We read Galatians chapter 1 together.
Today we’re going to focus on just one verse from Galatians 1.
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
This is the first in a series of messages based on Galatians:
Freedom from Addiction
Addiction 1, The Problem:
Addiction to Approval and Status the Praise of People
Let’s read that verse again:
10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
I suppose everyone suffers from this problem. It’s common to humanity-the desire to be liked and praised, even, if possible, to be adored by people.
I certainly suffer from this ailment. I’d rather be liked than disliked. And there are times I haven’t been happy with being disliked by people, especially when I felt I had done everything right and nothing wrong-that I didn’t deserve this dislike or unkindness . . . but it’s the nature of life on this planet that if you do anything worth-while some people will rejoice with you and some will find reasons to not like you.
The great 6th Century preacher John Chrysostom agreed
“I do not know whether anyone has ever succeeded in not enjoying praise. And, if he enjoys it, he naturally wants to receive it. And if he wants to receive it, he cannot help but being distraught at losing it. Those who are in love with applause have their spirits starved not only when they are blamed off-hand, but even when they fail to be constantly praised.”
“The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.” Norman Vincent Peale
And the problem isn’t just our nature-there is a problem in our training.
This isn’t so much an issue where I grew up-in the US, an entire nation has elevated “not caring what other people think” to a cardinal virtue. I was raised in the land of the rugged individualist, who shows his value most when everyone is against him and he does what he thinks is best anyway.
But rugged individualism is not preached as a virtue in India. Instead children have drummed into them from early on that they need to please their parents, their aunts and uncles, their teachers, and anyone else who happens to have authority over them, or who can grant them favours and blessings. In India “pleasing others” is often elevated to the level of a cardinal virtue.
The rugged individualist who ignores everyone else to march to the beat of his own drum may march right over those God calls him to love.
Yet he who constantly seeks to please others will meet an equally abhorrent doom-he will fail to please God.
The Bible has quite a lot to say about seeking favorable words from others-mostly warnings:
Proverb 7:21 With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk (flattering lips). 22 All at once he followed her like an ox going to the slaughter, like a deer stepping into a noose 23 till an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird darting into a snare, little knowing it will cost him his life.
If you’re looking for flattering words, beware-the seducer awaits you on the corner.
Proverb 26:28 A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.
And if you speak boastful words to impress others, you have to be careful as well.
When I was younger, you couldn’t talk with me more than five minutes before I had given you a list of some of my supposed accomplishments-not that I had really accomplished anything, but I wanted to talk about the things I figured you might be impressed by.
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips. Proverbs 27:1-2
Yet the praise that another may give should not give you too much of a boost:
Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet. Proverbs 29: 5
So, seeking praise and approval of others is a trap, a snare, a pit to be avoided. Yet at this point of the message you may still have a question gnawing away at the back of your mind, “Why has he called this series ‘Freedom from Addiction’? What does addiction have do with pleasing people or seeking their approval?”
If that question is in your mind, I’m glad you asked it.
Let me explain.
Paul wrote another letter in which I think he sheds light on the whole issue:
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. Romans 16:17-18
“slaves to their own appetites”. That looks like a very effective description of addiction.
So, I think we all need to acknowledge the Bible teaches that seeking the approval of men leads you away from serving and pleasing God, and, one way or another, leads you into a kind of addiction to approval and slavery to your appetites-it leads to addiction.
I’ll talk more about addiction in a later message.
For today, I’ll just say that recent research on how the brain works has indicated that we all behave the way we do largely because of chemical reward systems in our brains-the dopamine pathway is one of those reward systems-and it is stimulated by a variety of behaviors. Without getting too technical, every time you eat food that is high in carbohydrates, salt and/or fat, the pleasure centers in your brain give you a nice reward. Every time you take an intoxicating drug, play a game or gamble and win, tell or hear a juice piece of news -similar pleasure centers are stimulated.
