Sunday, October 11, 1992

This evening's text is found in I Thes. 4:1
		Furthermore then we beseech you brethren, and exhort you by 	the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk 	and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
	
	In working with young people, there is a phrase which is used in varying degrees and forms, but which has a common thread throughout. It is used when the older generation complains about the problems of the youth today, and it is used by the young as an excuse and a reason for the things in which they have involved themselves. It dictates the clothes that they wear, the music they listen to and myriads of other daily activities of their lives. It can make the ultimate difference in their grades and behavior at school, and the places they frequent in the evenings and their choices in friends. Teachers, parents, police and even the young people themselves will admit that it is a mighty force in the movement of the course of their lives. It is the aspect of peer pressure. Doing things in a certain way because it would be uncool not to please the friends who are watching, inspecting and ready to criticize and to humiliate our young people if they fail to measure up to those standards set by their peers. 
	I see that many of the parents are shaking their heads in agreement, but the issue does not rest solely among the young. When we take a careful and concise look at the problem, we have to ask where this submission to seeking after the favor of their peers was learned, and it becomes readily evident that this is true in all of us. Behavioral scientists would state that the children learn it from the parents, because as they watch their parents seek after the approval of the boss, the friends, the rivals, and many others. Because of the actions of the adults, the young people learn that this is an important aspect of their lives. It becomes an issue the permeates and indwells the unconscious mind of men as they seek to find their place within the world order about them. 
	Now, please do not misunderstand me, I am in nowise giving into the cop out of the "learned scientists" who are spueing forth a psychological covering of the true problem. Sure the youth learn from the parents and seek after the blessings and approval of this world, as do the parents, as do even the littlest of children when they toddle off to pre-school dressed in the expensive labelled clothes because they are the right ones to wear. 	
	You see, what the psychologists avoid in their presentation of the issue at hand is that it is a natural aspect of man to seek after the approval of others. With this, they would find no argument. But when we state that we were created by God to be desirous after His approval, and then in the fall, when man sought after his own way and gave self the place of glory, the seeking after approval became focussed in how others saw us, and felt about us, and whether they approved of us or not. This is where the true issue becomes covered, and where some may cry "No, never, I don't care what others think of me." This is where the verse before us shines brightly in the course of our walk with God.

		Furthermore then we beseech you brethren, and exhort you by 	the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk 	and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.

