Jump Start # 3472

1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you may excel still more.”

Pleasing the Lord—that is at the heart of every disciple. Paul told the Corinthians that he made it his ambition to please the Lord. To please the Lord, means the Lord approves of what you are doing. You are doing something right. You put a smile on the face of God.

Every human seeks four things.

• We want attention. This is why little ones will show off. This is why teens do crazy things. This is why a wife craves for conversation from her husband.
• We want acceptance. We want to be included, invited and liked.
• We want affection. We like some praise spread our way.
• We want approval. We want to know that we are doing a good job.

Now, it is in our DNA to crave these things. And, when we cannot find them in the proper channels, we’ll find them in illegal and immoral ways. This is why some join a gang. They are looking for attention, acceptance, affection and approval. This is why some teens engage in sexual activity. They are looking for attention, acceptance, affection  and approval.

The disciple is looking for approval from God. The five talent man heard, “Well done, good and faithful slave.” Timothy was told to “present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed.”

Let’s think about this idea of pleasing God.

First, some have the idea that God is never pleased. Like the coach who tells his players to run faster and faster, that’s how they view God. You can never do enough. You can never be good enough. God is never satisfied with what we have done.

This thinking leads to frustration and failure. You try and try, but you can’t get away from the guilt. I’m not doing enough. God is not pleased. Tired, weary, exhausted and filled with shame because we know we didn’t do enough, we hold our heads down in fear, failure and guilt. We want to go to Heaven, but we doubt it deep inside.

This is not the spirit of the N.T. This thinking is wrapped around perfection and a system of works. “Well done,” is what the master told the five talent man. He did it well. Revelation 22 states that we shall “see His face.” Paul said there was a crown awaiting those who have loved His appearing.

Second, a life that walks with the Lord pleases God. That life will be Bible based. That’s how we know the Lord. The warning in Matthew 7 is directed towards those wo did not do the will of the Father. One cannot please the Lord while He is ignoring what God said.

Third, a life that serves as God served pleases the Lord. In the judgment scene of Matthew 25, it’s not what one knew, but what they did that mattered. Food, drink, clothing was provided to those who did not have any. It wasn’t being able to answer questions correctly. It was having a heart of service like Jesus did.

Fourth, a life of holiness pleases God. Be holy, as He is holy, Peter wrote. Being able to say “no,” to the things of the world is essential in our walk with God. One can say that they love God, but if their footprints lead to the world, something is not right. Sanctified or set apart, different, are the concepts of holiness.

You can be approved to God. You can please the Lord. It’s not doing the impossible. That’s not possible. It’s doing what you can where you are. Use your talents to honor the Lord. Use your time for the Lord. Do things God’s way.

Well done, what rich, powerful and hopeful words they are.

Roger

Jump Start # 1752

1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.”

Christmas is over. I hope you enjoyed your time with family. We were blessed to watch little ones open their presents. The excitement on their faces is so precious. Buying gifts for little ones is pretty easy. The selection is enormous. Walking down the toy section of major stores can be very expensive for grandparents. They want to get this and then that and of course, they have to have this one over there. Buying gifts for adults is a lot harder. It takes more effort, thought and planning. I don’t know if women feel this way, but guys feel a lot of pressure in buying the right gift for their wife. Something too practical or something totally impractical and the gift becomes a bomb. She smiles, but she didn’t like it. For the man, he feels like he fails if he doesn’t deliver just the right gift. Then there is the commercial on the radio subjectively telling you that she really wants diamonds. Don’t make the mistake and get her a sweeper or a gym membership, she wants diamonds. So, the man walks into the jewelry store, clueless to what he is doing. He sees all the sparkling diamonds and the enormous price tags and running through his mind, “You better come through this year.” The joy of giving gifts can be stressful, especially at the key moment when the gift is opened. “Do you like it?” is actually interpreted as, “Did I come through and give you what you wanted?” “Did I please you?”

Our verse today is about pleasing God. The Thessalonians were taught how to walk and how to please God. This is something that a person needs to learn. New Christians need to know this. This thought is often not taught, but assumed. What God likes, may not be what I would have chosen. Just as a husband must think what his wife would like, he buys a gift that pleases her. Her happiness makes him happy. He doesn’t buy his wife a new putter, if she doesn’t golf. If he did that, she might use that putter on his head.

How to please another, that’s the thought in buying gifts. How to please God? That’s the thought behind our actions, attitudes and worship. We do what God likes. We do what God wants. We please the Lord.

The modern church has moved on from this thought. It is driven by the sensations of what do we like. We don’t like sermons, so we toss them out. Has any thought been given about God? The Lord actually likes preaching. It was His idea, not ours. From the early days, all through the Bible, God has had prophets, priests, apostles and preachers that taught the word of God. We may have grown weary of preaching, but God hasn’t.

