Here is the sermon I preached on July 13...

PLEASING GOD

Hebrews 11:4-19

Introduction

What are some things that really bug you?  What really annoys you? We can probably as a group think of a lot of things...as parents, I am sure there are things that bugs us.  Like the short amount of time that a room can look the same way it was before you cleaned it...or constantly reminding kids or as my wife would say, constantly reminding my husband!

Slow traffic on your way to work...loud neighbours...people lie to you...when you are in a public place and people give no consideration to your children and start using bad language.  When my favourite hockey team has so much talent and cant seem to win.

Have you ever thought about what displeases God...what really bugs God?  The answer is found in Hebrews 11…people not living by faith!!!

A major point that the author is trying to make is an active faith pleases God.  A major component of faith is that it is active - a faith that manifests itself in action, in obedience. Its not just something that we talk about...or think about...or something that sounds good Sunday morning.

What is the author teaching us in these verses?

I. Without faith it is impossible to please God 

Do you desire to please God?  You might be thinking that the answer is pretty obvious...we are at church...we are hear voluntarily…obviously we want to please God.  It is pretty easy to come to church and cry out to God in your hearts that you want to please Him. But do you think about pleasing God through the week? In one sense, we are pleasing to God because of the life and work of Jesus Christ...nothing can change our status before him...do you believe that? God looks at us with pleasure...with a smile on his face…because he sees us through the work of his Son… But there is another aspect of being pleasing to God...we are called to live to please God...to live what we are...to live what we are called to live. But the problem is, we don't live that way perfectly every day. Put in a negative form...but he is pretty emphatic here...faith and pleasing God are inseparable...

• Romans 14:23b - "For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." - sinning and living by faith are opposite...

• James 2:17 - "so also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead." - not something that is static...its a dynamic thing...an active thing...

Philip Edgcombe Hughes gives a good definition - "...is the disposition which should be characteristic of the creature in relation to his Creator; for faith is that trustful reliance which finds expression in willing obedience and submission to the sovereign word of God, in grateful acknowledgement of the unmixed goodness of all his works, and in confident recognition of the complete trustworthiness of his promises." 

Lets break this down:

1) Willing obedience and submission to the sovereign word of God.  Faith involves confident action, which involves living boldly in response to the unseen God and his promises. But there is a willingness - a joy in obeying the word of God. Isn't a joy when you ask your kids to do something and they willing do it?  But as we all know that isn't aways to the case. I am sure that when all of us were kids there were times where we did not want to obey our parents.  I know that I gave my parents a lot grief during my teen years - a lot of grumbling and complaining. But that is not what God wants.  It is impossible to please God without this kind of faith.  Only God can give you this willingness.

2) Grateful acknowledgement of the unmixed goodness of all his works.  Which means being grateful for the good and the bad.

3) Confident recognition of the complete trustworthiness of his promises.  Ellingworth points out that, "...faith binds the believer securely to the reality of what he or she does not (yet) see, but for which he or she hopes."   Is like this of his promise to come back one day.  It has been a long time since he made that promise...9:28...It is impossible to please God if you don't live like this, f you don't live boldly for him.  There are two examples in Scripture of not living by faith:  1) Genesis 3 - Rebellion against God's authority,  Questioning his goodness, Denying the truth of his word; 2) Revelation 3. God does not like mediocrity. There is not value in mediocrity.

• Rev. 3:15-17 -15 "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

Do you see the warning in verse 19? How else do we please God?

II. Believe that God exists

If want to draw near to God, not  just in times of corporate worship, but all the time, if we want to please him, it is necessary that we believe he exists.  God is the supreme and eternal object of our faith. This isn't just head knowledge.  This is to believe absolutely, to believe in such a way that it makes a visible difference in your life.  Remember the questions I started out with last week? Remember how I asked,

• How would you and I live today if we believed absolutely that God existed and loved us completely and had a destination for us that made all the world pale by just one square foot of its turf?

• How would we live if we believed that God cared about our every action and every concern and wished to reward us magnanimously for our faith?

• How would you and I live in the face of opposition if we believed in God, really believed as if our whole lives depended on him and his?

You might be thinking, "Yes I believe absolutely.  I will believe no matter what.  I would die for Jesus."  Is that what many of you are thinking? Is that what many of you believe?

Now, compare those questions with these...

• How would you live differently if you did not believe?  Would there be much difference?

