One of the best indicators of a life or a church that is pleasing to God is the unity we have with our fellow believers. The first-century Christians whom Paul ministered to came from diverse backgrounds and cultures. They had very little in common outside of their faith. Yet, their faith drew them to share similar goals and values for their lives. They had been filled with the same Holy Spirit, and each had been given the same promise of eternal life in heaven.

Paul defined the unity produced by God’s Holy Spirit in his words to the Philippian church. He prayed they would be unified and “complete his joy” by being of “the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” Paul was telling them to think with the “mind” of the Holy Spirit, the source of their unity.

According to 1 Corinthians 2:16, all Christians have been given “the mind of Christ.” That is a powerful and overwhelming truth. We underestimate our abilities when we limit them to our human natures. We are capable of knowing Christ and having his thoughts. We can see this world through his eyes and discern situations as he would through his Holy Spirit.

What, then, hinders us from walking in his Spirit? We want to please God, so why do we continue to make mistakes? Paul helps with those answers as well. He taught the church in Philippi, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3–5).

Our unity is pleasing to God because it is only possible when we are walking in his Holy Spirit. God gave us amazing gifts through our faith in Christ Jesus. Take some time to consider this fact of Scripture: when you were saved, you were given the Holy Spirit, the mind of Christ. Wisdom is pleasing God. You have been given all the help you need to live a life that God is pleased with and ready to bless.

My mom used to keep a bowl of artificial fruit on the center of our table. The fruit never lost its color, aged, or spoiled. That fruit required minimal care to keep it looking fresh and real. It looked nice because it wasn’t real.

It’s tempting to display our faith like a bowl of artificial fruit. A person can learn how to make their faith look more perfect than it really is. We can feel better about our faith if we don’t show anyone the flaws that exist in our lives.

Genuine faith has imperfections, but such faith is able to feed others. Paul said the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23). Knowing whether or not our faith is real isn’t difficult. Real faith produces real fruit. 

When we live our lives to please God, we cannot please him with artificial faith and expect reward. The author of Proverbs 21:3 said, “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” God isn’t pleased simply because the presentation of our faith to others looks right. God knows our hearts.

We still make the same mistakes as God’s children have made throughout time. The Jewish people had begun to make sacrifices at the temple out of a sense of duty rather than a sense of true repentance. Christians today still visit a priest or say a prayer and think the words earn forgiveness rather than the fact that we have genuine repentance in our hearts.

God rewards an honest faith with all of its flaws because such genuine faith marks a true relationship with God and a true witness to others. Wisdom is pleasing God. We cannot please God with an artificial faith that produces artificial fruit in our lives. We can please God when we come to him, bruises and all, with an honest and genuine faith.

Per Oxford Languages, the word zealous means “showing great energy or enthusiasm in pursuit of a cause or objective.” When do the zealous please God? The answer: when the zealous pursue a right relationship with him as their King.

God gave us his Son, Jesus, to “redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession.” The Holy God of the universe wanted us to be fit for heaven so that we could dwell in his perfection. Jesus gave his life so that we could live as the redeemed, purified children of God.

Then Paul described what it means to live worthy of God’s sacrifice for our redemption. Paul taught that we should be “zealous for good works.” What Paul was saying was that we should be “zealous” to do the works God wants to accomplish through the direction of his Holy Spirit in our lives.

I sometimes wonder what people of other cultures think when they see film clips of football fans at a playoff game. What do you think when you attend or watch a political rally? The evening news often reflects the zealous behavior of people who have no knowledge or goal of pleasing God with their “good works.” 

Most Christians understand that God has called us to live a life of doing good wherever we go. Not as many understand that we are to be zealous with our witness and works.

When last were you “zealous for good works,” as Paul suggested? Wisdom is pleasing God. God wants more than our Christian activity. God wants us to be zealous Christians who live with passionate faith and compassionate love for those around us. That zeal is pleasing to God.

Solomon became the king of Israel when he was just a young man, probably around the age of twenty. His father, King David, even with his wrong choices, was considered a great leader of the nation. When Solomon was to become king, he went to Gibeon, the most sacred place at that time. (The temple in Jerusalem had not yet been built).

Solomon “loved the Lᴏʀᴅ” (1 Kings 3:3) and went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices to the Lord on that altar. While in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream saying, “Ask what I shall give you” (v. 5). Solomon, grateful for God’s “steadfast love,” responded to God saying, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil” (v. 9). Solomon’s response to God is one of the best definitions of the meaning and value of God’s wisdom.

