Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Chasing Carrots, Part 1: Fame

Episode Date: April 28, 2019

What really makes for a happy life? A dream job, a bigger house, or a new relationship? If you’re always hungry for the next big thing, but frustrated because it never seems to satisfy, it’s time to hop off the treadmill and chase after something ... Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, thanks again for joining us here at Life Church. You know, if you haven't done so already, we'd love for you to subscribe to our content. That way you can be notified the moment it goes live and a great way to stay connected throughout your week. And everywhere you go is through the Life Church app. It's free and you can download it wherever you download your apps from. But right now, let's go to this week's message with our senior pastor, Craig Rochelle. Where your head at?

Dang. Don't want to talk business, business. I guess I got to be this one to see this summer. Who really in this, in this? We so fed up. My life, tent up. Your time, bent up. Big prayers, sent up.

Could I do it without him, out of. Glad that I found him, find him. Cry really wildest, wild. Sometimes you just want to dance when you're in church. I'm glad to have you guys. With us today, we are diving into a brand new message series that I believe has the potential to speak to so many people in a really powerful way. The title of this series is Chasing Carrots. the continual pursuit for more.

In fact, I would imagine that many of you battle with believing the lie like I do, that if I can just get that, not sure what that is for you, it might vary, but if I can just get a little bit of that, that's what I need to be happy, fulfilled, and satisfied in life. That's what's missing. If I can just get a little bit of that or a little bit more of that, but when you end up getting that, you recognize that didn't satisfy the need that you had. And so you think I want a little more of that.

And when you get more of that, you realize that promises a lot, but that doesn't always deliver. Who knows what I'm talking about? We're talking about the continual pursuit for more. And let me tell you the themes that we're going to cover in the upcoming weeks. Next week, we're going to talk about money and stuff. If I can have more money and stuff, I tend to believe that I'll be happy. Week number three, I think is my favorite. We're going to talk about the elusive pursuit of perfection.

Those of you that are perfectionist, this will speak to you. We're going to talk also about the need for approval. So many of us, rather than living for or from the approval of God, we end up obsessing with what other people think and that compromises who we're called to be. And then in the final week, we're going to talk about the drive for, the hunger for comfort. What's interesting to me is our society continues just to tell us comfort is what we need.

The challenge is it's almost impossible to live for comfort and by faith. And we're going to talk about these different themes. Today, as we introduce the message series, I want to talk about a theme that I think is more relevant at this moment in history than ever before in the history of the world. we're going to talk about the pursuit of fame, the pursuit of fame. I want to be known, I want to be admired, I want to be liked, I want to be followed, I want to be accepted, I want to be respected, I want to be famous. Many of you are going to say, well, this is an easy one for me.

I obviously am not pursuing fame. You might actually be surprised in many ways that we all are. In fact, what I call it is I call it this. You may not be in a full-blown pursuit of fame, but I believe many of us have what I call micro-cravings for fame. Micro-cravings for fame. We want to be known. We want to be loved.

We want to be accepted. And you might find this showing up in very small and different ways in your life. For instance, when you over-commit. You end up doing more than you'd like to because you don't want to let anybody down. You have this deep, to be liked by everybody, so because of this micro craving for fame, you end up saying yes to things you'd rather say no to, and you find yourself way over committed. Or perhaps for you, it's whenever you do something and you want credit for it.

I did the job at work, I want everybody to know I did it, I gave, I want them to know that I gave, I served, I want them to know that I served. If I'm showing up doing something special, I want you to know that I did, I want credit for what I did, micro cravings for fame. For some, it's that you're overly sensitive to any type of criticism. You don't want any kind of rejection. A hundred people can tell you you did good, but as soon as one person tells you that wasn't very good, you fall apart.

One person makes some even semi-rough comment on your Facebook page, they don't know the real me. That's just not fair. It's this micro craving for fame. I want everybody to like and to accept me. Social media, perhaps, is the breeding ground for the hunger for fame. Did you like my picture? Did you?

