How to Please God

If we want to be followers of God, we first need to know what is important to Him and how to follow His commands.

God, like a father, wants what is best for us; so He has given us rules to live by. When we follow His ways, we please Him (Colossians 1:10). God did not give us the law with the expectation that we would be able to follow it on our own. The law shows us God’s holiness (James 1:22-25).  We see that on our own, we are not righteous (Romans 3:23). There is no way we can meet His standards on our own.  When we realize that we are sinners, separated from God because of our sin, we are led to Jesus. It is only through the forgiveness of our sins through Christ’s death on the cross that we are made right with God (Romans 5:8; 10:9; 10:13). With the gift of the Holy Spirit, we are able to follow God’s standards which honors and pleases Him (Romans 8:1-3).

The Ten Commandments were given to the Jewish nation through Moses in the days following their exodus from Egypt. God intended the Israelites to be His chosen people (Exodus 19:5-6). These commandments are still relevant for us today because one: “they reflect the unchanging nature of God;” (David Guzik) and two: Peter wrote that believers were to be “a holy priesthood. . . a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” (1 Peter 2:5, 9) Warren Wiersbe writes that like the Israelites, we too are to point others to Christ by our words and deeds.

The Ten Commandments are divided into two groups. The first four show us how we are to behave toward God. The last six reveal how we are to relate to others. Jesus condensed the Ten Commandments into two while being questioned by the Pharisees and Scribes during His ministry on earth.

The Pharisees and Scribes liked to discuss the Law. The NIV Study Bible note for Mark 12:28 says, “Jewish rabbis counted 613 individual statutes in the law, and attempted to differentiate between ‘heavy’ (or ‘great’) and ‘light’ (or ‘little’) commands.” This was foolish, however, as a person only needed to break one command to be guilty before God (James 2:10). In Mark 12, the Pharisees and Scribes were asking Jesus questions to try to trap Him (Mark 12:13). Noticing that He was answering well, one of the Scribes decided to ask Him a question. He asked, “Which is the first commandment of all?” (Mark 12:28)
 
Jesus answered and said, “The first of all the commandments is: Hear O, Israel: The Lord our God, the
Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:29-31)

Jesus’ first quotation comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. This is part of the Shema. It is named after the first word in this verse which means “hear”. This prayer became a Jewish confession of faith that was recited in the morning and evening by orthodox Jews. Today it is used to begin the synagogue service. (NIV Study Bible note for Mark 12:29)

Jesus showed that love was the most important thing in life. Love was the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8-10; WW p. 124). Wiersbe reminds us that in order to love man, we first need to love God. There is only one God and He will not compete with any other. There is none beside Him. This is why the Ten Commandments begin with “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3) The prophet Isaiah agreed with this by saying, “I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me.” (Isaiah 43:10) There has only ever been one God and there will never be another God. God should be the priority in our lives. Even if we overlooked all 613 commandments and just focused on the Ten Commandments, these too show that God is to be number one. For the first one is “You shall have no other gods before me.” (Exodus 20:3)

How are we to love God? We are to love God with all our heart; from our innermost being. Jesus also said we are to love God with all our soul; with our lives, our will and our emotions. We are to love God with our mind; with all of our thoughts. And we are to love God with all of our strength; with our abilities and all our energy (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:30). All of our emotions, strength, mind and will should be solely focused on God and following His leading in our lives. “To love God is not to ‘have good feelings about Him,’ for true love involves the will as well as the heart. Where there is love, there will be service and obedience.” (WW)

We must ask ourselves, do we love God? In order to obey the greatest commandment, we must love God. We love God because He first loved us (Romans 5:8). He sent His one and only Son to die for us (John 3:16). God desires our love; but He will not force us to love Him. Love is a free gift.

The second greatest command is to love our neighbors. This command regarding our relationship with our neighbors is also found in Leviticus 19:18. It says we are not to take vengeance or bear a grudge, but to love our neighbor as ourselves. “Jesus joined the commandment from Leviticus 19:18 to show that love for neighbor is a natural and logical outgrowth of love for God.”(NIV Study Bible note for Mark 12:31)

Jesus followed the pattern of the Ten Commandments by showing that we are to love God first and
others second. “How we relate to others depends on how we relate to God, for if we love God and obey Him, we’ll also love our neighbors and serve them (Matt 22:34-40; Rom 13).” (WW) Paul’s writings in the New Testament agree with Jesus’ statement to love our neighbors. “If a man really loves God, he must also love his brother and his neighbor. (1 John 3:10-18; 4:7-21).” (WW)

Jesus stated that “on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:40)  In other words, everything is fulfilled by following these two commandments. Paul wrote that “love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8-10) The foundation for our obedience to God is love (John 14:15).

David Guzik writes,“If a man could live the way Jesus has told us. . . , he would truly be perfect. He would never hate, slander or speak evil of another person. He would never lust in his heart or mind, and not covet anything. He would never make a false oath, and always be completely truthful. He would let God defend his personal rights, and not take it upon himself to defend those rights. He would always love his neighbors, and even his enemies!”

Unfortunately, no man can live like this; only Jesus was able to live a perfect life. Thankfully, though we are not left out of the kingdom of heaven.  Righteousness comes from God through faith in Christ (Romans 3:22). Once we are redeemed, out of love and gratitude for the free gift of salvation, we should choose to obey God’s commands.

We love God by trusting Him only; we pray about our needs. We worship God alone; thanking and praising Him for His work in our lives. We use God’s name respectfully; not using His name to swear. And finally, we take time to rest and think about God; paying attention in church and reading our Bibles.

We love others by respecting our parents through obedience. We protect human life by helping others not to get hurt. We will be true to our future husband or wife; keeping the promises we make to them. We won’t take or keep things that don’t belong to us. We will not lie about others; but always be truthful in what we say. And lastly, we will not want what others have; but be satisfied with what God has given us.

To conclude, Warren Wiersbe says, “Love is the fulfillment of the law (Rom. 13:8-10) But only God can change our sinful hearts (Heb 10:14-18) and give us the love we need to obey Him and to care for others (Gal 5:22-26; Rom 5:1-5).” Love God and love others. This is how we please God.




Quotes taken from:
-David Guzik, “Study Guide for Exodus 20”, Blue Letter Bible
-The Wiersbe Bible Commentary; The Complete Old Testament, pages 181, 183
-The NIV Study Bible, Zondervan
-The Wiersbe Bible Commentary; The Complete New Testament, pages 66 and 124


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