why do you want to please the Lord?

[Resurrection Torchlight]

So yesterday in Church our pastor had a message about what motivates us to please God, I am just curious as to how you guys would answer that question:

What is your motivation to please God?


RT

[Abiding in His Word]

What is your motivation to please God?

Interesting question, RT. My guess is most people need to feel they are worthy of His love by doing things to make Him happy. Like children who need reassurance of the parents' love by fulfilling all their "expectations"."

Personally, God showed me long ago that He is already pleased with me when I am content and resting in Him. That's due to what Jesus did...not on what I could do.

[Jericho]

For me its the same reason i want to please my earthly father. I want his approval and for him to be proud of me. I think it's a natural desire to want to please someone who is important to us and in positions of authority.

[shorttribber]

Because He is just so Wonderful

[Jay Ross]

Why do you want to please God? I do not want to please God, because, I do the things I do because he is God and in doing so I please God.

Somehow, wanting to please God, seems so wrong in that the motivation for wanting to please God is still tied up in what I want from my own selfish motives.

In wanting to please God, I seem to get in the way of His desires for my Life and have not died to self.

If I do the things that reflect God's heart for people, and if I do those things without bickering with and against others, then God has said that he will heal me and make me pleasing for others to want to join with me doing the things that I do in reflecting the heart of God.

Do my scrambled words that I post always reflect God's heart within my heart? No. Do my acts of kindness towards others always reflect God's heart within my heart? No. But If I chose to do the very things that are God's heart, then, others will notice my heart's desires and they will also want to have within their own lives what has been changed in me because of God's healing love within me.

Being like a pinch of salt in our world helps to bring out the full flavor, but too little or too much undermines who we really are in God, in this world.

Shalom.

[Resurrection Torchlight]

Any others want to chime in?

I appreciate the answers, and I will share what our pastor said should be our motivation and what I think too, but sure would love to hear from some more folks first.

RT

[GodsStudent]

I want to please the Lord because He created me and all of us, He is infinitely wise, loving, perfect in every way, and I am not. He is the ONLY source of perfection and He chose to share that with us, His Creation. Even when I don't want to please Him, I know that something is wrong with me and not the other way around, so I know how to go about resolving the issue I am having, when I become willing and ready, and He is always ready to give me the space and opportunity to work through whatever is going on with me, so that I can get back to a place of peace in my spirit.
I want to please the Lord because He is who He is, and we are who He created for His Glory and in perfect love.

[burien1]

Because I love him.

[Keeping Alert]

Because it glorifies the Father?

[4givenmuch]

Because I have lived a life that didn't please Him and it was miserable and dark and lonely! He graciously saved me and I never ever ever want to go back! He who is forgiven much, loves much.

[Exit40]

Because I love him.

Best answer yet. And I can't help myself.

God Bless

David

[Resurrection Torchlight]

So here is the answer our pastor gave:

What motivates us to please the Lord?

1. The thought of the heavenly dwelling
2. What Jesus has done for us
3. A fear of judgment
4. Knowing this life is temporary

I do not necessarily disagree, though I do take issue with point #3, because we do not need to fear judgment as believers

1 John 4:15-19
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.
19 We love, because He first loved us.

Fear of judgment may have played a role in my coming to Christ, but as a believer I no longer need to fear it.

John 3:16-18
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
17 “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
18 “He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

But I would go a step farther and say that it is Christ in me that motivates me to please God.

Hebrews 13:20-21
20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Bible says that we are His workmanship, created in Christ, to walk in the works that God prepared for us to accomplish (Eph 2:8-10). And also that He will complete the work He began in us (Phil 1:6).

We are only able to please God when we are inspired or motivated by His Holy Spirit who is at work in us, He purifies, He sanctifies, He equips me and motivates me to righteousness. My role is to yield to the work of His Spirit in me. I can do nothing at all that is pleasing to the Lord without Him working in me to accomplish it.

