The Pleasure of God 19th April 1997
• Main text- Ephesians 1:1-14 (New King James)
1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:
2. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
4. just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,
5. having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
6. to the praise and glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved.
7. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace,
8. which He made to abound towards us in all wisdom and prudence,
9. having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself,
10. that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth- in Him,
11. in whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
12. that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
13. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14. who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.
• Introduction- ‘God’s pleasure’ is the most important subject in the whole world ever!!
WHO should we please- God or us?
Theology, not Anthropology. Being a Christian is about pleasing God, not ourselves:
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Revelation 4:11(KJV).
[Note: He also specifically made us diverse- “God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he pleased” 1 Corinthians 12:18.]
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever” Question 1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.
WHY should we please God?
Who better to please?
Our problem is that pleasing ourselves often means being sinful, i.e. that which is pleasurable to us, is not good for us! “The passing pleasures of sin” Hebrews 11:25.
But: the GOODNESS and PLEASURE of God are always the same thing!
(a) “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” Gen. 1:31
(b) Revelation 4:11 above- “For thy pleasure they are and were created”.
So, if God is always good by His very nature, then all His desires and pleasure must be the best possible goal for us humans, whose “every intent of the thoughts of the heart is only evil continually” Genesis 6:5.
And we know that God wants to bless us. We can trust Him to treat us better than we treat ourselves- “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” Jeremiah 29:11 (cf. Matt. 6:33).
Another good reason to please God is that He will always get what He wants, so it’s rather stupid to resist Him:
“But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him. Therefore I am terrified at His presence; when I consider this, I am afraid of Him” Job 23:13-15; cf. Isaiah 46:10.
Whilst some people may see that as tyrannical, I see it as a tremendous comfort. If God always wants what is best, and He always gets what He wants, then that’s great! Praise Him!
• 1. WHAT things please God?
“When we bless God, we speak well of Him; when He blesses us, He powerfully confers blessings on us” (Scott).
From God to us
It pleases God to bless us…
vs3. “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ”
(a) Not just some but every spiritual blessing (Pray! 1 John 5:15).
(b) Not carnal, earthly or worldly but spiritual blessing (James 4:2,3).
(c) Nature (Luke 12:32- the Kingdom), origin (James 1:17; Matt. 6:1) and locality (Luke 6:23; 2 Cor. 4:17)- heavenly.
(d) Not in any other way, but in Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Hebrews 9:15).
So God blesses us by our hope of heaven, but also in practical things like the gifts and fruit of His Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:28; Galatians 5:22,23).
“Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of His servant” Psalm 35:27.
It pleases God to make us holy in state (obedience & sanctification)
vs.4 “without blame before Him in love”
(a) Holiness comes through love, not by piety, religion, ritual, good works or sincerity-
“For he who loves another has fulfilled the law” Romans 13:8,10 cf. Gal. 5:14; James 2:8.
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become as sounding brass or a clanging symbol” 1 Corinthians 13:1 cf. 1 John 4:20,2.
BUT
(b) It is the love of faith and obedience, not the love of the flesh and rebellion-
“Without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6; Romans 14:23.
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” 1 John 5:2,3.
It pleases God to make us holy in standing (justification)
vs.5 “adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself”.
No matter how good our lives, and no matter how much we strive to love God and our neighbour by obeying His commandments, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” Romans 3:23.
Because “we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” Isaiah 64:6, we need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our sins, by his grace not by our own merit (we have none!)- verse 7. As a result, we become adopted (we are not natural children of God, but of the devil, Eph. 2;2) and accepted in the Beloved (verse 7). There is no other we can be accepted except in the Beloved, in Christ.
It pleases God to reveal Himself and His will to us
vs. 9 “having made known to us the mystery of His will”.
How does He do this?
(a) In the written Word- “God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets…” (see also Eph.1:13- “in whom you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth” cf. Isaiah 55:11; 1 Cor.1:21; Romans 10:17; Hebrews 4:12).
(b) In the Word made flesh- “…has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He
has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds” Hebrews 1:1,2.
