Choosing to Please God over Pleasing God’s People
Gal. 1:9-10
June 5, 2005 FBC, Chester Mike Fogerson, Pastor
Introduction:
A In 1979, 4th grade year, Vendee Myers was my first crush.
a She said, "Mike, I’ll be your girlfriend if you buy me a Coke." O.K.!....popcorn...candy.....and at the end of the night, "Mike, I don’t think it’s going to work out."
b No love...she wanted me to give her stuff so she would be my girlfriend
c In our text, there were some folks who were trying to say that God wanted people to do good stuff for Him so He would be their Savior/Lord
• Satan couldn’t destroy Christ, so he tried to abort the early church in its infancy by putting poison in its bottle. The poison was false doctrine.
• One poison came from Judizers (were saved, but turned back to Judaism and sought to incorporate Christianity as an extension of their works
B As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. Gal 1:9-10 (NASB)
a Paul gave a grave warning to everyone who perverted the core of the Gospel message (ETS)
b Believers please God when we share the Gospel as the Gospel.(ESS)
C I want my listener to please God this week by sharing the non-perverted Gospel with someone (OBJ)
a How can believers please God with the Gospel as gospel?(PQ)
b Let’s look at two directives that can equip us to please God with the Gospel as gospel.(TS)
c Pray
I The first directive that equips us to please God with the Gospel is...know the gospel.
As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
A A group of people (Judaizers) at Galatia were trying to teach a works-based salvation to new converts
a Judaizers taught that the Gentiles must become Jews by circumcision before they could become Christians and that all Christians, Jews and Gentiles alike, were righteous before God only if they remained bound under the Mosaic law, regulations, and ceremonies. (Jesus and circumcision, obeying Mosaic law, and sacrificing at the temple)
b Paul’s gospel that he preached was not Jesus and anything, it was just Jesus I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel Gal 1:6 (NASB)
* Paul protects this doctrine of grace like a father guards his daughter until she marries
* Paul was magnanimous on other issues (food, days to celebrate) but that was because Paul knew what was worth being stubborn over, the truth of the Gospel-grace
* Salvation through grace alone (not Jesus and this and that. Just Jesus, and that’s that).
* Paul says teachers who oppose this doctrine are accursed.
B We will produce good works as a result of God’s saving grace and power working in us, but we don’t do good works to earn or keep our salvation.
a For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. 2 John 1:7,10-11 (NASB) Don’t be under a pastor/teacher/church that teaches anything other than salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone
b You can be open to so much, but we’ve gotta know the line on the Gospel (baptism, church membership, Lord’s Supper, sinless, divorced, etc).
C (IL) Grace
II The second directive that equips us to please God with the Gospel is...show the gospel
For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
A Paul had been accused of taking the "work" out of the gospel to win the favor of the Gentiles
a Paul just got done saying "damn"anyone who preaches another gospel other than the one I just preached about (don’t win friends and influence people with that kind of rhetoric)
b Paul’s reference to himself as a bond-servant is of significance.
* Every time Paul wrote a letter or preached a sermon he was either getting shipwrecked, put in jail, or being carried off by some angry mob of people he didn’t please to get rocks thrown at him
* But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. Acts 14:19 (NASB) (map)
• Paul had been stoned and left for dead in Galatia on his earlier trip there
• From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus. Gal 6:17 (NASB) "Brand-marks of Jesus"-scars, disfigurements, suffered
• There was a price for openly serving God (unpopular, unwelcomed, unappreciated)
• Paul was not going to stop showing the gospel he knew to please some church folk. He was going to please God or die trying
B True servants of Christ will not win popularity contests with people who preach and live a perverted Gospel.
a The only way the "truth of the Gospel" (Gal. 2:5, 14) will be heard in Chester is because courageous men and women are willing to suffer greatly to get the gospel message across.
b You don’t have to be perfect to "show" the gospel (no magical point where we arrive)
* We can all identify with the converted slave trader John Newton, "Amazing Grace...that saved a wretch like me."
* We can overcome the hypocrite barrier three ways:
1 Our lives are not the gospel (there are hypocrites in church)
2 Our weaknesses give God’s power an opportunity to strengthen us
3 Distinguish God’s role and our role in showing the gospel (God saves people. He uses people)
* Someone had imagined the scene when Jesus ascended back to heaven after His death and resurrection and encountered the Angel Gabriel. Gabriel was extremely interested in what Jesus had been doing on earth. Jesus responded by explaining that while on earth, He had died on a cross to save people from their sins, and He had been raised up by God’s power. He had now returned to heaven to take His place at God’s right hand to intercede for those whom He had come to save. Jesus concluded by saying that it is His desire that all people everywhere hear the message of what He has done for them.
Gabriel asked, "And what is Your plan for accomplishing this?" Jesus responded, "I have left the message in the hands of a dozen or so disciples. I am trusting them to spread it everywhere." Gabriel exclaimed, "Twelve disciples? What if they fail?" Jesus replied "I have no other plan." Regardless of the imaginary aspect of the story, the main point is true. Jesus did leave the task of evangelizing in the hands of a small number of people. But they so thoroughly trained others to bear effective witness that soon large numbers of trained disciples were sharing the truth about Jesus all over Jerusalem, Samaria, Galilee, and ultimately the uttermost parts of the earth. We-who name the name of Christ-are here today because of the faithfulness of those early disciples.
C You can’t please man and God. "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. Matt 6:24 (NASB)
a When Verdi produced his first opera in Florence, the composer stood by himself in the shadows and kept his eyes on the face of one man in the audience-the great Rossini. It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him or jeering him; all he wanted was a smile of approval from the master musician. So it was for Paul. He knew what it was to suffer for the Gospel, but the approval or disapproval of men did not move him. Paul wanted the approval of Christ.
b I preach the gospel at every funeral I do. Why? They’re not going to leave!
Conclusion:
Paul gave a grave warning to everyone who perverted the core of the Gospel message (ETS) Believers please God when we share the Gospel as the Gospel.(ESS)
A We’ve looked at two directives that can equip us to please God with the Gospel as gospel.(TS)
a Know the gospel
b Show the gospel
B I want my listener to please God this week by sharing the non-perverted Gospel with someone (OBJ)
a Know the gospel or you don’t!
b Show the gospel or you’re not!
C How can believers please God with the Gospel as gospel?(PQ)
One of my favorite games to play with young people as a youth pastor was "Capture the Flag." The game has two teams and there are, basically, two ways to advance in the game. One objective is to capture members of the other team when they come into your territory, and put them in jail. The other objective is to capture the flag of the opposing team. Capturing their flag results in outright victory. The game is over.
In the Christian life, we are called upon, on occasion, to skirmish with the agents of the opposition, to fight individual battles and gain important territory. We can get a bill passed to stop partial-birth abortion, remove pornography from some newsstands, or achieve justice in some area of our society. But Paul is not writing about skirmishes here in the book of Galatians: he is writing about the flag. If the Gospel is lost, it does not matter how many of our opponents are out of commission. The game is over.
So remember this, please…the gospel is not negotiable.
Make sure it stays the "good news" and not something else.
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
