Sermon Cloud

Introduction
There is something terrible eating away at our church at this very moment. There is a destroyer in our midst that we have become so accustomed to we fail to even notice the destruction it is working right here and right now. There is an enemy so formidable within our community that our church has nearly been rendered impotent in its presence. And this formidable enemy, this destroyer, that is right here right now eating away at our church will not stop until your life and the life of the church have flatlined. You know who this enemy is, don’t you? You know who this destroyer is, don’t you? You know who it is that is eating away at this church and sucking away its power, don’t you? You know what it is that seeks to kill you and the church with you, don’t you? You should. You should know it very well. Because it lives in you. It is your pre-occupation with pleasing other people. It is your lust for the approval of other people. It is your tendency to live as a people pleaser. 

None of us are immune to this disease. Even those of us who often brag that we don’t care what other people think prove by that very statement that we do. If we truly didn’t care what other people thought then we’d have no need to explain ourselves. But we do explain ourselves because we think that people will be impressed by our apparent lack of concern for the opinion of others. The truth of the matter is that we hunger for the approval of other people. You could even say that we have an approval addiction. We want our fix of human approval so much that we’re willing to hurt ourselves in the process, we’re willing to hurt others in the process, we’re willing to sacrifice all types of things to get the human approval we think we need. Our approval addiction influences how we speak and how we live. It also influences who we live for. I know we’d like to think that we could live both for the approval of people and for the approval of God but that’s wishful thinking that will never come true. They are two vastly different audiences that judge you by two very different standards – by contradictory standards, even. It’s impossible to live for both. It’s like trying to play for the Celtics and the Lakers at the exact same time and hoping that both teams will be pleased with your performance.

Let me read to you the inspired words of Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ, from Galatians 1:10: “Am I now trying to win human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Those are very strong words, aren’t they? “If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Oh, that cuts to the heart. At any given moment of our lives we are living either to please other people or to please Jesus Christ. One or the other. So how do we know? How do we know, at any given moment, if we are living to please people or to please Jesus? How do we know, in any given circumstance, if our hearts are truly seeking the approval of people or if they are truly seeking the approval of God? How do we know if we are living as God pleasers or as people pleasers? These questions are answered for us in Acts 3:1-4:31. Turn there with me if you will. As we read about Peter and John’s experience here we will observe three things that will be true of us when we are living to please God instead of living to please men. We will see that God pleasers do not fear what other people think of them, God pleasers do not fear what other people can do to them, and God pleasers throw themselves and their future upon the mercy of God.    

God Pleasers Do Not Fear What Other People Think of Them
First, we see that God-pleasers do not fear what other people think of them. Acts 3 opens up not long after Pentecost. Jesus has poured the Holy Spirit out upon his Church, just as he promised, and the Church has grown from 120 to over 3,120 in a matter of hours. This growing Christian community is already earning quite the reputation because of their obvious devotion to one another. They are commonly devoted to fellowship with each other, to praying with and for each other, to sharing themselves and their possessions with each other, and to gathering regularly together in formal and informal places. So it’s no surprise that as Acts 3 opens we find two of Jesus’ Apostles – Peter and John – going to the temple to pray together. As they approached the temple gate they would encounter a man who was lame from birth, a man who hadn’t walked a day in his life. Verse 2 says that this man was carried to the same place everyday so that he could beg for money from those who entered the temple. And he wouldn’t have been alone. It was very common for people in need to beg for money near the temple entrance. It was much like the freeway entrance is in our day and culture. It would be odd if you didn’t see someone there begging for money. So Peter and John would not have been at all surprised when the lame man called for their attention and asked them for money. But the lame man would most certainly be surprised by their response. Peter and John looked straight at the man and Peter said to the lame man, “Look at us!” The man did as Peter asked expecting that Peter and John were about to give him some money. But he was wrong. Peter then said, matter of factly, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” With that Peter reached down with his right hand and pulled the lame man to his feet. Verse 7 and 8 explain what happened next, “instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God.” This is not like what you might see on Christian television. This is not the old woman who puts aside her walker for 45 seconds, struggles slowly across the stage hunched over, and claims to be healed. No, this was a total and indisputable healing. The man who had never walked in his life was now not only walking, but jumping, and leaping, and praising God.

