Who Do You Serve?
 |
 |
Acts 5:29 Peter and the other apostles replied: "We must obey God rather than men! (NIV)
Gal 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were
still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
1Thess 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We
are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. (NIV)
Illus: A parishioner once said some critical things to me about my son. I told him, “There is only one
person in this church my son has to please, and that is me. He answers to me and me alone.”
Now the fact is, you cannot please everybody. Everyone has difference expectations and standards.
And most people don’t care if you please the crowd – as long as you please them.
It can be very confusing in this world trying to make people happy. Isn’t it comforting to know that you
don’t have to please everybody?
There is a phrase that I have heard a few times that I believe puts things into perspective. It says this –
“We are playing to an audience of one!”
I used to be a professional singer. I have performed before audiences of several thousand people.
That can be very intimidating. But in a crowd that large, you know that some people will like what you do
and some people will not.
What is more frightening is when you are performing before one person. You only have one person to
please. Then it becomes not a matter of public opinion, but of private opinion.
A politician does alright as long as he can please a majority of the people. But what if his position
depended on pleasing just one certain person? Then, it would be his obligation to find out what that
one person expected and to do it.
That is my point today. Each of us has only one person we really have to please. There is one person
we have to ultimately answer to. That is the one who created us and made a plan for our life.
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is this – did you please God?
When I take my guitar and sing songs, I like to think that it is blessing others. But, really, there is only
one person in the audience I should be singing to. His name is Jesus.
At the end of this life, there is only one person you will stand before and answer for the way you lived. It
would be wise to keep that in mind each day as you live your life.
In the end, we will all stand before judgment. There is just one judge. His name is Jesus.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
When you stand at the judgment, it will not be before a jury of your peers. It will not be your friends or
your enemies. It will not be your public. It will be only one – Jesus.
Let us remember that our primary purpose in life is to worship and serve Him. We were created by him
and for him.
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for him:
Like I told that man so many years ago, “There is only one person in this church you have to
please…His name is Jesus.”
If you please Him, it really doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.
Gal 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were
still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
1Thess 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We
are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. (NIV)
Illus: A parishioner once said some critical things to me about my son. I told him, “There is only one
person in this church my son has to please, and that is me. He answers to me and me alone.”
Now the fact is, you cannot please everybody. Everyone has difference expectations and standards.
And most people don’t care if you please the crowd – as long as you please them.
It can be very confusing in this world trying to make people happy. Isn’t it comforting to know that you
don’t have to please everybody?
There is a phrase that I have heard a few times that I believe puts things into perspective. It says this –
“We are playing to an audience of one!”
I used to be a professional singer. I have performed before audiences of several thousand people.
That can be very intimidating. But in a crowd that large, you know that some people will like what you do
and some people will not.
What is more frightening is when you are performing before one person. You only have one person to
please. Then it becomes not a matter of public opinion, but of private opinion.
A politician does alright as long as he can please a majority of the people. But what if his position
depended on pleasing just one certain person? Then, it would be his obligation to find out what that
one person expected and to do it.
That is my point today. Each of us has only one person we really have to please. There is one person
we have to ultimately answer to. That is the one who created us and made a plan for our life.
At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is this – did you please God?
When I take my guitar and sing songs, I like to think that it is blessing others. But, really, there is only
one person in the audience I should be singing to. His name is Jesus.
At the end of this life, there is only one person you will stand before and answer for the way you lived. It
would be wise to keep that in mind each day as you live your life.
In the end, we will all stand before judgment. There is just one judge. His name is Jesus.
2Co 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the
things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
When you stand at the judgment, it will not be before a jury of your peers. It will not be your friends or
your enemies. It will not be your public. It will be only one – Jesus.
Let us remember that our primary purpose in life is to worship and serve Him. We were created by him
and for him.
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all
things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by
him, and for him:
Like I told that man so many years ago, “There is only one person in this church you have to
please…His name is Jesus.”
If you please Him, it really doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.