Living A Life That Pleases God Colossians 1:9-14 I N T R O D U C T I O N

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1 SERMON FOR SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER USED IN SEVERAL REVIVALS CHRISTIAN HOPE CHURCH OF CHRIST, PLYMOUTH, NORTH CAROLINA by Reggie A. Braziel Living A Life That Pleases God Colossians 1:9-14 Read Scripture Text PRAYER I N T R O D U C T I O N Illustration: When I was growing up, pleasing my father was very important to me. Hearing dad say, I m proud of you or You did a great job meant more to me than he ever knew. When I was in grade school I played junior high basketball. Because of dad s obligations as a preacher, he wasn t always able to attend my ball games. But dad was in the stands the night I scored 18 points against one of our county rivals. Every time I would hit a shot I would hear dad s voice above all the others shouting, Way to go Reg! Nice shot Reg! Alright Reg! After the game, people were coming up to me patting me on the back and saying things like nice game or good job! But the approval of all those people didn t mean nearly as much as the approval of my Father. One of the most precious memories I cherish of my father was when he walked up to me after that game, put his arms around me, and said, Reg, I m so proud of you! ***************************** As Christians our greatest desire should be to PLEASE OUR HEAVENLY FATHER.

2 How many times have we heard someone say something like this in a prayer. Lord, help us to live in a way that is PLEASING and ACCEPTIBLE in your sight. If I were to ask you to describe the KIND OF LIFE you believe GOD finds pleasing and acceptable, perhaps you would focus on the external aspects of the Christian life..for example, some of you might say, To live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God, I need to be in Church every time the Church doors are open. And read my Bible and pray every day...others of you might focus on good morals, by saying In order to live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God I must not DRINK or SMOKE or CHEW or go with girls who do. And still others of you might say, To live a life that is pleasing and acceptable to God, I must do lots of good deeds and treat people with love and kindness. While all these are very important and should characterize the life of every Christian, we must ask ourselves, Are these truly the things that are most important to God? Are these the things that PLEASE Him the most? Or is there something else? Something that perhaps we are missing? ******************** In Paul s opening remarks in his letter to the COLOSSIAN Christians, he talks about this matter of PLEASING GOD. In verses 10 and 11 Paul mentions three things that truly please God.

3 First of all.. I. God Is Pleased When I Am Fruitful vs. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may PLEASE HIM in every way: BEARING FRUIT in every good work. 1. Back in verse 6 Paul commended the Colossian Christians for the fruitfulness they had shown. He said, All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God s grace in all its truth. 2. The Christian life ought to be a FRUITFUL life. In other words there ought to be such convincing proof of our relationship with the Lord that no one could ever doubt we are truly a Christian. 3. Let me give you an analogy. Let s say you plant two BEEFSTAKE TOMATO plants. The first few weeks both plants appear to be healthy and growing. Soon one of the tomato plants is loaded with lots of healthy looking little green tomatoes. But the other plant has just one tiny little green tomato on it. Several more weeks go by and now that one plant is loaded with lots of luscious ripe, juicy tomatoes. But that other plant has just one shriveled up, rotten tomato. Now you tell me, which of those two tomato plants are you going to find PLEASING? The one that bears lots of good fruit or the one that doesn t? The answer is obvious isn t it?

4 4. Likewise, GOD is PLEASED when He sees us BEARING lots of good spiritual FRUIT. Our FRUITFULNESS is very important to GOD! 5. Now just what kind of FRUIT does God want us to BEAR? Well if you will turn back just a few pages in your Bibles to GALATIANS 5:22,23 Paul answers that for us. Galatians 5:22, 23 You notice Paul calls this the FRUIT of the Spirit (singular) not fruits of the Spirit (plural). Although there are nine separate character qualities listed here, they all unite together singularly and harmoniously to form the SPIRIT of CHRIST-LIKENESS. These nine character qualities were personified in the person of JESUS CHRIST. 6. GOD is pleased when HE sees you and me BEAR the FRUIT of. *CHRIST-LIKE LOVE *CHRIST-LIKE JOY *CHRIST-LIKE PEACE *CHRIST-LIKE PATIENCE *CHRIST-LIKE KINDNESS *CHRIST-LIKE GOODNESS *CHRIST-LIKE FAITHFULNESS *CHRIST-LIKE GENTLENESS *AND CHRIST-LIKE SELF-CONTROL 7. When God looks at your life, does HE see an abundance of that CHRIST-LIKE FRUIT? Or does HE see a dried up, dead branch that bears little or no fruit at all?

