"Whose Approval Are You Living For?"
CCCAG 4-23-24
Scripture: Galatians 1:10-23
Introduction:
Nursing school we spent the first year taking a lot of prerequisite classes so that we had a foundation for all the rest of the nursing classes. In several of those classes we talked about psychology and human development through the lifespan.
One of the theories that I found particularly fascinating was from a man named Eric Erickson who had a theory about the stages of psychosocial development. These stages go from birth all the way to death. I'm not going to bore you with all of them but the last one deals with people that are fully mature and can look back on their lives with a great deal of insight.
Erickson called this stage “integrity versus despair”, and essentially what it means is toward the end of your life you start to gain more and more insight into how you have lived your life. You either look back with fondness or satisfaction of how you've lived your life- that's the integrity or you look back and see nothing but ruin and that's where the despair comes in.
As I look back on how my life has unfolded, I see the hand of God moving me over obstacles, making course corrections when I get off of his plan, and even using my failures, even huge failures, to further mature me in the faith. According to Erickson, if you are able to do this that gives you wisdom and a sense of peace as you approach your later years.
Why does that matter for us this morning?
One of the keys to striving to live a life that pleases God is to recognize that He will use good times and bad times, successes and failures, and good and evil people to accomplish His will in your life.
Yes, even the bad times. In fact, I’d say especially the hard times.
I know most of us want the prayer of Jabez kind of life. The prayer of Jabez was a Christian fad back in the early 2000’s that was a based from a single bible verse from 1 Chron 4 that essentially said Lord keep me from evil and make me rich.
The problem with that in our spiritual life is this-
Just like physical muscles don't grow without resistance neither do spiritual muscles.
And we need spiritual muscles to survive and thrive today and for what is coming
As we think about our lives today, perhaps instead of always trying to get out of a bad situation, ask God what he's trying to teach you in this situation. It’s like trying to learn advanced math- it takes a few times to work the problem before you get proficient in finding the correct answer. When you are in total brain lock and frustrated, a good teacher will encourage you to try, and try again until you get it right.
AND, they won’t let you advance until you get what you need to learn right.
And God is a great teacher and won’t let you give up when the going gets tough. He wants to deliver you from all evil, but there may be a purpose for this evil in your life that HE is going to use to elevate you somehow. God will use good and bad to root out those things in our lives that are like anchors holding us in place when he has a much better future or destiny for you.
As we continue in our study of the book of Galatians today, we are going to see this exact principle work its way out in the apostle Paul's life, and by studying it in his life I invite you to use insight and look back into your own life and see how God has used the good, and the bad to bring you to where you are right now.
Scripture
Gal 1:10-23 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. (11) For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. (12) For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
(13) For you have heard about my former way of life in Judaism: I intensely persecuted God’s church and tried to destroy it. (14) I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. (15) But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called me by his grace, was pleased (16) to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone. (17) I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who had become apostles before me; instead I went to Arabia and came back to Damascus. (18) Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to get to know Cephas, and I stayed with him fifteen days. (19) But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (20) I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you. (21) Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. (22) I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. (23) They simply kept hearing, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.”
Prayer
Premise- These verses from Galatians are really Paul using a personal illustration of a principle he wrote about in Romans 8:28
Rom 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Let’s look at Paul’s backstory for a moment-
Paul went to the best school of his time as he learned to become a rabbi and then a pharisee.
He had the best teacher, the best mentors, and the scripture/church history strongly indicates that he was one of the youngest people ever to become a member of the Sanhedrin- the Jewish ruling council.
He was known as one of the smartest, most righteous, and most zealous religious leaders of his generation.
And Paul knew it. If you would look in a dictionary under the word pride, there would have been a picture of Paul prior to his conversion.
But then something happened.
Paul is on a horse heading toward Damascus to find and arrest any Christians found in the city.
But then he sees Jesus, and he is changed forever. God knocks him off his high horse and blinds him for 3 days so the only place he could look is inward, and he didn’t like what he saw-
Sinful Pride
Envy
Hatred
Murder
For three days, his sins were on full display in his mind.
And it broke him.
Paul had lived his entire life seeking other people's approval.
He had done whatever he had to do to get to where he was within the Jewish hierarchy.
Like so many people in life, he played the game he was given, and in his way of thinking was winning it.
But now he saw the price he paid.
This is the point that God wants us to understand this morning-
If you live your life to please the crowds, then the crowds control your life, your character, and your sense of self worth.
This is why Jesus calls us to live different.
We need to live differently if we have any desire to please God.
In order to do that, we need to
I. Rejecting Human Approval (Galatians 1:10-14)
In Verses 10 through 14, Paul lays out all of his accomplishments. I previously listed a few of these out and they are very impressive.
If you are on a pastoral search committee Paul would be your number one pick just looking at the resume.
Paul had built a foundation for his life that looked to be unshakable and immovable.
However, and this is key-
that foundation was built with the things of this earth, and not with Kingdom of God principles in mind.
It’s funny how people can think earthly things- that anything this side of eternity cannot be shaken. Once in awhile, I think God shows us the foolishness of such thinking.
In August of 1992, a hurricane formed off the coast of Africa and was racing toward Florida. Local and state leaders looked at it and said it was going to be a very powerful storm but many of them were confident that many of the buildings had been upgraded and we're considered to be hurricane proof. Therefore, there were not a lot of mandatory evacuations done as the storm approached. Some people left but also a lot stayed, comfortable that they could ride this out.
