, He feels great pleasure. Psa. 69:30-31 says, " I

will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox....." God does not get His

pleasure in our ritual performance of sacrifices. His real pleasure is

in our pleasure of Him that produces joy, which is, in turn, expressed

by praise. Our spiritual pleasure gives God pleasure.

God is not impressed with power, for He has all power. He gets

His pleasure from our attitudes of dependence, trust, and hope in

Him. In Psa. 147:10-11 we read, "His pleasure is not in the strength

of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in

those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love." God

reveals His feminine side in what He most enjoys. It is not the

masculine stuff of power and strength, but the feminine stuff of feeling

and personal relationships. Paul stress this feminine side of his

personally too in I Thess. 2:7. "As apostles of Christ we could have

been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother

caring for her little children."

Paul is saying, we could have been more masculine, and we could

have been rough on you, but we were more feminine, and, therefore,

gentle. And why? He tells us in verse 4: "We are not trying to please

men but God." God is pleased when we deal with people with the

feminine touch of gentleness. Men can choose to do this and give God

pleasure. It was Paul's greatest goal in life to please God, and it

should be ours as well. When we give God pleasure we are living life

on the highest possible level.

There is an old story of a sculptor who made an image of an angel

high on a Cathedral tower. He was asked why he bothered to make

the back of it so perfect since no one would ever see it. He said, "God

will and I labor to please Him." Some poet put the story in verse.

A sculptor on Cathedral tower,

With patient care and toil,

An angel wrought--

A thing of beauty growing there,

Expression of the workman's

Noblest thought.

His fellow, scoffing, said;

"For naught

Thy pains, for who can note

At this far height?

He, rev'rent, answered; 'Nay,

My friend,

But this shall live

In God's eternal sight."

When you get pleasure in pleasing God you are living in the spirit.

But when you do not care if you please God or not, you are living in

the flesh. Paul says in Rom. 8:8, "Those controlled by the sinful

nature cannot please God." The purpose of Paul's instruction to the

churches was to help them please God. He states this clearly in I

Thess. 4:1. "Finally brothers, we instructed you how to live in order

to please God, as in fact you are now living. Now we ask you and urge

you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more."

Paul says Christian growth is growing in ones ability to please

God. All you learn, and all you do in serving, and all you do in

witnessing, and all you do in living the Christian life, is for the

purpose of pleasure. It is for God's pleasure and your own, for the

more you live to please God the more pleasure you get out of living.