	The simple truth of the matter is, regardless of whether we are convinced that we do not seek after the recognition of the world or not, our focus, apart from God is centered in our selves, and we call attention to that self-life in a variety of ways. There are those of the non-conformist segment, who refuse to wear the styles of the day and choose rather what is seen as the counter-cultural look. Yet, that to is calling attention to ourselves. The differences are accentuated in order to be seen as different. As well, there are those who consciously try to be at the fore-front of every pattern of society, to be in the loop of society in order that they can set the trends of the future, brief as that trend may be. 
	These examples are the extremes at each end of the spectrum of humanity, because far more of us fall in the middle, going along with the main-stream in order not to raise a fuss, not trying to do anything different or extra-ordinary so that no one will think anything less of us. 
	Wherever man is, man is seeking the approval of someone, or something as the case is regarding idols and idolatry, and that would include money, false gods and even making the earth a thing to be worshipped and adored. Anywhere that man involves himself in order to make things better, there the aspect of seeking the approval of self is dominant. All the good intentions of the world are only a mask of the true source of man's behavior, that self would be glorified and approved of by someone or something.
	What needs to be clearly recognized is the source of the approval that we are seeking as the people of God, as the Body of Christ. This message pertains to Christians who have just been born-again to the ancients in Christ. It covers the youngest believer to the eldest among us. From whom do we seek approval? If it is from man in any degree, we are giving into peer pressure. If it is from any image or motive other than pleasing God, we are seeking to find approval for ourselves. This includes even the most docile of motivations of helping others in just being nice guys. Anything done without the express purpose of pleasing God is done for the purpose of pleasing self. I think I should repeat this with all possible emphasis, because it is probably rankling in some of our hearts, and needs to be taken directly to the Lord for His direction and guidance. ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING DONE APART FROM THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF PLEASING GOD IS DONE FOR THE PURPOSE OF PLEASING SELF! 
	Applying this to my life, brings forth such aspects of times that I did not purposely seek to shun God, and yet did so in what would seem to be rather innocent ways. Times when I should have said something about the Love of Christ, and didn't because I felt that it was out of place. Times when I have indulged in watching a game on tv or reading a mystery novel, rather than concentrating on the preparation of a message or reading the Word of God. Times when I have been frustrated at individuals who called up all the time to chit-chat, without realizing that they were just seeking a bit of reassurance and encouragement in the Lord. These are just a few of the examples that spring immediately to mind of those minor times of not seeking God's approval at the expense of seeking after self. I would dare not mention other times when I was more blatantly seeking the approval of fellow teachers, students, administrators and friends, when I turned my eyes from God to man for acceptance. Such times serve only to emphasize the fact that we are truly vulnerable to self-service whenever we take our eyes away from Christ. 
	This is the purpose of this evening's message, after all. It is meant as a word of encouragement to realize where our focus of attention must always be anchored and from Whom we are to seek approval. There are some scriptures that we can share together for use at those times when we are looking after the approval of any other than our Loving God. 
	One of the major reasons that we give for seeking after the approval of man is in order to secure for ourselves a place of safety in the midst of those whom we feel are out to get us. Whether we are teenagers facing the defiled wrath of this age, or are business-people faced with the onslaughts of competitors, or just trying to get along with workmates and family members, we seek after the approval of those individuals for our own safety's sake. The Lord completely addresses this issue in Prov. 16:7+8 where we have written, "When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right."
	This passage brings forth the verity that we are to seek after the path that pleases God rather than that which pleases mankind. When we are faithful to God and seek His approval upon our every way and thought and deed, then we are not fearful of what the people of this realm may or may not do to us. We are at peace, even if they were to stone us like the stoning of the Apostle Stephen, we will be at peace and at rest in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. His face will shine upon us and we will be able to proclaim that we see the heavens open and One like as to the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God welcoming us out of this defiled and decrepit realm. Consider the peace of God that enveloped Stephen so that the scriptures tell us that he slept. What glory to be so approved of God that we have the very Son of God showing us His way home. Never a care for the approval of this realm and the pharisees who beset us each day. Only caring for the righteousness of Christ to be made manifest for the sake of those who would persecute and kill us for the name of Christ. That is the answer of the excuse of seeking after this realm for our safety in it.
	The next passage is found in Mt. 3:16+17, and is at the very core of our relationship with Christ Jesus. It is a well known passage dealing with the pleasure of the Father in Jesus Christ when He was baptized by the Apostle John. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
	This phrase should be scored in our hearts for evermore. To have the Father call out to us His pleasure in our lives as we live forth from Christ. That is, after all, the very purpose of our being on this earth, to reflect in increasing purity, the glory of the very Son of God who indwells each and everyone who has accepted Him as personal Lord and Savior. We are well capable of receiving this same blessing of God and are to be seeking after it as we live on this earth by the very life of Christ, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, in obedience to the Word of God. It is not a torturous walk to please God. It is not something which deprives us of the joys and comforts of life. Rather, it is life in all abundance to have the approval of God upon us at all times. It makes this realm bearable. It gives us guidance and comfort in Christ, rather than getting ourselves lost in the entrapments and the snares of this realm. All of this defiled realm is seen for the garbage that it actually is, as we are enabled, by the Holy Spirit to see the very Hand of God at work in our midst as He completes that which His heart is set upon. That is the joy of living, the ability to see and enjoy that which God is actually doing at this very moment. And to be able to live in the righteous, peace and joy by the Holy Spirit, as the Father seals us with His stamp of approval for the Life of Christ being formed in us - to be enabled to hear the voice of the Father as He tells us in our hearts, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." 	This is an approval with several consequences. Too often, we may think about the fact that it will be forthcoming in the great by-and-by. We, with our impatient attitudes and desires want something today, at this moment, and seeming are ready to risk the joys of eternity for the fleeting approval of this realm. We approach it with all carelessness, feeling that we can make up for it in the future, while enjoying the gratification of today. Heaven forbid that we would suffer the loss of the approval of God that is there for us at this very moment, if we will not harden our hearts but rather seek after Him in all diligence. 
