SERMON  OUTLINE

Ways We Can Please God as His Church Hebrews 13.15-21

…with such sacrifices God is pleased. …may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen

Introduction

Our goal and God’s desire is that as Christians we should please Him. 2 Corinthians 5.9; Colossians 1.10

1) We can please God with Sacrifice.  Verses 15-16

a) The sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. When we gather for worship. When we witness to His saving power and Majesty.

b) The sacrifice of good works and sharing with others. Ephesians 2.10. Church missions and individual works of service.

c) Sacrifice through Jesus Christ.

2) We can please God by fulfilling our roles in the Church. Verse 17

a) Role as a church member. Obey and submit to leaders.

b) Role as a leader. Keep watch and give an account to God.

c) Joy in the fellowship as roles are fulfilled.

3) We can please God through prayer. Verse 18-21

a) Church praying for leaders. To lead with a clear conscience and integrity. Daily Spiritual renewal through fellowship with God; Loving patience and gentleness; Holiness; Insight into God’s Word and discernment of people, world, new movements; Sermon preparation and prayer meetings; Vision for discipleship; Leadership; Physical and mental health.

b) Leaders praying for the church. Peace; guidance; equipping to do the will of God. God to be glorified.

Conclusion

I long and pray that we will be a church that is pleasing to God in worship, in character and good works, and in prayer. I long to see the power of God work through us in answer to prayer and teaching, to transform lives into the image of Christ. Let us make it our goal to please God through sacrifice, fulfilling our roles, and through prayer, to the Glory of God.

When, then, will the believers en masse understand that they are primarily responsible for the preaching which they hear, yes, more than the preachers? If every pastor knew and felt that the congregation was praying and that each member had prayed, that the congregation was supporting him, interceding for him …what preacher would not feel himself a new man? And whose preaching would not be transformed? Once again, preaching the word is a function and activity of the Church, not the function and specialty of a man. Pierre Marcel

SERMON NOTES

Ways We Can Please God as His Church Hebrews 13.15-21

-When I was at Bible School our class adopted part of 2 Corinthians 5.9 as our class motto to be inscribed on our class graduation picture. I adopted this motto as my life verse. The first part of 2 Corinthians 5.9 in the NIV says, “We make it our goal to please God”.

-In Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1, Paul gives the reason for his prayer in verse 10. “We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way. Then Paul goes on to tell us what things please God.

-Our goal and God’s desire is that as Christians we should please God. Hebrews 13.15 tells us about one thing that pleases God, and in verse 21 the author prays that God will work into us what is pleasing to God. This morning I want to look at three ways that we can please God as His Church and as individuals.

1) We can please God with Sacrifices. Verses 15-16

-Two sacrifices are mentioned in these verses. The first sacrifice is called the sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess His name. The easiest way for us to please God with the sacrifice of praise is in gathering for worship together. In worship we confess His name in song and prayer and testimony. We confess the character and the works of God and we give thanks to Him for His many blessings. May God give us a greater passion to confess His name in worship as we gather together.

-A little more difficult may be the confession of His name to family or relatives or co-workers, or in a particularly antagonistic situation. Next week we are going to pray for those who pay with much suffering and even their lives for confessing the name of Jesus Christ. Remember that one day every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father. Determine to please God by confessing His name and the name of Jesus often.

-The second sacrifice is called the sacrifice of good works and sharing with others. Ephesians 2.10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. Christians should be involved in good works and in generous giving to help others. Our verse says that “with such sacrifices God is pleased”. I thank God for ministries like Samaritan’s purse and the shoe boxes, the Bekkatla’s, and the Kishore’s and the rest of the missions that we can support here at Rosedale. I praise the name of God that as a fellowship we can please God by good works and by sharing what God has given us with others. Let’s lift up the name of Jesus by our good works and sharing with others.

-You can please God with sacrifices, but make sure you pay attention to how this verse on pleasing God with sacrifices begins. It is through Jesus that we offer sacrifices of praise and sacrifices of good works and sharing to God. It is not just sacrifice that pleases God but sacrifices that are the result of faith in Jesus Christ and a life motivated by the Holy Spirit. We please God when faith in Christ expresses itself through praise that confesses the name of God, and through good works and sharing with others. Every time you lift up the name of God in praise or in testimony, and every time you do good to others in the name of Christ, you are pleasing God.

2) We can please God by fulfilling our roles in the Church. Verse 17

-Two roles are mentioned here. First is the role of the church member. Church members are to obey their leaders and submit to their authority. This is pleasing to God because obedience and submission in the body of Christ or in a marriage expresses the relationship of Christ to the Father, and of the Holy Spirit to Christ and the Father. Whenever you obey a leader and submit to their authority you are honoring God and pleasing God.

-The second role mentioned in this verse is the role of the leader. The leader is to keep watch over God’s people. The Greek word used here means to keep awake, the absence of sleep because of an alert mind. A heavy responsibility is placed on the leader and the leader must give an account to God for his leadership. Responsible, watchful leadership pleases God.

-You can please God as a follower by obeying and submitting to your leaders and you can please God by leading watchfully. This desire to please God by obeying leaders brings joy to the leaders and joy to the people of God as well. To grumble and act in disobedience and rebellion is to burden leaders and is profitless for everyone. Let’s learn to please God and rejoice in God together.

3) We can please God through prayer. Verse 18-21

-These final verses mention the church praying for their leaders and the leaders praying for the church. The leaders ask for prayer that they may properly lead, with a clear conscience and with integrity. Here are 8 areas where you can pray for your leaders: Daily spiritual renewal through fellowship with God; Loving patience and gentleness; Holiness “A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hands of God. – I am persuaded that I shall obtain the highest amount of present happiness, I shall do most for God’s glory and the good of man, and I shall have the fullest reward in eternity, by maintaining a conscience always washed in Christ’s blood, by being filled with the Holy Spirit at all times, and by attaining the most entire likeness to Christ in mind, will, and heart, that it is possible for a redeemed sinner to attain to in this world.” McCheyne]; Insight from the Word of God and discernment of new movements, others, world; Sermon preparation, and prayer meetings; Vision of God’s plan to make disciples; Leadership; Physical and mental health.

-“The sinew of the minister’s strength under God is the supplication of his church. We can do anything and everything if we have a praying people around us. But when our dear friends and fellow helpers cease to pray, the Holy Spirit hastens to depart, and ‘Icahbod’ [no glory; the glory has departed from Israel] is written on the place of assembly.

What can we do without your prayers? They link us with the omnipotence of God. Like a lightning rod, they pierce the clouds and bring down the mighty and mysterious power from on high. …The Lord give me a dozen importunate pleaders and lovers of souls, and by his grace we will shake all London from end-to-end.” Spurgeon

-The leaders are also to pray for the church. We pray that the God of peace will be your peace because of the blood of Jesus Christ shed for you. We pray that the Great Shepherd will guide your steps. We pray that God will equip you with every good thing to do His will and that you will diligently use what God gives for His Glory. We pray as Paul did that you will be fully pleasing to God through Jesus Christ. We pray that God will be glorified through His church.

-I long and pray that we will be a church that is pleasing to God in worship, in character and good works, and in prayer. I long to see the power of God work through us in answer to prayer and teaching, to transform lives into the image of Christ. Let us make it our goal to please God through sacrifice, fulfilling our roles, and through prayer, to the Glory of God.