Untitled Sermon (3)

Read 1 Cor 10:31-11:1 and Gal 1:6-10How do these passages approach the need to please men as we share the gospel?How do these passages "rightly balance the truth" (Spurgeon)?

As Paul wrote to the Galatian church, addressing the false doctrine and legalism that began to misshape the gospel, he undoubtedly anticipated the role played by the temptation to “people-please.” We all battle pride and fear, and when coupled together in the context of a local church, the two sins can be a dangerous combination. For when fear of man and the pride of life take root in what is supposed to be “the pillar and ground of the truth”, it is the glorious gospel that is compromised. In so doing, the church then ceases be both the pillar and the ground of any sort of gospel truth as it bends to the will of sinful man. For the Galatians, Paul was amazed at how quickly this had happened (1:6), and in an effort to dislodge the fear of man from their congregation, Paul put himself on the chopping block:

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” (Galatians 1:8–9 )

Paul knew that the gospel was bigger than him, and even though he held the role of Apostle to the church, he knew his true role was subservient to the gospel and not the other way around. This church needed to understand that nobody – not even Paul – was worth compromising the truth claims of the gospel. It was with this foundation that he asks: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?” (1:10) Paul then draws one of the clearest lines on this subject in all of Scripture: “If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

You can seek to please God, or you can seek to please man, but you cannot do both.

But what about loving neighbor? Paul’s teaching is not in contradiction with Jesus’ teaching on the “greatest” commandment in Mark 12 where He couples loving God with loving neighbor. In fact, it is in this passage where we derive the formula for loving neighbor properly: love God first.

1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1 helps us to "rightly balance the truth" (Spurgeon) of this. At first glance at the end of chapter 10, one may surmise that Paul contradicts himself (in Galatians) when he says, “just as I try to please everyone in everything I do” (10:32), but such a conclusion could only come from a divorcing of that verse from its context. For it is from verse 31’s foundation that verse 32 flows: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

In evangelism, people-pleasing can be a gospel-killer. Not in the sense that the gospel universally dies, but in the sense that the truth of the good news of Jesus never lives in the heart of the sinner with which you are conversing. Do not confuse people-pleasing with people-preferring. We must always put others’ needs before our own, and in fact, that is Paul’s aim in 1 Corinthians 10.

It is neither loving nor considerate of your neighbor to water down or dilute the gospel’s truth claims out of fear of what he might think of you, or even God for that matter. We are to speak the truth in love. If your aim is to love others, then start by loving God with all your heart. So, it is Paul who models for us the wonderful balance of loving God and loving others when he says: “I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1)