It pleases God to appoint Christ as head over all things
vs.10, 20-23 “gather together in one all things in Christ…and He put all things under His feet…the fullness of Him who fills all in all”.
How does He do this?
(a) By righteously judging those who have not believed- “in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that day…
(b) By changing (glorification) those who believe so they will be able to perfectly worship and obey Him forever- “…to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe, because our testimony among you was believed” 2 Thessalonians 1:9,10.
It pleases God to give us the inheritance of heaven sealed with the Holy Spirit
vs.11-14 “who is the guarantee of our inheritance”
How do we know we are saved?
(a) We have repented and believed in Christ as our sacrifice- Acts 2:38; 16:31
(b) We have been given the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, righteous and judgment (John 16:8), to lead us into all truth (John 16:13) and, most of all, to help us glorify Christ (John 16:14) by means of the preaching of the gospel (Galatians 6:14), the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit.
From us to God
A short (!) list.
It pleases God that we should have…
Uprightness (1 Chronicles 29:17)
Separation from the world (Ezra 10:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17; Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34,41; 1 John 2:15)
Praise, Song, Thanksgiving (Psalm 69:30 passim)
Mercy, knowledge of God (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13)
Repentance (1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Psalm 51:17)
Fear and Hope in His mercy (Psalm 147:11)
Meekness- shall inherit the earth! (Psalm 149:4; Matthew 5:5)
Patience for His timing (Song of Solomon 2:7; 3:5; 8:4)
Observe the Sabbath, following God’s pleasure not our own (Isaiah 56:4; 58:13)
Please others first so as to win people over to salvation (Romans 15:1-3; 1 Corinthians 10:33)
…but not please men above God for popularity (Galatians 1:10; Luke 6:26; 1 Thessalonians 2:4)
Be soldierly, single-minded, heavenly minded (2 Timothy 2:4; Colossians 3:2; Romans 12:2).
Faith that lasts (Hebrews 10:38)
Obedience to parents! (Colossians 3:20)
Abstain from sexual immorality (1 Thessalonians 4:3)
Be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1)
Doing good and sharing our things (Hebrews 13:16)
Keeping His commandments (1 John 3:22)
• 2. What things displease God?
Wickedness (Psalm 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:12)
Sacrifice without heartfelt contrition and love (Psalm. 69:31; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:7;Matthew 9:13)
Fools who break promises to God (Ecclesiastes 5:4)
Doing our own pleasure (Isaiah 58:13; Luke 8:14; 2 Timothy 3:4)
The death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23,32; 33:11; 2 Peter 3:9)
Shoddy offerings- e.g. renegade priests (Malachi 1:6-10)
Immorality, idolatry, ingratitude- e.g. the Israelites in wilderness(1 Cor.10:1-8)
Trying to please God in the flesh, e.g. Abraham and Hagar (Romans 8:8)
Trying to please God without faith e.g. Saul, Esau, Cain (Hebrews 11:6)
Hypocrisy e.g. Pharisees (Matthew 23:27)
• 3. Conclusion- What really pleases God most of all?
Jesus.
“And the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22; Matthew 3:17; 12:18;17:5; Mark 1:11).
God was so pleased with Jesus, He by His Holy Spirit records that fact at least 5 times in the New Testament! The Trinity have always acted, are acting and will act in complete agreement, co-operation and love. This is why God could say that, in a sense far beyond our understanding, “it pleased the LORD [Father] to bruise Him [Son]; He has put Him to grief.. When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities” Isaiah 53:10-11 cf. Jonah 1:14.
Who is it that most pleases God?
His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.
What did Jesus do that most pleases God?
He purchased our salvation by laying down His innocent life for us. The Cross has said it all.
The pleasure of God culminates in the beautiful and terrible mystery of the death of His only Son, all for our sake, who deserved only death and hell.
Jesus said, “And He who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please Him” John 8:29.
Finally, then, let us imitate Christ. If we are earnest about doing the good pleasure of God, we must become just like the Person who pleased God the most, His Son. And we know that we shall never be alone as long as we “do those things that please Him”.
“’Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” Matthew 28:20.
