A Life That Pleases God — Zac Poonen

The Ambition to Please God

I want to turn to 2nd Corinthians in chapter 5. Here we have Paul writing about his own goal in life. And you know, whenever you see a man who's been very successful in living a godly life and living a useful life for the kingdom of God, like the Apostle Paul, it's good to find out what was it that drove him and made him accomplish that.

Because Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ. So I'll tell you my personal testimony. I have studied the life of Jesus and the life of Paul more than any other life in the Bible. I mean, we have great examples in Joseph and David and Daniel, and those are all good for Bible studies.

But you can get a lot of interesting points from Bible studies of characters in the Old Testament. And there are a few good qualities we can pick out. But nobody in the Old Testament said, follow me. Not even one.

So when I look at Old Testament Bible studies of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, it's all great. But I see when it comes to Jesus and Paul, I have a clear command from the Holy Spirit through them saying, follow me.

And that's the reason why I have studied those lives. And I would encourage you to do so. You'll find it's extremely profitable. And the reason why God gave us Paul also, in addition to Jesus, is because there's a natural tendency in all Christians to feel, even though we believe very strongly Christ came in the flesh, there's an inward reluctance to believe that we can ever walk as he walked.

There's, we hear about it, but we inwardly, there's a mental block in our mind, which says, no, no, no, we can't walk like him. And so God given us Paul's example. So what about him? So here we see in 2nd Corinthians 5, the thing that drove Paul in his life, he calls it his ambition in 2nd Corinthians 5 and verse 9.

He's talking about in the chapter about being at home in heaven, or absent from heaven on this earth, heaven is our home. So he says, whether we are at home, verse 9 in the middle, or that's in heaven, or away from home, absent here on earth, our ambition is to be pleasing to him.

And I can say that any Christian who has the same ambition will be able to fulfill God's will in his life, just like Paul. And when he comes to the end of his life, he speaks in verse 10 about standing at the judgment seat of Christ.

The Judgment Seat and Accountability Before God

You know, there are two judgment seats in the Bible. One is called the judgment seat of God, the Father, that is in Revelation chapter 20, where no believers are standing there. It's only those whose names are not in the book of life, who stand there to be judged.

And they're also going to be judged, we read, according to their works, because there are degrees of punishment in hell. Hell is not the same for everyone. There are lots of people who go to hell, but the degree of punishment is not the same in hell, just like the degree of reward is not the same in heaven.

Now, these are concepts which, the only way we know it is because Jesus said so. He once said that he who knew his master's will and did not do it, would be punished with more stripes than he who did not know his master's will and did not do it.

But here, the judgment seat of Christ refers to us, believers, stand at the judgment seat of Christ, verse 10, to be rewarded for the deeds done in the body, according to what he's done, whether good or bad.

And that brings, verse 11, a certain fear of the Lord. So it's because of that, that ultimate destination at which we're going to stand, that Paul says, I've got an ambition in life, to be pleasing to him so that when I stand before the Lord in the final day, I can get his commendation.

I'll just show you the other passage so that you know it, in case you did not know, it's Revelation chapter 20, is the other judgment seat. It's called the judgment of the great white throne in Revelation 20 and verse 11.

And here it speaks about Revelation 20, 11, a great white throne, it's judgment seat of the throne of God and the dead, verse 12, the great and the small. The books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged from the things written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead and death and hell gave up the dead. And they were all thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death. And if anyone's name was not found, verse 15, in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So even though when an unbeliever dies, he goes straight away to hell, Jesus said that in the story of the rich man.

But it's only his spirit that goes to hell because his body is buried on the earth. But in that day, it says, the people who are in hell, their spirit is going to come back into their body. And there's going to be a resurrection.

It's not only Christians are going to be raised from the dead. Every human being that ever existed and died is going to be raised from the dead. That's what it says here. I saw the dead, verse 12, the great and the small, standing before the throne of God.

