Galatians Chapter 1:10

Sermon #5 ~ Aim to Please

Introduction

• Well, after a brief break for a couple of weeks to allow us to focus our attention on the cross, the resurrection and all that benefits we have received from that we again turn our attention back to Galatians
• Today we pick up where we left off in Galatians; we have been rushing through the book and in the first 4 weeks we have covered the first 9 verses
• Today that puts us starting at verse 10 but let us quickly review since it has been a couple of Sundays since we looked at this and remember where Paul has brought us to in this letter
• Remember he begins this letter by defending his apostleship; apparently the false teachers were attacking his authority and his right to be called an apostle since he hadn’t traveled with the 12 along with Jesus during Christ’s earthly ministry
• So Paul begins with that defense and in a way even today and next week Paul is really still defending his apostleship even as he shares his testimony again with the believers in Galatia
• We also have talked about how out of all of Paul’s letters this one seems the least friendly because it is the only Pauline Epistle to not include a short commendation to the believers at the beginning of the letter
• We also examined the phrase “this present evil age” and discussed how this world wasn’t our home we were just passing through for our citizenship is truly in heaven
• Then we spent a week in verse 6 looking at the what is meant by being called and how God has called us but in order to do that he had to foreknow us, predestine us, call us, justify us and then ultimately he will glorify us
• Also from verse 6 we examined the nature of saving faith and we saw how Paul reminded his audience of all that he had taught them concerning faith
• And then three Sundays ago when we last looked at Galatians we saw Paul removed the restraints from his writing
• Paul makes what is probably the strongest statement in all of the Word of God when he calls for the eternal damnation of anyone who preaches any other gospel than the one previously delivered
• So Paul has written a letter that no one would want to receive; the Galatians are reading a letter no one would want to read and  you and I have a choice in all of this
• You and I can be idle watchers of what is going on, we can observe but not engage or we can allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts and we can realize that the problems the Galatians faced we face today
• We can realize that as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9 “There is nothing new under the sun.”
• So now let us turn our attention to the text and look at Galatians 1:10
• ¹⁰For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
• Paul had apparently spent a lifetime seeking the approval of man
• Look what he says just a few verses down in verse 14 “I was advancing in Judaism beyond many my own age”
• How do you advance in business and corporations? Simple, by finding out what people like and doing it well
• While of course we should always do our best for our employer our intent should not be on wealth, fame or even just to please our employer
• It was Paul writing in Colossians 3:23 who wrote: “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men”
• The point Paul makes is not an attack on doing your best or working hard but rather on the motivation for who you are aiming to please
• So as we examine this text today I want us to look at three aspects that Paul lays out in this one verse
• I want to look at what it means to #1 “Aim to please man”, #2 “Aim to please God” and #3 the “Requirements of servant hood”

#1 Aiming to Please Man

• First we need to establish that seeking the approval of men is inherently sinful and evil; God’s design as we saw just a moment ago in Colossians 3:23 is that whatever we do we are to do for the Lord and not for men
• Remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 6? He admonished them in verse 1 to be careful not to practice their righteousness before men because if you do you invalidate your reward with the Father
• He goes on to amplify and illustrate this truth by citing a couple of examples from his day and age; he addresses giving money to the needy and how you are not to draw attention to yourself by sounding a trumpet as you give
• He also attacks the way the Pharisees and Gentiles prayed and said don’t pray as they do with long and loud prayers that are for pretense or filled with many empty phrases but rather get alone, someplace quite and secret to pray so God will hear you and reward openly
• So I trust that you are with me so far and that seeking the approval of man is wrong, we have seen that Paul was clear in Colossians, Jesus was clear in Matthew and in reality if you look at Paul’s argument here in Galatians the fact that he is contrasting pleasing man and please God; even the way he does that tells us all we really need to know
• So now let us examine how men seek the approval of other men
• As we look at this I am going to appeal to 1 John 2:16 which reads “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world.“
• So as we examine this issue of seeking the approval of man we will use the three categories of sin and temptation from 1 John 2 as the sub-points
• It is instructive to note that all sin can be traced to a temptation in our lives to satisfy one or more of these three things
• When Satan tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3 he spoke to her and what was her response?
• She saw that the tree was good for food ~ lust of the flesh; she saw that it was a delight to the eyes ~ lust of the eyes; and that it would make one wise ~ pride of life
• Also when Satan tempted Christ in Luke 4 after Jesus had been fasting for 40 days Satan came with three temptations; do you recall what they were?
• Turn the stones into bread ~ lust of the flesh; worship me and I will give you all the lands your eyes can see from this mountain ~ lust of the eyes; cast yourself off the temple and let the angels save you then people will know you are really God’s son ~ pride of life
• Satan tempts us in these three areas, we are all susceptible in these three areas; when we seek to please men this is how we do it
• As we have already seen it is sinful to be focused on pleasing men and when we seek to please men how would we do it but in a sinful way – by appealing to their sinful desires in these three areas
• By way of disclaimer I am and will continue to  use man and men in the sense of mankind so ladies do not think you are immune from the issues at stake in this passage
• A) Lust of the flesh

