What Does It Mean To Please God?

[Guest shiloh357]

What Does It Mean To Please God?

By

Tullian Tchividjian|9:25 am CT

Rick Thomas writes an insightful piece entitled “The Danger of Trying to Please God.” The counselor in this story sounds way too much like the way many of us preachers preach:

Sandra has struggled all her life with people pleasing.

She said she could not remember a time when she was free from thinking about what others thought about her.

The way she dresses, the car she drives, the technology she carries, and the house she owns are all controlled to some degree by what others think of her.

A peek into her life

She is fanatical about working out because of her keen awareness of what a “nice looking body” should look like.

On a few occasions she has caught herself stretching the truth. She says she spins her stories because the real story doesn’t seem as interesting.

She is fearful of bringing a bag lunch to the office because everyone else goes out to a local restaurant to eat. She’d rather go into debt than feeling like the odd man out.

She has a low-grade anger toward her boyfriend because he pressured her to have sex with him. She believed he would leave her if she didn’t have sex. She needs to be loved by someone. Having a boyfriend is one of her ways of feeling significant.

Her biblical counselor quickly discerned that her problem was fear of man (Proverbs 29:25). The counselor told her she needed to be more concerned with pleasing God rather than others.

From there, the counselor laid out a plan of prayer, Bible study, and service oriented activities in order for her to practice a lifestyle of pleasing God.

The mistake the counselor made was not carefully unpacking what pleasing God meant to an idolator like Sandra. Sandra is an idolator who has been living a performance-driven, people pleasing lifestyle.

When she was told that she needed to be more willing to please God than man, it was not a difficult thing for her to do. People pleasing was what she knew best. Unfortunately, she was not told what pleases God so she did what she has always done–she ratcheted up her obedience.

Who can please God?

And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. – Mark 1:11 (ESV)

Christ pleases God. Anything the Son does pleases the Father. Jesus came to do the will of the Father and He completed that task perfectly. The Father received the finished work of the Son and now a way has been made for us to please the Father by accepting the Son’s work.

Without faith it is impossible to please him. – Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)

A Christian, who is living by faith in the works of the Son, is pleasing God. Pleasing God is not about what we do, but about believing in the only One who could authentically please the Father. Even on our best day, with our best works, we would not be acceptable to God.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. – Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

Sandra is a Christian. However, she is not seeking to please God by trusting (faith) in Him. She is still performing, but this time she is performing for the Father, hoping to get a good grade.

Rather than accepting what is pleasing to God–the works of the Son, she tries to please Him by her obedience. For example, she says she feels more spiritual by going to church. She believes her activity for God gives her more of God. She feels more spiritual when she is doing.

She also says that if she misses her prayer time, Bible reading, or a church meeting she feels less spiritual. She will read her 4.25 chapters each day, even while brushing her teeth so she can check it off.

Sandra is convinced that if she has her morning prayer time and things go well for her during the day, then she will partially contribute God’s favor on her based on her prayer-time-obedience.

As you might imagine, if she does not have her prayer time and things do not go well for her during the day, she feels as though her lack of prayer (disobedience) caused her day to go bad. Sometimes her friends affirm her theology of legalism when they observe her bad day and say, “You must not be prayed-up today.”

As you can see, when her biblical counselor gave her a list of things to do in order to please God, Sandra initially was excited about the list. Any people pleasing, self-reliant, performance-driven person would be.

However, as time went by, she could not juggle her list of spiritual disciplines with the rest of her life. Eventually discouragement and depression set in–she could not keep up. From her perspective, God was not pleased with her–basing this on her poor performance.

According to Sandra’s functional theology she could control God’s pleasure by what she did rather than what the Son did. Her understanding of Christ’s work was limited. She believed the Gospel was for her salvation, while her obedience was the primary thing needed for her sanctification.

What about obedience?

Obedience is obviously hugely important to any Christian. However, the key is to make sure that your obedience is not an effort to please God, but a response to your faith in God.

This is only the first part of it. Read the whole thinghere. What do you think?

William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A Florida native, Tullian is also the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a contributing editor to Leadership Journal.

[Matthitjah]

What Does It Mean To Please God?

