Pleasing God

For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10

 

To please God by what you do, apart from faith in Jesus God’s Son, is impossible to do.  To be sure, there are those who seek to please God only by what they externally do, erroneously believing that they will please God if they only try to be good on the outside.  Such is a main characteristic of all false religion—seeking to please (a) God only by what one does, apart from true faith in Christ.  However, the Bible states that, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).  And Jesus Himself says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

God is only pleased, according to Scripture, with one who first has faith in His Son.  If there is no faith first here, any works, though considered good by the world, are not considered so by God, not having been covered and cleansed by Jesus’ blood (1 John 1:7).  Of ourselves and apart from Christ, you are not pleasing to God, sinners as you are.  By yourselves, you cannot hope to attain God’s favor, for as Isaiah writes, “We are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

But you do have God’s favor through faith in Jesus Christ, having Christ’s righteousness credited as your own through that same faith (Romans 3:22).  Thus, it is not by what you do that you have God’s favor.  It is rather through faith in His Son that you are pleasing to God (Romans 14:23).

Does this mean, then, that having faith, you do not do good works?  Do you then just serve yourselves and not concern yourselves with anything else, but do everything only out of self-interest because everything is now “right with God” because of Christ?

Some might immediately assume this.  But the way of true and genuine faith has faith to God and love for neighbor.  Salvation by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) and Christ having fulfilled God’s Law (Matthew 5:17) in no way abrogates God’s command to keep the Law; not that you do this for God, as if God needs anything from you, but because God commands it, and for the sake of your neighbor.

The weakness of Christians in serving their neighbor should not be attributed in any way to God, as if God is to be blamed for Christian hypocrisy.  Rather, the burden remains on the Christians themselves, who continue to struggle with their flesh.  Though many readily acknowledge the weaknesses of Christians everywhere, those many also use the weaknesses of Christians as an excuse not to seek the truth and to reject God’s Word entirely.  But the Christian’s failure to “be perfect as the Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48) does not at all negate the responsibility of nonChristians to also hear and believe the clear teachings of Christ.

As Christians have Christ’s righteousness covering their own sin so that their sinful actions or inactions not be counted against them, so also nonChristians, not having faith in Christ, will have all that they do on their own head.  They themselves will have to bear the consequences of their faithlessness, whereas the Christian, on account of Christ, remains forgiven.

It doesn’t matter not how good you are or how good you try to be in life for the inheritance of heaven.  God calls you to believe in His Son, and through God’s very Word, God creates and sustains such faith.  And having such faith, you are already pleasing to God because of Christ, and will all the more seek to live according to what God says; asking for forgiveness of your sin where you have done wrong and trusting in God’s absolution, therefore seeking to continual amend your sinful ways.

Seeking to live this way as a servant of God and pleasing God rightly first has to do with faith.  If faith be absent, any service of God is not in service of God, but is in service of self or pleasing others.  Thus do you see the myriad of Church bodies, congregations, preachers, and people who demonstrate the absence of true faith.  Though many may and do indeed use biblical language and verse, their meanings are devoid of the true biblical doctrine.  What they seek to do and to accomplish, as well as what they teach, is contrary to what God clearly says in His Holy Word.  They themselves will use Scripture to their own ends, working the text to fit their own conceptions.  They do not let the text change them.  Rather, they themselves seek to change the text (and its meaning).

Such activities are welcome and pleasing to men.  Such activities also are pleasing to the world, for then they do not have to hear about the extent of their corruption and man’s need for a Savior.  Sinners do not like to hear about their sin.  They do not like to hear how God condemns what they do and how their corrupted nature moves them away from God.  Sinners mistakenly believe that they understand and know God apart from His Word and apart from His Son.

Saying otherwise and speaking according to the truth, however, does not at all please the world, or the unrepentant sinner.  Such preaching of the truth brings the world’s wrath and displeasure.

For those of the world, acceptance and tolerance is the gospel.  Such things characterize the desire to please men.  Yet characteristic of the desire to please God is faithfulness to Christ and His Word, come what may.  Such faithfulness will bring persecution in its myriad of forms, but having peace with God for all eternity through faith in Christ is immeasurably greater than the acceptance of a temporal world.

 

Luther

 

“Today you will find many who try to please men.  In order to live in peace and in the smugness of the flesh, they teach human doctrines, that is, impious ones.  Or they approve of the blasphemies and wicked judgments of our opponents, contrary to the Word of God and their own consciences, just to be able to retain the favor of princes and bishops and not to lose their property.  On the other hand—because we try to please God and not men—we bring upon ourselves the envy of the devil and of hell itself.  We bear the slanders and curses of the world, death, and every evil.”  (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p60).

 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive me for my weaknesses and for seeking the acceptance of the world.  Keep my eyes firmly fixed on you, that I find in you my life, strength, and peace, now and always.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

The Preaching and Hearing of God’s Holy Word

The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 23:28

Faithfulness to the Lord in preaching is a hard thing!  It is a hard thing because many will grumble.  Many will complain.  Many will grow tired and turn away from that which gives life.  The many do this because the Word of God does not “fit” them.  The Word of the Lord does not “do” for them what they think it should.  The Word of the Lord, essentially, is not to their own liking, independent of the outer dressing in which it is delivered.  It does not scratch the itchy conscience as it wants to be scratched.  It does not tell one troubled by sin that things are not that bad, that things will only get better, and that peace and joy is just around the corner.

