For some it would be a big slice of chocolate cake, for others a bowl of yogurt. For some it would be mountain climbing, hang gliding or para-sailing, while others would prefer to stay indoors, working on their computer or watching television. For some it would mean playing sports, for others reading a good book. For some it would be a vacation on a beach, soaking in the sun, while others would choose to vacation by skiing down a thickly powdered ski slope. While some would prefer to be deep sea fishing, others would prefer to be sleeping in a soft bed.
In other words, what is PLEASURE to one person might be PAIN to another, and what might be called TERRIFIC by one might just as easily be called TORTURE to another person.
Our focus today, and our focus for the whole year...WHAT PLEASES GOD?
What does God delight in? And how do WE delight Him?
Open a Bible and turn to Romans 7.
After much prayer, I believe God wants us to focus our attention this year on the theme: "PURSUING GOD’S PLEASURE," and so each week we’ll be learning how to do that and examining IF we’re doing that.
*KEY: I suggest that our PERSONAL goals should be that we each lives our lives in such a way that we are able to look at ourselves in the mirror at the end of each day and be able to honestly say to the person in the mirror, "I know that I pleased God today."
There are two Scripture passages that will make up our theme and I encourage you to put them to memory:
1) 2 Corinthians 5:9 -- "Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."
----"whether at home or absent" means our focus is not to be so much on the end times, but THIS time, not thinking only of the day when we’ll finally see the Lord face to face, but THIS day, as we pursue His pleasure through our surrender to the Holy Spirit within us; not to be wondering about who the Anti-Christ is, but living lives that are clearly pro-Christ, pleasing to Him.
2) Ephesians 5:8-10 -- "...walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord."
----"children of light" means we have a mission: to bring light to a dark world. Or, as our church motto states it, "We live to bring living water to the desert."
----"learn what is pleasing to the Lord" means our focus is to become aware of what pleases God, then to choose to commit ourselves to pleasing Him.
As the year goes on we’ll look at the "Hall of Faith" in Hebrews 11 and learn from the heroes listed there in how they pleased God.
But our starting point today is to look at...
FOUR INGREDIENTS INVOLVED IN PLEASING GOD:
1) KNOWING THE FATHER’S HEART
--Ephesians 5:8-10 -- "walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord."
--Jeremiah 9:24 -- “But let him who boasts boast of this, that he undrstands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the Lord.
<>Simply put, the REAL KEY to pleasing God is found in developing an intimate relationship with our Heavenly Father.
*ILL>Becky & I know what pleases each other and how to please one another, because we know one another intimately.
----Becky knows it would not be pleasing to me to be served a fish dinner. I know not to prepare her a batch of peanut brickel.
2) FOLLOWING JESUS’ EXAMPLE.
--*John 8:29 -- "He Who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him."
The best snapshot of what it will look like when we’re pleasing the Father is observing what Jesus did.
*ILL>The bracelets which say, "WWJD?," have taken a lot of criticism over the years, but they actually DO have the right idea.
3) DELIBERATELY DECIDING TO PLEASE GOD.
<>Once we know what pleases the Father, then we have a choice to make: what will we do now?
--a) We can choose to live our lives simply as we please...seeking our own fulfillment, our own pleasure, without regard to others, without regard to our relationship with Christ.
----That would be choosing to live a life ruled by, guided by, making decisions based on our flesh, what feels good at the moment.
----But it’s a choice that guarantees we will not be pleasing God.
------*Rom.8:8 -- "but those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
<>We can choose to live our lives simply to please others, with the hope that they will like us more and/or treat us better, or honor us in some way.
--*Gal.1:10-14 --"Am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God?...am I striving to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ."
----This is a choice that is tempting, and yet if we truly are choosing to please God, then many times it will put us in direct opposition to what is "politically correct" so far as the world views our actions.
----To truly choose to please God means we’ll make some choices that are very unpopular in political arenas or even among some other "believers."
----Note: The idea of being man-pleasers, being politically correct or holding only socially acceptable view is not new.
----Likewise, the temptation for preachers to refrain from preaching that which is unpopular or controversial or unpleasant but Biblically accurate and what God wants preached/proclaimed by bold messengers is also not new.
----Paul said it this way, in 1 Thessalonians 2:4: "but just as God, Who examines our hearts."
<>OR we can choose to live our lives with a single ambition: a life that is pleasing to God.
----Our key verse: 2 Corinthians 5:9 -- "...we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him."
