Adult Peer Pressure

When we think of peer pressure, adolescence comes to mind. Truth is adults are just as prone to peer pressure (or being influenced by others) as teenagers.

 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. (Galatians 2:11-13)

 This is a classic example of peer pressure. Peter who had a prominent role in the spreading of the gospel influenced other Jews, and in particular Barnabas, not to eat with Gentiles when men sent by James were with them.

Peter “feared those who were of the circumcision”. He was also being influenced by peer pressure from those Jewish Christians who wanted to keep themselves separate from the Gentile Christians. Peter not only sinned, but influenced others to participate in the sin with him. The sin of hypocrisy.

           

Peter must have learned from this experience because in I Peter 4:3-4 he admonishes  the brethren:   

For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles--when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.

Diotrephes in 3^rd John used his influence to stop others from accepting or welcoming those sent by John. He used the threat of putting them out of the church if they didn’t do as he wanted them to.  In verse 11, John admonishes Gaius: 

Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

The Old Testament is full of examples where the Israelites imitated what the nations around them were doing. They were being influenced to worship false gods and engage in sinful behavior.

 They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, "Do not do as they do," and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do. (II Kings 17:15)

Two prime examples of those who didn’t let themselves to be influenced by others were Joseph and Daniel.  We are all familiar with the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. She could have easily influenced Joseph to commit adultery with her, but instead he chose to run away from her. He didn’t allow himself to be pressured into something he knew was wrong.

We see the same thing with Daniel.  In chapter 6 of Daniel, we see the decree made by Darius that all men must pray to him only and not to any other god or man. Daniel, knowing that he could be killed if he didn’t comply with this decree, refused to bow down to Darius and still prayed to God Jehovah three times a day, as was his custom. He didn’t let even the threat of death influence his devotion to God.  (We could even look to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in chapter 3, to see their example of not being pressured into worshipping the image of Nebuchadnezzar, even to the point of death.)

Just as in adolescence, adults can choose to let positive or negative peer pressure influence them. The best positive peer pressure is summed up by Paul in I Corinthians 11:1, 

Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. 

And in Hebrews 6:12,

 ...but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

We need to seek out those positive influences and follow them, and when we see that we are being influenced by negative or sinful behavior, we need to be like Joseph and RUN!!