Romans 15:1-7, Unto All Pleasing

The desire to please God is fundamental to the Christian life.  As Paul said, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him (2 Cor. 5:9). But we are also to be pleasing to others as we seek to please the Lord.  We have three words: the noun (desire to please, Col. 1:10), the adjective (pleasing, with an *), and the verb (to strive to please).  In the next post we will go deeper by adding a prefix to these same words so “pleasing” becomes “well pleasing.”

·       Mt 14:6: Daughter of Herodius pleased crowd, Herod (Mk 6:22)

·       *Jn 8:29: Christ, "I always do things to please the Father." To begin with, think about these first two passages that tell us the difference between the natural man and the spiritual man is seen in who it is you desire to please.

·       Ac 6:2*,5: The apostles said it was not good (pleasing, to God, it did not fit God’s plan for the apostles) for them to take care of feeding of the widows.  The crowd was pleased with the plan to elect deacons.

·       *Ac 12:3: Herod saw death of James pleased Jews so he took Peter too.

·       Ro 8:8: Those in flesh can't please God.  He is speaking of Christians who seek to live by the law, to do the best they can rather than being filled with the Spirit.

·       Ro 15:1-3: We ought to bear infirmities of weak, not to please ourselves; to please your neighbor for his edification -- even as Christ pleased not Himself.

·       1Co 7:32-34: An unmarried person seeks only to please Lord; the married man must seek to please wife; the married woman must seek to please her husband.  This is often confusing or objectionable, but in the context Paul is correct.  He is talking about service for the Lord.  Of course, it pleases God when married persons please their spouses, but being single frees the person up to serve God!

·       1Co 10:33: I (Paul) please all men in everything, I seek not my own.  Again, don’t be confused.  Paul did not please all men the way Herod’s daughter pleased the crowd.  Rather it is in the sense of pleasing your neighbor or bearing the infirmities of the weak. 

·       Gal 1:10: with harsh words Paul asks, "Did I seek to please men."  The issue is Paul’s ministry: did he serve so as to make men happy or to please the Lord?

·       Col 1:10: Walk worthy of the Lord unto all "pleasing."

·       1Th 2:4: Paul preached to please God, not men

·       1Th 2:15: The Jews who killed the prophets did not please God, though they might have tried to convince you that they were serving God.

·       1Th 4:1: You ought to walk and please God as we taught you.

·       2Tim 2:4: Soldiers seek to please one who enlisted him.  Thus, we ought to please our commander, Jesus.

·       *1Jn 3:22: Answered prayer is based on obedience, doing things pleasing in His sight.