Galatians 1:10-12
~18 min read
SERMON OUTLINE
TRANSCRIPT
I greet all of you in the blessed name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Today our passage is taken from Galatians 1:10-12. Allow me to read for you Galatians 1:10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” The Lord bless the reading of His Holy and Sacred Word.
The background of this passage was that the Judaizers were stirring up trouble for the apostle Paul. They tried to discredit his apostolic authority. They accused Paul of being an illegitimate apostle. He was self-appointed and his motivation was just to make himself popular and gather a group of followers. They also accused him of putting aside the mosaic ceremonies, standards, and practices in order to make the gospel more attractive to the Gentiles. Unlike the 12 apostles minus Judas Iscariot plus Matthias, Paul was not among the original apostles whom our Lord Jesus had personally called, taught, and commissioned. Paul was different so where did he get his message? Did he get it second hand from the apostles? Or did he make up his own brand of the gospel? Based on what authority did Paul have to speak for God? To make matters worse Paul declared that he was an apostle to the Gentiles. Surely that did not sink in well with the Jews because the Jews at that time had always considered the Gentiles as outside of God’s grace. Sadly, it must have troubled Paul most deeply because some of the believers in Galatia appeared to be persuaded by those false teachers to doubt his authority. But the most painful thing was that they were led to doubt the truth of the gospel.
It is interesting that the apostle Paul did not appeal to the Galatians to be loyal to him, to be faithful to him. He was not concerned about his own popularity or success. He was all about God’s truth. So even when he defended his apostleship, the sole purpose was to defend the authority and integrity of the gospel. Just as Paul had problems with the people accepting his ministry, his apostleship, today do we have such problems? As in pastors, preachers do they face problems with people accepting them in the ministry? Most certainly. Sometimes people would challenge the pastor’s calling, “I don’t think he’s called to serve in the ministry” or they will despise the pastor’s qualification, “Oh he does not have a PhD” or “he has no experience” or “he is too young”. That was why Paul had to say to young Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, “Let no man despise thy youth; but [make sure that ye be] an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” Whether the people accept us or not that is secondary. Our main concern must always be the gospel. We do not want them to reject the gospel because once they reject the gospel they would be lost.
So, when the Judaizers tried to undermine Paul’s apostleship, Paul’s authority, from the way Paul wrote this passage it seems they did it on two fronts. They tried to target his motivation and they also tried to target his message. So, this will be the two points we are going to focus on as we consider this passage. The title is “God-pleasers not man-pleasers”. Our first point is “His Motivation”.
I. His Motivation
Let us begin with verse 10, “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of [God].” The word “persuade” means to try and convince or try to win over. Notice Paul asked two rhetorical questions. The first question was “For do I now persuade men, or God?” Here the idea of persuading men was very similar to the way he explained to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 2:1-4. Allow me to explain, when Paul preached the gospel to the Corinthians, he said to them that “I did not come to you with the excellency of speech or of wisdom or with the enticing words of men’s wisdom”. In other words, he did not use very fanciful words or superiority speech or high-sounding words to impress them and then to persuade them. But he simply declared the truth of the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What does it mean to persuade God? Well, the only gospel God would accept and approve is that salvation is by grace alone, by faith alone, by Christ alone, by scripture alone and to the glory of God alone. Paul was not like the false teachers who were trying to add onto the gospel of grace. So, they try to add the requirements, the traditions, the ceremonies, the standards of the mosaic laws onto the gospel. Thinking that by doing that they can persuade God. In my opinion that would be the best way to understand the meaning of “do I now persuade… God?”