The same reward system is involved in
• sex,
• gossip,
• drugs,
• gambling/game playing,
• food, and, yes,
• social acceptance and belonging (even virtual belonging through social networking on the internet).
A person can become addicted in any of these areas.
In the weeks to come we’ll take a look at each one.
And we live in a society which hands us tools for finding further approval.
Why is it so many are addicted to their computers?
I think for many today it’s not games, or other content available on the internet which snares them-it’s social media.
A study published in 2012 demonstrated a disturbing trend
Psychologists from the University of Bergen in Norway studied 423 students for signs of addictive behaviour in the way they used and felt about Facebook.
They found that some participants showed clear signs of "Facebook addiction" similar to those exhibited by people addicted to drugs, alcohol and other chemical substances.
Younger people were more likely to become dependant on Facebook than older people and women were at greater risk than men, the researchers said.
People who suffered from anxiety or social insecurity were heavier users of the website, most likely because they found it easier to use the technology than to communicate with people in person, they added.
The study also found that extroverted people were more likely to be addicted to Facebook, while people who were well organised and ambitious were less at risk, using the website primarily for work or networking purposes.
The findings were measured using the "Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale", a new list of six criteria for each of which a person is given a score from one ("very rarely") to five ("very often").
Categories include feeling an urge to use Facebook an increasing amount, trying and failing to limit your use of the website, and feeling unsettled if you are denied access to your account.
Scoring "often" or "very often" on at least four of the criteria suggests you may be addicted to Facebook, according to the study published in the Psychological Reports journal. www.telegraph.co.uk
Some of us may relate too much to this research. Why would people be addicted to such a network? Surely at least part of it is the search for the approval of others-the desire for “likes” and “shares”.
And I think we all can acknowledge there is a problem.
There are also solutions to this problem, if you want to ESCAPE addiction to approval, and this morning I’d like to address three (like the Escape button on your computer ESC)
Embrace Grace
Seek only the Praise of God
Change your Story – Let God rewrite your personal narrative.
Embrace Grace
The book of Galatians is all about grace-the good news of God’s grace. Some had gone to Galatia to teach the church a list of things they had to do and not do in order to win God’s favor. The To Do list included getting circumcised. The Not To Do list included certain foods to avoid.
Paul wrote the letter to the church partly to correct this unfortunate teaching. For Paul, everything about our relationship with God was a matter of grace.
Something about embracing God’s grace changes the way we might seek the approval of others-
As the years pass I increasingly see that all of God’s work in my life is based on His goodness. I used to wonder why God blessed me so much. I stopped trying to figure that out a long time ago-He blesses because He is the God who loves us and loves to bless us. It’s that simple. When my ego is taken out of the equation of God’s blessings there is a tremendous liberty that finds its way into my heart.
As John Newton-who wrote the wonderful hymn Amazing Grace-said
“Although my memory's fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
We’ll come back to John Newton
So:
Embrace Grace
Seek only the Praise of God
. . . we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness. 6 We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. 1 Thessalonians 2:4-6
Paul even confronted one of the great leaders of the Church in Galatia-Peter. Galatians 2 tells the story-Peter began eating only with the Jews, and shunned the Gentiles in the church & Paul called him out publicly. If Paul wanted popularity and the praise of people he would willingly have sought Peter’s approval and, thereby, the approval of the church. He risked losing such approval and welcome by confronting Peter.
We have to be willing to be unpopular both with people in the church and with those outside the church, if we are going to please God.
Embrace Grace
Seek only the Praise of God
Change your Story – Let God rewrite your personal narrative.
The Story of John Newton (available on sermoncentral.com & Wikipedia)
His influence on Thomas Scott
And William Wilberforce
When we allow God to transform our story, He will use us to change the story of others. . . but such positive influence in the lives of others comes not from promoting yourself, but from concern only for God’s glory and His purposes and opinions concerning you.
This is the nature of a life placed fully in the hands of God.
“I am still in the land of the dying; I shall be in the land of the living soon”. John Newton’s last words
