Is Your Aim to Please God?
The core message of this sermon is that a Christian's primary goal should be to please God in everything they do, say, think, and live.
Erlo Stegen emphasizes the importance of making it our primary aim to please God in every aspect of our lives, rather than prioritizing the approval of others or our personal ambitions. He challenges listeners to examine their lives and ambitions, urging them to seek God's pleasure above all else, including family and personal desires. Stegen highlights that a true Christian should constantly evaluate their alignment with God's plans and live a life that is a pleasing fragrance to Him. He warns against the dangers of being complacent and encourages a moment-by-moment commitment to God's will, reminding us that our love for God must surpass all other attachments. Ultimately, he calls for unity among believers, as a collective aim to please God can lead to a powerful witness to the world.
Text
2Corinthians 5:9, "Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him."
Is your ambition to be pleasing to God in everything you do, say, think, the way you live, dress etc?
This should be our primary goal above all other goals. We should not put pleasing others in front of pleasing God, e.g. husband, wife, or children. What do you make your ambition? Good matric results, a good job, money, marriage, children? Are you trying to fulfil your own wishes, desires, plans and feelings?
Blessed is the Christian who makes a conscious decision to seek God's pleasure. Daily we should make this decision and constantly ask ourselves what we are aiming at. Make sure you abide in a high place in your spiritual life.
Can God say He is pleased about you? Do you have the burning ambition to please God? Is your life a pleasing fragrance to God?
Oswald Chambers wrote that you should examine yourself at least once a week to see whether your life is measuring up to His plans, purposes and ways for your life. Are you constantly living by God's standard for your life? Are you living a God-pleasing life? It is good that Oswald Chambers writes this at all but once a week is too seldom. We should be at it moment by moment. Your prayer should be, "Lord, help me to live according to your plan and purpose for my life."
A good musician (not a hell-bound rock star) seeks to please his conductor. Ours is a heavenly conductor... we raise and lower our voices according to His instruction. Can you do as He says or are you stubborn? Has your life been radically changed or is it water off a duck's back? Do you leave the service as you came?
Matthew 10:37 "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."
If you do not love the Lord more than anything else (even your own way or life), God will reject you. Maybe He has already rejected you, but you think you are busy working for God, while you go your own way. You will eventually be a useless servant cast in outer darkness, unless you seek to please and do God's will in everything. Many Christians these days are worthless in God's Kingdom, because they do not seek to please God in everything and because they don't put God first in their lives.
1Co 9:27 "... I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified."
Make your body submit to you. You must not be its slave e.g. concerning the lusts of the flesh.
In the early church the believers were of one mind. They lived what they preached. Their lives and unity won people. Are you one with other Christians? Our aim is to please God all the time; what is yours?
Sermon Outline
- I. Our Aim Should Be to Please God
- A. In everything we do, say, think, and live
- B. Above all other goals and ambitions
- II. We Must Examine Ourselves
- A. Daily, not just once a week
- B. To see if our life is measuring up to God's plans and purposes
- III. Living a God-Pleasing Life
- A. Requires constant obedience to God's standard
- B. Involves leaving our own desires and plans behind
- IV. The Consequences of Not Seeking God's Pleasure
- A. Rejection by God
- B. Becoming a useless servant in God's Kingdom
Key Quotes
“Blessed is the Christian who makes a conscious decision to seek God's pleasure.” — Erlo Stegen
“You must not be a slave to your body, concerning the lusts of the flesh.” — Erlo Stegen
“Our aim is to please God all the time; what is yours?” — Erlo Stegen
Application Points
- We should make a conscious decision to seek God's pleasure in everything we do.
- We must examine ourselves daily to see if our life is measuring up to God's plans and purposes.
- We should constantly seek to obey God's standard and live a God-pleasing life.