09/16/2012
“A Life That Pleases God”
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Scripture Reading:
Ephesians 1:15-23
A life that pleases
God must be the best way to live life.
And just how you can live to please God would have to be found in the one Holy Book God gave to us, the Bible. What that looks like is found in the Book of Colossians in chapter one. Please open your Bible with me to Colossians 1 as we begin. Many, many years ago Dr. A. Parnell Bailey wrote a religious column for the Goldsboro News-Argus in Goldsboro, NC. Here’s what he once wrote in his column. “I once visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took me to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth." [Found at Daily Bread Radio Bible Class and online at www.sermonilllustrations.com]. I’d like to use this illustration later in my sermon. But I’d also like you to think about it when it comes to a life that pleases God. Today’s sermon title is “A Life That Pleases God.” Shall we pray? I wouldn’t be surprised if there are some here this morning who are among the many Christians who live a life of uncertainty when it comes to living so you please God. If that’s the case, today’s sermon is for you. It’s also for you who already know what it means to please the LORD. Let me show you just what the LORD says about it here. Look with me at Colossians 1:9. Colossians 1:9 “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; (10) That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; |
(11) Strengthened
with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness;…”
Here’s the line in your Bible where the LORD through the Apostle Paul makes it very clear that it is the LORD’s will that you and I live so that we are pleasing Him. It’s verse ten. (10): That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, …” You see, just as every parent wants children to please them, your Heavenly Father wants children who please Him. Consider this. Some things that we human beings do, some of our attitudes, some of our speech, some of the things we do in no way please God. Let me show you this from a passage in the Book of Galatians. Now mind you a few of these Old English words need a modern word to help us understand them. Galatians 5:19 “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness [impure lifestyle], lasciviousness [uncontrolled lust and indecency], (20) Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance [strife and contentiousness], emulations [jealousies, anxious fear based upon unfounded suspicions], wrath, strife [self-seeking, rivalry], seditions [actions produced by a divisive spirit], heresies [highly opinionated and divisive resulting in the formation of sects], (21) Envyings [deep displeasure caused by the prosperity of others], murders, drunkenness, revellings [complete lack of moral restraint], and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Here is a Bible list of seventeen things. Do these in any way honor or please the LORD? You see, they are part of a lifestyle that does anything but please God. And, it’s a lifestyle made up of things that cannot and will not inherit the kingdom of God. So, the Bible doesn’t mince any words when it comes to the things that very much displease Him. But remember this. Not doing such things is just part of a life that pleases the LORD. There are things that we must do and say and think so that our lives truly please the LORD. And when our hearts choose to honor Him, we can indeed please Him. That’s what we find here in the Book of Colossians. |