Chasing Idols: Popularity

Sermon

If this is the first time you’ve been here, we are currently studying through a series on idols. This series is designed to examine what happens in your heart. If Jesus isn’t the center of your world you will put something else in his place. These things that you replace Jesus with will let you down and not last forever.

Have you ever heard the name George Whitefield? George Whitefield was perhaps one of the most influential and well-known preachers in the world in the early 1700s. Whitefield preached all over England. He was a fiery, passionate preacher. Many, many people came to faith in Jesus because of Whitefield. He traveled to the United States in 1737 by ship. Whitefield described the soldiers on the ship by saying the soldiers were a bunch of, “card playing, cursing, cold hearted warriors.” Many of you in the room who are in the military will agree that 200 years later it is still the same thing.

Whitefield started to share Jesus with soldiers on the ship. He started to preach on Sundays. At one point during the voyage the ship went through a really bad storm. Many of the people, including some of the sailors who made this voyage often, started to get sick. George Whitefield was so passionate about reaching the sailors and passengers with Jesus that he literally crawled on his hands and knees while he himself was sick.

The ship docked outside of Gibraltar for a few days. When they departed three boats went together toward the U.S. colonies. God started to bless what George Whitefield was doing and poured his Spirit out. Many, many people came to Christ as Whitefield started to preach daily on the ship. On Sundays, the three boats would tie off together and Whitefield would preach sermons on each boat. Historians say that when these three boats made shore in Savannah in 1737 the cabin had become a Bethel (house of God), the decks of the ships had become Church and the stern of the ships were the School. When they departed from those boats many lives had been changed.

Preachers all over the world tried to replicate what George Whitefield had done but with no success. They started to ask what Whitefield had done that made him so successful. One historian said that no matter what Whitefield was completely undeterred by allure of sex and money. Whitefield was obsessed with one thing only and that was a passion for Jesus and His glory.

The very fact that some of you in this room in the year 2015 know George Whitefield’s name tells you how successful this man was. The reason he had the success and influence that he had was because he lived for Jesus’ fame.

Our topic of discussion for today is fame and popularity. I have three steps that I want you to look at today.

I. Don’t be afraid to take the blame

Let me explain the passage we are going to look at. In the first three chapters of John, he describes whom John the Baptist was. By the time you get to chapter three the attention turns from John the Baptist to Jesus. There is a brief period of time when John the Baptist and Jesus are doing ministry at the same time.

Before Jesus came on the scene John the Baptist was a rock star. He wasn’t a household name but the household name. Everybody knew who he was. Matthew 3:5 tells us that everyone in the area was going to the dessert to hear John the Baptist. John was making an impact all over the region. John the Baptist had an entourage of people that started to follow him. When Jesus came on the scene some of John’s crowd started to leave him to follow Jesus. This doesn’t appear to be an issue between John the Baptist and Jesus. However it became an issue for their followers.

^{John 3:22-24}
After this, Jesus and His disciples went to the Judean countryside, where He spent time with them and baptized. ²³ John  also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, ²⁴ since John had not yet been thrown into prison.

I mentioned at the start of the sermon that you shouldn’t be afraid to take the blame when things go wrong around you. The principle that I try to live by is that when stuff goes wrong in my life or the church I tend to step up and take the blame for it. Ultimately if I’m in charge then I’m responsible even if I didn’t do something wrong. However, when things go right around me, as much as God gives me the opportunity to, I try to let someone else take the fame for it. I try to let another person in the church or my family or at a minimum Jesus get the credit for the good stuff that goes on around me. This is true in your life too. You are both, part of the problem and part of the solution for the issues that go on in this city, the church and your life. When good stuff happens around you, you really can’t take much of the credit for it. The Bible tells us that God is a good God and James tells us he is the giver of all good gifts. Any good stuff that happens in our life we would have to say is ultimately because of God himself.

You are probably thinking if God gets credit for all of the good stuff how come he doesn’t get credit for all of the bad stuff. That is a good question. The answer is that the world God created was pure and perfect and then we messed it up with our sin. Maybe I’m not personally responsible for all the bad stuff that happens in my life but sin ultimately fractured and broke this perfect world that God created. Chances are that either I am directly and indirectly responsible for the bad stuff in my life because sin is in the equation. God gets the credit for all the good stuff that happens to us. Probably all of us deserve credit for all the bad stuff that happens to us. A truly great man or woman is not afraid to admit their mistakes and take the blame when something goes wrong.

