Pleasing God

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• We spent our time together last week examining the issue of having an intimate relationship with God. God desires us to be close to Him.

• He paid a great price through His Son Jesus in order for that relationship to be possible.

• When you have a very close or intimate relationship with someone, isn’t part of that thinking about ways you can please the person with whom you have the close relationship?

• Can you imagine how rough a marriage would be if you NEVER considered how to please your spouse?

• I do not know about you, but have you ever thought about that concept concerning God?

• Today we are going to pursue the concept of pleasing God. In the very rich passage we are going to explore together this morning, I believe we can find some things that Peter tells us will please God.

• Let us begin with verses 3-4

• SLIDE #2

• 2 Peter 1:3-4 ( ESV ) 3His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

• Let’s begin by seeing…

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. Why we should want to please God.

• In the context of the text, Peter is dealing with people who were trying to entice Christians to leave the faith in order to follow their false teachings.

• I am glad we are not still hit with those messages today.

• When we are deciding why we would want to please someone, we usually look for some reasons to expend the energy and time to do so.

• In verses 3-4, we can see three basic reasons to want to please God.

• Let start by see that…

• SLIDE #4

A. He has granted us all things pertaining to life and godliness.

• In the context Peter is speaking specifically of the Apostles in verses 3-4, but since these things were given to the Apostles, they were passed to us through their writing of the Scriptures!

• Life is not the biological word, but the word ZOE- which means the new SPIRITUAL life we have in Christ.

• Godliness- Reverence towards God that is anxious to be well pleasing to God. It also speaks of correctly serving one’s fellow man, giving to all men their due.

• One of the reasons we should want to please God is that He has given us EVERYTHING we need to have a successful and blessed spiritual life!

• The false teachers of Peter’s day claimed they had something they did not have!

• The world around us claims to have what we need in order to have a blessed life, but the promises of the world come back to us empty!

• The NEW LIFE we experience in Christ is like NONE OTHER!

• We were once dead in our sins, no longer when we are in Christ!

• Notice the word order used in the passage.

• The word order Peter uses would indicate that we will not be godly where LIFE is absent.

• First comes life, and then comes godliness!

• You also need to take note of the fact that we are GIVEN ALL this through a FULL knowledge of HIM!

• The Apostles carefully examined Jesus and what they experienced and saw, they gave to us so we too could know HIM!

• We can rejoice because we are given ALL we need to grow in Christ, we have not been short-changed!

• The second reason we should want to please God is…

• SLIDE #5

B. He has given us great promises.

• There are many promises given to us throughout the Scriptures! The Apostles were recipients’ of many specific promises that we receive the benefit from!

• We have the promise of the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), the promise of Eternal Life, the promise of New Life in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17)!

• We have the promise of Divine Guidance, the promise of gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), the a way of escape in the midst of temptation (1 Corinthians10:13)

• Peter referred to Christ’s second coming (1:16; 3:4, 9-10, 12), the new heavens and earth (3:13), and the Christians’ welcome into Christ’s kingdom.

• Just to name a FEW!

• These great promises lead us to the third reason we should want to please God!

• SLIDE #6

C. He has given us the way to escape corruption!