God is Watching

The Audience of One Series:

God is Watching

Malachi 3:16; John 5:44

Theme: God sees everything we do.

Introduction: A young piano prodigy gave his first concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London. His reputation preceded him; the concert was sold out on the day the tickets were available. His brilliance and talent exceeded all expectancy. When he finished his last piece, the audience went wild with appreciation. They stood to their feet and shouted and cheered. The young pianist bowed quickly and hurried off stage. But the audience was begging him to come back for an encore. The stage manager whispered to him: “Go quickly-they are yelling for you.” But the young man was not moving. Peering through a crack in the curtain, the pianist was scanning the audience.

“No, I can’t go out there,” he said. The annoyed stage manager said: “Look son, they are on their feet. Trust me; they don’t do this for everybody-go out and enjoy it.” The pianist continued scanning the audience. Finally the stage manager shouted: “Get out there-they are standing for you.” The young pianist looked at him and whispered, “They are not all standing. Do you the old man in the back in the last row? He is still seated.” “Who cares about one old man?” said the stage manager. They boy answered with determination: “ I care. That’s my teacher. When he stands, I can take that bow.” The young may have gained the approval of the crowds but the only one who mattered was his mentor.

The only One that matters in our lives as believers is the Lord Jesus Christ. Our lives should be focused on the audience of One.

We are told throughout Scripture that God is always watching us.

“For the eyes of the Lordrun to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)

“The eyes of the Lordare in every place, Beholding the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)

God is teaching us that He is watching everything in our lives. What we say, what we do, where we go, and how we react to situations. He hears what we say to our spouses, what we say to our children, and what we say to others. He sees how we treat other people and what we say about other people.

God gives very strong language in Scripture about how we use our tongue by criticizing people: “These six things doth the Lord hate: Yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, Feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16–19)

By the same token, He sees the good we do in caring for others, the time we spend with Him, the efforts we make in sharing the gospel with others, and the difference we are trying to make in the lives of others. God sees us when we serve Him, when we give to Him, and when we honor Him. It is most interesting that God speaks of a book of remembrance.

“He sees all you do, He hears all you say; my Lord is writing all the time.” Anonymous

Think of these words the Lord hearkened and heard-Malachi 3:16

If we could comprehend this truth, our lives would be incredibly different. It seems we are more concerned about what our social media friends see and think about us, than what God sees and thinks.

There are some very profound considerations here in these verses: God is watching

I. Conscious awareness of Him

If we could intentionally realize an audience of One-Jesus Himself-is eavesdropping on every conversation, it could save us from a lot of regret and stress. Everything you say about others, fellow brothers in Christ whether it be to your family or to your friends, God hears it and sees it. Jesus gives a warning:

“A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.” (Matthew 12:35–37)

When we have a conscious awareness of God’s seeing into our lives, how our conversation will change. How our decisions will change. How our service for God will change.

Believers need a sensitivity to His presence in our lives. When we are alone, He sees what we do. “Your reputation is what others see you to be, your character is what you God knows you are.” Your character is revealed when nobody else is watching.

God saw Moses when he forgot God was watching.

Moses- “And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.” (Exodus 2:11–12)

What Moses thought that nobody saw it, he wasn’t thinking about God seeing Him. When you look this way and that, you are probably not doing right.

Years back before there was fancy radar equipment on the police cars, my uncle was speeding down the highway. He was in a hurry and didn’t see any police so he kept on speeding. Out of nowhere came an officer who pulled him over. He was totally shocked because he never saw an officer and thought it was safe to break the law. He asked the officer after he wrote the ticket, how did you get my speed I never saw you. The officer said, “Look up overhead. Our helicopter was watching you the whole time.” Christian, we need to be aware of God’s presence and what He is hearing and seeing in our lives.

II. Commitment to approval by Him

It is not just a conscious awareness of Him, but a commitment to His approval. This means we are to be motivated and governed by making Jesus the audience of One. The one dominant feature is that on every page of the Bible, God is a jealous God. He is unashamedly and unapologetically jealous.

This means He loves and cares for us and assures us no good thing will be withheld from me. My desire should be to seek His approval “For the Lord God is a sun and shield: The Lord will give grace and glory: No good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11)

We are to remember to speak and behave as though there was no else present but Jesus Christ. This would be life changing in itself.

Children are taught growing up there are acceptable social manners we have to respect other people. We are not to yell at people, we are not to speak unkind to people, we are to use table manners, open the door for the elderly, speak respectfully with please, excuse me, and thank you. They learn this in the home so it can natural in their life. When we commit to seek the approval of God, it becomes the norm for us. Just because everyone else does it or approves it, doesn’t mean that God approves.

The government did not approve of Peter preaching Jesus in Jerusalem and they beat them and later put them in prison. Peter made this commitment:

“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)

This means we fear God and seek His approval always. Will God approve or our actions?

III. Contentment to honor Him

The tendency with most of us is we want man’s approval. We are so often people-pleasers. Do we come to church because we want to please our families or our spouse or our connection group leaders? Or do we come to church to honor Him? Do we serve because someone asks us? Or do we serve because we want to honor Him?

Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were ordered to bow down to the idol of Nebuchadnezzar. Their commitment was to have the approval of God. When man has his ideas about the way life should be, he imposes it on others. These brave men stood on their desire to honor God even if it meant death.

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Daniel 3:16–18)

They wanted to please nobody else but the audience of one. If they bowed down to the gods of society, they knew God would see.

“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5:44)

Conclusion:

When the world celebrates perversion and the government back the perversion, the Christian must honor the audience of One. When a church member chooses to walk away from God or go out into the world, we must remain steadfast for the audience of one. When people on the job don’t understand why we pray over our meals and even heckle when we do, we are to remember the audience of one. When the family or friends bring out the liquor at BBQ’s, we are to remember the audience of one. If it is just you and Jesus, how would you behave differently? Remember, we are to honor Him with our lives and live for the audience of One.