So He is the source of my motivation, as I yield to the work of His Holy Spirit to sanctify me.

The sad truth is that I do not want to please the Lord, be He wants me to, and He is at work in me to motivate me to do that which is pleasing to Himself.

RT

[Shelby]

Because He is the most Precious friend ever.

[GodsStudent]

Because He is the most Precious friend ever.

Was my answer, too.

[Sonbeam]

I personally don’t think about or strive to please God. I know He’s already pleased with me (and every Christian) because I am His workmanship. I really believe that every now and then, in the course of what He is doing in me (and all His children), He steps back, looks at His work and says, “ Ah!, it is good…it is very good!”



My main desire is to “listen” to what the spirit of Christ wants to do through me and step into the work He’s prepared for me. In those instances, I find it very uplifting and encouraging to experience the flow of His love and His grace towards others as He seeks to draw them (believers and nonbelievers alike) to Himself because in the process I myself am drawn to Him more and more.

Many of those times the words of the song, “O how He loves you and me” ring ever so true in my spirit leading me to express my love and thanksgiving for His mercy and grace.

Having said this, are there times when my flesh or the enemy of our souls try to draw me into a performance-based relationship with our Lord? Yes! But each time I put up a Word-wielding fight and refuse to give in. Let's all of us
do this!



sonbeam

[Mark F]

So yesterday in Church our pastor had a message about what motivates us to please God, I am just curious as to how you guys would answer that question:

What is your motivation to please God?


RT

Because He loves me.

[Mr Baldy]

What is your motivation to please God?

I really don't think anyone can honestly say that they have a motivation to please God.

If they feel that it's them, then wouldn't they be taking the Glory from the Holy Spirit doing His Work?

Romans 3:10-12 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10) As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11) There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God; 12) All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

[Jay Ross]

Mr Baldy, is not the context of the passage that you quoted just as important?

Romans 3:-

3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? 4 May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written,

"That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words,
And mightest prevail when Thou art judged."

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 May it never be! For otherwise how will God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 as it is written,

"There is none righteous, not even one;
11 There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
12 All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one."
13 "Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,"
"The poison of asps is under their lips";
14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness";
15 "Their feet are swift to shed blood,
16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,
17 And the path of peace have they not known."
18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

31 Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
NASB

[Resurrection Torchlight]

What is your motivation to please God?

I really don't think anyone can honestly say that they have a motivation to please God.

If they feel that it's them, then wouldn't they be taking the Glory from the Holy Spirit doing His Work?

Romans 3:10-12 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

10) As it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11) There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God; 12) All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.”

Hi Mr Baldy

About the 12th post in I wrote this:

But I would go a step farther and say that it is Christ in me that motivates me to please God.

Hebrews 13:20-21
20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

The Bible says that we are His workmanship, created in Christ, to walk in the works that God prepared for us to accomplish (Eph 2:8-10). And also that He will complete the work He began in us (Phil 1:6).

We are only able to please God when we are inspired or motivated by His Holy Spirit who is at work in us, He purifies, He sanctifies, He equips me and motivates me to righteousness. My role is to yield to the work of His Spirit in me. I can do nothing at all that is pleasing to the Lord without Him working in me to accomplish it.

So He is the source of my motivation, as I yield to the work of His Holy Spirit to sanctify me.

The sad truth is that I do not want to please the Lord, but He wants me to, and He is at work in me to motivate me to do that which is pleasing to Himself.

RT

[sacredcowbasher]

I want to please the Lord because he forgave my sins and gives me what I don't deserve - eternal life

[keithareilly]

Do I want to please the Lord so he loves me?
Yes, Sometimes I forget He loved me first.

Do I want to please the Lord so he approves of me (well done good and faithful servant)?
Yes, and I want to learn how to be a good servant, so I have to practice. And I want to move up the ranks.

Do I want to please the Lord because we are in a war of good and evil and I want good to win?
Yes, though I still loose battles internally and externally.

