1Thessalonians 4:1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.

Magnetism attracts me! It is believed that deep underground are these electrical currents. There is a liquid metallic iron that is moving around. As the earth rotates, it produces these currents. These currents produce a magnetic field. The ends of these fields are the north and south poles. North, because one pole is found in the north and south, for the reason that the other pole is found in the southern hemisphere. Actually the north pole is really south because the compass needle is north and is attracted to the south magnetic pole that is in the north. Which makes the south pole at Antartica a northern magnetic pole. Very confusing, but what a comfort when I am walking in the woods to have my compass needle always pointing to a constant point.

We hear of so many people whose lives lack direction. Young people who graduate from school often can’t decide what they are going to do with their lives. People who have gone through the loss of a loved one or a job that they loved often face this loss of direction. Their compass has stopped working.

When the apostle Paul came into Thessalonica, many people became Christians in a three-week period of time. Paul did not waste his time, he made very good use of it. We find in chapter 1 of 1 Thessalonians that many became Christians. Paul knew they were because of the evidences of faith, hope and love that they showed. Their faith was genuine.

We discovered that Paul was so effective because he connected with the Thessalonians. How he connected is illustrated in chapters 2 and 3.

Now we discover what Paul would have taught them if he had more time with them. He would have taught them what he had already taught them, for Paul had a focus to his teaching. The context, the underlying thread that runs through all his teaching is this: Christians should live to please the Lord. So when we ask this question: What would Paul have taught them if he had more time, the answer is, “He would have taught them to live to please the Lord.” This was the compass, this was the major thread of his teaching.

We find this stated very clearly in 1 Thessalonians 4:1. “1 Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.”

This morning we will look at three truths about pleasing God.

It’s teachable.

It’s doable.

We need the teaching.

It’s teachable.

So why do I say, “It’s teachable?”

First, pleasing God is teachable because many do not believe that it is.

For example, our claim that the Bible is God’s word, not man’s word, that it is inspired and not like any other book, that God has given us specific instruction on how to live, faces a great deal of skepticism in the world in which we live.

People believe that God is whoever you want God to be. Whenever anyone says, “God spoke…” they start to distance themselves from you. Or they believe that God speaks through many ways, but each of us must his or her own truth. To be dogmatic about what pleases God and what does not comes across as arrogance.

One case in point. I have heard many in the gay rights community make this statement, “God made me gay.” Why do they say this? Has God spoken to them? No. They believe that being homosexual is ok. And if it is ok with them, it must be ok with God as well.

But when we examine this in the Bible, the Bible says this, and I quote: Ge 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”

You ask, “How did God create me?” My answer? God created me male. How has God created you? He created you either male or female. As male or female, God has given us certain equipment, certain sexual organs that were created for a certain function. We were given eyes to see, ears to hear, noses to smell and our sexual organs for certain sexual functions. Paul calls it “against nature” to use our sexual organs in any context outside of male/female relationships. Furthermore, the Bible says that any sexual activity outside of marriage is sin. Sleeping together outside of marriage is as much a sin as homosexuality or bestiality. The only difference being that when heterosexuals sin, they are using their God-given functions in a setting that does not please God. When homosexuals sin, they are denying the purpose for which God created their body parts as well as using the God-given functions in a setting that does not please God.

All these sins were in the culture of the Thessalonians as we will discover. But Paul says, “When I was with you, I taught you to live to please God.” When we live to please God we will need to change, we will need to repent, of much that we have done in the past.

Second, pleasing God is teachable because Paul did it. He taught the Thessalonians how to please God.

We can do things because it makes our lives easier. It’s hard living in a stressful marriage. Getting help can make the marriage better. But Paul wanted a deeper level, he wanted them to want a marriage that pleased God.

It’s tough in our relationships with people. We can want them to improve, but Paul taught on a deeper level. He didn’t care so much if relationships with other improved, but rather, whether or not the relationships we had with others pleased God.

Some people were waiting for the Lord’s return. This sounds good, but Paul did not want people to just wait for the Lord’s return. He wanted them to be doing so in such a way that when the Lord returned, he would be pleased with what they were doing.

So he taught them specific truths about how they should live to please the Lord.

