When we think about our relationship with our God, there are so many things that might come to mind, when considering the genuineness of our love for the Lord. The Lord Jesus was very clear when asked what the most important commandment was, if one commandment had value over the other commandments.
Mark 12:28-34: One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this:
‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
Here is how the man responded to Jesus quoting the commandment.
Well said teacher...the man replied. You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other, but Him. To love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.
The Lord Jesus was impressed and encouraged the man with these final words.
When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God”. And from then on no one dared ask Him any more questions.
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Therefore, if the greatest thing we can do during our Christian lives is to love God, more than anyone else or anything else, how do we know we are doing that? The biblical testimony seems to point to one specific way we can know.
Ephesians 5:10: And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
1 John 3:22: And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.
This is so simple and yet so deep! With a simple Google search, I found a list of 100 verses referring to the importance of pleasing God. That is a lot of divine affirmation. And as always, Jesus is our perfect example, as seen in John 8:29.
John 8:29: And the Father who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.
Obviously, I cannot study every one of these with you here now, so I will focus on the ones that help us see how pleasing God in everything we think or do, is the greatest way to show Him that we really love Him. To reach this spiritual high, we have to want to please Him. And so, do we always have that “WANT TO” in our hearts?
1 Corinthians 10:31: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (to please Him).
Psalm 19:14: Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart (the things I think about doing) be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
How ironic and contradictory would it be for me to say that I really do love God, but I am not really concerned about pleasing Him?
To sincerely desire to please Him above all else is the way I can put Christ first in my life without even trying or subconsciously. I just want to please Him. So…this desire - this motivation - qualifies everything I do or say.
Colossians 3:22-25: Bondservants (children of God), obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
If I am always considering how I can please Him in whatever I might start to say or do, then I think I will always stay in the right frame of mind and I will stay on the right track, not in a legalistic fashion...but because I love Him and I am grateful to Him and I want to respect and honor Him…so I want to please Him above all else.
Ephesians 6:6: Don’t do what you do by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, do the will of God from the heart!
We love God by pleasing Him and we please Him by loving Him!
Colossians 1:9-10 makes great life verses for any child of God who decides that pleasing God is all he or she cares about in this life.
Paul prayed for these Christians:
> To have the knowledge of His will.
> To have spiritual wisdom.
> To walk (live) in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ.
1 Thessalonians 4:1: 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.
So...Paul wanted them to have these spiritual assets, so they could please God.
Paul knew if they pleased God, then they would bear spiritual fruit in everything they did and they would always be increasing their knowledge of God. The more we please God, the more He will increase our knowledge of Him, and the more we know of Him and/or about Him, the more we will love Him!
So pleasing God was the key or the secret sauce in being fruitful. And Paul’s most important goal and desire in life was to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering (Philippians 3:10). Why was this his goal? So, he could please God!
What if all you wanted in life was more of God...which would be very pleasing to God? This was the true case in the life of Enoch, the Old Testament Saint who was taken up to heaven alive. He wanted to please God so much and be with God so much, that God just went ahead and took him up to heaven or raptured him. It was like God said to Enoch, “Just come on up here son and be with me”!
God Himself said that before He raptured Enoch, that Enoch had this testimony... “He pleased Me (God)”!
Hebrews 11:5: By faith Enoch was translated, that he should not see death, and he was not found anywhere, because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony: that he pleased God.
What an incredible thing for God to say about any human being!
“This person pleases Me!”
And to go even further and say...this person pleases me so much, that I just want them right here with me...now.
To want to please God, means you have to make a choice of pleasing Him over pleasing others, but when you love Him with all of your heart, this is not a hard choice. In fact, Philippians 2:13 says that God gives you the will (the desire) to do what pleases Him...give Him pleasure.
Philippians 2:13: For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
Galatians 1:10: 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.
Colossians 3:23: Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.
Acts 5:29: But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey (please) God rather than men.
Proverbs 16:7: When a man's ways please the Lord, God makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
2 Corinthians 5:9: So…whether we are at home (in our human bodies) or away (with the Lord in heaven), we make it our aim to please Him.
1 Thessalonians 2:4: But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts.
One all-important spiritual ingredient here is the indescribable, unfathomable grace of God. The grace of God is the active attribute of God, which gives us the supernatural desire and power to want to do what is pleasing in God’s sight.
> Grace gives us the ability to discern God’s will.
> Grace gives us the ability to think God’s will.
> Grace gives us the spiritual vision to see God’s will.
> Grace gives us the motivation to want to do God’s will.
> Grace gives us the unconditional love for God’s will.
Hebrews 13:21: Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us- that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Grace unlocks the spiritual resources we need to naturally love God and please God. Grace actually allows the Holy Spirit to love and please the Father and the Son through us.
What is God’s will? It is what He desires, what He wants, what He likes, and what He loves.
Psalm 147:10-11: His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor His pleasure in the legs of a man, but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.
So, we obviously need and want all of the grace from God we can get. The one sure way we can always get more grace is to humble ourselves before God...for He promises that He gives grace to the humble.
James 4:6-10 lists the simple steps to get more grace.
"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."
- Submit (give) yourselves willingly to God each new day.
- Don’t wait for God to humble you, but humble yourself voluntarily.
- Resist the devil in Jesus name and he will flee from you...don’t converse with him or give him space in your mind or imagination.
- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, just as you would draw near to your human father or grandfather...get close to Him.
- Acknowledge and cleanse (separate) yourself from any known sin.
- Purify your hearts of any double-mindedness (insincerity).
- Be wretched and mourn and weep over your current or past willfulness.
- Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom...Let yourself be broken over anything in your life that you can now see is not pleasing to Him.
- Humble yourselves before the Lord, recognizing His greatness, and He will exalt you…with abundant grace.
Romans 12:3-8: For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you, do not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
In Matthew 17:5, it explains how God the Father was pleased with His Son...the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 17:5: He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased...listen to Him”.
When it is all said and done, this should be what we all want to hear God say about each of us...His children!
Psalm 147:11: But the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.
> Those who fear Him…love Him.
> Those who love Him…fear Him.
> Those who both love Him and fear Him…want to please Him.
The closing prayer and declaration for all of us who want to please the Lord is given to us in Psalm 16:2.
"I say to the Lord Jesus, "You are my Lord…I have no good thing apart from you”.
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Thank you for your time and may the Lord bless you beyond measure, as you continue to please Him in all you say and do!
Yours in Christ,
Gene
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