The modern church has shifted from internal heart felt expressions of love to God, to the external, carnal, festival atmosphere of light shows, fog machines, theatre drama, and comedy routines that makes us feel good. The moderns laugh. They cry. They have a good time. They are promised that next week will be even greater. More lights. More smoke. More laughter. So, they return. Fun, fun, fun. It’s a great time that the modern church is having. But is any of this pleasing the Lord? Is this what God wants? Have we given a putter to someone who doesn’t golf? Have we thought about just what does God want? How do you please the Lord?

The Thessalonians knew. They had been instructed in what pleases God. What the Lord wanted, couldn’t be purchased in a store. It wasn’t smoke, screaming music, or dramatic presentations which an audience watches and applauds those on the stage. The Lord wants the audience engaged. The Lord wants us not to watch but to be part of worship, living and walking with Him. He wants our hearts. He wants our loyalty. He wants our obedience. He wants to be the king of our lives. What pleases the Lord is when His will becomes our will. When we want what He wants. When we like what He likes. When we oppose what He opposes. Stop changing the message to please the people. Please the Lord. Stop trying to be cool and different and simply please the Lord.

Please God by being dependent upon Him. You need Him. Show that. Show that by praying to Him all the time. Show that by following His word. Show that by including Him in your heart and in your choices.

Please God by being spiritual. Think beyond what your eyes can see. Think beyond today. Grow. Become. Use. The Thessalonians, in our passage were told to “excel still more.” More pleasing of God. More worship. More walking with the Lord. More praying. More. More. More. We sing, “More, more about Jesus…” That’s what the Thessalonians were to excel in.

Please God by being His hands and feet today. Show the world Jesus. Let your light shine. Be the example, even around family. Defend God. Introduce God. Be kind, when others are not. Be forgiving, when others won’t. Be helpful, when others turn their back. Be like Jesus. Be holy, in an impure world. Be thoughtful in a thoughtless world. Be hopeful, in a pessimistic world. Be spiritual in a materialistic world. Be godly in a worldly world.

Please God by knowing His word. Know what God has said. Know what God has promised. Know what is still to happen. Know what happens at death. Know what lies beyond the grave. Know the Lord.

Buying gifts can be stressful. The goal is to please the person you are giving the gift to. We want to make them happy. It is that thought that we ought to have towards the Lord. We want to make the Lord happy. Our goal is to please Him.

When that is our focus and target, then we will be set on the right course in life. Keep your eyes on the Lord. Do what He wants. A person can’t do wrong when that is where his compass points to.

Roger

Jump Start # 982

1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.”

Our verse today is a great reminder and motto for Christians to live by. This is good for us. We can forget and even slow down in our efforts and spirit with the Lord. The passion and drive that fuels our faith can be diminished by the many activities of life. We get busy with the here and now and put the eternal on the back burner. Often, most often, it’s not intentional, it just happens. We get consumed with work projects, house stuff, finishing school, taking care of parents, holiday plans that our spiritual life seems to get shoved to the back. All of this takes a toll on us. Unless the spiritual is in the front seat of our life, our souls and character and even relationships take a beating. We tend to be less patient and more cranky than we ought to. We get more obsessed with the worldly and our priorities tend to get out of order.

This verse is a great help. There are three wonderful thoughts here.

First, we have been instructed on how to walk. This walk is defined by God. It is not a step, but a walk. It is a journey. This is a life’s walk. Paul reminds the brethren that they had been instructed in this walk. This is not something that they just figured out or stumbled upon. It is not something that is different for each person. It is not something that just came to them on their own. They had been taught. They had been instructed. The walk with God is a learned walked. It is a divine walk because it is defined by the divine word of God. This tells us that we need to instruct others how to walk. Just coming to church services doesn’t mean that they will get it. They must be instructed. It is a learned process.

Second, we are to please God. Pleasing God is the drive in all that we do. Please God. To please, is to do what God wants. To please is to follow His will. To please is to make God happy. God can be happy with us. In the parable of the talents, the master responded, “Well done, good and faithful…” He was pleased and happy with what the servant had done. The Thessalonians were instructed how to walk and please God. We need this. Folks don’t get that today. They want to please self. If they are not happy, they complain. They want to be happy. In the words of Phil, on Duck Dynasty, “Happy, happy, happy.” That’s what drives marriages. When one is no longer happy, they want out. Doesn’t matter what God says or how the spouse feels. If they are not happy with their work, they quit. If they are not happy with the church, off they go looking for another one. Happy Meals, happy trails, happy times—is it any one that the media has termed the generation, “The ME generation.” We see this in the magazines. There was Life. Then there was People. Then there was US. Now there is a magazine called SELF. Please God. What is it that God wants. Faithfulness to God may take you through some dark valleys, difficult times and require a huge amount of faith and trust. God is good. God is good to us. However, our happiness can lead us away from Him. Pleasing God must come first. This is what worship ought to be about. This is what our marriages ought to be about. This is what our lives ought to be about.