So I ask you this basic question: Are you living to please the Lord? What are you doing today? What are you doing this morning, this afternoon, this evening? Was your compass set on doing what would please the Lord?

Often our compass is set on pleasing ourselves. Or it is set on pleasing others. But God wants our compass set on pleasing Him. Sometimes we need to deny self or say “no” to others in order to please God. Are you living today to please the Lord?

This is not only something we can teach you, but it is doable as well. Did you catch that in the text? Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living.

These new believers were living to please God. Were they perfect at this? No. That is why Paul gives further instruction on how to live to please God. But their compass was set in the right direction. They wanted to please the Lord and they were doing it.

I am personally discouraged by Christians who act as if no one is even trying to live right. I do this myself. I might say, “We really need to read our Bibles. The literacy rate in our country is low. No on reads their Bibles anymore and we need to do it.” Did you catch the tone? Its as if no one is reading their Bibles. But many of you are. Many of you have developed a love for the Word. You spend time in it every day. We never hear your stories. We only hear about those who are not doing it.

I will make this statement: It is possible to live in order to please God. And many of you are doing so.

Without being boastful, I wish you would speak up. None of us have arrived, but this issue of living in order to please God is a heart issue. You can have a real desire to please God. You don’t need to know everything in order to have your compass headed in the right direction.

I was first alerted to this years ago in reading about Jill Briscoe, the wife of Stuart Briscoe, a leading evangelical preacher. She was saved in England. The person who led her to the Lord encouraged her to memorize Bible verses. She stated, “Every Christian I met memorized verses. I just thought that was what Christians did.”

It is possible to live in a way that pleases the Lord.

We need the teaching. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.

One of the greatest dangers is the Christian life is to think we have arrived. I know people who have been Christians for twenty years who no longer attend Sunday School or Bible study because they hear the topic and say, “I know that.”

You speak the truth. You know a lot. But this verse says that Paul asked them and urged them in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. As we mature, we do not listen to preaching as much to learn, we listen to preaching for the application. We know what to do, but we need to be asked and urged to do it. We forget. We are lazy. We think we know more than the teacher or the preacher. And we are correct, we often do. But I am amazed at how many young Christians seem to do what we should be doing, who are going where we should be going, who are effective where we should be effective. They know less but are doing more. As Paul says, “Knowledge puffs up but love edifies.”

And so I ask those of you who have been Christians for a long time, put before you the goal to please Jesus more and more. To whom much is given, much is required.

But this was not given to older Christians. This was given to newer Christians, people who had been Christians less than a year.

As a newer Christian, you face a learning curve. If you want to please God, then you need to learn what God has for you. You need to expose yourself to places where the Bible is taught.

Sunday morning is good. The church gathers on Sunday morning. We worship together and we learn together. Our Sunday school touches all ages. What a better time to teach people about how to please God then when they are young? What a great example for the children when they see adults who come and say, “We need to learn to please God as well.” Our expectations of the Christian life are not formed by preaching, but are usually formed by what we see and hear around us. We learn more from what people do than what they say.

Some of you have wrong ideas about the devil and demons. All you learned was from Harry Potter or some novel you read. But we have a class that teaches what the Bible has to say about it.

Some of you have wrong ideas about Jesus. All you heard was what Time magazine or the History Channel might have said. But we have a class on the book of Luke that is looking at the life of Jesus from those who knew him well.

There is a lot of things said and done that everyone in our culture nods their head and says, “Sounds good.” But it isn’t the truth. And many of us never understand what is really behind some of what is said by people who are trying to influence our government and change our society. That is why we have a class on the Truth Project, to help us understand some of the issues in our culture that cause conflict of values and fight at the values we embrace the most.

We need teaching. When we have learned, we need more. In our pursuit of God, in our desire to please God, we learn through our experiences more of what God is like and what he wants us to do.

You may be satisfied, but you will never grow if your only exposure to the word of God and to Christian ministry is Sunday morning. It’s like eating one meal on Sunday and hoping that will last you for the week. In Hebrews it tells us to encourage one another daily. Doing the will of God is a lifestyle, not an event.

We will look at several of the areas that Paul highlights for the Thessalonians in the next few weeks.