Title: Pleasing God
Text: Heb 11:4-6.
Main Point of the Text: Pleasing God requires that we believe in him. That means living like it!
FCF: To the extent that we are unwilling to live as if God is in charge, we deny our own faith in him.
SO: I want people to live like God is around. One practical expression of this is simple evangelism.
Opening Joke:
The two boys – “Where is God?” (“God is missing and they think we took him!”)
Benediction:
Romans 11:33, 36
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
Introduction: (Joke about the two boys)
Before I begin, I want to read you a little snippet of something from Arthur C. Clarke’s book, The Fountains of Paradise. I read the book last summer, because it is the story which, about fifty years ago, introduced the idea of a “space elevator.” The basic idea is that rather than using a rocket to launch people into the stars, you would build an orbiting tether that you could simply climb into space. What’s amazing is that with nanotechnology – specifically something called “carbon nano-tubes,” we are actually getting very close to being able to build this thing. People have estimated that with one of these you could reduce the cost of getting into orbit from the current $60,000 per pound of mass to a mere $1100. Can you imagine the immense reward that would accrue to anyone who could bring this thing into existence?
Anyways, the author – Arthur C. Clarke, is a staunch atheist, and he is a fiction writer. In the book, he weaves several random stories, and one of them had an insight about religion that is pretty profound. Background – in his story, there is this massively intelligent space probe from another solar system that encounters earth, and engages in conversations with our scientists by means of trading information. The probe gives carefully selected pieces of information about other worlds in exchange for us uploading information. For instance, Clarke shows off his hatred for Christianity, when he has this space probe send back a message. He writes:
‘ I have analyzed the arguments of your Saint Thomas Aquinas as requested in your message 145 sequence 3. Most of the content seems to be sense-free random noise, and so devoid of information, but the print out that follows lists 192 fallacies expressed in symbolic logic. Fallacy 1:’
And then, Clarke breaks it off, because as he knows its actually very, very difficult to argue with St. Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas, for instance, gave us what is sometimes called the five arguments for God:
First Way: The Argument from Motion
1) Nothing can move itself.
2) If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a mover.
3) This first mover is the Unmoved Mover, called God.
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Second Way: Causation of Existence
1) There exists things that are caused (created) by other things.
2) Nothing can be the cause of itself (nothing can create itself.)
3) There can not be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist.
4) Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called God.
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Third Way: Contingent and Necessary Objects
Basically, there has to be at least one thing that doesn’t require something else to come into existence. That’s God.
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Fourth Way: The Argument from Degrees And Perfection
Here, Aquinas suggests that you can always tell degrees of perfection. For instance, you might say that one statue is more beautiful than another. You can only say this if there is a perfect standard by which all such qualities are measured. These perfections are what see in God.
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Fifth Way: The Argument from Intelligent Design
Basically, if you’re walking along the beach and see a watch, you know that the high order in it had to come from an intelligent designer. That couldn’t have happened by chance. Fast forward 700 years from Aquinas and we see DNA – something amazing coded. There is so much order that even after 80 years, a staunch atheist like Sir Anthony Flew has to admit there must be at least some type of Intelligent Designer.
You might wonder why I’ve spent so much time arguing for the existence of God in this sermon and my last. The reason I’ve done so, is because, as the author of Hebrews reminds us, one of the pre-requisites of faith is that we have to believe he exists.
Now, let me suggest to you this – however. Believing that he exists is more than a simple mental proposition than the existence of God. You see, we know that the devil believes in the existence of God. The real question is, do we live in such way that we evidence the fact that God exists?
Clarke gave me a sting when he asked a question that, if written with equal vinegar was at least a question still worth pondering. This space ship sends back another message. It writes:
“I am unable to distinguish clearly between your religious ceremonies and apparently identical behavior at the sporting and cultural functions you have transmitted to me. I refer you particularly to the Beatles, 1956; the World Soccer Final, 2047, and the farewell appearance of the Johann Sebastian Clones, 2056.”
I hate it when an atheist understands religion better than a lot of people – but I had to admit, the question he asks is at least valid. What is the practical difference between our devotion to God and those things we profess to be “fans” over? It’s easy to give the trite answer – namely that unlike the John Lennon who may have thought he was “bigger than Jesus”, God really is God. It’s worth thinking over in our own lives.
