THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER
"Search the scriptures: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. " (John 5:39)

VOLUME 5, NUMBER 48, DECEMBER 4, 2005

YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYBODY

            Occasionally someone will ask me “What is the hardest part of being a preacher?”  There are several ways that I could answer that, some of which would be peculiar to one who has devoted his life to preaching the gospel, and some of which would be applicable to any child of God who does his best to try to reach others with the gospel of our Lord Jesus.  However, I would have to say for me personally, the hardest part is realizing that you can’t please everybody all the time and you can’t please some of the people any of the time.  I suspect that this may be one of the hardest things for elders as well – at least the conscientious and godly ones that I have known.   Over the years I have had elders say to me, “Greg, you can’t please everybody all the time,” and I have said to some elders who were hurting, “Brothers, you can’t please everybody all the time.”  But knowing that intellectually and dealing with it emotionally are two different things.

            Jesus made an interesting observation about the generation among whom He was living in Matthew 11:16-19.  He said, “But whereunto shall I liken this generation?  It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows.  And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented.  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.  The  Son of  Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.  But wisdom is justified of her children.”

            The Lord’s point was that the generation of people among whom He walked was never satisfied.  They were like children playing in the marketplace.  If they played their little pipes and sang and danced, some of the other children would not take part and complain.  If they changed their tactics and played at mourning, there were still those who were not happy.  John came living an austere lifestyle, and there were those who did not like it  or John himself.  Jesus came and enjoyed the simply, yet completely wholesome things of life, and they didn’t like that.  He went to the people others would not go to and the “holier than thou’s” criticized Him for it.  His point was that it was impossible to please everybody all the time and that you couldn’t please some of the people any of the time.  But those who wanted nothing more than to hear the truth of God’s word would hear and respond.

            What a hard lesson to learn!  Intellectually I know it to be true, completely accepting it emotionally is another story.  That is one of the reason why it is so essential that faithful brothers and sisters in Christ support one another in the work of the Lord.  Over the years I have been called a cretin, Satan, the anti-Christ, stupid, and a false teacher.  Just two weeks ago I was called a Jim Jones Guyana freak (whatever that is) and told that I would be arrested if I ever came to this particular fellow’s apartment again and that if the law wouldn’t take care of me, he had friends in the Mafia who would.  I have been thrown out of houses, pushed and shoved, and have even been in a living room where a gun was being waved around.  I had one fellow write me a letter saying that he felt bad for my children and that I must be ashamed every time I looked in the mirror in the morning. Anybody who has spent any appreciable time in evangelistic endeavors has had similar things happen.

 I would be lying if I said that none of this stuff ever bothered me because some of it did.  Yet, everything I have just mentioned came from non-Christians and I know that the truth is going to upset some of them.   It is not difficult to intellectually and emotionally deal with the fact that you can’t please every non-Christian all the time and that there are some non-Christians you can’t please any of the time.  It is not difficult to accept intellectually that the same holds true among Christians, but it is a lot harder to accept emotionally.  Among Christians there is a place for disagreements.  After all, none of us are perfect.  Yet, among Christians there is no place for being disagreeable.  Among Christians we have to make allowances for a brother or sister having a bad day and perhaps acting in an unfriendly manner, but among Christians, there is no place for general unfriendliness toward any of our number.  Among Christians we have to recognize that we all have different likes and dislikes, different things that bring us satisfaction and enjoyment and that is O.K.  But, we must never allow personal likes and dislikes to cause animosity to exist between any of us. 

Among us we are not all going to be equally pleased with every decision made by the elders, nor are we going to be equally pleased with every bible class taught or every sermon delivered.  But you know what we can always be?  Loving toward one another!   Encouraging toward one another!  We are not going to always see eye to eye on everything, but we can all do what Paul instructed the Colossians to do in Col. 3:12-14.  “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.”

DON’T ASSUME THE WORST

Don’t assume the worst if one day I appear unkind,
It may just be that something heavy is weighing on my mind.

Don’t assume the worst if to you I fail to speak,
There may be something very hard that has been going on all week.

But if to you I do these things from a heart that hard and black,
It does you no good to worry for God will take care of that.