If we, as believers, are going to accomplish anything worthy of our Lord, we must work together. That cannot happen, though, unless we work hard at getting along. Involved in our getting along is a balance between knowing when it is time to speak up and when it is time to mind our own business.

A little girl came home from her Sunday school class one day and her dad asked her what she had learned. "Daddy," she said, our teacher said that in the Bible it says, ‘Study, be quiet, mind your own business, and keep your hands to yourself!’ Does the Bible say that?’"

Let me ask you... Does the Bible say that? (If it does I can see all the Sunday school teachers scrambling for pencils to write I down!) Actually the Bible does say something like that. We read in 1 Thessalonians 4:10-12

But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, 11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you…."

The Bible tells us here, in no uncertain words, to mind our own business! Actually, this is not the only passage that addresses this issue. 1 Peter 4:15-16 says:

What is a troublesome meddler? A meddler is one who minds other peoples’ business – one who, as we say, "puts his nose into other people’s affairs." The word "meddler" in Greek it is a compound word that means literally, "another’s bishop" or "another’s superintendent." (Don’t you just love it when someone who more-often-than-not has a hard time running his or her own life, butts in and tries to run yours?)

Here’s another passage on the subject. 1 Tim 5:13-14 says:

The word to note there is "busybodies." W.E. Vine says of the Greek word, "[One who] …meddles with or bustles about other people’s matters."

This matter of attending to one’s own business should be a concern to every Christian. It is no small issue.

These passages tell us to mind our own business. But as I’m going to show you later in this message, there are also several passages that tell us to be concerned for the affairs of others even to the point of intervening in their business. So how do we know what is appropriate and what is not? Sorting out our responsibility in this area is an important part of maturing in Christ. It is especially important if we are to have an effective Christian witness. It’s also critical in maintaining peaceful relationships.

Keep your Bible ready please, because we’re going to look at several more passages. Let’s consider first:

According to the Bible, we should mind our own business:

Look with me at John 21:15-23:

Peter’s question, "Lord, and what about this man?" was natural and understandable. Told by Jesus that he was going to die for his faith, he turned his gaze in John’s direction and asked, "What about him, Lord? Is he going to die, too?"

It doesn’t seem fair that one of us has to suffer for the faith and another doesn’t. We have this thing about fairness, don’t we? If we see someone else blessed by God in a visible way, we think, "Well, where’s mine? Surely I’m as deserving as he is!" If we suffer for Christ, we wonder "Why me, Lord? Why did you pick me and not somebody else?"

Want to know what Jesus says about that? He says, in effect, what He said to Peter: "Mind your own business! If I decide to bless him that way, what is it to you? You’re job is to follow me!" It sort of pulls us up short, doesn’t it?

Someone else is promoted and you thought it should have been you. How do you deal with it? Someone else gets an honor and you thought you were every bit as deserving, maybe more so. (And maybe you were!) How do you handle it? Many people get jealous and angry and bitter.

God providentially leads in all things among His people. He has promised to ultimately bring good into our lives if we settle back and trust Him. But He hasn’t revealed how He is going to do it. Neither has He given us any assurance that He will work the same plan in each of our lives. In fact, He seldom does anything in exactly the way we expect.

As for the way or means by which He fulfills His promises to us, that is His business, not ours! It’s our business to trust Him even when He goes about it differently than we might expect or want or consider "fair."

Another case where we are to mind our own business is:

Let’s take a look at Luke 13:22-30:

This man was asking one of those "questions" that really isn’t a question: "Of all the people in the world, we Jews are the only ones who are going to be saved, right?" He wasn’t looking for an answer from Jesus. He already had an opinion. He was checking out Jesus’ orthodoxy. He wanted to be sure Jesus held to the same Jewish exclusiveness as he did. In the rabbinical writings of the time, the Jewish view of those who were to be saved vs. those who would be lost was compared to a drop of water next to a wave. After all, weren’t they the chosen people? And everyone knew the Jews were only a tiny race among all the races of the world. The man wanted Jesus to say, "Well, yes, as a matter of fact, only you and your other Jewish relatives among all the peoples of the world are good enough to be saved." Instead, Jesus, in effect said, "Mind your own business. Pay attention to yourself so you don’t fail to enter in, too. In my kingdom it isn’t going to an issue of nationality. What will matter is your willingness to obey God."

God was about to reach out and do a work among people (the Gentiles) that this man considered unacceptable. That wasn’t going to fit on this man’s "Jews-only" measuring stick.

Whenever people start feeling moral superiority over others to the extent that they want others excluded whom God wants to reach out to, they have ceased minding their own business and are now minding God’s. It’s wrong.

God will save those who are willing to do His will – those who are willing to obey the gospel and want to serve Him.

Yet another case where we are to mind our own business is:

Deuteronomy 29:29 says, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law."