Third, excel still more. Don’t settle. Don’t just get by. Don’t do what is average. Don’t go along with everyone else. Excel. Excel still more. Excel in walking with God. Excel in pleasing God. Go the second mile. Do more than is expected and required. What does this thinking do with our attendance? The person who is excelling still more won’t be asking, “Do we have to go so much?” Not at all. The person who is excelling still more is looking for more ways to serve, more ways to follow, more ways to please. I wonder if our greatest threat is not error but compliancy. Just going with the flow. Just doing what we have always done before. Where is the excelling? Where is the push?

This is what the apostle wanted from the Thessalonians. Don’t you think he wants the same from us? The more the spiritual is in us, the less Satan impacts us. The more the spiritual is in us, the more positive influence we will have upon others. Our first thought will be the spiritual way. Our first answer will be the Biblical answer. Our first choice will be what God wants. Excel. Going beyond. If a person must ask, “Why should I?” they have not mastered pleasing God. The person bent on pleasing God is the person who has no problem with excelling more. Please comes first. Excel follows.

Three thoughts: walk in the way you have been instructed; please God; excel still more. Think you can do that? God does.

Roger

Jump Start # 517

1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.”

    Paul puts before us a wonderful concept—walking and pleasing God. The way we walk ought to please God. These brethren were given instructions on how to do that very thing. You and I have those same instructions.

  This concept brings before us the importance of thinking spiritually every day and every where. It’s not just a Sunday thing. In the dog eat dog world of business, one must walk and please his God. It can be done. In sports, walk and please God. No breaking the rules. At school, walk and please God. No cheating on tests. No trashing the feelings of others.

  It seems to me that the more we walk and please God, the better our walk becomes. Our walk tends to be joyful when we are pleasing God. There is a certain spring in our step. Nothing beats pleasing God. The day can be a disaster, we’ve all had them, yet we can still please God. Even preachers get bad days. Computers don’t feel like computing, copiers quit copying, the mind is empty and blank with dead lines approaching. Every phone call is a salesman who is annoying. The clock keeps ticking, the pressure mounts, nothing seems to fall into place. We wish we could rewind, go back and start the day over. But you can’t. There are days in which it seems that you get nothing done. Even in all of this, if one ends the day, pleasing God, it’s been a good day.

  You don’t have to do great things to please God. You can if you want, but generally, it’s the everyday things that really matter. First, it begins by just thinking of Him. It’s hard to please Him if you don’t think of Him. How can we do that? The day gets busy. Computers, texts, emails, phone calls, interruptions, paper work, people to talk to…the day can be filled and crazy. Remember God? Some might think, “I can hardly remember my self.” On my desk, I have a picture of my wife, Debbie. It’s not that I forget what she looks like or I don’t remember that I’m married, but it’s simply a reminder. My desk is often cluttered with books, paperwork, phones and sometimes even lunch. In the busyness of the day, I see that picture and it makes me think of her. Maybe a Bible on your desk would do the same for you. Not a big monster size Bible, but just a simple one. You see it and you remember Him. You remember how much He loves you. You remember that in your busy day, He’s not forgotten you. It helps you to please Him. It helps you to walk with Him.

  Maybe a CD of some hymns to play in the car ride home. That sure beats whatever is on the radio. Hymns have a way of calming us down, getting our order in order and they bring us to Him. You remember Him. That adjusts your walk. That fixes your attitude. That puts you in the position to please Him.

  Maybe at dinner, everyone holds hands and you say a real prayer. You thank the Lord for all that you were able to do. Again you connect to Him. That makes you think of your walk. That leads you to please Him.

  Walking and pleasing…it’s almost like, right foot, left foot. The more you walk with God, the more you please Him. The more you please Him, the more you walk with Him. Right foot, left foot.

  Now in doing this, you’ll find that you are thinking about God every day. Soon, you’ll discover that you think about God all the time. Then you find out that you hardly ever turn off the “God button” in your heart and mind. Your speech starts reflecting that. You attitude shows it. Others will notice that you seem at peace, joyful and confident. And why not, you are pleasing God and walking with Him. Nothing could be better.

  All of this is connected to be able to think about God throughout the day. Without thinking about Him, I will not think much of my walk and then I will not think any of pleasing Him. What happens is that God is stuffed in a box called Sunday and that’s about the only time I open it up.

  Thinking about God…that’s the key. That’s the first step of this walk. Don’t have time? Sure you do. Too busy? Never for God. Need help? It’s there, just look for it.

  Walking and pleasing…what two great concepts that are really joined together.

Roger