We spend much of our lives seeking to please others:

1. We spend much of our lives seeking to please others: • Bill Cosby is quoted as saying, “I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.” • While we cannot and should not seek to please everyone; biblically, we are to seek to please some . . . • We are to please those in authority. • 1. Rulers (Ecclesiastes 8:2-5; Romans 13:1-5).

2. We spend much of our lives seeking to please others: • 2. Employers (Colossians 3:22 – tells us to serve our masters in order to win their favor). • 3. Parents (Colossians 3:20 – told to obey our parents). • 4. God, Himself (Ecclesiastes 2:26a“To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness.” (NIV)

3. Yet, it can be difficult knowing how to please others . . . • EX: Girl seeks mother’s attention. • It is easy to get so busy that we forget those who are the most important. • We forget to give them our time and attention. • God waits for us to give our attention to Him. • He desires that we do what pleases Him. • When we do, He accepts us and blesses us for our faithfulness.

4. Pleasing God:Genesis 4:1-7 (page 3) • 4Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. • Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.

5. Pleasing GodGenesis 4:1-7 • 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. • 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?

6. Pleasing GodGenesis 4:1-7 • 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” • The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

7. What is Pleasing to God: • 1. When we give God credit for His involvement in our lives. (vv. 1-2a) • 2. When we give God of our best. (vv. 2b-7) To God

8. What is Pleasing to God: • 1. When we give God credit for His involvement in our lives. (vv. 1-2a) • Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

9. 1. Giving God Credit. • Eve comments that she (ishah) has gotten a man (ish) with the help of the LORD. • Eve has not forgotten God and sees His role in the affairs of life. • Cain = “possession” • Abel = Hebel = “breath” (possibly means “breath of God”) Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1995. • Eve (the mother of the living) realized that God had given her children.

10. 1. Giving God Credit. • Do you give God the credit for what you have? • OR do you think that you have received what you have all on your own? • Your talents . . . Do you use them to serve God or snub God? • Do you thank God for how He has blessed? • It’s not unusual to hear of a crippling injury that destroys a person’s career.

11. 1. Giving God Credit. • In the face of personal loss could you say with Job, “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised?" Job 1:21b (NIV) • Do you give God thanks for your treasures? • Do you thank Him for family? For children? For parents? For a mate? • Do you thank Him for your possessions? • A home, a car, a good job?

12. Giving God Credit. • Eve gave God credit for His involvement in her life. • Do you give God credit for all that He has done for you? • Is God pleased by how you respond to Him . . . OR is God disappointed, knowing that you have forgotten Him? • When you have to give an account for all that God has supplied, will you stand approved before Him?

13. What is Pleasing to God: • 2. When we give God of our best. • Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

14. What is Pleasing to God: • 2. When we give God of our best. • What was wrong with Cain’s offering? • NOT that it came from the soil. • Some say the ground was cursed so produce of the ground was cursed. • BUT by same logic, so too would sheep be cursed. Animals suffer under the curse & eat from the fruit of the ground.

15. A contrast of offerings • What was right with Abel’s offering: • Abel brought the choice portions. • An emphasis in the text on what Abel brought = literally Abel, he brought • Abel brought the “first” of the fruits. • Cain brought fruit (not identified as being the first or even the best). • Abel gave with a right attitude. • Cain gave with a wrong attitude.

16. A contrast of offerings • Picture the situation: • Cain gave a poor gift. • Cain gave an inferior gift. • And YET Cain is the ONE WHO IS ANGRY, NOT GOD! • 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? • His attitude revealed his heart! • His face reflected his heart!

17. Giving with the wrong attitude: • Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) • The LORD detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.Proverbs 15:8 (NIV) • Cain’s attitude is revealed by his response to God in anger. He is not asking, “How do I make it right.”

18. Cain’s attitude: • “Very” angry (mehode charah) • Very (mehode) = muchness, force, abundance, exceedingly • Angry (charah) = to be hot, furious, burn, become angry, be kindled Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1995. • 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

19. Sin is crouching at the door . . . • We get a picture of sin waiting to strike. • Satan waits for an opportunity to attack and destroy. • Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.1 Peter 5:8 • Satan likes to strike at your attitude because he knows that your attitudes lead to actions.

20. How’s your attitude? • Do you give God credit for working in your life? • Do you thank Him for what you have OR are you angry for what you do not have or no loner have? • When God asks you to give, do you do so with joy and pleasure OR are you mad that God would dare to ask? • Are you pleasing God?

21. Are you pleasing God? • Does your life demonstrate it? • Do your words support it? • Do your actions reveal it? • Is yours a commitment of convenience or a complete commitment of all that you have and are? • EX: A young African pastor • Have you lost your zeal? • Are you committed to Christ and His kingdom?

22. Christ pleased God by humbling Himself • Philippians 2:5-115 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!

23. Christ pleased God by humbling Himself • 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (NIV) • May we have the attitude of Christ. • May we be reminded of His sacrifice.

24. A time for reflection: • Personal and corporate prayer: • Prayer of repentance. • Prayer of forgiveness. • Prayer for the right attitude. • Personal and public partaking of the elements.

25. The Lord’s Supper • 1 Corinthians 11:23-32 • 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

26. The Lord’s Supper 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

27. The Lord’s Supper 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world. The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.