The second question was “or do I seek to please men?” The word “seek” means to strive. Was Paul striving to please men? Striving hard to please the people around him? Then he went on to say, “for if I yet pleased men, I should not be a servant of Christ.” The word “servant” —doulos— means born servant or slave. Someone who is sold into slavery. A born servant or a slave has only one master and his life belongs to that master. He has only one desire, one focus, one aspiration, and that would be to please his one master. If that servant has any other desires, motivations or aspirations other than to please his master he is not worthy to be called a servant of that master. Notice two very interesting words in this verse, the words “now” and “yet”. Often times it will be overlooked “For do I now persuade men, or God? for if I yet please men”, which means if I am still pleasing men. In other words, there was a time when Paul was trying to please men with fanciful words. There was a time when he was trying to persuade God with works and there was a time when he was trying to please men. But the question is now. Is he still doing that now? If he is still doing that now, then he is not worthy to be called a servant of Christ.
In the past before his conversion to Christianity Paul lived his life as a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was a student of the famous rabbi Gamaliel. Everywhere he went he was esteemed very highly by the Jews. Surely, he would employ all kinds of articulative skills, using high sounding words to convince them, persuade them. In regards to the law, he was a Pharisee. He was blameless as far as concerning the observation of the requirements, ceremonies, and standards of the mosaic laws. Paul says, “I was blameless”. Why was he so adamant to keep all the requirements? Well to persuade God. Thinking that by doing that he could persuade God through his works. In regards to his view, he was so zealous that he persecuted the church. Again, why did he do that? To win the respect of the Jews, to win the favour of the Jews. He was a man pleaser, but when the Lord Jesus called him on the road to Damascus, he became a servant of Christ. From that point onwards all that changed. He had only one desire, one focus, one aspiration, and that was to please his master Jesus Christ and to seek His approval. That was the reason why Paul said in Philippians 3:8, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ”.
Having surrendered his entire life to the Lord Jesus Christ it cost him dearly. At the end of this epistle, we will come to that in Galatians 6:17 Paul said, “for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He suffered, he was persecuted constantly, he was imprisoned, he was whipped and left for dead after being stoned. Finally, he was martyred. Throughout the history of the church, I don’t think you can ever find a martyr who was a man-pleaser. By nature, man-pleasers are not martyrs because they will do everything they can to please the people in order to save their own skins. They will not die for their faith. Men pleasers are not martyrs. But can you imagine having given up his life to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and having suffered all those trials and even unto death. At the end of it all if he was actually trying to please men, then everything would be meaningless. That was the reason why Paul said, “for if I yet pleased men” — if I am still pleasing man despite all this that had occurred, — “I should not be the servant of Christ.” He would be disqualified as a servant of Christ. It will be absolutely meaningless to call himself a servant of Christ.
A servant of Christ does not seek to please men but only one master that is Jesus Christ. Let us apply this into our lives. Take the life of a pastor for example. A pastor has to be called. Initially he might struggle with his call whether God has really called him or not. Along the way the conviction may grow stronger and stronger and then he believed that God has truly called him. Gave up his worldly pursuits, gave up his secular job. He did not know what lies ahead of him in the future. What about his children? What about his family? — Assuming he already had a family. He believed in his heart that if God has called him, He will lead him all the way. Went for his theological studies in the Bible college for four or five years. He had to leave his family behind and stayed in the college all by himself. Graduated, started serving in the ministry as a preacher and then being supervised by a pastor for many years. Learning the ropes of being a pastor. Finally, he was ordained as a pastor. Why did he go through all these things? To be a servant of Christ, right? Can you imagine, eventually he became a man-pleaser and if he becomes a man pleaser he is not worthy to be a servant of Christ. That would be a total waste. That would be most tragic.
But do you realise it has happened to many so-called pastors? They strive hard, they work very hard, to please men not God. Ultimately, they would not be called a servant of Christ. The same goes with elders, deacons, preachers, fellowship leaders, Sunday school teachers and so forth, whatever ministries they might be called into. They would give up their time. They would be committed to serve with resources and strength, energy they put into the ministry. Sometimes even at the expense of their own family time. At the end of it all, if they are men-pleasers they would be unworthy to be called servants of Christ. What a waste. If it can happen to those people at that time, it can also happen to us today.
