Should We Seek to Please People?

[Sue J Love]

Galatians 1:6-10 NKJV

“6I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

The Gospel Taught to Them/Us

Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven (see Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1-3).

The Different Gospel

The different gospel taught to them then, and to us today, is anything which contradicts the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles on what constitutes genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God. So the “other gospel” is just a perversion, a twisting, and an altering of what the true gospel of Christ teaches. And the reason so many are perverting the gospel of Christ is that they want to please people instead of desiring to please God. They want to attract the ungodly to their worldly gatherings.

I would say that the primary perversion of the gospel being taught and largely accepted today is a very diluted message which is intended to attract the ungodly and to appease human flesh. So what they are teaching is that faith in Jesus Christ is a mere verbal confession of Christ as Lord and an acknowledgment of Jesus’ death and resurrection. No death to sin, and no obedience to God and to his commands required. For they call that “works salvation,” which they teach is not of God and contrary to the Scriptures.

Secondary to that is where they still teach that we can be saved from our sins and on our way to heaven just by “praying the prayer to receive Christ.” They may or may not teach that we must repent of (turn from) our sins and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, but if they do, they often will teach repentance and obedience as something we “should do” but is not required of God for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God. So they still teach that we can be saved by lip service only, nothing else required.

A Bondservant of Christ

But if we are genuine believers in Christ who are his followers, we will obey his teachings and those of his New Testament apostles on the subject of the gospel of our salvation. But we need to study the Scriptures in their appropriate biblical context, comparing Scripture with Scripture, for many lies are being taught from Scriptures removed from their true context and then twisted to say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. So context is critical to correct biblical interpretation.

And in sharing the truth of the gospel with other people, we are never to soften the truth of what Jesus and his apostles taught in order that we do not offend other humans or turn them away from “the church.” We are not to hold back the truth we know offends just so people will like us and so they will not reject us, for that is utterly selfish, thinking only of ourselves without genuine regard for the salvation of other human lives. We are not here to be people pleasers but those who seek to please God with our lives always.

So, don’t rely on other humans to tell you the truth. Do not rely on “Gospel Tracts” in order to present the gospel message, either. For so many of them cut corners and teach Scriptures out of context and leave out some of the most essential elements of the gospel message. For Jesus did not die just to forgive us our sins so we can go on living in sin without guilt. He gave his life up for us in order to deliver us out of our addiction to sin so we will now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands always.

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Should I Not Preach Jesus

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.

Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.

So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.

Should We Seek to Please People?
An Original Work / June 20, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

[NBTT]

My wife and I tend to be too blunt. BAM here's the full truth. I am reminded of 1COR 3:2 where the milk comes first until the hearer is ready for the meat. Once people believe, the Holy Spirit will help us with changes that would have seemed impossible to us before.

 

[Sue J Love]

My wife and I tend to be too blunt. BAM here's the full truth. I am reminded of 1COR 3:2 where the milk comes first until the hearer is ready for the meat. Once people believe, the Holy Spirit will help us with changes that would have seemed impossible to us before.

NBTT, I read what you wrote. What message are you trying to give to me here?

 

[NBTT]

We are not to hold back the truth we know offends

We believers are all given the great commission. As part of the body of Christ we are not willing for any to perish. All people we share the gospel with are at different points in their faith journey. I've observed that if we are too blunt we sometimes drive people away even though we shared only truth.

If the presentation method of the good news is too blunt/sudden, the method itself not the message may scare people away.

So milk first. People then let the Holy Spirit in. Gradually the Holy Spirit works in everyone to accept more meat bringing increasing transformation.

 

[Bill]

Galatians 1:6-10 NKJV

“6I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. 10For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

The Gospel Taught to Them/Us

Jesus Christ taught that to come to him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in his power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

For God’s grace, which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for Jesus’ return. For it is not the one who claims he is “in Christ” who is “in Christ,” but it is the one who has denied self, died with Christ to sin, and who is now walking in obedience to our Lord and to his commands, in practice, and no longer in sin. We have the hope and the promise of eternal life with God in heaven (see Titus 2:11-14; 1 John 1-3).

