Identifying the false: Are you a people pleaser or a God pleaser?

Rom 16:18  For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 

One sign of identifying false teachers and those who compromise with them is by taking a look at their company. Do they have a large amount of people they surround themselves with; hanging on and praising their every word?

Jesus said...

Luk 6:26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

There is a false notion so prevalent today that believers are to be polite. Well of course we aren't to just go around calling people names just for the sake of calling people names. But let me say that the truth is not polite, it is CONFRONTATIONAL! Many will quote from the book of Proverbs...

Pro 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. (KJV)

This is a poor rendering of the text and many have misinterpreted what it is conveying. Other translations have actually rendered it correctly. Here is one example...

Pro 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. (ESV)

As we can see, this scripture is not teaching believers that they must be friendly with everyone but is in fact revealing that someone who is friendly even to the point of compromising truth will eventually come to destruction.

1 Cor 15:33 Do not be so deceived and misled! Evil companionships (communion, associations) corrupt and deprave good manners and morals and character. (Amplified)

In order for someone to be popular there absolutely must be some level of people pleasing and compromising going on.

Luk 16:15 And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Part of the cost of following Jesus is being rejected as he was and standing on his truth even in the midst of opposition from everyone around you. Even Paul went through this and recorded it in his letter to Timothy....

2Ti 4:16 At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.

The truth is not popular and we would be better off not to have anyone around us then to have a group of people who stroke our consciences by feeding our egos in not telling us the truth. True friends will tell us the truth even at the cost of that friendship. Even true friends know that truth is not to be sacrificed even for the sake of offending those most dear to us. There is an old saying that flattery will get you everywhere. The truth is that in the end, flattery will get us nowhere. Proverbs warns us to beware of the tongues of flattery; these voices are as smooth as butter but when heeded they only bring about destruction. The Bible tells us about telling the truth and true friends...

Pro 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Pro 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.