I read this story in INC magazine (not sure if it is true or not) about Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Abraham Lincoln’s run for office was contested. Lincoln was such a talented leader that he hired some of the talented rivals that ran against him to serve with him. He brought men on his cabinet that disagreed with his policies because he felt the nation deserved a multitude of opinions. The most important person in the government beside Abraham Lincoln was Edwin Stanton. At one point during the Civil War, Lincoln ordered Stanton to do something and he refused. Today if you refused a high ranking government order while in office, not only are you going to get fired but you will be on the news. Congress heard that Stanton had refused to do Lincoln’s order and went to talk to him about it. According to INC magazine in the article “Leadership Lessons from Lincoln”, Edwin Stanton said he wasn’t going to do it because Lincoln was a “!@#$ fool.” The congressman was so offended that he ran back and told the President what had been said and that his order had been refused. Lincoln asked, “He said what about me?” The congressman replied, “He called you a !@#$ fool not once but twice.” Lincoln replied back, “Well, Stanton speaks what is on his mind, and he is usually right about what he speaks, so if he called me a !@#$ fool, I must be a !@#$ fool. I will go to him and find out why.”

Has it ever occurred to you that God gets most glory in your life not when you’re doing something awesome but when you are willing to admit your mistakes. When you do something great people talk about how awesome you are. When you are willing to admit your mistakes and God works through you anyway then clearly God gets the credit for it. It is often not in our strength that God gets the credit but in our weakness. That’s why great men are not afraid to admit their weaknesses and are willing to divert the attention to someone other then themselves.

II. Don’t try to advance your name

We are almost six weeks into this sermon series and we have yet to answer the question of why God in the very beginning told us not to worship idols. Have you ever thought about that? What if we created an image out of the goodness of our heart to represent God and every time we saw it we would remember to worship God? Why would God tell us that is a bad thing to do? Part of the answer to these questions is because our God is limitless. Our God has no boundaries. So, anything that you choose to represent him is insignificant. It is way smaller than what God really is.

The reason why God doesn’t want us to use an idol as an image in his place is because God wants his Son Jesus to get all of the glory. Nothing else will live up to that kind of fame. Nothing else can live up to that type of glory. Anything else that tries to take attention away from Jesus is like the art piece drawing attention away from the artist. It is the created order drawing attention away from the Creator. Ultimately what God wants is for us to be the poem that causes people to look to the Poet. Not what a great piece of art we are but what a great artist God is.

 ^{John 3:25-26}
Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew  about purification.  ²⁶ So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the One you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing—and everyone is flocking to Him.”

You can almost hear in John’s followers the question of what is he going to do about the fact that his followers are leaving to follow Jesus. There is a theological argument going on at this point. This is kind of a changing of the guard in the Bible. At this point John is the last of the great prophets or representatives of God. When Jesus came on the scene there were no more Old Testament type of prophets anymore because now we have the Great High Priest who gives us a chance to have an intimate relationship with God. John and Jesus didn’t have an issue with what was happening but John’s followers did.   This man was upset because John was losing the crowd, fame and popularity. He is asking John what he is going to do about it.

This sermon series made me think of a book that I’ve read by Paul Taylor titled Too Many Lovers. “Lovers” in this book refers to stuff that is fighting for your heart instead of Jesus. It’s not really another person as much as it is an idol. In the book Paul Taylor says, “Because your most difficult and powerful idol is one that you value most – I believe our most dangerous idol is self-love.” It is wanting attention, fame, and love for ourselves. Last week I asked you how important it was to you what other people thought about you. Tonight I ask you how important is it to you what people think about Jesus. How much of a difference does this make in your life?

There was an interview done on Walt Disney at the height of his career. The reporter asked him what it felt like to be a celebrity. Walt Disney replied, “It feels fine when being a celebrity helps me get a choice reservation for a football game…As far as I can remember, being a celebrity has never helped me make a good picture, or a good shot in a polo game, or command the obedience of my daughter, or impress my wife. It doesn’t even seem to help keep fleas off our dogs and, if being a celebrity won’t give me an advantage over a couple of fleas, then I guess there can’t be that much in being a celebrity after all.”

We live in a reality TV culture where people will do something radically stupid just to get attention. People will go to extraordinary lengths to have 10,000 Facebook friends when in reality those people don’t know or care about you. Until just a couple of years ago I didn’t want or have a Facebook page. Since then I’ve made a conscious decision to have a page and I literally spend three minutes a day on it. I don’t look at other people’s pages or posts. I don’t even look at what people post on my page because I could care less. Every day I get on Facebook and write a post. The whole purpose of the post is to try to point people’s attention to Jesus. How important is it to you what other people think not about you but about Jesus?

