They Loved the Praise of Men

Most of us, given a choice, would like to be well thought of and spoken well of rather than to be reviled, criticized, and despised. This is natural and easily understood, but there is danger that this natural desire leads us into sin. When one gets to the point where one cares more about what people think than what God thinks and commands, they are in trouble, in trouble with the Lord and Savior.

We find a group of such men in John 12, men who wanted the praise of men above God’s praise, men in trouble with God.

“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” (John 12:42-43, NKJV)

Sometimes we want to please people too much. While it is good and proper to want to have a good reputation among others and be well spoken of it is but folly to sell one’s soul for it. Paul says, “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Gal. 1:10 NKJV) Our duty in life is not to seek to please men but rather to please God, our creator. We live for God, not man.

We have been purchased with the blood of Christ (Acts 20:28, Eph. 1:13-14). We have been bought by him, and we are his; he owns us, “For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Cor. 6:20 NKJV) We are the sons, the children of God (1 John 3:2), “his own special people.” (1 Peter 2:9, NKJV)

The praise of men is vain. It cannot keep the sorrow out of our hearts when death strikes our families, it cannot keep the pain away that hits us when a son or daughter goes wrong or becomes alienated, it cannot keep us from growing old and feeble, and it cannot take our place at the grave. In the really important things of life, it is vain, even worthless. It changes nothing.

Those whose praise we so often seek are those whom we see as being more important, or powerful, or influential than ourselves. We seldom seem concerned with being praised by the poor man or one whose circumstances are humble. We do not care about the opinion of the man with the eighth-grade education, or the janitor, the trash man, or the cleaning lady. We are arrogant, proud, and self-important. We are only interested in what you think about us if you are one whom we value as a person whose praise seems to better us in the eyes of others. At a very minimum, you must be one of our peers, as we see it, before we are interested in your praise. This attitude itself is a sin.

All men stand equal before God. We are to show partiality to none. James speaks of this in James 2:1-6, “My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man.” (NKJV)

Peter tells us “honour all men” (1 Peter 2:17 KJV) or, as the ESV states it, “honor everyone.” With God one man is as valuable as another and we are to have that attitude as well. We are to be followers of him who shows no partiality and who desires that all men be saved. Indeed, of those who are more powerful and influential, God has said, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.” (1 Cor. 1:26 NKJV) The words “are called” are supplied words in the New King James version to complete the thought. All men are called by the gospel, but the meaning is that not many of this class of people--the wise, the mighty, the noble--will respond to God’s call. And yet, this is the class of people whose praise we so often desire.

If we are faithful and obedient, we will in due time receive honor, honor from God. Paul tells us God will mete out tribulation and distress to every soul of man who does evil, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 2:10 NAS) Glory and honor from God in the last day should be the praise we seek. It is an honor that will not die with men nor fade away with time, but will be eternal.

We learn from the rulers who loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (John 12:42-43) that truth is not always the determining factor in the way people live and conduct themselves, even when they know the truth and are not deceived. A man can know the truth, as did these men, as did the rich young ruler, as did Demas, and yet it does not make enough difference to them to get them to alter their lives and bring them into accord with the truth.

The second sin ever committed was of this very nature. Paul says of Adam that he “was not deceived” (1 Tim. 2:14). Adam knew the truth; Adam believed the truth; Adam willfully disobeyed the truth. Temptation was to him greater than the truth he knew and greater than his faith and love for God.

There was a time in my life (when I was much, much younger) when I had the idea just teach a man the truth so he would see it and know it, and he would most certainly obey it. WRONG! The examples of men already mentioned provide the proof.

There are things that motivate men over and above truth. Adam’s desire and love for his wife, a desire to please her, won out over truth. Remember, he was not deceived. The rulers who believed in Jesus but would not confess him found the praise of men more important, a greater motivating factor, than truth. While it is easy to be very critical of them honesty of heart would compel most of us to admit similar guilt in our own lives on occasion. We have held our peace when we should have spoken up, for the desire to be well thought of among those whom we were with, at the time, was greater than our desire to take a stand for Christ and the truth. Is there any who can honestly say they have never been guilty of such conduct?

