Not long ago I heard a preacher tell us: “There is nothing you can do that pleases God; God has done it all in Christ.”

As he was preaching on justification and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness, in that context what was said was true.
But unfortunately too often the “you-can-do-nothing-that pleases-God” message, along with “God-has-done-it-all”, is extrapolated to apply to the whole of the Christian life – this is particularly so coming from hyper-grace type pulpits.

But is this what Jesus really meant when He said: “When you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’” (Luke 17:10)?
Is it true then that we can do nothing that pleases God?

And what about: “There-is-nothing-you-can-do”, because God does it all? Are we simply to “let go and let God”?

“God did it all”?

Another preacher I once heard taught just this, preaching from the Book of Exodus. There he drew lessons from the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt and their journey to the Promised Land, and applied that to what we learn for our pilgrimage in the Christian life.
His punch line was: “They didn’t have to do a thing to get to the Promised Land; God did it all.”
I found this strange: “God did it all”?

Why then did “God not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea.” (Exod 13:17-18)?

If God was going to “do it all” why did it matter which way they were led. After all, God had just smitten the first-born of the Egyptians without the Israelites lifting a finger. So, if this was to be the pattern for the whole of their journey, it didn’t really matter whether they encountered the Philistines or not: God could just as easily smite them without the Israelites lifting a finger.

“Could not God have overwhelmed the Philistines in the same way as He did the Egyptians? Would that not have been a fitting way to bring His people into the Promised Land? Instead divine wisdom works through the flow of human history…” (John L. Mackay)

When it came to the Philistines, God was not going to deliver them apart from means. Rather they were going to have to fight their way into the Promised Land – as was, in fact, the case under Joshua some years later; and as was the case, even in the early days of their wilderness wanderings when they encountered the Amalekites (Exod ch 17). They had to fight! And in their subsequent battles, some would be wounded; some would even lose their lives. (Josh 7:5)

Regarding their encounter with the Amalekites, when Moses held up his hands to call upon God’s help while Israel fought in the valley below, Joseph Hall comments: “Though the means cannot effect that which we desire, yet God will have us use the likeliest means on our part to effect it… Prayer without means is mockery of God.”

Even just to get to the Promised Land, God did not do it all. They had to collect manna on each of the first six days of the week; they had to prepare meals; they had to build a tabernacle etc. And they had to put one weary foot after another for 40 years. God could have teleported them straight there (cf Acts 8:40?); yet He did not.
The truth is God did not do it all; though God led them all the way by the pillar of cloud and fire, and though God provided for them and gave them the strength to go on day after day, they still had to make their own way by exerting themselves.

John Mackay further notes:

“Their faith was still very weak, and it would take time for their trust in the Lord to develop so that they would be able to face every set of circumstances without hesitation. They were therefore led into times of difficulty and testing so that their spiritual faculties might be developed through use.” [Emph. mine cf Heb 5:14]

Here we see:

The difference between justification and sanctification

Exodus 12 is a picture of justification.
There God does do it all; the Israelites didn’t have to lift a finger on the night they were delivered. They simply had to trust in the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the door posts of their house.
And we, too, do nothing to justify ourselves; we only trust, by God’s grace, in the sprinkling of the blood of our Sacrificial Lamb. God has done it all.

But once delivered, then, enabled to do so by God, the Israelites had to exert themselves to journey to the Promised Land.
And we too, once justified, are enabled by God to exert ourselves in our spiritual pilgrimage, as we are led by the hand of God, by His Word and by His Spirit.

Yes, it is true that this is only  by the grace of God: “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13) But that is what enables us then to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.” (v 12)

This is the difference between justification and sanctification.
“Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?” asks the Larger Catechism (Q.77).
Answer: “Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification [he] of his Spirit infuses grace, and enables to the exercise thereof…”

There is the key: God’s grace “enables”; we must then “exercise” ourselves.

“Bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” (1 Tim 4:8) Therefore, “exercise yourself toward godliness.” (v 7)

We are to “exercise ourselves”

We are to fight our way to our Promised Land.

“Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…” (Ephesians 6:11-18)

Again, John Mackay:

“Discipleship is not just about acquiring information or receiving benefits from the Lord. It also involves the self-discipline required to modify our behaviour so that it pleases God.”

But what of Jesus’ words in Luke 17:10 (above)?
Are we so “unprofitable” that we can never please God?

We can displease God

It is certain the unbeliever cannot please God:

• “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom 8:8)
• “Without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Heb 11:6)

It is also certain that a believer displeases God when he sins:

• “When the people complained, it displeased the Lord…” (Num 11:1)
• “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.” (2 Sam 11:27, when David sinned with Bathsheba)
• “God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly…’” (1 Chron 21:7-8, when David numbered the people)
• “O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!” (Psalm 61:10)
• “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him.” (Prov 17:10-11)

But can a believer, justified in Christ, please God?

A few verses suffice:

• “By faith Enoch was taken away…, before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” (Heb 11:5)
• “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.” (2 Cor 5:9)
• “Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God.” (1 Thess 4:1)

What can you do that pleases God?
Here are a few things:

• “I received the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” (Phil 4:18)
• “We do not cease to pray for you… that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Col 1:9-10)
• “Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.” (Col 3:20)
• “But as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts. (1 Thess 2:4)
• “By Christ let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Heb 13:16)
• “Now may the God of peace… make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight…” (Heb 13:2)
• “And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3:22)

Footnote

I think this helps us better understand another well-worn saying, commenting on the love God has for the believer:

“God could not love you any more, or any less.”

This is sometimes quoted when one who professes to be a believer has sinned, and is assured that nevertheless God could not love him less, even though he has sinned.
I doubt that this is the most helpful thing to say to someone who has sinned while ever he is unrepentant.
But is it true?

I find it helpful to think of how I loved my children when they were young and growing up at home. Did I love them any less when they were especially bad? Did I love them any more when they were especially good?

That is hard to answer, for I still loved them, no matter what they had done. And I certainly found it far easier to love them when they were especially good.
But it is true that, allowing for my own failings and weaknesses as a parent, I thought I loved them no matter what.

But that doesn’t mean I was always equally pleased with them. Sometimes I was especially pleased; sometimes especially displeased.
And in either case (at least, when I was parenting well) I let them know.

This helps me understand how God continued to love David, even when he sinned grievously. But that was not the time for Nathan to preach a sermon to unrepentant David about how much God loved him, but rather about God’s displeasure.

And God continues to love His children, even when we sin. But His pleasure or displeasure in us can vary depending on how we live out our lives in our journey in sanctification.
And it is well for us to be aware of God’s displeasure as long as we are unrepentant.

Can I please God?
Yes, I can. And I should.