Pleasing Performance

Our passage for this morning
is Colossians 1. So if you would please turn there
with me. Colossians 1. The sermon title for this morning
that I’ve given it is Pleasing Performance. Not pleasing me
nor you, but pleasing our Lord Jesus Christ. And obviously our
performance. And speaking on that, and not
for the sake of flattery, I do acknowledge that he was surely
pleased with the performance of the saints who came together
to help a sister in need yesterday. And there was more to that than I
realized in the beginning. But after it was all over, I
realized that had we not come and helped her, There would have
been more than just a missed opportunity to serve Christ and
honor and please him. But there would have been a very
likable chance that we would have brought dishonor to his
name because this sister has a son and grandchildren who have
watched her serve in the church for all of their lives. And had
we not come around her, that would not have gone unnoticed. So, in the name of Christ, I
thank you for setting your plans aside and quickly coming to help
her. Colossians 1, I’ll begin reading
in verse 1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God and Timothy, our brother, to the saints and
faithful brethren in Christ who are all at Colossae, grace to
you and peace from God our Father. We give thanks to God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard
of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for
all the saints, and because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.
of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel
which has come to you. Just as in all the world also
it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has
been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood
the grace of God in truth. Just as you learned it from Epaphras,
our beloved fellow bond servant, who is a faithful servant of
Christ on our behalf, He also informed us of your love in the
Spirit. For this reason also, since the
day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to
ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in
all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing
fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of
God, strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might,
for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience, joyously giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the
inheritance of the saints in light. He has rescued us from
the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
son.” Colossae was a city in the southwestern
region of Asia Minor. It was 100 miles east of Ephesus
and Miletus. And Paul is the obvious writer
of this letter. Yet I see no evidence in this
letter or any other that he had ever been to Colossae himself. He states explicitly in chapter
four of this book that he’s in prison. It’s possibly a Roman
prison. The only other option is Caesarea,
but most people think he was in Rome at this time, and he
was writing this church that he’d never met. But to make sense
of this, why Paul would write a people he’s never met, we need
to look at who was around him. There were many around Paul,
but I want to bring to your attention a man by the name of Epaphras.
You’ve heard me read about him as we read through that passage.
But in chapter 4, verse 12, Paul writes, Epaphras, who is one
of your number. He was a Colossian church member
who was there with Paul. Look at chapter 1, verse 7. Just
as you learned it, that is the hope of the gospel, from Epaphras,
our beloved fellow bond servant, who is a faithful servant of
Christ on our behalf, he also informed us of your love in the
spirit. The Colossians had heard and
received the gospel from this man named Epaphras. In other
words, he planted this church in Colossae. And now he had informed
Paul of all their love and more. He had informed him of the concerns
he had for this church. In 4.13, Paul tells them this
about Epaphras. He says, I testify for him that
he has a deep concern for you. In the passage that I read in
the beginning, we see Paul and Timothy also had sympathy for
Epaphras’ concern for this church. And if we look at the book and
see what the content is in it, we can see what the concerns
were. The first one is Gnosticism, and it’s the only one I’m bringing
up today. It was Gnosticism. It was a prevalent heresy in
that day and in the centuries that followed. A heresy in where they boasted
in heaven a special knowledge about religion that did not come
from the scriptures. It was a heresy that boasted
in a special knowledge that did not come from the scriptures. So Paul’s writing this church
who is being threatened by false teachers, a church he didn’t
plant, and he’s sending this letter by way of Tychicus and
Onesimus to the Colossian church. And if you know the story of
Onesimus, you also know that he was returning a letter to
his master, Philemon, And we know this by the book of Philemon
that we have in our New Testament. But all this raises another question. If Epaphras was so concerned
about this Colossian church, why does he not go back with
Tychicus and Onesimus, but just send his greetings? Chapter 4,
verse 12. The answer is found in the letter
that Onesimus has taken back to his master. Paul writes there
in verse 23, he talks about Epaphras and says, he’s my fellow prisoner. He was in prison with Paul. That’s
why he couldn’t go. So for our edification, I wanted
to take a closer look at verses 9 through 13 this morning. Paul begins there in verse 9
by stating, for this reason, And he’s referring back to everything
from verses three through eight. Since the day we heard, remember
he heard about them from Epaphras. We also have not seized praying
for you and asking that you may be filled. Filled with what? With the knowledge of his will.
