Being a People-Pleaser

Father, we come to your word written.

We confess before you that

without the help of your Holy Spirit,

we cannot really understand your word.

And Father, so we ask that your Holy Spirit

would move in our lives,

that your Holy Spirit would make your word alive to us,

and that your word would touch our hearts

so that we may perfectly love you

and worthily magnify your Holy Name.

And we ask this in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So I don't know how many of you know this,

but there's always an 8 o'clock service

before the 10 o'clock service.

I guess we didn't have it for some of the summer

when we were here in the school,

but for most of the time there is.

In fact, for a while this morning,

it looked like there was just going to be Barbara and me,

and then three other people came.

So we did a little service,

and one of the things I do at the service

is I give a shorter form of my sermon.

And one of the things you're going to notice in a moment

is that the sermon's about people-pleasing,

amongst other things,

but that's one of the issues, about people-pleasing.

I'm sure this is a very helpful service.

This will be a very helpful sermon for you

because you all have friends

who have problems with people-pleasing,

and so you'll learn things to share with them,

but none of you have to deal with it.

Anyway, so I do this sermon on people-pleasing,

and then in the service,

after the sermon,

in that service,

you have the offertory,

and then you have the confession.

And so I'm sitting down,

I'm kneeling down,

and I have a little bit of a,

you know, like 10,

20 seconds of silence

before we say the words of the confession.

And I always say,

you know, what should I confess?

I ask, you know,

Father, show me what I should confess my sins about.

And then it really,

it hit me like a lightning bolt

that I was depressed,

mildly depressed,

because I didn't think my sermon

had been very successful.

In other words,

the reason it wasn't successful

because I wasn't sure if people liked it.

So I had done a sermon on people-pleasing,

and then I was depressed

because I didn't think I'd please them.

So you see,

I need a lot of prayer.

I'm sure.

And,

but the,

the,

the,

we are going to look a little bit

about people,

at people-pleasing.

You know,

people-pleasing,

it's a little bit of a,

not,

it's not a complicated thing.

It's a,

it's a very present problem.

Some people

don't have a problem

with people-pleasing at all

because they are socially maladjusted.

At different times,

there's nobody here in the church

like this right now,

I don't think,

but at certain times,

we have had somebody

who's been a part of our church

for a while,

and they don't pick up

any social cues at all,

period.

I remember one fellow

who's,

who's now gone to be with Jesus,

but he was part of the congregation

for four or five years,

and part of the hard thing

for the congregation to realize

was that you had to be

basically rude with him

because he wouldn't pick up

the normal cues,

right?

So one of the things

he had a problem with

would be putting his arm

around women,

for instance.

So the woman had to say,

I almost said his name,

you know,

don't do this.

It's wrong.

Like,

you have to be really

blunt and direct.

So those are people,

there are some people

who are just basically

socially maladjusted.

They don't pick up people,

they don't people-please

because it's sort of as if

they don't even understand

entirely that there are people.

And there are some people

who are just healthy.

I don't know what it is.

They have the right genes,

they have the right parents,

they had the right school,

the right coach,

the right teachers.

They're just pretty balanced

and they rarely seem to struggle

with people-pleasing.

But for most of us,

it's a bit of a problem.

And in fact,

what I'm about to say

might actually depress you

a little bit

because,

well,

look what the Bible says.

It can be actually

sort of depressing.

If you turn your Bibles

to Galatians 1,

Galatians 1:10

verse 10,

Galatians 1,

10,

that's where we began

the text that Jeremiah

read this morning for us.

We're going through

the book of Galatians,

by the way.

That's why we're looking

at this next week.

We'll do chapter 2,

verse 1 to 10.

We're sort of going through.

It'll take us 13 weeks.

This is week 2.

And here's what Paul says.

He's just said

that those who change

the gospel,

let them be accursed.

And I talked about that

in last Sunday's sermon.

You can go online

and listen to it.

And then in verse 10,

he says,

For am I now seeking

the approval

man or of God?

Or am I trying

to please man?

If I were still

trying to please man,

that's human beings,

I would not be

a servant of Christ.

Now that's a pretty

hard saying, isn't it?

If I were still

trying to please man,

I would not be

a servant of Christ.

If you could put

the first point up,

here's what Paul's saying.

It'll come up.

The more I am motivated

by people pleasing,

the less I serve

Jesus Christ.

The more I am motivated

by people pleasing,

the less I serve

Jesus Christ.

That's what the Bible said.

If I were still

trying to please man,

I would not be

a servant of Christ.

