99 - I Play My Drum For Him By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes

The Bible teaches that when all is said and done, there’s only one vote that counts, and I submit to you today that it’s the vote of the audience of One!

The beautiful Christmas song we just sang, “Little Drummer Boy,” begins with a presumably young boy who learns of the birth of a new King, who is Jesus Christ.

He is invited to bring the baby Jesus a gift:

Come they told me

A new born King to see,

Our finest gifts we bring

To lay before the King

So to honor Him

When we come.

On arriving at the humble birthplace of Jesus Christ, the boy realizes that he has nothing of worth to give to Him.

But what he can do is play a drum for him.

The drum represents himself, his best, his talent, his life. The song goes on:

“Little Baby, I am a poor boy too,

I have no gift to bring

That's fit to give our King

Shall I play for you! On my drum?”

In the song, Mary hears his offer and nods with approval.

He proceeds to play his drum. He gives his best. And this pleases the baby Jesus.

Mary nodded

The ox and lamb kept time

I played my drum for Him

I played my best for Him

THEN He smiled at me

Me and my drum.”

This is a powerful and beautiful picture of real life.

We saw in our opening verses that Jesus lived for one purpose—to please the Father.

He said, “I do only those things that please Him.”

Clearly, Jesus was the King of all God-pleasers.

Paul by the Spirit exhorts Christians to live the same way—for the Lord, and not for the approving eye of man.

“As unto the Lord,” he says, “and not unto men.”

Everyone within the range of my voice today are living life for either the approval of men or the approval of God.

We all “play our drum” for either the smile of men, or smile of God.

The Bible teaches that we can’t do both!

James writes, “Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God” (4:4).

And the Bible warns that, “The fear of man’s opinion brings a trap, but he who trusts in the Lord will be honored” (Prov. 29:25).

Every day in many ways and a variety of contexts we must make the decision to either please God or please men.

We will either “play our drum” for people, or play our drum for God.

Our minds are trained to ask either, “What will THEY think?” or “What will HE think?”

What do THEY want me to do, or what does HE want me to do?

At the end of our life, we will either say, “I played my drum for them,” or “I played my drum for Him.”

Even Shakespeare knew this to be true,

“All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts…”

And so there are two kinds of people here today: those that play their drum for the accolades of men, or those that play for an audience of One—the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let me tell you a few things about these two kinds of people.

First,

Successfully accomplishing God’s will or not will be decided by who you play your drum for.

Gal. 1:10 “Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.”

You will never fulfill God’s will for your life living for the approval of men, because living for Christ, living for the Audience of One, will often put you at odds with men.

2 Tim. 3:12 “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.”

Think a moment: Can you imagine if Paul, or Peter, or Jesus Himself had lived for the approval of men?

We wouldn’t have most of the teaching of the N.T. and our salvation would never have been secured by Jesus’ death on the Cross!

When Peter was afraid of man’s opinion, he denied even knowing Christ.

He couldn’t even maintain his testimony in front of a teenage girl.

He was found hiding behind locked doors, living in defeat.

But when he threw the fear of man’s opinion out the window he shook the world for Christ and chiseled his name onto the rock of history!

The Christian Rock group Petra used to sing based on living for an Audience of One.

It was called “Godpleaser”, and in it Bob Hartman wrote these words:So many voices telling me which way to go,So many choices come from those who think they know.There’s a way that seems right to a man but it only brings him death,

I wanna go the way that leads to life, till I draw my dying breath.I just want my life to glorify His Son,

To Make my Father proud that I’m His child before I’m done.

No need to pat me on the back or stop to shake my hand,I just want to hear my Father say, “Well done, well done.”

If you live for the “amen” of others, you will be forced to turn Jesus down, hide him under a bushel, put a cover over your light.

So, the first thing about performing for an Audience of One is—YOU MUST DECIDE IF YOU WANT TO BE A PEOPLE-PLEASER OR A GOD-PLEASER.

If you want to perform for the Audience of one, you must be a God-pleaser.

Second,

Who you play your drum for will decide your future rewards in heaven.

Jesus talked a lot about men-pleasers and God-pleasers in the Sermon on the Mount.

He spoke about living for the Audience of One, about doing what we do ever aware of the watchful eye of God.

He talked about doing things to be seen by men, or doing things to be seen by the Father who “watches in secret.”

And He pointed out the Pharisees as the worst men-pleasers of His day.

Jesus said that when it came to fasting, praying, and giving, the Pharisees played their drum for the applause of men.

For example, He said:

Matthew 6:5-6 “And now about prayer. When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I assure you, that is all the reward they will ever get. But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father secretly. Then your Father, who sees you secretly, will reward you in the open.”

Did you catch that?

The only reward the Pharisees would ever receive was the momentary praise of men.

And on the flip side, Jesus promised that if we play our drum with the motive of pleasing God—if we live for that audience of One—we will be rewarded in this life, and in the life to come!

“Your Father Who sees you in secret will openly reward you.”

We all have a choice:

When you give to the needy, when you pray, when you fast, when you serve—do you do it for the applause of others, or do you do if for the applause of the Audience of One?

“I played my drum FOR HIM; I played my best FOR HIM, THEN He smiled at me, me and my drum.”

“When you play to an audience of one, the applause never ends.”~ Donald S. Whitney

I want to bring you a challenge today—a New Year challenge.

I challenge you to decide today to live your life for the Audience of One.

I challenge you to put away the fear of men’s opinion, or the desire to please people over God.

Jesus said, “He who loses his life for my sake will find it.”

I challenge you to enter the New Year of 2012 with a made up mind to play your drum for Him!