There are several things I Like about the author of our text, Brother Luke. First, I like the fact that Luke was not one of the original Disciples of Christ, yet the power of the gospel so affect his life that he felt the need to make a change. He did not have the pleasure of walking and talking with Jesus like Matthew, Peter, or James. He was not struck down by a bright light like Paul. Luke was simply a middle class physician, a doctor who heard the gospel, the good news of Jesus, and decided to obey the spirit by documenting the oral traditions he heard about the Son of God. I like the fact, that he like us, heard the good news indirectly through a third party because it encourages me to believe that the same spirit that flowed in Christ, that was breathe into Peter and the others apostles, that same spirit can flow through you and I and cause us to respond in an effective way like Luke. I like the fact the Luke was a gentile and not a Jew because he writes the gospel story in a genre so that everyone who is not a Jew could understand. Thus, his account of Jesus is a universal gospel for all people, black, white, yellow, and red, African, Caribbean, and Indian, male, female, young and old. His gospel emphasizes Jesus’ compassion for all of us-the outcasts, the masses, the sinner, the unclean, the woman with the issue of blood, the adulterous woman, the prostitute, the man blind from birth, the child with two fish and fives barley loaves, the Canaanite mother with a demonized daughter, the roman centurion with a sick servant, or the dying thief. Jesus died for us all. And certainly that’s good news. We often hear that phrase over and over and take it for granted. But it needs to be reilliterated and proclaimed that Jesus died for all, not just for a clique or a social club because that would have been a waste. Cliques die out with their participants. Social clubs quickly go out of style. But he died for us, not just for cross of life membership but for the Sunday night group-those junkies in the basement: yes he died for them. The Girl Scout group; yes, he died for them. And yes Nia. He died for them all. The straight man, the lesbian woman, the crooked drunkard, the lying gossiping old nag, the underhanded backstabbing co-worker, yes Jesus died for all. There may not be room for everyone here at Cross of Life, but thanks be to God, that there’s plenty of room for everyone at the cross of Jesus. Now, that’s good news. You may put me out but Jesus will never let me go. You may not like me but Jesus loves me. In spite of ethnicity and economic status- he loves me. In spite of my gender or cursed generation- he loves me. In spite of my political affiliations and social affluence, Jesus still loves me. Tell someone, Jesus still loves me. ‘Yes, that’s right. I may not find favor in your eyes, but I find favor in God’s sight. I give him pleasure. The bible tells me that God finds pleasure in his servants, his people-Know wonder the angels came proclaiming at his birth, “Glory to God in the highest and one earth peace towards men with whom he is pleased. God is pleased with little old me. (Tell someone, don’t hate because God is pleased with me.)
Well, what it is about this bald-headed, e-bontic talking black preacher, that pleases God? What is it about us, disobedient, hardheaded, stubborn, old us, who refuse to change that pleases God? I want to know. I need to know what is man that God is mindful of him or the son of man that God cares for him. Why did his make us just a little lower than the angels and crown us with glory and honor putting everything in subjection under our feet? Who are we that God should find pleasure in some of us? And I say some of us because we don’t like to talk about the fact that everyone talking about heaven ain’t going there. That’s why Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock” because although thousands came to hear, thousands would be fed, and thousands may be healed; only a few would make it in to the kingdom. Yes, he died for all; but comparing those for whom he died to those who will actually believe- he describes them as a ‘little flock. Therefore my assignment this morning is to give you three indicators to determine if you will spend eternally in heaven or eternally in hell. Are you pleasing God? Does he find pleasure in you?
Well, I am reminded of the declaration of David in Psalms 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.” In other words those who are pleasing to God are those who are willing to praise him. They don’t have to pump up by a choir or worship leader, the preacher doesn’t have to get them excited or shame them into clapping their hands. In fact they come into the father’s house with a song. They are willing to sing God’s praises. And they point has to be made clear. Our willingness to praising him with a song and make God larger than life itself is far more pleasing to him than a formal ritual and routine. God is pleased with us when we praise him with a song. That’s why we sing hymns in our worship. Even Jesus sung a hymn to God just before he went to the cross. The scriptures say that “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives” (Matthew 26:30). Now, if Jesus saw it fit to sing a song, who are we to say, it don’t take all of that. Well, we don’t always like the hymns you choose. I thought the goal was to please God not yourself. Well, we don’t always know these hymns in the worship. But if you were a little more regular in worship, you’ll get in a little more practice. (But I digress, that’s a whole another sermon). God loves it when we sing. Why do you think the bible indicates over 25 times for the people of God to sing a song to the Lord? It is to make this point - anyone can just go to worship on Sunday and follow a bulletin and endure a boring worship service. But for those who desire to please the lord, God finds pleasure in your praise. If you desire to please God, then praise him.
