Title: Please God / 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
“Many of God’s children experience the thrill of salvation and live their lives with their joy, emotion, and motivation waning before long. Spiritual growth is also slow. It's because you don't know God's purpose for your life. When we know clearly the purpose for which God sent us to this earth, our lives will overflow with hope, joy, and strength. Such was the life of Abraham, so was the life of Moses, so was the life of David, so was the life of Daniel, and so was the life of Paul. Above all, it was the life of Jesus that we should follow. Knowing God's purpose and living a life led by that purpose! There is no other blessing in life that can be compared to this.” And Rick Warren gives five answers to the question, "Why am I in this world?" But the first is, “I exist to please God.”
In Ephesians 5:10, the apostle Paul said to the Ephesian church members, “Think about what pleases God.”
Verse 1 says, “Finally, brethren, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that you have received from us how you ought to walk and what pleases God, that is, what you do. Work harder.”
If you look at the translated Bible in an easy-to-understand way, it is translated as follows.
“Now, brothers, I would like to ask you a few more words.
We have taught you to live your life pleasing to God. I know you are living what we have been taught, but in the Lord Jesus I ask you once more. Please continue to work harder in the future.
The Apostle Paul had already instructed the Thessalonian believers, “Live a life that pleases God.” The Thessalonians know that they are living their lives pleasing God, as they heard from the apostle Paul, but once again they are asking before the Lord Jesus. In the future, we should work even harder to please God and live our lives.
So, how do you live a life that pleases God?
First, living by faith is a life that pleases God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
Hebrews 11 lists the lives of the ancestors of faith and testifies that they all lived by faith, and those who lived by faith were those who pleased God.
By faith Abel offered better sacrifices than Cain, by faith Enoch walked with God for 300 years, by faith Noah built the ark, and by faith Abraham went out without knowing where he was going when he was called. People of faith believed that God exists and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
What God hates the most is the worship of idols. Aren't the first and second commandments of the Ten Commandments forbidding things related to idolatry?
1st Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2nd Commandment: You shall not make for yourself a carved image, nor make any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the fathers for the sins of the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
To live by faith means to believe in the only God, the Creator God, and live by relying on Him.
Second, living in obedience to God is a life that pleases God.
Obedience means hearing and following God's Word. 1 Samuel 15:22 says, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hear is better than the fat of rams.”
Abraham is a typical man of obedience.
In Genesis 22:2, God spoke to Abraham.
“Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love,” said the LORD, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on a mountain as far as I will show you. Abraham obeyed.
In Genesis 22:16-18, God speaks to Abraham.
“I swear by myself, saith the Lord, that because you have done this and did not spare your son, your only son, I will bless you and make your offspring great, like the stars in the sky, and as the sand on the seashore; you will get the door And through your seed all peoples under the heavens will be blessed, because you have obeyed my words.”
If we were to give a typical example of obedience in the New Testament, it would be our Lord.
Philippians 2:6-8 says, “For though he was in the form of God, he did not consider equality with God to be robbery, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, made himself humbled and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of a cross.”
Hebrews 5:8-9 says, “Even though he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him.”
God highly exalted Jesus, who was obedient to the point of death on the cross, and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and with every mouth give Jesus Christ. He confessed and gave glory to God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).
Third, living in worship is a life that pleases God.
Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, brethren, I beseech you by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
John 4:23 says, “The hour is coming, and now is the time, when those who truly worship the Father will worship in spirit and truth. The Father was looking for those who worshiped him like this.”
Worship is a word that can be interpreted in many ways. But the center of worship is to present ourselves to God.
Romans 6:13 says, “And do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those raised from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
One of the greatest Christian leaders of the 20th century as the founder of the Campus Crusade for Christ was Bill Bright. Through his missionary members around the world, his private booklet and the movie “Jesus”, which has been watched by over a billion people, more than 150 million people have returned to Christ and they will enjoy eternal life in heaven. He made a covenant with God when he was young, and he wrote his name and signed the contract, saying, “From this day on, I am a servant of Jesus Christ.”
Fourth, living a holy and pure life is a life that pleases God.
I will read verses 3-6 from the scriptures I read this morning.
“This is the will of God, your holiness. That is, abandoning sexual immorality, and each of us should know how to take his own wife with holiness and honor. Do not pursue lust like the Gentiles who do not know God. That is, to live holy and pure. Living like this is a life that pleases God.
In verse 7, it says, “God did not call us to unclean, but to sanctify.” It is said that God called us to become children of God and established us as ministers of God's church not to lead us to lead an unclean or dirty life, but to lead a holy life and a separate life.
That's why verse 8 says, "To forsake the teaching of living holy and pure, you are not rejecting men, but you are rejecting God, who has given you the Holy Spirit."
Leviticus 19:2 says, “Speak to the congregation of Israel and say, you are holy I, the LORD your God, am holy.”
1 Peter 1:15 says, “But as the Holy One who called you, be holy in all your conduct.”
In John 8:29, Jesus said that He always does what pleases God.
“He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
It is said that a saint lived a life of faith, living by setting and practicing the motto “to please God and to benefit people.”
God is pleased with those who live a life that pleases God in this way.