Who are you trying to please?

Sunday Sermon
August 9th 2009
Rhema Community Church

Sermonic Skeleton

Sermonic Scripture: ESV Galatians 1:10-12 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. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Sermonic Theme: Saved and Set Free (The Doctrine of Saving Grace)

Sermonic Subject: Motivation for Christian Service (What’s yours?)

Sermonic Tension: You cannot please God and man at the same time.

Sermonic Sentence: Free yourself from the opinion of men so that you may freely serve God.(This lesson teaches us how we are set free from all anxiety.)

Sermonic Question: Who are you trying to please God, man or self? (The question every Christian must answer.)

Sermonic Help: REVELATION Refers both to the process by which God discloses the divine nature and the mystery of the divine will and purpose to human beings, and to the corpus of truth disclosed. Some theologians maintain that revelation consists of both God’s activity in salvation history through word and deed, culminating in Jesus (who mediates and fulfills God’s self-revelation) and the ongoing activity of God to move people to yield to, accept and personally appropriate that reality. General revelation maintains that God’s existence and particular attributes can be ascertained through an innate sense of God’s reality and conscience as well as through observation of the universe and history. Special revelation refers to the more specific divine self-disclosure to and through certain persons that brings about human salvation.

GENERAL REVELATION: A term used to declare that God reveals something about the divine nature through the created order. This self-revealing of God through creation is called general because it only gives “general” or “indirect” information about God, including the fact of God’s existence and that God is powerful. This is in contrast to special revelation, which is more “specific” and “direct,” and includes the appearance of the living Word (Jesus Christ himself) and the written Word of God (the Scriptures), revealing a holy, loving and just God who graciously provides forgiveness of sin. General revelation is likewise “general” in that it is available to all humankind, in contrast to the divine self-disclosure that God revealed to certain persons.

SPECIAL REVELATION: God’s divine self-revelation evidenced specifically in salvation history and culminating in the incarnation as understood through Scripture. Although the Bible seemingly affirms both general and special revelation, only special revelation can disclose completely our sinful predicament, as well as God’s promise of salvation and its fulfillment in Christ.

Sermonic Title: “Who are you trying to please?”

Sermonic Structure:

I. PLEASE GOD WITH YOUR MINISTRY (V.10) … a servant of Christ.

II. PLEASE GOD WITH YOUR MESSAGE (V.11) … not man’s gospel.

III. PLEASE GOD WITH YOUR MEMORY (V.12) … received through a revelation

a. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus is real.
b. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus has risen.
c. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus reigns.
d. The fact that Christ was revealed to Paul says Jesus is soon to return.