The word “fear” is not mentioned in reading about the rulers who believed in Jesus but would not confess him. It was there nonetheless. The fear of being put out of the synagogue, the fear of bringing down the displeasure of man, the fear of no longer being spoken well of, the fear of being ostracized, was foremost in their mind. As it was with them, so it often is with us, when we refuse to speak out. We desire the praise of men and to be well thought of more than we desire the praise of God, and yet we know that this praise is only for a time, transient.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warned us all when he said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you.” (Luke 6:26 NKJV) A man who has not incurred the disfavor of at least some is a man who has never taken a stand. Jesus says the blessed man is not the one all speak well of but rather “blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.” (Matt. 5:11 NKJV)

Paul told Timothy, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12 NKJV) If a man is being persecuted, he is not being praised by all men. Yet, we find in looking at the qualifications for elders that a man “must have a good testimony among those who are outside.” (1 Tim. 3:7 NKJV) How do we deal, then, with what appears to be a contradiction?

That can be answered by considering who the persecutors of Christians will be. If you are an honest person who works hard, most people will honor that. The ordinary person who is fair appreciates the good others may do. If you are helping the poor, the homeless, the elderly, your neighbors, about everyone will consider those things to be good works and be pleased to see you working at that. These are the things the Bible teaches that Christians ought to be doing.

In the book of Ephesians, Christians are said to be God’s “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” (Eph. 2:10 NKJV) Peter says that we are to have our “conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Peter 2:12 NKJV)

Those who speak evil of the faithful Christian and are persecutors usually do so based on their disdain for Christianity itself. They do not want to be brought under the control of Jesus’ teaching. They do not want to be seen as sinners and so scoff at the Bible and are willing to persecute vocally those who believe and uphold its teachings. They love their sinful lifestyles and resent any teaching that would imply they are in error or cast them in a bad light. In America, they want a secular society where God is cast out.

Christians are also persecuted by those of certain other religions, such as the Islamic religion. You see this especially in Africa and more and more in parts of Europe. All you need to do is listen to the news coming out of those parts of the world.

Christians who try and live by God’s word are also persecuted by those who claim to be Christians but want the Bible to be interpreted in such a way as to allow them to live and do pretty much as they please. To this group, the Bible does not actually mean what it literally says. It was never meant to be taken literally is their idea. They resemble the Pharisees of Jesus' day. They have deep religious feelings, but not according to knowledge, and have come up with their own set of commands that set aside God’s. They are very liberal minded and progressive.

Thus, those who speak evil of the Christian usually do so for their own religious reasons, even atheism is a form of religion. Paul, in talking about the qualifications for an elder, when he says he must have a good report from those on the outside, was speaking about the man’s character and honesty, his good works, etc. No man can live a faithful Christian life and have all men speaking well of him continuously as it pertains to his religious beliefs and practices. Jesus did not; Paul did not. The Bible does not contradict itself.

When a man wants the praise of men above the praise of God there is no end to the concessions he is willing to make. He will concede eternal life itself as did the rulers in John 12. He most certainly will concede on doctrinal matters. Is it not true that the desire for the praise of men is behind much of the extremely liberal views of the Bible? The New Testament is clear in its teaching on subjects such as baptism, the role of women, homosexuality, and yet it makes but little difference to many. We must be politically correct and pleasing to the culture of the time. To teach against things such as homosexuality is considered hate speech by many who oppose God's teaching on the subject.

How do we overcome the tendency we all have to want to be well thought of and liked by all? We need to measure the cost. What is the price of seeking the praise of men over the cost of seeking the praise of God? Which pays better? Which pays longer? Which brings greater honor and glory? Each must make a decision. Our hearts will lead us to choose one way or the other. The choice is one of free will. What will you decide? In the words of Joshua, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” (Joshua 24:15 NKJV)

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The Army of the Lord

“The army of the Lord” is a phrase found only once in the NKJV of the Bible, and that in the Old Testament in Joshua 5:14, where Joshua, in the vicinity of Jericho, meets up with one who says of himself that he is the “Commander of the army of the Lord.” (NKJV) However, having said that, it is clear from many different New Testament passages that while the church is never called an army, it is clearly described as an army in that each Christian is considered a soldier, outfitted with battle gear, a weapon, and engaged in warfare. Since the church is composed of its individual members, each member a soldier, it follows that the church is the army of the Lord here on earth.

