“Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

Galatians 1:10

“Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked, but it’s not like this compulsive need to be liked, like my need to be praised.”

Micheal Scott

Who doesn’t like to be liked by others? I like to be liked. And if you have an honest bone in your body you know that you do too. Did you comb your hair today, take a shower, or put on deodorant? Do you wear the current fashions, or are you still sporting a mullet? If you are not dressing like the eighties anymore, or seventies with bell-bottoms and tie dyed shirts, then the answer is clear, you like to be liked. You want to fit in. Only hermits, the hard-hearted, and Hell’s Angels don’t care about others’ opinions. But the rest of us normal human beings who still have air in our lungs, all of us want to be liked. 

I like it when people think I am a nice and normal guy.

Conversely, it is no fun when people stop talking to you, or unfriend you off of Facebook because they think you are an obnoxious person. It is an odd feeling when you know that people you once cared for and would even come to you for advice now look at you as a thick-headed Archie Bunker who no longer has anything of worth left to say. I know people who have quit following me online because they think I am too judgemental when I simply share a differing opinion. When you live in a small town it is easy to read people and how they feel about you. 

And it is especially unique for me because I am a pastor of a local church and I know there are some people who think I should only be sharing encouraging scriptures and uplifting Psalms that soothe the soul. Here is what they say, “Pastors who use social media should never criticize other points of view, or bash ideas they disagree with. Jesus never did. You are a minister of the Gospel, you should stay in your lane and let normal people talk about all the other issues. But hey, don’t fret, you can still talk about prayer and John Calvin. Oh yeah, we also will allow you to share a few pictures of your family if you don’t boast or show them in a swimsuit.” 

Maybe I should post more pictures of flowers, sunsets, smiling babies, gardens, ocean beaches, and best friends hugging. I really need to change my ways. I don’t want to have someone read my blogs and then think I am a cranky old patriarch who takes life too seriously. I know it is hard to believe, but I am not an angry old man who is always wearing a starched white collar and a tie, and I don’t always drink chamomile tea. And it is especially frustrating when people leave the church because they think the Spirit of God has left the community they once worshipped with because the pastor may not see eye to eye on politics and gender studies. I know how some people think, “Hypocrites are the ones who don’t see life my way, because if they really followed Jesus, they would.”

Candidly, I know of a few people who will never talk to me again because they assume I voted for Trump in the last election. If I fly an American flag in front of my house during national holidays, we are told that this display of patriotism is a dead giveaway that I am a white supremist. But I want to be liked so I will never reveal who I voted for. – – just because I complained a few times about wearing a mask or wanted my kids to play sports during the Covid lockdowns some people treat you like you are the QAnon shaman who stormed the capital stairs wearing a buffalo hat with a painted face. Why does who a person votes for cause another person to hate them and cast them aside forever? 

Oh well, I am on a furious mission to be liked now. I have had enough of conflict and sideways glances from people who were once my friends. I like smiles, the more smiles the better. And who cares if those smiles are fake, you know like the kind a used car salesman wears, if they cause people to like you, isn’t that enough?

So enter the Apostle Paul, stage right. He declares in no uncertain terms that pleasing people may not be a good thing, nor should it characterize the life of a dedicated follower of Jesus. In Galatians 1:10 he makes it sound like our natural desire to win others’ approval can get in the way of our service and worship of God. 

So does that mean we should be jerks for Jesus? Or maybe we should live like the Amish, far away from modern civilization, pull away from the current culture and huddle together only with those who are like us? Maybe they have had it right after all.

But doesn’t God want us to be on good terms with others? Isn’t it a good thing to be liked? Should I not love my neighbor as myself? And if I love others won’t they like me in return? Am I not to live in the world without being of the world?

The main focus of Galatians is about our message as Christians. We need to not let it be perverted or changed just so people will like us. And the message is clear, as Galatians 1:4 says, “The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age.” Simply put, Jesus died in our place because we are being ruined by sin. And he did this so we would be rescued out of the filth everyone else is indulging in. And when you live by the message, and even try to share it, sometimes people wont like you. That is Paul’s point.

But why does this message have to cause people not to like us? What if we just tweak it a little tiny bit for the sake of pleasing people? What if having people like us was our goal? How would our message change?

1. The first thing that should go is the concept of “sin”. People don’t like it when you criticize them or confront them about their moral failings, so let’s quit talking about it. So what if some people do wrong – – deep down they are still good people right? But what if they do something that really offends God? Easy, just don’t say anything. If the goal is pleasing people, it is better to keep your mouth shut than upset a friend. But what if I see a guy bashing in his neighbor’s head, or my brother tells his four year old boy that he can be anything he/she wants to be from a girl, to a lizard, to a barking spider? Who cares, it is more important your brother gets along with you while you play board games with him on Friday and Saturday night than it is helping them to prepare for the day when they see the living God. That is so far off, it is best not to disturb the great times you are having now.
2. Secondly we must not use Jesus’ name as the only way to salvation. It could offend someone who is an atheist or a Muslim who hates the Christian message of “Christ alone.” We are so mean when we say things that might cause them to go on a Jihad war with us, so we need to be nice and shut up. Remember, we want people to like us. Who cares if a person thinks reincarnation is true and they actually believe they may come back in the next life as a speckled cow or squiggly worm, it is far better for them to believe their delusion today than to cause undue anxiety for them about a place called hell that may not even exist. I know, I know, Jesus talked about hell as if it was a certainty, but what if he is wrong? 

If we did this, do all we can to not offend, people in our world might include us in their Pride parades, rave parties, and we wouldn’t be kicked off social media. We all know it is of utmost importance to influence the world through Twitter. And if we got really good at closing our mouths, the elite Universities and places of higher culture might not criticize Christians anymore. Don’t you want to be liked? I sure do.

3. The last thing we need to avoid is ever using the word “evil” when we talk about other people’s behavior. I am constantly told that people don’t mean to do evil, that is just how they were raised, they don’t know any better. Hey, we are all sinners, no one is better than any other, so again, we must shut our mouths. I am even told that things we once looked down on are actually good for us, so let’s just change the name of bad behavior and call it good. Incest is really family love, pedophilia is a relationship of consent with younger people (who cares if they are four years old), and polygamy is a new path to communal harmony. It’s all good. Since Evolution is now a confirmed fact we can be assured that humanity is getting better and better, it is called progressive hope. A boy who can dress like a drag queen is a clear sign that our species is becoming a kinder and gentler species. Cover Girl and Maybelline are leading the way to a new kind of human. Thank God for eyeliner, wigs, and dresses!

So the choice is clear. If you want to be liked, anything goes. You don’t want to go back to buggies and bowl haircuts, do you? What can the Amish teach us about people pleasing? Nothing really. I mean you don’t want to have to keep calling a dad, dad, and a mom, mom, do you? You don’t want to exalt hard work and sobriety, how boring. And you don’t want your family to think that God matters. 

Who do you want to like you? God or people? It’s your choice!