Live Free with Josh Howerton - An Audience of One | Ep. 287 | Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Episode Date: March 12, 2024

While the people surrounding Jesus sang praises to Him with the anticipation of political salvation, Jesus wept. Too often, we can get swept up in the crowd and forget what is truly important. Are you seeking the applause of heaven or the applause of the crowd today? For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Hey, welcome to the Daily Drive. My name is Mike Bro, and we left off yesterday in John 13 with Jesus riding into Jerusalem at the beginning of Passover week. This is commonly referred to as the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday. The people are in a frenzy with the expectation

of this mighty miracle worker. He could be our deliverer. Here comes our political Messiah, our conquering king, finally, they're chanting, they're making a red carpet entrance with their coats on the road, or wave up palm branches, and going absolutely crazy. Well, as Jesus rides in to the applause of people, there are tears in his eyes. Luke records this part of the story in his gospel, he says, but as he came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead,

Jesus began to weep. As people cried out their political hosanas, he cried tears of grief for the hearts of those people. He foresaw the terrible devastation of Jerusalem that would happen just a few decades down the road. He knew their distorted views, He knew that they would have nothing to do with the Messiah who came to deliver them from sin. But as they go berserk with praise and adoration, while most people would bask in the applause,

while most would be on a huge ego trip, while most would cave in and say, okay, okay, I'm just going to give you what you want. Jesus cries. Now, before we get too hard on that crowd, let's just be fair and ask ourselves. If we were in that crowd that day, that week, what would we have done? You see, we have the benefit of looking back 2,000 years at them, and we know how it all turned out. But honestly, would we have been sucked in with the mob mentality? Would we have cheered him for what he could do for us one day and then totally written

him off the next? Would we have been amazed at his ability to bring a man like Lazarus back from the dead, but then really confused at his inability to save himself? Would we have been so spiritually blind not to grasp what we really needed and who he really was. I'm not sure. I only know that I spent a lot of my life just following the crowd, doing whatever they said to do. I spent way too much of my life living for their applause and their approval. There's so much to love and respect about Jesus, so much to learn from him, but his resolve to do life God's way, to stay with God's plan, to not let the roar of the crowd mess with your head,

to not let the applause and approval to other people sway you or distract you from doing the right thing is one of the things I want to learn most from him. Because we all have crowds on navigate as we go down our road, right? How do you keep your focus when the crowd is telling you what to do? How do you keep your head straight when they chant your name, applaud you, praise you, when they set expectations for you when they say, come on, come on, go this way. If you do this, then you'll be in. I love the straightforwardness of Proverbs 2925, which says fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety. The message puts it this way. The fear of human opinion disables.

Trusting in God protects you from that. I think we all fight this struggle of appeasing the crowd. In school, at home, on the job, we think, well, I have to do what they want, even if it's wrong. If I don't, I'll be on the outside looking in, and I really want to be in, so don't let human opinion disable you. Trust in God. Trying to live your life for the applause of the crowd will eat you alive. It is a life of insecurity and doubt and fear and codependency. You'll never feel truly accept their like you really belong.

People that spend their life in the spotlight will tell you the dangers of becoming addicted to applause. It consumes their life. They worry about good and bad reviews. What's the public's perception? What do I need to do to project the right kind of image, even if it's not one that's true to me? How can I continue to pull off magical performances day after day? How can I give them to accept me? It's just never, ever enough.

And let me just tell you from experience. Play into the crowd, basking in the applause of other people, seeking the applause of people over the applause of heaven, will lead you down some dark and destructive roads. It will screw up your thinking. It will turn you into an insecure, self-centered mess. It will keep you from living in other-centered life.

It will keep you from becoming God's best version of you. It will derail you off the road he has for you. To me, some of the saddest verses in the Bible are in this same chapter. Down in verse 42, it says, many people did believe in him, including some of the Jewish leaders, but they wouldn't admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.

Isn't it sad? Man, I've been there, and I bet you have to. Now, to a degree, we all care what people think. We all want to be liked, accepted, admire, we all want to feel needed and loved. But if you're looking for another fallible human being to be the primary source of all that, you will never feel like you really are. If you're expecting the crowd to always come through for you, if you're basing yourself worth on what they think,

you're headed for a life, heartbreak, insecurity, and frustration. It's when you begin to see yourself as God sees you, when you begin to base your worth on his approval, when you start to lean into him for acceptance, when you start to grasp his unfailing love for you, when you resolve to live your life for an audience of one, that's when everything starts to change. Again, this is one of the things.

I respect so much about Jesus. He knew the shallowness of applause. He knew the fickleness of flattery. He understood the nature of people. He experienced the ups and downs of it all, all of his life. He knew not to listen to opinion polls or to let the applause of people lead his life. He refused to be a celebrity.

He was not going to let the adrenaline rush of being liked, even adored, derail him for what he can. came to do, he was going to stay on the road God marked out for him. And I think that one of the reasons he rode in Jerusalem that day with tears in his eyes is he saw your face and mine. He saw our need for a Savior. And he said, I'm not going to do what this crowd wants me to do. I'm going to walk this road that God laid out for me. I'm going to lay down my life so that someday everyone can live forgiven and free and forever. I'm going to live my life for an audience of one. And I pray that'll be your motivation today. Just know, you're already accepted by the one who matters most.

Basque and his applause. See you back tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit Lake point. church slash daily drive.