The Word of the Lord preached faithfully speaks the reality of how things really are.  The Law of God does not mince words.  It does not pull back the punches.  Like the doctor who speaks the truth about one’s condition, so the Law reveals the hopelessness of our situation.  The Law says that you are a poor miserable sinner, deserving nothing but death and eternal condemnation.

Such a message does not sit well with one who wants to be his/her own savior.  Such a message does not parallel the false hope preached so often today, that all you have to do is try harder, or “give your life to Jesus.”  The Word of God contrasts the “it is not so bad” mentality of today’s church, for faithful preaching consists in addressing the condition and not only the symptoms of sinners.  Only by doing so is the true proclamation of the Gospel clearly heard and believed.

Jesus came to save real sinners, not partial sinners (Luke 5:32; 1 Timothy 1:15)! Jesus died in order to save real sinners from real condemnation and hell.  And this is just what Jesus did, not to make the world a better place, but to give eternal life.

While many go on proclaiming a false gospel of earthly hope and worldly utopia, true preachers of Christ preach the sure and certain hope of heaven.  They teach the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), for the very purpose of leading the hearers to Christ and to heaven.  They call sinners to turn from their evil ways and to believe the Good News of sins forgiven through faith in Christ Jesus.

Not all who hear this message appreciate it.  Many turn away from it.  Most reject it.  Such is the world in which we live.  But by God’s grace, there are also most certainly those who do hear, who do believe, and who do confess Jesus Christ to be Savior.  They know God’s Word when they hear it, for they are of God (John 8:47).  They hear Christ’s voice and follow Him (John 10:16, 27).  And they seek none other than the true doctrine, for in this true doctrine is true and everlasting life.  And of this doctrine they are not ashamed, for it is not their own, but God’s.  Thus do they boldly declare it, and of it are most sure!

 

Luther

“With Paul, therefore, we boldly and confidently pronounce a curse upon any doctrine that does not agree with ours.  We, too, seek by our preaching, not the praise of men or the favor of princes or of bishops but only the favor of God.  We preach His grace and gift alone, treading underfoot and condemning whatever is our own.  Therefore anyone who teaches something different or something contrary – we confidently declare that he was sent from the devil and is avna,qema.” (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p59).

Prayer: Gracious Father, you have given us Your holy Word that we believe it and boldly confess it.  Grant us not to be ashamed of what you say, nor to depart from it all of our days.  Forgive us our weaknesses, and bring us to firm confidence in Your doctrine and eternal life.  Amen.

If you Abide in My Word…

“If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.”

John 8:31

Enthusiasm, in the sense of excitement, can be a good thing.  It gets us moving.  However, enthusiasm can also be a hindrance, for it is often temporary.  It wanes away.  We begin something full of zeal, but then soon lose interest.  We then might begin to even despise what we were once eager about.

This happened during the Reformation concerning the Gospel in Luther’s day.  People were excited about the doctrine of the forgiveness of sins by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  People paid in earnest to the teachings of God.  But shortly thereafter, the heat waned into lukewarmness and even into indifference on the count of many.  People tired of the truth and wanted something new and different to tickle their fancy.

Long before Luther, St. Paul the apostle encountered a similar situation, for to the Christians in Galatia he writes, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.  As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.  For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-10).

The Galatian Christians were turning from the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to something else, another teaching, a teaching which was not of God.  They were tired, ironically, of the only truth that truly makes alive new.

Christians today are beset by the same temptations.  How easy it is to consider the glorious resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday, and then go into the “ho-humness” of everyday life, including Sunday morning!  How easy it is for us to distance ourselves further and further from the Lord and His saving doctrine and all the while take for granted the Good News of forgiveness in Christ!

Like the Christians in Galatia or the Christians during of the Reformation, we too currently face such trials as the people of God in the year 2012.  The answer, however, is not to be found in trying to solve this problem, trying harder, or in looking for something to bring about the escaping enthusiasm and excitement that we so long for.  The answer, simply, is turn from selfishness to Christ—to not seek what the world and our sinful nature looks for—but to seek Him who alone forgives and saves the ungodly (Psalm 32:1-2).

Enthusiasm goes up and down for this and for that.  It can be sometimes quite hot.  On the other hand, it can also become quite frigid.

God’s love for sinners, for you, in Christ, does not wax or wane.  It is constant.  And in Christ, God’s love for you is sure and certain (Romans 5:8).  Therefore do His people seek to continue in that sure and certain Word and doctrine of Christ, for it is only there that Christ’s disciples remain (John 12:26).

Luther

“Whatever we do, we are always very ardent at the beginning; but when the ardor of our initial feelings is spent, we soon lose our enthusiasm.  We give up on things and completely reject them as a impetuously as we undertake them.  When the light of the Gospel first began to appear after the great darkness of human traditions, many listened eagerly to sermons.   Now that the teaching of religion has been successfully reformed by the great growth of the Word of God, many are joining the sects, to their destruction.  Many despise not only Sacred Scripture but almost all learning.”  (Luther’s Lectures on Galatians, LW 26, p47).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, forgive us for our lack of enthusiasm for Your Holy and life-giving Word.  Keep us from becoming indifferent to Your heavenly doctrine.  Uphold us by Your Word and grant us diligence in its study, that we continue to be Your faithful servants.  In  Jesus’ Name.  Amen.