How Do We Please God?

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 46
• Hymn — A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (#244)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Catechism — Westminster Larger Catechism, Question 33
• Hymn of the Month — Not What My Hands Have Done (#435)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Scripture Reading — Colossians 1:9-14
• Sermon
• Prayer
• Hymn of Dedication — Wholehearted Thanksgiving (#9B)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

Sermon Title: How Do We Please God?

Scripture: Colossians 1:9-14

I. We Please God by Bearing Fruit

• A. The question every believer asks
  1. Because we live by faith and cannot see God, every true believer is at some point anxious about whether he is pleasing God.
  2. Paul prays that the Colossians would walk worthy and be fully pleasing to God (Colossians 1:10).
  3. Three Greek participles that follow show what pleasing God looks like: bearing fruit (with growing in knowledge), being strengthened, and giving thanks.
• B. Increasing in the knowledge of God is part of bearing fruit
  1. We tend to define fruit only practically (giving, church attendance, prayer, missions), but Paul ties fruit-bearing tightly to knowing God.
  2. Scripture elsewhere prizes knowing God: Jeremiah 9:23-24, Psalm 46:10, and John 17:3.
  3. Doctrine is not a hobby or side gig. Coming to church to feed on the means of grace by faith is itself fruit-bearing.
  4. In the parable of the sower, the good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it (Matthew 13:23).
• C. Knowledge and practice go together
  1. Fruit is borne "in every good work," in every sphere of life: family, work, and church.
  2. Knowledge gives wisdom to discern how to act, as in Proverbs 26:4 and its companion verse.
  3. Sanctification is not natural maturity. John Owen distinguishes the killing of sin from simply growing out of it, because it comes through growth in the knowledge of God in Christ.
• D. Fruit-bearing is organic, not artificial
  1. It flows from the new birth by the Spirit.
  2. The church is the greenhouse, where the word (the seed) and the Spirit (the water) cause growth.
  3. Do not depreciate study. Fruit-bearing happens in study and in the gathered church, not only outside its walls.

II. We Please God by Being Strengthened

• A. God is the source of the believer's power (Colossians 1:11)
  1. The passage emphasizes God's actions: his will, his might, and the Father who qualifies, delivers, redeems, and forgives.
  2. Our practical obedience depends entirely on God's power.
  3. This power gives endurance and patience in suffering, not worldly protection or wealth.
• B. The Colossian context
  1. The church was pressured by syncretism, which blended Greek philosophy and religion with gospel language.
  2. This explains Paul's emphasis on knowledge and wisdom, and on perseverance in suffering.
• C. Perseverance of the saints
  1. On Reformation Sunday, the "P" of TULIP finds support here. God completes the work he begins (Philippians 1:6).
  2. The view that "God will never leave you, but you can leave God" is not what verse 11 says. Paul rests perseverance on "all power" according to God's glorious might, leaving no room for man's power.
  3. That you have not become an apostate is a miracle of God's omnipotence.
• D. Joy depends on God's power
  1. The catechism's "estate of sin and misery" is not gloomy. The loss of God's presence was the loss of true joy.
  2. Joy apart from God, though real in common grace (Matthew 5:45), is incomplete and counterfeit.
  3. Unbelievers are like those in The Matrix, content in ignorance and unaware of their condition.
  4. The fallen world is a tragedy within the biblical metanarrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.
  5. Salvation is God's power breaking the spell and restoring the joy of his presence in Christ.

III. We Please God by Giving Thanks

• A. The Father qualifies us for the inheritance (Colossians 1:12)
  1. "Qualify" was a Greco-Roman performance word, like an Olympian qualifying for the games, but here God does the qualifying.
  2. The inheritance is imperishable and unfading (1 Peter 1:4). It is not just heaven but the new heavens and new earth (2 Peter 3).
  3. It is the Jerusalem above (Galatians 4, Revelation 21). God has met the terms of the inheritance for us.
• B. The Father delivers us from darkness (Colossians 1:13)
  1. The domain of darkness is spiritual darkness.
  2. At his arrest, Jesus declared, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53).
  3. In the cross and resurrection Christ defeated the power of darkness, and all who are united to him are transferred into his kingdom.
• C. The Father redeems and forgives (Colossians 1:14)
  1. Redemption and forgiveness are legal and debt terms, not merely subjective kindness.
  2. Solomon's temple prayer asks for forgiveness at the place of sacrifice (2 Chronicles 6).
  3. On the Day of Atonement, blood was sprinkled on the ark, which held the law, so the law's wrath was appeased.
  4. Christ's final sacrifice propitiates God's wrath, fulfills the law, and forgives our debts.
• D. Conclusion
  1. We please God by bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge of him, by being strengthened by his power, and by giving thanks to the Father for the redemption won in Christ.