The Deceit of Flattery | A Smiling Assassin – (Galatians 4:16-20)

Topic: The Deceit of Flattery | A Smiling Assassin

Reading: Galatians 4:16-20

16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 For a good purpose it is always good to be made much of, and not only when I am present with you. 19 My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you! 20 I could wish to be present with you now and to change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Introduction and Overview

There are many quotes on the deceit of flattery. Several that bear strongly on this topic are:

Minna Antrim: “Between flattery and admiration there often flows a river of contempt.”

Baruch Spinoza: “None are more taken in by flattery than the proud, who wish to be the first and are not.”

And the apostle Paul warns us today in his words on the deceit of flattery. It is a trick and a trap of the devil. The devil would draw you away from the truth of Jesus Christ with smooth and flattering words. This was certainly the experience that Paul discusses with the Galatians in these words today.

In the heading I have called the deceit of flattery a smiling assassin. And so it is! The flatterer will use words that sound wonderful to the ears of the one being flattered. But the underlying purpose of the words needs to be considered. The use of flattery is destructive. And in the case of the church and Christians, it is designed to lead astray and destroy your faith in the truth of Jesus Christ.

Just praise is a good thing, but flattery is deceitful. It is an evil of which we need to be aware.

Flattery feeds pride and ego. Carried to it’s full extent, flattery will make a person feel self-important, superior, proud, arrogant, and as if they are better than others. The motivations of the flatterer are deceitful too. They wish to gain an advantage. They are seeking to lift you up so that they can get something they want.

The deceit of flattery is an evil thing, and we see in the scriptures today how it was undermining the Galatians church.

Key points from reading:

• Not everyone wants to hear the truth.
• Just praise is a good thing as it builds people up.
• The deceit of flattery leads to destruction.

Discussion:

1. Scripture: Galatians 4:16 – Many will reject the truth

• The church in Galatia had been taught the truth of the Gospel of salvation. They received it with open hearts and had accepted the fullness of the truth.
• But false teachers came and brought in heretical teachings. These teachers of Jewish backgrounds were teaching the people had to be circumcised and taught to keep the law. This is in opposition to the truth and drags people away from the grace of God.
• God’s grace is not received through keeping the works of the law. All of the fasting, tithing, abstinence from certain foods, and so on, are not based upon the grace of God. Those things are based upon doing the works of the law.
• In Christ we are set free from the law. Those things belonged to Judaism where the people followed the law, and were required to do so at pain of sin. But we have been set free from sin in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have been set free from the law and do not worship under the law. As Christians we live under the priesthood of Christ, not the priesthood of Levi who administered the law. The priesthood of Jesus Christ administers under the grace of God. Through Him we receive grace and freedom, by faith.
• But not everyone accepts this truth. The Galatians were drifting away from it through the deceit of flattery of these Jewish preachers. They used flattery to move the beliefs of the church, and in so doing the people rejected the truth.
• This still happens today. There are many who prefer to stay in the darkness rather than come to the light. And there are flatterers in the church who seek power and control. They do it for their own proud purposes, not to follow the will of God.

