Fear God, Not People
“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.”
Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
The fear of people can run a life without ever announcing itself.
It rarely feels like fear. It feels like being reasonable, keeping the peace, not making a fuss. But look at the fruit and you will recognise it: avoiding necessary conversations, watering down convictions in certain company, saying yes when the honest answer was no, and becoming a slightly different person depending on who is in the room.
Paul writes, “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.”
Context makes this far sharper than it first appears. Galatians is Paul’s most heated letter. Judaising teachers had followed him into Galatia insisting that Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep the law to be truly saved. Paul has just written the fiercest sentence in his correspondence: anyone preaching a different gospel is to be “under God’s curse” (verse 8), and he repeats it in verse 9 in case anyone thought he had misspoken.
Then comes our verse. His critics had evidently accused him of being a crowd-pleaser, of softening the message for Gentile audiences. Paul’s reply is essentially: look at what I have just written; does that read like the work of a man trying to be liked?
Notice the word “servant.” The Greek is doulos, bondservant or slave. In the Roman world, a slave had exactly one master and could not serve two. Paul is not saying people-pleasing is a minor flaw in an otherwise good servant. He is saying it is a question of ownership. You cannot have two masters, and approval is a demanding one.
Jesus said the same thing about a different master in Matthew 6:24, and John records a devastating example in John 12:42-43: many of the leaders believed in Jesus, “but because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God.” They believed and stayed silent, because the approval mattered more.
Straight away, a caution, because “I only answer to God” can become a licence for arrogance.
Refusing to be controlled by approval does not mean becoming rude, stubborn or unteachable. Scripture is emphatic in the other direction too. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). “As far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18). Paul himself was willing to become “all things to all people” for the sake of the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:22), adapting enormously in matters of preference while refusing to move an inch on the gospel itself.
So there is a difference, and it is worth naming precisely. Receiving counsel is listening to wise people and weighing what they say against Scripture. Being controlled by approval is allowing the anticipated reaction of others to determine what you will say, do or believe. The first is humility. The second is bondage.
Here is a useful test. When someone disagrees with you, do you change your position, or do you merely feel destabilised? Changing after genuine persuasion is maturity. Changing to stop the discomfort is people-pleasing wearing the costume of humility.
Now, the alternative Paul offers is not indifference to people but the fear of the Lord, and that phrase needs rescuing too.
The fear of the Lord is not terror that God is waiting to punish you. For the believer, that fear has been dealt with; “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment” (1 John 4:18). Biblical fear of the Lord is reverence, awe, and the settled conviction that God is God and therefore His assessment outranks every other. Proverbs calls it “the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), which tells you it is a starting point for clear thinking rather than an obstacle to it.
And notice what Scripture says the two fears do to each other: “Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe” (Proverbs 29:25). One is a trap; the other is a refuge. The cure for the fear of people is not courage summoned by willpower. It is a bigger view of God.
So as you go into today, expect friction. Somebody may misunderstand your obedience. Somebody may disagree with your boundaries or find your convictions inconvenient. That is not evidence that you have got it wrong.
In April 1521 Martin Luther stood before the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Worms, with his books piled on a table, and was told to recant them. He asked for a night to consider. The next day he refused, saying that his conscience was captive to the Word of God and that it was neither safe nor right to go against conscience. He was not being stubborn for its own sake. He had simply settled whose approval mattered most.
Stay loving. Stay humble. Stay teachable. And stay faithful.
Practically, three things help. First, decide in advance. Convictions settled in calm weather hold in storms; convictions improvised under pressure rarely do. Second, notice the tell. Most of us have a physical signal, a tightening, a rehearsing of what we will say, that appears just before we compromise. Learn yours. Third, say the true thing kindly rather than avoiding it or blurting it. Ephesians 4:15 asks for truth in love, and both halves are commanded.
People’s opinions can change within a single conversation. God’s truth does not move at all.
One more thing worth understanding about the fear of the Lord, because it is frequently misunderstood as the opposite of intimacy.
It is not. Look at Acts 9:31: the early church “was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.” Fear of the Lord and encouragement by the Spirit are described in the same breath, as features of a healthy, growing church.
Reverence and warmth are not competitors. In fact the people in Scripture who were most intimate with God were also the most awestruck by Him. Moses spoke with God as a friend and also hid his face.
A God small enough to be casual with is a God too small to save you.
Live before an audience of One today. Honour people, love people, but let God be the One whose approval shapes your life.
Reflection
1. Where has the fear of people been quietly making your decisions? Name the specific relationship or situation.
2. When you last changed your position under pressure, was it genuine persuasion or relief from discomfort? How can you tell the difference next time?
Prayer
Father, I confess how much of my behaviour has been shaped by what people might think. Forgive me for the conversations I have avoided, the convictions I have softened, and the times I have become a different person to keep someone comfortable. Give me a bigger view of You, because that is the only real cure. Keep me humble and genuinely teachable, quick to receive counsel and slow to be controlled by approval. And where obedience will cost me somebody’s good opinion today, give me courage and kindness together. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Declaration
The fear of people is a snare; the fear of the Lord is my refuge. I live today before an audience of One.
Pastor Ras
All Nations Community Church
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