Precisely because it was total and indisputable the massive crowd at the temple was amazed. They knew this man. They knew he had been lame from birth. They saw him everyday begging outside of the temple courts. And now they saw him not just walking but jumping! When the crowd saw the formerly lame man holding on to Peter and John in gratitude they ran to them in astonishment. They looked at Peter and John with awe over the miracle they had performed. Or, rather, the miracle they thought Peter and John performed. Look at verses 12 and 13, “When Peter saw this, he said to them: ‘People of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus.” Now if Peter was concerned about the approval of people he wouldn’t have said this. He was in the position that you and I want to be in. He had a throng of people offering him their approval. He had a throng of people offering him their praise. He had a throng of people marveling over just how wonderful he was. And he refused all of it. Instead of receiving the attention and the adoration he deflects it from John and himself and redirects it toward God. Why are you amazed at this? I can see how you would be amazed if we did this by our own power or by our own godliness. But we didn’t. The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob did this by his power. And he did it to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Now to our ears this may sound like Peter is just giving a simple and honest explanation of what happened. And it is that. But it is much more than that. To their ears this would have been shocking, even offensive. Because just a few months earlier they rejected Jesus as a mere man and had him crucified as a blasphemer. Now Peter is saying that the God of their fathers healed this man. Why? Because of his faith in the same Jesus and for the glory of the same Jesus who they had rejected as a blasphemer. If Peter was looking to please these people he would not have said this. If Peter was looking to win their approval he would not have said this. And he most certainly would not have said what we find in verses 13 and 14. Peter, with no one but John at his side, looks out into this vast Jewish crowd that has gathered around him and he begins to hurl at them accusation after accusation. “You handed him over to be killed.” “You disowned him before Pilate.” “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.” “You killed the author of life.” Does that sound like a people pleaser to you? We can’t even tell our friend that we don’t like their new haircut. Peter looks out at a crowd of people and tells them point blank, “You killed God.”   

And then he goes on to preach at them. Nobody likes to be preached at. Trust me, I would know. Let’s read verses 17-26. He explains that Jesus is the Messiah – the Deliverer – that God promised them through the Old Testament prophets. He explains that this Jesus – whom they killed as a blasphemer – is the very one God sent to bless them. He tells them that, yes, they can be forgiven not only of this sin but of all their sins if they simply repent and turn to Jesus in faith. He tells them that if they do this they will experience times of refreshing from the Lord and they will take part in the restoration of all things. But then he tells them that if they do not repent and turn to Jesus they will remain lost in their wickedness and they will be completely cut off from God and their people. In other words, Peter boldly proclaims the gospel to a group of people who are hostile to the gospel. Does this sound like a people pleaser to you? Not at this moment. At this moment Peter was living for God’s pleasure. As one who was living for God’s pleasure – as a God pleaser -- he did not fear what other people would think of him. And this freed him to obey God and to preach the gospel. Something he could not have done if he was seeking human approval.

God Pleasers Do Not Fear What People Can Do to Them
Peter shows us that God pleasers do not fear what people think of them. He also shows us that God pleasers do not fear what people can do to them. Remember that Peter and John are doing all of this and saying all of this at the temple, where the Sadducees and the temple guard, and the priests are all present. These were the same people who were instrumental in putting Jesus to death. And now Peter is saying that the man they put to death was God himself. This would be like standing in the middle of an airport and shouting “Long live Al Qaeda” or standing in the middle of a KKK rally and announcing “I voted for Obama over McCain or – even worse to say at a KKK rally – I voted for Reuben Studdard over Clay Aikin.” The powers that be are going to take notice. And they are not going to be pleased. And so it was with Peter and John. As chapter 4 opens we find the priests, the temple guards, and the Sadducees very displeased with what they’re hearing. And even more displeased that some in the crowd are responding enthusiastically to this message about Jesus and his resurrection. So they seized Peter and John and threw them in jail overnight.

