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
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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