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Do you ever struggle with figuring out what to buy as a gift for the person who has everything? They have all the latest toys and gadgets, the nice house and cars, the steady job. When they want something, they buy it. And when you want to buy them a gift, it seems there’s nothing left on the list that would bring them delight.
In the same way, what do you bring as a gift for the God who has everything? He created the world. He owns everything in it. He has the ultimate power to do anything he desires. As a lowly human, finite and faulty, what do we have that would bring God delight? Our lesson this week will give us that answer.
God Delights When His People Follow Him
God delights in the people he has chosen to be his. This often refers to Israel, but it can also refer to anyone who chooses to follow him.
Psalm 16:3: I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
Zephaniah 3:17: The Lord your God is with you,
the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you;
in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
but will rejoice over you with singing.”
God especially delights in those who fear him and put their hope in him.
Psalm 147:10-11: 10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,
nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;
11 the Lord delights in those who fear him,
who put their hope in his unfailing love.
In order to follow God wholeheartedly, we must turn from our sin. This repentance brings God great delight.
Ezekiel 33:11: Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’
Once we decide to follow God, part of our act of following is worshiping him. Our worship brings him delight.
Psalm 19:14: May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Psalm 69:30-31: 30 I will praise God’s name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hooves.
If we want to please God, we must turn from our sins, fear him and put our hope in him, and worship him.
God Delights in His People’s Worthy Sacrifices
One way that people can worship God is to bring him sacrifices. These sacrifices have looked different at different times in history.
In the Old Testament, especially in the books of the Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), sacrifices that pleased God were typically animal sacrifices of some kind. Over and over in these books, you will read “a pleasing aroma” in reference to sacrifices offered by his people, the Israelites.
Genesis 8:21: The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”
Exodus 29:18: Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord.
Leviticus 2:1-2: 2 “‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it 2 and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.”
Psalm 51:19: Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,
in burnt offerings offered whole;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.
Later in the Old Testament, the people who followed God with their whole heart learned that just the act of sacrificing an offering isn’t what God really wants. Instead, he is more pleased with obedience, mercy, and the prayers of the upright.
1 Samuel 15:22: But Samuel replied:
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
Hosea 6:6: For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
Proverbs 15:8: The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked,
but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
In the New Testament, we find that we should view ourselves as living sacrifices that are pleasing to God.
Romans 12:1: Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
Part of this sacrifice can include providing support to people who are doing God’s work.
Philippians 4:18: I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
If you truly want to bring God delight, you will offer yourself as a living sacrifice—you will be someone who obeys God, who gives mercy to others to reflect God’s mercy to you, who spends time taking to God through prayer, and who gives gifts to support God’s work in the world.
God Delights When His People Reflect His Character
As we are obedient to God, offering ourselves as a living sacrifice to him, we will begin to live lives that reflect God’s character. This brings God delight.
We can reflect God’s integrity.
1 Chronicles 29:17: I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.
Proverbs 11:1: The Lord detests dishonest scales,
but accurate weights find favor with him.
Proverbs 12:22: The Lord detests lying lips,
but he delights in people who are trustworthy.
We can reflect God’s faithfulness.
Psalm 51:6: Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
And we can become blameless before God.
Proverbs 11:20: The Lord detests those whose hearts are perverse,
but he delights in those whose ways are blameless.
The more we reflect God’s character, the more we bring him delight.
God Delights When His People Do His Work
Last week, we saw that God finds delight in the work that he does on this earth. That work is often accomplished through people. When people on this earth choose to participate in God’s work, this brings him delight.
In the Old Testament, kings and others in authority were often the ones instructed to do God’s work. God used them as tools to accomplish his purposes, such as building or rebuilding the temple.
Deuteronomy 33:11: Bless all his skills, Lord,
and be pleased with the work of his hands.
Strike down those who rise against him,
his foes till they rise no more.”
Isaiah 44:28: who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”
and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”’
Proverbs 21:1: In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water
that he channels toward all who please him.
Haggai 1:8: Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.
In the New Testament, and in our world today, those who believe in Christ are instructed to do God’s work. The primary work he has given us is to preach the good news of Jesus so that people who believe this message can be saved.
1 Corinthians 1:21: For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Romans 14:17-18: 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
Whether we are building a place of worship or preaching the gospel or serving Christ in some other way, if we participate in God’s work here on earth, we bring him delight.
Conclusion
If you want to bring delight to the God who has everything, consider bringing yourself as a living sacrifice. Choose to follow and obey him, to reflect his character, and to participate in his work on this earth. He gave his one and only Son to be a sacrifice for you and me, and it brings him great delight to see his chosen people serving and worshiping him.