Pleasing to God

Mark Lauterbach looks at 1 Thess. 4:1-12 and the idea that Christians, here and now, can be pleasing to God. How? Through grace:

A number of years ago I had a member of my congregation come to me after a sermon. They said something very simple, "Pastor, we really are trying to do this. I am sorry we disappoint you." They did not mean it as a rebuke. They were sincere. But it was a massive rebuke. I was, apparently, conveying a "your life is not pleasing to God" perspective.

This is remarkable. How can sanctification be motivated by that? Don't we have to threaten and cajole? Thomas Chalmers speaks to that in his "The Expulsive Power of a New Affection." It is a remarkable essay, for two reasons. First, it was written in a day when I think pastors were paid for writing by the word. In other words, it is not concise. But the last few pages are well worth the labor. Second, it is grace motivating. Chalmers asks -- when you are engaged in admonishing people to be holy as the condition of a life pleasing to God, what can you expect but despair? Holiness is impossible. Telling people to strive for it in order to please God is not encouraging at all. But, he notes, when they begin their sanctification from a settled conviction that they are fully accepted (and not merely tolerated) before God because of the Savior -- they are free to seek to please God with joy. Far from encouraging licentiousness, grace enables godliness.

More than that, I resist this. I have begun to see how profoundly self-righteous I am. I simply do not want to believe that my life is pleasing to God in Christ. I do not want God to be pleased. I almost fear the idea. Because I am not yet pleased with myself and God must be mistaken. I must attain a level of godliness that I think is suitable and then I can accept this. I may not be alone in this.

I'm quite sure he's not.