Do I want to please the Lord in response to his love for me?
Yes. And I am surprised how often love is not the response to being loved.

Do I want to please the Lord because I understand Love is doing good and the Lord is pleased by good works?
Yes, doing good, even to our enemies, is love; love pleases the Lord.

Do I want to please the Lord because I like who He is and want to be more like Him?
Yes, I am not one who wants things from life. I want to be. To be a son of whom He is proud.
Sometimes, my life shows I am, sometimes it does not. So I work harder to become a better son.
I want to become; to be. So I work to please the Lord in hopes of becoming who I want to be.
I have not always liked who I am. I want to like who I am. I want to approve of who I am.
How can I do this when I agree God is right when I am wrong and not want to be more like Him so I can like myself.
God is my judge and the judgement has already been made. But being judged innocent because of Christ's sacrifice is not the only part of salvation I want. I want to become that new creature free of Sin, with Life overflowing and running over.

All in all, my reasons are selfish. "I want" is the reason for me to please the Lord.
Fortunately, God is wise and does not make us choose between loving ourselves, loving others, and loving Him.
He demands we do all three. I am grateful that God, in his wisdom, allows me to selfishly want what He wants for me.

Keith

[sacredcowbasher]

What came to my mind today in looking at this thread is what we would like Jesus to say to us when we are done running our race; i.e. - 'Well done my good and faithful servant'. Also, I am thinking about where it says in the book of Revalation, '...and this is the faith and patience of the saints'. Also, where it says, I think in Revalation, I forget, 'When the Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth'?

Faith is the key in pleasing the Lord. As it says in Hebrews, 'Without faith it is impossible to please Him ...'

We can love Him for what He has done, and I remember early in my life right after I was born again when I did love Him for how He set me free. Love is not enough however in our relationship with the Lord. We need to grow, He wants us to grow, and the only way this can happen is through faith in Him and what He accomplished for us at the cross.

This will result in our decreasing and Him increasing in our lives. It will bring peace and joy and rest for our souls, and we will find His will. He will be pleased if we live by faith, trusting and relying on Him, acknowledging Him in everything that we do.

[keithareilly]

Faith, Hope, and Love remain. The greatest of these is Love.

Keith

[sacredcowbasher]

Love is the greatest of all. When describing who God is, the apostle John used this metaphor - 'God is love'. To me this means that if we were to use one word to express in a nutshell who God is and what He is like it would be love.

If our love for God and Jesus is shared with self-will, whatever reason that may be, it will not be enough for us to have victory over the flesh, the devil, and the world. It could be that we are strong willed, or immature, or not receiving good teaching, or lifted up in pride, or some combination of these and other things.

My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.

The best thing that can happen to a newly born christian is to be discipled by christians who know how to live a victorious life. It is critical to the well being of a follower of Jesus Christ. Remember what is said in the book of Revelation when His people are in a very tough time; 'they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony', also, 'and this is the patience and the faith of the saints'.

If My people who are called by My Name would humble themselves and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I would hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land.

The Lord is not speaking to sinners hear; 'if My people...', so allow me to deviate a little from our topic, although it is related in that we can please the Lord if we turn from our wicked ways.

When we are not discipled properly, not being taught the right way to live for God, we will automatically move into erroneous ways, methods, routines, formulas, doctrines, etc. Some of which include religious activity like witnessing (whether we really want to or not), church attendance (if we think that makes us right with God), bible reading (if we think that makes us right with God), prayer (if we think that prayer will give us victory).

When the lord says, 'turn from their wicked ways...', what is He referring to? I have taught and I believe that He is talking about His people relying on their own strength, their own ways, their own methods or formulas in trying to live a victorious life. There is a verse in the bible and I don't know where it is that says, 'after having tasted of the old wine, their is no desire for the new, because they say the old is better'. I think I'm giving the basic sense of this verse.