In the book of Philippians, Paul refers to Epaphroditus as his “fellow soldier.” (Phil. 2:25 NKJV) He does the same with Archippus in Philemon verse 2, and almost every Bible student is familiar with Paul’s admonition to Timothy where he tells him, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” (2 Tim. 2:3 NKJV) If we are honest, we realize that is an admonition to us as well if we desire to be a faithful Christian.

We ought to put emphasis on the phrase “must endure hardship” for it is easy to think in our day and age and in our country there is no hardship to be endured as a Christian. Wrong! Paul made it clear it is not a matter of whether or not we will be persecuted, but more a matter of when or where or to what degree, for he says, “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” (2 Tim. 3:12 NKJV)

There is, I think, a greater implication in Paul’s statement than we generally are willing to accept. We think if someone on the national scene has spoken against Christianity, and we hear about it, that we have been personally persecuted because we are a Christian. Yet, in the first century, when Paul was writing, there was no national news that you were going to get instantly, unlike today. The persecution Paul spoke about was far more direct and personal.

Paul was speaking to a single individual in his letter to Timothy and saying to him, paraphrasing, if you are a Christian and are living like it and talking about it--the command is to “go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15 NKJV)--then you are going to suffer for it. If we do not suffer for it (sooner or later), then maybe that says a lot about our failure to live the life as God intended it to be lived. That is the implied teaching of the passage; if there is no suffering personally, then there is likely no actual living of the life as Christ intended one to live it.

The Christian life is referred to as warfare. Paul says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God … ." (2 Cor. 10:4-5 NKJV) Timothy was encouraged to “wage the good warfare.” (1 Tim. 1:18 NKJV) To Timothy, Paul says in the second letter to him, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” (2 Tim. 2:4 NKJV) This was in the very next verse after Paul told him he must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:3).

A lot of people enter into the Christian life sort of unaware. They are thinking love, peace, mercy, grace, and hope. They are not expecting combat and are ill-prepared and often unready and unwilling to engage in it. Yes, there is love, peace, mercy, grace, and hope in Christ, but one has to remember these are mostly things that are found within one’s inner being because of what he has become in Christ and what Christ has done for him. As far as the outside world goes, it is an entirely different matter.

You have to a large degree become the enemy to the world unless you are going to try and be a secret disciple and never speak of Jesus and just go on living like the world. If you decide on that course you will get along fine in this world but there is always the Day of Judgment to look ahead to. That will be a looking forward to “a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.” (Heb. 10:27 NKJV)

But, as I said, many are not ready for the combat. In the parable of the soils the one unprepared for combat is the one represented by the stony places soil (describing the heart of man) where when the seed was sown (the word of God) it was received and sprouted and came up but “when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he (the person with this kind of heart--DS) stumbles.” (Matt. 13:21 NKJV) He is neither prepared for nor willing to engage in the fight. The heart’s desire is only for the smooth things of Christianity, the blessings.

At the end of his life, Paul said he had “fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:7 NKJV) It had been a fight indeed. Remember when Paul was being converted? Do you remember the words of Jesus when speaking with Ananias about Paul? He said, “I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:16 NKJV)

One can read about the life of Paul and his sufferings in summary in 2 Cor. 11:23-33. He talks about his beatings, imprisonments, being stoned, and many other things that came his way in his life as a Christian. It had been a fight, a lifelong fight after his conversion. And here is the lesson we need to learn from this, those of us who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, the battle Paul fought was a religious fight, the very kind many feel is too unchristian, or unchristlike, to fight.

