We all need goals and aims in life if we are to find purpose in what we are doing, but for so many of us, our lives are motivated simply by what feels good for us (short-term hedonistic goals). If it looks good, we do it. If it feels good, we do it. We are fed the philosophy, ‘nothing is wrong if it makes you happy’ and so we base our living on such motivation, only to discover that selfish goals often leave us dissatisfied and we are not always happy even if we have everything we have aimed for.

Ps 73 captures the dissatisfaction so many of us feel with life as we enviously look on others who seem to be doing well even though they have no regard for God. We need to have an eternal perspective if we are to live life focussing on God’s purposes and plans rather than our own ambitions.

When we live according to God’s perspective, our values and goals will become shaped and moulded so that we no longer live ‘as the pagans do’, as Jesus says to His disciples. We don’t have to run about worrying about what we will eat and drink or wear, because we have a heavenly Father who cares for us. (Matt 6:25-34) We are therefore free to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness (Matt 6:33); we are free to live life fuelled by different motives – no longer needing to ‘look after number one’ (because God will take care of our needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus!), but free to serve God and live according to His ways. Is 26:8 says ‘Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for You; Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.’ If our motivation for living is God’s name and renown, then we can be sure we will have the fuel we need to live according to God’s ways.

A desire to please other people seems a very Christian virtue, since serving others forms an integral part of the gospel message (see, for example, Phil 2:3-4). However, there is a difference between serving people out of love and obedience and serving them because you are motivated by a need for their approval and affirmation.

Aesop says in one his fables, ‘In trying to please all, he had pleased none’, and another proverb says, ‘You can please some of the people all of the time; all of the people some of the time and some of the people NONE of the time.’ The Bible tells us that it is better to seek to please God than people (see Gal 1:10, Prov 29:25) Our aim should be to live a life worthy of the Lord (Col 1:9)… which may well mean learning to say ‘no’ to people and putting God first in everything. We don’t want to be like the people who would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue, people who ‘loved human praise more than praise from God.’ (Jn 12:42-43) Instead, we need an unshakeable confidence and faith in God (like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) who could withstand pressure and temptation and refuse to bow to other gods.

Living to please God before people may make us unpopular in the short term (though we should never try to be inconsiderate or selfish in our service.) However, we must be secure in our identity as children of God and not motivated by a desire to please others in order to gain from them the approval and love which only God can give. Only when we are secure in God’s love (see Jn 13:1-4) can we stoop to serve others.

Niccoló Machiavelli was a 16^th century Italian Renaissance historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer, whose name has become part of the English language; if we say someone is ‘Machiavellian’, we mean that they are scheming and devious, adept at getting their own way and manipulating others to do what they want them to do. He’s probably most famous for writing ‘The Prince’, describing an ‘ideal’ ruler; in the book, he writes about immoral behaviour, such as dishonesty and killing innocent people, as being a normal and effective way of governing, and one of his most famous sayings is ‘the end justifies the means.’ For Machiavelli, immoral behaviour – dishonesty, cruelty, even murder – can be condoned if it is for a ‘justifiable’ end. Machiavelli’s views are the views of so much of our modern society, and it can be very difficult for Christians not to absorb this way of thinking as the norm, because it’s so utterly prevalent around us. That is why Paul urges us not to ‘conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,’ (Rom 12:2) because we need a completely different way of thinking, a completely different pattern or mould.

According to Machiavelli, fear is a powerful motivator and it is better to be feared than to be loved. Fear inhibits us, however; if we are afraid, we are not likely to do much at all. We see that in the Parable of the Talents, when the servant’s perception of the master as cruel and to be feared led to his burying his money and doing nothing profitable with it. (Matt 25:24-25) John reminds us that perfect love drives out fear (1 Jn 4:18) and Paul shows us that love has to be the thing which motivates every action (1 Cor 13:1-3).

Love is God’s motivator (1 Jn 4:9, Jn 3:16) and therefore nothing less than love has to be our motivator. Christ’s love must be the compelling force behind all that we do (2 Cor 5:14).

In the 1990s, Mr Motivator was one of the fitness icons on TV urging people to adopt exercise and therefore live a healthier life. Love has to be our ‘Mr Motivator’ in all we do.

Why do we do the things we do? Does it matter what motivates us? Surely if we are obeying the rules, that’s all God cares about?

In our alphabet series of things essential for a life of faith, we looked at the fact that M is for Motivation.

Motivation is the fuel which keeps us going on days when we would otherwise flag and give up (see Gal 6:7-9). God desires truth in the inmost parts (see Ps 51:6); it’s not enough to look good on the outside if the inside is rotten (see Jesus’ comments to the Pharisees in Matt 23:25-26). Paul tells us to ‘examine ourselves’ and ‘test ourselves’ to see whether we are in the faith (2 Cor 13:5), to see if our motivation is pure and sincere, and we have to understand that God sees the heart and doesn’t look at the outward appearance. (1 Sam 16:7)

Life is rather like an iceberg: the tip of that iceberg represents our actions and behaviour, but so much is hidden from plain view, and that represents our motivation. We need to understand that God wants to be at the heart of our thinking and in our attitudes as well as in our actions!

For Jesus, how we live is as important as that we live. The way that we do things matters as much as what we do. We must never subscribe to Machiavelli’s philosophy that ‘the end justifies the means’. Instead, we have to dig deep into our motives and ask ourselves 3 questions.

1. Are we motivated by fear or by love?
2. Are we motivated by a desire to please people or to please God?
3. Are we motivated by selfish goals or by God-goals?

The Thurnscoe Spring Show, organised by Big Local Thurnscoe, started with a procession from Thurnscoe East down to Houghton Road Centre. It included a celebration of Thurnscoe’s mining history and also focussed on various circus and spring activities, including maypole dancing.

Inside Houghton Road Centre there were a variety of stalls, with refreshments being served, and Thurnscoe Male Voice Choir gave a short performance too.

Mark spoke this morning from Luke 5:17-26, where Jesus heals a paralysed man brought to Him by four friends (see also Mk 2:1-12). This amazing miracle prompted awe and astonishment among the people and is a vivid reminder of God’s power. People came from far and wide (from Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem) because Jesus was in the area and they were eager to see the demonstrations of God’s power which accompanied His presence: ‘the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick.’ (Luke 5:17) The four friends who brought the paralysed man were determined to bring their friend to Jesus and it was their faith to which Jesus responded.

God is moved by faith. If we want to see God move in the miraculous, in healings and other miracles, we have to approach Him with faith. We are not told if the paralysed man himself had faith, and this is a vivid reminder that sometimes we can be the ones who bring people to God. Even the scribes and Pharisees who were present had not seen anything like this, and despite their scepticism and disdain for Jesus, they could not refute the evidence of their own eyes: the man was lowered down on a mat, but left carrying the mat and glorifying God! We imagine his friends having to run after him, so great was the miracle God did in his life!

Rom 8:11 reminds us that the same Spirit which raised Christ from the dead now dwells in us and is able to bring life to our mortal bodies. We are able to be instruments who carry people to Jesus. We can see healings and miracles as we do so, for God is still in the house, still dwelling in us and using us to reach out to others!