Fully Pleasing God

Introduction

Well, I’m going to start this morning by saying how good it is to be home. I feel like I need to say a few words. Maybe I feel like I need to introduce myself again. After having only been here for two months, I went away for two weeks. Ed Brand, Ed is with us this morning. Ed and I left about two weeks ago and went to South Africa. Spent two weeks and were working my estimation, if I’ve rendered it correctly, among six different churches throughout the rather large country of South Africa. We not only flew to South Africa, but we did some flying within South Africa. We landed in Johannesburg and then flew immediately to Cape Town and spent some time in Cape Town. And then went down to Hansby.

Did I say that close enough, Julie? Hansby, and spent some time there, and then back to Cape Town. And then from Cape Town, we flew to Port Elizabeth. And then at Port Elizabeth, we split up. Ed went up to Eshowe and spent some time there, and I went down to Utenay and labored and worked with the church there with Norman Simon preaches, who the church here supports. And then we flew back to Johannesburg and spent some time in the home of uh Alan and Sylvia Fox. And we’re able to teach some classes there. Lord willing, we’ll have more time to share some pictures and some details, more details about the trip. But I just want to say thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to go and to work with these brethren and work among those churches.

I appreciate the elders giving me this opportunity to do that. I appreciate Greg uh preaching not just his role but mine while I was gone. But I’m so thankful for your blessings, for your prayers, and for everything that made this trip possible. Again, I have more to share with you about this trip, Lord willing, in the near future. But just wanted to say again thank you. Thank you especially for the prayers and the kind words of encouragement. And I solicit those prayers on Ed’s behalf, said Ed, who was my traveling companion, or well, let me correct myself. I was his traveling companion. Ed will be leaving again this afternoon, going to South America to Argentina and Chile for two weeks, and so I certainly solicit your prayers on his behalf as he continues his work in preaching the gospel.

You know, periodic self-evaluation, or just periodic evaluation is important. As you’re sitting on a big airplane about to fly for about 11 hours at tens of thousands of miles in altitude and thousands of miles in distance, you kind of hope that maybe they’ve maintained this airplane. That maybe recently, hopefully today, somebody’s looked it over to make sure that it is where it needs to be.

Application, but no avenue of life more important than making a spiritual application. Do you think it’s important from time to time as a Christian to stop and honestly try to evaluate yourself? Where am I? Am I where I need to be as a child of God? Am I where God wants me to be? And what do I need to be doing in order to make that the case? This morning I’d like for us to look in the book of Colossians, chapter one. If you have your New Testaments, if you don’t have one, there should be one in the pew in front of you. Turn with me to the book of Colossians, chapter one. Wouldn’t it be better? We talked about a self-evaluation. Wouldn’t it be better if God could evaluate you?

If God would intervene into human history again and speak to you and say, here’s how you’re doing. He did that from time to time, didn’t he, in the New Testament? In fact, I think you could argue that almost every one of the letters written to either individuals or Christians in the New Testament, to some degree or another did that. It let them know how they were doing. Many times they were commended for the work that they were doing. Many times they were reprimanded for what they weren’t doing or what they were doing wrong. And so, although we won’t receive these letters from God directed and addressed to us, don’t think that God is not giving you a means of evaluation. We have recorded these letters that we can read them and put ourselves into the template of these individuals and Christian churches and see how we stack up.

And so let’s do that this morning in this letter to the church at Colossae in Colossians chapter 1, where Paul is going to talk to these brethren about how they are doing in regard to fully pleasing God. And I want you to use, put yourself in their shoes in this template, and ask yourself, how am I doing? How do I stack up when it comes to fully pleasing God? Read with me, if you will, Paul’s introduction to the church at Colossae in Colossians chapter 1, beginning in verse 3, where the text says this. We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints, because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

As you also learned from Epiphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. Here the apostle says to this church, this group of Christians, I thank God for you.