It's meaning is this: When we have been born again, it is natural for us to continue living in the same vein as we did our whole life. This method is based on our performance; when we do good we are rewarded. We carry this over into our walk with the Lord and many results follow with spiritual laws coming into effect.

If our performance and how well we do would cause us to live in victory over the flesh, the devil, and the world, then Jesus died in vain. It is only Jesus Christ and what He accomplished on the cross that sets us free. Under the law, because of the sacrificial lamb at Passover, the people's sins were forgiven, but they were not free from the bondage of sin. It is not until Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead that we can now live victoriously over sin.

We are dead to the law because we died with Christ and now we married to another. The woman who's husband died was free to marry another, but as long as her husband was alive, it was forbidden. Jesus brought a new covenant, if fact He IS the new covenant. It was put into effect when He died on the cross and it is guaranteed because He ever lives.

It is not because of what we do that gives us victory over sin, it is because of what He did. Our faith in Him and what He accomplished at the cross ensures that we will have joy, peace, and righteousness in our lives. If we live by performance, then our sin nature is revived, and we find ourselves in a constant struggle, even at times being oppressed by the devil. We wind up becoming self-righteous and this opens the door to many things - wicked things.

We don't want to be like the Pharisees were during the time when Jesus walked the earth in His incarnation.

Love is the greatest of all, but lets remember that Jesus said, 'If you love Me keep My commandments'. He said, 'I give you a new commandment, which is not new, that you love one another'. We need to do whatever Jesus tells us to do, like His mother said at the wedding in Cana, 'Do whatever He tells you'.

The only way we will be able to do what He says is to keep our faith in Him and the cross. If we have faith in anything else, whatever that may be, we make a law out of it and the sin nature is revived. The word in Romans tells us this, 'The law of Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death'.

God bless

[Abiding in His Word]

The best thing that can happen to a newly born christian is to be discipled by christians who know how to live a victorious life. It is critical to the well being of a follower of Jesus Christ.

When we are not discipled properly, not being taught the right way to live for God, we will automatically move into erroneous ways, methods, routines, formulas, doctrines, etc. Some of which include religious activity like witnessing (whether we really want to or not), church attendance (if we think that makes us right with God), bible reading (if we think that makes us right with God), prayer (if we think that prayer will give us victory).

Hi sacredcowbasher,

Thank you for a beautiful post! I agree with everything you've said, but wonder if you would be good enough to explain what being "discipled" properly means to you. What, in your opinion, does that process entail?

Also....

It's meaning is this: When we have been born again, it is natural for us to continue living in the same vein as we did our whole life. This method is based on our performance; when we do good we are rewarded. We carry this over into our walk with the Lord and many results follow with spiritual laws coming into effect.

Do you not believe that when a person is born again, they become a "new creature" with all things becoming new and old things passing away? No specific time-frame for that transition is noted, so under the guidance of the Holy Spirit we can rest assured it will be accomplished.

[sacredcowbasher]

Hi Abiding, I had some time off from working and clicked on this thread from my emails that Keith posted on.

To me, very simply put, being discipled is being taught correct doctrine. It is understanding who we are in Christ and all that entails.


It is of course true that when a person is born again they are a new creature, whether that person receives a shebang kind of a conversion or whether they receive Jesus and feel cleansed and new.

What happens to all of us who have been born again is that right afterwards, within the same day and lets say a month, we decide how we are going to walk out that salvation. Depending on the person, what church he or she attends, how teachable they may or may not be, etc., what follows will vary from a person walking from faith to faith with healthy growth, to a person falling into sin two weeks out. To be more specific about falling into sin: a person could become judgmental of others, they could get lifted up in pride - and we know that pride comes before a fall, they could begin to tell others how they should live (like I am doing here, but not a good idea right out of the box), they might be so free that they find themselves in sexual situations etc.

