Act Like Men, Part 12

We are almost done with our study of 1 Corinthians 16, 13, act like men. Almost, not quite, but we're almost done. And I would do you a disservice if I didn't finish what I set out to accomplish. And that is to spell out for you exactly what it means to act like men, 1 Corinthians 16, 13. How to be mature, how to be courageous, how to be strong, according to what the Bible says.

And we've addressed the men of our church to lead the way. We began on Father's Day back in June. It's September and we're rapidly moving through this to get you to understand how to act like men. Because fellows, we need to lead the way in this category. We need to show the way in this category. So what does it actually mean? So we've spelled them out for you. They're in your bulletin. I'm not going to review them for you today because if I keep reviewing them for you, we never get through them, right?

So I won't review them for you, but they're in your bulletin. And we come to point number 11. I told you at the very outset, we had 12 points, okay? We're at point number 11, all right, in our outline. And next week will be point number 12. And so we are rapidly moving through this series, act like men. And I thought I'd get an amen from that, but I did not. So we'll move on. And the bottom line is this, that if we're going to act like men, we must live pleasingly. We must live pleasingly. That is second Corinthians five, verse number nine, we make it our ambition to please him who is invisible.

That is our ambition. If you're going to act like a man, if you're going to grow up, be mature, you must learn to please the true and living God. Paul says in Galatians one, verse number 10, these words, for I am now seeking the favor of men or of God, or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be the bond servant of Christ. In other words, Paul says, listen, if I set out to please men, how is it? I can say that I'm a bond servant of the living God, a slave of my master for whom I try to please.

I can't do both. I can't serve two masters. So I am a bond servant of Christ. I seek to please him. I do not seek to please man for, if I seek to please man, I will displease my God. And so the whole point of acting like men is that we live pleasingly. We live to please the one true God, Jesus Christ our Lord. Having said that, that becomes very, very difficult for us because by nature we don't. In fact, one last time, I will read from you from this book, 12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You. And in one of the ways your phone is changing you, the chapter is entitled, We Crave Immediate Approval.

Listen to what the author says. The sad truth is that many of us are addicted to our phones because we crave immediate approval and affirmation. The fear we feel in our hearts when we are engaged online is the impulse that drives our highly selective self-representation. We want to be loved and accepted by others, so we wash away our scars and defects. When we put this scrubbed down representation of ourselves online, we tabulate the human approval in a commodity index of likes and shares. We post an image, then watch the immediate response.

We refresh. We watch the stats climb or stall. We gaze the immediate responses from friends, family members, and strangers. Did what we post gain the immediate approval of others? We know within minutes even the promise of religious approval and the affirmation of other Christians is a gravitational pull that draws us toward our phones. He says this approval addiction must be why Jesus expressly warns us not to seek human praise by our obedience. He warns us not to flaunt our works online in order to be praised by others.

He says, Matthew 6, 1, Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. And then he gives an example, and the example he gives is so pertinent to all of us. He says, Imagine setting aside a few weeks of your summer vacation to travel on dirt roads and bump around in loud jeeps winding deep into remote jungle villages in Central America. You risk fevers, diseases, and heart stroke, all in order to help build an orphanage for 20 destitute kids.

At the end of the month, you step back, take a selfie with your handiwork in the background, and post it with pride on Facebook. Poof! Your reward is gone. Think about it. In one humble brag selfie, the trade is made. Eternal reward from God is sold for the porridge of maybe 80 likes and 12 comments of praise. Could it be, he says, that my application of Jesus' words is too rigid and not focused on the hard intent of the act? Perhaps, he says. But shouldn't we check ourselves through concrete examples like these?

We must agree that at some level, Jesus said that publishing our good works online for our followers to see is all the reward you're going to get. The trade is horrible. You lose something great, and you gain something pitiful. What do you gain? You gain the praise of man. You want it? You get it. It's like a drug. It gives a buzz, and then it's gone. You have got to have another fix, and it leaves you always insecure. You are always needy of other people's praise in order to be happy or feel secure.

You are never satisfied. We wake up each day hungrier than ever for validation. Wow! I couldn't have said it any better myself. That was just so pertinent, so precise. We take these selfies of ourselves on these trips that we take, post them on Facebook for human approval, and all of a sudden, you've just lost your eternal reward. God says, when you practice your righteous deeds, do not do it in front of man.