That’s God’s will. Their prayer for the Colossian
church was that they would gain knowledge, but not just any knowledge. There was a particular knowledge
they had in mind, and that of God’s will instead of the doctrines
of demons. Paul affirms that knowledge is
a good thing, but he says you need to know God’s will for you.
What does God require of you? That’s what you need to know. He tells the Colossians that
they need spiritual wisdom and understanding. And he does this
in such a gracious way by telling them that he’s praying for them
in this way. They need wisdom and understanding.
Wisdom’s basic meaning is skill. So in most places of scripture,
when talking about wisdom, it would be in how to make use of
knowledge, how to skillfully use knowledge, how to make practical
use of it. So Paul wants them to get practical
with the knowledge of God’s will. And he tells them so in verse
10. He tells them exactly where he’s going with all this. So
that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. Now, to walk
here, as most of you know, is not merely about ambulating,
but it was a Hebrew idiom that referred to a manner of life.
It was their way of referring to lifestyle and practice. That’s
what Paul’s after. Who’s this Lord, though? Well,
in verse 1, Paul says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Paul himself is. So by that statement alone, he
implies that Jesus is his Lord. He serves him. In verse seven,
when speaking of Epaphras, he writes, our beloved fellow bond
servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ. Here also, Jesus is
being declared as Lord. So it’s only reasonable that
we understand here in verse 10, that Lord is the person of Jesus. Paul wants them to walk in a
manner worthy of Jesus. But what does he mean by that?
It’s a little difficult to understand. But Paul doesn’t let us down.
He always gives detail. You know the man. And he doesn’t
fail us here either. He follows it up immediately
with his other statement to bring clarity to what he just said.
To please him in all respects. That’s what he means. To please
the Lord in all respects. But even with that, we’re still
left wondering, but how do we please the Lord? What does he
require of us? So Paul gives some details on
that. But before we get into that,
I wanted to bring up the fundamental element that is needed in pleasing
the Lord, and that is faith, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The scripture says that without faith, it is impossible to please
God. So that’s number one. There must
be faith. But Paul isn’t ignorant of this. He knows that they already
have faith. Glantz at verse four. Since we
heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, he’s writing to believers. This message is for believers. But Paul doesn’t leave us guessing
on what it is that pleases the Lord. He gives us four ways in
which we can please him as he breaks down what he means by
walking in a manner worthy of the Lord. So if you have any
concern at all this morning, and I pray that you did come
in wanting to know how you could please the Lord better, then
I pray that you would listen to this, each one of these four
elements that Paul gives us. The first one is in verse 10.
It’s always bearing more fruit. Always bearing more fruit. Where he says, bearing fruit
in every good work. In order to please the Lord,
we must bear fruit. But what is fruit? Other than
a food that we eat. Well, it’s that which is produced. And what is produced by us is
our speech and conduct. So that’s what our fruit is.
And the New Testament writers, along with Jesus, in His teaching,
they would refer, when they spoke of fruit, obviously talking about
our speech and conduct, it’s also written in the Scripture
as good works. Paul uses that term a lot, good
works. So fruit and good works are synonymous. The Lord isn’t pleased with just
any works. Obviously, they need to be good.
