BIBLICAL FOCUS | PLEASING GOD (7)
1. Pleasing God.
a) There
are many key terms and concepts in Scripture like faith, hope, love,
joy, grace, peace, pleasing the Lord, etc. that we come across as we
read our Bibles, but often these are just vague concepts for many
people.
b) Here we have some biblical
focus on what it means to please the Lord as it is found in the Word of
God.
2. Counting on our future rewards is to be a constant source of motivation.
2 Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs (praagmateia, “activity, occupation, business, affairs”) of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Luke 19:13
And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Do business (pragmateuomai, ‘conduct or be engaged in business like a banker or trader’) {with this} until I come {back.}”
1 Corinthians 7:25-35
Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you should marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin should marry, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; 31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33 but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is seemly, and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:9
Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
3. We are warned against entanglements which hinder our capacity to please the Lord in doing His business as His servants and stewards of His grace.
a) This especially true in times of distress. Celibacy gives more time for pleasing the Lord, but this is partly a matter of possessing the spiritual gift of celibacy. Note that Paul does not say that celibacy is better, only that it is good because of the capacity it gives to please the Lord and because of the present distress.
Philippians 1:10
So that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.
1 Corinthians 7:7-8
And 26 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. … 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.
2 Timothy 2:4
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs (praagmateia, “activity, occupation, business, affairs”) of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.
Luke 19:13
And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas, and said to them, “Do business (pragmateuomai, ‘conduct or be engaged in business like a banker or trader’) {with this} until I come {back.}”
1 Corinthians 7:25-35
Now concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy. 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you released from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you should marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin should marry, she has not sinned. Yet such will have trouble in this life, and I am trying to spare you.
29 But this I say, brethren, the time has been shortened, so that from now on those who have wives should be as though they had none; 30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess; 31 and those who use the world, as though they did not make full use of it; for the form of this world is passing away.
32 But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord; 33 but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the woman who is unmarried, and the virgin, is concerned about the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and spirit; but one who is married is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. 35 And this I say for your own benefit; not to put a restraint upon you, but to promote what is seemly, and to secure undistracted devotion to the Lord.
2 Corinthians 5:9
Therefore also we have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
3. We are warned against entanglements which hinder our capacity to please the Lord in doing His business as His servants and stewards of His grace.
a) This especially true in times of distress. Celibacy gives more time for pleasing the Lord, but this is partly a matter of possessing the spiritual gift of celibacy. Note that Paul does not say that celibacy is better, only that it is good because of the capacity it gives to please the Lord and because of the present distress.
Philippians 1:10
So that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.
1 Corinthians 7:7-8
And 26 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. … 26 I think then that this is good in view of the present distress, that it is good for a man to remain as he is.
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