This, of course, is the right choice...but it won’t be easy. It is the most difficult choice of the three.
It’s comforting to me to know that the Apostle Paul, arguably the greatest Christian who ever lived, wrestled with making the choice that would please God.
(Read Romans 7:15-25 here)
<>No, the choice won’t be easy, and sometimes we’ll not even know for sure what it is we should do, but again we can follow an example and heed the instruction of one who’s already been there. This time it’s James, Jesus’ earthly brother:
----*James 1:4-5 -- "And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."
<>The choice might be hard, but, in the end, as a by-product of choosing to please the Father and following through on a day to day, moment by moment basis, in living a life that pleases Him down here, He will, in turn, be able to say about us: "This is My beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well-pleased."
4) FOLLOWING THROUGH & DOING THAT WHICH BRINGS PLEASURE TO GOD.
<>There are some SPECIFIC CHOICES, some SPECIFIC ACTIONS, ATTITUDES that are PLEASING TO GOD.
God is pleased when our life gives evidence of these things:
--a) If we desire to please God, we will humble ourselves and yield to Him.
----*2 Chronicles 7:14 -- "and (if) My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
----*Philippians 2:13 -- "for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
----*Romans 12:1 -- "...to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable (pleasing) to God, which is your spiritual (rational) service of worship."
----Humbling ourselves before God is a conscious, rational, intentional choice. It is deliberate, and by it we demonstrate our devotion, we worship and please Him.
----Simply put, pleasing God begins in recognizing that He is God and we are not...He is the Potter and we are merely the clay...He is the Shepherd and we are His sheep...He is Lord, and we are His subjects.
----It is the first commandment that teaches us we are to exalt Him, not ourselves, and the beginning point of pleasing Him.
--b) If we desire to please God, we will praise Him.
----*Psalm 69:30 -- "I will praise the name of God with a song, I will magnify Him with thanksgiving...This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs."
----God delights in our sacrifices of praise. He delights in, dwells within the praises of His people.
----We sang it earlier in the service: "I will sing, I will shout, and glorify His name. All of creation testifies, and I will do the same."
--c) If we desire to please God, we will obey Him.
----*1 Sam.15:22 -- "Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to heed than the fat of rams."
----*1 Jn.3:22 -- "and whatever we ask we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do the things that are pleasing in His sight."
----QUOTE>Peter Forsythe: "The first duty of every soul is to find not its freedom, but its Master."
----*ILL>Roger Staubach, who led the Dallas Cowboys to numberous victories in the NFL and utlimately won the World Championship in ’71, admitted that his position as a quarterback who didn’t call his own signals was a source of trial for him. Coach Tom Landry sent in every play. Landry told Roger when to pass, when to run, and only in emergency situations could Staubach change the play (and he’d better be right!). Even though Roger considered coach Landry to have a "genius mind" when it came to football strategy, pride said he (Staubach) should be able to run his own team. Roger later said, however, "I faced up to the issue of obedience. Once I learned to obey, there was harmony, fulfillment, and victory after victory."
--d) If we desire to please God, we will trust Him.
----*Heb.11:6 -- "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."
----*Rom.8:7 -- "those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
----*James 1:6-8 -- "...for the one who doubts is like the surt of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
----LYR> "Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
--e) If we desir to please God, we will proclaim Him.
----*1 Cor.1:21 -- "It pleased God through the folly of what we preached to save those who believed."
----We are to declare His majesty, declare how great is our God...so all will how great, how great He is.
----But we’re also to proclaim His truths, even if those truths might not be popular or not readily received by others.
--f) If we desire to please God, we’ll respect and minister to others.
----*Col.3:20 -- "Children, be obedient to your parents...for this is well-pleasing to the Lord."
----*Matthew 25:40 -- "...Truly I say to you, tothe extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."
This year we’re looking to participate in projects, activities designed specifically to meet the needs of others.
--To present the gospel to those who are living in darkness.
--To minister to children and teenagers, parents and teachers, city officials and neighbors.
--And to grow closer to one another, preserving the unity of our fellowship while we expand in reaching out to others.
BRINGING IT HOME...
>The decision is yours...
--Is it a choice you will make?
--Will you choose to set your focus on pleasing God?
----For no ulterior motive?
----Not so WE will be blessed, but that God will be blessed?
<>My prayer for us this year, and each day of the year:
--*Heb.3:20-21 -- "Now (may) the God of peace, Who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen."