Now for some of us,

this is really depressing.

As soon as I raise

the topic of people pleasing,

you think, oh yeah,

that's a big problem

that I have.

I wish I could be

free of it.

And now I go ahead

and share the really

good news with you

that to the extent

you have that problem,

you're not following Jesus.

So I've just added

an extra large burden

on your back.

And now I'll say

the end of the sermon,

go in peace to love

and serve the Lord.

And off we go,

even more depressed

than we were before.

because now we're not only

have a people pleasing problem,

but Jesus has said

that we're not following him.

Now, just a couple of things.

The text,

if you look at the text again,

if I were still trying

to please man,

I would not be

a servant of Christ.

Just to try to,

just chill out, right?

What is it the Bible

is saying here?

First of all,

it's not saying

that you're not a Christian.

Okay?

This letter is written

to Christians in a church.

So the Bible text

isn't saying

if you're a people pleaser,

you're not mine.

No, it's not saying that.

It's saying something

which if we think about it

is actually true

to the extent

that I am concerned

about people pleasing

when the pointy edge

of the gospel,

when different commands come

that might mean

that I have to be different

than the way Canadians are

or think

or do things

that Canadians think

are weird,

like pray

or go to church

or stuff like that,

the more that we're consumed

with people pleasing,

the harder it's going to be

to do that.

But the text isn't saying

you're not a Christian.

Okay?

It's just saying

it's affecting

your discipleship,

not your salvation.

Now, here's another thing

because some of us

might say,

well, you know,

George,

this is sort of

vaguely interesting,

but I don't have a problem

with people pleasing.

If you could put up

the next point.

Here's the thing

which often goes

in many of our hearts.

We human beings

are so deeply controlled

by people pleasing

that we don't often recognize

that the way we move away

from people pleasing,

or at least we think

we're moving away

from people pleasing,

is just moving into

two different forms

of people pleasing.

When I get sick

of people pleasing,

I move to either

pride,

narcissism,

or cynicism

and despair.

Now, why are these

basically both forms

of people pleasing?

And it's interesting,

right?

Because,

like,

what is it that

our culture

basically says

around marriage?

Our culture says

around marriage

that we need

to find somebody

who's going to be

our soulmate,

who can

encourage us

and keep us going

in our projects

and can affirm us.

Well, that's what

our culture says.

Our culture says

around our own

personal thing

that nobody can tell you

how to be happy.

You have to choose

how to be happy yourself,

make yourself happy.

You have to do

all of these things.

Basically,

what it's actually saying

is it's exalting

people pleasing

where I now move

to the point

where I say,

well, I'm not going

to try to please

you folks.

You should please me.

It's still a form

of people pleasing,

right?

But I've given up

on the idea

of trying to please

you folks.

I now want to say,

why am I trying

to please you folks

if you knew

how wonderful I was

and if you knew

how my needs

are just so important

and more important

than yours?

So you should please me.

And, you know,

a lot of models,

a lot of TV,

you know,

we want to move

towards a place

where there's nothing

to forgive or forget,

where we're marching

only to our own drummer

and people have

to affirm

and applaud us.

And so it looks

as if we're moving

away from people pleasing,

but all we've done

is sort of just said,

everybody has to please me.

You're still in a

people pleasing world.

And another very

common thing,

and it's funny

because there's a lot

of Christians

who think that

cynicism and despair

is a form of holiness

and spiritual maturity,

but it's not.

And one of the ways

that we deal

with the people pleasing

problem is we've just

basically been

not very good at it.

And because we're not

very good at people pleasing,

then we say about people,

everybody's stupid,

everybody lies,

everybody sins,

everybody's a hypocrite,

nobody's going to do

the right thing.

Then we'll say they're dumb,

they're stupid,

nothing works,

institutions break down,

okay?

But, you know,

when we get that way,

first of all,

that is not a form

of holiness.

That is a sick form,

a sickness of a problem

or a form of a problem,

another form of that

basic problem

of people pleasing.

Our desire to please people

and to get a sense

of self-worth

and identity

from people's affirmation

of us

has failed.

So we don't sort of

look for a solution

to people pleasing,

we just sort of gag on it.

But still deep down,

and you can often see it

because there'll still be

attempts to people please,

but it's just another form

of people pleasing.

It's one that's despaired

on being successful

at it,

but does not have

an alternative of it.

Why do we know

that this is not

a form of spiritual,

some of you might say,

no, George,

it is this form of holiness.

Look at Romans chapter 3,

Romans 3 · chapter mention

for all have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God.