When we say man-pleaser we mean their one desire, one focus, one aspiration has now changed from pleasing God to pleasing men. Now the whole focus will be on “How am I going to please these people?” Even at the expense of God’s truth. It is not easy because we are always conscious of the people around us. We are always looking at the faces. We will be constantly tempted to compromise and try to please the people, try to attract them, try to make them happy, try to make our messages more palatable to them, less offensive. We will always be focused on the people we see, but we must always remember that there is one whom we are always standing in His presence, the Almighty God. He’s always watching over us and we must never forget that.
In the 16th century there was a preacher named Hugh Latimer. One day just before he stepped on the pulpit to preach, king Henry VIII entered into the church. When Latimer was told that the king had arrived, he thought for a moment and then said to himself, “Latimer be careful what you say today king Henry is here.” He knew the sermon he was ready to preach would not go well with the king and he felt the pressure to tailor the message so it will not offend the king. But he was reminded of another king who was also present, who was far above all powers and principalities. When he realised that, he prayed aloud so that everyone could hear and he said, “Latimer be careful what you say today the King of kings is here.” If we want to serve the Lord, we must always learn to see beyond the people unto the one whose presence we are always standing before, the Almighty God. Always remember that we seek to please Him and sometimes when we seek to please Him we may offend the people, but we are afraid of offending Him more than anyone else.
Oftentimes people may notice this man-pleasing characteristic in the life of the preacher or deacon or fellowship leader or even Sunday school teacher. They can tell by the way the person deals or interacts with the people. They can tell by the decisions he makes– always based on the majority rather than the truth. They can tell that he gravitates toward those who are rich, prominent, influential. They know their leader is a man-pleaser, but the problem is they do not think much about it. They think very lightly about it, “So what if he is a man-pleaser?” But you know what Paul says? He used a very strong statement when he said “I should not be a servant of Christ.” In other words, if a person is a man-pleaser he or she should not be serving at all. Do you know why? Because he is pretending to serve Christ. In reality in his heart, he is serving to please the people for his own purposes. That is the reason why Paul was so emphatic. He says, “I should not be a servant of Christ.” This is a reminder as well as a warning to every one of us. If we really want to serve the Lord, our focus must be one, our desire must be one, our aspirations, motivations must be one, and that is to please none other than our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, otherwise we should not be servants of Christ.
II. His Message
Our second point is “His Message”. Verse 11: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.” “But I certify you” comes from a strong Greek word, which means with certainty. It was often used to introduce a very important or emphatic statement. In our modern English perhaps, we will use this phrase, “Let me make it perfectly clear to you.” And what was the thing Paul was trying to emphasise? That the gospel he preached, the gospel he was trying so hard to convince the people, was not human neither by invention or by authority. He did not invent it or change it nor did any other man. “Not of man” means not according to men or not devised by men. The gospel was completely divine. Completely divine in origin.
Think about this if Paul were to preach a message or a gospel devised by men, it would have been accepted by the people, right? It would be a message that would tickle the ears of the people. It would be a message the people love to hear. It would be a message that is based on works of righteousness. The Jews love to hear that just as every humanly devised system of religion. People always say that there are so many religions in this world. How do we know that Christianity is true? How do we know that Christianity is the only religion that can save? But the reality is that there are only two systems of religion. One is salvation based on works; the other is salvation based on faith alone. Christianity stands alone against a multitude of religion that is based on salvation by works. If you reject Christianity, you can pick and choose from thousands if not tens of thousands of religions. They may come to you in different shapes and forms, but basically, they are the same – you can earn your way to salvation. It cannot save you.
Paul could have preached such a message. The Jews would love to hear that. Man’s sinful pride is often tickled, offended by the idea that only God’s grace and mercy can save him from sin. He doesn’t like that, therefore he will always insist on having a part to play in his own salvation. Remember in Acts chapter 16, the Philippian jailer when he thought that all the prisoners had escaped, he was about to kill himself. Paul stopped him and said, “Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.” He was still trembling when he said to Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” It’s always about doing something, about performing good deeds to be saved. That is why the gospel of grace is always considered repulsive but that is the exact message you and I are called to preach. It is devised by God not men.