The Different Gospel

The different gospel taught to them then, and to us today, is anything which contradicts the teachings of Christ and of his New Testament apostles on what constitutes genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God. So the “other gospel” is just a perversion, a twisting, and an altering of what the true gospel of Christ teaches. And the reason so many are perverting the gospel of Christ is that they want to please people instead of desiring to please God. They want to attract the ungodly to their worldly gatherings.

I would say that the primary perversion of the gospel being taught and largely accepted today is a very diluted message which is intended to attract the ungodly and to appease human flesh. So what they are teaching is that faith in Jesus Christ is a mere verbal confession of Christ as Lord and an acknowledgment of Jesus’ death and resurrection. No death to sin, and no obedience to God and to his commands required. For they call that “works salvation,” which they teach is not of God and contrary to the Scriptures.

Secondary to that is where they still teach that we can be saved from our sins and on our way to heaven just by “praying the prayer to receive Christ.” They may or may not teach that we must repent of (turn from) our sins and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands, but if they do, they often will teach repentance and obedience as something we “should do” but is not required of God for salvation from sin and for eternal life with God. So they still teach that we can be saved by lip service only, nothing else required.

A Bondservant of Christ

But if we are genuine believers in Christ who are his followers, we will obey his teachings and those of his New Testament apostles on the subject of the gospel of our salvation. But we need to study the Scriptures in their appropriate biblical context, comparing Scripture with Scripture, for many lies are being taught from Scriptures removed from their true context and then twisted to say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. So context is critical to correct biblical interpretation.

And in sharing the truth of the gospel with other people, we are never to soften the truth of what Jesus and his apostles taught in order that we do not offend other humans or turn them away from “the church.” We are not to hold back the truth we know offends just so people will like us and so they will not reject us, for that is utterly selfish, thinking only of ourselves without genuine regard for the salvation of other human lives. We are not here to be people pleasers but those who seek to please God with our lives always.

So, don’t rely on other humans to tell you the truth. Do not rely on “Gospel Tracts” in order to present the gospel message, either. For so many of them cut corners and teach Scriptures out of context and leave out some of the most essential elements of the gospel message. For Jesus did not die just to forgive us our sins so we can go on living in sin without guilt. He gave his life up for us in order to deliver us out of our addiction to sin so we will now serve him with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands always.

[Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 7:21-23; Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 9:23-26; John 4:31-38; John 10:27-30; John 13:13-17; John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 10:14-15; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-14; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Peter 2:9,21,24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10]

Should I Not Preach Jesus

Based off 1 Corinthians 9:16-10:13
An Original Work / July 4, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Woe to me should I not preach Jesus.
I’m compelled to preach the full gospel.
I make myself a slave to ev’ryone
To win their hearts to Christ.
All this I do for my Lord Jesus,
And for the sake of His Name;
Do it for the sake of His gospel,
So that I, its blessings gain.

Scripture notates the sins of others;
Written down for us as examples
To keep us from setting our hearts
On evil as did those of old.
Do not worship other gods of man;
Do not give your hearts to them;
Not partake in immorality.
Do not test your Lord and King.

So, be careful if you think you are
Standing firm in your faith in Jesus.
God has given his word to warn us,
So through faith we will not fall.
No temptation has o’ertaken you
Except what is commonplace.
God is faithful to not let you be
Tempted past what you can bear.
He gives the way of escape.

Should We Seek to Please People?
An Original Work / June 20, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

May Jesus fill us with his love and humor.

Please pay attention to the last word of that phrase

I understand full well what Jesus meant for the scripture, but Jesus was never married. So we do have to understand one of the detail, as a husband, yes, sometimes it works best to please others - thinking of my wife. LOL.

In general, i dont try to "Please" anyone as i feel it is important to be real in my Christianity. I suppose in a way, you could say i am jokingly curtious moreover with elderly, reminding them that they need to be like children to enter Heaven. Or I often jokingly say to the elderly I meet at restaurants, do your parents know that you're here eating a meal versus being in school.