The next day the high priest, and Caiphas, and the other leaders of Jerusalem gathered together and had Peter and John brought before them. “By what power or what name did you do this?”, they asked. This scene is eerily familiar. Jesus was interrogated by these same men just a couple of months earlier. And they had him killed. Peter and John knew that they could face the very same outcome at the hands of these powerful men. And, knowing that, you might expect them to tell their interrogators exactly what they want to hear. You might expect them to do everything they can to talk themselves onto their good side. That’s what most of us would do. We’d tell them what they wanted to hear so that we could walk out of there alive. But that’s not even close to what they do. Lets read 4:8-12. Peter stands before the most powerful group of men in his nation and says this, “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead…Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved.” It says in verse 13 that even the powerful men who were questioning Peter and John were amazed by their courage. Clearly, either Peter has a death wish or Peter has chosen to please God rather than men. And as a God pleaser he does not fear what mere men can do to him.

And, oh, how these men wanted to do something to them. They wanted them jailed. Or dead. But most of all they just wanted them to shut up. They wanted them to stop talking about Jesus. So they told Peter and John, Do not speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Verse 18 says that this was a direct command. A direct command from the most powerful men in their nation. A direct command from the very men who murdered Jesus. And Peter and John refused to obey. I want everyone to look very carefully at verses 19 and 20: But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Wow! Peter is like “WHAT!?” Peter’s talking as if he has all the power, though by human standards he has none of it. And his interrogators, who do have all the power (humanly speaking) respond as if they have no power. They let Peter and John go. Why? Because so many people had witnessed this miracle. And the leaders feared that if they dealt with Peter and John right then and there the people would be angry. They feared what the common people could do to them. But Peter and John? Peter and John did not fear what these powerful people could do to them. Not because they had a death wish. But because their hearts were set on pleasing God. As God pleasers they did not fear what other people thought of them and they did not fear what other people could do to them.

God Pleasers Throw Themselves on the Mercy of God
This is what you and I are called to. You and I are called to devote our lives to pleasing God without any fear of what people think of us. You and I are called to devote our lives to pleasing God without any fear of what people can do to us. Do you remember the Scripture we opened with tonight? Galatians 1:10, ““Am I now trying to win human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” If your desire is to serve Jesus Christ then you absolutely must live for the approval of God and not for the approval of man. When it comes time to make a decision – no matter how large and no matter how small – you must make your decision according to what pleases God and not according to what pleases man. When it comes time to speak – whether to one person or a thousand people – you must speak according to what pleases God and not according to what pleases man. God demands that you don’t fear what people think of you. God demands that you don’t care what people can do to you. God demands that you live for him and not for human beings. Just as we see Peter doing in Acts 3 and 4.

How are you doing with that? Is it fair to say that you’re not meeting God’s demands? Is it fair to say that everyday you still say things to please other people and do things to please other people? Is it fair to say that you’re not doing some of the things you know would please God because you’re concerned with pleasing other people? Is it fair to say that you’re not saying some of the things you know would please God because you’re concerned with pleasing other people? If so, then it is also fair to say that you have failed God and you have failed to serve Jesus Christ.

And you’re not alone.

I know that Peter seems like a fearless hero, especially as we read the events in Acts 3 and 4. It seems like he’s mastered this whole God pleaser thing. It seems like he’s totally overcome the temptation to be a people pleaser. But it wouldn’t be long before Peter, too, gave into the temptation to please people instead of pleasing God. In Galatians 2 we read about Peter’s interaction with the Galatian church. The Galatian church was made up of Gentiles, of non-Jewish Christians, and at first Peter shared close fellowship with them. But then a group of Jewish Christians arrived. They were appalled to see Peter eating with uncircumcised people. If Peter were living to please God in that moment he would have looked these men in their eyes and said, “The Galatian Christians are my brothers in Jesus Christ.” But, instead, he caved into their pressure. He separated himself from the Galatian Christians because he wanted to please his Jewish brothers. He chose to please men instead of God. Just like us, even Peter was looking for the approval of other people. 