By

Tullian Tchividjian|9:25 am CT

Rick Thomas writes an insightful piece entitled “The Danger of Trying to Please God.” The counselor in this story sounds way too much like the way many of us preachers preach:

Sandra has struggled all her life with people pleasing.

She said she could not remember a time when she was free from thinking about what others thought about her.

The way she dresses, the car she drives, the technology she carries, and the house she owns are all controlled to some degree by what others think of her.

A peek into her life

She is fanatical about working out because of her keen awareness of what a “nice looking body” should look like.

On a few occasions she has caught herself stretching the truth. She says she spins her stories because the real story doesn’t seem as interesting.

She is fearful of bringing a bag lunch to the office because everyone else goes out to a local restaurant to eat. She’d rather go into debt than feeling like the odd man out.

She has a low-grade anger toward her boyfriend because he pressured her to have sex with him. She believed he would leave her if she didn’t have sex. She needs to be loved by someone. Having a boyfriend is one of her ways of feeling significant.

Her biblical counselor quickly discerned that her problem was fear of man (Proverbs 29:25). The counselor told her she needed to be more concerned with pleasing God rather than others.

From there, the counselor laid out a plan of prayer, Bible study, and service oriented activities in order for her to practice a lifestyle of pleasing God.

The mistake the counselor made was not carefully unpacking what pleasing God meant to an idolator like Sandra. Sandra is an idolator who has been living a performance-driven, people pleasing lifestyle.

When she was told that she needed to be more willing to please God than man, it was not a difficult thing for her to do. People pleasing was what she knew best. Unfortunately, she was not told what pleases God so she did what she has always done–she ratcheted up her obedience.

Who can please God?

And a voice came from heaven, You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. – Mark 1:11 (ESV)

Christ pleases God. Anything the Son does pleases the Father. Jesus came to do the will of the Father and He completed that task perfectly. The Father received the finished work of the Son and now a way has been made for us to please the Father by accepting the Son’s work.

Without faith it is impossible to please him. – Hebrews 11:6 (ESV)

A Christian, who is living by faith in the works of the Son, is pleasing God. Pleasing God is not about what we do, but about believing in the only One who could authentically please the Father. Even on our best day, with our best works, we would not be acceptable to God.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. – Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

Sandra is a Christian. However, she is not seeking to please God by trusting (faith) in Him. She is still performing, but this time she is performing for the Father, hoping to get a good grade.

Rather than accepting what is pleasing to God–the works of the Son, she tries to please Him by her obedience. For example, she says she feels more spiritual by going to church. She believes her activity for God gives her more of God. She feels more spiritual when she is doing.

She also says that if she misses her prayer time, Bible reading, or a church meeting she feels less spiritual. She will read her 4.25 chapters each day, even while brushing her teeth so she can check it off.

Sandra is convinced that if she has her morning prayer time and things go well for her during the day, then she will partially contribute God’s favor on her based on her prayer-time-obedience.

As you might imagine, if she does not have her prayer time and things do not go well for her during the day, she feels as though her lack of prayer (disobedience) caused her day to go bad. Sometimes her friends affirm her theology of legalism when they observe her bad day and say, “You must not be prayed-up today.”

As you can see, when her biblical counselor gave her a list of things to do in order to please God, Sandra initially was excited about the list. Any people pleasing, self-reliant, performance-driven person would be.

However, as time went by, she could not juggle her list of spiritual disciplines with the rest of her life. Eventually discouragement and depression set in–she could not keep up. From her perspective, God was not pleased with her–basing this on her poor performance.

According to Sandra’s functional theology she could control God’s pleasure by what she did rather than what the Son did. Her understanding of Christ’s work was limited. She believed the Gospel was for her salvation, while her obedience was the primary thing needed for her sanctification.

What about obedience?

Obedience is obviously hugely important to any Christian. However, the key is to make sure that your obedience is not an effort to please God, but a response to your faith in God.

This is only the first part of it. Read the whole thinghere. What do you think?

William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin) is the Senior Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. A Florida native, Tullian is also the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, a visiting professor of theology at Reformed Theological Seminary, and a contributing editor to Leadership Journal.

Obedience is predicated upon Love. No Love, no Joy!

[nebula]

Definitely something I need to hear. But I'm not quite grasping how to live out the change in perspective.

