Intro: To please God simply means to bring delight and gladness before Him. As children of God, pleasing our Heavenly Father should be our highest priority. Pleasing the Lord is a central teaching and command from the holy scriptures. It is also God’s way of blessedness. In our current study, the word of God identifies two types of people: (1) those who displease God; and (2) those who please God and are blessed for doing so.
I. PEOPLE WHO DO NOT PLEASE GOD
A. Those that live only for themselves are not pleasing God (Rom. 15:1-3). Selfish people live and act as though the entire solar system revolved around them! They have no time for God and their fellowmen. Their time and energies are solely for themselves and their selfish interests! Such are miserable folks! What a shame since our Master Himself pleased not Himself but served others when he lived for 33 years in this planet.
B. Those that only seek to please men are not pleasing God (Gal. 1:10). They flatter and make their earthly masters happy because they depend on them for their subsistence. The truth is, the Lord God is our real Master and true source of living! (I Thess. 2:4).
C. Those that are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom. 8:8-9, 13). People led by fleshly lusts while pretending to be spiritual people only deceived their own selves! Eventually such are judged by God and die prematurely! Those enslaved by their fleshly appetites cannot inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).
D. Those that have no faith cannot please God. (Heb. 11:6). A man might have faith in the minister, in the church, or himself, yet have no faith in God at all! To have faith in God is to stand and stake your whole person on the authority of God’s words and promises.
II. PEOPLE WHO PLEASE GOD
A. Those who ask right things from God (I Kgs. 3:9-10). Whatever things a person implores from God will ultimately reveal his character and sense of values.
B. Those who are separated for God (II Tim. 2:4). How numerous are the Christians who are caught in earthly entanglements. Many are so busy striving to achieve a “higher standard of living” that they have forsaken their sacred duties toward God in the process!
C. Those who are wholly yielded to God (Heb. 13:20-21). Such have fully surrendered lives to God so much so that God is able to accomplish His will in them.
D. Those who walk with God (Gen. 5:24 cf. Heb. 11:5). It is a Bible fact that Almighty God delights in fellowship with His faithful people (cf. Amos 3:3)
E. Those who praise God (Psa. 69:30-31). Not all Christian singing is praising God. The Lord looks and judges our hearts as we sing unto Him (Eph. 5:19).
III. PROMISES TO THOSE WHO PLEASE GOD
A. Their enemies shall be at peace with them (Prov. 16:7). This is a different from us going to our enemies to make peace but the other way around!
B. Their prayers shall be answered (I John 3:22). If we make it our habit to do what pleases God, we may always expect sure answers to what we ask for.
C. Their name shall be everlasting (Isa. 56:4-5). Solomon declared that, “a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Prov. 22:1a cf. Rev. 3:5).
Conclusion: Let us endeavor to please Him who is our God and Father for one day we shall stand before Him.
