Should I Care At All What People Think Of Me?

I think I will attempt to answer the question in three parts: 1. I should not go out of my way to be unnecessarily offensive. 2. I should not be afraid of being offensive when necessary. And 3. I should get busy doing practical good deeds that, in general, people will find it hard to object to.

But far more important than my answer to the question are the specificities of God’s Word. So, let’s take a peek at what God has said on the matter; first, concerning the importance of not giving offense unnecessarily, and then, second, passages concerning the importance of believing and saying and doing things that are, in fact, offensive, and we know they are offensive — because the Bible says they are.

So, these two groups of passages are very much in tension. Here’s a sampling, and we need to hear from them both.

First: Don’t Be a Jerk; Don’t Intend to Be Offensive!

· Proverbs 22:1: “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.” We should pursue a good name in our community.

· Matthew 5:16: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

· 1 Peter 2:12: “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

· 1 Peter 2:15: “For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.”

· 1 Corinthians 10:32-33: “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.”

· Romans 12:17: “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all.”

So, I gather from these passages that we should not take pleasure in giving offense to people. We should seek to avoid giving offense if possible. After all, we are trying to win people to Christ, and not merely to poke them in the eye, right? We want people to be found “in Christ,” not insulted at just how right we are.

Second: Don’t Dread Being Offensive!

Check out these passages:

· Galatians 1:10: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Never allow the endorsement of people to trump the truth of the gospel.

· Acts 4:19-20: “But Peter and John answered them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’” People’s uneasiness at our preaching and our singular pursuit of Christ does not govern what comes out of our mouths.

· Matthew 10:25: “It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household?” Expect pushback — if you follow Jesus, you are going to be misunderstood, maligned, and marginalized.

· 1 Peter 4:4: “With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you.” I find this especially interesting because Peter is writing to try to help wives win husbands and people win neighbors. In Christ, certain behaviors don’t fit us anymore, and when we don’t join in with them and do them, people will make fun of us and ridicule us.

· 1 Corinthians 1:22-24: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” When we speak the gospel, some are going to stumble over it, and some are going to think it’s stupid. And so, preach it anyway.

Third: Keep Doing Good!

So, I’ll close with this: We do care about what people think. We get what God says on the subject. We would prefer to have their favor when we speak with them. After all, we have the words of life, the words of joy, and the words of everlasting satisfaction. We would like for them to know Christ and be with us in the age to come, no matter how depraved they have been or what evil they have ever done to us.

But we’re also acutely aware of what God says in His Word, and we’re not interested in offending Him by compromising the truth of His personal revelation in order to curry the favor of the world, nor do we compromise the Christlike life in order to gain the favor of the world. What then shall we do?  How do we reach people for Christ?  This may seem overly simplistic, but we get busy tenaciously, aggressively, tirelessly, pouring ourselves out in doing good unto them as Jesus modeled, which, in general, the world has a hard time disapproving of. And if the Holy Spirit is pleased to move them, they will see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven.

“Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:12)