If even the leader of Jesus’ Apostles could not resist the temptation to please people, how can we? If even the leader of Jesus’ Apostles cannot consistently live for the approval of God, how can we? The truth? We can’t. We can’t. We are addicted to human approval. We crave it. We chase it. Left to ourselves we can never consistently live for the pleasure and approval of God instead of the pleasure and approval of human beings. I don’t say that so you have an excuse to despair and give up trying. I say that so you have a reason to rejoice and try all the more. And why would you do that? Because while you cannot consistently live for God’s pleasure someone else already has. And he did it for you. He did it in your place. Jesus Christ lived every moment of his life in service to God. Every word he spoke, every action he took, every decision he made was made to please God, and not to please men. There was not a single thing he thought, said, or did that was contrary to God’s desires. Jesus’ entire existence was lived in service to God for the pleasure of God. As the True and Perfect God Pleaser Jesus did not fear what other people thought of him. People cursed him, lied on him, ridiculed him, and accused him yet he kept on living for God’s approval and not theirs. As the True and Perfect God Pleaser Jesus did not fear what other people could do to him. People conspired together to unjustly arrest him, they tried him, and they prepared to murder him yet even as these things unfolded Jesus kept on living for God’s pleasure and not theirs. Ultimately he would be rejected by his own people. And ultimately he would be killed by his own people. But even in this Jesus was seeking God’s pleasure, for his death was not just any death. He died for a very specific purpose. Because he alone lived his entire life for God’s pleasure he alone was able to die in your place and take all of God’s wrath for your sin upon himself. Jesus perfectly pleased God --- not only in his life – but in his death. And he did all of this on your behalf and in your place. So that even though you fail to please God, and you fail at this again and again, if your faith is in Jesus Christ God is pleased with you. God is pleased with you – not because of your perfect performance – but because Jesus has performed perfectly in your place.

And this is why God pleasers are marked by a third trait: not only do they strive to live for God’s pleasure without fearing what other people think of them, not only do they strive to live for God’s pleasure without fearing what other people can do to them, whether they succeed or fail they constantly throw themselves upon the mercy of God. God pleasers throw themselves upon the mercy of God. Let’s read verses 23-31. These men and women could have chosen to stop preaching the gospel in order to protect their own social standing, in order to protect their own lives. But they didn’t. Why? Were they superhuman? Were they fearless? Did they have something you and I don’t have? No. They were no different from you and me. They were able to proclaim the gospel in the face of such terrible opposition simply because they believed the gospel. They believed that Jesus Christ had restored them to a right relationship with the living God. If every human being alive rejected them it did not matter because they knew that through Jesus God accepted them. If the Jewish leaders did put them to death it did not matter because they knew that through Jesus God had granted them eternal life. And because Jesus had made them right with God they could approach God’s throne boldly in prayer and ask for his help and his power to live as God pleasers instead of people pleasers. And that’s just what they did. Look again at verse 29 “Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

Conclusion
They did not pray that God would make their enemies like them. They did not pray that God would eliminate the threat that stood against them. They prayed for the power to live as God pleasers in the midst of people who were hostile toward them. And verse 31 says that their prayer was answered. Because they threw themselves on the mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ they were able to live for God’s pleasure instead of man’s pleasure.   Brothers, sisters, you can do the same thing. If you first throw yourself upon the mercy of God then you can live as a God pleaser instead of a people pleaser. If you put all of your hope in Jesus Christ then you can live without fearing what other people think of you and you can live without fearing what other people can do to you.

You can say no to people even when it disappoints them. You can tell the truth to people even when it hurts them. You can do what you need to do even when it frustrates others. You can confront people even when it’s uncomfortable for both of you. You can show people who you really are even when it’s humiliating. You can do all of these things because you no longer have the need to get your fix of human approval. Human approval has no power over you now. Because you know in your heart that your value and your identity are not found in how many people like you or in how much they like you. Your value and your identity are found in the fact that the only True and Righteous Judge in the universe loves you, and accepts you, and approves of you because of Jesus Christ. He sees you as you are and he has chosen to adopt you as his son or his daughter and to give you all of the eternal riches of his glory. And so, now, not only are you free to do all of those other things, you are also free to preach the gospel. To preach the gospel. To tell people who Jesus is and what Jesus has done. You can do this because you no longer have to worry about people rejecting you, about people hating you, about people using their power to harm you. These things that used to scare you don’t matter anymore. Because even if they do reject you, even if they do hate you, even if they harm you, even if they kill you, they cannot take away the peace, the value, the meaning, the fulfillment, the hope, the freedom, and the eternal life that you have been given through Jesus Christ the True and Perfect God Pleaser.