And the books were opened means the record of their life, which is in their memory, was opened and they were judged by what their own memory recorded from the day they were born to the day they died. Every thought, attitude, motive, word, they cannot argue with it because it's their own memory.

I believe that. Then God's going to judge us by our own memory, not by somebody saying he did this or he said that. Those things we can argue against. But you cannot argue against your own memory. That'll be your memory giving a record of your life and every mouth will be shut.

What is good or bad will all be seen there. And this is talking about the unbelievers who are judged according to the books and then they were thrown back, not into hell, but into the lake of fire, which is a bigger version of hell.

But a similar judgment is there. We read in 2nd Corinthians 5, verse 10 for Christians and that is for rewards. The other one is for degrees of punishment and here it is for degrees of reward. And Paul says, my ambition is when I get to heaven or here on earth to be pleasing to him.

And like you've heard me say this once before, that I'm sure every one of us, those of us who do get to heaven, when we get there, we'll have only one ambition. Whatever multitudes of ambitions you may have had on the earth, when you get to heaven, you'll have only one ambition.

That is to please God. There's no other ambition. And Paul says, that's my ambition on earth as well. So it's like going along a straight line and then I die and I get into heaven, I'm going to continue on the straight path.

Same ambition, no change. Whereas people who've had other ambitions on earth are going to find, hey, in heaven you've got to alter your ambition and how is it going to be when we get there? So it's wonderful to have the same ambition on this earth that we'll have when we get to heaven.

That's the way to ensure that you have no regret when you stand before the Lord. Just make sure that whatever ambition you think you'll have in heaven, make sure you have the same ambition here on this earth.

There are many things we have to do on this earth which we don't do in heaven. We have to earn our living, we got to go to school, we got to get educated, find a job, find a house and so many things. We don't do all that up there.

But ambition is a driving force in our life behind all these things we do. So we're not talking about different things, we're not talking mostly about actions here. There are many different actions we do on earth, which you'll never do in heaven.

But the question is, what is the driving force in your life? I want you to understand one thing that the thing that determines whether you're a saint or a sinner is not the things you do, but what is the driving ambition of your life?

What is the goal you're living for? If the goal you're living for is only to please God, that's the mark of a saint. He may make a few mistakes here and there, that's okay. That doesn't determine. Very often we judge people by the mistakes they make here or the good things they do there.

Somebody does a good thing, oh isn't he a good man? He's a non-christian but he's a good man or fellow calls himself a believer but he slipped up here. God doesn't judge like that. God judges by what is the ambition of this man, what is he seeking to live for.

That's what comforts us. And if your fundamental goal is to please God, I'll tell you something, God will ignore these little mistakes and slip-ups you make along the way. But on the other hand, if your fundamental goal is not to please God but some other earthly ambition, then even if you do a lot of good things like coming to church and giving money to God and helping the poor, you'll find it doesn't count with God at all because your driving ambition is something else.

So the goal for which you're living determines whether you're a godly man or an ungodly man. So it's very important to understand that because that is the word of encouragement for those who got the right goal and certainly it's a word of condemnation for those who try to please God by doing a few good things here and there.

Jesus' Life as the Standard of a Pleasing Life

And so I was reading this verse the other day, it's a very familiar verse in Matthew chapter 3, an ambition to please God. I was reading how when Jesus was baptized, you know I was saying how you read scripture and suddenly it hits you in a new way.

So I was reading Matthew chapter 3 where Jesus was baptized, Matthew 3 16 and he went up from the water and the spirit of God came descending upon him and a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

Now when you read something like that, how does it hit you? Well for one thing, it makes us admire Jesus. But I'll tell you how it hit me the other day. I said, Lord, Father, will you be able to say that about me?

Will you be able to look at my life and say, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. And I say, Father, if you can't say that about me, I'm ashamed of myself to call myself a child of God. What am I living for?

If you can't look at my life and say I'm well pleased with you. And I want to say that to each of you sitting here, my brothers and sisters. If that's not the goal of your life, you're just a religious person, not a spiritual person.

