Galatians 1:10-12 You are a bondservent of Christ, so live like one.

Galatians 1:10-12 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

When preaching the gospel, remember, you are not seeking to please men. The gospel is not a message that unspiritual men will ever accept: “A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (2 Corinthians 2:14). In preaching the gospel “you will be hated by all nations because of [Christ’s] name” (Matthew 24:9), for “do you suppose [Christ] came to grant peace on earth?” He is clear, He did not come to bring peace, “but rather division” (Luke 12:51, see also Matthew 10:34). Jesus came to even set households against themselves (Luke 12:52-53). Parents will hate their children and children will hate their parents because they preach the gospel. As Christians, we should expect this. We are not above Christ, our Master. Since “they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!” (Matthew 10:24-25.

There is much to learn from Paul here.
First, I implore you fellow brothers and sisters, heirs in Christ, count it all as loss; for “He who loves father or mother more than [Christ] is not worthy of [Christ]; and he who loves son or daughter more than [Christ] is not worthy of [Christ].” As Paul so willingly did because he knew Christ personally, take up your cross, die to yourself and those of this world, and follow Christ (Matthew 10:37-39). The world has been crucified to you and you have been crucified to the world (cf. Galatians 6:14). The world hates you, for you are not of it (cf. John 15:19-20). The world will have nothing to do with you, and so have nothing to do with the world.
Second, do not fear men, but fear God, as Paul does. Paul does not wish to disappoint God, as no son desires to disappoint his father. Seek the favor of your Father in heaven, not the favor of men. You do not belong to the world any longer. You served the world enough while you were of the world. Now, seek the favor of God in your preaching of the Gospel.

Many modern American churches, let us take the United Church of Christ since they are making headlines recently, have traded the offensive, divisive gospel of Jesus Christ for a seeker-sensitive gospel that does not teach people the offensiveness of their sin, it is not a gospel that demands that God’s fame and adoration is the highest good, does not preach Jesus Christ crucified and risen again as the sole Lord and Mediator for mankind, and certainly does not preach God’s right to elect those whom He chooses. Rather, they preach that all are welcome into their “church” just as they are, and that God will accept them in their sin. This is not the gospel (it is a false gospel, see Galatians 1:6-9) but an abhorrence to God. They are not preaching the necessity of repentance and regeneration, essentials to the gospel.
They have left their first love and forgotten that “we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16), when we preach the gospel. Do not forget this, Christian. Do not be like them, “peddling the word of God,” but be sincere, for “as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God” (17). They would rather please men than God. Do not be like them, but please to seek your Father who is in heaven. If you seek to please men, you will have no reward in heaven; you are not a bondservant of Christ.

You are, however, bondservants of Christ (I am talking to true-elect Christians here). As such, your message is not one that is from men. Though you have received it through the kerygma of the Church faithfully handed down through the proper relay of God’s Word from Scripture, the ultimate source and authority of your message is from God. You are not like Paul in that you have not received it through a direct revelation from Christ, but that does not make your message less reliable. If anything, it is more reliable because it is in accord with that preached by many witnesses (from Paul, Peter, James, John, and Luke, to Luther, Wesley, Edwards, MacArthur, Piper, and your own pastor).

Leaving your own personal preaching of the gospel, let us consider Paul’s gospel, and how that it is to be trusted. Paul did not receive the good news he preached from the lips of other apostles through their teaching, but rather directly from Jesus through a revelation (a self disclosure by Christ) of some sort. Despite this, Paul’s gospel lines up with that gospel preached by the other apostles. Thus, we can trust Paul’s gospel and his words in Scripture as coming with the authority of God. So I exhort you, trust Paul’s words, every last one of them. Whether Paul is teaching on the proper roles of women or the fact that homosexuality is a sin. Take Paul as an example to follow, and live with his Christ-centered vision of all things. You can get this only through prayer and meditation upon the Word of God. This will keep you from seeking to please men and will keep you striving to please God.