The Choice
“If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” - Galatians 1:10b
It’s hard to read that without feeling the ultimatum; Christ or man. Those are the choices — I will please only one. I cannot please both Christ and man simultaneously. If I please God, I displease man. If I please man, I displease God and reject His grace by living in support of wickedness.
This doesn’t mean we hate others, remove ourselves from society, or attack anyone. Paul is referring to condoning sin. Pleasing man doesn’t mean acting kind towards others or giving compliments and assistance, it means supporting the sinful pleasures, practices, and beliefs of a sinful nature.
That sinful nature is within EVERY SINGLE ONE of us, and it is how we respond to this nature that determines our eternity. We can reject our flesh (sin nature) by embracing Jesus, in whom freedom from the flesh is found, or we can continue living in the flesh by rejecting God’s gracious gift — Jesus.
Again, this post isn’t about being militant or aggressive towards the world (unbelievers), but it is about challenging the Church (believers) to step into the truth of the Word. The truth is that, yes, we have all fallen short of the glory of God, but through Christ’s justification we are enabled to live sanctified, and to pursue holiness (separation from sin)
The Word also says to preach the truth in love (Eph 4:15), and that the Holy Spirit will bring the conviction to change (Jn 16:7-8) So it is not through bashing unbelievers that we separate ourselves from the world, but through living a holy life and sharing the truth that pierces the hearts of the world. Our separate actions and abstaining from sin are what separate us.
Let’s’ read Ephesians 4:17-24 (NIV)
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.
20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Yes, I probably got too crazy with the red ink, but I wanted you to notice the power of this passage.
Paul INSISTS that we no longer live the same as we did before our faith in Jesus. He highlights the fact that our lives in Christ should be different from the ignorance of our past. He reveals that the hardening of our hearts, hardened by our own doing, no longer prevents us from understanding the truth if we are in Christ. He stresses that we should put off our old self that is actively being corrupted by Satan, to instead embrace the new life Christ provides — A life that is made new and changes the very wiring of the attitude of our minds (See Philippians 4 & Romans 8)
Essentially, Paul is saying that we have a free will to become more like Jesus and less like the world if we make the effort to separate ourselves from fleshly (sin nature) desires.
One of the hardest parts of my growth in Christ has been the separation caused between myself and the world. The closer I have become to Jesus, the more I have been rejected by friends, certain communities, and even some “Christian” groups that wanted to stay behind. Here’s the thing…I have never separated myself from people. I have only separated myself from sin and personal prohibitive convictions. As I walked away from those things, there were many who didn’t walk with me. That’s how the separation begins — people deciding that the cost of following Jesus isn’t worth it. I decided long ago that no matter the cost, he was worth it, and then some.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” - Matt 6:24a
Let’s not serve the world by embracing the sin that so easily entangles. Let’s live set apart and holy, showing the world that there is a way of life that leads to eternal paradise and peace.
I don’t have the time or space in this short blog to exhaust this topic, but I want to leave you with questions to chew on:
Who am I really trying to please?
If only my actions and speech were the evidence, would people easily say I serve Jesus?
Am I willing to lose the people that won’t walk with me?
Is there something in my life that I need to separate from?
Is there a Christian in my life that can help me follow Christ?
Have I truly committed my life to Christ, or am I trying to serve two masters?