Look at the,

look at Psalms,

like Psalm 58

and Psalm 109

about how people's mouths

are like snakes' holes

and vipers

and no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no.

Everything in the gospel

is centered around the fact

that for God so loved the world

that he gave his one

and only son

to the end

that all that believe in him

will have eternal life.

God loves people.

He knows they're sinners,

but he loves them.

So this text here

in verse 10 again

where it says,

if I were still trying

to please man,

I would not be a servant

of Christ.

It's a challenge

for those of us

who choose pride

and narcissism.

It's a challenge

for us who choose

cynicism and despair.

It's a prize.

It is a,

it is,

it applies to us

who just have

a straight up form

of people pleasing

that keeps messing up

our lives.

And,

it has,

it has a,

it has a word

to all of us.

But it's really

weird

because it looks

as if

Paul just sort of

throws that line in,

if I were still

trying to please man,

I not would be

a servant of Christ.

And some of you

who remember the text

might say,

but George,

you know,

he says that,

but then he ignores it.

It's a,

it's as if he's

one of these guys,

George,

that just sort of

throws a bomb

into the room

to get everybody

stirred up

and then leaves

and go somewhere else.

And that's a little bit

what it seems like

here in the text.

If I were still

trying to please man,

I would not be

a servant of Christ.

Oh,

then I took him

to talk about

how I saw Jesus

and how I was violent

and how I became

a Christian.

And it just seems

as if on one level

as if he drops a bomb

and then moves on.

But actually,

it's really interesting

that what he does

is in an indirect manner,

he goes directly

to the heart

of the issue.

So look at

what he does next.

And by the way,

to show you

that he hasn't just

sort of dropped the bomb

and moved on,

look at verse 11.

And in the ESV,

it has the word for.

In other words,

okay,

I've just said

this big statement.

I've said a couple

of big statements.

If you change the gospel,

if you change the gospel,

you're accursed.

And if you're trying

to plead to the extent

that you're trying

to be a people pleaser,

to that extent,

you're not being

a servant of Christ.

And then he says for.

So he's connecting.

He's going to start

explaining this.

He's going to look

a little bit more deeply

into these two different

things that he said

and the other things

that he said

in the first nine verses.

And so look what happens

here in verse 11 and 12.

For I would have you know,

brothers and sisters,

that the gospel

that was preached by me

is not man's gospel.

It's not a human gospel.

It's not a gospel

from flesh and blood.

For I did not receive it

from any human being,

nor was I taught it,

but I received it

through a revelation

of Jesus Christ.

Now, well, here's the first thing.

If you could put up

the point, Andrew.

So one of the things,

I talked about this

a little bit last week,

and it's very relevant

here again,

is the gospel.

Paul is saying

the gospel is not

the product of human genius.

And it doesn't matter

how that human genius

is formed.

And the way it talks about

in the original language,

it's not only that

it's not that he himself

was a genius,

it's also not the case

that he went and met somebody

who was a religious

or philosophical genius

and he learned from them.

And it's not that he was part of,

I don't know,

like the Christian equivalent

of Princeton, Yale,

and Harvard,

and Stanford,

and he just went

to the right place.

And it's not the case

that he was in

the most spectacular church

or the most spectacular

social group

or that he had

spectacular parents.

What he's claiming,

listen to it again,

verse 11,

for I would have you know,

brothers and sisters,

that the gospel

that was preached by me

is not man's gospel.

It didn't come

from human beings.

To make it clear,

it says he has

continued more denials.

He did not receive it

from any person.

He was not taught it,

but instead,

he received it

through a revelation

of Jesus Christ.

And the word revelation

in the original language

literally means

God making clear

what human beings

cannot know.

It would be as if,

like to give a bit

of a human analogy,

there's a big black box here

and it's lead lined

and, you know,

has a Faraday,

you know,

it just,

it's no attempt

to get inside

and figure out

what's going on

is in it.

And unless somebody

somebody who has

the, you know,

the key to open

the locks

because it's locked down,

unless somebody

picks up the box

so we can see

what's inside of it,

we could never

possibly know it.

And that's what

Paul is saying.

If you could put up

the next thing.

What Paul is saying

is that Jesus Christ

himself

revealed to Paul

a capital,

this isn't the greatest

grammar in the world,

I apologize for it,

that's why the capital

he is so handy.

It's not revealing

to Paul who Paul is,

but Jesus Christ

reveal himself,

revealed to Paul

who he is,

that's Jesus,

and what he accomplished

in his life,

death,

and resurrection.

