Pastor Jim Dewar • First Baptist Church Bancroft • fbcbancroft@gmail.com

 

Today I want to talk to you about Setting Your Rudder to Please the Lord! When I was in the Navy, my first sea duty assignment was on the USS Inchon (LPH-12) based in Norfolk, VA. I was a Machinist Mate assigned to work in the Auxiliary Division of the ship’s Engineering Department. I actually worked in the Hydraulic Shop that was located in the After Steering room. The equipment in that room operated the ship’s rudder in conjunction with the person on the bridge turning the ship’s wheel. Wherever he turned it the rudder would follow, and it took us to many different places on many deployments as we stayed on the course that was set. How about you?  What direction is the rudder of your life taking you?  

We read in the Gospel of John 8:29 “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” In the last part of that verse Jesus clearly states that His desire was to please God. The course of His life, His rudder, was set in that direction to please God.

We see this attitude in Jesus in so many other places in the Bible. Notice in John 9:4 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.”  There was an urgency in Jesus in doing the work that God sent Him to do. Also in John 6:38 “For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” Whether Christ was feeding the multitude, healing the blind, or dying on the Cross for our sins, His purpose in coming to earth, His desire was to please God. What a wonderful example Jesus has set for us.  In another place we see the Apostle Paul in the letter to the Corinthian Church state the importance of pleasing God, II Corinthian 5:9 “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.” Paul says whether present or absent his desire, and I think the church’s desire, should be to be “Accepted of Him” or “Well Pleasing to Him”. Why should that matter? Well, who owns the Church, who established the Church, who purchased it with His own Blood?  The answer to those questions is; Jesus did. As Christians, the aim of our life should be to please God. The rudder of our life should be taking us that direction spiritually speaking.  Acts 20:28 “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”  The last part of that verse speaks of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross where He died for our sins.  In another place we see the Apostle Paul praying for the Colossian Church and he says in Colossians 1:10 “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;.” He actually mentions several things: the importance of walking worthy, being fruitful, increasing in the knowledge of God and right in the middle we see where he says “well pleasing”.  Pleasing God in all things is what that phrase means.  A life being lived pleasing to God was important to Jesus and should be important to us. Are you a Christian? Do you know Christ as your Saviour? If not, accept Him without delay and live a life that pleases Him!