Do not do it for the recognition of man. Do it only for me. If we could just grasp that, if we could just get a hold of that. The writer of Hebrews, and there again, we're back in Hebrews again. Like I told you, every week we're in Hebrews, even though our verse-by-verse study has stalled for a brief moment. The writer of Hebrews says this, Hebrews 6.10, for God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward his name in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints.

God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love that you've shown toward other people. God sees, God knows. Is it enough that God knows or do you need others to know? Is it enough that Christ, Christ was shared with someone else this weekend and they came with saving faith, or is it important that others know that you shared Christ with someone this weekend and they came with saving faith? That urge for approval, that urge to please man is so ingrained in you and me, we just can't help ourselves most of the time.

We just have to tell people what we did because in the depths of our soul, we need affirmation, we need recognition, we need applause, we need someone to say, you did a good job, pat me on the back, yeah, thank you, I need affirmation, I need confirmation. But to wait for my eternal reward, that's just too long away. Why wait when I can get it now? And you substitute, as the author says, something beautiful for something pitiful. As men, we are to live lives that please God. We need to live lives that only seek the approval of God.

Can you imagine how great your marriage would be if you sought only to please the living God in your marriage, or your family, or your workplace? Could you imagine the freedom of all the pressure in the workplace to perform when all you did was set out each day to please the Lord, no matter what anybody else at work said? It's all about pleasing God. Was God pleased with my conversation? Was he pleased with my effort? Was he pleased with all the energy I put into this project? Was he pleased on how I showed integrity at work today?

Was God pleased? And that's why, to act like a man, you live pleasingly. You want to honor the Lord. How do you do that? I'll give you some principles. Some principles you should already know, because I gave them to you in January of 2013. They're on a green bookmark. Anybody have that? If you have it, hold it up. Anybody have that in your Bible? It's a green bookmark. Somebody does. Martha does. All right. Anybody else? Way in the back. Look at that.

Way in the back. See, the people in the back are righteous. See, no matter what you say, the people in the back can be righteous. Yeah. Let me see yours, Harold.

Wow, look at that, man. Here's a man who's got a bookmark from when I was at Calvary Church in Santa Ana years ago. Wow, Harold. And this one's all torn up. Look at that.

I'm going to give you some new ones there, brother. And I gave it to you in January of 2013. How would you live the year pleasing God? So I'm going to review that for you today. See, well, if you already preached it, why preach it again? Well, because half of you probably weren't even here then. And the other half, even though you had the bookmark, probably forgot anyway. So you live pleasing God when you proclaim the message of the cross. When you proclaim the message of the cross. Remember 1 Corinthians chapter 1?

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse number 18, Paul says, For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, that is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the cleverness of the clever. I will set aside. Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God.

God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. God is well pleased. God is well pleased through the message of the cross. I don't think you can please God any more than preaching that message. He came to die on the cross for your sins and mine. The whole purpose of his coming was to die. The whole purpose of his coming was to be a substitutionary atonement for the sins of man. That's why he came. And that's why Paul would say in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, verse number 2, For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

That's why Christ gave that message while on earth. If any man come up to me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. Take up your cross and follow me. That is the message of the gospel. To deny yourself, Paul would say I am crucified with Christ. Paul says I've died to self. The message of the cross is a brutal but beautiful message. It is the most brutal message because a sinless man died for sinful people. And he died in a horrific way. But he did it because of the beauty of salvation and the glory of his kingdom.

And so when you proclaim the message of the cross, this is well pleasing to the Lord. My friends, we need to preach the message of the cross. So many times that message is left out of our gospel presentation. It can't be because people need to know what Jesus did. And those who are followers of him take up their cross and follow him. That's why the whole scenario on the Via Dolorosa with Simon of Cyrene carrying the cross beam of Christ was so symbolic because that was the message of Christ. And so for his last sermon, Christ gave a living illustration in the streets of Jerusalem.

As Simon the Cyrene would carry the cross beam for Christ following him to Calvary, Christ said, that's what I've been preaching to you for three years. If any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. I wonder if the people on the streets of Jerusalem ever grasped that illustration. But it is such a beautiful way of demonstrating to the people, this is what salvation is. It's about following me. Follow me. You can't please God any better than proclaiming the message of the cross.