That's what Paul

is claiming

happened to him.

It's a very,

very,

very big claim.

But remember,

he's beginning by saying

and all the way

through his writings,

he's never,

ever,

ever claims

that there's something

special about him,

that there's something

that's because

Jesus chose him

because he was a genius,

as we're going to see

in a few more lines.

Paul is going to say,

I'm actually the least

likely person on the planet,

one of the least likely

people on the planet

for this to happen to

happen to be me.

He's making absolutely

no claim about him

being special at all.

But what he's saying

here is very,

very,

very important,

even for this

people-pleasing issue.

How do I get this?

Yeah,

some of,

a few years ago,

some,

I don't know what it was,

some type of a

fundraising event

and it was going to be

a very fancy restaurant

and I don't think

my wife could come

with me for some reason

but I think I had

two or three extra tickets.

They gave us like

four tickets

so I took three of my kids

to this fancy meal

in a fancy restaurant

and it was a table

of eight or ten.

I think it was a table

for eight.

Maybe it was either

eight or ten,

it doesn't matter.

So,

you know,

I'm there with my kids

and,

you know,

we're all enjoying

the big meal

and of course,

what do you do

at a table?

Well,

I don't know,

you try to make

conversation,

right?

So,

I mean,

one thing we could

have just done

is I could have

ignored the other

people on the table

and just talked

to my kids.

Always an option,

right?

But who wants

to be the person

who ignores

everybody else

on the table

and just talks

to their own group,

right?

So,

I try to make

conversation

and,

I don't know,

like I'm sort of

good at it,

you know,

I talk,

ask them about sports,

weather,

like just about

every music,

like the topics

there and every

time I ask the

other people a

question,

I always got

a one word

answer with

one exception.

Towards the end

of like my

tenth attempt,

two of them

went like this,

rolled their

eyes at me.

I felt like

saying,

listen,

I'm doing all

the heavy lifting

here.

you folks

were only

giving me

one word

answers,

like,

come on,

work with

me,

don't roll

your eyes,

like I'm

getting desperate,

you know?

In fact,

I was never

able to succeed

to get them

to a conversation,

we ended up

just chatting

with each other.

Like I just,

at some point

in time,

I exhausted

all conversation

starting gambits

with them.

And so,

I just talked

to my kids,

you know,

it's just a

really awkward

table.

But here's the

thing,

and this is the

way human beings

are.

You know,

I know that

we can stalk

people,

and I don't

know,

what's the word

in social media

where you go

looking on

Facebook and

all,

what's it,

creeping?

What's it

called?

Okay,

so I know you

can do

creeping,

okay?

But fundamentally,

if you want to

know somebody,

you have to

talk with them,

and they need

to reveal

themselves.

Like,

nobody likes

it.

If you were

to meet

somebody,

and then after

a while,

you realize,

no,

I'm meeting

you for the

first time,

but no,

they know all

these things,

about you,

that would

creep you

out and

freak you

out,

right?

Because that's

not normal

human behavior

in case you

were wondering

about it,

okay?

Or it's not

admirable

human behavior.

But basically,

when human

beings,

I mean,

you know,

I don't know,

like some of

the engineers

and scientists

in here,

they could

figure this

out.

It's completely

passive.

All of the

effort to know

just comes

from us.

This is

completely

passive.

And as you

move up,

you know,

dogs,

there's not

much to know

about dogs.

They just love

human beings,

and they're

always your

friend,

and they're

always wondering

when they're

going to get

more food to

eat,

and they're,

you know,

optimistic.

You know,

but fundamentally,

most of the

knowing and the

caring comes from

human beings.

But when it

comes to knowing

another human

being,

the human

being has to

reveal himself

or herself.

Well,

if it's just

that way with

us,

with another

human being,

if you think

about it,

then with

God,

God,

we can't

even creep

God.

Unless God

chooses to

reveal himself,

we can know

nothing about

him.

Like,

if I can't

know something

about these

four people

at the table

without them

revealing

themselves,

how on earth

can I possibly

think that I

will know

anything about

God unless he

reveals himself?

But you see,

so this is the

thing about this

text.

On one hand,

it's a very,

very big claim

that Paul is

making,

but on

another hand,

it's a very,

very reasonable

claim because

when we think

about it for a

second,

if there really

is a God

that does exist,

then it can't

just be that

we human beings

by our poetry,

by our philosophy,

by our science,

by our metaphysics,

by our rituals,

by our sheer

desire and anger

that we can ever

possibly know God,

we are going to

be completely and

utterly dependent

upon God to

reveal himself.