Sometimes the Spirit lets me "Know" a person is heavenly bound (an elderly person) and i will say something about heaven to that person.

I'm thinking that the term "pleasing" or to please, should be substituted with being courteous with others or generous in the way in which we respond to people. Generous meaning speaking of uplifting things for the other person

Just my opinion

 

[Sue J Love]

We believers are all given the great commission. As part of the body of Christ we are not willing for any to perish. All people we share the gospel with are at different points in their faith journey. I've observed that if we are too blunt we sometimes drive people away even though we shared only truth.

If the presentation method of the good news is too blunt/sudden, the method itself not the message may scare people away.

So milk first. People then let the Holy Spirit in. Gradually the Holy Spirit works in everyone to accept more meat bringing increasing transformation.

"do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” NBTT, I am not on the internet sharing what I am learning from God and from his word each day of my own flesh, of my own design and purpose. But I am here as one called of God, and I share what the Lord leads me to share from his word each day, as he gives it to me to share. There are far too many voices today which are softening the gospel message in order to not offend, and there are far too many professing Christians who are walking in sin, living in addiction to sin, who are being coddled in their sins instead of being taught what the Scriptures teach about those who walk in sin and not in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord. So, I write what I write each day as led by the Lord in what to share as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will not compromise the truth of God's word in order to please people. People need to hear the truth, the whole truth. Too many are listening to the lies. In Christ, Sue Love

 

[Sue J Love]

May Jesus fill us with his love and humor.

Please pay attention to the last word of that phrase

I understand full well what Jesus meant for the scripture, but Jesus was never married. So we do have to understand one of the detail, as a husband, yes, sometimes it works best to please others - thinking of my wife. LOL.

In general, i dont try to "Please" anyone as i feel it is important to be real in my Christianity. I suppose in a way, you could say i am jokingly curtious moreover with elderly, reminding them that they need to be like children to enter Heaven. Or I often jokingly say to the elderly I meet at restaurants, do your parents know that you're here eating a meal versus being in school.

Sometimes the Spirit lets me "Know" a person is heavenly bound (an elderly person) and i will say something about heaven to that person.

I'm thinking that the term "pleasing" or to please, should be substituted with being courteous with others or generous in the way in which we respond to people. Generous meaning speaking of uplifting things for the other person

Just my opinion

Bill, I am going to share with you the same as what I shared with NBTT: "do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” NBTT, I am not on the internet sharing what I am learning from God and from his word each day of my own flesh, of my own design and purpose. But I am here as one called of God, and I share what the Lord leads me to share from his word each day, as he gives it to me to share. There are far too many voices today which are softening the gospel message in order to not offend, and there are far too many professing Christians who are walking in sin, living in addiction to sin, who are being coddled in their sins instead of being taught what the Scriptures teach about those who walk in sin and not in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord. So, I write what I write each day as led by the Lord in what to share as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will not compromise the truth of God's word in order to please people. People need to hear the truth, the whole truth. Too many are listening to the lies. In Christ, Sue Love

 

[NBTT]

Too many are listening to the lies.

I certainly never asked you to lie. I merely commented on the presentation method. Jesus who never sinned, when interacting with sinners had overwhelming love, compassion, forgiveness. We aim to be like Him. People who read christian forums should be shocked by the overwhelming love, compassion, forgiveness in all of our posts. Sadly we are ALL sinners and this is not the case. I'm first atop this guilty list.

So yes we have a strict and demanding Father but the admonishing from Him comes from perfect love and that should overwhelmingly come through first in all of our posts.

 

[Sue J Love]

I certainly never asked you to lie. I merely commented on the presentation method. Jesus who never sinned, when interacting with sinners had overwhelming love, compassion, forgiveness. We aim to be like Him. People who read christian forums should be shocked by the overwhelming love, compassion, forgiveness in all of our posts. Sadly we are ALL sinners and this is not the case. I'm first atop this guilty list.

