Is Our Goal Pleasing God
(Colossians 1:10 and Galatians 1:10)
In this lesson we are going to be looking at the subject of what is pleasing to God. Noting that if something is pleasing unto God then as saved born again children of God our main goal should be pleasing our father. If our main goal is pleasing God instead of ourselves and others then we will do those things that are pleasing unto him.
In Galatians 1:10 we see that Paul says that if he is pleasing man he is not the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Colossians 1:10 Paul says that our walk should be pleasing unto the Lord and therefore yielding fruit. When we put these verses with 2 Timothy 2:3-4 it is plain to see that our purpose as saved people should be to please God and the Lord Jesus Christ who has chosen us to be a soldier for him.
It doesn’t take long to figure out that you cannot please everyone and attempting to do so will drive you crazy and may even shorten your life. The reasons for this are very simple. Number one is that every person is different. What pleases one person may not please another. The second reason is that people are always changing. People change what they like all the time this is clearly shown in the “styles” of the day with things changing just when you find something you like.
The wonderful thing about God is that he never changes and he has laid out in his word exactly what pleases him. So our duty is to find out what pleases him and do it and to realize what does not please him and avoid it.
Faith is a key ingredient to pleasing God :
In Hebrews 11:5-6 the word of God says that it is impossible to please the Lord without faith. This gives us some insight on how we can please the Lord. If you ask a saved person do they believe that God is real and sees everything that they do? They will tell you of course they believe those things. But then if we believe those things then why are we not pleasing God. We must exercise our faith in God by thinking about him daily and remembering that he is watching us. If we do this then we will find ourselves pleasing the Lord more and more every day. Also if you ask saved people do they believe that the Lord is coming again they will tell you absolutely. But yet many saved people do not live like he is coming back or else they would live differently. If we exercise faith in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ daily we would please God and earn many rewards for the Judgment Seat of Christ because we would realize that time is short and it could happen at any moment.
Therefore to please the Lord we must have faith in the fact that he is real and watching us every moment of every day. And we must also have faith in the fact that he is coming again real soon and that we will give an account of what we did after we got saved at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
What are some things that please God?
1) Obey our parents or other authority that God places in our lives (Colossians 3:20)
- Whether it is our parents or another authority we must realize that God places them there and we are to obey them (Romans 13:1-7).
- Really when we rebel against authority we are rebelling against God. This is displeasing unto God; therefore to please him we must be willing to obey.
2) Being spiritually minded (Romans 8:5-8)
- In this passage Paul is discussing the difference between being fleshly and spiritual. The flesh is still corrupt after salvation and all it wants is to please itself. When we mind the things of the flesh over the things of God; for instance like pleasing ourselves in our clothing, entertainment, lifestyle, speech etc. We are being carnally minded and as we see this is not pleasing to God.
- We are told to be spiritually minded. This means that when we get dressed we should ask ourselves if God would want us to wear what we are wearing. When we watch TV or a movie, or listen to music or surf the web we should ask God if the things that we are seeing are things he wants us to see. When we go places we should not go where God would not be happy with us going.
- In order to please God we must think about the things that are pleasing unto him and then do them. This is what is meant by being spiritually minded.
3) Our walk should please the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)
- In this passage our walk is referring to things we do in our everyday life. We are told specifically to abstain from fornication and that we should know how to posses our vessel in sanctification and honor. We are also told not to defraud our brother in any matter.
- In verse 8 we see something very interesting that when we break these commands we are not despising man we are despising God.
4) Escaping Evil Temptations (Ecclesiastes 7:26)
- In the verse we see that a woman who has a heart of snares and her hands are as bands should be avoided at all cost. We can use this as any form of temptation. We know the things that tempt us and we should avoid those things no matter whether they are places, people, or worldly things for this is pleasing unto God.
5) Preaching the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1:21)
- It is God’s will according to 2 Peter 3:9 that all men should be saved, and according our verse for this point it is the preaching of the Gospel that God uses to save people. Therefore it has to be pleasing unto God when we tell others about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Having seen some of the main things that please God we should ask ourselves are we pleasing God and if not then get started.
Is Our Goal Pleasing God : Handout
(Colossians 1:10 and Galatians 1:10)
1) Give a verse that shows us the main goal of a soldier is to please God.
2) List two reasons that it is impossible for us to please mankind?
3) What is one of the key things that we must have to please God? Explain your answer and give a reference for it.
4) What are some things that please God? Give scripture with your answers.