If you desire to please God then trust him. God is pleased through our faith. Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please him.” Romans 8:7 “those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Just because you have served in this church for 10-15 years, doesn’t mean that you are pleasing God. Longevity does not translate into faith. Just because you are busily involved in various ministries (singing in the choir, serving with the greeters, and or going to Y, doesn’t mean you are pleasing God) It could simply means that like Martha, you are simply troubled about many things. If I don’t do it, then who will? Even, just because you give tithe, your ten percent, that doesn’t mean that you are pleasing God. Because although you are giving your tithe, are you giving all that you have like the widow who gave her last mite? No faith, is just what the scripture says that it is, the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, what have you been hoping for while warming that pew for the last 15 years? What have you been hoping for while sitting on the council or any other committee for the last five years serving this church? Were you hoping that things in this church will eventually be done the way you think they should be done? Were you hoping to get your voice heard and to prove a point? Or were you hoping to see Jesus work his way into the lives of this congregation. What were you hoping for as you participated in the DEAR program, or the YMCA ministry, or the choir? Were you hoping that people would commend your involvement and the pastor would express words of gratitude? Were you hoping to atone for some other sinful activity hidden in your life? What were you hoping for when you sowed your ten percent in the collection plate? Were you hoping that God would reward you with a new home, a new car, or some other financial blessing? Or were hoping to see the power of Holy Ghost? Were you hoping to help usher in the kingdom of god through your talents and gifts. What were you hoping? Those who desire to please God hope for Christ and the beauty of his holiness. Those who desire to please God, seek ye first the kingdom of God and all its righteousness. Those who desire to please God are willing to trust him. Tell someone, Trust him.
If you desire to please the father, praise him, trust him, and finally preach him. Paul says in 1 Corinthian 1:21 “It pleased God through the folly of what we preached to save those who believed.” If you desire to please God, you have to preach Christ. You see for some this morning, this sermon is foolishness. But for God it is an instrument to save those who will believe in the power of the gospel. To some this morning, this sermon is just Pastor Torrence bashing them for not doing what should be done. But for God it is an opportunity to save those who are willing to believe. For some, this message is too long, too boring, too harsh, and too cruel, but for God, this message is a long lifeline to save someone from the pit of hell. That’s why when it comes to preaching the gospel, I try to do what the hymn writer says, “preach it simple and true.” You can’t preach the gospel and please everybody. You can’t preach the gospel and just tell people what they want hear. Paul says it best in Galatians 1:10, “Am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ? Everyone will not like what you have to say. Listen, if they walked out on Jesus-they’ll walk out on you. And our desire should be to say like Christ, “I always do what is pleasing to him (john 8:29, Romans 15:3) so that God in turn will be able to say about us, that this is my beloved son- my beloved daughter, in whom I am well pleased. And the good news is this: if you bring pleasure to God, he will bring pleasure to you.
Look at our text, for it is the father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
He gives me the kingdom (meaning righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost). It pleases him to give to me-righteous, not that I am always right, but I have been made right in Christ-that’s righteousness. You see, you perceive it as arrogance and pride, but it is just the reality of the fact that I know regardless of your option of me and I know that you don’t have a heaven or hell to put me in. I have been made righteous in the sight of God. That’s why when folk ask me or even when they ask you, don’t you care what people say and think, I can honestly respond, that I don’t serve public opinion because I have been given the gift of righteous, which produces a peace of mind. I don’t have stay up all night wonder what the enemy will do next because although he may be able to touch the flesh, he can’t harm the soul. Know wonder Jesus tell us to fear not. Why should I fear after all no weapon form against me, shall prosper. When evildoers assail me, uttering slanders against me, my adversaries and foes they shall stumble and fall. That’s what it means to have the kingdom of God within you. And what a marvelous and wonderful gift to be given by God. The gift of blessed assurance that Jesus is mine and you can’t make me doubt him. The gift of knowing I am his and he is mine and nothing in heaven or hell can separate me from his love. What a gift. What a gift to know that my destiny is locked up and kept within his sacred throne room. What a gift to know that although my name may never scroll upon a Broadway marquee, it is still inscribed upon the heavenly scroll, known as the lamb book of life. What a gift to know that others have discounted me, underestimated and even excluded me, that I have been counted among the righteous of heaven, secured in this little flock of the great shepherd. What a gift to know that I am so precious to him, that it pleasures him to give to me the kingdom of God. Now, some of you may say to yourself, so what, God gives us the kingdom. But you have to understand that the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power (1 Corinthians 4:20). This gift that God gives to us has power.
1. It has the power of Provision: God gives us daily bread (Matt 6:11) and living water (John 4:14). He gives us comfort and rest. (Matthew 11:28)
2. It has the power of Protection: God gives his angels charge over us (Psalm 91:11-13)
3. The power of his promise: God gives us his word (Psalm 107:20)