Do you see what I was getting at? Why is the distinction between these questions important?

Guthrie - "If all I am and have and do differs little from my unbelieving neighbour, then I have embraced their world and their values and fool myself by saying I am living for another world and kingdom values.  My life must be radically different in what I embrace - the values of a heavenly kingdom." 

There has to be this distinction right?  Does't Jesus make this distinction?

• Matthew 7:15-20 - What fruit are you bearing?

Would someone, just by looking at your life, see that God exists?  That there is something different, something supernatural?  Believing God exists effects what we watch on tv, what movies we watch, how we surf the web, how we treat our spouses, our kids, what we do with our money, how we treat people...

Hughes - "To abandon faith is to behave as though God were not there." 

Notice is it not just believing that God does not exist.  It is to abandon faith is to behave as though God were not there.  You can call this practical atheism.  Many people in our country say that they believe in God. But if one would examine their lives, there is no hint that they believe God.  They don't live by God's moral standards, they don't bathe their day in prayer, hey don't do to church, they don't witness. How can you believe that God exists and not do these things?

III. God rewards those who seek Him

1) Seek God first not his rewards 

This is not a prosperity gospel.  The rewards are mainly in the next life, but they do come to us here and how as well.

• Matthew 6:33 - But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God wants to be first.  So the question is, "What is first in your life?"  The Psalmists often talk about seeking the Lord:

• Psalm 14:2 - "The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God."

• Psalm 34:4 - "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears."

• Psalm 34:10 - "The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing."

• Psalm 69:32 - "When the humble see it they will be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive."

We seek God for God because he is the greatest treasure.

2) God rewards those who walk in faith

Back in Hebrews 11 God responds to those who seek him, those who seek God know that he is a rewarder, that it is not all for nothing.

It's not like sitting through the agony of  the Dutch game last week, no scoring through the whole game and then not getting rewarded in the end with a win.  Maybe that's not a good illustration.  But all of these people who were walking by faith knew that God was able to reward and that he would reward.  He will not forget to reward…

3) The reward is ultimately God himself

Which is another way of saying eternal life, the good news of the gospel because God is the gospel.

• Genesis 15:1 - "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward."

• Psalm 27:4 - "One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple."

• Phil 3:8 - "I count everything as loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."

Piper - This is the all-encompassing gift of God's love through the gospel - to see and savour the glory of Christ forever…God is the all-satisfying gift of God's love…God himself is the greatest gift of the gospel.  If the enjoyment of God himself is not the final and best gift of love, then God is not the greatest treasure, his self-giving is not the highest mercy, the gospel is not the good news that sinners may enjoy their Maker, Christ did not suffer to bring us to God, and our souls must look beyond him for satisfaction."

I bring up this question again…

"If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauty you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disaster, could you be satisfied with heaven, of Christ were not there?" - Piper

This is a critical question for every generation of Christians, for our generation. It keeps us God-centered in our hearts and minds. God is our supreme pleasure, not his gifts!!!  Do you believe that?

IV. Look to godly examples for motivation.

This comes very natural to us - imitation.  The author of Hebrews wants to motivate you and me through examples who are  ordinary people through whole God did extraordinary things.

The author of Hebrews gives some OT examples:

1. Abel offered the best to God - Genesis 4:4-5. He was a farmer. He offered the best of what he had instead of keeping it for himself. Should that his internal attitude and external actions were pleasing to God. The integrity of his heart is what really mattered because we see that his motives were pure. He offered the firstborn of his flock.  He offered the best.  This action shows that God was the first priority in his life.

2. Enoch walked with God - Gen 5:18-24. He walked with God.  He had close communion with God.  He was resolute in his commitment to God.

3. Noah boldly obeyed God's Word. He acted on the divine warning.

4. Abraham obeyed God without all the facts - he was an idol worshipper who became a follower. Not a blind faith.

5. Sarah believed God was able to do what he promised - Gen 18:19ff . A life of faith is not a perfect faith on our part.  We see that her doubt was eventually dispelled.  Hughes points out, "For Sarah, we must remember, had proved herself to be a woman of faith by her willingness to identify herself completely with Abraham's great adventure of faith, from the time of the departure from Ur and throughout the long years of danger and hardship in the and of promise." 

Don't these examples inspire you to persevere?  I am not sure of all the specific battles you are facing in your life right now.  But I hope these examples do inspire you.