Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. (1 Cor 10:32-33)Does that strike you as odd? "I try to please everyone in everything I do." It seems as if this is a view that the world would hold, but we shouldn't.
To make sense of this, it's important to get the context. Paul had just said, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31). Clearly, then, Paul is not saying, "Our primary motivation should be to please everyone." What is our primary motivation? Glorify God. What he was talking about in this text was the need to control your freedoms for the sake of others. It's clearest when he says, "Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor" (1 Cor 10:24). So he's not saying to be a people-pleaser. He's saying to provide for the best for others. In Ephesians he warns servants to obey "not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man" (Eph 6:6-7). Not as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ.
This works out fine when you think about it. We're aiming not for our own benefit. That's repeated. Die to self, remember? "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Php 2:3-4). We're to consider what glorifies God and what's best for others. It's not about people-pleasing like so many do. It's about God-glorifying by giving of self for others' best interests.
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