Yeah, I worked so hard to get the caption just right. Some people today will delete a photo within five minutes. If it doesn't get enough attention, I find myself, oh, I'm so upset because I didn't get this. And here we are living for likes and longing for love. Micro-cravings of fame. For those of you that are above all this, you're not hungry to be liked or known. or admired or respected or followed or famous, I want to help you understand that chances are

your children might struggle with this or those around you might struggle with this. In fact, I did research on this subject and here's what I found about 10 to 12 year olds. 10 to 12 year olds, their number one goal, their top desire in life, let me tell you what it's not. It's not for financial security.

Their number one goal is not to be. rich, it's not for success or achievement, it's not even for community or for great relationships. The number one top, most common goal for 10 to 12 year olds is to be famous, to be broadly known, to be accepted, to be respected, to be famous. In fact, I'm curious, how many of you at all of our churches, how many of you are between the ages of 22 and 37? Raise up your hands. Raise up your hands. 22 and 37. If you fall in that age group, studies show that 22 to 37-year-olds, 50% of you believe that your life should be made into a movie.

I don't mean to be rude, but that makes me laugh. You know who's laughing? The other 50%. That's who's laughing. Because we're not coming to your movie. We're going to the Avengers end game. 50% believe that our lives are so amazing and should be made into a movie. In fact, what would people do to be a household name? Again, studies show this. Can you believe that one in 12 people would actually disown their family

to become a household name? Fully, one in nine would give up on the possibility of marriage to be broadly known. One in six would give up having children. And that percentage floats up depending on whose kids they're around, if you know what I'm talking about. People would give up so much of what we consider to be important to be famous. Now, just to be really, really clear, and I want to make sure this is absolutely clear, it is not wrong to be famous. There is nothing about being famous that's sinful whatsoever.

In fact, if you excel in whatever you do, if you're one of the best of the best, if you're the brightest of the bright, if you're incredibly talent, if you rise to the top of your field, fame is almost inevitable. In fact, you could make an argument that there are times when God actually makes people famous. In the Old Testament, David is a great example in First Chronicles chapter 14. When David was obedient to God, God made him famous. This is what scripture said. So David did as God commanded him. David was faithful and faithful. he was obedient. And his army, they struck down the Philistine army all the way from Gibbon to Geyser. I would probably be in favor of striking down the geysers. That's just me. I just

see that and it just jumped out of me. So what happened whenever David did as God commanded him? Scripture says, so David's fame spread throughout every land and the Lord made all the nations fear him. evidently, God made David famous. God also made Solomon famous. In fact, if you don't know his story, God offered Solomon a request, kind of like a genie says,

what one wish would you like? God says, I'll give you anything you want. And Solomon said, you know what I want? I want wisdom. Wisdom. And God said, wow, since you ask for wisdom and not for riches and fame, I will not only give you wisdom.

but I'll also give you riches and fame. God gave fame. There's nothing wrong with being famous. In fact, you could probably argue that Jesus, he raised the dead, he opened blind eyes, he healed deaf ears, he taught this other worldly ideas, and people followed him, crowds followed him.

He was famous. There's nothing wrong with being famous. In fact, you may not know this, but I'm kind of a big deal. I am. Not for preaching. But my first brush with fame was when I was 13 years old. Hate to let the secret on a bag.

But I was a professional magician. Nothing up here. Nothing up here. Nothing up here, of course. That's an old magician joke. I've got all the lines. And my first time on national television was when I was 13 on a show called PM Magazine. I don't think the show exists today.

It's kind of the equivalent of like, entertainment tonight, and they were doing a feature presentation on Doug Henning, and those of you who are about my age might remember Doug Henning, and I was the intro act for Doug Henning on national TV, PM Magazine. In fact, I've got a picture of my amazing shirt that's hard to beat doing a magic trick at a birthday party before I introduced Doug Henning on PM Magazine. I was going to show you a picture of Doug Henning for those of you that don't know what he looks but I showed it to my team members who were all very young and had never seen it before, and they laughed so hard.