The fruit needs to be good. And Paul isn’t teaching justification
by works here, as I already pointed out. But a glance at verse 13,
where he tells them clearly. for he has rescued us from the
domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
son. They were already justified before
God. He’s not teaching works righteousness here, but Paul
speaks a lot about works. Because apart from that, we cannot
please the Lord. If you would, please turn to
John 15. John chapter 15. Verse five, I am the vine, this
is Jesus speaking, and you are the branches. He who abides in
me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from me you
can do nothing. We cannot bear fruit apart from
Christ. In verse seven he says, if you
abide in me and my word abides in you, Ask whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you. Ask whatever you wish, and it
will be done for you. The conditional clause there
at the beginning is huge, though. There’s an if. If we remain in him, and his
word remains in us, now that cuts out a lot of garbage, doesn’t
it? It cuts out every sinful request we could make. That limits
it. There are other statements similar
to this that Jesus says about asking what you wish and receive. But I believe there’s other places
where he’s referring in a little broader context than what he
is here. Here, I believe he’s talking
specifically about bearing fruit. That’s the context on all sides
of this statement. Look at what comes next. My Father
is glorified by this. that you bear much fruit, and
so prove to be my disciples. Do you want to bear fruit? All
we need to do is ask him, and you’ll have it, unless, of course,
your motives are sinful. Also, be specific about your
requests. Where do you want to bear fruit?
In what area? Jesus and the Father are both
pleased when we bear much fruit. And we need to begin with asking
them for help. And since we’re here in the book of John, look
at verse 16, chapter 15, verse 16. He tells his disciples, you
did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
would go and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain so that
whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to
you. Brethren, that’s why we’re here.
We’re here to bear fruit for Christ. All we need to do is ask Him
with pure motives. Now back in Colossians 1, in
the middle of verse 10, bearing fruit in every good work. Now if you remember what I was
saying, that bearing fruit and good works are synonymous, you’ll
wonder, why would He repeat Himself? bearing fruit in every good work. Essentially, Paul’s saying this,
bearing fruit in all your fruit bearing. To be pleasing to the
Lord, we must, in all our fruit bearing, bear more fruit. I want to make this a little
easier to understand, so if you would turn with me to 1 Corinthians
16, and we’ll look at an example of this laid out a little more
plainly. First Corinthians 16. Verse one. Now, concerning the
collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia,
so do you also. On the first day of every week,
each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper,
so that no collections be made when I come.” Notice how much
he requested of them to give. He doesn’t say. He just says,
as he may prosper. So if you want to give $0.02,
you’re being obedient, to my understanding, $0.02 each Sunday.
And the reality is that many times those two cents are given
to the preacher after the sermon and never make it into the collection
plate. It may be that the Corinthians
noticed this, that Paul didn’t request how much they were supposed
to give. And that could be why he wrote
to them in his second letter to them. If you would, turn to
2 Corinthians 9. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians,
chapter 9, verse 6. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly
will also reap sparingly. And he who sows bountifully will
also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has
purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God
loves a cheerful giver.” God is pleased with cheerful givers.
The good work of giving cheerfully is pleasing to the Lord. And
what Paul does is he points out to them that the more they sow,
the more they will reap. How so? Verse 80 tells him, God
is able to make all grace abound to you. Now I would just tell
you to be careful here because some are giving with the wrong
motives and with the desire that God would bless them in return
so they could build up their bank account and you have people
end up on the streets that way. So I would warn you against that. But if done with right motives,
God will bless you. I show you these things so that
your joy might be full, not your bank account. I show you these
things so that you might, in all your fruit bearing, bear
more fruit. Paul had the very same thing
in mind. Look at verse eight again. And God is able to make
all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency
in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”
He wanted them to give so that God would bless them in return,
so that they could give more in return. And that giving might
be just having more time to serve in whatever area that may be. His intention wasn’t of becoming
wealthy. He wasn’t a greedy pastor. He tells him that. He tells him
exactly where the money’s going, verses 1 and 12 both. He tells
him it’s for the saints that are in need. He made clear in his first letter
to the Corinthians that he’s not looking for their support.
And he pointed out to them that while he was there, he supported
himself. He wasn’t looking for their support.
But he wanted the work of the Lord to abound And that’s why
I bring this to your attention. That we too might abound in the
work of the Lord. Back to Colossians 1 verse 10. Notice he says in every
good work. I’ve only given you an example
from one. It was easy because Paul laid it out so plainly.
