Don’t Fall For Flattery - November 10

Read Galatians 4:17-20 

They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you! I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. 

Reflect 

Has someone ever buttered you up enough that you gave in to something that ultimately wasn’t for your good but was for their own gain? 

You might call them a Casanova, a Romeo, or even a womanizer. But whatever you call them, their strategy is the same—flattery. They whisper “sweet nothings” and romance women by telling them what they want to hear. But their intentions are not honorable. They aren’t looking for a meaningful relationship. They are just looking for a good time. They aren’t in it for what they can give but rather what they can get. They make much about the woman they’ve set their sights on, but really, they only care about themselves. If I had a daughter, I’d definitely warn her about the flatterers. I’d urge her never to settle for that kind of cheap imitation of a relationship.  

In today’s verses, Paul warned the believers in Galatia that the Judaizers were flatterers. They were “making much” of them but they didn’t have sincere motives. Remember that the Judaizers were trying to add the requirements of the law to the Gospel of grace. But that doesn’t work. Once you add works, it ceases to be grace! The Judaizers didn’t really care about the believers in Galatia. They were simply trying to create a following using flattery to make a name for themselves. Sadly, once people bought into their lies, they were enslaved by the law again.  

This had to have been frustrating and confusing to Paul. Why in the world would any believer in Christ want to give up the spiritual freedom given to them by the grace of God and settle for a cheap imitation of the real Christian faith? Why would they want to subject themselves to a law that they could never live up to? Paul said it perplexed him.  

When Paul first approached them with the Gospel, he had their best interests at heart. He was obeying the call that God had placed on his life to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles and he sincerely wanted those who heard his preaching to be saved. He wasn’t in it for himself. He genuinely cared about them. In fact, he was willing to suffer greatly and endure persecution just so they could hear the truth! 

Paul cared about the believers in Galatia so much that he considered them his spiritual children. He used a childbirth analogy because he had already labored greatly for their salvation and now, he had to labor for them all over again! John MacArthur paraphrased Paul’s words in his commentary on Galatians like this: “You have already experienced the new birth, but now you are acting as if you need to be spiritually born all over again. You make me feel like a mom who has to deliver the same baby twice.”  

Friends, we have to be on guard for cheap imitations of the real Gospel. We have to know the truth so that we won’t be gullible to the flattery and the sweet little lies that sound good on the surface but ultimately are not true and lead us back into bondage. 

Respond  

Lord, guard my heart and mind. Please give me the wisdom I need to discern Your truth so that I never fall for flattery and settle for a cheap imitation of the Gospel instead of the real thing. Amen. 

Reply 

Think about someone in your life who’s being influenced by voices that sound good but don’t genuinely care for them—maybe a friend chasing approval, a coworker wrapped up in an unhealthy relationship, or a teen following trends that pull them down. Instead of warning them with a lecture, offer them your steady presence. Invite them to do something simple together—a walk, a meal, or even helping with a project—and let your consistency speak louder than empty words. When you quietly show up for someone without expecting anything in return, you model what real love looks like—the kind that builds people up instead of using them.