2. Scripture: Galatians 4:17 – The Deceit of Flattery

• We see in this verse an excellent description and definition of the deceit of flattery.
• The flatterers “made much” of the people they were trying to sway and persuade. They built them up with flattering words to gain an advantage. They made much of the people so that the people would think the flatterers were wonderful people and would follow what they had to say.
• Everyone will follow the “good guys.” The people who initially are smiling, helpful, and filled with praise towards their “target.” Flatterers don’t speak the truth. They will use half-truths, but a half-truth is just a plausible lie. They are designed to mislead and turn a person from the truth.
• By contrast, the truth is sometimes hard to hear. It can be hard to bear the truth, especially when it convicts us and calls us to account for what we are doing wrong. And there are many times when we will be convicted by a hard truth as Christians.
• Mankind in this human state is under the power of sin. By nature we do not behave in a manner pleasing to God. People are not by nature, like God. Scripture tells us in John 3:19 that, “And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
• The deceit of flattery is a weapon of the devil designed to keep people in the dark. And it is a weapon the devil uses to sway Christians and bring them back into the darkness.
• The problem the Galatians church was faced with was that they were leaving Christ to follow the law. They were rejecting the light of the truth of freedom in Christ, for the darkness of sin and bondage under the law. And they didn’t even realise that was what was happening. They were blindly accepting a lie through the words of these flatterers.
• This is the deceit of flattery. It acts surreptitiously to destroy the ones being flattered. It is insidious and needs to be identified and stopped immediately through the application of the truth.
• And it can be hard. Flatterers by nature are people that others like. They don’t come across as evil. They aren’t nasty, aggressive, angry people. But they use words of flattery to manipulate and take advantage of the kind and generous. So, it can be hard to call them out because others may take their side or think you are being harsh. Both Paul and Peter wrote about how we ought to do this:

24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kindly to every one, an apt teacher, forbearing, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant that they will repent and come to know the truth, 26 and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

Always be prepared to make a defence to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behaviour in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:15-16)

3. Scripture: Galatians 4:18 – Right Praise

• In this scripture we see that appropriate praise is quite acceptable. To praise someone without an agenda is a good thing. It is when the praise has an undercurrent of deceit that it becomes deceitful flattery.
• There is nothing wrong with recognising the good in a situation. Praising someone who is doing good in some way is a good thing. To make much of someone for a good purpose or a good cause can be a good thing.
• And this is the difference between right praise, and the deceit of flattery. Flattery always has an agenda. It is always seeking something back, or seeking to manipulate. It is always laced with something negative and it is used as a tool for the flatterer to get their own way.
• By contrast, right praise lifts up the other person or people. It is positive recognition of the good they are doing or have done. There is no hidden agenda. There is no manipulation or power play. It is simply a recognition of a job well done.
• This is good because it builds up and encourages people. They are lifted up to continue to walk strongly. Positive encouragement is a powerful thing.

4. Scripture: Galatians 4:19-20 – Stifling the Christian Walk

• These last two verses show the depth of the issue caused by the deceit of flattery. As mentioned, it is an insidious problem that leads people away from Christ. The walk we take with Christ is one of growth and transformation. As we walk in Christ, led by the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
• But the deceit of flattery, if allowed to run it’s course, can undo all of that walk. Paul says to the Galatians in exasperation that he was, “…again in travail until Christ be formed in you!” All of the work they had done as they walked with Christ was being undone as they turned away from Christ and towards the law.
• When a woman goes through childbirth she is said to go into travail. It is a time of great pain, anguish and suffering until the travail is ended and the child is born.
• Paul too likens this situation to the pangs and pains of childbirth. The growth in Christ that the people had experienced was being reversed. They had to go through the process all over again so that Christ would be re-formed in them. Seeking to be righteous under the law separates a person from Christ, as we are told in Galatians 5:4. Those who seek justification under the law have fallen away from grace. And a person cannot be transformed into the image of Christ when they stand outside of grace.
• And the wonder of this, as expressed in Paul’s bewilderment, is that seeking to be righteous under the law is so hard. The strictures of the law, the guilt of condemnation, the condemnation of sin, and so on, make life under the law so hard. In Christ, none of these things exist. Christ has taken away sin. He has removed the law. And in Romans 8:1 we are told that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
• The deceit of flattery perplexed Paul because he could not understand why anyone would turn away from the promises of God in Jesus Christ, to something vastly inferior. Sure, the law is good. But Christ is better. His way is a better way and it is the only way we can find salvation and victory over the flesh.

Prayer Points:

• Pray and ask God to help you recognise the deceit of flattery when I rears it’s ugly head. Do not fall victim to the flattery the devil uses against you to lead you astray, and ask God to reveal this to you so you can reject it.
• Pray also for the power to see the difference between deceitful flattery and right praise. And be the one who praises to encourage others as they walk with Christ.