But he says every good work. It would take a lifetime to exhaust
all the examples of how this could work in every good work.
Let it just suffice for today for me to tell you that I am
fully convinced that if we serve the Lord with the gifts, the
time, and the capacities that he’s given us, that he will expand
all that for us. We will be given more opportunities
to serve and to minister to others. And in so doing, this continual
fruit bearing that I speak of, the Lord is well pleased. It
brings pleasure to Christ. Are you content with where you
are and what you have done in the past, even all those good
things? If yes, then that is not walking
in a manner worthy of the Lord. For Paul says that we must always
be bearing fruit. The Lord is not pleased with
fruit bearing in one season alone. Just as a farmer wants fruit
every year, the Lord wants us to bear fruit continually. This brings us to the second
thing that Paul gives us in his breakdown of walking in a manner
worthy of the Lord. There’s still in verse 10, always
increasing in the knowledge of God. It’s always increasing in
the knowledge of God. Now the first thing I want to
point out is that Paul is not repeating himself from verse 9. There he
said, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may
be filled with the knowledge of his will. He prayed this with
the desire that they would increase in the knowledge of God. They
sound very similar. Let me put it in different words.
I pray that you would know God’s will for you, that you know what
he requires of you so that you may know him better, his character,
who he is. That was Paul’s prayer. But where
do we find God’s will for us? You know the answer. We call
it the Bible. And as we increase in the knowledge
of the Bible, His will for us, we also increase in the knowledge
of who He is. The second thing I’d like to
draw to your attention here is that there’s a conjunctive and
there, depending on your translation. It’s the only one in this list
of participles that Paul gives in his explanation of what it
means to please the Lord. In the Greek, there’s only one
there, between point one and point two. My attention was drawn to this,
and I began to discern a special connection between the two. And
Peter also made a connection. If you would turn to 2 Peter
chapter 1. 2 Peter chapter 1. I’ll begin reading in the fifth
verse, and we’re going through a list of holy character qualities. Now for this very reason also,
applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence. And in your moral excellence,
knowledge. And in your knowledge, self-control.
And in self-control, perseverance. And in perseverance, godliness.
And in godliness, brotherly kindness. And in your brotherly kindness,
love. In verse 10, Peter tells us to
put these things into practice. These are not just qualities
that we are to sit idle with, but we’re to put them into practice.
And this is also evident by the word supply in verse 5, that
we have a part to do in this. This can be extremely difficult
at times, this work of sanctification, our part in it. We must cooperate
with the Holy Spirit in this battle for holiness. But it’s
the only way we’re going to have assurance of salvation. And it’s
the only way that we will bring pleasure to the Lord. One commentator
writes, The most debilitating sin of most modern Christians
is the failure to exert our wills and expend our energies so as
to supplement or add to our saving faith. End quote. Did you catch
that? He said the church is weak. because
of spiritual laziness. It’s easy to fall into that in
good times. How true is that in the U.S. in particular? And I pray that
that would not be us. That we would not be contributing
to this problem that is so prevalent. Now what Peter is essentially
saying here as he goes through this list and what he tells us
to put them into practice is this, in all your fruit bearing,
bear more fruit. I know I haven’t forgotten that
I’m in point two, but I wanted to show you that Peter also makes
a connection between point one and point two. He’s essentially saying, in this
good work, supply this good work, and in that good work, supply
this one. The connection is that in verse
eight, If these qualities are yours and are increasing, they
render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge
of our Lord Jesus Christ. They render you neither useless
nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. He’s
saying if you’re always bearing fruit, that it will lead to the
true knowledge of God. That’s the connection between
the points that these two virtues, you might say, that both Peter
and Paul make. And more on the knowledge of
God, Edwin Blum in Gabaline’s commentary writes, the knowledge
of God is the beginning, the continuance, and the goal of
the Christian life. It’s the beginning, the continuance,
and the goal of the Christian life. The knowledge of God. That’s
what it’s all about. He points to Philippians 3.10,
but if you would, look at Colossians 3. Since we’re in that book anyway.