I want to suggest to you this morning, however, that there is in fact a difference, or at least if there isn’t your own life, there needs to be. But, in order to understand the answer, you have to start with faith. You see, ultimately, the reason for us being here – by which I mean both in this place today and placed on earth in general – is not for our own purposes. We were placed here in order to please God. If you’ve ever spent a day feeding people, visiting to the sick, or genuinely ministering Christ to your neighbor, you know how right you feel.
The author of Hebrews suggests to us here that if you want to please God, however, there are two pre-requisites. First, we have to believe he exists, and second that God reward those who please him. In order to make his point, he reminds his listeners of three stories, and I briefly want to look at them this morning.
First off, he mentions Abel. You’re probably a little more familiar with his brother Cain. It’s funny how much easier it is to remember those people who did bad, but the Author of Hebrews chooses to focus on the first murder victim rather than the first murderer. Now, you’ll remember the crux of the story. Abel & Cain both bring sacrifices to God – they both are acting in a manner somewhat consistent with the existence of God. Considering that Mom & Dad both used to speak with God directly, I think I’d be surprised if either one was an actual atheist. Cain, a farmer brings some of his crop, Abel brings a fatted lamb.
But here’s the rub – God likes Abel’s sacrifice, but he rejects Cain’s. Cain is angry. He gets so angry, in fact, that he kills his brother. Needless to say, God doesn’t care for this so much and he sentences Cain to wandering the earth for the rest of his days.
Now, the big question that everyone has is, “Why does God like Abel’s sacrifice, but rejects Cain’s?” Let me suggest to you that it has nothing to do with the fact of that Cain brought veggies and Abel brought steak. We know, for instance from Deuteronomy, that God is totally Ok with grain offerings. You’ve probably also heard of “first fruits.” Here’s the deal – God didn’t have a problem with what Cain brought to burn, but he did have a problem with the one brought it. You’ll notice, for instance, it just says Cain brought ‘some of his crop,’ not the best of it.
There is a Muslim tradition about this story that I think is worth mentioning. –And yes, by the way, you’ll notice that Muslims believe this story is true too!- Muslims suggests that Cain brought the smallest sheaf of wheat he had, and Abel brought his best lamb. Now, I don’t know if those details are accurate, but it gets at the general sense pretty much every scholar gets who reads this – Namely that Cain was just going through the motions whereas Abel put everything he had into it. Abel knew that God would reward him for his actions, Cain was living as if God barely existed.
Let me tell you another story – this time about a man named Enoch. We don’t know much about him, but we do know this. In an age where more people lived like Cain than Abel, Enoch walked with God, pleased him, and then he was no more. Enoch lived in such a way that God chose for him to come straight on up after just 365 years – one year for every day.
Enoch lived in an age that was getting worse and worse. Enoch’s great grandson was Noah, and we know what that time was like. The world was so full of wickedness, God said, that he regretted having made the world. What a scary indictment! God was so not pleased with his creation that he chose to destroy it!
What amazes me is this – Adam was alive to see the birth of every one of the people mentioned in Genesis 5 except for Noah himself. That means Noah’s father, Lamech, could have talked to Adam directly – a man who spoke with God face to face. Noah’s grandfather, Methuselah, who definately died in the same year as the flood, and maybe even in it, had years to get first hand knowledge of this God. But of all the people mentioned in the genealogy, only Enoch and Noah actually acted like God mattered.
Søren Kierkegaard was a philosopher/theologian in the 1800s. He was convinced that the Denmark of his day was not so unlike the days before Noah. In Denmark, there were thousands upon thousands of people who claimed to be Christians. But there was no way you could tell from the way they lived. Many of them never went to church, their behavior was reprehensible, and there was no love. Kierkegaard suggested that his entire country was under the spell of something he called “the monstrous illusion,” an illusion that made people think they were Christians when in fact they didn’t have a clue what that meant!
True Christianity means that we live in such a way that our lives show not only that God exists, but that he is good. It is good that God exists and lives in our lives.
The danger of the “Monstrous Illusion” is that we lose sight of the very categories to which God himself speaks and in which his spirit breathes. Having lost sight of the boundaries of our faith, we cease to differentiate between what is Christian and what is not. Just as Kierkegaard watched his fellow Danes who thought they were Christians merely by virtue of birth, so too we imagine that anything we can domesticate, we can incorporated.