They said, if you show that picture, everybody's going to laugh at your hero, Doug Henning. And so let me tell you what my team did to me. On my study days, I come in pretty early, sometimes four o'clock, sometimes five in the morning, and then I drink water like crazy. So I was in about 4 a.m. About 5.15, I had so much water, I had to go in the bathroom. So I walked into my bathroom, and this is what I saw. That is the person.

picture they didn't want you to see because you would laugh. Do not make fun of Doug Henning. He will do things to you so will I because magicians stick together. It is not wrong to be famous, but a pursuit of fame, listen to me, a pursuit of fame can be very, very, very, very, very dangerous to your faith. Pursuit of fame can be very dangerous to your faith because the trajectory takes your heart away, from God, away from other people, and it moves toward yourself. It's very difficult to be focused on others when so many others are focused on you. It moves the trajectory of your heart away from the things of God, away from other people, and toward yourself. What's fascinating to me, as I think about this subject, is how things have changed. If you look back throughout the

decades or the centuries, the nature and the accessibility of fame is far different today than it ever has been. If you go back a few decades and all the way back for centuries and centuries and centuries to be famous before, you had to do something very significant, something memorable, you had to be the best in your field, you had to be an athlete, you had to be a movie star, you had to be a famous politician, you had to be an inventor, you had to go to the moon, you had to do something significant. Today, you can be famous because of the rise of social media, the rise of YouTube. You can be famous just by creating interesting content. You can become famous by creating silly content. You can be playing your guitar on your sofa, upload a video

that goes viral, and be famous for being great or be famous for being horrible. You can be a cute kid and open up toys and become famous. You can be a lady who puts her face in bread and becomes famous. Some of you don't know what I'm talking about. This is a real deal. Face smashing bread, smashing lady. I'll show you what she does. This is bizarre. This lady is famous, massively famous for doing this, smashing her face in bread. Okay, go ahead and stop that please, that's enough. I'm serious. Please make it stop. Please, thank you. I don't know if we should cheer or vomit or both or what. You can be famous for that. You can be famous for being a cute teenage boy working at a checkout stand in a grocery store. Bip! Bip! That's me ringing up

groceries in case it Bip, ring up a book. That happened to Alex. from Target. Does anybody know Alex from Target? A lot of people know Alex from Target. Regular day, Alex goes to Target to work. He had 144 Twitter followers at the beginning of the day. A girl thought he was cute, tweeted a photo, this is Alex, the cute 16-year-old from Target. Her tweet went viral. At the beginning of the day, he had 144 Twitter followers. By evening time, he had over 300,000 Twitter followers, the next day he was on CNN. Years ago, you had to do something significant to be famous. Now you can just be a cute kid working at Target.

And that's the very reason why so many people hope, dream, perhaps maybe this post will get hot. It will go viral. They'll see it. Everybody will know. I'll get the blue checkmark. I'll be verified. And then I can post my stuff and get paid because I have an image. I have a following.

I've got all these people that like me. I'm going to be known. This is what I need. If more people follow me. If more people like me, it may not be big and broad like this. It may be the micro cravings for fame. If just I have a little more popularity in my class. If they know me for my sport, if they know me for my craft,

if they know me for what I do, if they know me for being funny, whatever it is. if they just like me and approve of me and get a little bit more. That's what I'm missing in life. That's what I need to be happy. Again, please hear me. You can actually leverage attention. You can build a credible and legitimate following.

You can make a real living and make a real difference. But be very careful because the pursuit of fame draws our heart away from God, away from others, and the trajectory moves towards self. And I promise you, counselors will tell you, fame is actually traumatic. Fame to a younger person can be incredibly hard to deal with, even small doses of fame. Alex from Target is no longer on social media because the attention ended up crushing him. If you don't believe me, if you don't believe the Bible, you might believe, Jim Carrey said this, I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they dreamed

of so they can see that it's not the answer. What is the answer? Where is the answer? I think in all of Scripture the person to me that had the opportunity for fame but got it right was the guy I call JTB. JTB is John the Baptist. John the Baptist is a cousin of Jesus. What do John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh have in common?

John the Baptist and Winnie the Pooh, what do they have in common? The same middle name. Hashtag dad joke. I just had to drop that in. I'm sorry, it just happened. I just can't stop it. It just flows out on me. It's a gift.

It's a gift. John the Baptist was kind of a crazy prophet. He dressed in animal skins. He ate wild loaves. and honey, probably he smashed his face in bread. He created a following and a crowd, and he said, I'm here to prepare the way. You've got to repent of your sins. There's one coming after me.

