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When we put our hands to the plow of our Christian lives, we cannot leave prayer behind. He is not malicious or bloodthirsty. This suggests that having a joyful heart is not just a nice-to-have, but rather a crucial element of living out our faith. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation [that is, the one who has the exalted status of divine Sonship over all creation, as the next phrase shows]; for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth. Ecclesiastes 2:26 in all English translations. . Ecclesiastes 2:26 - ESV Bible - For to the one who pleases him God has Jul 09, 2021 This question has two answers. Remember that the Son, too, is called the reflection of Gods glory (Hebrews 1:3). There are two reasons why this question is important to me. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another. To bring it into focus and sharpen it up we have to ask this question: How can God say in Ezekiel 18:23 and 18:32 that he does not have pleasure in the death of any impenitent person, if in fact he accomplishes all his pleasure and does whatever he pleases?, In Ezekiel 18:30 God is warning the house of Israel of impending judgment: Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, says the Lord. And he is urging them to repent: Repent and turn from all your transgressions. At the end of verse 31 he says, Why will you die, O house of Israel? For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who pleases God. Psalm 50:23 says, "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me." Praise honors God. But this time it says something strikingly different from Ezekiel 18:32, And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made. Todays text, Psalm 104, is a song to express the joy God has in his creation. Be spiritually minded. I will put my Spirit upon him." In Isaiah 43:1 the Hebrew word translated as "well pleased" is a variant of the verb ratsah which means to be delighted or joy-filled. And what a God he must be! The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them. When we make a conscious effort to follow Gods will, it demonstrates our love and devotion to Him. He has been complete and overflowing with satisfaction from all eternity. This brings us to the focus of todays message The Pleasure of God in All That He Does and todays text: Psalm 135. Let me say it again: Joy is a deep, settled (I almost wanted to say restful, and that would be okay), emotionally contented and emotionally restful and emotionally satisfying yes just a deep yes from the heart to the supreme worth of God above all things in any circumstance. Give yourself. Because he has loved his Son, the image of his own glory, with infinite and perfect energy from all eternity. He has been overflowing with satisfaction as he looks out over the endless panorama of his own perfections reflected in the radiance of his Sons face. 4. and because he is strong in power The Son of God is not merely a chosen man. living things both small and great. God desires for us to worship Him in spirit and truth (John 4:24) and to give thanks for everything (1 Thessalonians 5:18). We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness. The way to become more and more like the Lord is to fix your gaze on his glory and hold him in view. We begin a new series of messages this morning that will take us, Lord willing, through Easter Sunday morning, April 19. Our God is in the heavens; So the answer to the first question is Yes! Psalm 5 is one of the prayers of King David, which he addressed to God. The second assumption is that when we fix our minds attention on the worth and excellency of God, that is, when we meditate on his glory, we are changed little by little into his likeness. Now we can get a better idea of what the Bible means when it calls him the image or reflection or stamp or form of God who is equal with God. This seems to be a very different picture than the one we saw in Psalm 135, where God does whatever he pleases. Therefore the original, the primal, the deepest, the foundational joy of God is the joy he has in his own perfections as he sees them reflected in his Son. Here he seems to be cornered. And some people say, "There, you see it: obedience is the same as . And joy in God treasuring God, and prizing God, esteeming, cherishing, being satisfied with all that God is for us in Christ that is the essence of love for God, and all the streams flow out from that. So the Son in whom God delights is his own image; reflects his own glory; bears the very stamp of his nature; is in his very form; and is equal with God. But what about the Son of God? And the glory that they have together is that overflowing mutual joy in each others perfections. This proverb also reminds us that we should surround ourselves with positive influences in our lives and avoid negative energy. The key verse for our purpose is verse 31: This is not a prayer for something that might not happen. If we are in Christ, then God has saved us from our sins in the past, and he will save us from his wrath in the future. Or does his sovereign freedom have its limits? Genesis 1 describes for us not only the fact of an ordered creation by God, but also Gods response to his creation. My counsel shall stand, My quest is over. Young's Literal Translation And we naturally tend to imitate the people we admire most. English Standard Version. You might say that the Son of God has always been the landscape of Gods excellencies or the panorama of Gods perfections. you sea monsters and all deeps. Living a life of love and service is also pleasing to God. David sees God as a shelter and a stronghold where he can retreat and find safety. From this statement, we can conclude that obedience is an expression of love to God. Ecclesiastes 2:26 To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives So the first and most basic statement we can make about why God rejoices in his work of creation is that creation is an expression of his glory. I was reading again part of Henry Scougals The Life of God in the Soul of Man. Acts of kindness and generosity demonstrate our love for God and our understanding of His command to love others. