A PLEASING LIFE

Introduction

-This past week it was announced on the news that Playboy founder Hugh Hefner passed away. No one man did more to feed into the hedonistic, selfish, “live for pleasure” worldview and lifestyle than he did.

~As Russell Moore of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Council stated, Hefner marketed to the American people that a man’s importance is found in the abundance of his possessions and the amount of his pleasure, and if women are to be fulfilled they have to be available and attractive to men.

~You will notice that his philosophy of life was all about pleasing oneself in this life, with no care for the life to come.

-Hefner’s death, though, is not something for Christians to take pleasure in. We know that man dies once and afterwards faces judgment. Therefore, Hefner is getting the just desserts of his life’s choices—and this ought to stir within us pity and fear because (barring a deathbed conversion which is unlikely) he has been eternally condemned.

-But, in spite of the future for those who adhere to his worldview, people today still live for their own pleasure, thinking that it brings happiness, when in reality (both in this life and the next) it brings sorrow and pain.

-However, Scripture shows us what a truly pleasing life is all about. A pleasing life for us in the present and future is a life that does not please self, but instead pleases God.

-God did not create mankind so that mankind can live for themselves, but that God may be glorified through them. And God is glorified when one’s life is lived to please Him.

-But what does that look like? How do we know if our life pleases Him? I believe Paul gives us some answers to these questions in what he wrote to the Thessalonian church. May we leave here today desiring to find the truly pleasing life by living a life pleasing to God.

1 Thessalonians 4:1–12 ESV

1 Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, 10 for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, 11 and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

I) The plea and process of a God-pleasing life

-Paul says that a pleasing life depends on your walk. He’s not talking about the physical way that you strut around, but it is a picture of the way that you conduct yourself in every area of your life. So Paul is saying that the conduct by which we live ought to be pleasing to God.

-But this walk/lifestyle that is pleasing to God is not lived for the purpose of gaining favor with God; nor is it lived to earn salvation; nor is it lived to divert God anger----rather, we choose to live a life pleasing to God because we love Him and are grateful for His provisions in our lives.

-So Paul here pleads with the Thessalonians to have this walk, and by extension he pleads with us to take this into consideration. Of course, this forces us to ask ourselves: WHEN I LIVE MY LIFE AND MAKE MY CHOICES, IS EVERYTHING BASED ON WHAT I WANT AND DESIRE, OR DO I DO EVERYTHING FOR THE GLORY OF GOD?

-We are the only ones who know our hearts enough to say whether God is even in the equation when we do whatever it is we do. Sure, we can give the proper churchy response saying that OF COURSE I DO ALL THINGS TO THE GLORY OF GOD, WANTING TO PLEASE HIM IN THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED—but the motivations of our heart might tell a different story.

-That is why Paul gives this plea—every day pause and give thought to what you can do in the daily routines of your life to please God through it—whether it is school or work or recreation.

-And here Paul recognizes that the Thessalonians have been doing so, but then he urges them in v. 1 to do it even more and more. This indicates that pleasing God is not a 1-time shot, but rather is a lifelong process. It is a process of growth and sanctification, as we learn about what it is that pleases God, and then incorporate it into our lives.

-But this, then, begs the question: how do we know what it is that pleases God? This leads to our second point today:

II) The source of instruction for a God-pleasing life

-Paul indicates to the Thessalonian church in v. 2 that the way they would know how to please God is through the instruction that Paul gave to them.

-Because of man’s fallen nature to sin, we do not naturally know God, nor what is pleasing to God. Our natures are naturally corrupt and are not tuned-in to who God is or what God wants.

-That is why God had to give a special revelation of His work and His ways if mankind were to know anything about Him and would respond to Him. So God inspired men to first verbally give instructions to the people, which was then later recorded without error for future generations.

-Paul was one of those men through whom God spoke so that people would know God exists, that He is holy, that mankind is sinful, but also that God gave His only Son so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And now those who have believed are empowered by the Holy Spirit to obey and live to the glory of God.

-What God spoke through the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New Testament have been recorded for us in the Holy Bible, such that we can know His plan of redeeming fallen mankind through Jesus Christ, and we can know what His commandments and statutes are that guide us morally so we can conform ourselves to them in obedience.