You could end up as a Pharisee and get a big shock when Christ comes back and discover that you're not what you thought you were. So this fits in with what Paul's ambition was. I have one ambition in life to please God.

And that's not going to change when I go to heaven. It's exactly the same. And then when I look at Jesus' life and see how the Father was so well pleased with him. And I asked this question, Father, can you be say the same thing about me?

And I think the answer I get is, there's no partiality with God. The Bible says that Jesus is my elder brother. And we are his younger brothers. We're all children of God. He's the eldest brother. It's an amazing thing.

The Bible says that Jesus is our elder brother. Says that in Romans 8, 29, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And on the day of his resurrection, he told Mary Magdalene, go and tell my brothers.

He called his disciples his brothers. So those of you who have children, if you're a good father, you will never show partiality to any of your children. You will treat all of them exactly alike. If you do more for your eldest child, some people are like that.

I'm sorry to say, particularly in many Indian homes, their favorite is their eldest son. You are an ungodly man, an ungodly woman. I'll tell you that to your face. Because God is not partial. And if you're partial towards the boys, rather than to the girls, you are an ungodly person.

I have no hesitation in saying that. If you'll do more for one of your children than for the others, you are an ungodly person. A godly person will treat all his children equally. The clever one is not his favorite.

The boy is not his favorite over the girls. The eldest is not his favorite over the younger ones. And the youngest sometimes, that's not his favorite either. All are exactly the same. We don't start like that.

We have a partiality towards some of our children. We've got to crucify that and say, Lord, I want to be like you. It's all right for ungodly people to show partiality. But if you say you're a child of God and you want to be like Jesus himself, like God, our father, then there should be no partiality.

So I believe there's no partiality with God. So if Jesus is my elder brother, he will not show partiality to him. In other words, he'll do for me whatever he did for him. That's my understanding of my heavenly father.

That's what gave me the faith many, many years ago. That what God did for Jesus, he'll do for me. Just this one truth that there's no partiality with God. So I see that if the father could say about Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.

It's not an impossible goal for us to expect that God can say that about us as well. Why not? Provided I fulfill the same conditions because God has certain laws. For example, he gives grace only to the humble.

He's never going to change that law. He detests proud people. He opposes proud people. I'll tell you something very reverently that if Jesus ever became proud, the father would have opposed him. And that, I say that just so that some of us don't think we are special favorites because we've known God for so many years that once in a while if we get proud, God won't oppose us.

I want to tell you, he will oppose you because that's his nature. He opposes the proud and it doesn't matter one bit to him whether you've been a believer for 60 -70 years. If you're proud, he'll oppose you.

If you're humble, he'll give you grace. So I see that the reason why Jesus never sinned was because he was always under grace. Sin shall not have dominion over you when you're under grace and which means he was always humble.

He always decided I am never never going to allow my mind to have high thoughts about myself. I'm never going to exalt myself over any other human being. That's why he became a servant and took the low place and refused to be a king.

I mean his last day of his life, he was at the feet of his disciples washing their feet. That was his whole way of life and that's why the father was pleased with him. So if we are really longing that our heavenly father will say about us, about you, this is my beloved daughter in whom I'm well pleased.

I mean just think for a moment to hear those words from God. This is my beloved child personally to you. Boy, to me I cannot think of anything on earth that would mean more to me than that. Is that how you feel about it?

Faithfulness in Hidden and Ordinary Years

So then when we look at Jesus life during those 30 years, you know very often we hear something like that and we think that well then I've got to do a lot of things in order to please God like witness to others and read the Bible every day and do you know that Jesus never had a Bible to read every day?

So that's it's good to read the Bible every day because I read the Bible mainly to see what the life of Jesus is like to tell you honestly not to get so many laws and all that but the Bible says that the Holy Spirit in a mirror shows us the glory of Jesus.