Number two, by living a life of faith. By living a life of faith. Hebrews 11 6. Without faith, it is impossible to do what? To please God, right? Without faith, it is impossible to please him. So if I live a pleasurable life, a life that pleases my God, not only do I proclaim the gospel of God, but I live a life of faith. What is faith? Let me just give you two words, trusting obedience, okay?

Faith is trusting obedience. Faith is trusting in what God has already said and put it into practice. Obedience, trusting obedience. It's believing in what God has already said in such a way that I trust it to be true. And because it's true, I obey everything that he says. That is faith. That is living faith. And so the Bible says that without faith, it is impossible to please God.

The only way you can please God is to not only believe what he says, but do what he says. When you do that, God is honored. God is put on display. Listen to Psalm 147. 147 verse number 10. God does not delight in the strength of the horse. He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The Lord favors those who fear him, those who trust in his loving kindness. God doesn't want you to trust in horses. God doesn't want you to trust in chariots. God doesn't want you to trust in any other strength other than him.

That's why over in Psalm 146 it says, do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. Don't do that. But you see, we find ourselves learning to trust in those things around us. We talked about this on Wednesday night with Abraham, right? What did Abraham do when tragedy came to the land of promise, when there's a great famine in the promised land? He immediately took his family and fled to Egypt, never seeking God, never depending upon God, never praying to God, never asking God what to do, not living by faith.

Here is the father of our faith, not living by faith. Think about that. How ironic is that? Abraham is the father of our faith and yet he's not living by faith. He's living by sight. He sees the famine, he flees, he runs to Egypt. And so we talked about that trip of corruption for Abraham and how it affected his family and how it affected a lot tremendously by what he saw in Egypt. But remember Isaiah 31, Isaiah chapter 31, verse number one, woe to those who go to Egypt for help and rely on horses and trust in chariots, because they are many, and in horsemen, because they are very strong, but they do not look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord.

God says you are cursed if you trust in horses. That is, if you trust in chariots, that is, if you trust in your own strength, if you trust in your own wisdom, if you trust in your own intuitive thinking, if you trust in things that you have for yourself, if you trust in anything outside of me to accomplish great things, you are cursed. But blessed is the man who depends upon me, who trusts in me, who believes in me. God says, I just want you to take me at my word.

That's all I'm asking. That's all he's asking. Take me at my word and I will show myself faithful to you. That's why acting like a man is so important, because men take God at his word. They trust him. They live a life of faith, believing in what God has already said in his word, learning to trust God for everything. So if I'm going to please God, I'm going to proclaim the message of the cross, because that's the message. It's a message that Christ wanted to be preached. That's why he emphasized the cross all throughout his ministry.

That's why everything in the Old Testament pointed to the cross of Calvary. That's why we've told you over the years that everything in the Old Testament was culminated on Mount Calvary. It came to fruition on Mount Calvary. And everything since Mount Calvary looks back to that one aspect where our souls were redeemed, where Christ would claim it is finished. Redemption has been purchased, has been taken care of at Calvary's cross. So we proclaim the message of the cross and we live a life, trusting God for what he said, taking him at his word, because everything he says is true.

Number three, pleasing God means exalting Jesus Christ, the son of God, exalting Jesus Christ, the son of God.

That's why over in Matthew 3, 17, at the baptism of Christ, the voice came from heaven by the father. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Well pleased. Why did he say that? Christ would say in John 5, verse number 23, he who doesn't honor the son does not honor the father who sent the son. You see, if you honor the son, you honor the father. Why? Because the father is well pleased with the son. And so if the father is well pleased with the son, that means when you honor the son, you are pleasing God.

See that? And so when you exalt Christ above everything else, you live a life pleasing to God. It pleased the father that in the son, the fullness of the Godhead should dwell in bodily form, Colossians chapter 1. It pleased the father because the son is the glory of the father. And therefore, when we exalt him and we lift him up and we give glory to Christ, he's put on display. That pleases the father. So let me ask you a question.

Did you exalt the son today? You've had opportunities to exalt the son. You exalted him when you sang praises to his name. If you sang this morning with a sole purpose of lifting his name up on high, you gave glory, glory to the father. You exalted the son. If when the men came down to take the offering today and you gave out of the first fruits of your increase, you exalted the son.

