Man-pleaser or God-pleaser?

From Ray Ortlund, Jr....

'Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” . . . And Samuel said to Saul, “You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”  1 Samuel 15:24-26

As a friend said to me years ago, if the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the fear of man is the beginning of folly.  Saul was given leadership.  But he was removed from leadership.  Why?  He feared the people more than he feared the Lord.  Pressured by that fear, he disobeyed the word of the Lord in order to obey the voice of the people.  In God’s eyes, this was not just any old sin; it was a disqualifying sin.

We who lead want to please people, of course.  We love them.  Paul said, “I try to please everyone in everything I do” (1 Corinthians 10:33).  But sometimes we can’t please people.  Sometimes we have to disappoint people we love dearly, in order to obey the Lord we love more dearly.  So Paul also said, “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” (Galatians 1:10).

When Paul faced a choice between pleasing himself and pleasing others, he pleased others.  When he faced a choice between pleasing others and pleasing Christ, he pleased Christ.

How do we elders know, at any given time, which way to go?  The Bible.  Not church politics.  Not long-standing friendships.  Not complaints and threats from influential members.  But the Bible.

Elders with open Bibles, searching the Scriptures together with honest openness, will find their way.  They will not be perfect.  But they will please the Lord, even when they have to displease people.  They will retain their moral authority in God’s sight.  And it’s his judgment, his alone, that brightens the future of their church."