2 Corinthians 5:9
"We make it our goal to please Him"
What is the aim of your life? For what purpose are you living? The average person might say: "I don't have any particular purpose. I want to go through school, get a good job, make plenty of money and have a good life" That is simply existing.
Can a Christian be satisfied with no clear or significant goals or with only a materialistic purpose in life? Such a materialistic purpose in living permeates much of our world's thinking today. As the adage suggests: "The one with the most toys wins!"
Yet the admonition of the Lord should make us stand up and take notice. Jesus has told us quite clearly "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet (IN THE END) to forfeit his own soul?" {Mark 8:36}
For a fulfilling purposeful life we need to be set on a higher plain. That is the issue which we will ponder this morning.
Where does God fit into the picture? Paul would say to us that it is his aim whether on earth or in heaven to please God. In verse 9 of our Epistle lesson for this morning Paul explains: "We make it our goal to please Him"
How do we make it our goal to please God?
I. We make it our goal to please Him when we first believe in His Son Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Savior's desire for you is therefore to establish a relationship with you; to give you an abundant life and to give you direction in your life.
A. The Savior's purpose is to have a relationship with us. The reason the Lord desires a connection with you is that you might experience from the gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. To accomplish this Jesus entered time and space - John put it this way in his Gospel: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father full of grace and truth" (John 1:14)
Jesus entered time and space to take upon Himself our sin and guilt. He carried your sin and mine to the cross and there exchanged them for His righteousness, purity and perfection. This is His purpose for us.
B. "I have come…" Jesus has said in John 10, "…that they might have life and have it abundantly" (v.10) In establishing a relationship with us, in exchanging our sin with His righteousness, He now gives us an abundant and purpose filled life.
Consider how life would be without Christ at the center. The hymn writer put it best when he wrote the following lines:
He works a change in heart and life;
God's kingdom come with pow'r and glory
To young and old, to man and wife;
Thro' Sacrament and living Word,
Faith, love and hope are now conferred.
The Lutheran Hymnal © 1940 Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis #65 stanza 4
C. Jesus has come to give us direction. When we realize that our many sins have been forgiven. When we realize that the life He gives us is to be lived abundantly. When we have a life lived with a purpose He give us a clear direction to be a blessing and to influence other as He has blessed and influenced us.
It is a reciprocal arraignment. As He influences us in our life by His life we in turn influence others by our lives.
Transition: We make it our goal to please Him by believing in Him as Savior and Lord. We also make it our goal to please Him by obeying His commandments.
II. We obey His commandments.
A. To obey His commandments is not something we are inclined to do. To the contrary our natural inclination is to act contrary to His will and law for we are all sinners.
Scripture teach us this quite clearly. "But the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." {1 Corinthians 2:14} Jesus put it this way in John chapter 3 "that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that you must be born again" (Vv.6-7)
B. To please God we need His Spirit to direct our lives in every respect. For this reason the Scriptures remind us in Romans 6:3: "…so let us walk in newness of life."
C. As the Savior fills us with His Spirit He gives us both the will and the ability to both walk as becomes a child of God. By ourselves we cannot please Him. Paul writes of his frustration when he explains to us by saying in essence: "that which I want to do I cannot do. That which I desire not to do is the very thing, which I do…"
He sums this all up in Romans 7:21ff when he says: "So I find this law at work. When I want to do good evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord."
What God wants us to do we fail to do it. That what we desire not to do we find ourselves doing repeatedly. By ourselves we cannot accomplish and fulfill His will. Thus He fills us with His Spirit so that we may accomplish His will for our lives. Therefore it is not I who does this but Christ who is inside me?
Transition: We make it our goal to please Him by believing in Him as Lord and Savior, by obeying His commandments and by serving Him with glad and thankful hearts.
III. We make it our goal to please Him by serving Him with gladness and gratitude.
A. We serve Him with gladness. "I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord" (Psalm 122:1)
Jesus, sunshine of my heart.
By You are given The gifts of heaven,
You the true Redeemer are.
Our souls are waking; Our bonds are breaking,
Who trust you surely, Has built securely
And stands forever Alleluia!
Our hearts are pining To see Your shining,
Dying and living To you are cleaving
Now and forever. Alleluia!
B. We serve Him with gratitude.
With gratitude in our hearts for all He has done for us especially at the cross and empty tom we serve Him.
With gratitude for His continued presence in our lives we serve Him. His Spirit continues to direct us. His Holy Word continues to speak to us. His gifts of baptism and the Supper continue to nourish and strength us giving us forgiveness life and salvation.
In all things we make it our goal to please Him. In all things He is at center of all that we do. In all things He is our champion, our King and our Redeemer.
Passive Sentences –4%
Readability –80.2%
Reading Level – 5.4
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