His evaluation, his inspired evaluation of them was good. They were to be commended for what they were doing and where they were in track of fully pleasing Him. Well, how am I doing? How are you doing? And as we do this self evaluation this morning, I really want to not just evaluate ourselves, but more importantly, give ourselves the tools that we need to be what we ought to be, to be fully pleasing to God. Let’s begin with this premise that I think and hope that we all will accept that that is our goal, to be fully pleasing to God. Not only is our goal, that may be somewhat of an understatement, that that should be our ever being. The wise man, the author of the book of Ecclesiastes says that that was the whole duty of man, or really that was the whole of man.

1. Filled With the Knowledge of His Will

That’s everything you’re about is to be pleasing unto God. And so let’s look not just as where we stack up in that regard, but maybe even more importantly, what can I do to be fully pleasing unto God. First of all, the Apostle Paul said to these brethren that what they were doing and what they could be doing to be fully pleasing unto God was first of all, he says, to be filled with the knowledge of his will. Every discussion, absolutely every discussion that begins with being pleasing unto God has to start here, does it not? And I know because of that, because you’ve heard so many times from preachers in the past about the idea of studying the word, reading your Bible, studying your Bible, that it almost becomes one of those things that we just kind of, yeah, yeah.

That we just like, okay, yeah. I knew that would be on the list. I knew that, of course, the preacher’s got to say that. But we must understand that the inclusion of this item on every list bespeaks its importance. That whether it is a medical doctor or whether it is a spiritual teacher who is trying to improve either your physical or your spiritual health, there’s often going to be many times something they’re always going to tell you to do. Every good doctor is always going to tell you certain things. Every visit, here’s what you need to be doing. There may be other things on that list, but there’s always going to be a couple things you always need to be doing. Why? Because they are absolutely essential.

And so it is.

In this short text, how many times he mentions the importance of the Word of God? There in verse 9. He says that you may be filled, I’m reading toward the end of verse 9, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Look at verse 5. Because of the hope which is laid up before you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Look at verse 6. Which, speaking of the gospel, which has come to you as it has in also all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it also is among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth. Verse 7, as you learned from Epiphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf.

Verse 9, for this reason, since we heard it, we do not cease to pray for you to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Verse 10, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in what? The knowledge of God. Over and over again, in talking about being fully pleasing unto God, the Holy Spirit says the word. The word. The word. The repetition should raise a flag for us. That maybe, just maybe. This is important. That being filled with the knowledge of his will is absolutely essential to being pleasing unto God. Well, honest evaluation time. Are you filled with the knowledge of his will? How are you doing in this regard?

Because we need to understand that lack of Bible study, lack of true dwelling in the Word of God, is not the disease. As serious as it is, it’s simply a symptom of a greater disease. And that is our love and understanding of God. And so, if I’m not matching up to where I think I ought to be in regard to this, and not matching up where God thinks I ought to be, then what do I do? I think many of a Christian would feel inadequate in this regard. And it’s kind of grasping for how.

It probably indicates a lack of love and a lack of appreciation for who God is and what his word is. Hold your finger here in Colossians chapter 1 and go with me to John chapter 1. I want you to notice the words of the author of this gospel, the human author. Obviously, he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. But John wrote this account of the life of Christ, really decades after the events happened. And notice how he begins. We remember this familiar refrain at the beginning of John’s gospel in verse 1. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And all things were made through him. And without him, nothing was made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. I want you to think for just a minute, to imagine for just a minute, John being inspired by the Holy Spirit of God to pin these words. Decades after he had spent time with our Savior here upon the earth. And he now begins to write these words. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And then skip down to verse 14, as John with pen and ink wrote these words. Verse 14, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory. The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Can’t you imagine as John wrote those words? And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld. I don’t know that this happened, but I can easily imagine John having to pause as he wrote those words. And we beheld his glory. The glory as the only begotten from the Father. And maybe tears came to his eyes. And he may have had to put that pen down for a little bit and think, that’s right. We didn’t appreciate it then. But I walked with God. That was God in the flesh. And I beheld his glory.