Second Corinthians 9 talks about the fact that God is well pleased to the contributions of those who give cheerfully, joyfully, sacrificially.

God's well pleased. Why? Because the son's exalted. And so you've already had opportunities today to exalt the son through your singing, through your giving. Some of you are going to leave here. Okay. And you're going to go to one of the classrooms in the surrounding area or go serve in some ministry in this area. And you're going to exercise your giftedness. And you will be well pleasing to God because you would have exalted the son because you would have given glory to his name. And when you give glory to the son, you please the father.

And when you please the father, God is pleased with you. You've made it your ambition to please him who is invisible. That's why Peter said over in 1 Peter 4, these words, 1 Peter 4, verse number 10, as each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God, whoever speaks is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God, whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies so that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. In other words, when you exercise your gift, whether it's a serving gift or whether it's a speaking gift, you give glory to God, you exalt the son because he gave you the gift. See that? So when you come to church, you've already been given the opportunity to exalt the son. And when those of you who serve in the ministry of the church lead this place and go exercise your giftedness, you lift up the son, you put him on display, you give glory to his name because God has gifted you in that area, no matter what it may be, you're exercising it for the glory of God.

And therefore you've lifted up the son. If you got up this morning and you confessed your sin to God, you gave glory to God, you honored God. That's why in Joshua chapter seven, Joshua told Achan, confess your sin and give glory to God. So if you got up this morning and you spent time on your knees in prayer, confessing your sin to the Lord, you gave glory to God, you exalted the son because of a sacrifice on Calvary tree. You see that? There is so much that is in scripture that described for us how we are to give glory and honor, how we are to exalt the son, that when we do that, we please the father because he has exalted the son.

It's well pleasing to the father to lift up the son. When we who are obedient to the father lift up his son, we give glory to his name. He is well pleased. Do you make it your ambition to please him who is invisible? Or do you still seek the pleasure of men and not of God? For if you seek the pleasure of men, you cease to be the slave of the true master. So we make it our ambition to live pleasingly by proclaiming the message of the cross, by living a life of faith, by exalting Jesus Christ, the son of the living God.

And number four, by asking God for wisdom, asking God for wisdom. Way back first Samuel chapter three, verse number six, Solomon said, you have shown great loving kindness to your servant, David, my father, according as he walked before you in truth and righteousness and a brightness of heart toward you.

And you have reserved for him this great loving kindness that you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. Now, oh Lord, my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father, David. Yet I am, but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. Your servant is in the midst of your people, which you have chosen a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant and understanding heart to judge your people to discern between good and evil for who is able to judge this great people of yours.

God says, Solomon, what do you want? Solomon says, I need wisdom. I need discernment to be able to rightly judge your people. Verse 10, it was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked for this thing. Can you imagine that? Pleasing God by what he asked for. He asked for wisdom, discernment, because that really truly pleases God. God is so well pleased that you want to have wisdom, that you want to be discerning between good and evil. It pleases him because he wants you to do the right thing.

That's why in James 1, remember James 1, it says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. Now remember, that's in the context of trials and suffering because verse 4 says, consider it all, verse 3 says, consider it all joy, brethren, when you fall into various trials, knowing that the proving of your faith produces patience. Remember that? And so in that context, he says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally. The wisdom in that verse deals with how to handle trials, how to respond to trials.

Do you know that when you go to God and say, Lord, I don't understand the trial, the difficulty, the hardship, the tragedy. I need wisdom, discernment. I'm asking you for wisdom that pleases God because you're asking him to help you understand what's happening in your life right now.

And God gives to all men liberally, those who ask him. That's so, so wonderful. Think about it this way. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain to build it. Psalm 1271, right? Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain to build it. So how does the Lord build the house? Proverbs 24, verse number three, by wisdom, the house is built by understanding it is established.

And by the knowledge of God, all the rooms are filled with precious and pleasant riches. Wow. So God says, listen, unless I build your house, it's not going to stand.