This is why we need to receive a good foundation of the truth of God's word immediately after being born again. We may avoid shipwreck this way. Discipleship is lacking so greatly in churches today because leadership can only tell people what they should do and can't tell them how to do it. It is so simple that we stumble over it. It is the offense of the cross that takes place in many churches today. Not the offense for salvation, but for sanctification (how we live out our lives on a day to day basis).

It is true that the Holy Spirit starts to work immediately once being born again, and right after the blessed event He has a lot of leeway because we are not soon entangled with cares of the world, persecution, or sin. Often times there is a mountain top blissful type of honeymoon experience many believers experience. We feel very close to God and at times it feels as if we will never sin again.

Then someone cuts us off on the freeway, or our neighbor parks on our lawn, or we say something mean, or any number of things which bring us to confessing that we sinned.

If we are taught correctly which is this:
Our faith is in Jesus and what He did on the cross. We confess our sin and He forgives us. We continue our walk.

What ofter times happens is this:
We say, 'I'm not never going to do this again, I hate what I did, and I promise Lord that it will never happen again'. Then we take steps, whatever that may be, to see to it that it never happens again.

We have just entered into law in doing this. We are taking away from the work of true Holy Spirit which would be Him sanctifying our lives, and we are now trying to cleanse ourselves.

The end result of this mistake, which by the way most of the church makes, is a miserable existence of trying to please God and never being free to live for Him as He intended.

God cannot bless us when we refuse to do things His way. In His mercy we will see some blessing here and some encouragement there, but the Holy Spirit is greatly hindered from working in our lives. The reason, or one of the reasons is that we are not giving glory to Jesus Christ. We don't realize it, but we giving glory to ourselves. The Holy Spirit works the greatest when we bring glory to Jesus Christ by keeping our faith in Him and trusting Him, and knowing what He did on the cross and who we are in Him.

When we sin, not if but when, we can't fix it. Only God can fix us, actually He did fix us at Calvary if we have received Him as Lord and Savior. We are in Christ, the hope of glory.

Our lights will shine bright when we love Him with all our hearts, have peace and joy and righteousness in the Holy Spirit, and have our faith in the right place.

This doesn't mean that everything will come up roses, or there will be no problems. In some cases, the devil may hit us harder for a while because we become a stronger enemy of his. That can only go on so long and is under the Lord's supervision so its all good, it is a win win. Heads we win, tails the devil loses.

[Abiding in His Word]

Discipleship is lacking so greatly in churches today because leadership can only tell people what they should do and can't tell them how to do it. It is so simple that we stumble over it. It is the offense of the cross that takes place in many churches today. Not the offense for salvation, but for sanctification (how we live out our lives on a day to day basis).

Thanks for your comments and explanation, sacredcowbasher. I believe being born again begins a relationship with Jesus and that relationship entails a very personal, individual journey toward becoming like Him; i.e. sanctification. I think your comments show you agree with that.

So I'm wondering what form discipleship would take since you noted it's importance and the fact that it's greatly lacking in churches today. I'm asking because I hear many believers mentioning that term but only in an ambiguous way without specifics.

[sacredcowbasher]

I've heard leaders talk about discipleship classes and mention that we need them and so forth and nothing was ever done. At the time I wasn't living an overcoming life either so I was no help, but now knowledge has come to the surface and we know how to live God's way. The sad thing is that most churches today would not accept what I am saying about how to live because it changes almost everything.

Some churches are loaded with activities and don't want that to change. Believers like to be in control of their lives and religion allows them to do that. Religion controls them and they control their religion. To live by faith means to be where the Lord wants you to be and to be doing what He wants you to do, and there may be a certain way He wants you to do it. Dying to self can be difficult if we feel we have much to lose. The thing that is true is that there is so much more to gain in losing everything, and by that I mean, we deny ourselves and take up our cross and follow Him every day.

As the song says, 'Where He leads me I will follow, where He leads me I will follow, where He leads me I will follow, I'll go with Him, with Him, all the way'. This means giving up control. When we are used to being in control it can be clumsy and difficult, but it gets better and better as we are determined to do things His way.