There's other

reasons given

and it's another

sermon as to why

it might be

reasonable,

to believe that

Paul actually

had a revelation

from God,

but his

fundamental point

is a completely

valid one and

it's also a

really,

really important

one because

what it's saying

is that God

is completely

the opposite

than the four

people at the

table.

That long

before I even

wanted to talk

to God or

even would think

that God would

want to talk

to me,

that he comes

to my table

and opens

himself up

to me,

to have a

relationship

with me,

that he takes

all the

initiative

and he takes

the initiative,

he reveals

himself so he

can be known

and he reveals

himself because

he wants to

know me and

be in a

relationship with

me.

See, one of the

real problems we

have with people

pleasing, you see

how in an

indirect way Paul

is starting to

actually deal at

the heart with

this problem of

people pleasing

because part of

the thing that

motivates those

of us who are

people pleasing

is that we get

our sense of

worth and some

of our identity

from having

people like us

and communicate

that they like

us.

And it's as if

we don't have a

stable enough

identity or a

stable enough

sense of our

own value that

we're always

needing this type

of affirmation

from other

people.

Like how on

earth can I be

a good pastor

if the congregation

doesn't like my

sermon?

Woe is me,

there's something

wrong with me

because I need

to have that

type of affirmation.

And so right

from this very

start when Paul

seems to not be

talking about the

problem with

people pleasing,

he's saying,

listen, God is

the one who came

to sit at your

table to make

himself known so

you could know

him and he could

know you.

God did that to

you.

You didn't go to

God's table and

are now trying to

drag a response

out of him.

And you're

going to see in

a moment, he's

going to say,

while I was

off following

human tradition,

while I was

off consumed

with prejudice,

when I was

off consumed

with violence,

when the last

thing that was

on my mind was

to actually sit

down with God

and ask him

questions, when I

was consumed with

all of these other

things, he came

and sat down and

talked with me.

And what he did

for me, he'll do

for you.

Could you

put up the

next thing,

Andrew?

This helps us

to understand

why Paul, in

chapter 1, verse

8 and 9, says

if you change

the gospel, you're

doing something

accursed.

Human beings,

I can proclaim

what God has

revealed about

himself, but I

cannot reveal

God.

Only God can

reveal himself.

See, and that's

why sharing the

biblical gospel is

so important.

Because God has

revealed himself.

Paul, in the

gospel, is saying

Jesus revealed

who he is and

what he's

accomplished on

the cross, and

all I'm doing is

passing on what

he revealed to

me.

And as I pass

on what he

revealed to me,

God continues his

work of revelation

to coming to

human beings,

ordinary,

fallible,

finite,

sometimes highly

disreputable human

beings like you

and me.

And to change

that is to

take the place

of God.

I can do a

better job of

revealing God

than God can

do of revealing

himself.

And once we

put it in those

terms, that's

unbelievably arrogant

nonsense.

I'm going to be

better at God

at revealing God.

Oh, yeah?

No, you're not.

No, you're not.

And it's also

part of the thing

why, you know,

in evangelism and

stuff, one of the

main things of

evangelism is not

just that we have

some opportunity

where we can bear

witness to Jesus,

but that we pray.

Because all we can

really do is

proclaim what God

has revealed about

himself to others,

but God still

has to do the

work.

He does all the

work.

All we can do is

pray for our

family, pray for

our loved ones,

pray for our

neighbors, pray for

our co-workers,

that God would

touch their hearts

with the gospel.

people.

Now,

I lost my place.

There we go.

Not the end of the

world when you lose

your place.

Oh, yeah.

There's a thing

that is just coming

up in the text,

which has really,

really troubled

lots of Christians

because it seems to

talk about

predestination.

In fact, not only

does it claim

about predestination,

it actually talks

about predestination

and election.

And this is very,

very frightening

and hard for a lot

of us Christians.

And it's funny,

it's easy when,

if you were doing

a Bible study around

this, that you get

off the rabbit

trail trying to

figure out how it

works without ever

realizing that what's

going on in the text

continues to

indirectly,

directly talk about

this human problem

we have of people,

pleasing.

But let's see

what the text says.

Look at verse 13.

Remember,

it's just talked

about Revelation.

And then there's

a four there,

verse 13.

For you have heard

of my former life

in Judaism,

how I persecuted

the church of God

violently

and tried to

destroy it.

And I was advancing

in Judaism

beyond many of my

own age

among my people.

so extremely

zealous was I

for the traditions

of my fathers.