It's not going to last. So how does God build the house? He builds it through wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. By wisdom, the house is built. Wisdom is the application of truth to life. In other words, when you ask God for wisdom, you are asking him to take his truth and flesh it out every single day of your life. That's wisdom, the application of truth to life. And God's well-pleased with that. Well-pleased because he wants you to live out your Christian faith. He wants you to live out the Christian life that happens only through the wisdom of the living God.

And that's why it says in Proverbs 23, verse number 23, by truth and do not sell it, get wisdom and instruction and understanding. Again, get wisdom, understanding, and instruction. They're all virtually the same. They all deal with the truth of God. One verifies the truth, one clarifies the truth, and one applies the truth. But they all deal with the truth of God. Proverbs 24, verse number 14, know that wisdom is thus for your soul. Proverbs 24, verse number five, a wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases power.

Wow. The wise man's a strong man. The man of knowledge increases power. God says, listen, I am pleased when you come to me and ask me for wisdom.

When you are asking me how to apply the truth that I have given to everyday life, that means you want to live it out. I can't be any more pleased with you than I am. Live pleasingly. Ask God for wisdom. Proclaiming the message of the cross, living a life of faith, exalting Jesus Christ as son, asking God for wisdom, and staying away from sexual sin. Pleases God. Staying away from sexual sin. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse number one, finally then brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that as you receive from us instruction as to know how to, you ought to walk and please God, just as you actually do walk, that you excel still more.

For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is if you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. Not a lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things. Just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.

So he who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives his Holy Spirit to you. Paul says, I want you to know how to walk and please God. How do you walk pleasingly? This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you abstain from all kinds of sexual activity, all kinds of sexual sin. This pleases God. We need to understand that. Not only in Paul's day, but in our day, sexual sin has always been a huge issue in and outside of the church. And so therefore, if we want to live lives that truly please the Lord, we will abstain, stay away from sexual sin, really any kind of sin.

But in the context of 1 Thessalonians 4, knowing how to possess your own vessel, staying away from sexual sin. Paul over in Ephesians 5 would address again a similar factor, but it's so important that we live pure and holy lives. You want to please the Lord? You want to honor His name? You want to lift Him up? Proclaim the message of the cross, live a life of faith, exalt Christ the Son, ask God for wisdom, stay away from all sexual sin. Next, by imitating Christ. Imitating Christ. The Bible says very clearly in John chapter 8, verse number 29, these words.

Christ says, He who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone. For I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. Wow. The Son says, I always do the things that are pleasing to my Father. So if we're going to live a life that pleases the Son and pleases the Father, we must live a life of imitation, imitating Christ, following Christ's example, right? That is, as the Son willingly submitted Himself to the Father's will, so we willingly submit ourselves to the Father's will, trusting Him to do great and mighty things, trusting Him to accomplish great and mighty things.

So if I'm a student, if I'm a child, I understand the book of Colossians, the third chapter, which says these words, Colossians chapter 3, verse 20, which says, Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.

Why is children submitting to their parents well- pleasing to the Lord? Because it is a life of submission to authority. And the Son said, I always do those things that are pleasing to my Father. In John chapter 4, in John chapter 5, in John chapter 6, Christ says, I came to do the will of my Father who is in heaven.

So He willingly set aside His divine attributes, Philippians chapter 2, He emptied Himself, became obedient even unto death, yes, even the death of the cross, because He was willing to submit Himself to His Father's authority. We are pleasing God when we imitate Christ, and when we imitate, in particular, His submission. So when we live a life of submission to authority, we are pleasing God, because He recognizes that we recognize that God's in charge. And when we submit to authority, God is well-pleased.

If you read 1 Peter chapter 2, 1 Peter chapter 3, the whole context is learning to submit to authority those in rulership over you, husbands and wives and children and you in the marketplace. And sandwiched in between all that is that great example of Christ who kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously, even though He was treated in such an unworthy, unkind, unjust manner, but He knew that there is one who dealt with man justly. It was His Father in heaven. So He kept entrusting Himself to His Father who judges righteously.

Imitating Christ and living a life of submission truly is pleasing to God. Next, if you want to live a life pleasing to God, you live a life by not neglecting or neglecting not to share with others. Neglecting not to share with others, whether it's from my gifts, whether it's from my goods, I do not neglect sharing with others. You see, we forget Hebrews chapter 13. And see, there again, we're in the book of Hebrews again. For those of you wanting to be in Hebrews so badly, Hebrews chapter 13 tells us this.