First Kings 3:10 says, “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” God is pleased when we understand our need for his wisdom and ask him for “an understanding mind” so that we can know God’s will and “discern between good and evil.” When last did our prayers please God in that same way? Will our next prayer requests please God?

Pleasing God is easy when we understand and trust that he is God. Our Bibles reveal all we need to know in order to trust his greatness. Solomon knew he was a young, inexperienced man who was now the king of Israel. He knew God’s wisdom was what he needed most. And Scripture says that knowledge pleased the Lord. 

It was then that God told Solomon, “Because you have asked this . . . . I give you a wise and discerning mind” (vv. 11–12). Solomon didn’t ask for riches and power, but his wisdom and his obedience to God led him to gain both.

Wisdom is pleasing God. When we know how to please God and live obediently with that goal, we have gained God’s wisdom and his blessings.

There was a time when families lived close to one another, worked together, knew one another, and knew they were to help one another through this life and until eternal life began. 

One of the challenges with God’s word is that many of us in this world, especially in American culture, do not live as families lived in the days of Scripture. But Paul’s words to Timothy should still be relied on as spiritual truth. Paul was teaching Timothy that Christians should honor and care for the “widows who are truly widows.”

First-century women who became Christians were often “disowned” by their Jewish families. They were socially unable to work and without a family, unable to provide for their needs and sometimes the needs of their children. A woman could be a widow because her husband had died or simply because her husband considered her “dead” to him.

Paul taught Timothy that Christians should “show godliness to their own household” and continue to care for their parents as well as others. God is pleased when his children work hard to remain a family that loves and honors one another.

Our culture still values those who “care” for their parents, but, as Christians, we will always have a higher calling as well. We are called to honor our parents and continue to “show godliness” to those in our families. That compassion and priority is “pleasing in the sight of God” and a strong witness to those around us.

Wisdom is pleasing God. Has a family member come to mind as a result of these words? Will you pray for the wisdom to know how to move your relationship forward in a way that will be pleasing to God?

This verse needs to be “studied” and not just “read” as it is translated. A God who demands to be “feared” does not seem appealing to most people. When we are able to teach them that to “fear God” means to hold him in our hearts and minds with amazing awe, they can then understand why the psalmist said, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him.”

Whenever we feel distanced from God or doubtful of his love and power, we need to take time to remember and trust that he has always been the God revealed to us in Scripture. We worship the same God who parted the Red Sea, raised Enoch and Lazarus, and who put breath in our lungs this morning.. 

Why does God take pleasure in the fact that we know and trust him at the deepest levels? God wants us to choose his leadership rather than follow something less. God wants us to seek his favor rather than popularity with the world. God wants us to “hope in his steadfast love” rather than depend on the imperfect love that will often be offered by people this side of heaven. 

When we place our hope in anything or anyone besides God, we are trusting something that is less than he wants for our lives. That’s why we were told to “fear” God and give him our honor, glory, respect, and trust. That right relationship to God will provide us with discernment, humility, faith, hope, and trust in the promises of God’s word.

Pleasing God is wisdom. Fearing God is the wise choice that brings pleasure to our heavenly Father because he wants us to place our hope in his “steadfast love.”

One of the most pleasant sounds in this world is the laughter of a baby. It is the sound of “pure” joy. Every eye in the room will turn toward that child, looking to see and experience what has prompted his joy.

Paul wrote Christian theology to the church in Rome. The book of Romans is one of the most important books every Christian should study to understand. In Romans 14, Paul wrote about the “kingdom of God.” That phrase can best be understood as “the place where the Lord rules as King.” Paul said that honoring God as our King is not a “matter of” customs but instead is a matter of “righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

We have so often defined our “witness” as the things we don’t do more than those things Paul said were the best indicators that a person lived with God as their King. Our witness is mostly about our “righteousness and peace and joy.” That witness emanates from the work of the Holy Spirit. He wants to lead us to serve Christ because that is the life that is “acceptable to God and approved by men.”

Our joy pleases God like the infectious laughter of a young child attracts all those gathered in the room. Joy is infectious. Righteousness, being right with God, marks a person’s life as belonging to God. And peace—unhindered trust in God’s perfection—is a powerful witness to others.

Paul taught the church, “Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.” Pleasing God is wisdom. When he is King of your life, you will walk “right” with him, having his peace and his joy. That is a life that finds favor with God and man. We are called to pure laughter, pure joy, so that the world will want to experience whatever— or, in our case Whomever—has caused it.

Ezekiel was among those in the Northern Tribes of Israel who were taken captive by the Assyrians. During those years of captivity, he was called to bring a prophetic message to those he lived among. It was likely not a message they wanted to hear or believe, but it was God’s message.

