THE TRUTH ABOUT PLEASING GOD (1)
COLOSSIANS 1:9-10A
1. Illus. of Paul C.
• His daddy was an alcoholic who grew violent when he drank.
• As a boy, Paul was beaten with a shovel, etc.
• No matter what he did, his daddy would find something wrong with it, fly into a rage, and beat him.
• When he grew up, thought God was like his daddy. He got on the performance treadmill, working harder and harder to please a God who would never be pleased, a God who was just looking for a reason to zap him.
• Eventually fell apart, went into a complete emotional collapse.
2. What does it take to please God? How can you and I know that God is pleased when He looks at our lives? Is there some sort of checklist I have to be able to check off daily (legalist)? Do I need some sort of secret knowledge that I don’t have (cults)? Is there some other power or truth that I need to embrace (occult, New Age, eastern religions)?
3. Text: Paul told the Colossians that if they were filled with the knowledge of God’s will, then their lives would be pleasing to God.
4. Today: Before we can understand why being filled with the knowledge of God’s will pleases Him, we have to understand what it means to be filled with the knowledge of His will.
5. There are three principles about being filled with the knowledge of God’s will I want you to understand. What are they?
PRINCIPLE #1: GOD HAS A WILL FOR OUR LIVES
1. When Paul talks about being filled with the knowledge of His will, he is presupposing that God has a will for our lives. Now, Paul is certainly not the only person who believed this:
Jeremiah did. Jeremiah 1:5
Psalmist did. Psalms 139:16
Jesus did. Matthew 26:39
2. God has a will- a plan, if you would- for your life!
3. Illus. of Blake’s nickel
• Just before he left for boot camp, he threw a handful of change down on the shelf just inside our back door. Most of the change landed head or tails, but a nickel landed on its edge- and stayed there!
• Why did that happen? No reason- just random chance.
• Many people believe life is like that nickel. We weren’t created by design- we’re just products of chance. As such, there is no plan or purpose behind our lives- we are what we are because we just happened to be that way.
• God says something different, however. He says, “I created you, and I created you for a purpose. I have a plan and a will for your life!”
4. God has a will for our lives. We may be ignorant of that will, or we may choose rebelliously not to follow that will, but the fact remains that God has a will for our lives!
PRINCIPLE #2: GOD HAS MADE PROVISION FOR US TO KNOW HIS WILL
1. I want you to let something sink deep into your spirit: God wants us to know His will. Because of that, He has made provision for us to know His will.
2. Before we can understand God’s provision for knowing His will, we have to understand that God has two wills for each of us.
God has a general will. This will is the same for all Christians, and this will is clearly revealed in His Word. Should we pray daily or not, should we give to God’s church, should we shoot our neighbor etc. God’s word clearly shows us His general will.
God has a specific will. This will varies from person to person, and this will has to be discerned by the methods God gives us in His word. Whom shall I marry? What career will I pursue? Since this will varies from person to person, God has laid out in His Word a clear plan to discern this will.
5. Now, there is a reason why we seem to have such trouble knowing God’s will: we are asking God to tell us something He has already told us! We assume that most of our decisions have to do with God’s specific will for our lives, and that we need to go through this biblical process of discerning God’s specific will in this matter. The truth is, most of the decisions we face are covered under God’s general will, and all we have to do is consult His word.
6. Illus. of Jimmy Houston (SBC Life, June 2003, pp 12)
• Jimmy is a professional fisherman. He makes his living fishing on the BASS (Bass Angler Sportsman Society) circuit. He is also a devout Christian, and belongs to the FBC Keys, Oklahoma.
• This year, BASS made a ruling that to be eligible for the fisherman of the year award, ($100,000), you had to wear the patch and decal of a prominent sponsor- Busch Beer!
• Jimmy Houston refused to do it, thereby forfeiting his chance at the $100,000.
• A fellow Christian fisherman on the circuit asked him, “Jimmy, have you prayed about that?” Jimmy replied, “I don’t have to pray about it. There is no decision for me to make, God has already made the decision in His Word when He said not to do anything that would damage our testimony as Christians.”
• He didn’t use these words, but Jimmy was saying to this fisherman, “This is not a part of God’s specific will, it’s a part of God’s general will. God’s Word clearly tells me what God’s will would be in this matter.”
7. Once we understand that the majority of God’s will is revealed in the Word, and that the small part that is His specific will can only be discerned using principles taught in the Word, we can make a statement about knowing God’s will. The knowledge of God’s will and the knowledge of God’s Word are for all practical purposes one and the same! You cannot know God’s will without knowing His Word, and you cannot know God’s Word without discovering His will!
8. When Paul tells us to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, he is telling us to be filled with the knowledge of God’s Word.
9. God has made provision for us to know His will, and the key to that provision is the Word of God.
III. GOD IS PLEASED WHEN WE ARE OBEDIENT TO HIS WILL
1. You say, “Tim, I don’t see a word here about obedience.” Let me show you two things:
Paul says we are to be filled with the knowledge of His will…In the scripture, to be filled with something is to be controlled by whatever it is that fills us. Ephesians 5:18 says we are to be filled with the Spirit…John 16:6- “because I have told you these things, sorrow has filled your heart.” Disciples’ emotions were completely controlled by sorrow. Luke 6:11- “They were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do with Jesus.” They were dominated and controlled by their anger.
In all wisdom and spiritual understanding… Spiritual understanding has to do with acquiring knowledge, wisdom has to do with applying knowledge about God.
2. What is God saying to us? It’s not enough just to know His will. Our lives have to be controlled by that knowledge. We have to do His will before our lives are pleasing to Him!
3. Principle: God is pleased when we are obedient to what He reveals to us about His will.
4. Illus. of old farmer
• Was hoeing one day when a salesman approached him. “Sir, these books will double your harvest.” “Not interested.” (Repeat 2 more times).
• After the last time, leaned on his hoe and said, “son, you don’t understand. I don’t farm half as well as I know how to now!”
5. Isn’t that an awful lot like us? We know a lot more of God’s will than we do!
