You Can’t Please Everyone

(John 10:31-39)

If there is one thing we must learn and understand as Christians it is that we cannot please everyone. You cannot be the friend of every person and you will not be able to prove your faith to everyone, even though we know it is the greatest thing on earth and we want everyone else to share in it.

Bottom line is that it just ain't gonna happen! We see it clearly in this section of scripture where Jesus, for all the good that he did amongst the people, was not accepted and in fact they tried to stone him to death. There is a lesson for us in this too. Don't expect that everyone will listen to the truth even when you know it is to their advantage.

Accepting Rejection

Look what it says in this scripture.

31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”

Despite all of the good works that Jesus did, the healings, miracles and so on, the people rejected Him. Worse yet, they intended to stone Him to death because he called himself the Son of God, which he was and is. In an attempt to have the people believe He went on to say,

37 If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
38 but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

To try to have them understand He said to just ignore Him and look at the works he was doing and understand that his is the proof that the Father was with Him. Still the people rejected him and sought to kill him.

Why were they so blind?

The people did not want to see Jesus because he did not fit their image of who the Messiah should be. They wanted a king to rule over them, not a teacher to show them the way. They wanted Him to take over and kick their enemies out so they could live their life and be freed of the oppression of the Romans.

What they did not understand was that Jesus offered them freedom, not from just the Romans or anything else, but freedom from sin, freedom from law and the chance to find perfection in His name. He offered them the chance to stand righteous in faith before God so that He would give His Holy Spirit to perfect our natures to be like him.

The Jews didn't see that and so the offer was opened up to all of mankind, not just the Jews. We should be eternally grateful that they did reject what Jesus offered otherwise we may not have had this fantastic opportunity to come to God through Jesus Christ and to be saved.

Watch

One of the lessons we gain from this section of scripture is where Jesus tells the people to look at the works He was doing. If they rejected Him to at least accept that the good works he did were proof that it was by the hand of God He did these things.

Jesus taught in other places that we would know people by their fruits, that is, by their actions and behaviours to see if what they said was what they did. In this section of scripture Jesus was showing the application of this teaching. He said if you don't believe in Him then look at the works for they bore testimony to His divine nature and goodness.

It is the same for us today. If or when you are unsure about the truth or sincerity of another person, watch them and see how they behave and act. Check out their fruits to see whether they are doing what they say or not. Weigh up what they say against the truth of the gospel and test it for yourself to ensure they are speaking the words of freedom and truth that accord with the gospel, and not trying to bring you back into bondage.

And if you find they are not truthful, leave them alone. Walk away and seek The Lord so that you are not caught in their snares. They may not like the fact that you do this, but you can't please everyone and nor do you need to try. Ultimately our aim is to please The Lord God and if people hated Jesus when He was here, know that they will hate his servants too.

Never mind. Your path leads to eternal life and theirs to destruction. If they choose not to seek the ways of God and go after the t hints of this world, that is their decision. If The Lord chooses to allow them to continue on that path, you can do nothing about it. It may be that they will see sense at some future time and you may not be the vessel The Lord uses to bring home that truth. In the end it is His work, we are just servants trying to find our way and hoping in Jesus Christ that we shall receive our reward in his time.

(Picture sourced from stock.xchng taken by Svilen Milev)