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In the Service of the Lord
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
I adore this. The position is flawlessly spelt out. "On the off chance that I were all the while endeavoring to please individuals, I would not be a hireling of Christ," Paul pronounced.
A worker is a man who works for someone. A hireling is a man who does the will of their Master. In the event that they get some distance from the will of their Master, at that point they stop to be a worker. Noncompliance isn't benefit. Disobedience isn't benefit. Truth be told, noncompliance and resistance battle against the will of the Master!
Paul stated, "On the off chance that I were all the while attempting to please individuals, I would not be a worker of Christ."
Paul was a bond worker of Christ. He once alluded to himself as a man who seemed to be 'set apart' for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul knew precisely his identity and what he was relied upon to do. He likewise knew precisely his identity not and what he was not anticipated that would do. So should you and me; we ought to never trade off the life given to us in Christ Jesus, an existence so significant that Jesus needed to hold tight the cross for us to get it!
Here is the point – you ought to never try to please individuals; they are not your lords. You should try to satisfy the Lord dependably. In doing as such you will satisfy a few people; you will likewise disappoint the rest.
Here is the point again – never get stressed in the event that you locate that a few people are disappointed with you if their dismay exudes from you satisfying the Lord.
You basically can't bear to please individuals by disappointing the Lord! Paul tried really hard to satisfy the Lord. In the process he disappointed a few people however Paul never fretted about such dismay.
In the event that you are worried about what individuals think about your administration to God, or about your salvation, or about your partition from corrupt practices and customs, at that point you try to please individuals.
There are individuals today whose exclusive claim to Christianity is that they go to chapel. Other than that they are precisely the same as individuals who still ponder what church seems to be!
But what does the Bible teach? Listen to this: “Now honor the LORD, the God of your ancestors, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples around you...” - Ezra 10:11 (NIV)
This does not mean that one has to physically relocate, but certainly one needs to totally relocate in the spirit if indeed Jesus Christ has become their Saviour and Lord.
As His life on earth was about to come to an end, Jesus prayed for His disciples as follows: “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." - John 17:13-16 (NIV)
So you will continue to live among them and to show them the gracious nature of the Christian, but you will need to migrate in the spirit.
But what exactly does pleasing people mean, in practical terms? Here are examples:
Someone you respect tells you to do something that you clearly know to be out of line with the will of God, and you proceed to do so simply because you do not want to displease them.
You avoid teaching or discussing some genuine biblical truths simply because some people would be offended. Or you even behave in a manner that suggests you actually approve of the same, or you even misrepresent that God accepts it – simply because you do not want to offend people practising it. Yet in your hypocrisy you actually deprive some an opportunity to repent.
You follow your friends in doing something wrong simply because you feel a sense of belonging to the group, or you accept to be ridiculed into such practices - giving in to peer pressure.
_“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” - 2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV). _
The objective of such teachers is to please people, by so doing displeasing the Lord.
In the service of the Lord, therefore, we please people by pleasing God.