Today we have the finished Word of God. Everything that is going to be revealed to man this side of death has been revealed. But God hasn’t told us everything. Have you noticed? That bothers some of us. So we speculate and often make things up that sound right to us but aren’t actually in the word of God. If we would stop there and label it "speculation" or "opinion," and not try to bind it on others, that would be fine. But too often those speculations become doctrines and matters of faith. It is still possible to repeat the error of the Pharisees who invalidated the word of God for the sake of their traditions.

In 2 Timothy 2:23, Paul told Timothy, "But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels."

Amen to that! Let us contend earnestly for what is revealed about the faith, but let us also refrain from speculation about what is not revealed.

Another case where we are to mind our own business is (and it is somewhat related to the last one):

One more case that I’ll mention in this message is that we should mind our own business:

In the spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles came to Boston to play a routine baseball game but what happened that day was anything but routine.

The Orioles’ John McGraw got into a fight with the Boston third baseman. Within minutes all the players from both teams had joined in the brawl. The warfare quickly spread to the grandstands. Among the fans the conflict went from bad to worse. Someone set fire to the stands and the entire ballpark burned to the ground. Not only that, but the fire spread to 107 other Boston buildings. Fights are like that.

Proverbs 26:17 says, "Like one who takes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and meddles with strife not belonging to him."

Some folks love to fight. They can smell a brawl for miles. But what does this verse say? Stay out of it! Mind your own business! If people would do that, there would be fewer troubles in the world.

OK then. Does this biblical teaching to mind our own business mean we should never get involved in the affairs of another? No. There are times when we should and indeed must be involved in the lives of others. We’ll turn next to:

The first case is:

Galatians 6:1-2 says, "Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ."

I don’t have time to elaborate on this passage. Suffice it to say that there are times when we must get involved with others. Here we see that it is the business of spiritual people to help restore a brother or sister who is faltering. (We certainly might be told to mind our own business in such cases, but this is a commandment of God we should not disregard.)

Another area where the principle of minding our own business doesn’t apply is:

Hebrews 13:17 says, "Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you."

The leaders of every congregation of Christians in the world are going to be called to stand in front of God one of these days and give an account for the souls under their charge. Yet sometimes people don’t like this aspect of church life.

When we lived in California, I taught and baptized a man I had known in elementary school. We had been good friends in early life. Later our paths crossed and I discovered that he was interested in Christianity so I took the opportunity to study the Bible with him. After a few weeks he became a Christian. He was an advertising promoter by trade.

After he had been with us in the church for about a year, he was involved in promoting a community event that turned out to be a big drinking bout. The key sponsor was one of the major beer companies. He billed it as a "Beer Belly Bounce-off" and it made the front page of the local newspaper. There on the page was my new brother in Christ standing in front of a stack of beer kegs, holding up a stein of beer with a big-bellied boozer and a couple of bikini clad woman on each side. True to its advertising, the event proved to be a wild drinking party where many people got drunk.

A few days later I went by his house and had a loving, brotherly, gentle chat with him about his Christian example and witness. Since he was so new in Christ, I was very careful with him, assuming that perhaps he hadn’t figured out yet that the Bible says that drunkenness is a sin and that drinking parties are supposed to be a part of the old life and not the new. Care to guess his response? Yeah, he told me to mind my own business!

But I was minding my business in questioning this dear brother’s activities that could bring reproach on the name of Christ. And I feared God much more than I feared this brother’s disapproval. He left the church in the huff, indignant that we would have the nerve to suggest anything that had to do with his private or public life.

A final area where minding our own business doesn’t apply is:

Look with me at Mark 16:15-16:

A few years ago, not long before our troops invaded Afghanistan, two women, Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were arrested in that country for "preaching Christianity." Actually, as I understand it, they weren’t speaking in a public gathering. They were simply speaking to their neighbors and explaining their faith. They were arrested for it and, until war broke out, were awaiting trial. The penalty for doing what they did in that country was death. Yet they spoke out. Why? They were doing what Jesus told them to do. The Taliban said, "Mind your own business." They said, "We can’t do that."

Even in this country this is an area where some of us would probably rather mind our own business, because it seems out of our comfort zone. We’re apprehensive and sometimes downright terrified of such outreach. But we must never forget that God has commanded it. It was not a suggestion.

A beautiful little girl wandered out one cold day into the Canadian countryside. Her family finally realized she was lost and started a search. Soon, they called the people of the community together. As the neighbors searched, each went his own way, one this way, another, that. When darkness fell, they still hadn’t found the little girl. The nighttime temperature would soon drop well below zero and the wind was picking up. After some time someone suggested the searchers join hands and cover the grassy fields. It was a good idea, but it was too late. They found the little girl curled up, frozen to death in the cold. "If only we had joined hands before!" was the common refrain. But it didn’t bring the girl back to life.

If we, as believers, are going to accomplish anything worthy of our Lord, we must work together. That cannot happen, though, unless we work hard at getting along. Involved in our getting along is a balance between knowing when it is time to speak up and when it is time to mind our own business. May God give us the wisdom to know what is appropriate in every case.

Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.

Copyright © 1996-2008 by The Preacher's Study. Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

All Scripture quotations and references are from the New American Standard Version unless otherwise stated.

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