WHAT MAKES GOD SMILE?
(All my sermons use illustrations from Sermon Central and scripture is NIV unless otherwise noted)
Have you ever wondered if by something you said, or by your actions, you have made God smile? I know as a parent there are things that my children do and say that make me smile. NOW, I will admit that there are something that my children say that would cause most anyone to smile, children can be that way sometimes.
On the last day of school, children were bringing gifts to their teacher. The florist’s son brought the teacher a bouquet. The candy storeowner’s son brought the teacher a pretty box of candy. Then the liquor storeowner’s son brought a big, heavy box. The teacher lifted it up and noticed that it was leaking a bit. She touched a drop of liquid with her finger and tasted it. “Is it wine?’ she guessed. “No” said the boy. She tasted another drop, “Champagne?” “No,” said the little boy. “It’s a puppy!”
Eph 5:8-11 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
This morning, I want to focus on that little command you find in verse 10, find out WHAT PLEASES GOD! In the NIV Strong’s Concordance the word pleasure is listed 20 or so times BUT most of them are talking about what God would NOT see as something that would bring Him pleasure. However, if we go to the Living Bible we see that there is one man that was a pleasure to God, that would be Noah. The NIV says: Gen 6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. And the Living Version says: Gen 6:8 But Noah was a pleasure to the Lord. It is important to look at the word BUT in both of these versions before we go any further, the Word BUT is there because just prior to this verse the Bible tells us that God was disgusted with that which He had created,
Gen 6:5-7 The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth--men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air--for I am grieved that I have made them."
BUT, Noah was a PLEASURE to the Lord! Just ponder this for a moment. In the midst of the wickedness and the evil, God looks down and sees this one man and says, “Hey, Noah is alright” “Yeah, that Noah has his act together, he makes me smile!”
Have you ever done that with your children? Have you ever looked at other children in the world, and then said to yourself, “you know, I am lucky that my child is not like that”? I know that I have smiled many times, when comparing my children to some I have seen on the world. BUT WHY? What is it that would make us smile and make our heavenly Father smile as well? I think we can gleam some things from scripture by simply looking at the life of the child that brought pleasure to God.
The first thing I see is that God smile when we have a loving and close relationship with Him. Nothing makes a mother smile bigger than having her son call her without having to threaten his life. I know that my mother is smiling when I call her just because, I am sure there are mothers that can relate to this as well. When our child nestles up close to us and say, “love you!” it puts a smile on our face. Whether our children are young or old, it puts a smile on our face when we see them making an effort to do as we have taught them, to travel the path we have placed them on and to contact us, and tell us that they are happy we are their parents. (That last part I do not personally know of yet, but as my seven children grow, I hope at least one will say something along those lines) The point is, we as parents have dreamed, and trained, and disciplined our children in hope that they would follow the right path and keep a close relationship us. God desires the same thing, turn back with me to Genesis 6:9 Gen 6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.
The NLT puts the same verse this way: Noah consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with Him. This is the way that God intended for us to relate with him, BUT like most children, we don’t always listen:
How It Happened: God populated the earth with broccoli & cauliflower & spinach, green & yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man & Woman would live long & healthy lives. Then Satan created McDonald’s. And McDonald’s brought forth the 99-cent double-cheeseburger. Then Satan said to Man, "You want fries with that?" And Man said, "Super-size them." And Man gained pounds. God created healthful yogurt so woman might keep her figure that man found so fair. Then Satan brought forth chocolate. And woman gained pounds. God said, "Try my crispy fresh salad." Then Satan brought forth ice cream. And woman gained more pounds. God said, "I have sent your heart healthy vegetables & olive oil with which to cook them." Then Satan brought forth chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man gained pounds & his bad cholesterol went through the roof. So God brought forth running shoes & Man resolved to lose those extra pounds. Then Satan brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels. And Man gained even more pounds. God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat & brimming with nutrition. Then Satan peeled off the healthful skin & sliced the starchy center into chips & deep-fat fried them. And he created sour cream dip also. And Man clutched his remote control & ate the potato chips soaked in cholesterol. Satan saw it & said, "It is good." And Man went into cardiac arrest. God sighed, & created quadruple bypass heart surgery. Then Satan created HMO’s. (Adapted from www.mamarocks.com)
The truth is that we look for different ways to relate to our God, just as children look for different ways to relate to their parents. Listen to the words of God in Hosea 6:6 the Living Version: “I don’t want your sacrifices - I want your love; I don’t want your offerings - I want you to know me.”
God wants us to love Him and He also wants us to TRUST Him. I mean with the kind of trust that it would take to build an ark in the middle of land because God told us to. I mean the kind of trust that I saw in my children when they didn’t know everything. Yup, it’s true, as they age, children get to a place where they know everything and there is nothing you can teach them, BECAUSE, they already know everything. When they were young, they would run down the kitchen counters and leap into my arms, as they got older, they didn’t need to hear any advice on any subject, BECAUSE they KNEW IT ALL.
