A recipe is a sequence of instructions and ingredients to make a dish.

[Go into more depth on particular dishes and metaphors.]

As we try to live lives that are pleasing to God, we are given instructions on how to do it. This is what I'd like to talk about.

We have many recipes or sets of instructions in the bible...especially those that please God.

Now, as there are dishes that we don't like. Brussels sprouts are almost universally disliked. Similarly, God has things he frowns upon.

Doesn't like:

2 Timothy 3
¹   This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
²   For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
³   Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

[This list includes dishonest things. Evil things. They are very unpleasant to him and cause all kinds of problems in our lives. Several of these have to do with pride. Think about it. Where did being egotistical or covetous or proud ever get anyone? It may get you ahead in line or ahead in anything...but you'll offend many people on the way. These character traits are not only bitter-tasting to God, but also bad news for us. When you go to the mall or school or you go, you're surrounded with people who just KNOW they are the most important thing in the world. You see it on T-shirts that say, "princess". Bumper stickers that are intentionally offensive. People pushing their shopping carts in the stores may as well be the only people in the world the way they don't watch out for anyone else. There is just this general feeling of self-entitlement. I deserve to have what I want now and I don't want to wait. This is how people get into debt and all kinds of trouble. People have forgotten that it's necessary to wait for things many times. God doesn't want us to contribute to all of this by being self-centered, ourselves.]

God finds pride to have a bitter taste. [scriptures about humbleness]

James 4
⁵   Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?
⁶   But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
⁷   Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

[But we also see here an alternative to pride. Humbleness. This is pleasing to God. This is what he's looking for. If we're too caught up in self-worship, then we don't have room for God. You see this attitude around you. It's like going to the trouble of making dinner and then charring all of it. A soul is such a precious thing. As we are born into this world, we have the potential to do great things for the glory of God. We have precious souls and can be set apart from so much of the world that God finds so bitter. We can be different in a world of bitterness.]

Mat 5

¹³   Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

[So we are to be different. We are even compared to salt here. Were are to be set apart. We are not to blend in with all of the evil around us.]

As a chef tries to prepare things that please those who are eating, we must prepare our lives to please God.

Likes

2 Peter 1
⁴   Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
⁵   And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
⁶   And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

[This almost sounds like a recipe, doesn't it? These sounds like ingredients being thrown into a soup. These are the ingredients of a Godly person.]

"grace, mercy and peace" are mentioned in many of these lists of traits we are to strive after.

first, second Tim, Titus 1:4

Titus 1
⁴   To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour

[Of course Paul would want Titus to have these blessings. Grace that comes from Christ. Mercy from God. The peace and comfort that come from knowing Jesus as the savior.]

The beginning of pleasing God is to have faith in Christ. If we follow God through Christ, only then can we even approach God. We can never be righteous on our own.

2 Corinthians 2
¹⁴   Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
¹⁵   For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
¹⁶   To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

¹⁷   For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

[This last verse was talking about some who were trying to teach the word of God only for money.]

[But how about that as a metaphor? "a sweet savour [smell] of Christ " We are like the sweet smell of Christ to those who are saved. We should be a reminder to those around us of Christ's life. As evil prevails in the world, it's so refreshing to see people who are different...who try to do the right thing...who submit themselves to the higher authority of God rather than their own egos.]

God is very pleased with a willingness to obey him...to submit to him. Let's look at a scripture that really points this out.

[After the flood waters had dried up and the ark and landed.]

Genesis 8
²⁰   And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
²¹   And the LORD smelled a sweet savour [smell]; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.
²²   While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

[We see a few things here. First, Noah wanted to please God. He acted on it. He didn't just sit there. He offered sacrifices and God was pleased with his obedience...especially in comparison to the other people in the world who had been so evil that God had destroyed the world in the flood. Obedience is a pleasant offering to God.]

God was most pleased by his own son who was obedient to the point of giving his life.

Matthew 3
¹⁶   And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
¹⁷   And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

[So imagine how pleased God was with Jesus. The prophecies of the old testament were finally fulfilled in his son, Jesus the Messiah. ]

We read more about Jesus' role in God's plan in

Hebrews 10

¹   For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
²   For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
³   But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
⁴   For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
⁵   Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
⁶   In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
⁷   Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
⁸   Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;
⁹   Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.
¹⁰   By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
¹¹   And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
¹²   But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God

[This is all great news to us. As we think of the offering of animal sacrifices moving the sins of God's people forward but never earning them forgiveness. We could think of it as eating enough food every day to keep us alive...but continually being hungry...never being filled. And then finally, Jesus gave himself as the ultimate sacrifice for sins. God was so pleased with him as we read in Matthew. And finally, God's people could be justified in God's eyes...not because of anything they had done, but because Jesus stood in their place for their sins. It was as though God's people could finally be sustained. Sadly, many of the Jews chose not to drink of the living water that Jesus offered. But the offer is still open to us today if we accept it.]

And so, Christ is our lifeline. He is our way to God. As we read, no one comes to the father except through him. A faith in him is essential. If we were making a soup, faith would be the liquid in the soup. You could put all the ingredients in the soup, but if it doesn't have any liquid, it's not really soup. Faith is the first thing we need in pleasing God.

Hebrews 11

⁴   By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

[Why was Abel's sacrifice more pleasing to God than Cain's? Both of these brothers offered sacrifices. They were both technically obedient. But Abel's was more pleasing because it was offered in faith. We can learn from this. Though we may do good things in life, we should make sure we do them to please God out of faith in him...not for show as was a problem for the Pharisees whom Jesus so often criticized.]

Love is another very important ingredient in our lives.

make your dish out of this...not this

Ephesians 5
¹   Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
²   And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
³   But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

[Jesus whom we follow was the ultimate example of love in that he gave his life for us though we didn't deserve it.]

And with love comes the desire to help those who need it with charity. Charity towards those who are in need and charity toward the work of God.]

Charity in the works of God are a pleasant odor to Him

Philippians 4
¹⁷   Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.
¹⁸   But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.
¹⁹   But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

[The charity of the Philippians towards God's worker, Paul, was pleasing to God...as though it were a nice-smelling meat cooking or something like that.]

Now, some of you are good cooks and know the right ingredients to making good food. You know when something is lacking to add salt or spices or whatever it might be. Some of us (me included) don't really know much about cooking. I might not know how to tell how long to cook things...how much of an ingredient is too much...perhaps the meat doesn't get the taste all the way through because I didn't season it properly. It's bland inside without much taste. Maybe I can get through life without being much of a cook. But it's a different story as a follower of Christ. We are expected to be good at trying to please God. We must watch for when we are blending in too much into the ways of the world and make ourselves more salty...more set apart. We must make sure we keep the heat up in our Christian lives in study and prayer and rather than the Laodiceans described in Revelation 3 who were lukewarm and would be spewed out as they forgot about the need for Christ as their salvation.

As there are foods that please us because they are made up of a set of ingredients we like, there are many good recipes for a Godly life in the bible if we will look to it. We've read about some the ingredients...faith in Christ, love and obedience. I find it very encouraging and refreshing to see brothers and sisters who are setting themselves apart in their actions...to be that salt of the earth. You are an encouragement to me and I'm thankful for your efforts and want to encourage you to continue to improve.