Now just pause

here for a second.

You know,

one of the things

you're supposed to do

when you do sermons

is you're supposed

to cut out all the

chaff and everything

like that and just

have your singular

point.

And so this next

point actually

doesn't really fit

with the sermon.

But I just sort of

felt compelled

to point it out

to you.

Could you put it

up, Andrew?

Paul repents

of his zeal

for violence,

his prejudice,

and his pursuit

of human-made

tradition.

But note,

he does not

repent of being

Jewish.

This is going to

be really important

for the rest

of the letter.

When a Jewish

person becomes

a Christian,

they don't cease

being Jewish.

They become

a completed Jew.

And when pagans,

like most of us,

become Christians,

we become at one

with our Jewish

brothers and sisters

who become

completed Jews.

But God has not

given up on the

Jewish people

and the promises

have not ceased

for the Jewish

people.

They still are part

of God's plan.

being Jewish

doesn't make you

go to heaven.

But those

who are in the

lineage of Abraham

and Isaac

and Jacob

and Moses

and the inheritors

of the promise,

Paul never

repents

of being Jewish.

Salvation

is from the Jews.

That's what Paul

says in the book

of Romans.

Salvation is

from the Jews.

So just

want to

point that out

and it's going

to become

increasingly important

because what's

going on

in the gospel

in the book

of Galatians

is that

people

have come

to the church

and are trying

to improve

the gospel

by saying

that you have

to keep

all of the

Jewish rules

and all of the

Jewish traditions

and all of the

Jewish laws.

Not just the Torah

but the traditions.

and so it's

going to be

very important

because Paul

as the letter

goes on

is going to

show how

the gospel

emerges out

of the Old

Testament

and how

Jesus fulfills

the Old

Testament

and this

complicated

relationship

between

Judaism

and the

Messiah

and pagans

and receiving

the Messiah

and so I just

thought I'd

throw it in.

But here's

the troubling

part for probably

most of us

about election

and predestination.

verse 15

But when he

who had set

me apart

before I was

born

and who

called me

by his

grace

was pleased

to reveal

his son

to me

in order

that I

might preach

him among

the Gentiles

I did not

immediately

consult with

anyone.

And just

pause here.

It's those

first few

verses which

are the first

few words

which are a

little bit

problematic

to a lot

of Christians.

What Paul

is going to

do after this

he's just

sort of

setting

some of

the facts

straight

to help

make it

known

why

it's

just

people

who

are

going

to

doubt

that

he

got

all

of

this

gospel

from

Jesus

alone

and

why

it's

a

reasonable

thing

to say

he

gives

some

facts.

And

those of

you who

like

reading

commentaries

a lot

of

commentary

writers

go to

town

on this

bit

because

they

try

to

fit

all

this

in

with

the

chronology

and

how

long

he

the main

thing

is

and

this

is

actually

sometimes

things

are a bit

helped

by

knowing

the

original

language

in this

case

it's

actually

even

starker

in the

original

language

Paul

says

in

verse

16

or

verse

15

that

God

set

him

apart

before

he

was

born

in

other

words

that

God

was

working

in

his

life

in

such

a

way

preparing

him

for

salvation

that

even

when

he

was

in

the

mother's

womb

his

mother's

womb

God

was

at

work

and

then

just

to

make

it

even

harder

for

us

he

says

that

God

called

him

that

it

wasn't

a matter

of

Paul

calling

out

to

God

but

whenever

Paul

did

call

out

to

God

it

was

only

because

God

had

been

calling

out

to

him

first

so

if

you

look

at

what

Paul

is

saying

here

Paul

is

saying

that

even

in

his

mother's

womb

God

was

at

work

preparing

him

for

salvation

that

even

in

the

midst

of

his

violence

and

his

prejudice

and

his

pursuit

of

human

traditions

that

God

was

calling

Paul

and

that

when

Paul

becomes

a

Christian

it's

not

because

Paul

was

on

a

religious

quest

but

because

God

in

the

person

of

his

son

comes

and

actually

reveals

himself

to

Jesus

and

converts

him

and

Paul

is

saying

that

right

from

the

womb

right

throughout

his

life

and

even

in

his

salvation

it

all

the

initiative

comes

from

God

and

some

of

us

get

very

very

worried

if

you

could

put

up

the

next

point

Andrew

here's

what

Paul

is

trying

to

communicate

God's

grace

is

not

a

threat

to

my

free

will

but

it

does

remove

every

conceivable

ground

for

my

boasting

when