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. As long as there has been God, there has been the Word of God, the Son of God, who took on a human nature in Jesus Christ. In verse 4 the light is called the light of the gospel, and in verse 6 the light is called the light of knowledge. In verse 4 the gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, and in verse 6 the knowledge is the knowledge of the glory of God. I once . So when Psalm 135 says that the Lord does whatever he pleases, it has to include the taking of personal life at sea through the wind which he alone controls. How to Live for God's Glory - Grace to You He has the fullness of deity in him. In Luke 10:27, when it says, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, the preposition for with there translates the Greek ex, from, and when it says and with all your soul, with all your strength, with all your mind, all three of those prepositions are en. God gives us joy because He is joyful. Thats the second statement about why God rejoices in his works. He needs no education. for I rejoice in the Lord. And therefore, in some sense, he has pleasure in all that he does. God is never constrained to do a thing that he despises. The Bible teaches us to Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. (Philippians 4:4). Another way to please God is through our worship and thankfulness. Another way to please God is by obeying His commands. Let us pray: Infinite, eternal, and righteous God, we confess that we have often belittled you and exalted ourselves to the center of your affections where you alone belong in the person of your Son. April 1, 2022 The Joy of God in Us Why the Spirit Produces Happiness Article by Jon Bloom Staff writer, desiringGod.org Subscribe Apple Spotify As we read through the New Testament, we encounter a unique connection between the Holy Spirit and joy. #trinity #christian #worship #praise #church #trinity #mission #prayer #jesus #music #hymns Not his works! In Psalm 148 the psalmist calls on creation itself to praise the Lord: Praise him, sun and moon, And if he were to ever act contrary to this eternal passion for his own perfections, he would be unrighteous; he would be an idolater. It means that nothing outside Gods own pleasure the pleasure he has in what he is, nothing but that pleasure has constrained his choices and his deeds. Were on a mission to change that. John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. The psalm describes the struggle King David faced every day, with wicked people trying to harm him. Good works are fruit. In wisdom hast thou made them all. This is no artificial or merely intellectual construction. The rock solid confidence of the whole Bible is that the glory of the Lord will not only endure forever but that it will cover the whole earth like the waters cover the sea (Numbers 14:21; Habakkuk 2:14). DRA God hath given to a man that is good in his sight, wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he hath given vexation, and superfluous care, to heap up and to gather together, and to give it to him that hath pleased God: but this also is vanity, and a fruitless solicitude of the mind. Ecclesiastes 2:26 - N84 - To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom " The joy of the Lord makes you strong." ( Nehemiah 8:10 NIRV) 1. In John 14:21, Jesus said, Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. It says, If you love me, then as a consequence of that essence you will do other things, like keep the commandments. That is a branch. Now why would that be? For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. For all eternity God has been exuberantly happy in the fellowship of the Trinity. Joy is an essential aspect of the Christian life. 'The Pleasures of God' Two assumptions lie at the foundation of this new series of messages on the pleasures of God. The Pleasure of God in All That He Does (Excerpt), John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. Should the Son be jealous of the creation? HOLDING FAST IN PRAYER (LUKE 18:1-8) - Facebook Ecclesiastes 2:26 - To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, k God gives the strength we need; he must work within us. Moses says that when they are judged, they will unwittingly give an opportunity for God to rejoice in the demonstration of his justice and his power and the infinite worth of his glory. . Bless the Lord, O my soul! not one is missing. This is a great mystery because it is so hard for us to think of God having absolutely no beginning and just being there forever and ever and ever without anything or anyone making him be there just absolute reality that every one of us has to reckon with whether we like it or not. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! We praise you that your plan and counsel is governed not by our will but by your good pleasure. Read Ecclesiastes (CJB) Read Ecclesiastes 2:26 (CJB) in Parallel How to Please God (with Pictures) - wikiHow These statements about why God delights in his creation are not really separate reasons because they overlap so much. I take this to mean that God was delighted with his work. And some people say, There, you see it: obedience is the same as loving God. No, no, no. NIGHT OF OPEN HEAVEN || DAY 51 [100 DAYS FASTING & PRAYER - Facebook And when the time came for creation, the Bible says that both the Father and the Son were active in the work of creation (1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:16). 27 Bible Verses about God Answers Prayer - Online Bible Sharing the gospel not only pleases God, but it also brings joy to our hearts when we see others come to know Him. Ecclesiastes 2:26 Multilingual: For to the one who pleases him God has It seems to me that creation praises God by simply being what it was created to be in all its incredible variety. It allows us to shift our focus away from the negative aspects of life and to embrace the love, peace, and grace that God offers us. What a wonderful experience it is when God grants us a moment in which we dont take anything for granted, but see the world as though it were invented yesterday! 25 If we delight in God, then we delight in what gives Him pleasure. Verse 2: His face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light. Then in verse 5 a bright cloud overshadows them and God speaks from the cloud, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.. At the one point in the history of the universe where God looked trapped, he was totally in charge doing precisely what he pleased dying to justify the ungodly like you and me. He has no deficiencies. We look at the way God acts, and our love to God says yes to everything he is and does. World English Bible For to the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy; but to the sinner he gives travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him who pleases God. Nor was creation merely the work of the Son as though he had to satisfy some need that the Father couldnt meet. The first and most fundamental thing we can say about the pleasures of God is that he takes pleasure in his Son. Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord God, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College & Seminary. Give Praise to God. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. I will try to unfold this truth in five affirmations. And the very same Hebrew verb is used in Psalm 135:6 (he pleases) and Ezekiel 18:32 (he has pleasure). . David further urges those who seek refuge in God to rejoice and sing for joy. If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. And we praise you that you are free and sovereign in your own self-sufficiency and cannot be bribed or coerced because of some deficiency or craving in your heart. Not to love him and delight in him is a great insult to his worth. So, how do you make the Lord your joy? In wisdom has thou made them all; 26 For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. 