Do you?

[Matthitjah]

I had a revelation recently upon my fathers death.

"The Living is for you!"

Now, how are you going to live?

[HisMindinme]

Definitely something I need to hear. But I'm not quite grasping how to live out the change in perspective.

Do you?

Jesus showed us the way: He set aside what He thought and took up the mantle of the Spirit of God to walk day by day and moment by moment based on what He heard and was taught of the Spirit of God, validated upon scripture.

Jesus was our forerunner, the Captain of our faith (e.g. being like Him -- indwelt of the Spirit of God and then following after the new heart and thoughts grown there from the seed of Word deposited).

If you want to "please God", then you want to walk, live, be and live out your life the same way Jesus did as our example.

Oh yes -- pleasing God is NOT a sin. The Father spoke of Jesus Christ openly to ALL MEN in this way:

(Mat 3:17) And behold! A voice out of the heaven saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighting. Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1

(Mat 17:5) While he was yet speaking, behold, a radiant cloud overshadowed them. And, behold, a voice out of the cloud saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighting; hear Him. Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1; Deut. 18:15

(Mar 1:11) And there was a voice out of the heavens, You are My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighting. Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1

(Luk 3:22) and the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily form as a dove upon Him. And there was a voice out of Heaven, saying, You are My Son, the Beloved; in You I have been delighting. Psa. 2:7; Gen 22:2; Isa. 42:1

(2Pe 1:17) For receiving honor and glory from God the Father such a voice being borne to Him from the magnificent glory, "This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighted," Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1; Matt. 17:5

G2106 εὐδοκέω eudokeō yoo-dok-eh'-o From G2095 and G1380; to think well of, that is, approve (an act); specifically to approbate (a person or thing): - think good, (be well) please (-d), be the good (have, take) pleasure, be willing.

Therefore, if we are doing as Jesus did internally by choosing to follow after the leading of the Spirit rather than the lusts of the flesh and sin, then God the Father will be pleased (e.g. delighted). Our goal is not the delight of God, but to obey and follow and the delight of God simply follows.

To focus on "pleasing God" is to get caught up in a lust. We can start to form our own thoughts about what delights or pleases God, like a "to-do list" or "action item list" that if we complete the list from moment to moment, then WE FEEL (based on our own estimation, which is flesh-based) God is pleased. The simple truth and matter is: Such living is NOT about God, but about living out our own lusts and feeding them.

Do this: Just put your focus deeply on following after the Spirit of God and growing the thoughts of your heart and mind based on the Seed (Word) He plants in you. Focus deeply on tending, growing and nurturing that garden. Leave the matter of God being pleased to Himself and whether He reveals it to you or others is His choice and not yours.

[HisMindinme]

I had a revelation recently upon my fathers death.

"The Living is for you!"

Now, how are you going to live?

Well said and stated!

Live according to the pattern given and formed in Jesus Christ, our Lord. Anything else is sin, flesh and lust.

God, the Father, has His own choice of whether He is pleased with us or not. He can hide His pleasure and well as reveal it. The choice to hide or reveal is His and His alone!

The choice He clearly gives to us is to seek Jesus and to live as Jesus lived -- by the indwelling Spirit and according to the Word of God as the Spirit opens it and reveals it to our hearts!

This is the "Living" that you noted above! Thanks be to God for such revealing!

Peace and Love in Jesus to you all!

[Matthitjah]

Definitely something I need to hear. But I'm not quite grasping how to live out the change in perspective.

Do you?

Jesus showed us the way: He set aside what He thought and took up the mantle of the Spirit of God to walk day by day and moment by moment based on what He heard and was taught of the Spirit of God, validated upon scripture.

Jesus was our forerunner, the Captain of our faith (e.g. being like Him -- indwelt of the Spirit of God and then following after the new heart and thoughts grown there from the seed of Word deposited).

If you want to "please God", then you want to walk, live, be and live out your life the same way Jesus did as our example.