So yes we have a strict and demanding Father but the admonishing from Him comes from perfect love and that should overwhelmingly come through first in all of our posts.

NBTT, I didn't accuse you of asking me to lie, just saying that so many people are lying and we need people who are speaking the truth, in love, to the people. For, giving the people the truth of what God's word teaches us is what the people need to hear. And so that is the ultimate in love and compassion. And I am not lacking in either. I speak the truth as Jesus spoke it, and as his apostles spoke it, and that is the ultimate in love and compassion. Too many people are not telling people the truth that they need to hear, and they are softening the message to the point to where the people are not getting the full gospel message that they need to hear. I speak as I am led by the Lord to speak. He knows what needs to be said.

 

[NBTT]

And so that is the ultimate in love and compassion. And I am not lacking in either.

I believe you but it's not always coming across. The Holy Spirit can give you feedback from different methods.

 

[Bill]

Bill, I am going to share with you the same as what I shared with NBTT: "do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” NBTT, I am not on the internet sharing what I am learning from God and from his word each day of my own flesh, of my own design and purpose. But I am here as one called of God, and I share what the Lord leads me to share from his word each day, as he gives it to me to share. There are far too many voices today which are softening the gospel message in order to not offend, and there are far too many professing Christians who are walking in sin, living in addiction to sin, who are being coddled in their sins instead of being taught what the Scriptures teach about those who walk in sin and not in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord. So, I write what I write each day as led by the Lord in what to share as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I will not compromise the truth of God's word in order to please people. People need to hear the truth, the whole truth. Too many are listening to the lies. In Christ, Sue Love

May Jesus fill us with His love and wisdom.

The title of this thread "should we seek to please people", this was what was asked.

Now i admit, i did a little tongue in cheek teasing about being pleasing to my wife. And any married couple will tell you there are moments where one will back off to allow the other to have thier way. You can see this when Mary seeks Jesus to help at the Wedding Feast.

Jesus protested, then complied to his mothers wishes.

So it's fair to say, that I think everyone at one point or another does seek to please people to a certain degree. Not in the manner of bowing down to the other person's wishes as far as philosophy goes. Like I certainly do not expect anyone here to bow down to the philosophy of the Catholic Church I mean that would be crazy expecting the Baptist and the Methodist and the Pentecostals and everyone else who are In This Crowd, it would be crazy for me to expect them to just drop what they believe and to follow the Catholics. And the same thing is true for me going the other direction. I come here to discuss to talk to share and to be a brother and sister with all of you as you are with me.

And as I am a guest here, I don't teach it, I don't teach my church here. I share some of it and if it's something way off I will try to bring that thinking back to where it should be to a point anyways.

There are things that I can tell you straight out that I do not share here, because plainly most Christians including Catholics don't believe in it.

Now we see in the scripture how God took some of the Apostles to another location. There are moments in the Old Testament where people see and talk with angels. But few Christians are called to do things on a daily basis where they experience the spiritual in a deep way, and they do not see and talk with angels. There's just not many people that do that. And those who do experience those things are afraid to share it with their brothers and sisters, because the brothers and sisters will not accept them.

My favorite scripture passage he shall not break the bending read nor put out the flickering flame.

Sue, the faith of the Christians today is the flickering flame, it is the bending read. But I cannot share with you the things that I would like to, because the faith that is required is deep. And people just don't have it today.

So yes in a manner, I do have to please people because they cannot handle the deeper part of truth.

The Lord will only share with you what you can handle.

Corey Ten Boom said once that faith is like a bag of bricks. And I understand that, because sharing with you the things that I know would be too heavy. And sharing with anyone here and many people that I even know I cannot. It's just too heavy for their faith.

You're right to say that people have gotten soft in their faith, and you're also right to say that there are many who follow lies. I have tried to share with you here and talk Jesus a number of times the different lies that are being taught. But those that don't want to listen plainly don't listen.