Are you afraid of man? They could be your bosses, superiors, business partners, parents, spouses, teachers, church elders, or even your close friends. Are you careful of pleasing them and gaining their favour?

Last Thursday, The Straits Times carried a news report about a well-known chef who was said to have shot himself because his restaurant was rated "less than perfect" by food critics. The chef was said to be "extremely sensitive to criticism." It was a sad story. Do you wonder how man can have such powerful control over the life of another human being, and how people can be so much affected by the favour or censure of man that it becomes a matter of life and death?

The Holy Scripture warns us against man-pleasing, and this does not contradict the teaching on how we may and must please man as unto God Himself. We must honour, obey, and please our parents, rulers, and superiors in all things that they require us to do, in the Lord. "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Exod 20:12). "Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord" (Col 3:20). "Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right" (Eph 6:1). "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers … Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God" (Rom 13:1-2). "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s" (Matt 22:21). "Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates" (Tit 3:1). "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme" (1 Pet 2:13). "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh" (Col 3:22). God has given certain men authority over us, and we are obligated to render the respect due to them, but not merely as to man. We must understand that these are men whom God Almighty has placed in the several places of authority. The power given to them over us are from God, for God, and not against God. They are to be honoured, obeyed, and pleased not in opposition to the higher authority of God, but as unto God Himself. There are therefore limits and ways as to how far we are to give our due respect to man.

Now if we obey man more than God, and in doing so, we go against God; if we value the favour and approval of man more than God’s, or go against God’s approval in order to gain man’s favour; and if we fear man’s censure or displeasure more than God’s, we are putting man up on a high pedestal, in the place of God. We are idolising man. This is a great and grave sin against Almighty God. It is a violation of God’s commandment to worship Him and Him only with no other gods or idols. "Thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Exod 34:14).

What is our chief end in life? Are the concerns of our hearts and lives centred around man? Do we care too much how man observe us, seek always to please man in all things that we do, and allow man to rule our lives with regard to our joy or sadness in life? The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Man’s chief purpose in life is to serve God; and if he will do it faithfully, he will enjoy the blessings of God abundantly. Let not man compete for our hearts and lives. God should be on the throne in our hearts and He should have the rightful control over our lives. Let not man stand in between God and us. The Lord Jesus should be the only Man to stand in between God and us, to mediate for us before God the Father. "There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5).

The Holy Scripture forbids that man be thought above that which is written (1 Cor 4:6). Man should be valued or regarded, like all other creatures, as subordinate and subservient to God. There are many injunctions from the Word of God that advise and warn us against the sin of man-pleasing. "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isa 2:22). "And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven" (Matt 23:9). "But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren" (Matt 23:8). "Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm" (Jer 17:5). "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes" (Ps 118:6, 8, 9). "Let me not, I pray you, accept any man’s person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man. For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away" (Job 32:21-22). "As for me, is my complaint to man?" (Job 21:4). "Do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (Gal 1:10). "But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment" (1 Cor 4:3). "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (Lk 14:26). "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven" (Matt 5:11-12). "Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers" (Eph 6:6; Col 3:22). "So we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts" (1 Thess 2:4). These passages express explicitly that it is against Scripture that we should indulge in inordinate man-pleasing, give respect to man more than they deserve, and exalt man higher than they should be placed.

Let us be ever watchful that we do not fall into the sin of idolising man. One who pleases man does not take God into account and therefore makes it his business to satisfy man. Remember that it is a dangerous sin to gain favour from and seek to please man. Let not this sin prevail against us from pleasing God which is our business and duty in this life. "Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man" (Eccl 12:13). Therefore watch against the sin of man-pleasing as we would guard against any other earthly things which do tempt us to idolise them and cause us to neglect our love and devotion to God.

Pr Tan Kian Sing is pastoring Berean Bible-Presbyterian Church. The above article was originally published in the Berean Banner of March 2, 2003.