Living to Please God
Notes from Lance Shumake's sermon on Sunday, October 18, 2026.
Sermon text: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
We please God by loving genuinely
—genuine love shows
John 13:34–35
[34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 John 4:7–8
[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
—genuine love grows
“Love may grow in breadth as it reaches out to embrace more of our fellow Christians. It may grow in depth as it enters more deeply into the hurts and joys of others. And it may grow in length as it forbears more patiently and forgives more heartily. A commitment to love others well will cause us to grow more and more in this grace.”
—Andrew Young, Let’s Study 1 and 2 Thessalonians
We please God by working faithfully
—strive to avoid drama
“What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That's my dream for the church—a multitude of faithful, risk-taking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God's glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.”
—Kevin DeYoung, “The Glory of Plodding”
—work hard and be dependable
“Our vocation and professional work is not a second class activity, something we do just to put food on the table. It is the high calling for which we were originally created. The way we serve a Creator God is by being creative with the talents and gifts He has given us.”
―Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth
We glorify God by living to please him
Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Discipleship Questions:
Sermon text: 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
We please God by loving genuinely
—genuine love shows
John 13:34–35
[34] A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [35] By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 John 4:7–8
[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
—genuine love grows
“Love may grow in breadth as it reaches out to embrace more of our fellow Christians. It may grow in depth as it enters more deeply into the hurts and joys of others. And it may grow in length as it forbears more patiently and forgives more heartily. A commitment to love others well will cause us to grow more and more in this grace.”
—Andrew Young, Let’s Study 1 and 2 Thessalonians
We please God by working faithfully
—strive to avoid drama
“What we need are fewer revolutionaries and a few more plodding visionaries. That's my dream for the church—a multitude of faithful, risk-taking plodders. The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God's glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency.”
—Kevin DeYoung, “The Glory of Plodding”
—work hard and be dependable
“Our vocation and professional work is not a second class activity, something we do just to put food on the table. It is the high calling for which we were originally created. The way we serve a Creator God is by being creative with the talents and gifts He has given us.”
―Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth
We glorify God by living to please him
Matthew 5:16
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Discipleship Questions:
- What are practical ways we can show love for one another at Crosspoint?
- In what areas do you still need to grow when it comes to loving others?
- What does it look like to live quietly in the world today?
- How can we live with an internal quietness in the midst of today’s culture?
- How can we serve others and care for others while still minding our own affairs?
- How can a Christ follower be an example to outsiders by the way he/she works?
- How can we bring glory to God by the way we love genuinely and work faithfully?
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