Pleasing God by Faith

In a now very familiar verse, James writes in James 2:19:

Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Someone may say that he has faith, but what is the true measure of faith of what God said?  It is doing what He said.  When God says, this is how He wants something done, that’s how someone should do it and without exception.  That is faith in God.  And most of you probably already know that “without faith, it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

Pleasing God is the purpose for mankind on earth (Revelation 4:11).  Only from God’s Word do men know the standard or basis for pleasing Him.  God will judge men based on what He says (John 12:48).  The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17) and faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17).  Man lives by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4).

Since the Bible is the source book, the veritable handbook, for how to live and to please Him, that is what He wants men to follow carefully and diligently.  Solomon says at the end of Ecclesiastes that keeping God’s commandments is the whole duty of man (Ecclesiastes 12:12-13).  Those commandments are in the Bible.

God’s Judgment

In the end, God at the least will judge everyone at two judgment seats:  (1) the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) and (2) the Bema Seat Judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:10).  The former is for unbelievers or the unsaved and the latter is for believers or the saved.  Both judgments are very important and do relate to obeying God and in particular how to do what God wants men to do.

God will punish unbelievers for their sin.  Their works fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  God will reward believers for their works, so the Bema Seat Judgment means the gaining or the loss of rewards.  Both relate to pleasing God.  Romans 8:8 says that the unbeliever cannot please God (Romans 8:8).  The believer can please Him and God will reward Him when He does.

Living by faith means living a life regulated by what God said:  doing what He says to do and not doing what He says not to do.  This means not just doing what God said, but doing it how He said.  Scripture is replete with examples of men failing to submit to how God wanted it done and God punishing them for it.

How God Wants His Work Done

How God wants done what He wants done gets short shrift today most often.  God cares how what He wants gets done.  Not doing it how He wants will effect what He wants.  He rejects things done in the wrong way or manner.  What to do and how to do it feed off each other.

In the age in which we live, God wants His work done in, through, and by the church.  In the Old Testament, God used Israel.  Also within Israel God regulated how He wanted His work done in, through, and by Israel.

The Church, the Only Acceptable Means of God’s Work Today

The New Testament reveals God’s work done only through the church in this period, the church age.  According to the New Testament, the church is sufficient to accomplish God’s work.  Living by faith and pleasing God requires accomplishing His work in the way God shows to do it.  The New Testament teaches only the church for doing His work.  Doing it another way than the church is an invention of men and God isn’t pleased when someone does God’s work a different way.  It isn’t obeying God, so it isn’t living by faith.

People who won’t do God’s will His way are not pleasing Him.  Perhaps people will not do it like God said because they’re not saved.  Scripture shows this to be the case.  On the other hand, saved people will lose rewards for not doing what God said how He said to do it.

It is not obeying God or loving God to do what He said a different way than what He said.  The church is the only way.  All of the God’s work can be done through the church.  God does not approve of doing His work a different way than what He said.  Because God’s Word is sufficient, the church is sufficient for all of God’s work.