God told Ezekiel to tell his Jewish kinsmen, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” The Assyrians were the hated enemies of Israel. They had invaded the “promised land” and taken it as their own. They had harmed, and even killed, many of God’s children. Yet God wanted those who had been enslaved to understand that he didn’t want the Assyrians to die. Instead, God wanted them to live. God wanted the Assyrians to be changed through knowing the one true God.

Rather than condemning the enemies of Israel, God disciplined those who were supposed to live as his children with his wisdom. God told the Jewish people, “Turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” God wanted to bless his people once again, but they would have to repent of their attitude toward their enemies.

What do the words of God to the prophet Ezekiel say to us, God’s children, today?

We cannot walk through this life choosing to honor God’s word as truth and not incur a few enemies along the way. Do we pray for those enemies with their salvation as our goal? Do we care more about their eternal lives than we do their earthly opinions or actions? 

God’s word to Ezekiel was his word for his children. He told Israel, “Turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” God wanted his children to treat their enemies well, not wanting their deaths. Our enemies are likely on a wide path that will lead to a life without God’s blessings and could lead to their eternal death if unchanged.

God wants everyone to become his child through faith in his Son. God still needs his children to repent and understand what matters most. If God doesn’t want the death of our enemies, we shouldn’t either. 

Pleasing God is wisdom. Whom will you care about, pray for, and help? Their eternal life might be your great joy and reward as a result.

We don’t often think of ourselves as children, but God does. In fact, compared to God, we are toddlers at best! The fact that we view ourselves with the knowledge of all we have been through, learned, or studied doesn’t erase the truth that God wants us to always see ourselves as children. Why is that?

Children trust that their parents will care for them.

Children trust that their parents love them and want the best for them.

Children know where to run when afraid or hurt.

Children understand that doing wrong will likely receive discipline as a result.

Children believe their parents can do anything.

Children want to obey their parents and make them happy.

Paul reminded the Colossians, and us, that we are children called to honor and obey our earthly parents and the Lord, our perfect Father. One of the most important ways we please God is to understand that, compared to him, we are children in great need of our loving Father.

The Bible talks a lot about spiritual growth and maturing in our faith. The mistake we often make is to think that we have grown past our need for God's fatherly direction in our lives. We know more now than we did twenty years ago, but, compared to God, we are still just toddlers, if not infants!

God will always think of us as his children because he wants us to think of ourselves that way. The Lord wants to care for us, guide us, and walk with us through our lifetimes, willing to hold his hand.

Wisdom is pleasing God, our Father. A key step in pleasing the Lord is understanding that we will always be children who need to honor and obey our “parents” and, ultimately, our heavenly Father.

Do you see yourself as a soldier in the Lord’s army? The old hymn calls Christian soldiers “onward, marching as to war” and allowing the “cross of Jesus” to be carried “before” us as our banner of identification. That hymn was composed in 1865, and the image of marching into war was keenly understood in that day. 

When Paul wrote his final letter to his protégé, Timothy, he was likely writing from the Mamertine Prison in Rome. Paul had been arrested, had pleaded for the right to be tried in Rome, and was taken to that city and placed under house arrest. He wrote what we call the “Prison Epistles” at that time. But most believe Paul was released from house arrest and freed to do a fourth and final missionary journey, likely in the region of Spain.

Later, Paul would be arrested again, and this time he was sentenced to the Mamertine prison. When Paul was placed there, he knew that, apart from a miracle of the Lord, he was facing death. Paul’s circumstances make his second letter to Timothy a poignant reminder that, for those who serve Christ, sharing the gospel is “marching into war.”

We hear the phrase “culture wars” used fairly often today. American culture often seems to be divided down the middle, with both sides believing they are completely right and that makes the other side completely wrong. If opinion is our only concept of truth, our culture wars will always continue.

Paul gave Timothy some advice that every Christian should consider theirs as well. Paul said, “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” In other words, we know who our commanding officer is and always will be. We are to serve Christ on all sides of the culture wars. As the old hymn states, we are to follow Christ and carry his gospel message into war.

Do we see ourselves as soldiers with Christ as our commanding officer? Do we follow our “orders,” or do we pick and choose which orders we would like to follow?

Our only wise choice in our culture today is to remember Whom we are called to please. The Lord Jesus “enlisted” you when he gave you his Holy Spirit. Now, we are called to be his soldiers, carrying his message of the cross to everyone. The great hymn ends with the words, “This thro’ countless ages men and angels sing.” 

Wisdom is pleasing God. Times have changed, but the wisdom of God is eternal. His wisdom is the banner we should carry into the culture wars today.