The Right Priorities

Introduction

A few years ago, Michael Lopez, a researcher and statistician at Skidmore College in NYC decided that he wanted to research a very important, life-changing topic. Are referees actually biased to one team or the other? And more specifically, are they biased to the home team crowd or not. Do they get caught up in the moment or not?

Michael analyzed 5 years of NFL football games and thousands of penalty calls.

And Michael’s research for the most part is going to disappoint those of you looking for someone to blame for your teams losses over the years.

For the most part, refs, he claimed, are unbiased… except in one area.

When a judgement call play happens where the call is close and quick and difficult to make, Lopez found that the referees often called in favor of the sideline that they were closest to.

I’ll be honest, I will never be able to watch football the same way again!

Today, we are talking about how easily we are pulled in the direction of the crowd. Jesus senses this in his disciples, and he addresses it with them.

Read Luke 12:1-6

Luke 12:1–6 ESV

In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God.

Explanation

We are pulled sinfully by man in two different directions. The praise of man and the fear of man. The praise of man comes out in two ways: admiration and approval. We want to be admired as something impressive or worthy of respect. And we want to be approved or as good or acceptable.

The Admiration of Man - We have the innate desire to be impressive to others. It is why people dream of being famous basketball players or in a famous band. There is a particular allure to being in front of a grand stage of people. We want to be adored by mankind around us.

A crowd is pressing around Jesus. The term used (stemming from myriads) refers to 10,000 people or even an uncountable number. There are so many people pressing closely to Jesus that they are trampling each other.

But Jesus does not turn to the crowd. Instead, he turns to his disciples.

Now, Jesus reaction might irk us a little.

Imagine being in a place where 10,000+ people are hanging onto your every word. And you aren’t sharing what you had for breakfast or talking about the weather. You are the Word of Life.

The urgency that I feel for that moment is palpable. Tangible. Read.

The sheer magnetism of that many people, trampling each other, literally falling over the words of Jesus.

But Jesus, prioritizes his disciples. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the crowd. He cared greatly. However, Jesus in his interactions shares his thoughts.

However, crowds are fickle.

Crowds love the spectacle, but they don’t love the cross.

Jesus mentions this truth. He knows the heart of the disciples. In fact, this whole chapter must be read in the context of the stage. The great allure of the crowd. The draw of the accolades.

Jesus is telling his disciples, “one day, this crowd you see, the crowd pressed in to see me and shout my name, will be the crowd the cries, “crucify him.”

I think we can apply this principles corporately and individually.

Corporately, we aren’t here to build a crowd, we are here to make disciples.

It is easy to build a crowd around something. It is difficult to make disciples of Jesus. The second is always the better work.

Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard had a parable he would share. A theatre was putting on a good play, a good comedy, one night. Each act was getting better and better until the cast found out that the building was on fire. So a clown ran on stage shouting, “Fire, fire.” But the crowd wouldn’t listen. Kierkegaard “Our age will go down in fiery destruction not to the sound of mourning but to applause and cheering.”

Your own life.

Do you feel the need to be admired by others? The smartest, the wealthiest, the most beautiful or handsome?

It isn’t bad to be these things, but if you find the pull to NEED to be admired you can find that it often does not come from a good places and it does not lead to good things.

The Approval of Man - We have an innate desire for people to look at us and think that we are good or morally upstanding. In a way, we can project ourselves as better than we actually are. We deceive others into thinking that we are more honest, more caring, and less sinful than we actually are.

“It is true that “a good name is to be chosen rather than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1). But that is only true to the extent that our good name, our reputation, accurately represents who we are. If we cultivate and promote a reputation for ourselves that is better than we actually are, God has a scathing term for us: hypocrite.” John Bloom

Nothing you do is without a consequence - both now and forever.

You may thing you are getting away with something now, but you aren’t.

There is such a thing as secret sin, but there is no such thing as inconsequential.

Your decisions cost you intimacy with the Father.

Your decisions cost you peace of mind.

Your decisions, even in secret, cost your family, your friends, your church, and your community.

You may think you are getting away with something eternally, but you aren’t getting away with that either.

Nothing you do or ever have done will stay in the dark.

Some of you need to find the freedom of confession.

It will happen either way. It will happen before the throne of God, or it will happen now so that you can grow to know and love God more.

We repent of our sins to be saved. We confess our sins to brothers and sisters in Christ to be healed.

Mold grows in dark and damp places. You need to shine a light into your heart.

The Fear of Man

So often, we fear the immediate consequences of our live on earth over the eternal consequences of our eternal life.

Jesus says, “Don’t life for this crowds approval, but also, don’t be destroyed by this crowds rejection.” Faithfulness to me is what matters.

And he uses the word, “fear.”

What is Biblical fear, especially fear of the Lord? FOTL is more than reverence. But it is tempered by God’s grace.

The worse the world can do is kill you, and that is horrible, but there are things worth than death. Instead, Jesus says, you must be concerned with God who has the authority to save you or cast you into hell.

A manifestation of hypocrisy is that we care about being rejected by others while we do not care about being rejected by God.

The smaller God is, the bigger man is. But the inverse is also true. The bigger God is, the smaller man is.

Invitation

How do we counter the pull of the the love of man and the fear of man? Jesus

If you fear God, you have no need to fear anything else.

And of God loves you, then no other love compares.

In this reality is true freedom.

The Gospel gives us both. God does not tolerate sin. But God, through the blood of Jesus, forgives sinners.