Oh yes -- pleasing God is NOT a sin. The Father spoke of Jesus Christ openly to ALL MEN in this way:

(Mat 3:17) And behold! A voice out of the heaven saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighting. Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1

(Mat 17:5) While he was yet speaking, behold, a radiant cloud overshadowed them. And, behold, a voice out of the cloud saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighting; hear Him. Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1; Deut. 18:15

(Mar 1:11) And there was a voice out of the heavens, You are My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighting. Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1

(Luk 3:22) and the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily form as a dove upon Him. And there was a voice out of Heaven, saying, You are My Son, the Beloved; in You I have been delighting. Psa. 2:7; Gen 22:2; Isa. 42:1

(2Pe 1:17) For receiving honor and glory from God the Father such a voice being borne to Him from the magnificent glory, "This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have been delighted," Psa. 2:7; Gen. 22:2; Isa. 42:1; Matt. 17:5

G2106 εὐδοκέω eudokeō yoo-dok-eh'-o From G2095 and G1380; to think well of, that is, approve (an act); specifically to approbate (a person or thing): - think good, (be well) please (-d), be the good (have, take) pleasure, be willing.

Therefore, if we are doing as Jesus did internally by choosing to follow after the leading of the Spirit rather than the lusts of the flesh and sin, then God the Father will be pleased (e.g. delighted). Our goal is not the delight of God, but to obey and follow and the delight of God simply follows.

To focus on "pleasing God" is to get caught up in a lust. We can start to form our own thoughts about what delights or pleases God, like a "to-do list" or "action item list" that if we complete the list from moment to moment, then WE FEEL (based on our own estimation, which is flesh-based) God is pleased. The simple truth and matter is: Such living is NOT about God, but about living out our own lusts and feeding them.

Do this: Just put your focus deeply on following after the Spirit of God and growing the thoughts of your heart and mind based on the Seed (Word) He plants in you. Focus deeply on tending, growing and nurturing that garden. Leave the matter of God being pleased to Himself and whether He reveals it to you or others is His choice and not yours.

Jesus did not need to be indwelt, He was Incarnate.

[Matthitjah]

God, the Father, has His own choice of whether He is pleased with us or not. He can hide His pleasure and well as reveal it. The choice to hide or reveal is His and His alone!

This thought is skewed. God is pleased with us when we are Obedient. He has shown us what is required of us.

Is Jesus God Incarnate?

[HisMindinme]

Jesus did not need to be indwelt, He was Incarnate.

You are correct, He did not NEED to be, but He was as an example and for OUR SAKE, not His:

(Mat 3:16) And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water. And, behold! The heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God coming down as a dove, and coming upon Him.

(Mat 4:1) Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil.

Peace and Love in Christ to you all!

[HisMindinme]

Definitely something I need to hear. But I'm not quite grasping how to live out the change in perspective.

Do you?

You need to find the root of it. It will be in your unrecognized feelings, which are the source of a false belief.

Ask yourself "what would happen if I didn't base my choices on pleasing people?"

With the answer, ask yourself again "what would happen if I didn't <your previous anwer>?

Continue asking yourself the same question with each answer until you understand what is driving it.

You will find it is a false belief.

Now, renew your mind in Christ.

Then you will have to apply your renewed mind to every situation where your false belief continues coming up again.

Well stated. Stated another way, "Ask yourself -- is that true? How do I know it is true?"

I do NOT take the thoughts in my mind as being true just because they are in my mind. I challenge them. I ask them and then look for the evidence of what they are based upon?

The ultimate foundation and basis for ANY thought is simple: Spirit v. Flesh (Romans 8 and others).

So, do NOT take the thoughts of your mind as true simply because you think them and have them in your mind. Challenge them. Look to their source. Discover the source and you will know whether you ought to be living by or starving and killing that thought.

Again -- well stated and said, Eleanor -- Sister! Renewing the mind indeed! Renewal is a process we participate in. The Lord provides the Seed by the indwelling Spirit as the husbandman of our inward garden and the womb of our heart. It is up to us to take this seed, plant it deeply, nurture and watch over it. Our flesh hates the seed of God and actively and inwardly looks to overwhelm the new plantings by fortresses of thinking. Attack the walls! Renewal is an inward battle cry to storm the walls and gates of our own thoughts and assail them, killing everything we find inside those inward thought-fortresses set up in our own hearts by sin, flesh and lusts. So -- CHARGE!

Grace and Peace in Christ to you all!