Pleasing God 1 Thes. 4:1 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO
1 Thes 4:1 says, “Ye ought to walk and to please God.” This lesson is about pleasing God. And not just about pleasing God once but abounding more and more in pleasing God.
You cannot please God and be a:
Self-pleaser – Rom 15:3 – as in “do as you please.” Christ pleased not himself. He only pleased God [Matt 3:17, 17:5]. See Jn 8:29, where he said, “I do always those things that please him.”
Flesh pleaser – Rom 8:8 – so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. This generation is a flesh pleasing generation [2 Tim 3:1-4].
People pleaser – Gal 1:10 – if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. You cannot please men and please God at the same time. If you are a man pleaser you are not a God pleaser. I have found about men pleasers that the harder they try to please men, the less they please God, even if they are doing something with which God should be pleased. Two other truths about pleasing men are these. First, you work even harder to please men when you know they wouldn’t be pleased if they knew the truth about you. Second, when you are pleasing God, you may find yourself in favor with men. That doesn’t mean you are a man pleaser if your motive was pleasing God. And then again, like Christ and like Paul, you may not be in favor with men. That doesn’t mean you weren’t pleasing God. Favor with men is not your concern when your motive is pleasing God. Note: There are times to please others: when you please others to their edification [as Paul did in 1 Cor 10:33], see Rom 15:2, and when you please your spouse [1 Cor 7:33-34]. When you do these two things you are pleasing God.
So, with what is God pleased? God is pleased with:
The foolishness of preaching – 1 Cor 1:21 – it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. So, if you are called to preach, answer the call. And if you aren’t then get under the preaching of a man who is pleasing God.
Unity in the body – 1 Cor 12:18 – God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. See 1 Cor 12:25, that there should be no schism in the body. Don’t go along with a group who is intent on dividing the body.
Disentangled soldiers – 2 Tim 2:4 – God is pleased when his soldiers war and are not entangled with the affairs of this life. We are to fight the good fight of faith. So, cut loose from anything that is keeping you out of the fight.
Faithful children – Heb 11:5-6 – God is pleased when his children walk with him in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please him. This society is all about sight. You must believe what God says in his Bible and walk by faith in the truth of his words.
Spiritual sacrifices – Heb 13:15-16 – the sacrifice of praise, thanksgiving, doing good and communicating (giving). With such sacrifices God is well pleased. Peter calls these “spiritual sacrifices,” [1 Pet 2:5].
Conclusion: Now if you want to please God, you can’t do as you please and you can’t be a people pleaser. You can’t please your flesh. You must, like Christ, do those things that please God. If you do those things that please him, and not the others, then you can, with confidence, know that you are pleasing God.