Who Are You Trying to Please?

Today we look at a rather simple concept… but it is a concept that has profound meaning in our lives. We are going to look at and answer the question, “Who Are You Trying to Please?”

First off… what does it mean to try to please? To please is to afford or give pleasure or satisfaction.

We all know what it feels like to be pleased. When we are pleased with someone or something, we experience a feeling of happiness, a feeling of satisfaction, a feeling that is positive and encouraging.

Our expectations are met or perhaps even exceeded. I can be a bit of an adrenaline junky. I like things that go fast, or go boom… it’s a go big or go home kind of mentality.

When I’m on skis, I want big hills and fast speeds. When I’m in a hobby car, I want a throaty sound and a rev that shakes the ground no tin can mufflers on a 4 cylinder please). When I do fireworks, I want the kind you can feel in your chest and hear echo off the Coop a half a mile away! When I get a Dr. Pepper… I want a good mixture, a stinging fizz, and ice cold temperatures. Ahhhh yes… that is pleasing to me! And I can already see the wheel turning as you are thinking about what pleases you!

On the other hand, we know what it feels like when we are not pleased with something or someone.

Typically, this occurs when our expectations are not met. Instead of being happy with the situation, we are let down, discouraged, or disappointed. These can be strong feelings that can lead a person in negative ways.

You go to start the car and you get nothing but clicks and silence. You arrive at the mountain only to find the ski lifts are closed due to a blizzard… after driving 14 hours to get there. You order a Dr. Pepper and end up getting that cheap knock off called Mr. Pibb and ugh… You get the “biggest and badest” firecracker only to find out it is no louder than a lady finger. Again… we KNOW what it feels like when we are not pleased with the results.

This is all fine and dandy but… today’s message is NOT about what pleases us. Today’s message is about who we are trying to please… who we are trying to satisfy… who we are trying afford or give pleasure to.

For me… there is nothing and no one more pleasing to me than the presence of almighty God. I listed off a few things earlier but in my life… knowing God is beyond pleasing to me. We tend to pursue what is pleasing to our lives. This is another sermon for another time. But much of the same could be said regarding who or what it is we are working to please with our lives.

Examples might include our boss, our spouse, our family, our friends, our church, our loved ones, and so on. Make no mistake about it… in life, we aim to please someone or something and that aim will direct much of what we do and what we say. It comes back to our motives… it comes back to why and how we do what we do. Ultimately… WE SERVE WHO WE ARE TRYING TO PLEASE.

We pick up our study in Galatians with one verse. And for those who join us on Wednesday night Bible Study, you know that we can spend a lot of time unpacking the info in just one verse!

Paul is delivering this message to the church in Galatia because of an observed problem within the churches. They were “...so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no gospel at all.“ (Galatians 1:6b-7a).

Somewhere and somehow someone was “throwing them into confusion and was trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Paul was writing to the churches to set the record straight. He is working to help lead the people back to the true gospel message - the gospel message that brings forgiveness and freedom.

Now… the question is why? Why would Paul do this? Why would Paul so passionately come against the false gospel that was taking hold of the hearts of the believers in Galatia? What’s in it for him? Who is he trying to please? Thankfully, Paul answers that question for us in verse 10 of Galatians 1.

It reads, 10 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.

Why was Paul engaging the issue? Why was Paul so concerned with what was going on in Galatia? Was Paul trying to stir up trouble and controversy? No… Paul’s aim… Paul’s goal in life and ministry was to PLEASE GOD. That was his motive. That was his intention. And no matter displeasing his news might have been to his readers, Paul desired for nothing else but to please God.

The Problem with Misplaced Pleasing

Pleasing God should be the NUMBER ONE priority of every believer. We are going to talk about how and what this looks like in a moment. But first I want to talk about why it is so important that we aim to please God instead of pleasing man.

First off… people pleasing is an exhausting and impossible task to achieve. Why? BECAUSE YOU WILL NEVER PLEASE EVERYONE. And when we take on this impossibility it will forever create necessary stress and hardship for the one trying to please… everyone. People pleasers tend to gain satisfaction out of knowing they are pleasing others. In a sense, making people happy is what pleases… you!

Stress and anxiety aside, there is a deeper spiritual issue at work in the area of people pleasing. People pleasing is a distraction. People pleasing will lead to compromise of standards. People pleasing will do nothing but cause the “pleaser” to chase after what “pleases” others.

People want to be happy. People want to be satisfied. And in our current culture… people are very loud and confrontational when they are not pleased. The pressure is on… the pressure to conform… the pressure to please or to satisfy the world by its standards.

Here’s the truth of the matter… the truth that Paul brings to the table in verse 10 of Galatians 1. If it is our goal… if it is our aim to “please” people. If it is our hope to satisfy the standards of humankind… then we are no longer serving Jesus… and we are in fact serving the world.

What this world needs is truth. This world does not need a watered down version of the gospel. This world does not need for sin to be redefined. This world does not need more lies, more deception, more phony nonsense, and more of what tickles their ears. THEY CAN GET ALL OF THAT FROM AN ENEMY WHO DESIRES TO DESTROY THEM!

What this world NEEDS is a church that will deliver the truth. This world needs the full message of the gospel. This world needs a loving presentation that confronts sin and leads to the Savior. No matter how dissatisfied the world might be with the truth… THE WORLD DESPERATELY NEEDS THE TRUTH!

What could happen if we fall into a people pleasing mentality? What could happen if the church began to focus on the “felt needs” and what pleased people only? What would such a ministry potentially look like?

PLAY ME CHURCH VIDEO

Seems out of the box silly, right? But how many ministries have conformed? How many definitive lines have been moved? How many compromises have been made and falsehoods have been presented as fact? All for what? to “please” a culture that is dying and going to hell?

