Pleasing God for Pleasure

Introduction

In , Jesus says something that’s deep and wonderful.

And so, this week, I’ve been reflecting on these things. I don’t know what 32 holds. I don’t know if this strange season finally comes to an end. I don’t know if it just gets harder. And, I’ve thought a lot about how many days that I’ve felt good and been healthy that I’ve just squandered. So, here’s where I am now: I want to identify, with precision, the purpose of my life, and I want to live wholly for that purpose. And, by God’s grace, I want to give myself over to that purpose ‘more and more’. I want it pour out of me to my family and to my church and to my friend and in my hobbies. I want to make clear the singular purpose of my life, and live whole-heartedly for that purpose, and spend the rest of my life, whatever that is, striving by God’s power and grace to that ‘more and more.’ And, this is exactly what Paul shows us here in .

God’s Word

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Holiness is living for the pleasure of God.

“we ask and urge you....to please God”

Summary of Paul’s encouragement for them to not rest on their laurels, but to press on into greater opportunity to please God.

No matter how much of God you have, you can have more. No matter how far down the discipleship road you’ve walked, you can walk further still. No matter how rich your worship is, it can be richer. This is a lifelong pursuit.

The Purpose of Man is the Pleasure of God

This is the purpose for which every man and woman was made.

Made in his image for his glory. Everything that you are and everything you have and every opportunity that you’re given is for the distinct purpose of bringing pleasure to God.

Made in his image for his glory. Everything that you are and everything you have and every opportunity that you’re given is for the distinct purpose of bringing pleasure to God.

Calvin: "Mirrors" of the Divine placed on the "Great Theater" of earth as the crescendo of creation so that He can delight in us and enjoy us and take pleasure in us as we reflect his glory and majesty and splendor and character so clearly that He is able to take more pleasure in us than in any other thing that has been made.

Calvin: "Mirrors" of the Divine placed on the "Great Theater" of earth as the crescendo of creation so that He can delight in us and enjoy us and take pleasure in us as we reflect his glory and majesty and splendor and character so clearly that He is able to take more pleasure in us than in any other thing that has been made.

You Can Please God

“please God” There is a way that you can live to the pleasure of God, and if you walk this path, if you live this way, you will stand out from the world.

“you received from us how you ought to walk” What are some of these ways in which Paul had taught them how to walk so that they would please God? Paul is reminding them of some them here.

from us how you ought to walk” What are some of these ways in which Paul had taught them how to walk so that they would please God? Paul is reminding them of some them here.

Holiness is Standing Out

“how you ought to walk” At issue in is the issue of holiness. Not legalism, not works based salvation, not self-righteousness, not moralism, but true, Christ bought, Spirit wrought, Father pleasing holiness. This is what he means by ‘how you ought to walk’, and he says it plainly in verse 7 when he says, “For God did not call us for impurity, but in holiness. Holiness is standing out from the world in purity and righteousness and character. Holiness cannot blend. It is unstained and unpolluted. Holiness is standing out from the world with a particular end in mind — the pleasure of God. It isn’t just doing right or being good. It’s having a passion for God that burns so hot in your life that it burns away everything else that doesn’t glorify him. What separates holiness from legalism and moralism and mere proper behavior is that holiness has a passion that forges its character and that passion is the glory of God.

Examples of how you 'ought to walk':

In a culture of promiscuity, you will be pure.

"abstain from sexual immorality."

You will walk as though God is enough for you to be happy.

In a culture that materializes people, you will love them.

"that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter"

You will walk as though people aren’t materials to be sold but rather souls for which Christ has already paid.

In a culture that is self-absorbed, you'll take care of others with the same passion that you take care of yourself.

"you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another"

You will walk as though the Kingdom of God really is your home.

In a culture that screams "look at me," you humbly live so that others look past you to Jesus.

"aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one."

You will walk in humility because Christ has done it all.“not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God”

Holiness isn’t about you being good. Holiness is about God being good. Why would you live as though you don’t know God? Isn’t God better than that? Holiness is a testament to the goodness of God!

Holiness is not just about God’s pleasure; it’s about yours.