That he was in the very presence of the glory and the brightness of God. Let’s make application to us today. Do we really understand that when we hold the Bible in our hands, that we’re holding the words of God. That the very creator of this universe has humbled himself to communicate himself to us.

I can read those words with my eyes. Understand those words in my heart. What would we think of the Apostle John and those others if they had dismissed that concept?

If somehow they had refused to participate in the avenue of inspiration. How do we view ourselves when we fail to participate in the avenue of inspiration? Of reading it and understanding it. Another illustration. Imagine in former times where communication was not as swift and as easy as it was. Imagine a soldier being away in war. In danger, separated for months and maybe years. And finally, the silence is broken and a communication is sent back home. Whether he sends this letter to his parents or to his bride. A letter has arrived from the war front. It’s from your son, it’s from your husband.

Would it go from the mailbox to the coffee table? And sit there? Even prominently. And one of these days we’re going to open that letter and read it.

Or would it be placed in the house somewhere to be misplaced? I know I’ve got that letter here somewhere. Or would that letter be read probably at the mailbox itself? And then read again when you got in the home. And then read again that night before bedtime and then read again the next morning. And take this application even further and be read to the neighbors and the family members and anyone else that you could read that letter to.

2. A Walk Worthy of the Lord

Paul said these people were fully pleasing unto God because they were filled with the knowledge of his will. That’s where it must be begin. And that must begin with this, as those who walked with him said, did our hearts not burn within us. Then Paul says that because of their being filled with the knowledge of his will and all spiritual understanding and wisdom, that they had a walk worthy of the Lord. Go back with me if you will. Did you put your finger in Colossians 1? Look at verse 10 now. After saying that they were filled with the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That, so here’s the purpose. We don’t read this just for some academic exercise so that we can win Bible trivia when we play that, so that we can be the smartest one in the Bible class.

It has a purpose. We’re filled with this that are so that, verse 10, so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. Here’s the purpose of Bible study, so that we might know the will of God, and that will of God might be incorporated into our lives. And so the second step in being fully pleasing unto God is now to put it into practice. Walk worthy of the Lord. Paul will tell these Colossian brethren what they surely already knew, and that is that when they became a child of God, a real change had taken place. Look in this text. Skip down to verse 13. We haven’t read that yet. Look at verse 13.

Speaking of the Father, he says, He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. A change has taken place. A transfer has occurred. No greater change and no greater transfer could be imagined than that. To be delivered from the power of darkness and translated or conveyed into the kingdom of the power of his son in love. You’re not a Christian unless a change has taken place. A change in your walk, a change in your existence. In fact, skip down a little bit later in this chapter, chapter 21. He speaks of this change and what really was involved in this change. Verses 21 and 22 of Colossians 1 says this, and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.

Yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His side. You see again, He says a change is taking place. You once were this. You were alienated, you were enemies by your wicked works, but now something has happened. Now you’ve been reconciled. And this is not just some minor change that has been taking place that will be negligible. This is a change so transformational that it can only be described in terms of death. There’s nothing more severe and final and transformative than that, is there? Death. Think of any change in life greater than that. You can’t.

You died. And you came back to life in another form. Fully pleasing unto God requires that we have a walk worthy of the Lord. The New Testament uses this phrase in a few places, more than a few places. When it simply speaks of the warning, issues the warning, deceiving yourselves. In modern day vernacular, we’d say you’re kidding yourself. We’re kidding ourselves. If we think that we can become a Christian and be fully pleasing unto God and have as our hope eternal salvation in heaven above. Without a change taking place. Without an absolutely transformative change that can only be described in terms of death and life. Self-evaluation time. Have you really changed? Are you really any different than you were? Are you really any different than the world and the culture in which you live?

3. Being Fruitful and Increasing

In other words, did you really die to sin? Or is it still alive and well? And we’re really not fully pleasing unto God. Well, the word of God being filled with all knowledge is absolutely required. A change is absolutely required. Walking worthy of the Lord. And then the last thing we want to notice this morning is in verse 10 as well. After saying that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. To be fully pleasing unto God, the last step, or the last step we will have time to notice this morning, is to be fruitful and increasing. Do you see, which appears to be a very intentional process and progress here?