Evidently, he was so charismatic. He was so interesting that crowds started to follow him. He started to grow in popularity. He started having micro doses of fame. Are you the one? Are you the one? Are you the one? if John the Baptist had been raised in our culture,

let me tell you what he would like would have done. He would say, oh, I'm still pointing to Jesus, and I'm going to leverage the attention I'm getting, build my platform, build my brand, create something I can stand upon, and I will leverage this to create a stream of income or at least attention because I can still point to Jesus and let them come to me.

but instead when they said, are you the one? He said, no, no, no, no, don't ever confuse what I'm here to do. I'm pointing you to him to Jesus. I'm unworthy to even untie his sandals. And what John the Baptist said to me should be our posture, I certainly want it to be mine. In John 330, John the Baptist said of Jesus, he said this of Jesus. He said, Jesus must become greater and greater, and I must become less. And less.

I want you to see more and more and more of him. And less and less and less of me. Because it's never been about me. It's never been about my name being known. It's always been about him. You see, John the Baptist could have said, I'm nothing like Lucifer, and where did it come from? When Lucifer back in the book of Isaiah said,

the five I wills. I will be like God. I will ascend to the most life. I want to be known. I want to be famous. I want it to be about me. And John the Baptist says, no, no, no, no, no, no. My only mission in life is that you see less of me and see more of the one who came to save us. Less of us and more of him. How do we do it? How do we do it in a culture that glorifies fame, that creates this desire for 10 to 12 year olds to think, that's what I need in life? How do we function? How do we represent Jesus?

It all boils down to motive. And what I want to do is I want to ask you two very pointed questions. And I beg you to have the courage to answer these questions, truthfully. Because when I answer them truthfully, my answers are not always the ones that would honor God. Two questions. All boils down to motive. The first question is this. Who are you representing? When you show up, when you post, when you talk, who are you representing? And please, don't give me that pathetic Sunday school answer. Don't give me the Sunday school answer.

Don't tell me what you think everybody wants to hear if you're a Christian. I'm so sick and tired of Christians being like, oh, la, la, la, Jesus, okay? It's like the Sunday school teacher says, what's brown and fluffy and has a tail and climbs trees and eats nuts. And a kid says, oh, what's brown, fluffy, has a tail, climbs trees, and eats nuts. Sure sounds like a squirrel, but I better go with Jesus.

Okay, don't do that. Don't do that, please. Who are you representing? Jesus, who you're really representing? Because I'm the pastor and I'm supposed to say Jesus and I want to say I'm representing Jesus but so often I'm representing me.

Honestly. What do you think about me? Do you like me? Do you like me? Do you like me? I'll tell you how bad I am. This is embarrassing. I hope you don't like leave the church

or maybe pray. for me or whatever. I mean, I need prayer. This is how bad is. I'm working on this message. In my office, working on this message. I'm deep into John the Baptist. I'm studying words in the Greek that I'll never share with you. I'm learning 20 times more than I'll ever share. I'm immersing myself in it. I'm in prayer. I'm asking God, show me in my own heart the places where I'm out of lying. God, do a work in me. Let me be cleansed before I try to preach this. I'm deep into it. Amy came into my office to surprise me, which that doesn't happen. And when I'm working, she kind of stays away.

She came in greatest moment. She came up to me. I pushed everything away. It was like, you can almost hear a love music playing. She came up. She kissed me. There may have been tongue involved. I'm not denying.

I'm not saying there was. There could have been, I don't know. And I went and sat down in my chair, and she came and sat down with me. I'm in my chair. Her legs are draped across me like this. She's sitting in my lap, and I'm embracing her. The greatest moment. moment of my month is happening. And there we are in the middle of my message on fame and being

noticed and attention. And I thought to myself, this would make a great photo. I hope that one of my assistants out there through the glass sees this and captures it, because if I post it, that'd get a lot of likes, and I can use the hashtag my bride. Pathetic is the most meaningful moment. And I'm thinking, how can I capture that to show? show somebody. They married 28 years. I'm still trying to impress you guys. Can you believe I got her? I can't. Who are you representing? Who are you really representing? This is who Paul says that we should represent. 2 Corinthians 520 tells us this. So we are Christ's what? Let's say this word aloud. All of our churches, I need a little help from you. What are we? We are Christ's