Andrew quickly grew to be a category 5 hurricane and destroyed 25,000 homes and damaged another 100,000 and killed over 40 people
One more example of trusting things this side of eternity-
Remember, The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable.
It was the ruler of the water it sat on, until that water froze and carved a large and long hole that sent it to the bottom of the ocean.
Hurricane Andrew and the Titanic-
Two glaring historical examples to show you that when you build a foundation out of anything in the physical realm, there is also something else in the physical realm that can destroy that foundation.
The same is true in our lives, if we build the foundation of our life out of things that are not of God, then when those foundations crumble it often takes us down with it.
This is one of the cancers within our culture and even within our churches that is killing us-
Living your life to please the crowd, and not to please God.
Social media has exacerbated this far beyond the wildest imagination of anyone. The problem with building a foundation that is based on the approval of others is that those same people that are propping you up right now can AND WILL turn on you in a heartbeat.
If you remember a few years back when the “Me too” movement and cancel culture really got going?
I could cite dozens of examples of movie stars or recording artist getting canceled when the mob decided to target them. They went from the A list of popularity to not even being on the list anymore in a day or two.
But as much as I can point out this in our world, the bible has the best example of this-
Remember Jesus coming into Jerusalem and everyone crying out Hosanna and thinking Jesus was the best thing ever?
In less than a week, those same people cried “Crucify HIM!”
Even his closest friends, the same friends that laid down their clothes to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem ran away at his arrest.
We all live in a small town here. How quickly can 1 rumor take a person down whether it’s true or false?
Rick Warren said that if you live for the approval of others, you will die by their rejection.
That's why the Bible says that Jesus did not entrust himself to men because he knew it was in men. Jesus didn't build his self-worth from the opinions of others but on the approval of his father.
Looking back to Paul, he like all of us, had to find this out the hard way.
But I also want you to notice something- that even while Paul was living his life apart from Christ, God was still preparing Him.
All of that theological training was going to become very useful to the early church, and to us today. That training just needed a heart humbled by the amazing grace of God.
And this is why we need to focus on letting the approval of God be our source, and not the things of this world.
If we can get there, then God can explode in our lives, and we receive His approval, and His elevation to the next level in our lives.
II. Receiving Divine Approval
Verse 12 For I did not receive it (The Gospel) from a human source, and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Everyone here has been around a campfire at some point.
When I was a boy scout, there was a specific order in earning your campfire badge.
You need to clear out the ground of any debris.
Create ventilation
Surround it with rocks to keep it contained.
Find some dry kindling to get the main wood to ignite.
Then arrange the main fuel- the logs or thicker branches so that they will catch fire from the kindling.
Once you have it all done- what is left?
The spark!
Paul’s decades of training prior to knowing Jesus was like building that campfire
His education not only in the things of Judaism, but Greek philosophy and logic so he knew how to talk to Gentiles. He knew Latin so he could talk to Romans. He knew dialectics, which is the art of how to debate.
All of this prior to him coming to Christ was God preparing the campfire.
And on the road to Damascus, Jesus provided the spark that sent the entire Western world on fire for the Gospel.
After he was healed, the bible says Paul escapes from Damascus, and said he went into Arabia. I don’t think this was the Arabian desert like where the Israelites wandered for 40 years, but in 1st Century language that word was used for any desolate place, and there are a lot of those around Damascus and even in Israel.
For roughly 3 years he lived re-reading the scrolls he had largely memorized and where before he only saw laws to be followed, Paul now saw Jesus.
The Holy Spirit brought to light all of the times in the Old Testament that foreshadowed Jesus. Paul saw HIM everywhere, and shared these revelations every time he spoke to the Jewish people.
And, he wrote them down, and they have guided the church ever since.
But I don’t want the point lost here- much of Paul’s preparation was done prior to him coming to salvation.
Much of it was when he was deep in religious pride.
Much of it was done while he was arresting and murdering Christians.
But remember-
Rom 8:28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
I want to emphasize this while also saying that God does not condone nor does He ordain or cause sin to happen.
But He will use it. All things work together.
Once the spark of Jesus Christ is applied, than this huge foundations of sin the enemy has built up in a person’s life is consumed, and all that is left are things that can be used for God’s glory.
Paul outlines this further in 1 Cor 3:11-15 when he talks about building on earthly foundations versus eternal foundations. (Expand)
1Co 3:11-15 For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. (12) If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, (13) each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. (14) If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. (15) If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience loss, but he himself will be saved?—?but only as through fire.
These verses specifically talk about adding anything to the gospel, but have application for us here as well when we talk about building a kingdom here on earth at the expense of our eternal souls.
Tammie and I often take long drives after church around the seldom used roads here in Trempealeau County. As we drive, we see buildings in the distance- old homes or barns that are on the verge of collapse.
I think about the people who built those homes- probably mostly with hand tools. They built the structure to last, but like all things in life, time caught up with them and now they are in ruin.
I say this to remind us all here this morning- all you build here in this life will crumble.
In the end he or she who dies with the most toys-
Still dies. And your toys get given to someone else.
Then you have to stand before God to give an account.
The only thing that will be remaining when God’s fire touches your life’s work is what you have done for HIS kingdom.
Did you live for him and his approval, or for yourself and the world’s approval?
Prayer