My friends if we are preaching a message that is devised by men, if our motivation is to please men, then naturally we will be accepted. People will love to hear that because we’ll be tickling people’s ears. People will pat us on the back and say, “Well done that is good.” They will welcome us to their church to preach but we are committed to preach nothing, but the truth of God’s Word. And we are called to please God not men and when we do that oftentimes we will be rejected. That is something we must be prepared for.
Verse 12: “For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Remember the Judaizers were attacking Paul’s message. That was what they are focusing on or targeting. That he probably will be making up his own brand of the gospel. And here he was turning the table around and he was particularly directing at them because actually their message was received from men. They had received their religious instructions primarily from the rabbis or from traditions or from some ritualistic routines. Rather than studying the Scriptures directly most Jews would look to the human interpretations of the Scriptures and they will take it as their authority and guide. No doubt the Jews esteem the Scriptures very highly. They have God’s revealed Word of the Old Testament, but they allowed the rabbis to distort and to twist the Word of God and then they accept these human interpretations as the authoritative Word of God. That is the problem, but Paul says “My gospel I received it not from men, but I receive it from God. I receive it neither of men neither was I taught it.”
It is not wrong to be taught by faithful men of God. It is not wrong most certainly to be taught by John Calvin, Martin Luther, George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, Timothy Tow, so forth. Here the focus was on the origin of the gospel. It was not about how the gospel was being dispensed it was about where the gospel came from and Paul was saying my gospel, the origin of my gospel was neither a human invention nor a human tradition it was given to me directly by God by the revelation of Jesus Christ. Before his conversion Paul knew all about the prophecies in the Old Testament about the promised Messiah. Most certainly he knew about Jesus Christ. In fact, he was the one who persecuted those who believe in Christ. He knew the central teaching of the gospel, but he did not believe. He did not believe because he could not believe. At that time, he was not yet converted. It was only after his conversion that God revealed to him all this truth and God used him mightily to write the inspired New Testament. The majority of the books were written by him.
Have you ever tried to discuss biblical ideas, concepts, principles with the unbeliever? You’ll find that they will not believe. They may try to comprehend it intellectually, logically, but they will not be able to understand it spiritually because they are not converted. But once they are converted, God has illumined their minds, convicted their hearts and indwelled them with the Holy Spirit. Then they will begin to understand all these biblical truths. And Paul was used by God most mightily. God revealed to him this gospel and he was inspired to write it in the New Testament. As believers we would often use this term “our Lord”, right? Do we really consider what it means? We use it so often that we do not pause to think, what does it mean when we say, “our Lord”? Basically it means Jesus is our master. When we say our Lord Jesus, it means Jesus is our master and if Jesus is our master, then we are His servants.
There was a time when we were servants of sin, Satan, and the world but God was so gracious to us He saved us through the gospel, transported us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His marvellous light. And today you and I are servants of Christ, and we call Him our Lord Jesus. And as servants of Christ, we must serve and we must serve with only one desire, only one focus, and only one aspiration and that is to please our master. If we are still serving to please men then like Paul said, “If I am still doing that, I should not be a servant of Christ.” You know we may mouth the phrase “our Lord Jesus” but it would mean nothing because in our hearts He means nothing to us. If He means something to us then we are always seeking to please Him, seeking for His approval. Our one desire, one focus, one aspiration will be all about Him not about the people.