When we appropriate pop psychology and superstitious folklore, or equally as bad – trite witticisms designed to entertain rather than instruct, we shift the boundaries incorporating that which is anathema to it. We absorb a foreign body – a drug that alters our perceptions of what we are. It is as if we ingest poison, and then wonder why the church is sick.
You know, as much as I would argue that our society as lost sight of God, I have to confess to you that there are times that I lose sight of God. I have a good friend at work who came to me a couple weeks ago. I believe he is genuinely searching for God. His objection, right now, is pretty basic. He points out that Christians and Jews have been arguing about religion for nearly 2000 years. He says, if they can’t figure it out, how can he be expected to? He has a good point.
You see, here’s where I failed him. I figured out the answer to his question. It is the one he may want, but its completely biblical. The answer is that my friend doesn’t need to be concerned with the theologians, but the theology.
1 John tells us that the world will know we are Christians by our love. They way we interact with and love each other shows the world the rightness of our faith. The world knows Jesus is Lord, not because of the profession of any creed, but because of how Christians act.
I told you that I failed my friend. This is how I did – I haven’t told him that yet. Now, in fairness, let me explain that I know if I tell him that, he is going to put me under a microscope. And that scares me. As much as I’d like to profess “lifestyle evangelism,” when push comes to shove, I wonder if I really share the love of Christ. It’s an awesome responsibility, but guess what – it’s how we actually please God.
You know, Mohatma Ghandi – the man who led Hindu India to be independent of Christian Britain was once being interviewed by an American. The reporter asked him, “Mr. Ghandi, what do you think of Christianity in the West?” Ghandi stopped for a moment and replied, “I think it would be a good idea.”
Ghandi may not have been a Christian, but he did understand Christianity. Its not merely an assent to a certain type of dogma. Christianity is a life lived in love, one that knows the person of God is love and lives accordingly!
G.K. Chesterton once said of our faith, “It is not that Christianity has been tried and found wanting; it is that Christianity itself is untried and its followers found wanting.”
True love means that we don’t settle for some nebulous personal relationship. It means that we live out what Christ said when he told us, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
Can I suggest to you today, my friends that we ought to consider one of those today – the one we call the Great Commission. Jesus suggested that if we love him, we should
Go ye therefore into all the world
Baptizing them, making disciples,
And teaching them all I have commanded you.
And he finishes, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the earth!
I said we don’t know much about Enoch. One of the few things we do know about how he pleased God comes from Jude. Jude 14 says that Enoch testified to thousands. He used both his mouth and his life to show God’s love. We need to do that too – Show God’s existence both with our lives and our mouths!
If we really believe that God exists, I think we should be doing the same. This church has proclaimed that love for more than 200 years. In that time it has spawned 6 churches. We have a history of showing God’s love. We live out that love by feeding the poor – Seven Loaves is a great ministry. But, if we are living out God’s love so completely, why is our church so empty? Simply put, we need to make it more obvious to friends and neighbors that God loves them. If we truly believe that God is who he says he is, we need to share this love with everyone!
Conclusion
There’s one last story here – that of Noah. You know the story. God is fed up and floods the world. He saves just one family. You know why he saved Noah? The Bible says that Noah was a man of God’s favor. It means, he pleased God. Now, I’m going to tell you that there’s a flood coming, but I am telling you this. I can pretty much guarantee you that every person in this room is going to die soon. That could be in 80 years, it could be tomorrow. I have one simple word for you. God rewards those please him. Do you live your life in such a way that you believe that? Does God’s existence have a practical impact on your daily routine?
It’s said that Noah begged and pleaded with fellows to come aboard, but they only laughed. They laughed that is, until they stared death in the face. When that thing called ‘rain’ started a comin’ down, they didn’t doubt God’s existence anymore. They needed no more convincing. The question now was, does he reward the good.
You know, Jesus said, ‘The rain falls on the just and the unjust a like.’ I’m not going to tell you that being a Christian is a magical miracle cure for what ails you. You won’t become a millionaire, and I doubt God will make your breasts bigger. (If you had watched the movie Bruce Almighty with us a few weeks ago you’d get that.) But, in all seriousness, I can tell you this. God not only rewards those who please him, he rewards all who will come to him.
Will you pray with me now?
RESPONSIVE READING
I urge you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe that—and shudder
Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.
- Romans 12:1-2, James1:26-27,2:18-19, Romans 12:9-12.