ambassadors. Say it again. What are we? We are Christ ambassadors. And God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ whenever we plead, come back to God. Listen, who are you representing? If you are a follower of Christ, you are called an ambassador for Christ. What is an ambassador? An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat sent from one nation to another nation to represent the home territory. If you are an ambassador for Christ, what are the highest ranking diplomat sent from one nation to another nation to represent the home territory? If you're an ambassador for Christ, what are you? You are the highest ranking diplomat sent from heaven to earth to represent our God. That's what you are.

Who are you representing? As an ambassador of Christ, when we walk into the room, light walks into the room. When we walk into the room, hope walks into the room. We're representing Christ by what we say, by how we act, by how we show the room. by how we show love, by how we dress, by how we post. Whatever we do should bring glory to God. Who are you representing? Who are you really representing?

Don't tell me, Jesus, be honest, because so often I'm not representing him, I'm representing me. Let the spirit of God do a cleansing work in your heart. Less of us and more of him. Question number one, deal with it. Let it invade your heart. Be honest. who are you representing?

And question number two, whose approval matters most? Whose approval matters most? Again, should be Jesus! But so often, we're playing to the crowd. We're laughing at jokes we shouldn't laugh at. We're trying to fit in. we're not shining the light when we should shine the light

because we don't want someone else that's not like us and suddenly instead of living from the approval of God we're living for the approval of the crowd why do we do this why is it that so many people today crave being known being noticed being admired being respected being followed being popular being broadly liked Well, psychologists tell us something interesting about the desire for fame. Psychologists tell us that the desire for fame is rooted in injury and neglect.

In other words, if you find yourself with this craving to be noticed, to be known, to be admired, to be loved, chances are at some point in your life you felt insignificant. The psychologist will tell you chances are pretty high that perhaps you had bad. parents that were very difficult to live up to their expectations, difficult to please, or you were rejected by friends, or at some point you felt overlooked. And so there's this longing in your soul to be known and to be noticed. Do you like me? Do you recognize me? Do you validate me?

Do you accept me? Micro-cravings for fame. Paul said this to the Thessalonians. He said this. He said, here's who we should be. We speak as messengers approved by God and to be entrusted with the good news. What is the good news? The good news is, for God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son

that whosoever would believe in him would not perish, but would have eternal life. As messengers approved by God because of Christ, you are to be entrusted with the good news. Our purpose, check this out, is to please God, not people. He alone, it's all about the motives. He alone examines the motives of the heart. As for human praise, we've never sought it from you or anyone else. Who are you representing? Whose approval matters most?

Less of me. more of him less of me more of him less attention to me more glory to him less about my name more about his name

less about follow me more about follow him when everything in culture now says be famous be known be I'm going to recognize that desire is rooted in injury. It's rooted in sin. It's a false promise, something that doesn't deliver. We are called to something higher and we are called to something better.

You are called to something higher and you are called to something better. We are not called to be famous. We are called to be faithful, faithful to the one who is faithful. to us. And when you live a life worthy of the one who gave it all to you, you will stand before him in heaven one day, and Jesus will not say to you, well done, my good and famous YouTube star, no, he will say, well done, my good and faithful servant. Somebody needs to hear this. When you serve every single week and not very many people know your name, Jesus knows your name, and he honors your service.

you give and you give and you give and no one really knows the sacrifices you make he knows the sacrifices you make he will honor he will say to you one day you gave a cup of cold water in my name you fed the hungry in my name you visited the sick or those in prison in my name what you did to the least of these even when it wasn't broadly applauded it was applauded in heaven i notice i saw it your sacrifices matter your faithfulness makes a difference when you tithe year over year over year over year and you wonder, is it making a difference? It is honoring God and it is making a difference. When you pray and no one knows that they're holes in their jeans, not just because you're cool, but because you're on your knees before God. God hears the cries of your heart. When you turn

the other cheek, when you would rather strike back, you're being faithful to the one who is faithful to you and he notices your faithfulness. Tell yourself. Tell yourself again, and again and again. The world may not know my name, but I know a name that is above every name. His name is Jesus, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, my Savior. And my Savior knows my name.