So the only reason I read the Bible is to see what Jesus is like and I say I want to be like that but Jesus himself never had a Bible. Paul never had a Bible either. They could go to the synagogue or whatever the scroll which is very very expensive because it is made out of parchment and read and then they had to keep it in their mind.

The only way they could read the Bible was bring it back from their memory whatever they had read. Please remember that. That is one reason why we encourage people to memorize scripture not the exact words.

It doesn't matter. I don't remember the exact words of so many verses but I seek to memorize whatever scripture teaches and I would encourage you to really get to know the Bible. I mean the way I do it and I say supposing one day I'm locked up in prison for preaching the gospel and they don't give me a Bible.

I should be able to read the Bible in my mind every day without a physical Bible in my hand. I mean if you had the Bible in your hand for 10 years you should be knowing it enough to be able to remember most of it at least the important parts of it.

The promises, the commandments. So I want to encourage you to do that. Take scripture seriously but what was it that Jesus did which enabled him to be pleasing to the father in those 30 years? He never did a miracle in those 30 years.

Now remember this is not at the end of his life. This is at the beginning of his ministry that the father said I am well pleased with you and I never get tired of emphasizing he had never preached a sermon, never cast out a demon, never did a miracle and yet the father said he was pleased with him because many of us who don't have these gifts think well I can't preach and I can't travel.

Well Jesus never preached or traveled. As far as we know all 30 years he lived in one small little village called Nazareth. He traveled less in 30 years than almost everybody here. All of us have traveled more than Jesus traveled in 30 years.

So it's got nothing to do with traveling. All of us have met more people in our life than Jesus met in 30 years. The people that Jesus met were almost entirely people from his own village. Three times a year they used to go to Jerusalem and meet a few people that was for a few days but otherwise it was just in a small village that he lived all his life and he was pleasing to the father.

So nobody has an excuse saying I can't do this or I can't do that, I haven't gone here, I haven't gone there. If you look at Jesus' life, let me show you in Luke's gospel chapter 2 a few things about what made him pleasing to the father.

There's very little written about his life in those first 30 years but the few things that are written we can learn something. In Luke chapter 2 you know he was 12 years old and he went to the temple.

You read in Luke 2 42 he became 12 and he went to the feast and when Joseph and Mary were returning he stayed behind in Jerusalem. He stayed behind while all the other boys were, I don't know, playing around.

He stayed behind. It was his choice but his parents were unaware of it and the parents found him after three days, verse 46. You know they had traveled quite a bit of time, maybe more than a day they traveled and they suddenly looked for him and didn't find him.

They were all traveling as a community of a whole lot of people like going for a conference, a whole group of people and they assumed even for 36 hours they assumed he must be somewhere else with one of the other boys and it's only after 36 hours they discovered hey he's not here and they walked back for 36 hours and discovered that Jesus was in the temple.

This shows us one thing that it took a long time for them to walk from Nazareth to Jerusalem. Remember that whenever you read in the Bible that Jesus walked from Galilee to Jerusalem that wasn't a couple of hours it was one and a half days at least because these folks walked one and a half days and one and a half days back.

Little things like this show us how Jesus lived. Anyway when they came to the temple they found him verse 46 in the midst of the teachers listening to them and asking them questions and all who heard him were amazed.

First of all it is understanding of scripture and his answers. So the first thing I learned about Jesus life which made him pleasing to the father was that he had a tremendous knowledge of scripture even though he didn't have a bible at home.

You want to be pleasing to the father? You know that's the first thing we read about Jesus in his life and that is something that every one of us can do because we have more than Jesus had. We have the Bible in our own language but as if Jesus wanted to read the Bible he had to go to the local synagogue in Nazareth and ask the rabbi to turn the scroll and read one chapter to him and he had to put it all in his memory maybe ask him rabbi can you please read that again or read that verse again read that please read that again and he couldn't read too much because then he'd forget it and just read a little bit and think about that and then go home and think about it and maybe come back the next day and say rabbi can you turn it to the next chapter and please read a little more and the rabbi must have been delighted because I don't know how many boys would have come to him like that nine ten-year-old boys coming and asking him to read the bible to them.

