God Pleasers – Part 1
Colossians 1:10
Everybody is living to please somebody. There are no exceptions. You may be living to please your father or mother, your spouse or child, your teacher or coach, your girlfriend or boyfriend. You may be living to please yourself or you may be living to please God. But everybody is living to please somebody. This morning I want to embark on a life changing venture with you as we start a mini-series I have entitled “God Pleasers.” You see, I believe that the church at the commencement of the 21st century is in danger of falling into one of two equally fatal and ultimately destructive errors – that of being man pleasers on the one hand, and that of being self pleasers on the other. Either of those will be her undoing. You and I face that challenge as strongly as any.
Jesus lived His life to please God. God testifies to this saying, “This is beloved My Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
Jesus says in John 8:29, “I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
What was Paul’s ambition in life? He records it for us in 2 Corinthians 5:9 “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.”
What was the main ambition of Paul’s life? It was very simple – to please God.
Are we an ambitious people? I hope so! Are we striving to exceed, to excel, to attain excellence and do outstanding exploits? I really hope so! And the first and foremost way in which we desire to accomplish that is by pleasing God. Let me give you Bible for that:
Colossians 1:10, “. . . so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”
You see my friend – this is the distinctive mark of the Christian’s life. It is this that differentiates us from the world. It’s not that we LOVE MORE or CARE MORE or DO MORE than our neighbors. There are times the world loves more, cares more and even does more than the Christian. It is that WE LIVE TO PLEASE GOD. As a matter of fact, I would dare to say that our only business in this life is to please God.
1 Thessalonians 4:1, “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.”
May I ask you this morning – is that the driving force of your life? Is that the focus of your ambition, the mark of your passion, the summing-up of your purpose? May I suggest to you this morning that anything short of that or anything beyond that or anything other than that departure from purpose and, as such, illegitimate and inappropriate?
So then the question we must ask ourselves is this: - What does it mean to please God? What does it mean to live as God pleasers? I want to give you the 12 marks of God Pleaser as we look at some biblical characteristics of those who please God.
As I do that may I go straight to the point and tell you that I am preaching for your life change. I am not preaching for your approval or your entertainment. I am looking for nothing short of a life-change commitment from you this morning and over the next few weeks as we look at the Word of God together.
1. God Pleasers Seek Intimacy
Hebrews 11:5-6 “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And 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.”
One of the marks of a God pleaser is that they spend their lives seeking to draw closer and closer to God. I believe it is possible to be committed to the church of God without being committed to God, committed to ministry for God without being committed to God, committed to the promises of God without being committed to God. There is a large contingent of people who attend church, are involved in ministry, witness and put money in the offering plate but they do not pursue God. It is not about God – it is about them. They are more caught up with singing songs than with worshiping God, with the gifts from God than the glory of God. They are addicted to the anointing, enjoy the abundance of blessing – function in the ministry with their gifts like religious bounty hunters. The last time I checked God was still looking for a bride, not a one night fling with a girlfriend who was enamored with herself.
Here is what marks a God Pleaser. They seek God not for the abundance of His blessing but for who He is. They pursue Him for His pleasure and not their own. They do not please God for what they can get out of it but for what they can put into it.
You see my friend, to make His pleasure our ultimate end is to aim at pleasing Him for His own sake, and not from some good that may result from pleasing Him. To be a God pleaser is to make His pleasure our single and our pure purpose.
God Pleasers Seek Intimacy
2. God Pleasers Walk By Faith
Hebrews 11:5-6 “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is. . .”
Listen to me precious believer – you cannot please not matter how hard you try in the flesh. Unless you are walking in faith there is nothing you do that pleases God. Those who are in the flesh are incapable of pleasing God. Why? Because Romans 8:8 tells us that the flesh cannot please God.
God Pleasers do whatever they do as an act of faith.
Shaun Alexander, running back for the Seattle Seahawks and the Most Valuable Player for the 2005 NFL season said the following in an interview:
“I am a Christian that loves the Lord, that just happens to play football, that happens to get to be on cool TV shows, that happens to get to be on commercials. I’m a godly man first. I chase after God. I play football for the sole reason to give God glory.”