Hebrews 13, verse number 15. Through Him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips and give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing for which sacrifices God is what? Pleased. See that? God is pleased. When you neglect not to share with others, your goods, God is pleased. God is honored. I believe that through sending the 15 people that we did to Eight Days of Hope last week, and you giving of excess of the money needed to send them, shows us that you did not neglect in giving of your gifts.

As an assembly, we honored the Lord. We pleased the Lord. That's important. We seek to do that as a church. And those of you who gave toward that, gave because you wanted to please the Lord. You wanted to somehow not neglect in doing good to other people. That's why in 1 John, verse number 3, it says that we just can't love in word and tongue, but we need to love in deed and in truth. There needs to be flesh put to our love for others. And so when we neglect not the needs of others, we are demonstrating that we truly want to please the true and living God.

How important is that? And so we need to realize the importance of helping others. That's why Christ in Matthew 25, the great sheep goat judgment, remember that? In the Kidron Valley there in the land of Israel, where he separates the sheep from the goats, puts the sheep on his right, the goats on his left. It says, in essence, those of you who neglected to do good to the least of these my brethren, that is, you didn't give them a drink when they were thirsty. You did not feed them when they were hungry.

You did not clothe them when they were naked. You did not visit them when they were in prison. Because you neglected my people. I will say, depart from me, I never knew you. But those of you who did, those of you who did, the sheep, you saw me in prison, you visited me, you saw me naked, you clothed me, you saw me thirsty, you gave me something to drink, you saw me hungry, you fed me, enter into the joy of the Lord. You know what the unique thing about that whole parable is? Is this. And that is, neither group, the sheep or the goats, had any idea that what they did or didn't do mattered.

That's the unique thing about the whole story. Because the goats say, well, if we didn't know you were in prison, we would have visited you. If we would have known you were hungry, we would have fed you. If we would have known you were thirsty, we would have given you something to drink. Christ says, if you didn't do it to the least of these my brethren, you did not do it as unto me.

You got to go. But those who did visit those in need, those who did minister to those in prison, they said to the Lord, but when did we see you in prison? Thirsty or hungry? Or naked? And Christ said to them, because you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it as unto me. In other words, doing acts of kindness and love out of a selfless heart, is by nature what Christians do. So much so that when they do it, they don't even know they're doing it as unto the Lord, because it's so natural to the way they do things.

To me, that's absolutely amazing. You do what you do because you want to honor the Lord. You live a life to honor the Lord. So as you go through life, James says it this way, true religion, undefiled before my father in heaven is this, that you visit the widows and orphans in their affliction, and you keep oneself unspotted from the world, James 1 27. This is true religion. This is the real deal. That is, there are widows and orphans who are in need and you meet that need. You meet it. And when you meet it, you have no idea that you're doing it as unto the Lord, because it's such a natural thing for you to do.

That's just a beautiful thing about the Christian life. Christ is moving you intrinsically. Christ is moving in and through you, and you neglect not to meet the needs of others. So to live pleasingly, you live proclaiming the message of the cross, living a life of faith, exalting Jesus Christ, the son, asking God for wisdom, staying away from sexual sin, imitating the Christ, neglecting not to share with others and giving praise to his name, giving praise to his name. We already read Hebrews 13 15 16 Psalm 69 verse number 30 says this.

I will praise the name of God with song and magnify him with thanksgiving, and it will please the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs. I will praise the Lord. I will magnify his name. I will lift him up. I will give praise to my God, because it's better than anything that I could do external, because praise comes from the inside of the heart. And I'm going to lift his name up on high. I'm going to give praise to the true and living God, no matter what the circumstance. And when you give praise to God in all things and for all things, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, God is pleased.

Don't you want to live pleasingly? Don't you want to live a life that honors God? Don't you want to live a life that really puts him on display? That's what it means to act like a man. Let me pray with you.

Lord, you are so good. Thank you. Thank you for today. You are beyond great. You are beyond awesome. You are beyond any kind of adjective that we can conjure up in this world. And we thank you that you reached down and saved our souls. The least we can do is to please you. May we live lives that please our Father in heaven. In Jesus' name, amen.