It was a fight over doctrine, over who was right and who was wrong, over who would be saved and who would not, over the way to heaven. Too many people today see this as an exceedingly nasty type of fighting that drives people away from Christ, they say. Don’t talk to me about it. Your fight would be with Jesus, Paul, Jude, and others. Jesus and Paul were in religious debates nearly all of the time.

Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.’ And ‘a man’s foes will be those of his own household.’” (Matt. 10:34-36 NKJV) Paul got in trouble because he was unwilling to remain quiet about his religion and insisted on evangelizing and debating. Come to think about it, that was pretty much the same reason Jesus was crucified, was it not?

But, most of the talk today by the Christian community, as the world would define it, seems to be about getting along, how we are all going to the same place no matter what we believe or practice, and how it is so un-Christian to fight with one another. Some are willing to go so far with this approach as to say one does not even have to be a Christian to go to heaven.

Jude says he wrote “exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith.” (Jude 3 NKJV) One cannot do that and not debate religion. “We do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Cor. 10:3-5 NKJV) Christian debating (casting down arguments) is a part of the Christian warfare.

Debating is as far as it goes. No Christian, living as a Christian, would ever do harm to another. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matt. 5:44 NKJV) Christian wars are a misnomer. The Crusades and other European religious wars were not Christian. Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world.

When one looks at the armor a Christian is to put on to fight the Christian warfare,“put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11 NKJV), that he might stand and not fall one finds that he is given “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph. 6:17 NKJV) This is the word which is described in the Hebrew letter as being, “living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Heb. 4:12 NKJV)

There are those today who would remake the sword of the Spirit into a butter knife. Just sharp enough to cut soft butter and that’s it. They do not want a sharp two-edged sword, one that pierces in the way described in Hebrews 4:12. The fear is that someone might get hurt, that is, get their feelings hurt. They are not going to wield any such sword, and so you can forget them as an active soldier in the Lord’s army. They will not debate the truth; they will not contend earnestly for the faith; they will not wield a two-edged sword.

One of the great failings of Christian understanding is to understand that until the heart is pricked with the sword of the Spirit (and someone has to wield it) there can be no repentance, no seeking of salvation, and no turning from error or sin to the truth. You may hurt a man’s feelings for a day, yet save his soul for eternity. Until a man is convicted of the truth in his heart, the truth of his own sin, of his own error, the truth of what God requires of him, there will be no movement on that man’s part and thus no salvation.

I will never forget the wisdom of an old, long-gone preacher of my youth, one I never met, who has now been gone for a few decades. He was talking to a man who had been convicted of the truth but who was nevertheless unhappy with the preaching, as this man felt the preacher had not spoken as softly and kindly as perhaps he could have, and this offended the young man. The old wise preacher made a comment along these lines--that preacher is the best friend you will ever have. He taught you the truth and convicted you of it. Obviously, this is a paraphrase, but that is pretty much the exact thought expressed and how true it was and is yet to this day. Many is the man who will speak softly to us and who will allow us to go to hell before they will offend us, but how many a man is there who will tell us the truth? Which of the two is really our friend?

I told my children when they were growing up that one of the worst things that happens with adulthood is that when you reach that point, there are few who are willing to tell you the truth, even when you are dead wrong. When we are growing up, we have parents, teachers, and other adults who do not hesitate to jump in and let us know we are in the wrong but once a man or woman reaches adulthood suddenly no one is friend enough to any longer tell us the truth about ourselves. They nod and say yes to whatever we say. The days of being rebuked for a bad attitude and wrong doing whether toward God or man have come to an end. We are thus always right and never wrong, and how dangerous that is.

I close with this. God has an army. A man is either going to be in it and be a faithful soldier and take the sword of the Spirit and use it properly, which means for something other than buttering his bread, or else he is not. Either way, there are consequences that follow. For the one who picks up the sword of the Spirit and then drops it and turns tail and runs the Bible says, “The cowardly…shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Rev. 21:8 NKJV) Since that is the case, the only real choice a man or woman has, accept it or not, is fight or die.

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