We use this statement a lot around here and it’s true. We believe every member of this church should be a minister. And, every minister should have a ministry where you are advancing the name of Jesus and making his name great in the Chattahoochee Valley.   There is no way that the pastors in this church can make a dent in this city. But, when every person in this church gets real serious about the glory and the name of King Jesus it will get our city’s attention. So, what are you currently doing to advance the name of Jesus?

III. Don’t let anyone but Jesus get the fame

You should get extra credit if you’re in school and studying American History for this sermon today. At the end of the Revolutionary War many historians believe that the people wanted to make George Washington their king. That word started to spread around the world and he showed every indication that he would turn it down. In fact, Washington himself as President decided how the future presidents would be referred to . Many people wanted to call him “Your Excellency” but he said no that he would be called “Mr. President.” King George III heard that the United States was about to make Washington their new king and that he would turn it down. King George III said, “If he does that he will be the greatest man in the world.” On December 23, 1783, Washington said in a session of Congress, “Having now finished the work assigned to me, I retire from the great theatre of action – and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.” Washington said he didn’t want the fame or attention.

King Jesus made a very similar statement about John the Baptist that King George III made of George Washington. Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest man ever born of a woman in Luke 7. By making this statement Jesus is distinguishing himself. Jesus had a birth that was different then every other human being. Among normal human beings no one has ever stepped foot on earth as great as John the Baptist. Did you ever wonder what prompted Jesus to make this statement about John the Baptist? What made John the Baptist so great? I think the answer to that question is found in the next couple of verses in John Chapter 3.

 ^{John 3:27-30} John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine is complete. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.”

It’s almost like John is trying to figure out why the followers don’t understand that he is not the Messiah but Jesus is. John knew it was his job to point people’s attention to Jesus. John used some celestial language in these verses. Celestial language refers to the moon and the stars on a crystal clear night. As soon as the sun starts to rise on the eastern horizon those stars are no longer visible. The moon itself doesn’t have any light but reflects the light of the sun. John the Baptist is saying that he doesn’t have any light, fame or glory in and of himself except that he reflects the glory of King Jesus. During the middle of the day when the sun is at its highest point in the sky, the stars are still up there but you can’t see them anymore because the light of the sun blocks out the stars. That’s the way it is supposed to be John says. When Jesus comes on the scene, he gets all of the glory and fame. John is asking of us, either you get the glory or Jesus does but you can’t have both.

Let me go back to Paul Taylor’s book Too Many Lovers. Taylor prays a prayer at the end of the book for people who have finally put Jesus in the center of their soul where he belongs. He says, “May you find the reason for which you were created and may that reason inspire you to live and die in a God honoring way.” The real topic of discussion today is what is the meaning of life. Why are you here on planet earth? Why did God create you? What does God want from you?

Parents have taught the Westminster Catechism to their children for many generations. The first question is, “What is the purpose of man? Why did God create humans?” The answer is, “The purpose of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.” It starts with a relationship with Jesus. When Jesus moves onto the throne of your heart from that point forward your goal in life is to bring him glory. Make it your point to advance the name of Jesus. Make sure that you are living for his fame and glory, not for yours.

We asked all of you to do this months ago and it wasn’t a one time deal. You have a powerful story to tell. We want you to tell that story in a way that as many people as possible can hear it. If Jesus has transformed your life, will you please record your story and put it online. To this point tens of thousands of people have seen the stories of this church through Calvary Shares. We want every single person in our church that have gone from death to life by the blood of Jesus to share your story.

Next Steps

• I have been living for my own fame rather than for Jesus.  Today, for the first time, I turn from my sins and trust Jesus as my Savior and Lord.
• I will share my story this week.
• I want Jesus to get all the credit for the good stuff I do.  Please pray that I will make his name great this week.

Discussion Questions:

1. Has there ever been a time when someone else got the credit for what you did?  How did that make you feel? 
2. Do you think you have a powerful story about faith in Jesus?  Explain your answer.
3. Read Matthew 7:18-30.  Who did Jesus say was the greatest man ever born (besides him)?  Why was he so great?
4. Compare John 3 with Matthew 7.  Before Jesus came on the scene John may have been the most famous man in the land.  Why would he be so willing to give that up?
5. How are you increasing the name of Jesus in your life?
6. Have you shared the story of your faith online yet?  If so, what did people say about your story?
7. Pray for men and women all over the Chattahoochee Valley to respond in faith to Jesus’ great name. Pray that God would use you in the process to share Jesus with some of them.