The truth is that we do the same thing to God, we act as if we trust Him to guide and direct our every step, UNTIL, that day when he sends us somewhere we are not comfortable with. Let’s imagine dialogue between Abraham and God. “Abraham, this is God speaking. I want you to leave everything and go to the land I will show you.” “Where’s that?” “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” “Try me.” “It’s 1500 miles from here in a place called Canaan.” “Never heard of it.” “I know, and guess what else?” “What?” “I’m going to make you the father of a great nation.” “That’s impossible. I don’t have any children.” “Don’t worry.” “What do you mean, don’t worry?” “Just trust me.” “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You want me to leave everything, travel across the desert to someplace I’ve never heard of, and become the father of a great nation.” “Right.” “Is this some kind of joke?” “No.” “What am I supposed to tell my wife?” “That’s your problem.” Hebrews 11:8 puts it this way: “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.”
God wants us to trust Him the same way, it will make Him smile. How much do you trust your father in heaven. I love this story:
My father-in-law came to visit us. He bought us a gas grill. It was too large to fit in the trunk of my wife’s car so they decided they would have to put it in the back seat. We had two toddlers and one of the carseats was in the back seat. My wife told her father, "Just take the car seat out and put it on the top of the car. My three year old son was watching all of this and said to his mother, But Mom, will you drive reeeal slow?" He trusted her enough to ride there!!
Noah showed the same kind of trust and it must have made God smile: Heb 11:7 By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn’t see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God. The Message
You see how trust is connected with having the type of relationship with God that would make him smile. Just think for a moment what kind of faith Noah had to build an ark in the middle of nowhere. The questions this morning is, “ Do you make God smile?” Are you in the kind of relationship with Him that shows trust and . . .
OBEYS what He has commanded.
Now, back at the start of the year, I said in the Better Body Building Series that we must listen to our trainer, the is OBEY, Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith. In that sermon we looked at Jesus said, that if we love him we would OBEY what He has commanded. God expects us to show our love for Him by obedience to what He tells us to do. Let’s face it saving the animal population of the world from a tremendous flood would take a lot of work, and a great deal of attention to detail and at best it was a logistical nightmare. In order for this to work EVERYTHING would have to be done just the way that God intended for it to be done. God had a plan and it would have to be His way or the results would be less than favorable. How many times have we told our children that they need to do something, and we take the time to lay out exactly what we need done and how it needs to be done and we might even take the time to explain why it needs to be done a certain way, and then our children try to do it a different way, a faster way, and easier way, and the results, well less than favorable is putting it mildly. God told Noah how to do everything and gave him details and Noah: Well look at verse 22 in the story, Gen 6:22 Noah did everything just as God commanded him.
Maybe it’s a communication problem, children have a problem truly hearing what the parent is saying, I like the story one Dad tells:
I used to have problems getting my son to clean his room. I would insist that he, “Do it now,” and he would always agree to do so, but then he wouldn’t follow through – at least, not right way. After high school, he joined the Marine Corps, which is where he is now. When he and I were on the plane together coming home for his leave after Boot Camp, he said to me, “My life makes sense now, Dad. Everything you said and did when I was growing up now makes sense. I really, really understand.” “Oh yeah, Dad,” he added. “I learned what ‘now’ means.”
When we really obey God it makes Him smile. It is sometimes all about learning what NOW means. If God tells you to build a giant boat in the middle of the dry land, don’t you think that you might have a few questions, a few objections or at least a slight reservation? I would! Noah didn’t! What I am trying to say is that when God calls you don’t say “I’ll pray about it!” if you want to make God smile, you jump up out of your Lazy-boy and you say, Here I am Lord, send me.” This WILL MAKE GOD SMILE!! Every parent in this room understand that delayed obedience is REALLY DISOBEDIENCE!
How many of us as parents have told our children to do something only to hear the word, (the dreaded word I might add) WHY? When God tells you to do something, if you want to make God smile, you do not ask WHY? You understand that God does not owe you an explanation - - Don’t we usually answer the WHY question with “Because I said so?” Understanding God’s motives can wait, obedience to His commands can NOT. Instant obedience will teach you and I more about God than a lifetime of Bible discussions. In fact, you will never understand some commands until you obey first. AMEN? Obedience unlocks understanding.
Now, many times children, and this includes children of God will try to do half or part of the task assigned, as if that is good enough. We try partial obedience. We want to pick and choose the commands we like and obey them. We make a mental list of those commands we like and then a list fo those we think are unreasonable, difficult, expensive or unpopular and we ignore those.
“I’ll attend church BUT I’m not going to tithe”
I’ll read my Bible, BUT I’m not forgiving the one that hurt me.