You can both please and displease God

“not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God” Paul says, "There's a way you ought to walk, and there's a way that you ought not to walk." That is, there is a way there a ways that you respond to God's commandments and God's word and God's instruction that pleases God, and there are ways that you respond and disobey God's word that displeases God.

What Makes You Different from a Mormon?

What makes this different than the Pharisees though? What makes this different from being a Muslim or a Mormon?

When I grew up in church, I learned more about what I wasn't supposed to do than I did about who I was supposed love. And, as a result, our church produced all of these people that lived feeling guilty all of the time or who abandoned the church altogether. Because all this does is teach them how to be a Pharisee or a rule follower. It teaches them to behave in a certain way so that they can get what they want, and if they can't, God has no interest in them. And, it produces well-dressed, cultural Christians who are full of themselves, or it produces people who hate the church and see God as this basketball coach who makes it the standard to dunk on a 100 foot goal if you're going to make the team, which nobody can do. In other words, it makes tired people who live either trying to win over all of their friends and family and pastors by bolstering their reputation with their behavior and hypocrisy, or it makes rebellious people who live to satisfy every appetite of the flesh by becoming as secular as possible.

And yet, Paul tells us that if we to live for the pleasure of God, if we are to please God with our lives, if we are to live holy lives, that we must live in a way that is in alignment with God's word and that our lives must be marked by Kingdom obedience as disciples of Jesus Christ? So, what makes the difference?

Please God by Taking Pleasure in God

The difference between holiness and hypocrisy, pleasing God and pleasing people, grace-soaked obedience verses guilt-ridden conformity is that true holiness is when you please God by taking pleasure in God rather than performing for God so that you might accepted by God.

True holiness comes when you find so much pleasure in God that you don't need the world's substitutes and fleeting pleasures because they taste flat beside the real thing.

Examples of Pleasures that Demonstrate Holiness

Look again the examples that Paul gives, and you'll see that they all pertain to our pleasures in some ways, right?

Your passions/appetites - v. 3-5 - "to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God..."

Your love - v. 9-10 - "for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another..."

Your ambition/aspiration - v. 11-12 - "to aspire to quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands..."

Take such pleasure in God that you are able to see how worthless the trivial, fleeting, rotting, moth-eaten pleasures of this earth really are.

Then, you will find yourself in control of your passions and loving your brother and living a quiet life. God will be pleased with you! You will live a holy life!

Holy is Happy, not Misery

Holiness is not about massive, miserable sacrifice. I was taught that you had to choose between holiness and happiness. This is a false. Holiness is getting so happy in God that you don't need the cheap happiness found in the world.

Is God Enough, or do you need sex/scholarships/clothes?

APPLICATION: Your holiness will be directly proportional to the contentment of your pleasure. That is, your ability or inability to live for God's pleasure will be directly related to whether or not you find your happiness and your pleasure in God satisfying. Is God enough for you? Or, do you need sex? Is God enough for you, or do you need other people to tell you that your successful and pretty and valuable? Is God enough for you, or do you need to be accepted to the right school or get the right job or get the big scholarship? This is the question that will determine whether or not you will walk rightly in the Lord. This is the question that will determine whether or not you grow, more and more, in holiness. Take your pleasure in God!

Landing

Not Poison, but Pleasure

If you try to follow all of these rules so that others will be impressed or so that you can prove how great you are to God by your own will power, it proves nothing but how much you love yourself. And, if you run into the world looking to sex and love and ambition to bring your soul the pleasure that it needs, every, single day, you're going to have to find new ways and new methods to find happiness and joy and pleasure again. It's like trying to make a square meal out of poison. You get full for a second, but eventually it kills you. Oh, but if you come to God, if you come wholly to him, entirely to him, if you give yourself fully to him, and He gets all of your heart and all of your soul and all of your mind, He is Living Water, and you will never be thirsty again! You will never look for a different pleasure. Instead, as you seek from this fountain, do so 'more and more.' You'll want to know him better and better.. You'll want to bring him more glory and more honor. Don't be poisoned by the dangling advertisements of this world! Come to the fountain of Christ, 'more and more' and take pleasure in him! Take pleasure in him! This is your purpose in living.