The pleasures of men are varied, “(King Ahasuerus) had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man’s pleasure.” (Esther 1:8). But God prescribes only One pleasure for believers. That One pleasure is Himself.
God hates what pleases men. Jesus says, “What is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15).
God requires man to forsake his pleasures for His sake. He told me to forsake my favourite drinks, Coke and Fanta, and I have not had any of them in over 25 years.
Some pleasures He will require you to forsake permanently for His sake. Others He will require you to forsake for a season or some days. But if you are His son, one thing is certain: He will require you to forsake your pleasures at some time or the other. Jesus says: “Whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:33).
God’s Good Pleasure
God is passionately committed to His pleasure. He declares in Isaiah, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 46:10). He says of Cyrus: “He shall perform all My pleasure.” (Isaiah 44:28).
God the Father declared from heaven that He was well pleased with Jesus on two occasions, at His baptism and transfiguration. He said: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, 17:5).
God was pleased because Jesus knew the “good pleasure” of God, and He was determined to do it.
The Israelites thought it was their sacrifices and offerings that pleased God. But God kept sending His prophets to tell them He was not concerned about them. But they did not listen.
The Holy Spirit spoke a Messianic psalm by the mouth of David: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire; My ears You have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of Me. I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart.’” (Psalm 40:6-8).
God was pleased with Jesus because the man Jesus did not come to the earth to do His own will, but the will of God. Jesus did not do what pleased Jesus but did what pleased God. This is all the more remarkable because what pleased God was not convenient for Jesus.
“It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.” (Isaiah 53:10).
The pleasure of the Lord was to put Jesus through a terrible ordeal so that man would be saved. Paul says:
“Having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth — in Him.” (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Jesus did not pursue His own pleasure but was devoted to what gave pleasure to God. He knew that what gives pleasure to God is the salvation of men. As He said to His disciples: “It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32).
On the way to the cross, the man Jesus asked God the Father if there was any other way that His good pleasure in the salvation of men could be accomplished.
“He knelt down and prayed, saying, ‘Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.’” (Luke 22:41-42).
The answer was that there was no other way. The good pleasure of the Lord in the salvation of souls could only be achieved with the cross. For man to be saved, Jesus would have to face a bruising and agonising death on the cross on behalf of all men. He would have to be a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Thereby, the good pleasure of God would be fulfilled through the redemption of men to eternal fellowship with God.
“For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation.” (Psalm 149:4).
What is the work that God is doing in believers for His good pleasure? He is “working salvation in the midst of the earth.” (Psalm 74:12).
The Father loves Jesus because Jesus agreed to embrace this plan of salvation, even though it was unpleasant. Jesus says:
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:17-18).
Jesus then tells us we are required to follow His example:
“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honour.” (John 12:25-26).
Who are those who love their lives in this world? They are those who are devoted to their own pleasures. They are those who do their own will. They are those who live in pleasure. Paul says: “She who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.” (1 Timothy 5:6).
Lovers of pleasure cannot be lovers of God. Lovers of pleasure cannot do the will of God. Jesus says: “Not My will but Yours be done.” But lovers of pleasure say, like Frank Sinatra: “I did it my way.”
Avoidance of Suffering
Those who opt for the bad pleasures of this life and try to avoid suffering cannot enter the kingdom of God. This is because God has decreed, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22).
Those devoted to bad pleasures who try to avoid tribulation easily fall into sin. Thus Elihu cautions: “Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, for you have chosen this rather than affliction.” (Job 36:21).
We cannot learn obedience without suffering.
Obedience requires us to do what we don’t want to do, or what we find inconvenient.
Sacrifices of Righteousness
Why do believers fast? The classical answer says we fast to draw near to God, subdue the flesh and be spiritually minded. But we don’t just fast, we fast to the Lord. “For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever.” (Romans 11:36).
We fast because Jesus returned to heaven, and we want to be near Him on earth. The scriptures tell us:
“The disciples of John came to Him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” (Matthew 9:14-15).
Those days are already here.
But even more significantly, we fast because God hates the pleasures of men. When we fast, we fast our pleasures. God asks:
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’ ‘In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure.” (Isaiah 58:3).
Then He counsels:
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honourable, and shall honour Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth” (Isaiah 58:13-14).
Therefore, James cautions:
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:3).
God is jealous that we find pleasure outside of Himself. He insists “(He) is the Desire of All Nations.” (Haggai 2:7).
The word of God must be our food and drink. Jesus says:
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4).
Jeremiah says to God: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16).
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