Pastor, Nobody Cares What You Think

Nobody cares what you think.

Today, I want to explain to you exactly what I mean by that, but it’s true. People don’t care what you think. What you think does not matter. Let me explain.

I’ll never forget my sophomore year in Bible college. I had been studying all these things about the Bible for a couple of years, studying to be a pastor, and like a lot of young Bible college students or seminary students, this knowledge that I was absorbing and all these things I was studying was inflating my own ego a little bit.

It’s a very common problem in seminary and Bible college. As we absorb all this knowledge, it kind of puffs us up. Like the Bible says, knowledge puffs up.

So it’s something you have to keep in check, it’s something that you have to make sure you’re still remaining humble and not letting all these things you’re learning swell you up with pride.

The Class Assignment

I’ll never forget this, one day I was going to one of my classes. I was taking a worship class. It was a class where we were studying what the Bible says about worship and learning more about what worship is. It was a whole semester on it. I was loving it, soaking it up, it was great.

My professor gave our class an assignment. He had me and all these other young Bible college students get together in small groups, and he said, “Okay, here’s what I want you to do. I want you to get together, and I want you to define what worship is.”

So we broke up into these groups, and we spent time talking about what we thought worship was.

In each little group, we came up with our perfect definition of this is what worship is. And then we got in front of the class, one at a time, each group, and we presented.

• We decided that worship is this.
• We believe that worship is this.
• Here’s what we think worship is.

It’s a lifestyle. It’s this. It’s giving glory and honor to God.

We had all these phrases and sayings and all these things that we thought sounded great.

But then the professor stood in front of the class, looked at all our definitions, we had written them all on the board. And he said, “You are all wrong.”

We were just like, “What?”

The shock in that moment for all of us…. He just took the whole wind out of that room. Everybody was just like, “Uhh.”

He continued, “You’re all wrong. Here’s the problem. Nobody cares what you think. You all stood up here, and you said, ‘I think worship is this. We think worship is this. We believe this is the best definition of worship.’ Nobody cares what you think. What does God think?”

And then, he picked up a Bible, and for the remainder of the class and a few classes after, we just opened up the Bible, and he went line by line, verse by verse, through every single passage in the Bible about worship.

What does the Bible say about worship?

And that stuck with me.

What does God say?

Nobody cares what you think. What does God think?

Because look, there are so many opinions out there, there are so many people out there on social media and on blogs and on podcasts and on radio shows and TV shows and YouTube channels telling you all what to think and what to believe. I’m adding to the noise myself. And so many people are just pontificating their ideas and their brilliant thoughts, and yeah, maybe some of it’s based on God’s word, maybe some of it’s based on good things, and maybe a lot of it’s true, but no one cares what you think.

I could stand here all day and tell you guys all what you should believe and what you should think, but it doesn’t matter. What Brandon says is meaningless in the long run.

What does God say?

So if you’re a pastor, yeah, you’re going to get up there sometimes, and you’re going to share your opinion. But, that’s just your opinion. Make sure that the number one thing you are basing your sermon on is what God says.

Or if you’re writing, you’re writing a book, and you’re a Christian blogger or whatever, make sure what you are sharing and what you are writing isn’t just your opinion, but what does God think.

As Christian authors and speakers and Bible teachers, that’s our job. Just look what Paul says to his young disciple, Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4:12.

He says, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in the speech and life and love and faith and impurity” (NIV).

And then get what he says next, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and teaching.”

He says, “Devote yourself to Scripture.” That’s all you need to do, and that’s the same thing that we need to do today. Just devote ourselves to Scripture.

Or what Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

And then again, Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 4:2, he says, “Preach the word.” Preach the word; Not your word, God’s word.

Isaiah 40:8 says, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

And perhaps no verse hits on what I’m talking about more than Proverbs 30:5-6. It says, “Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His words or He will rebuke you and prove you a liar.”

Don’t Add to God’s Word

Guys, when we are teaching our own opinions and our own thoughts, we have to be incredibly careful that we are not adding to God’s word.

Nobody cares what you have to say. No one cares what you think. What matters most is what does God say. What has He already said? What is in His word for us to hear, to learn, to meditate on, to apply to our lives?

This is where the power is. This is where your ministry should rest. This is where your writing or your teaching or everything that you’re doing as a Christian should be based on what God says in His word.

So I hope that this was just a healthy reminder for you of that today, that no one cares what you think. No one cares what you have to say.

What does God say?

If you get at that and you focus on that, God will accomplish through you everything that He has already intended to do.