Idol of Others

Proverbs 29:25 CSB

25 The fear of mankind is a snare, but the one who trusts in the Lord is protected.

It is impossible to live for the approval of others and the approval of God. You are always going to disappoint someone.

Psychologists have labeled this co-dependency. God calls it man-pleaser.

Galatians 1:10 CSB

10 For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

As servants of the King we are called to please Him, regardless of what everyone else around us is doing. Our loyalty belongs to Christ.

Case Study on People Pleasing: Peter

Galatians 2:11-21

The Problem: Deviating from the truth of the gospel.

When we make an idol of others, we forget the truths of the gospel.

Paul Tripp calls this “gospel amnesia.” We are prone to forget what the gospel is all about and how that affects our daily lives.

We are not going to be accepted by God because of all of the good things that we have done in our life, we are accepted by God on the basis of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, being washed and cleansed by His blood.

Christ is the one who defines us, not what others may think about us.

The Solution: Remembering who we are in Christ, the true Gospel.

We are not living to earn God’s favor, we are living out of the abundance of the favor that He has already shown us in Christ.

A godly life is motivated by gratefulness for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf. We do what we do because of what Christ has already done for us.

Every other religion says that there is something that you have to do to earn God’s favor and make it to heaven. Christianity stands radically different to all of these and says that it is impossible for you to do anything to earn God’s favor so He Himself makes the way for us.