The Importance of Following God’s Will (February 16, 2025)
Sermon Outline for Sunday, February 16, 2025
PASSAGES: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 ESV
1 Thessalonians 4:1-2 ESV ~ Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
The most important thing in a Christian’s life should be pleasing God. However, there are many Christians who are not concerned about accomplishing this goal.
The Christian life is often described as a walk. Walking is a picture of moving forward and progressing step by step and day by day. It pictures the utter necessity of pleasing God every step of the day as we walk through life. God is interested in every step we take. And He is going to judge us on the basis of how we live and walk. Therefore, out primary concern must be to please God and follow His Will for our lives.
This alone shows the utter necessity of pleasing God. We must please Him if we wish to be accepted by Him. A person is foolish not to want to be accepted by God, for to be rejected by God leads to the worst consequences that can be imagined: rejection by God Himself. Note how tender, yet strong this exhortation is.
1. The tenderness is seen in the words beseech and brothers. By calling believers brothers, Paul was expressing deep affection and care for them. The word beseech (erotomen) means to ask or request. But note: it always has a sense of urgency about it. Paul was tenderly requesting his dear brothers to continue to please God in their daily walk, but it was an urgent request. Their walking to please God was an absolute necessity, a necessity that carried with it great blessings for obedience and terrible judgment for disobedience (the displeasure of God).
2. The strength of the exhortation is seen in the following facts.
a. The believers had been taught how they must walk and please God. They had sat under the teachers and preachers of the Word; therefore, they were without excuse, for they knew exactly how to live and to please God. The word ought (dei) means must; it is an imperative, a necessity. Once the believers had heard and been taught how they should live and please God, they were responsible to live that way. Pleasing God was not an option; it was a duty.
b. The exhortation was based upon the Lord Jesus. It was what the Lord Himself had taught. There is no greater authority than the Lord. He is the supreme majestic Being of the universe; therefore, the exhortation to live and walk to please God is of the highest authority.
c. The exhortation involves the actual commandments of the Lord Jesus. This is a repeat of verse one: keeping the commandments of the Lord Jesus is not an option. A commandment is a commandment, a law that is to be obeyed. In addition, it has been given by the Lord Himself. Therefore, it must be kept—regardless. We must walk and please God, and we must grow in our Christian walk day by day more and more.
People Who Are Not Following God’s Will for their Lives
A. They live only for themselves
Romans 15:1-3 ESV ~ We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”
B. They seek to please men
Galatians 1:10 ESV ~ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
C. They desire the things of the flesh
Romans 8:8-9 ESV ~ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
D. They have no faith in God
Hebrews 11:6 ESV ~ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
A. They ask right things from God
1 Kings 3:9-10 ESV ~ Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.
B. They are separated unto God
2 Timothy 2:4 ESV ~ No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.
C. They walk with God
Genesis 5:24 ESV ~ Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.
Hebrews 11:5 ESV ~ By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
D. They praise God
Psalm 69:30-31 ESV ~ I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving. This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
Promises to Those Who Please God
A. Their enemies shall be at peace with them
Proverbs 16:7 ESV ~ When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
B. Their prayers shall be answered
1 John 3:22 ESV ~ and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
C. Their name shall be everlasting
Isaiah 56:4-5 ESV ~ For thus says the Lord: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off.
Conclusion ~ Paul challenges us to present our bodies a living sacrifice
Romans 12:1-2 ESV ~ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Pastor Andy Lambert
Call/Text: 205.642.8744 ext 101