The Book of Galatians was written by Paul to the churches in Galatia. It is the strongest wording of all his letters, for these new converts were being influenced by those who would "pervert the gospel of Christ" (1:6-7; 3:1). They were known as "Judaizing teachers", who taught that Gentile Christians needed to be circumcised and must keep the Law of Moses in order to truly follow Christ ( Act 15). Paul knew that this doctrine would jeopardize the salvation of those who accepted it and needed to address it right from the start!
Paul had helped start these churches on his first missionary journey to Asia Minor and upon returning from it, learns that they have already begun to turn away from the salvation message Paul had preached! Which might explain the strong tone he uses in writing this letter,
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” - Gal 1:6-10
Before we delve too far into this chapter, let me ask you, what type of person are you?
- Do you tend to be a “people pleaser”?
- Do you tend to follow the crowd, or are you able to stand alone?
- Are you easily swayed by other’s opinions, or do you do your own investigative research to come up with your own truths?
- Are you more a leader or follower?
It’s obvious these young Christians had turned away fairly quickly after coming to Christ, and let’s be clear on this, when you reject the gospel message, you’re rejecting God and His message! No wonder Paul is writing in such a harsh manner, and we’d all be wise to carefully go over all Paul has to say to the believers in Galatia, for there are still many out there today, who are trying to sway believers to follow a false gospel!
I’ll confess, the opinions of others have always had an influence on me! I hate to admit it, but there have been times when I failed to do what God called me to do, because I was more concerned about what others might think! I’ve sat silent when The Lord said, “speak out!” Even acted on completely false information, BEFORE investigating it to find out if it was true or not. In this era of, “fake news” do you ever find yourself wondering what to believe anymore?
It’s the same with different faiths and religions today, each claiming theirs is the right way; the only way! Only, how can they ALL be right? More importantly, how can we discern which one is right? And how can we stand firm in our faith and NOT be swayed by the false teachers out there today?
We've got to go back to the beginning! All the way back to the very basics! I know God knew this was going to happen when He wrote the very first commandment:
“You shall have no other gods before Me.” - Exodus 20:3
In life, we only have one person we need to please, and that is our Creator and Lord; the One who made us and has a purpose for our lives. We only need One person’s approval: God’s!
Jesus put it this way in John 5:30: “...I don’t try to please myself, but I try to please the One who sent me”. Did you know that people-pleasing is a form of idolatry? Anyone we put before God becomes a god, including ourselves. It also doesn’t have to be a person, but anything we place above God; our job, possessions, activities you enjoy, etc. Anything that becomes number one in our life that isn’t God becomes our god.
Paul put it this way in his letter to the Philippians, “ [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers],…” ( Phil 3:10 AMP). Paul devoted his life to knowing God more deeply and intimately each day, for when we love someone it only stands to reason that we’re going to want to know them more intimately. And the way we grow to know Him, is by spending time reading His letters to us and in being in constant communication with Him throughout our day, for the greater we know Him the greater we’ll love Him, and our desire to please Him, above everyone else, will win out!
Paul got it right when he said, “I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant” (Gal 1:10 NLT).