We must learn to see beyond the people unto our Lord Jesus Christ the author and the finisher of our faith. And if we are saved by this gospel that is pure. This gospel that is not devised by men. This gospel that has its origin in God. Then we must never meddle with it, change it, tamper with it but to preach it in all its purity. Never play the fool with the Word of God. This is God’s Word. Who are we to meddle with it, to tamper with it, to change it? God forbid. A true servant of God will never do that. People may not accept the message we preach. It is very sad, but we are just instruments. Salvation belongs to God. We just want to be faithful servants. And as the last hymn we have sung just now, “Toiling On, Toiling On” we continue to serve as faithful servants of Christ until the day the Lord calls us home. And our Lord Jesus will say to us, “Come thou good and faithful servant. You are a faithful servant. You serve to please me not men. You have not meddled with my gospel. You have been faithful. Come and enter into the joy of the Lord.” That is what you and I would long to hear, right? May the Lord strengthen us that we will do His work faithfully. Be God-pleasers not men-pleasers. Let us pray.
Father in Heaven we thank Thee for this opportunity for us to consider this portion of scriptures and as we study through the book of Galatians help us to learn and also to apply into our lives. Indeed, there are so many valuable spiritual lessons for us to apply. Forgive us if there was a time whereby, we served to please men, but now are we still serving to please men? God forbids. We serve to please our master. We have only one master and only one desire, one focus, one motivation and that is to please our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. When we call Him our Lord, we mean it. He is our master, and we want to please Him. To glorify Him. So, help us that we will be able to live our lives in such a way that we will glorify our master. Strengthen our faith. Transform our lives. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
THE BOOK OF GALATIANSA Letter To The GalatiansA Letter To The GalatiansGalatians 1:1-5
The Danger of Preaching Another GospelThe Danger of Preaching Another GospelGalatians 1:6-9
Be a God-Pleaser, not a Men-PleaserBe a God-Pleaser, not a Men-PleaserGalatians 1:10-12
But When It Pleased GodBut When It Pleased GodGalatians 1:13-24
Standing for the Truth of the GospelStanding for the Truth of the GospelGalatians 2:1-5
One Gospel, Different MinistriesOne Gospel, Different MinistriesGalatians 2:6-10
The Need to Confront Sin (Part 2)The Need to Confront Sin (Part 2)Galatians 2:14-16
The Need to Confront Sin (Part 3)The Need to Confront Sin (Part 3)Galatians 2:17-19
Dead, Yet Alive!Dead, Yet Alive!Galatians 2:20-21
Remember How You Were Saved!Remember How You Were Saved!Galatians 3:1-5
Saved by FaithSaved by FaithGalatians 3:6-9
The Age Old Promise of the GospelThe Age Old Promise of the GospelGalatians 3:6-18
Christ Bore Our CurseChrist Bore Our CurseGalatians 3:10-14
Will God Keep His Promise?Will God Keep His Promise?Galatians 3:15-18
Why Then Have the Law?Why Then Have the Law?Galatians 3:19-22
What the Law Meant to Us?What the Law Meant to Us?Galatians 3:23-29
The Son of God Became the Son of ManThe Son of God Became the Son of ManGalatians 4:1-7
No More a Servant and Child, But a SonNo More a Servant and Child, But a SonGalatians 4:1-7
Until Christ Be Formed In YouUntil Christ Be Formed In YouGalatians 4:8-20
Freedom in Christ or Bondage to WorksFreedom in Christ or Bondage to WorksGalatians 4:21-5:1
By Faith Or By Works!By Faith Or By Works!Galatians 5:2-6
The Dangers of False TeachersThe Dangers of False TeachersGalatians 5:7-12
The Christian FreedomThe Christian FreedomGalatians 5:13-15
The Works of the FleshThe Works of the FleshGalatians 5:19-21
The Fruit of the Spirit (Part 2)The Fruit of the Spirit (Part 2)Galatians 5:22-25
Restoring the Sinning BrotherRestoring the Sinning BrotherGalatians 5:26-6:5
Restoring the Sinning BrethrenRestoring the Sinning BrethrenGalatians 5:26-6:6
You Shall Reap What You SowYou Shall Reap What You SowGalatians 6:7-10
Living for the Praise of MenLiving for the Praise of MenGalatians 6:11-13
Living for the Glory of GodLiving for the Glory of GodGalatians 6:14-18
