If Someone Doesn’t Like Me, Have I Ruined My Christian Witness?
Chapters
0:04:50 First Thessalonians 2 3 through 6
8:53 Summary
10:38 The Difference between Wartime Living and Minimalism
00:00:00.000 | Well, the best emails we get are questions that put concrete words to what otherwise
00:00:08.200 | floats in the back of our minds as a sort of an abstract question that we can't really
00:00:12.640 | put our finger on.
00:00:14.600 | Here's a question today about whether being popular and well-liked are crucial to our
00:00:19.320 | gospel witness, and it comes from a listener named Jacob.
00:00:22.720 | "Pastor John, am I wrong if people around me don't like me?
00:00:27.920 | Does being unliked by others make me a bad representative of Christ?
00:00:33.600 | We can't be people pleasers all the time or we will be pushovers.
00:00:36.880 | And at what point has our seeking to be accepted by people compromised our faithfulness to
00:00:42.040 | God?"
00:00:43.040 | Pastor John, what would you say to Jacob?
00:00:45.200 | I think what might be helpful to do in answer to Jacob's question is to illustrate for him
00:00:52.600 | how from Scriptures he might go about answering his own question.
00:00:59.600 | And I hope in doing it this way, really a hundred questions of this nature, and lots
00:01:07.880 | of natures, might be answered in the sense that people will realize that all John Piper
00:01:15.040 | does to get ready for these little 10-minute talks is to open my Bible and find some Scriptures
00:01:27.240 | that come close to relating to the issue and think about them and then put my thoughts
00:01:32.000 | down.
00:01:33.000 | Frankly, I think most people who listen to APJ—that's a particular kind of people—could
00:01:40.360 | do this if they were encouraged actually to work at it.
00:01:44.720 | That's what I'm doing.
00:01:45.720 | I'm encouraging you.
00:01:46.720 | You could do this.
00:01:47.720 | You could have your own little APJ or APP or whatever.
00:01:55.120 | I'd like to empower you to do that.
00:01:57.520 | So just watch now.
00:01:59.760 | First thing I did was to type the word "please" because we're talking about when is it right
00:02:06.120 | to please people, when is it not right to please people.
00:02:09.240 | I typed the word "please" into my Logos.
00:02:12.880 | You can have—there are a lot of different Bible programs out there.
00:02:15.120 | I happen to use Logos.
00:02:16.840 | I typed it into my Bible computer search, and I told it to find all the places where
00:02:22.680 | "please" or "pleased" is used in Paul because I knew that a bunch of places in Paul that
00:02:29.720 | I couldn't think of where they were dealt with this very issue of sometimes pleasing
00:02:34.320 | people and sometimes not pleasing people.
00:02:37.680 | And boop, there they come.
00:02:39.360 | A whole bunch of uses of "please," not all of them relevant.
00:02:44.040 | And I picked out the five that were relevant, and I isolated them, and I began to read them.
00:02:52.200 | And as I read them, I circled and I underlined and I emboldened words that seemed relevant
00:03:00.200 | for answering the question, "Now, when's it right to please people?
00:03:03.640 | When's it wrong to please people?"
00:03:05.360 | Is Paul tipping me off in these verses as to when he does it and when he doesn't do
00:03:11.640 | it?
00:03:12.640 | And I assume Paul's not contradicting himself, and so here's what I'm going to do.
00:03:16.080 | I'm just going to read you these five verses and show you what I saw, because I think you
00:03:21.440 | could see it, and then you wouldn't have to write APJ.
00:03:27.240 | So Galatians 1, verse 10.
00:03:29.640 | I mean, Tony, you know we are into empowering people to go to the Bible and find God and
00:03:39.440 | help there not be dependent on me.
00:03:43.000 | So here we go.
00:03:44.000 | Galatians 1, 10.
00:03:46.480 | Paul has just said some unbelievably harsh things about those who are bringing a different
00:03:53.520 | gospel.
00:03:54.520 | He says, "If anyone," this is verse 9, "If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary
00:04:00.080 | to the one you received, let him be accursed, damned."
00:04:04.920 | Now those are not pleasing words to the false teachers, I dare say.
00:04:09.660 | Now should Paul worry about that?
00:04:11.280 | He has just displeased somebody big time.
00:04:14.040 | My guess is lots of contemporary readers don't like it either.
00:04:17.640 | So he says in verse 10, "Am I trying to get the approval of man or God?
00:04:21.800 | Am I trying to please man?
00:04:23.560 | If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."
00:04:28.240 | So the least we can conclude from these words is that sometimes being a faithful servant
00:04:37.200 | of Christ when the gospel is being corrupted will require harsh words, and we should not
00:04:44.160 | let that stand in our way that these are displeasing to some people.
00:04:50.280 | Number two, 1 Thessalonians 2, 3 through 6, here's what he says, "Just as we have been
00:04:56.080 | approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not to please man, but to please
00:05:01.760 | God who tests our hearts.
00:05:03.920 | For we never came with flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed, God is witness,
00:05:14.960 | nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others."