-There is no other way for us to come to this knowledge. Without the Bible, we will not know what God desires of us. That is why it is so important for us to constantly be in study of Scripture for there is no other authority that is able to instruct us on a God-pleasing life.

-So many false teachers that say certain sins are not sins at all, or certain evils are not evil at all, are not following the instructions that God has left for us, but are making things up as they go along, and thus are merely seeking to please themselves and to please other people.

-But compromise of the instructions that God has left us will never please God. So, in case we are unsure of what it is that pleases God, we come to our third point, where Paul gives us:

III) The models of a God-pleasing life

-Obviously Paul does not give us an exhaustive list. Paul isn’t saying if you merely do this, this, and this your life will be pleasing to God. However, Paul does touch upon three areas that might be considered good summaries.

-In. vv. 3-8 Paul tells us that keeping the lusts of your body under control pleases God. He tells us to turn away from immorality, and instead control your body in a way that is holy and honorable.

-We could almost say that Paul tells us to do the exact opposite of what Hugh Hefner tried to teach the world. Life is not about bodily pleasure, but about spiritual purity and honoring God with our bodies.

-Then in vv. 9-10, Paul points out that the sacrificial love that Christians have for one another will please God. We are to so love one another that other people take notice, for even Christ says that people will know that we are His followers by the love that we have for one another.

-Church in-fighting, gossiping, murmuring and complaining are not pleasing to God in the least. Treating each other like trash is the exact opposite of what honors God.

-It reminds me of when I got my first iPhone several years ago. I didn’t really know what Autocorrect was at the time, so my text messages were all goofy because the phone thought it knew better than I did about what I was trying to say. Well, the phone didn’t know the name Trish for my wife, so whenever I was texting about Trish, Autocorrect changed it around to TRASH. So I was texting people, calling my wife TRASH. I may not be a marriage expert, but I can tell you that calling your wife TRASH is not a good thing.

-And neither is calling or treating fellow Christians like trash. Love for one another, no matter how difficult at times, is what pleases God.

-Then in vv. 11-12 Paul talks about living humbly in the world, not being a busybody, but working and providing a life for ourselves, not being dependent on others as much as is possible.

-Paul isn’t speaking against people who truly need help getting help, but he is speaking against people who are lazy moochers who dishonor God by not working when they are more than able.

-These are but a few short examples that Paul gives, but we now have an entire Bible that is able to lead, guide, and direct us in the way we should go.

Conclusion

-While so many so-called false teachers in our day and age seek to tell people how to live their lives in a way to please themselves, making people think that this is the most excellent way, the Bible portrays a life that pleases God to be the most excellent life.

~As author Gary Inrig points out, this was the life of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jesus said of His own life:

he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. (Jn. 8:29 ESV)

And we are told: Christ did not please himself, (Rom. 15:3 ESV)

But what Christ said that He pursued instead: is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. (Jn. 4:34 ESV)

~For the apostle Paul, pleasing God was the controlling ambition of his life, as he told the Corinthians: So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Cor. 5:9 ESV)

But Paul realized that only a believer who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit is able to accomplish this, for he says: Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:8 ESV)

But even for a believer, we must do so in faith, for the writer of Hebrews warns: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Heb. 11:6 ESV)

The ambition to please God determines one’s commitment in life, as Paul says: No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. (2 Tim. 2:4 ESV)

It also determines his or her daily walk, as he says: 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; (Col. 1:10 ESV)

The believer tests everything in life, as commanded by Paul: try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. (Eph. 5:10 ESV)

A man who lives to please people by making their approval of more importance than God's stands condemned: For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Gal. 1:10 ESV)

-The very first step to pleasing God is to recognize and repent of your sinfulness, believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose again from the dead, and trust Him alone for your eternal soul. If you have never done that, I invite you to come forward today to do so.

-There may be some Christians here who recognize that they have not lived their lives to please God, but only to please themselves. I invite you to come to the altar to pray that God changes your heart

~Or maybe there is a family member or friend whose life you know is not pleasing to God, and you want to come to the altar to pray that God would grab hold of them and change the path they are taking.

-There may be others here looking for a church home through which to please God through serving Him, and I invite you to join Harvest Baptist Church as we make that our top pursuit.