And my name is written in his book. It's not about what you call me. It's all about what he calls me. He calls me loved. He calls me chosen. He calls me redeemed. He calls me more than a conqueror. He calls me blessed.

And suddenly, when I realize who he calls me and how he sees me, then I'm not living for the applause of the crowd, but I am living from the approval of God. His opinion matters. I want to serve him less of me, more of him, less of us. more of him. Less of us, more of him. David in the Old Testament. Remember? David did what God commanded him to do,

and God made David famous. What did David say? A man after God's on heart. David said this. Not to us, Lord. Not to us. But to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness. Not to us, Lord.

Never to us. Never to us. Not to us, Lord, but to your name. To your name. To your name. To your name. The name that is above every name. The name at which one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess his lordship.

To that name. The name of Jesus. Less of us and more of him. Father, make this real in our lives. Wherever there is that injury, the neglect, God, may you meet that need, may you heal that wound, that we can serve you and be faithful in every way and every day. All of our churches today, those of you that are followers of Christ,

and you see maybe in your life the micro doses, the micro-cravings for fame. And the cry of your heart right now is less of me, more of him. Would you lift up your hands right now? Just be honest. Lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, lift them up, lift them up. God, I pray that your Holy Spirit would do surgery on our hearts. Whose approval matters?

God, may it be you. Who are we representing God? May it be you. God, any time our fleshly nature rises up and we want it to be about us, God just cause us to pause. Less of us, more of you. And everything we say,

everywhere we go, everything we do, everything we post, less of us, more of you. As you keep praying today at all of our different churches, some of you, you're going to recognize that injury, the neglect, something missing. And you've been searching, craving, longing, looking for your whole life. Maybe this will satisfy me. Maybe that will. Maybe if I do this, maybe if I become a better person,

person. Stop doing that. Maybe if I get this money, this job, if people know me, if I get enough likes, if I get enough likes, if I get it follows, whatever it is, a better job. And that's your house. You're searching. You're searching. The reason you're searching is because there is a very real void. But the void that we have is spiritual and no material thing from this earth can meet or fill that spiritual need. What's our problem? We've all sinned. We've all fallen short of God's standard. There's a longing in our hearts for eternity. We know there's something more. So often we try to work our way to God, but we're leaving Jesus out of the picture. Who is Jesus? He is the sinless son of God, the Lamb of God, perfect in every way. Jesus died in our place on a cross for the

forgiveness of our sins. God raised him from the dead so that anyone, and this includes you, it doesn't matter who you are, doesn't matter what you've done, doesn't matter how dark your life feels, It doesn't matter how empty it is. Anyone who calls on that name, the name of Jesus, their sins would be forgiven. The emptiness would be filled. You'd be made new. The old is gone.

The newest here at all of our churches. There are those of you you've been searching. Your search is over. Turn from your sins. Turn toward Jesus. Call on his name. He will hear your prayer, forgive your sins, make you new.

That's why you're here today. And you know it. All of our churches, those who say, yes, Jesus. I give my life to you. That's your prayer. lift your hands high. Now, all over the place, lift them up here in the middle section. Right there, God bless you. Others of you today, lift them high and say, yes, Jesus, right back over here.

Sir, praise God for you. Others of you today, lift them high, Jesus, I give you my life. Church online, you click right below me. And as we have people at all of our churches calling out on the name of Jesus, would you all stand to your feet, all of our different churches? Just stand and honor of those today saying yes to the Lordship of Christ. Let's pray aloud all of us together. Pray Heavenly Father, forgive all my sins. Make me brand new.

Jesus save me. Change me. Fill me with your spirit so I could follow you. Less of me. More of you. Less of me. More of you. Thank you for new life.

Now you have mine. In Jesus' name, I pray, with somebody worship big. Somebody welcome those born into God's family. You know, as a church, it's always our heart and our hope to see you continue to grow in your relationship with Christ. And we have a great resource to help you do that. It's called life.church slash next.

There you can find all kinds of resources to help you take your next steps in your relationship with Christ. Again, thanks for joining us here at Life Church. We'll see you next time.