Pleasing God
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What gives you pleasure?
Food, Shopping, Alcohol or Drugs, Traveling, Grand Kids, Money, Time Off From Work. Praise from co-workers or bosses. Recognition.
There are many things that bring pleasure to human beings. Some good, some bad.
Spend a little time with someone and it won’t take long to figure out what pleases them.
What gives me pleasure? Seeing my grandchildren. Watching them play. Seeing them smile.
There is no denying that we live in a narcissistic culture. We have been conditioned to spend so much time and energy on our appearance, our possessions and our status. For many of us, our status is found in our things, our career, our social standing, or a lack of those things.
My tendency toward people pleasing…
Whatever the reasons we have, we try to please others to a certain degree, and there is no doubt that we can be a people obsessed with pleasing ourselves.
As we return to the book of Colossians this week, it is important to remember where we are…
Because of the threat of false teachers, Paul reminds the Colossians to do the things found in this passage (and the entire book). What do we think about when we hear the term false teachers? I usually think of some person who is teaching an unbiblical doctrine or someone who has twisted the truth of Scripture. But false teachers are not only “spiritual” leaders, per se. A false teacher is anyone or anything that would divert us from the truth of who God is and who we should be as His children. In THIS definition, a busy schedule could be a false teacher, promising fulfillment in events and activities rather than a satisfying relationship with God. Materialism can be a false teacher, convincing people that having the latest and greatest of anything and every thing will give them a proper standing rather than being content as an heir in Heaven. Pride can be a false teacher. That wicked, overbearing attitude that tells us that we can do it on our own and we need no one to show us how to be better. It is an attitude founded in the blind leading the blind
Paul combats false teachers by pointing toward the Superiority of Christ, and because of the HOPE found in God... as Pastor Bryan shared last week.
As people who recognize the nature of God and the sacrifice of Christ, in whom we find the Hope of the Gospel…
Because Paul heard from Epaphras that the Colossian church has such a love for the Spirit...
Read
And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Paul prays that the Colossian church would be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding (their prayer is for something of substance, not some vain conceit) so as to walk in a manner worthy of The Lord.
E.D. Martin
"To receive the Gospel is to come to know God. To know God is to do His will. To do His will is to know more and more of God.”
God’s will is not some elusive prize Christians must chase after hoping catch a glimpse of something rare and precious. It is freely conveyed to those who will pause, submit and listen.God’s will is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ
Fully pleasing to HIM:
BEARING FRUIT
Bearing Fruit In every good work
Read - Bearing fruit in every good work
In ,
Paul says "Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord."
Bearing fruit is evidence! Those who truly love God and strive to please Him will show evidence of it in their daily lives.
The very identity of an apple tree is found in the fruit it produces. Likewise, the fruit of a Christian is defined by what he or she does.
Jesus tells, on more than one occasion, the story of what should happen to any tree that does not produce fruit.
As Paul says in , the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Point #1 - A life spent pleasing God will bear fruit in good works
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
We are not raised from the dead in order to sit on a shelf. We were not raised from death that we might debate theology or politics. We were raised in order to bear fruit for God! Simply being saved and waiting for heaven to come will not do!
Bearing fruit comes from an ACTIVE FAITH!
INCREASING IN KNOWLEDGE
Increasing in Knowledge (full and accurate knowledge) (old manuscripts read: growing BY the full knowledge of God)of God (God's will...How we ought to walk, )
- Increasing in the knowledge of God
A full and accurate knowledge of God.
Not trivial factsnot statsbut a true knowledge of God
If you want to have a good relationship with someone, you spend time getting to know them. Can you imagine meeting a special someone, but intentionally avoiding learning about that person? How would that relationship go? Not very far.
We cannot grow if we are unwilling to increase in knowledge
David Garland
“The catchy title of the book All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten unfortunately reflects the attitudes of some Christians toward growing in knowledge in their Christian faith.”
How can we hope to grow in knowledge and understanding if we make no effort to build on what we might have learned in Sunday School as a child? How can we successfully face the troubles of this world if all we do to grow as a Christian is sit in a pew 1 hour per week?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Point #2 - If I want to live a life pleasing to God, I must increase in my knowledge and understanding of Him
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Paul is calling us to strive toward knowing God better every day. This means that we must work toward understanding God’s Word better and learn how to apply it to our lives. It means that we must learn to hear the voice of God’s Holy Spirit. It means that we must apply God’s principles to our failures, learning to avoid pitfalls by recognizing the dangers of worldly living and using obedience to God as a way to be truly successful.
BEING STRENGTHENED
Being Strengthened With all powerAccording to God's glorious mightFor all enduranceAnd patiencewith joy
- Being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience.
Those of us with kids, we understand how it feels to want to do anything and everything for our children. We want to protect them from danger. We want to teach them to do right. We want them to have it better than we had it.
I love to do things for my kids. Just this week, I repaired Jacob’s car. It was a joy because I could help my son.
God wants to help HIS children too. When we allow God to demonstrate His strength in our lives, we are allowing Him to change us and those around us.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Point #3 - The Christian who is pleasing God will demonstrate strength through God’s power
-There is a responsibility to be strong for one another. We don’t buy a car that is in horrible shape and expect it to get us through a long journey
Our position before God can be summarized in a verse…
For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
GIVING THANKS
Giving ThanksTo the FatherWho has qualified you (qualified = make sufficient)To share in the inheritance of the saints (in light)
- Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light
Before we talk about giving thanks…qualified…make sufficient…God has made us eligible for the inheritance
Paul’s writing contain the phrase “give thanks” 16 times.
What does it take to say thank you? Besides a mouth?? Appreciation? Humility?
Those who cannot give thanks are often filled with pride, greed, anguish, anxiety or rebellion. These are attitudes that are contrary to faith in God.
Why is gratitude so difficult for many of us. Henri Nouwen says “ Gratitude in its deepest sense means to live life as a gift to be received gratefully. But gratitude as the Gospel speaks about it embraces all of life: the good and the bad, the joyful and the painful, the holy and the not so holy. Why should we be grateful for good AND bad?
Point # 4 - Pleasing God must always involve giving thanks to Him.
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks.
“When it comes to life, the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude.” G.K. Chesterton
If someone gives you: a gift, large or small, you express gratitude. A small gift often elicits a small thanks. Larger gifts may require a more passionate response.
But consider what God has done for you. He has made every effort to redeem you…
He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
CLOSING
The world is still littered with false teachers, false doctrines and false hopes. Just as in Paul’s time. The dangers are real. There are things that can draw us away from God. Rather than spending too much time satisfying our own desires and seeking pleasure from the world, let us turn to God and do the things that are pleasing to Him.
“So I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” Martin Luther King Jr., on the night before his assassination in Memphis.
He endured constant threats and violent opposition. Yet MLK was focused on pleasing God rather than pleasing man. MLK demonstrated a maturity that defied mere human understanding. It allowed him to stand with grace in the midst of the ugliest of human evil. MLK allowed the strength of The LORD to work in his life to the point that he was content in the storm, just as Jesus was when the boat was tossed about in the middle of the storm. MLK’s outlook stood in opposition to the world. He was calm in the midst of violence. We can all admit that MLK dealt with troubles in life, yet he trusted in The LORD. His life bore the fruit of Christianity and his example still speaks to our culture 50 years later.