00:05:21.120 | Now, that seems to me to be really helpful because Paul mentions three things at least
00:05:30.560 | that he is trying to avoid in pleasing other people in the way he talks.
00:05:40.000 | He's trying to avoid flattery, he's avoiding giving a pretext for greed, and he's avoiding
00:05:47.400 | trying to get glory from people.
00:05:51.300 | In other words, what Paul was opposed to here was trying to please people by buttering them
00:05:58.680 | up in the hope of getting money or getting praise and glory.
00:06:04.680 | So the key issue there in 1 Thessalonians 2 is not primarily whether somebody likes
00:06:13.000 | what you say or doesn't like it, the issue is are you self-serving or are you other-serving?
00:06:22.800 | Are you manipulating the relationship to try to say what they want to hear because you
00:06:29.280 | want money or you want glory or you want something that they don't expect you to want given what
00:06:35.600 | you're saying?
00:06:36.600 | Here's the third text, Colossians 3:22, "Bond servants, obey in everything those who are
00:06:43.440 | your earthly masters, not by way of eye service as men-pleasers," not by way of eye service
00:06:50.160 | as men, people-pleasers, "but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord."
00:06:57.320 | So it seems to me that what Paul means by eye service is that the goal is really not—the
00:07:07.320 | goal of somebody who talks with eye service or acts with eye service is not to really
00:07:11.560 | go any deeper than what meets the eye, which is why Paul contrasts it with "sincerity
00:07:18.360 | of heart" and with "fearing the Lord."
00:07:22.320 | In other words, pleasing someone might be just fine if it was not insincere and if it
00:07:32.480 | didn't compromise fearing the Lord.
00:07:35.960 | And just real quick, the two passages that say he does try to please people are 1 Corinthians
00:07:44.080 | 10, 31 to 33, goes like this, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, to all
00:07:49.560 | to the glory of God, give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just
00:07:55.000 | as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that
00:08:04.040 | of many that they may be saved."
00:08:09.120 | And Romans 15, 1 and 2, "We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings
00:08:14.380 | of the weak and not to please ourselves, but let each of you please his neighbor for his
00:08:23.000 | good to build him up."
00:08:27.360 | So when Paul is trying to please others, he says five things about it that make it good.
00:08:35.040 | One, "I'm not seeking my own advantage."
00:08:38.240 | Two, "I'm seeking their advantage."
00:08:41.400 | Three, "I'm trying to bring them to salvation."
00:08:44.360 | Four, "I'm seeking their good."
00:08:47.360 | Five, "I'm seeking to build them up," that is in faith and holiness.
00:08:54.120 | So summary, I think the answer to Jacob's question about when it's right, when it's
00:08:59.520 | wrong to please people would go something like this.
00:09:03.480 | And all I'm doing now is trying to summarize.
00:09:05.520 | These don't come out of nowhere.
00:09:07.280 | I'm just trying to summarize what we've seen in those verses.
00:09:11.680 | If you are not motivated by flattery and not motivated by trying to manipulate people to
00:09:18.000 | get money for yourself or glory or praise for yourself, if you are not speaking or acting
00:09:26.520 | insincerely but in the fear of God, if you are seeking their advantage and their good
00:09:33.640 | and their salvation and their up-building, if all those things characterize your behavior
00:09:39.960 | and your speech, then yes, yes, yes, seek to please people.
00:09:46.120 | Your effort to please them will be protected from sin and it will be used for righteousness
00:09:54.640 | and for the glory of God.
00:09:56.200 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:09:57.920 | Well, there's the model for APJ.
00:10:00.560 | There's nothing to it.
00:10:01.560 | You can do it yourself if you want to try.
00:10:03.400 | There it is, the blueprint.
00:10:05.280 | But if you still want to send emails to us, I would really appreciate it.
00:10:08.400 | You can send those our way from our online home.
00:10:10.640 | It's zaharangod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:10:11.640 | Well, one word you will not find in a Bible concordance is the word minimalism.
00:10:20.560 | Minimalism is part of the lingo of American culture right now and it's a trend in technological
00:10:24.800 | asceticism and simplified living in tiny houses, micro apartments, and streamlined wardrobes.
00:10:33.640 | And of course, Pastor John has been for years calling Christians to a wartime lifestyle.
00:10:38.840 | So what's the difference between wartime living and minimalism living?
00:10:43.520 | Is there a difference?
00:10:45.120 | That's the question up on Friday.
00:10:46.360 | It's going to be a good one, I think.
00:10:47.800 | I'm your host, Tony Reike.
00:10:49.000 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast and we'll see you next time.
00:10:52.160 | [END]
00:10:52.660 | 1.
00:10:53.660 | John R. Reike, The Godfather of the Bible.
00:10:54.660 | In his book, The Godfather, John John, the Godfather of the Bible, he says, "The Bible
00:10:55.660 | is a book of the Word.
00:10:56.660 | It is a book of the Word and a book of the Word."
00:10:57.660 | And the Word is a book of the Word.
00:10:58.660 | And the Word is a book of the Word.
00:10:59.660 | And the Word is a book of the Word.
00:11:00.660 | And the Word is a book of the Word.