Services
Bible Class
Sunday - 10:00 AM
Morning Worship
Sunday - 11:00 AM
Evening Worship
Sunday - 6:30 PM
Bible Class
Wednesday - 7:00 PM
Bible Class
Sunday - 10:00 AM
Morning Worship
Sunday - 11:00 AM
Evening Worship
Sunday - 6:30 PM
Bible Class
Wednesday - 7:00 PM
Contact
1713 W State St
Bristol , VA 24201-3639
276-669-1094 - Phone
276-669-1094 - Fax
Send a message
1713 W State St
Bristol , VA 24201-3639
276-669-1094 - Phone
276-669-1094 - Fax
Send a message
Welcome to the
State Street Church of Christ (Bristol, VA)
State Street Church of Christ (Bristol, VA)
"People Pleasers"
by: Dan C. Bailey
There are two types of people pleasers in the world. There are those who are simply kind, considerate, and compassionate. They bring joy and pleasure to those about them. These are the righteous who do their best not to offend others. However, the righteous do not sacrifice the truth simply to "not" offend someone. Any time we teach the truth firmly and boldly, someone will be offended. They are offended because they love the world more than God and more than righteousness.
We read in Matthew 15:12-14: "Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying? But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up. Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Jesus was the best preacher to ever live. He was the only perfect preacher! Yet he offended the scribes and Pharisees. I suggest unto you that they loved their traditions more than they loved God.
This brings us to the group that seeks to please men more than God. Paul said, "For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). Paul preached the gospel in order to persuade men, rather than to please men. He affirmed that one can not be a servant of Christ by simply trying to please people instead of just teaching the truth. In the same epistle he said, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16). Elders, as well as preachers, and all Christians, must seek to honor and please God first and foremost. May God help us all to love the truth enough to preach, teach, and practice it without the desire to be "people pleasers!"