Colossians 3, verse 9. Do not lie to one another, since
you laid aside the old self with its evil practices. and have
put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according
to the image of the one who created him.” Our new self is being renewed
to the true knowledge of Christ and of God. That’s how Edwin Bloom could
say that. That’s what the Christian life
is all about, is being conformed to this new image. Will you this day renew all your
energy and efforts into serving him? Will you exert your will
with new effort and spend your energies in the area of sanctification
for the purpose of knowing and pleasing the Lord? I pray that
you would. The third thing Paul gives us
is in verse 11. Always being strengthened. Always
being strengthened. That’s the third thing he gives
us in his breakdown of what pleases the Lord, is when we’re always
being strengthened. Your translation may only read
strengthened, but these participles are all in the present tense.
Meaning being strengthened is a good translation. It’s ongoing,
the present tense. It’s pleasing to the Lord when
we’re always being strengthened. In order to walk in a manner
of the Lord, we must be strengthened with all power. This isn’t just any power. Paul
says it’s the glorious power of God. It’s his glorious might,
he says. Many times in scripture when
he mentions glorious might, it’s used in light of that power by
which he saved mankind. that work of redemption through
the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s of this same power that
we are empowered. So this power belongs to God.
How do we obtain it? Can man rob God? Well, not in
this area. Nevertheless, I want to give
you three ways in which you can obtain this power. The first
one is out of Isaiah. Listen to Isaiah 40. He gives
strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might, he increases
power. Though youths grow weary and
tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who
wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mound up
with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired.
They will walk and not become weary. That’s my favorite verse
every time I come across it. If we want this strength, we
must wait upon the Lord, which, by the way, includes patient
prayer. Some translate this as hope or trust, and the word really
means wait, but it’s not void of those elements, hoping and
trusting. It’s a hopeful waiting. God supplies
the power, but we must wait on him in order to obtain this power. The second one, example I want
to give you, second way you can obtain this power from the Lord, Jesus tells his disciples in
Acts 1.8 as he’s leaving for the Father, you will receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you. This wasn’t the disciples being
converted. Now I know that statement could get me much more than two
cents after the sermon, but I have Martyn Lloyd-Jones to back me
up on that one. So although he’s dead, I am assured
by that. They were receiving a greater
manifestation of the Holy Spirit. I mean, just in John 15, where
we came from, he had said, you are already clean because of
the word. There’s certain passages where
you see Jesus tell them that. If you ask the Father in faith,
and now I’m getting ahead of myself here, I wanted to share
with you the words of Jesus in Luke 11, where he tells his disciples,
if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, How much more will your heavenly father give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him? If you ask the father in faith
for a greater measure of the spirit, he will give it to you.
Unless, of course, your motives are wrong. We should be doing this on a
regular basis to obtain this power from God. A third way that
we can obtain this power is by sitting under the faithful preaching
of the Scriptures. Listen to Acts 16. Now while
they, that is Paul, Silas, and Timothy, were passing through
the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided
upon by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem for them
to observe. So the churches were being strengthened
in the faith. So the churches were being strengthened
in the faith as they were preaching the word to them. We can obtain
this power by sitting under faithful preaching of the word. The Bible
doesn’t teach that we must come up with this power on our own.
And I am so grateful for that. It does teach us what steps we
can take to obtain this glorious power. But having the power isn’t
an end to itself. Paul says there in Colossians
1 verse 11, that it is for the attaining of all steadfastness
and patience. For the attaining of all steadfastness
and patience. The word steadfastness is about
enduring hardship. It’s about not giving up and
abandoning the faith. Displeases the Lord when we’re
strengthened for that cause. The second word is patience.
What is the difference between the two? Again, the former, about
enduring hardship to remain in the faith. The second, patience,
is about our conduct, even during that time. Even as we remain steadfast.
