For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. John 12:43
Hey, Mom, Gabe-Age-Eight hollers, a Yertle atop his big brother and Papa.
Take a picture of this. It would be really good on Facebook. People would really like to see it.
Mom squirms. The apple has landed. Not too far. I smile at my happy stack of man-folk and wince.
Hey, Mom-hurry! I might fall off. Get your camera fast.
I go. Not so fast, cringing and grinning, both. And I take the picture. But I don’t post.
Hey, Mom- aren’t you gonna post it? I know what you could say, ya’ know- the caption? Call it, “Ride ‘Em Cowdad.”
A Hard Saying
Was that a throwaway line to his audience, to the unbelieving Jews Jesus had just said, refuse to come to me to have life? Was it just a stream-of-thought from the Son of Man, on his way to feed five thousand? No, never. Were any of our Lord’s words ever throw-away? Ever?
Here, and again in John 12:43, we have one of those hard sayings of Jesus. Those either/or, mutually exclusive, this-but-not-that type of deals. Either serve God or money. Either be a slave to sin or a slave to obedience. Either love the world or have the love of the Father.
Either believe in me or love man’s praise. Yup. He said that, too.
A text without a context is a pretext. The context of Jesus’ words was to unbelieving Jews. They’d just seen him do a big sign. He healed a paralytic on the Sabbath. And still with signs, and with and searching the Scriptures for eternal life they refused to come to Jesus to have life.
But the bigger context, the bigger reason for these hard words of Jesus that John recorded is stated in John 20:31. These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the son of God and that by believing you may have life in his name. That’s not they and we-here, now, you, me, praise-craving, infected souls-to whom Jesus spoke this hard saying. It’s not just for those Jews then. It’s for us now.
It’s for me. I believe, and yet, Help my unbelief. When good deeds to be seen, and liked, and praised by man I act as an unbeliever. I do not set my heart on things above but on earthly things. I choose the quick buzz. I choose the puny praise. I don’t delay gratification. At the moment I post, or pose, or seek man’s applause, I don’t believe God’s praise is worth more. I’m acting like a hypocritical Pharisee, a praise-craving junkie, seeking another fix. I act like a functional atheist.
And it’s not just Facebook. The itch for man’s praise has been around since the Fall. The essence of the fall, is choosing our glory, or pleasure over the pleasure that comes from perfect union and obedience to God’s good will. All have sinned and fall short of his glory. And in perfect contrast, Abraham, we, grow strong in our faith when we give glory to God.
A Morbid Concern
Are you with me? Do you feel the itch, the twitch, the need for man’s praise? Do you feel it on Facebook when the likes stop coming? At work when the boss doesn’t notice or your colleagues don’t care? At home when your spouse doesn’t praise and the kids don’t thank? Do you feel it?
Over half-century ago, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, preached a this sermon on John 5:44. We are, he said,
[A]nimated by this one desire to receive praise and glory from one another. To receive honor means to seek honor, to desire and live for honor. It is to have it as your life’s ambition. He lives to have man’s honor and to give it to others. It has everything to do with the state of our soul.
This [praise-craving behavior] is never more evident than today. Our agencies of publicity, our media, have been multiplied more than ever before so this thing can be practiced and carried out. The whole of life today is carried out on this very basis. All the time, the money, to keep this going. It’s what John calls, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
Look at all the trouble people take to meet important people, just to say they met. It’s in books and papers. They are all writing for one another. It’s driven by a desire for reputation. Self-praise is involved-self-advertising.
I’m amazed how people can be so fond of looking at their own photographs, of having them plastered all over the place. Self-advertising, dropping a hint here and there, making things known. You see it in the gossip paragraphs. Receiving honor one from another. We have a morbid concern for the opinion of others.
It makes belief impossible, this life than consists in giving honor one to another. It is so external. Is there anything more superficial than giving honor one of another? It is such an external attitude toward life. It cares nothing for the inner man of the heart. For that which is highly esteemed before men is abomination in the sight of God.
How to Slay the Praise-Craving Dragon
How can we defeat the dragon? How do we fight our morbid love of man’s praise? We all, to one degree or another, want somebody to notice when we do something good. Praise just tastes so good. But it’s addictive and deadly to faith. We won’t be mastered. By God’s grace, we won’t be overcome.
In a 6-minute Ask Pastor John podcast, Piper takes on the question, How can I conquer the love of human praise? Here are three ways we can fight off the praise-craving dragon inside us.
1. Hate hypocrisy. Your own.
Thus when you give to the needy sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Matthew 6:2
Slaves to man’s praise do good, but the good they do is only incidental to what they really want. Sure, this side of heaven, motives will be mixed. But ask yourself, What’s driving me first? When we do a praiseworthy thing-when we cook a meal or give flowers, sing on stage or write a check- all for good, servant purposes, mind you, but when we’re doing it to be seen– APPLAUSE PLEASE- we are hypocrites. And Jesus hated hypocrisy.
Slay the praise-craving dragon by hating your own hypocrisy. Do the thing because it praiseworthy, not because you’re praise-craving.
2. Don’t settle. Visualize the prize.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. For then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 6:1
“They have received their reward.” We lose something great and we gain something pitiful when we settle for man’s praise. We get man’s short-lived kudos and likes and applause. But the buzz is incredibly fleeting. Facebook is heroin to praise-craving souls. The buzz is fast and big and gone. We might gain 10, 50, or 100-like reward but beware. On or off Facebook, so many of us are insecure and needy of people’s praise in order to be happy and feel satisfied. Let’s not settle.
Slay the praise-craving dragon by remembering not to settle. Set your heart on things above. Don’t to trade God’s great reward for man’s puny praise.
3. Keep Secrets. From your left hand.
But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4
Seriously. Practice doing good deeds, giving gifts, in secret. Or at least in secret to all but right hand. Cultivate friendships with least of these people who can’t repay you. Who can’t say thanks, or repay in kind one day. Children and elders and people with disabilities might be just the type you need. God knows they need you and he is immensely pleased when we welcome and care for these. He sees.
Slay the praise-craving dragon by cultivating relationships with folks who won’t give you praise. Practice keeping your good deeds secret. Hide them. He sees.
I didn’t post Ride ‘Em Cowdad. I had an itch for a quick fix. But I didn’t post this time. I didn’t because I’m in rehab and fighting a faith-killing disease and slaying a dragon.
And I want to love the praise of One more than the praise of man.
