Galatians 1:10 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.
Have you ever asked your family on a Sunday afternoon, “Where do you want to eat for lunch?” Well, if you have ever asked that question on Sunday or any day, you know very well that you cannot please everyone all the time. Sometimes you can’t please anyone any of the time! Surely you know how miserable it is to try to please everyone at once or to try to please the wrong people.
When it comes to the most important things in life in particular, it is vital that we are aware of who it is we are actually trying to please. When it comes to the gospel, there is only one person Who really matters. That is the Lord Himself!
In Galatians 1:10, Paul says, “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.” What Paul is saying here is that if you are trying to please people, you are not serving Christ. You are serving the one you try to please. When a person is a “slave to fashion,” they are trying to please those who are into fashion. It is not that fashion is right or wrong; the point is that we serve the one we are trying to please.
Galatians 1 is a good reminder of the One we ought please and why. Paul recounts, for instance, that it is the Lord Who called him. Verse 1 says, “Paul, an apostle, (not or men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.)” Paul says, “Men didn’t call me. The Lord called me. So, whom do I please? I serve the Lord Christ.”
How about grace and peace? Men can’t give those things; the Lord does. Verse 3 says, “Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” Verse 4 reminds us that salvation is “according to the will of God and our Father.” Salvation is of the Lord. In verses 11 and 12 Paul states emphatically, “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached 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.”
Jesus is the One we owe. We should not hide the gospel. We can’t change the gospel, and we shouldn’t try to please everyone with the gospel we preach. The only One to please is the One Who gave it to us, the Lord Christ.