It challenges me that a young ten-year-old boy would go to someone and say can you please read I don't have a bible at home can you please read the bible for me just one chapter or a little bit and then that's enough can I come back tomorrow will you read something more to me you know like some illiterate boy who can't read or write going to someone and asking to read the bible boy I say lord would I be like that do I love you enough to take the trouble to spend a little time cut down some of my other activities in a day just to travel all the way somewhere to somebody's house in his case to the and get someone to read the bible because I'm illiterate and just to memorize it to think about it during the day so that I come back maybe come back next day and say rabbi can you please read that to me again.

I forgot a little bit about what I read yesterday. This is the way Jesus studied the bible. I don't know when he started maybe at the age of five because it doesn't you. You can't know scripture so well in one or two years it takes years and he went and he came back and he went and came back and meditated and meditated.

And by the time he was 12 years old all these scholars he was sitting it says in the midst of teachers in the midst of bible teachers. And he was asking them questions which foxed them. And when they said you know we think it's like that Jesus would say this is what that verse means.

And they'd be amazed. They'd say boy we never thought of that but now we can see that that's right. And they're amazed that this 12 year old boy is giving an explanation to a verse which these guys have been studying for 30 40 years.

So it shows it's not a question of how long you study. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. And the bible has been given to us so that we can see God. And in order to see God you don't need a clever mind.

You need a pure heart. Blessed are the pure in heart when they open the bible they don't get a doctrine. They see God. They see Jesus. And that's possible for everyone else. Are you a mother with many children.

No time to go outside the house. Always busy. You can be like Jesus. You can be pleasing to the father just because you take a little time to read the scriptures. He doesn't have to be early in the morning.

I remember my wife could never read the bible early in the morning. When we had little children at home it was only late at night after the children went to sleep. It does require a little sacrifice. That's true.

I mean if you're not willing to sacrifice time to study the bible you'll never know it. It all depends on how much interest you have. You know when people say I don't have time because I'm so busy. What if your child was sick and admitted in the hospital would you find suddenly make time to go and see your child in the hospital spend two three hours a day just to do that.

See what we want to do. We can always make time for it's what you don't want to do that you find some excuse. I'm very busy. I've had people in cfc some of them not here now. Who said brother my work is so much.

I don't find time to read the bible every day. Okay. I'm not surprised when such people drop away. Finally not at all surprised. So remember this. If you want the father one day to say to you this is my beloved child in whom I'm well pleased.

I'll tell you where to begin. Make a little sacrifice every day to study the scriptures and say lord I want to see you here in the scriptures. I don't want to just get a Jesus certainly wasn't studying to prepare a sermon or to prepare something to share at the next Wednesday meeting.

No he was not at all doing that. We don't study the bible in order to share with other people. No we study the bible to see Jesus to know God. And if that's our goal there's amazing things that the lord will show to us even in ordinary scriptures.

When you read something the bible says blessed are those who meditate on the day of the on the word of the lord and in the new testament who seek for the revelation of the holy spirit on the word of god.

I'll just give you one example. For example this verse that we just read. I mean you've read it many times that Jesus when he was 12 years old uh stood in the midst of teachers and they were amazed at his understanding.

But have you ever thought meditated on a little and asked the lord how that happened and how that can apply in your life. That's all I did. I mean I didn't do anything more than you. I didn't read anything more than you.

But I stopped there and I said lord how can that apply in my life. Then I realized that he took pains to study the scriptures. And that's what made the father one day say it's my beloved son. I'm well pleased if a father for example writes a long letter to his son who's far away and after a couple of weeks or a month the father says hey son did you read my letter.

And the son says well I didn't get time dad. Or I read one or two sentences in it. Do you think that son is a very devoted son of his father. He's really a devoted son and he knows the father's given a lot of good instructions in it.