	Yes, there is that all-encompassing aspect of eternity in the light of the face of God as we thrill together in the glory of what Christ has accomplished in its entirety. That is true, a great and wonderful eternity for the future. But that does not mean that the approval of God is only for the here-after! Rather, it is even more vital for this day, today, right now in our lives. We should be ever seeking after His face shining upon us this very moment, each and every moment of our lives, for that is the way in which we will find any joy from this wretchedness encompassing us. Reflect for a brief moment upon those times when we were truly happy, not just pleased with something, not just satiated for the moment, but those times when we really felt and experienced the truest and most wonderful joy in all the world. In every instance, with the closest inspection, it will register that the joy of the Lord was filling our beings. They may not have been the best of times in the view of this realm, when all was right with the world. It may have been during times of greatest struggle and turmoil, when all seemed to be going against us, and yet, there was the face of God shining upon us, telling us that He was well pleased with our service unto Him. Those are the times of true joy and peace as the Holy Spirit registers His presence in our lives and the cares of this world drop from our shoulders and we behold the face of God shining upon us and covering us with all Love in Christ.
	The approval of God means our very life. It is what Christ sought after throughout His earthly walk. Never doing anything except what He saw the Father doing, in order to completely please Him in all things. That is the same life into which we are called as the members of Hid body. That same seeking only after the approval of God should be the witness of our lives, should be a characteristic aspect of our substance as we share together in Christ.
	Let us turn to John, Chapter 8: verses 28-29 in order to more solidify this truth in our hearts. 
		"Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of		 man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing 		of myself: but as my Father has taught me, I speak these 			things. And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not 		left me alone; for I do always those things that please him."
	Please let us take a few aspects of this verse into consideration in our hearts before the Lord. We will not deal with all of it in its entirety, for that should take place as the Holy Spirit opens up the truths of these statements in our beings throughout the remainder of our lives in Christ. First of all, there is the freedom involved in the pleasing of the Father. What do I mean by freedom. Simply this, that we do not have to make the decisions. It is a matter of the full freedom to partake in the perfect road of life as He gives direction and we simply obey. We do not have to frustrate over the right course to choose, how to deal with people, or any other of those myriads of decisions which perplex the members of this realm. When we live unto the Father, He makes very clear in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit and His Word the way in which we are to go in order to fully fellowship with Him in all beauty. There is no frustration, except when we decide that we would prefer our own way to God's way. Then we find ourselves in complete frustration and fear and bondage as we muck about in our helplessness. When we finally realize the problem and turn again to seeking the approval of our most loving God, He is very faithful to put an end to the frustration and we again experience the freedom of our life in Christ. 
	The other aspect of this passage is held in the reality that we are always in the presence of God, and can fully appreciate that presence as we are pleasing Him. When our course is the seeking after His way and His pleasure, we cannot but experience the overwhelming joy of His presence in our lives. No matter what the road, we are not alone, and that is a truly awesome blessing of our God. When we have chosen to obey and journey along the path that He has set before us, even though it seems to be through the valley of death, as the Psalmist points out, God is there at every moment and we are comforted by His presence.
	The difference however, becomes evident when we turn from pleasing Him, to pleasing our self. At those times, we lose our sensitivity to the presence of God. He never forsakes us, nor abandons us, but we lose the sense that He is with us. How often have we felt that we were cast adrift, wandering aimlessly through desert regions with no one to guide us as we sought after our own way. And yet, when we do turn again and seek after Him, we discover that He never abandoned us, and is ready and able and desirous after a renewal of our fellowship in oneness in Christ.
	As a final aspect of the walk which we must have in seeking the approval of our God, let us turn to Heb, 11:5. Here we have the statement concerning Enoch as a man approved of God. "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was found not, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
	That we would each seek in our lives and in our hearts to please God as Enoch must have pleased Him. God chose to remove Enoch unto Himself in such a manner as to give heavenly witness that this was a good and faithful servant. This should bear witness in our hearts as to the type of service we are to render unto our God and should desire to render unto Him. To do His will out of obligation is better than not at all, but, to do His will out of love is the fulfillment of all that He has set His heart upon. If we could but in a measure, return a portion of His great love wherewith He has loved us in seeking to please Him in every aspect of our lives, then we too will have that heavenly witness which encompassed Enoch. We already have the assurance that we will not die, but rather follow in the sleep of Stephen unto the presence of our Lord and Savior. Death and all its terrible sting have been vanquished in its power over us, and yet, we should be desirous of the testimony that we pleased God even in our sojourn on this earth. To have that witness is the glory of Christ fulfilled in us and unto us.

		"Furthermore then we beseech you brethren, and exhort you by 		the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to 		walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more."