It starts with the foundational concept of the word, being filled with the knowledge of his word, and that’s going to bear itself out in our actions, walking worthy of the Lord. And then the next step is increasing in that. Abounding in that, being fruitful in that. Our Lord told us that’s the whole point of the word. Remember the parable of the sower? What was the distinguishing factors in those soils which represented hearts? It was the fruitfulness of them. Some never even took root. Some did take root, but was unable to bear the fruit that was there. But that good and honest soil, or that good and honest heart, was the one who produced what? Fruit. The whole concept of being fruitful abounds in the New Testament.

But what does it mean? What does it mean to bear fruit? What does it mean to be fruitful? I guess in its simplest form, it simply means doing what you’re supposed to do. A fruit tree is supposed to bear fruit. In fact, Jesus, our Lord, said, if a fruit tree doesn’t bear fruit, guess what happens? You cut it down, throw it into the fire. It’s not fulfilling its purpose. And so being fruitful is just fulfilling your purpose, doing what God meant you to do. But it really just boils down to kind of the last point we talked about is just doing the will of God. Is the idea of being fruitful. But he doesn’t just say being fruitful, he says being fruitful and increasing in that.

There’s not a grandparent in this room. Who that if their child or grandchild was not growing properly. In whatever level, that we wouldn’t be alarmed. In fact, it could be said of some of us in this room as parents that we’re overly alarmed. Is my child where they need to be? And so we go and we buy this big book that says where your child needs to be at every stage in life. And we compare it to the other parents, other children in the world. We’re so concerned that they’re growing, that they’re progressing. I wish we had that same, or even a portion of that same concern about our spiritual growth. That when we become spiritually retarded in our growth, that we would be so alarmed.

That we would go grab some book and say, what do I need to be doing? Surely there’s something to do. To go to some physician and say, What can I do? I’m alarmed, I’m not growing as I ought to be. Something’s got to be wrong. What’s the answer? But unlike vigilant parents and grandparents, we can sit there and content ourselves with absolute stagnation. Not coming close to being fruitful. Much less increasing. And maybe little do we know that the Lord has already laid the axe to the roof. And we’ve been cast aside. Self-evaluation time. Are you being fruitful? Are you producing anything? Are you increasing in that? Sixtyfold, a hundredfold. If not, are you at least a little concerned about it? Are you trying to find the solución?

The Lord’s given you many opportunities. This congregation, the elders alone have given you many opportunities to be able to abound and to increase. Three hours of worship on the Lord’s day. An hour of Bible class included in that. A Wednesday night opportunity to come together and to separate ourselves again from the world and to dedicate ourselves to the study of God’s word and the edifying of one another. A gospel meeting in which we can certainly tune ourselves into being filled with the knowledge of his will and leave this place walking worthy of the Lord, being fruitful and increasing. But I’d rather be stagnant.

And cut down and cast into the fire. Because maybe I was never really filled with the knowledge of His will, wisdom and spiritual understanding. Maybe a change never really took place. And maybe I’m not fully pleasing God.

Conclusion

God still has grace. And so all of that can change. Could you begin that change this morning? Grow in your love for God and therefore the love for His Word. And then do what will naturally happen with a letter from someone that you love dearly. And then do what will naturally happen, begin to walk worthy of the Lord. And to be fruitful and increasing. May God bless you in that work. May God bless us all to help one another, to encourage and even admonish one another to be busy in that. Because in the end, it’s really all about fully pleasing Him. If we can help you in the beginning of that wonderful journey this morning, or maybe you started that journey, but you’ve somehow grown weary, then why not use this morning as an occasion to begin again?

Or to begin for the first time in walking worthy of the Lord and being fully pleasing unto him. Can we help you this morning in any spiritual way? Then why not let it be known right now? As together we stand and sing.