He'd read it as soon as he gets it. It's one of the first things I decided when I got converted. Before I was converted at 19 and a half I had not read the bible. I'd go to church and hear the stories but I'd never read through it.

And I said okay first thing I must do I must read through this which is God's word the only book God has written and I read through it in six months. It's a midst of my work. In the middle of my work I took a little time every morning and whenever I got spare time and I finished the whole bible in six months I know you can do it.

I didn't understand everything naturally because newly converted. But I decided then I didn't know all this that Jesus was like this and all. But somehow the bible says as a newborn babe cries for milk we if you're really born again you cry for the word of God.

It says in one peter two you don't teach a child to cry for milk. It's automatic. If it's a healthy child it will cry for milk. If it doesn't cry for milk it's a sick child. And every truly born again person who's a healthy child will want to know the word of God.

And if you a child a person who says he's born again and does not want to know the word of God is a sick person. Without a doubt there are a lot of sick people around who say they are born again. So that's the first thing.

And I see there that Jesus uh the way the reason why he could answer people those teachers was because he didn't just read the scriptures when the rabbi as a little boy when he was seven or eight years old and the rabbi read the scripture to him in the synagogue he thought about it and he went home and thought about it.

And that's what we must do with the scriptures. Lord what is there in it. What is the meaning of this. And if teachers who are 60 70 years old can learn from a 12 year old that's because the 60 70 years old I'm sure they were clever people.

Jews are usually all very clever. They read and understood it but they hadn't revelation. Jesus had revelation because his heart was pure. So that's the first thing I learned from him which is a great challenge to me.

Seeking the Father's Business

And going on from there I see another thing about his life when in verse 48 his mother and asked him why son why have you treated us like this. We've been searching for you all this time. And look at his answer.

Why were you looking for me. You thought you'd find me on the playground. Haven't you seen me all these years. Didn't you know. Didn't you know this that I had to be in my father's house. Or I had to be about my father's business.

So two translations possible. So that's the second thing I see about Jesus that pleased the father. He longed to be in the father's house and to be interested in the things of the father at a very young age a lot of people would rather be watching television or be in a cinema house.

Or didn't you know that you'd find me in the cinema theater. Or didn't you know you'd find me in some restaurant having a good time. But for Jesus it was. Where did you expect to find me in my father's house.

About my father's business. And at a young age that interest in the things of God not just in the word of God but in God's work. And he wasn't a preacher. He wasn't going around ministering but he was interested in the things of the father.

He was interested today in God's houses with God's people. He was interested to be with God's people more than he was with all his worldly friends. I'm sure there were a lot of worldly boys there in Nazareth and around there in those days just like today.

Who had that dirty jokes. And you think dirty jokes are only in the 20th century. You think there were no dirty jokes in the first century. Sure. Or all the bad habits that young people have today. They had it in the first century too.

But there was certain type of people Jesus associated himself with. That's what he says to. Haven't you seen me all these years mom. Where do you expect to find me in my father's house. That is the way we must bring up our children.

Our children must love the church and the people in the church more than any other young people of their age. That is my longing from the time my children were small. They must love the young people in the church more than anybody else.

So that even when they come from their college on a vacation they want to be with the young people in the church and not with all their worldly friends. Are you training your children that way. You if you love the church yourself you'll do it.

But if you love the restaurants and movie theaters that's where you'll take your children. That's where they'll be interested in. There are a lot of dangers when we have a lot of money I'll tell you that one of the blessings that was ours when we were now children were small.

Was we my wife and I never. And I didn't have much money then we couldn't we couldn't ever afford to go to a restaurant. Of course cinema theater is out of the question. Not just because of money because we were completely against it.

Where do I want to take my children. I'll take them where I myself want to go is fellowship with the brothers and sisters and cfc just a Sunday morning affair for you and the rest of the time. I mean this is an obligation like children have to go to school.