This makes God frown, David understood that the attitude of our heart must be one of total obedience. Ps 119:33-34 Just tell me what to do and I will do it, Lord. As long as I live I’ll wholeheartedly obey. Living Version
Don’t our actions speak volumes above our words? It is easy for a child to say, “OK” when we ask them to get something done, it is ONLY after they actually do it that we smile. In God’s eyes an act of obedience is an act of worship, because obedience proves we love Him.
God SMILES when we LOVE Him, when we TRUST Him and when we OBEY Him and I think that smiles most of all when we acknowledge who He is. The scripture tells us to: “Be still and KNOW that He is God” Do you acknowledge that He is an ALL-powerful and ALL - knowing God?
At a very young age I taught my children to address their elders with respect, my boys still usually say, “yes sir” when asked a question. I think that we acknowledge God for who is when we praise Him, and thank Him, for the things that He does in our lives. It is so easy to claim the results of our lives. Now a days, psychologists want us to blame everything that is bad in our lives on the way our parents raised us, but the truth is that we have to take accountability for our lives at some point. God has never done anything to harm us, He has plans to make our lives full and productive. Now we may not always see that, there are many that will suffer for the faith, and from a worldly view point that life is nothing but wasted, BUT not from God’s view point. Each of our lives mean something to God and when we praise Him and acknowledge that He is ALL knowing and ALL powerful it makes Him smile. David knew this as well: Ps 69:30-31 I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs.
Do you praise God for what He is and what He has done, or do you like many of us fail to see the good in what He does for us? It is difficult to be thankful and full of praise if we don’t open our eyes and see what God is doing in our lives, BUT it will make God smile if we thank Him for what He is and what He does.
Three sons left home, went out on their own and prospered. Getting back together, they discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother. The first said, "I built a big house for our mother." The second said, "I sent her a Mercedes with a driver." The third smiled and said, "I’ve got you both beat. You remember how mom enjoyed reading the Bible? And you know she can’t see very well. So I sent her a remarkable parrot that recites the entire Bible. It took elders in the church 12 years to teach him. He’s one of a kind. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse, and the parrot recites it." Soon thereafter, mom sent out her letters of thanks: "Milton," she wrote one son, "The house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house." "Gerald," she wrote to another, "I am too old to travel. I stay most of the time at home, so I rarely use the Mercedes. And the driver is so rude!" "Dearest Donald," she wrote to her third son, "You have the good sense to know what your mother likes. The chicken was delicious."
God smiles when we love Him and build a relationship with Him. God smiles when we trust Him and when we obey Him. God smile when we acknowledge Him and thank Him. And finally God smiles when we SERVE Him? When we use the gifts He has provided us with to make others smile. We have looked at the scripture in weeks gone by, we have seen that Jesus tells us that we serve Him as we serve others, THIS MAKES GOD SMILE!! Even though God can do all things it is you and I that He used to accomplish the things that need to be done.
This will be the subject of my next series of sermons, “Moving Out, so God can Move In.”
Bill Wilson pastors an inner city church in New York City. His mission field is a very violent place. He himself has been stabbed twice as he ministered to the people of the community surrounding the church. Once a Puerto Rican woman became involved in the church and was led to Christ. After her conversion she came to Pastor Wilson and said, "I want to do something to help with the church’s ministry." He asked her what her talents were and she could think of nothing---she couldn’t even speak English---but she did love children. So he put her on one of the church’s buses that went into neighborhoods and transported kids to church. Every week she performed her duties. She would find the worst-looking kid on the bus, put him on her lap and whisper over and over the only words she had learned in English: "I love you. Jesus loves you." After several months, she became attached to one little boy in particular. The boy didn’t speak. He came to Sunday School every week with his sister and sat on the woman¡|s lap, but he never made a sound. Each week she would tell him all the way to Sunday School and all the way home, "I love you and Jesus loves you." One day, to her amazement, the little boy turned around and stammered, "I---I---I love you too!" Then he put his arms around her and gave her a big hug. That was 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. At 6:30 that night he was found dead. His own mother had beaten him to death and thrown his body in the trash......."I love you and Jesus loves you." ....Those were some of the last words this little boy heard in his short life---from the lips of a Puerto Rican woman who could barely speak English. This woman gave her one talent to God and because of that a little boy who never heard the word "love" in his own home, experienced and responded to the love of Christ..... What can you give from yourself?
It is about doing our part, BUT even more importantly it is the motive behind WHY we serve that makes God serve. Remember, that God knows ALL things, He knows WHY we are doing what we are doing before we are even willing to admit to ourselves why we are doing things.
Oswald Chambers confessed, “If I work for God because I know it brings me the good opinion of those whose good opinion I wish to have, I am a Pharisee. If I love Jesus Christ, I will serve humanity, though men and women treat me like a doormat.”
Are you making God smile today?
Do you have a loving & close relationship with His Son Jesus Christ? Do you make God smile by Trust and obedience? Trust and Obey, for there is no other way. Do you acknowledge God and do you serve Him? INVITATION
