Reverence of God

​Hey there SPV!
Have any of you started digging into Galatians yet? We just started a brand-new sermon series last Sunday and I’m asking everyone to read along with me so that we’re all studying the book together. As for the weekly emails, I thought I’d gravitate towards some of the verses in Galatians that for whatever reason didn’t “make the cut” for the sermon. 
So, for this week let’s turn our attention to Galatians 1:10.
“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”
Paul is making it known that what he is communicating isn’t going to be popular or well received by everyone; he’s going to ruffle some proverbial feathers. But at the end of the day, he answers to God and cares far more about what God thinks than any human criticism or pushback he might get. 
Personally, I believe the phrase “the fear of the Lord” is an often-abused text, used by pastors and leaders to spiritually intimidate people. But…there is something to be said for having a healthy respect and reverence for God.  I genuinely believe we’d have A LOT less brokenness in our world if we all carried that reverence /fear of the Lord. People just wouldn’t cheat, steal, lie, assault, take advantage of, etc. if they were properly and humbly submitted to Him. 
But I’ve also seen this verse abused as some feel it gives them a license to be a jerk. That line of thinking goes like this: “I obviously possess the mind & will of God AND I don’t really care if others get mad at me or not, I need to follow my convictions!” 
I’ll just say this: there are A LOT of presumptions when taking such an attitude. 
So yes, caring what God thinks is far more important than what others think but we will see that as this epistle builds, God is quite interested in the depth of our character that is ultimately driven by the person, work and fruits of the Holy Spirit. When we operate according to that (spoiler alert), there aren’t any rules you have to worry about (against such there is no law). 
Much love to you all, Pastor Chris
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Christopher Cahall
chris@stpetevineyard.org
www.spv.org