Pleasing the Lord: Vacation from Self and Others (Colossians 1:10).

Class Outline:

Thursday July 30, 2026

 

COL 1:9-12

For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.

 

Main idea: In order to live worthily of the Lord  to please Him in all things, you have to bear fruitful works in all areas of life and continue to increase in the knowledge of God. 

 

Intro: 

 

“To live worthily of the Lord into all pleasing” is the literal text. People say the Bible is untrustworthy because there are so many translations. 

 

How many ways could this one clause be translated into English? 

 

COL 1:9

 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, [NLT]

 

COL 1:9

that you'll live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in his orchard. [The Message Bible]

 

In all pleasing

The “all” refers to all aspects of our lives and it is followed by “every good work” 

 

We understand that we might be pleasing to the Lord in some areas of our lives and not in others. That is because we find some work easier than others.

 

What you need to please God. 

 

A person can’t just decide one day to please God. 

 

All spiritual wisdom, all spiritual understanding, so that you can be filled with the knowledge of His will so that to walk (live) in a manner worthy of the Lord. 

 

The above takes faith.

 

When people do not have wisdom, understanding, and knowledge: 

 

Freud: late 19th century developed the theory of the Pleasure Principle. Man’s main object was sexual gratification, but knowing it was limited in sex alone, the libido was to be invested in all areas: love, art, science, knowledge, living in society and contributing to it. 

 

Independent, self pleasure seeking people without God. Though his science was proven wrong, the central theme of Freud survived.

 

Another result is the solidification that pleasure is all in the present and therefore the ultimate purpose of man is the moment - not the future.

 

Solomon experiments “under the sun.”

 

The main conclusion: hevel, is not so much that things meant nothing (“meaningless”) but that they were non-ending, cyclical, never fully satisfying. Other good meanings: vapor, breath, fleeting, insubstantial.

 

ECC 2:1-11

I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. 2 I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" 3 I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives. 4 I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; 5 I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; 6 I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. 8 Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men — many concubines. 

 

9 Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me. 10 All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. 11 Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun. 

 

Solomon dove into all earthly pleasures and found it futile (cyclical - no end, doesn’t satisfy). 

 

But what if death is not the end. What if there is life above the sun? 

 

JAM 5:5

You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

 

Seeking God’s pleasure: 

 

Freedom from self and purpose beyond the heavens. 

 

1TH 2:4

just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts

 

1TH 4:1

Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

 

Occupation with pleasing God more and more will leave you rapturously unoccupied with yourself and what other people are thinking of you (if it is judging). 

 

2CO 5:9

Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.

 

And, remembering our passage, note the connection to the next thought: 

 

2CO 5:10

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 

 

Yet most people desire to please other people. There is no end to pleasing people. All life is tarnished by it.

 

1CO 4:1-3

Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. 2 In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy. 3 But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.

 

Pleasing others also stems from being intimidated by them: 

 

PRO 16:7

When a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord,

He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. 

 

Do not fear them. Fear the Lord. Fear not pleasing Him.

 

Popular applause will always be ready to tempt you. You must remind yourself that pleasing Christ is all that matters when it comes to pleasing anyone.

 

TIT 3:3-8

For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds [whole perspective changed]. These things are good and profitable for men. 

 

Conclusion: 

 

Like the walk, pleasure has two roads.

 

Without God man seeks his own pleasure.

 

There is no fulfillment in pleasure under the sun.

 

Pleasing God has been opened to all who have faith in Christ and His Word.

 

Seek to please God and take a vacation from yourself and others.