--Andrew Knox, "Shaun Alexander: Running Back for Jesus," cbn.com
To Walk By Faith is to Walk Obediently – Moses when he did not understand
To Walk By Faith is to Walk Courageously – Moses when he was afraid
To Walk By Faith is to Walk Consistently – Moses when he wanted to give up
To Walk By Faith is to Walk Supernaturally – Moses when he faced huge odds.
God Pleasers Seek Intimacy
God Pleasers Walk By Faith
3. God Pleasers Worship as a Lifestyle
May I tell you about a lifestyle of worship? Romans 12:1-2 "I appeal to you, brothers, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. . . Then you may approve His good, pleasing and perfect will." There are three important words in the statement.
The first word "present," or offer up, is a military word. It means to stand at attention before a superior. We say to God, "You own one hundred percent of me, and You can do whatever You want with my life." The Hebrew word that parallels it in the Old Testament was used in the passage where the young boy Samuel confuses Eli with God’s call to him (1 Samuel 3:4). Samuel says, "Here I am," I present myself.
Romans 12:1 asks us secondly to present our "bodies," the sum total of everything we are physically, emotionally, intellectually, volitionally, and spiritually. God wants everything about us, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The third word, "sacrifice," can be a confusing word in our modern orientation. We see sacrifice as giving up something that belongs to us at a great personal loss or inconvenience. That is not the Biblical idea of sacrifice. The word of God understands sacrifice as giving back to God what is already His, what He already owns.
If you want to be a God Pleaser, make a radical commitment to become a living sacrifice for the glory of God. Take it up a notch – a higher standard.
’People are so often caught up in their activities that they tend to worship their work, work at their play and play at their worship’. Charles Swindoll
If you want to be a God Pleaser, that must change. Everything becomes an act of worship – no matter what the circumstances or who the company. You cannot stop a God Pleaser from worshipping God no matter what circumstances you throw at him or her. They do not worship because things are going well – they worship anyway. They praise of God through trials – and some of you know what I mean – you are singing your song in the night.
Psalm 69:29-31 “I am in pain and distress; may your salvation, O God, protect me. I will praise God’s name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving. This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.”
God Pleasers Seek Intimacy
God Pleasers Walk By Faith
God Pleasers Worship as a Lifestyle
4. God Pleasers Study Diligently
2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
In the ancient world there was no banking system as we know it today, and no paper money. All money was made from metal, heated until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed to cool. When the coins were cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven edges. The coins were comparatively soft and of course many people shaved them too closely so that they could make more money. In one century, more than eighty laws were passed in Athens, to stop the practice of shaving down the coins then in circulation. But some money changers were men of integrity, who would accept no counterfeit money. They were men of honor who put only genuine full weighted money into circulation. Such men were called “dokimos” or “approved”. They did not say one thing and then do something else.
Precious believer – if one of the essential things that cause us to be approved by God is the diligent study of His Word – ought we not to be studying it?
How many of you know that if we want to be God Pleases we must know what pleases God? How do we know what pleases God? By studying His Word!
Bill Cosby said, "I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."
Everybody is living to please somebody. There are no exceptions. As we close this morning I must ask you – are you living to please God – are you a God Pleaser?
If the truth be told this morning - are you pleasing men? Are you pleasing yourself? Men pleasers cannot be God Pleasers. Self pleasers cannot be God Pleasers.
Galatians 1:10 “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
You see my friend; you are servant to the one you are trying to please.
Pleasing God is our business in this world. That is what we must be known for – no matter what the cost – no matter how long the road. There is more to pleasing God than just being Born Again.
God Pleasers Seek Intimacy
God Pleasers Walk By Faith
God Pleasers Worship as a Lifestyle
God Pleasers Study Diligently
My friend – either you are playing God or you are pleasing God. When you wake up in the morning, make a strong commitment to live each minute of the day with one quest – to be a God Pleaser. Don’t get caught up with what God wants to do through you. He cannot do what He wants to do through you until He has done what He wants to do in you. And what He wants to do in you is simply this – to make you a God Pleaser. Would you pray with me please?
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