Christians must protect their reputations.
Paul told us not to even give the hint of immorality or wrong-doing. Our reputation either lifts up Christ or horribly wrongs the church.
Paul and Luke knew about the importance of reputation.
In Luke’s writings–The Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, the beloved Physician took pains to show that followers of Christ were law-abiders and not harmful to society.
Paul respected authority and sought to show the power of the gospel to make people and society better.
When Paul and Silas were imprisoned at Philippi, God used an earthquake to open the prison doors and the chains of the prisoners (Acts 16:25-40). The events of God’s intervention and Paul’s response are spell-binding.
Around midnight, Paul and Silas sang hymns and praised God as the other prisoners (and presumably the jailer) listened. When the earthquake occurred, the jailer assumed the prisoners had escaped and sought to take his own life rather than suffer humiliation and execution from the Romans. Paul stopped him and told the jailer to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31).
This event has always had special significance for me because my mother quoted these words to me when I was saved: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” I did, and I was!
The next morning the magistrates ordered Paul and Silas be released. After all, they had done nothing wrong, but since they were the subject of the riot they were placed in jail.
At that point, Paul refused to leave and demanded an apology from the magistrates. Our pride makes us say: “Go, Paul!” But it was not Paul’s pride that made him demand an apology.
Paul cared for the infant church of Philippi and the gospel message which he preached. He didn’t want to sneak out of town as if they had broken the law, and he didn’t want the reputation of the church and the gospel to be harmed.
We would do well to think about this example. We often worry about what others think of us. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we worried about what we were doing for the reputation of our church?
We need to protect our reputations because our reputation has the potential to harm the church or to magnify the glory of the gospel.
May we magnify Christ and His goodness by who we are.
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