• This category of sin includes all the things that our physical bodies crave; this includes immoral desires, gluttony, drunkenness, excessive entertainment, etc.
• What did Paul tell the Corinthians about immoral behavior?
• 1 Corinth. 6:9, 10 “⁹Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
• What did Solomon teach his sons about gluttony and drunkenness?
• Proverbs 23:20, 21 “²⁰Be not among drunkards^[a]
     or among gluttonous eaters of meat,
  ²¹for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,
     and slumber will clothe them with rags.”
• But in the business world how do you impress, how to you get ahead, how do you close that important sale to impress the boss and your co-workers?
• We even have an expression in English for this type of behavior, we call it “Wining and dining”
• If we want to impress men we take them to the fanciest restaurant we can afford, we buy them a nice steak or something exotic, we order a nice bottle of wine and we begin to impress them that way
• Perhaps this doesn’t apply to ladies the same way it does men but lets be honest more than one king, one general, one business man came to ruin because of a woman
• In Japan it is considered the norm and increasingly so in this country as well that if you want to close a business deal you go to an establishment that has what is now called exotic dancers but I believe the Bible just simply refers to that profession as harlotry
• Lust of the flesh; we must constantly be on guard that our motivation for what we do is not simply to satisfy our flesh
• We must also allow the Holy Spirit to check our spirits that we are not being motivated in what we do to impress men by appealing to the lust of their flesh either
• B) Lust of the eyes
• This category of sin includes those things we see with our eyes and desire; this includes things such as clothing, jewels, cars, houses, boats, possessions in general, money
• This category attacks a sin we are all guilty of but how often do we confess it? Does anyone know what sin I am referring to?
• When was the last time you said “God will you forgive me for coveting my neighbors ______.” Or “God will you forgive me for becoming envious of my brothers _______.”
• Somehow we seem to believe that it is such a minor sin that in really it isn’t sin at all, yet that is just the enemy of our souls talking in our ears.
• How many times does the New Testament provide warnings against this sin?
• Jesus in Luke 12:15 says “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness”
• Paul lists covetousness several times in lists and usually along side sins such as murder, adultery and other sins that we can all agree are vile. Read Romans 1:29, or Ephesians 5:3, or Colossians 3:5 – Covetousness keeps some pretty evil company
• However if we want to impress our fellow man how do we do it?
• We invite people to our fancy house, and we are sure to decorate with the fanciest items, serve the fanciest food, and greet our guests in our fanciest clothes
• If we can’t afford all of the pomp we are careful to only show off those things that we do have so we leave the impression that we have money and things
• We intentionally try and draw others peoples eyes to become envious of what we have while at the same time impressing them
• Ladies would you be embarrassed if I did a show of hands on how many times you backed out of attending an event because you didn’t feel like you had something appropriate to wear?
• Was it really because you had nothing to wear or nothing flashy enough to really impress people with? Or was it that you couldn’t fit into that really flash dress that you would wanted to wear?
• Men how many of you spend more time washing your car or manicuring your lawn than you do reading your Bible because you want to impress someone?
• We know from 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and that through craving money many have wandered away from the Christ
• Also from 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 9 we know that Women should not dress in pricy clothes, nor should they focus their attention on their appearance through their hairstyle and their use of gold and pearls but rather their focus should be on their purity of heart
• C) Pride of Life
• This category of sin includes pride, boasting, egotism, flattery and even false humility
• Proverbs 16:18 is clear when it says “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
• Again we have sins that our enemy tells us aren’t that bad
• “C’mon a little pride never hurt anyone did it” Satan whispers in our ear
• Pride is part of our every day speech; we say we are proud of our kids; why do we say that? Because we worked with them and we want others to see our hard work paying off in the life of our children
• Let me ask you this, when was the last time you corrected someone under you for a spirit of pride, boasting, ego, etc.
• I have people I work with that say a little bit of ego is a good thing; is that really God’s perspective on ego?
• Now to bring this back to aiming to please man when was that last time you just deliberately fed someone’s ego?
• You just kept praising them and the whole time they did that false humility thing where they shuffle their feet and say “Golly gee whiz do you really think I am that good at….?” Boom open door you give them another bushel of praise and just feeds that ego
• This is nothing more than seeking the approval of men;
• Note: that is usually the motivation behind flattery
• Proverbs 29:5 says “A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.”
• When was the last time you let someone flatter you, did you realize they were spreading a net for your feet?
• When was the last time you flattered someone, were you intending to spread a net for their feet or did you do it in ignorance, either way flattery always has that as a side effect
•  Proverbs 6:16-19 lays out 7 things that the Lord detests so strongly that the writer uses the word abomination to describe them; let me read this passage and then realize how many apply to pride and flattery
  