In other words, we can, without departing from the faith, we
can grumble about the circumstances God has given us. We can be unkind
to anyone, but that’s not being patient, and therefore displeases
the Lord. In closing on this point, I wanted
to share with you the words of a Scottish theologian by the
name of John Eady. He said, both of them are used
not simply in reference to the pressure of present evil, but
also to the prospect of coming deliverance. They’re used in
the prospect of coming deliverance. I like that perspective. There
is deliverance coming. The fourth and final element
of pleasing the Lord, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord,
is that we always give thanks. Verse 12, joyously giving thanks
to the Father. It’s pleasing to the Lord when
we give thanks to the Father. Christ is pleased by that. And
the list of things to give thanks for are endless. Everything we
have is from Him. Therefore, we should thank Him
for all these things. Yet Paul doesn’t leave us wondering
where we should start. He gives us that which is on
the top of the list. He really gives us three things,
but I want you to note that all three of them are elements of
the same thing. They’re three elements of that
one magnificent work of redemption. Look at verse 12 again. Joyously
giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share
in the inheritance of the saints in light. for he rescued us from
the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved
son. So breaking down these three
elements briefly, I won’t spend much time on either one. First
one is who has qualified you? The Father has qualified us to
share in the inheritance of the saints. Peter gives us this,
a plain example of this also And first Peter 1 3. Just listen.
Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who,
according to his great mercy, has caused us to be born again
to a living hope. That’s how he qualified us for
this inheritance. He caused us to be born again. How does he do this? Well, there’s
other necessary factors to this, but Peter gives us a fundamental
one, the fundamental one. He says it was through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus told his disciples in John
14, because I live, you shall live also. His resurrection,
it would have been hopeless without. Because he lives, we shall live
also. Why does the father give us this
life though? Peter and Paul both say it is to obtain an inheritance. He’s our father. We have an inheritance
coming. If you’re in Christ, you’re his
adopted child. Peter, I like his words. He says
it’s to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled
and will not fade away. It’s reserved in heaven for you.
you who are protected by the power of God through faith. It’s
through faith. Now, remember where we were in
Colossians there. Paul is telling us to joyously give thanks to
the Father and especially for this living hope. Peter tells his readers they
are already doing that. What follows next from what I
was reading in Peter, he says, in this you greatly rejoice. they were greatly rejoicing and
giving thanks for this work of redemption for qualifying them for the inheritance
and so should we now for the second element of
this marvelous work is in verse 13 in Colossians 1 who has rescued
us who has rescued us from the domain of darkness The Bible
teaches that we’re all in bondage to sin in this dark domain. No more, as it’s stated more
clearly than in Ephesians 2, where Paul writes, and you were
dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in
the sons of disobedience. Among them, we too all formerly
lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging in the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as the rest. But God made us alive together
with Christ. This was all of us in this dark
domain. But God, amen? The sad reality is that those
who are still there, they want to stay there. And so did we
when we were there. They loved their sin. We loved
our sin. But when God changed our hearts,
we no longer love that sin. Rather, we’re grateful that he’s
rescued us out of that. He’s rescued us from the realm
that we would have never left on our own. It’s pleasing to
the Lord when we joyously give thanks to the Father for rescuing
us from this dark domain. The third element, who has transferred
us. Who has transferred us. The Father
didn’t rescue us out of this dark domain only to put us in
some neutral place. In fact, there is no neutral
place. The scriptures only teach of two spiritual realms. Therefore, he sets us in that
realm of light, in that kingdom of his beloved son, who is Jesus. He’s the one we serve. He’s the
one we seek to please. Whom would you rather serve than
the one who laid down his life for you? Please tell me no one,
not even yourself. Are you willing to put in more
effort in walking pleasing to the Lord,
more effort than we spend in trying to make our lives comfortable?