Shame on us! Shame on the church for ever believing that “people pleasing” would ever lead a person out of the old life and into new life with Christ! We are not here to nurture feelings… we are here to lead people back to the truth… the truth that truly sets hearts free!

The problem with misplaced pleasing is we end up serving the wrong “god.” Pleasing people becomes the goal and thus becomes the “god” being served.

Listen folks, I want to serve others as Christ served others. However… I must choose to serve God, FIRST. It is in my service to God that I find my purpose AND my standard for serving others. I do not minister to others to give them what they want or what will “satisfy” or “please” them. I serve to deliver to people what they need - a transformative salvific experience in the presence of God! When we serve God first… we will remain true to HIS standards and NOT CONFORM to the standards of this world.

Galatia was conforming. They were falling for a false gospel that pleased people… but did not please God. Paul was reaching out with a strong word to help get them back on track. BECAUSE he loved God and desired to serve Him well, Paul delivered this strong word despite what people might think. Yes… it might not “please” the people. But leading people back to the gospel truth was pleasing to God.

So our next point looks at exactly that… Our next point looks at what it is that pleases the Lord.

What Pleases the Lord.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to please everyone. This we have already established. So… if it is impossible to please everyone… how much more difficult is it to please the Lord? Well… not as hard as you might think… so long as your heart is to be a servant of Christ.

Jesus lays it our quite nicely in John 14:15 saying, “15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”

Move down to verse 24. “24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25 All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Jesus makes it clear: those who love Him will choose to keep His commands. They do not aim to please people, they aim to serve the Lord by keeping His commands. In doing so, they become recipients of God’s Holy Spirit identified in verse 17 as who? THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH!

The world struggles to receive the Spirit of truth but those who believe in Jesus and love Him know the Spirit for He lives within them!

The Holy Spirit also works to remind believers of Jesus’ commands… of everything that Christ has said to us through His Word.

Here’s the deal: a life governed by the desire to please people is a life that is governed by the flesh - our self interests. We end up serving our own desires rather than God’s desires. However, when our heart desires to serve the Lord, we will keep His commands and our lives will not be governed by the flesh or felt desires… but rather will governed by the Spirit of God that now lives within!

Romans 8:5 lays it out. “5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

Life by the Spirit is life in service to the Lord. In everything we say and do, we aim to please the Lord… and no one else. If our actions end up pleasing others along the way so be it… but our goal is to please the Lord IN ALL THINGS.

In your marriage, if you desire to please your spouse… then please the Lord, First. With your kids, if you desire to please your children, then aim to please God first. In your job, if you desire to please your boss, please the Lord, first. In doing so… you are choosing to serve God in all things instead of serving the interests of others or even your own self interests. I serve others best when I serve God First!

And God will help you in this! Recall the words of Jesus in John 14. He has given us an advocate, a helper who is the Spirit of truth.

God’s Spirit resides in the hearts of all believers and He is there for a purpose. He is there to remind you of God’s truth and to bring to recollection everything Jesus has said. but along with that must come the desire to KNOW everything that Jesus has said.

Remember, Paul is writing to the churches in Galatia because there has been a problem with the “gospel” they had been following which was really no gospel at all. He was not writing to please people… but to please the Lord. He was writing to help steer the Galatians back to God’s truth.

Paul himself as a student of God’s truth. Paul knew the attitude that was necessary in order to serve God with his best. It all came down to his mindset. 1 Corinthians 9:24 reads, “24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. 27 No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I don’t believe anyone of us desire to be disqualified for the prize. Any takers on that? I believe we all desire to run the race God has laid out before us. But this means we MUST AIM TO PLEASE GOD and NO ONE ELSE.

Paul’s winning strategy starts in the mind: run in such a way as to get the prize. Don’t aim for second or third place… go for the gold.

Secondly, Paul speaks of the “training” that is needed. Jesus said those who love Him keep His commands. A person must know His commands before they can keep His commands! We need to know His truth AND be dependent on the Spirit of Truth.

Lastly, our self must be in submission to the Spirit. When our self wants to go left, by faith we choose to go right. Instead of being slaves to our flesh, we make our flesh a slave to the Spirit that now lives within.

That’s how we please God. That’s how we remain focused on the One who died for us. Our goal is to serve God FIRST in all things… but in order for that to happen, we must be real with ourselves as I ask this question one last time…

Who Are You Trying to Please?

I want that to simmer in your heart for just a moment. Who are you trying to please? When you set out to take care of your daily, weekly, monthly tasks… who is at the top of your priority list.

I really struggled with this for many years in ministry. I LIKE to please people and I really struggle when I know someone is not happy with me. But then the Spirit of God got a hold of my heart in what I would call a transformative moment in my life. I’m not here to please people. In fact HWC, I’m not here to please you… I’m here to please God. I’m here to honor the call God has placed on my life.

And here is the truth of the matter… If I fall to people pleasing instead of leading as the Spirit guides me to lead… I AM HARMING YOU AND CHEATING YOU OUT OF WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO IN YOU AND THROUGH YOU!

Church, you do the same thing when you let go of your biblical convictions in the name pf pleasing those around you!

Pleasing God means trusting God… keeping the commands of Christ… and following the Spirit of Truth - no matter what.

Our first step in pleasing God is coming back into relationship with God. God desires to lead you and to save you from your sins. But you’ve got to change masters. You must choose to serve the Lord over all else.

PRAYER - SALVATION

Secondly, after some evaluation… how many would say you sometimes struggle in pleasing others, maybe even yourself, instead of pleasing the Lord?

PRAYER - Help us, God, to not surrender to the pressures of this world. Help us God to please you and serve you in all things.