  
• ¹⁶There are six things that the LORD hates,
     seven that are an abomination to him:
  ¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
     and hands that shed innocent blood,
  ¹⁸a heart that devises wicked plans,
     feet that make haste to run to evil,
  ¹⁹a false witness who breathes out lies,
     and one who sows discord among brothers.
• #1 Haughty eyes; just another way of speaking of pride
• #2 A lying tongue; realize that flattery is a form of lying, when you tell someone they are more than they really are you have lied to them and done them a disservice;  as we saw a moment ago we are spreading a net, a net of lies, for their feet to be trapped in
• #3 wicked plans; isn’t the reason we try and impress our fellow man is because we have a plan, this isn’t a plan to seek God’s approval so by definition it is a wicked plan
• #4 hands that shed innocent blood; I hope if you are involved in seeking to impress men your end goal is not to eliminate someone but certainly throughout history that has happened
• #5 feet that make haste to run to evil; how often does the person we are describing today always runs, is always the first on the scene
• #6 again lying
• #7 discord among brothers; flattery, pride, ego - what could be more damaging among brothers and sisters?
• If you are involved in flattering someone please allow me to appeal to you stop, stop immediately, don’t be involved in causing conflict within this body, your home, wherever it might be

#2 Aiming to Please God

• We already briefly looked at Matthew 6; Jesus said that if we do our good deeds before men for their approval we have our reward but if we do them in secret our heavenly Father will reward us openly
• I don’t know about you but a reward from God sounds a whole lot better to me than the praise of men
• A phrase we are very familiar with around here is: It’s all about Him, and nothing about ourselves, and everything we do is kingdom work
• In reality are you living like you believe that to be true?
• If I asked you to name a way that truth of that little phrase had changed your life would you have to search long and hard for an example or would it be right on the tip of your tongue?
• The Psalmist writes in 73:25 “There is nothing on earth I desire beside you.”
• Is God such the focus of your life that your aim, your goal, your desire is for God?
• In teaching the children during extended session Jon Isaacson and I started by teaching them the first thing they needed to know about theology; do you know what that was?
• The first thing any person must understand is that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever”
• That was the foundation we started from in teaching your children is to have a proper understanding of man’s relationship to God and the God ordained purpose for man
• Paul is forced to remind the Galatian believers of the correct priority of things in the universe; false teachers were clearly teaching that Paul’s goal was not to please God but rather man so again here we see Paul on the defensive
• So where are you at today? Do you understand that your purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever?
• Can you say with Paul as he does in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that whether you eat or drink or whatever you do you do it all for the glory of God?
• If not why not? Could it be because your mind is still carnal?
• Listen to the words of Romans 8:6-8 ⁶For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. ⁸So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
• Pretty clear huh, if you are living in the flesh you can’t please God.
• Your mind must be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit; if the Spirit is working in your heart today allow him by his power to transform your life

#3 Requirements of Servant Hood

• The final point is somewhat self-evident but Paul mentions it, Jesus spoke of it so it bears repeating here at the end
• You cannot be committed to pleasing men and still be a servant of Christ
• Jesus said in Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters”
• You can’t be committed to Christ and still have as your aim to please your fellow man
• I am sorry to be the one to break it to you but it simply will not work, you will have to choose between Christ and this world
• Jesus reminded people of this in Luke 9:57-62. Remember this story, someone wants to follow Jesus and he tells them that foxes have holes and birds have nests but he has no where to call home
• To another he asked him to follow him but he wanted to bury his parents first and Jesus rebuked that
• Yet another claimed he would follow but first wanted to say goodbye to family and Jesus again rebuked him and said he was not fit for the kingdom of God
• Servant hood requires dedication yet at the same time Jesus says Come unto him all who are heavy laden and he will give you rest for his yoke is easy and his burden is light
• You can’t be a 60%, a 75% even a 99% servant, only 100% servants are accepted in the kingdom
• You can’t phase your way in slowly either, it is all or nothing yet the reward of rest and an easy yoke make it well worth it

Conclusion

• We are all guilty and stand condemned before God for spending more time trying to impress men and seeking their approval rather than being focused on seeking God’s approval
• Paul says in the text that this is not his goal; his goal is to seek God’s approval
• So I ask you, who are you trying to impress today?
• As the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you today what are you doing with that?
• Are you sitting there thinking, hoping, that God grades on the curve?
• Are you looking up and down the row thinking I do it less than him maybe a bit more than her but certainly way less than that person over there so while I may not score 100% on the test however I am not too bad overall so I should still get a B overall on the final exam?
• Let me assure you God is a holy and a just God and he will never grade on the curve, he is perfectly righteous and he has called us to righteous living as well
• He will not grade us on a bell shaped curve; he won’t compare our performance to those around us in our culture and say well you were in the top half so not too bad
• If you truly hunger and thirst for righteous you probably need to take a moment during the invitation and just spend some time talking to God about who you are trying to impress
• Confess your sin to God