1. What is this universe but the lavish demonstration of the incredible, incomparable, unimaginable exuberance and wisdom and power and greatness of God! If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commands and remain in his love. One of the things that pleases God is faith. Another way to put it would be to say that the measure of Gods dignity is determined by what he delights in. which teems with things innumerable, God is not a sadist. It's like trying to catch the wind. Gratitude helps us to focus on what we have rather than what we lack. If we fix our attention on him and hold his glory in our view, we will be changed from one degree of glory to another into his likeness. So let us stand in awe and wonder this morning: Our God is in heaven; he does whatever he pleases. Amen. All of a sudden God gives Jesus an appearance of glory. King James Bible For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This too is vanity and chasing after the wind. A second lesson to learn from this truth is that God is not constrained by anything outside himself to do anything he does not want to do. Another excellent verse for joy is found in the book of Philippians. So our first statement is that God the Father loves the Son, not with any self-denying, sacrificial mercy, but with the love of delight and pleasure. It emphasizes on how having a cheerful heart could have healing power in our lives, and it can make a significant difference in our overall well-being. Remember, pleasing God is not about following a set of strict rules, but rather about connecting with Him on a personal level and expressing our love in meaningful ways. It seems that he is forced into judging them when he really doesnt want to. Fear God. The joy of the Lord is the gladness of heart that comes from knowing God, abiding in Christ, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Thou dost cause the grass to grow for the cattle, But to the person who continues to sin, he gives the job of gathering and collecting wealth. Or if you just take a part of it like the human body what an amazing work of knowledge and wisdom. So, what is a good Bible verse for joy? This is what Peter says in 2 Peter 1:17: [Christ] received honor and glory from God the Father. Then God reveals his heart for the Son and says two things: I love my son (This is my beloved Son), and I take pleasure in my Son (with whom I am well pleased). And whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him (1 John 3:22). ECCLESIASTES 2:26 KJV "For God giveth to a man that is good in his And so all that he does, he does, not under constraint, but according to his own good pleasure. The psalm begins by calling us to praise the Lord: Praise the Lord. When we praise and worship God, we open our hearts to His presence and allow Him to work in us and through us. God has always made it clear to His people what it takes to please Him. and plants for man to cultivate, And there are two questions that I want to try to answer: The first question I would answer with a resounding, Yes! God does take pleasure in his creation. . And our prayer, in the words of your Son (John 17:26), is that the love with which you have loved him may be in us and he in us, that we might be taken up into that fellowship of joy and that ocean of love forever and ever. Ill try to sum it up in five statements based on this psalm and some other parts of Scripture. You need to look at your relationship with God in the same way that God does. In this context, I want us to think of joy not as a kind of emotional manifestation, because what I mean by joy can be manifest in weeping or leaping. Perhaps someone would say that doing whatever he pleases in Psalm 135:6 is just a figure of speech and doesnt carry the sense of pleasure or delight. He made this penetrating comment: The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love. That struck me as very true. I now realize this does not say quite enough. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, we are encouraged to pray without ceasing. When we spend time in prayer, it shows that we are seeking His direction and guidance, and it deepens our relationship with Him. Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" ( John 14:15 ). The contemplation and enjoyment of God! For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," declares the Lord God. He says this on one other occasion: at Jesuss baptism, as the Holy Spirit comes down and anoints Jesus for his ministry, signifying the Fathers love and support This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased., And in the gospel of John, Jesus speaks several times about the Fathers love for him: for example, John 3:35, The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. John 5:20: The Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing. (See also Matthew 12:18 where Matthew quotes Isaiah 42:1 in reference to Jesus: Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. The Hebrew word behind well pleased is ratsah, and means delights in.). When it comes to understanding what should happen in the act of preaching I am guided by several biblical texts, especially 2 Corinthians 3:18: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. As we praise God in worship, our hearts are filled with joy. Because we were created for something infinitely better and nobler and greater and deeper than self-contemplation. So my answer to Erics question is that love for God is not identical with joy in God, but that it is never less than joy in God. And when all was finished and man and woman were created in his own image, it says, And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.. I think the reason is because there is an essence of love that is a heartfelt treasuring, esteeming, delighting, resting, being satisfied in God, that yields expressions of that love through our strength and through our mind and so on. And Colossians 1:19 says he was pleased to do this! It also encourages us to rejoice and sing joyfully to God, no matter what challenges we may be facing, knowing that our God is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think. One of the most significant ways to please God is through our love and obedience to Him. who created these? may the Lord rejoice in his works, What does the Bible say about a joyful heart? Proverbs 17:22 is a verse from the book of Proverbs in the Bible, which says A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. This verse expresses the importance of having a positive and joyful attitude in life. O Lord, how manifold are thy works! Or to say it another way: joy in God is a deep, abiding, soul disposition to treasure God over all things or cherish him more, esteem him, or prize him above all things.