by Brad Bell

 Robert Chapman was a 19th century pastor/elder of an assembly of believers in Barnstable, England. He was widely respected by men including Spurgeon, Darby, and Müller.

Believers are called to live pleasing to God. But some are too quick to think they have achieved sinless perfection, or something close to it. Yet, we are not to minimize the seriousness of our sin. We are not perfect in our obedience.

How, then, should we think of our relationship with God? Here is Chapman’s excellent insight:
“With regard to the imperfections of obedience which accompany every deed and wish and thought, however holy, let us never think of them as less than sins which could only be blotted out by the blood of Christ. It is very easy to consider myself delivered from sin, root and branch, if I have a shallow conviction of what sin is. In Romans 7, Paul said. “The good that I would, I do not; but the evil that I would not, that I do” (Romans 7: 19). Oh, that we may be delivered from scanty thoughts of sin! If I do not stand before God as the criminal before the sin-avenging Judge, it is because Christ stood for me as my Surety.”

~Robert Chapman, The Good Shepherd and His Ransomed Flock.

The perfect, complete righteousness of Christ is the ground on which we, though still tainted with sin, can live pleasing to God.

May we never take sin so lightly that we think we have arrived in practice!

Christ’s righteousness is the grounds for our being accepted by God and able to live in moment by moment fellowship with Him. On this basis, believers may indeed live pleasing to God. As Chapman continued:

Oh! beloved, let us learn this, that on the one hand God could not possibly bear with us if we did not stand in Christ; and that on the other hand while we see our sins and are humbled, He says of us, “How holily, justly and unblameably!” (1 Thessalonians 2: 10). Here is our perfectly pleasing God, as again we have it, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father” (1 Thessalonians 1: 2-3). And, beloved, we ought to have the testimony that we please God. This testimony every child of God is responsible to have. But it is much easier for Him to be pleased with our endeavors to please Him, than for us to be content and satisfied with our attainments.

~Robert Chapman, The Good Shepherd and His Ransomed Flock.

How relevant are Chapman’s words more than a century later! God is the one whom we are to aim to please.  The depths of our ongoing sin are certainly serious and should prompt us to look at Jesus’ finished work as we seek to live pleasing to Him.

Chapman makes two important points. First, in our efforts to please God, we need to take seriously the presence of sin. We are worse than we realize and cannot attain perfection. We are ever needful of God’s grace in the person of Christ.

Second, the triumph of Christ’s grace over our sin should bring us to not despair our ongoing sinfulness. Rather, our position in Him gives us the stance needed to live well pleasing to Him.

Human parents delight in the clumsy, yet loving attempts of their two-year-old children to please them. God delights in His children’s efforts to please Him though imperfect. Those who have believed in Jesus are children of God by merit of Jesus’s finished work. As beloved children, even our feeble efforts to please Him bring Him delight.