Will you labor hard to always bear more fruit, to always increase
in the knowledge of God, and to always be strengthened, and
to always give thanks to the Father? Will you do this to bring pleasure
to the Lord? Well, this won’t come about apart
from knowing the will of God. Now, instead of me just throwing
the Bible at you and saying, find the will of God in here. And there’s many areas where
we’re still all learning, but I wanted to give you a fundamental
factor in his will for us that we might live pleasing to him.
fundamental factor. I want to give a jump start to
those who need it in this pursuit of walking in a manner worthy
of the Lord. Here it is. It’s not God’s will
for you to live independent lives. He’s made us to be interdependent. We’re one body. We need each
other. In Ephesians 4, Paul’s on this
very subject, which is interesting because he starts out with these
words, I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling
with which you have been called. He’s talking about our calling.
And he immediately talks about the fact that God’s people are
one body. This doesn’t leave room for any
independent Christians. To learn to know the will of
God, we need to do more than personal study. Not less than,
but more than. We need more than some home church
or time with God in the mountains. We need one another. Some years
ago, I was without a church family, and it was a tough season, but
I became lazy in my search for a church family. Nevertheless,
God moved. And I heard a preacher say this. He says, you will never be a
mature Christian until you submit yourself to membership in a local
church. I knew immediately he was right on. And I started my
search. And of course, by that statement,
he also meant loyal participation. One of the privileges of membership
is, as our Constitution states, laboring to extend God’s kingdom
in ministries of the church as one’s gifts, graces, and callings
make appropriate. Another one is this, reception
of the committed care and discipline as needed of the membership of
the church. These are huge, and they’re biblical.
If we are in Christ, it is God’s will that we be members of a
local church. Now, this may not be the church
for you, but it is God’s will that we become members, that
is, if we are in Christ, to also not only become members but participate
faithfully, to attend church functions, that
is, those functions in where we can serve one another with
the gifts and opportunities that Christ gives us. There is no
other effective way to grow. I’ll repeat that. There’s no
other effective way to grow. To grow into the mature Christian
that Christ calls us to be. That’s exactly where Paul goes
in Ephesians 4. He’s talking about this one body
and what is our calling. He says, and he, that is Christ,
gave some as apostles and some as prophets and some as evangelists
and some as pastors and teachers. And here’s why. Here’s why Christ
gave them. For the equipping of the saints
for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.
These aren’t independent teachers that Paul’s talking about. They’re
part of a body. How else would they serve one
another? Yes, the universal church is one body in a sense, but if
we limit what Paul is saying to that sense, there’s no way
for us to put all the commandments into practice. In fact, there’s
very few that we could keep if that’s the only sense of the
word that Paul is using when he says one body. If membership
in the local church is not important, then this is the first generation
to come to that knowledge. After 2,000 years of church history,
they must have all had it wrong. This is the first generation
who claims that it’s not important. They have a so-called knowledge.
It’s Gnosticism. That’s what it is. It’s a form
of that Gnosticism Paul was addressing to the Colossians. The New Testament
demands church membership and participation. And as I’ve already
mentioned, membership is not the end, but it has a God-designed
purpose. Paul, continuing down Ephesians
4, he says, this is the purpose of it, attaining to the unity
of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature
man. May we avoid all forms of gnosticism. May we instead submit ourselves
to his word and live pleasing to the Lord. This won’t come
about without being a faithful member in a local church and,
of course, acting as one by participating in church functions. And the
more we all participate, the more we all grow together, which
all results in the pleasure of the Lord, which is what this
is all about, the pleasure of the Lord. Would you join me in
prayer to him? Our Father in heaven, we are humbled by your word. Lord, each one of us has fallen
short of walking in a manner worthy of you, of our Lord Jesus. Father, we thank you that we
have one another to help each other. And I thank you, Father,
for these new people that you’ve brought in and whom, to my knowledge,
are all interested in membership. Lord, we thank you for this. We pray that we would, after
you having qualified us and rescued us and transferred us to your
kingdom, we thank you for this, Lord. And we pray that now, we
could help one another, build one another up, that we would
be strengthened by you, and that you would increase our knowledge
of you, that we could all bear more fruit. Lord, help us to know your will
so that this would come about, that our Lord Jesus would be
pleased. It’s in his name that I pray, amen.