From those who receive glory from men
To receive glory from man is to desire to be approved by man. It is to feel correct and vindicated when some man stands up for you and says that you are correct.
Everyone likes to be appreciated. It feels nice when we receive appreciation from a man – especially if it is an important man, and even more so if it is a man that we highly respect. No one wants to come up with theology that will cause him to be ostracized. No one wants to be called a heretic.
However, if you really want to have sound doctrine you have to say ‘goodbye’ to such desire – forever. This may be hard to swallow, but consider what Jesus said in Jn 5:43-44.
Jn 5:43-44 43 "I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"
We cannot believe the truth if we seek the approval of man instead of seeking the approval of God alone.
Suppose God shows you a truth that the general evangelical Christian considers outright heresy. What will you do? Would you be willing to forsake the approval of everyone for the sake of the truth that God has revealed to you? Or will you compromise and say, "I can’t be correct. How can all these great men of God in the past 2000 years be wrong?"
If you love the truth more than the approval of man then you will be willing to forsake the approval of man for the sake of the truth.
If you are walking with God you will have the confidence to stick to the truth that God has revealed to you even if it goes against what some of the current and past great men of God believed.
Many theologians have built their theology on fundamentals invented by man without bothering to carefully examine whether those fundamentals have their foundation on Scripture. They do this because they don’t want to be called a heretic. If you really want truth from God then make sure that you don’t make that mistake.
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