Galatians 1:10-12
Ps Paul Cheng
“…seldom do we consider the question…”
~6 min read
Dear Bethelites,
This year, we will be celebrating our 39th year as a church. Essentially, Bethel BP Church was born 39 years ago, and it is truly a significant milestone. Oftentimes in Annual Congregational Meetings and Church Anniversaries, people would reflect on the goodness and faithfulness of God in establishing and sustaining the ministries which is certainly well and good. But seldom do we consider the question, “Will we be approved or disapproved of by God?” Pastors, full-time ministers and those serving in the church would often encounter problems with acceptance. Some people may challenge the minister’s calling, others may question the deacon’s qualification and ability, yet others may be critical about the member’s ability to serve.
Assuming that all of us have been faithful and the fault lies not in us, what should we do when people do not accept us? Do we try our best to please men and work toward their acceptance? Do we try to compromise the gospel message to make it more palatable to the consumer's taste that we would be welcomed? God forbid!
Let us learn from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians about serving the Lord, moving forward into the next financial year. 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 persuaded 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 (Galatians 1:10-12).
I. Servants Of God Are Not Men-Pleasers
The Judaizers had stirred up trouble for the Apostle Paul. They knew they could not undermine his faithful teaching of God’s Word, and so they tried to discredit his apostolic authority, and accused him of putting aside the Mosaic ceremonies, standards and practices. Yet Paul said, 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 (v.10).
It is easy to understand that man may need to be persuaded to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, but why must God be persuaded? God certainly does not need to be persuaded for anything. The word persuade means to try to convince or to win over. What Paul was asking here is, does he need to win man’s favour or does he need to win the favour of God? It has to do with being a men-pleaser or God-pleaser!
Notice the little word now, which ought not to be overlooked. In the past, before his conversion to Christianity (cf. Acts 9), Paul had lived his life as an outstanding Hebrew and Pharisee, persecuting the Christians and living his life to fulfil the traditions of Judaism (cf. Philippians 3:5-6). He was trying his level best to win over the respect and favour of the people. He was a men-pleaser then, but now, all that was gone. Now he had a higher goal and his aim was to please God and seek His approval. By the grace of God, he turned to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and gave up everything that he had achieved in Judaism (cf. Philippians 3:8). Having surrendered his entire life to the Lord Jesus Christ, it cost him dearly (cf. Galatians 6:17); he was constantly being persecuted, imprisoned, whipped, left for dead after being stoned, and finally he was martyred. By nature, men-pleasers are not martyrs. If they were men-pleasers, they would have sought to please men to save their own skin and not die for their faith.
There is a deep sense of vanity in those who called themselves servants of Christ and yet are men-pleasers. Having given their lives to serve Christ, with the world behind them and the cross before them, and at the end of the day, they were actually serving men not Christ. How meaningless! That was why Paul said, For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ because he would be disqualified as a servant of Christ.
Dear Bethelites, this is a wonderful reminder to all of us who are serving the Lord, whether we be pastors, elders, deacons or brethren serving God in different capacities. If God has called us to serve Him in a particular area of ministry and we have heeded His call, but only to serve as men-pleasers, that would be most pathetic, isn’t it? We should be ashamed to be called servants of Christ because we are not doing justice to God, to the people He has placed under our care, and even to ourselves, because in reality we are deceiving ourselves.
Nonetheless, it is not an easy task because it is difficult not to be conscious of the people, and it is tough not to be overly affected by the things people say. But as a church and as servants of God, we have to constantly remind ourselves that we are not men-pleasers.
II. Servants Of God Do Not Compromise The Truth
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was persuaded of me is not after man (v.11).
But I certify you comes from a strong Greek verb which means with certainty, and it is often used to introduce an important and emphatic statement. The thing that Paul was trying to emphasize was that the gospel he preached was not human either in nature or in authority. He did not invent it, or alter it, nor did any other man. His message was completely divine in origin. If he had preached a gospel devised by man which served to tickle the ears of the people, and one that was based on works of righteousness (just as every humanly devised system of religion), it would have been readily accepted. The gospel of salvation by grace is often considered repulsive and readily rejected, but that is the exact message we are called to preach; it is not devised by man but by God.
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ (v.12). This statement was particularly directed against the Judaizers who received their religious instruction primarily from the rabbis and traditions. No doubt the Jews claimed to esteem the Old Testament Scriptures highly, but they looked to human interpretations as their religious authority and guide, and they allowed those biblical truths to be diluted and distorted by those human interpretations. That was why Paul said of the gospel, I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it.
In our time, there are many professed Christians who would superficially esteem the Bible, yet they do not study the Word of God seriously. On one hand, they say, “This is God’s Word,” but on the other hand, they do not seek to obey the Word. They want their pastors and preachers to meditate on the Word and preach to them on Sundays, rather than to diligently study the Bible for themselves (2 Timothy 2:15). What about us? Do we really believe and esteem the Word of God?
But by the revelation of Jesus Christ — Before his conversion Paul was a persecutor of those who believed in Jesus Christ but the Lord appeared to him on the road to Damascus and called him to be an instrument to bear His name before the Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel (cf. Acts 9:15). The only way a man can receive the spiritual truth of the gospel is through divine revelation.
Praise the Lord for sustaining Bethel BPC for the past 39 years. Like Paul, there was a time when we were ignorant of the truth, we were rejecters of Christ and blasphemers of His Word. God was patient with us and He revealed His spiritual truth to us through the preaching of His Word and the working of His Spirit. Though we are unworthy, we praise and thank God that He has used us to establish this gospel witness in Melbourne, and He has graciously sustained us throughout yet another year. Today, we seek to preach the Bible, for it is not the writing of mere man but God’s infallible and inerrant Word. Today, people may not accept us as servants of God, our message or our services, but what is vital is that we be found acceptable and approved unto God (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15). For today we seek to be God-pleasers and not men-pleasers! May the Lord find us faithful!
A blessed 39th anniversary!
With love in Christ,
Pastor Paul Cheng
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