5 *Does God see THE LOVE of Christ in you or does He see someone is cold-hearted and indifferent toward others? *Does God see THE JOY of Christ in you or does He see someone who is miserably unhappy and mad at the world? *Does God see THE PEACE of Christ in you or does He see someone who is combative and always stirring up trouble for others? *Does God see THE PATIENCE of Christ in you or does He see someone who has very little patience with the faults and shortcomings of others? *Does God see THE KINDNESS of Christ in you or does He see someone who tends to be mean-spirited and cruel in the things you say and do to others? * Does God see THE GOODNESS of Christ in you or does He see someone who is stingy, self-centered and self-absorbed? * Does God see THE FAITHFULNESS of Christ in you or does He see someone who runs hot and cold spiritually? * Does God see THE GENTLENESS of Christ in you or does He see someone who is brash and hateful in the way you interact with others? * Does God see THE SELF-CONTROL of Christ in you or does He see someone whose life is out of control? 8. When you and are truly FRUITFUL our life points people to Christ rather than away from Him. 9. If you and I are going to live a life that is PLEASING to GOD we must BE FRUITFUL.

6 Secondly.. II. God Is Pleased When I Am Fervent vs. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the LORD and may PLEASE HIM in every way: BEARING FRUIT in every good work, GROWING in the knowledge of GOD.. 1. Now I know you are probably thinking, I don t see the word fervent in this verse. And you would be right. But the spirit of fervency is what is implied in Paul s statement, Growing in the knowledge of God. 2. That word FERVENT is a word we don t hear very often, so let me explain what it means. The word fervent comes from the greek word, zeontes (zee-own-tays) which literally means, BOILING. Illustration: We recently had to replace the old electric stove we ve had for over 30 years with a new GAS stove. Whereas with the old electric stove it seemed to take forever for the element to heat up, with the GAS stove you can put a pot of water on the flame and it will be boiling in no time at all. 2. GOD is pleased when you and I are FERVENT! In other words, He is pleased when you and I boil in our spirit to KNOW Him. GOD is PLEASED when we HUNGER and THIRST to KNOW HIM. HE is PLEASED when knowing Him is our greatest DESIRE.our greatest PASSION and our greatest AMBITION in LIFE.

7 3. But I m afraid many Christians have a relationship with GOD that is more TEPID than FERVENT. Now what do I mean by that? illustration: Imagine this..you ve just come home from a long, hard day of work. After eating your supper all you want to do is take a nice, hot shower and relax the rest of the evening. But when you step into the shower the water isn t HOT at all.it is TEPID, it is LUKEWARM. I ll bet you weren t very pleased were you? 4. Likewise, GOD is NOT pleased with a TEPID SPIRIT. GOD is not pleased with LUKEWARMNESS..GOD is not pleased with APATHY...GOD is not pleased with HALF-HEARTEDNESS. GOD is not pleased when we lack SPIRITUAL PASSION and ZEAL. 5. Christian, is your spirit BOILING or is it LUKEWARM? Are you FERVENT or are you TEPID? God Is Pleased When I Am FRUITFUL. God Is Pleased When I Am FERVENT And finally.

8 III. God Is Pleased When I Am Faithful vs. 10, 11 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may PLEASE HIM in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have GREAT ENDURANCE and PATIENCE 1. Life is a mixed bag...some times life is GOOD, sometimes not so good. Some times everything seems to go RIGHT, while other times everything seems to go WRONG..Some times everything seems to GO OUR WAY, while other times everything seems to be GOING AGAINST US. 2. GOD is well-pleased when HE sees us being FAITHFUL in the GOOD TIMES as well as THE BAD. GOD is well-pleased when HE sees us being FAITHFUL when everything is going RIGHT as well as when it seems everything is going wrong. GOD is well-pleased when HE sees us being FAITHFUL when everything seems to be going our way as well as when nothing seems to be going our way. 3. CHRISTIANS LIFE IS A TEST! It is a TEST to see if we will remain FAITHFUL to GOD in the WORST of times as well as the BEST of times. 4. LIFE is a TEST of our FAITH in GOD..our LOVE for GOD and our LOYALTY to GOD!

9 5. Some Christians try to impress others that their faith is strong and unshakeable, BUT then they hit some bumpy road and they go into a spiritual and emotional meltdown...what am I going to do? Why is this happening to me?.god why are you doing this to me?..god why don t you do something?..god don t you care about me? God don t you love me any more? 6. And quite often, when their faith fails them, these Christians will turn to some worldly crutch to ease the pain and suffering. Of course this does NOT please GOD! HEBREWS 11:6 And without FAITH it is IMPOSSIBLE to PLEASE GOD. 7. BUT when God sees us still TRUSTING in HIM still LEANING on HIM.still BELIEVING in HIM. still FAITHFUL to HIM..HE IS WELL-PLEASED. *************************************

10 CONCLUSION ILLUSTRATION: You remember earlier I told you one of the most precious memories of my Dad was that night after that basketball game when he hugged me and said, Reg, I m so proud of you. One day, perhaps sooner than you think, GOD is going to wrap His loving arms around you and say, Well done Well done good and faithful servant. Until that day, may each of us dedicate ourselves to living a life that is PLEASING and ACCEPTABLE in the eyes of the LORD. May God find us FRUITFUL May God find us FERVENT And May God find us FAITHFUL

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