Loving the Praise of God

John 12.43

The Christian poet, John Donne, was absolutely correct when he wrote that

No man is an island,
Entire of itself,
Every man is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.

We were created for community. It is natural for us to seek friendship and acceptance by others. But if this good thing is made into an ultimate thing, then it becomes an idol. The result is that we base a tremendous amount of our confidence and self-worth on what we think other people think about us. We feel great when people say good things to us and we are devastated when they criticize us. So we are basing our confidence on the acceptance of our chosen circle of friends, or constantly feeling insecure, distrustful, and isolated from others.

If people were honest, they would have to admit that this desire to be accepted by other people, often at any price, is really born of fear. Truth is, we are afraid that other people will reject us, cast us out, and speak evil about us. Perhaps the greatest fear is the fear of isolation and loneliness. Most people fear other people more than they fear the living God. The reason for this should be obvious: being accepted by others provides us with instant, tangible gratification. Being praised by an invisible God is not nearly as satisfying! So most people would choose the praise of their fellows over the silent applause of an invisible deity.

The applause of the crowd is to many people a kind of narcotic. It is a high they cannot live without. And this addiction to the praise of men is just as powerful in the religious world as it is in the secular world. In fact, the Babylonian Church has its rock stars and celebrities just like Hollywood! In Hollywood fame can be hard to get and even harder to keep. The praise of men is often short-lived: they might praise you one moment and reject you the next! Even if we were to gain the praise of the whole world, we would have nothing but dust in the wind. This world is passing away, along with its lusts.

People have a tendency to try to have the best of both Worlds – the favor of this World AND to somehow make it into the World to Come. It seems to me that this tendency is being addressed by John in his Gospel. You really can’t have the best of both Worlds because these two Worlds are in opposition to one another: being from two completely different sources, and having two different destinies. A choice must be made, and John wants to show us clearly the nature of this choice. In his writings John often uses these stark contrasts to teach us the nature of spiritual reality. Our culture wants to see everything in shades of grey. Maybe we won’t have to make a choice after all! John does not give us this option. For example, the contrast of light and darkness runs through this context:

“The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:35-36).

“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12:46).

The light is always associated with God. Darkness is to be in a state of alienation from God. Jesus said there are some who actually prefer the Darkness to the Light because of their evil deeds (John 3.19-21). In other words, they love their sin instead of loving God and they choose to remain in the darkness of alienation from God. The choice between Light and Darkness is a choice between God or anything else. Those who stay in the Darkness of alienation are choosing to do so because there is something else they want more than they want God.

Light and Darkness includes deeply moral definitions, having to do with how we live and the things that we do. This is not just a theological or philosophical abstraction. We live in the Light or we live in the Darkness in very real, concrete ways.

A concrete application of living either in Light or in Darkness is the choice between pursuing the praise of men or pursuing the praise of God. The implication is that those who pursue the praise of men are living in the Darkness. They are doing so because they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. This choice not to come to the Light is solidified by not believing in or following Jesus, who is the very personification of the Light. Our true attitude toward God is always manifested by our response to the Son of God. John’s Gospel teaches us that Jesus and the Father are one. We cannot reject the Son while honoring the Father. We cannot be in the Light while rejecting the very source of that Light.

The Jews thought they were in the Light because they claimed to know and serve God. But they were actually in the Darkness, even as they went about the practice of their religion! Religion does not give light. The practice of religion should not be confused with being in the Light. It is possible to hide from God while still being religious. The issue is not the practice of religion but what we do with Jesus. If we want to live in the Light we will come to Jesus. If we don’t come to Jesus then we are still in Darkness no matter what else we might do. So there is this choice between Light and Darkness. We must make a choice!

There is also the contrast of faith with unbelief. The choice can be Light and Darkness or faith and unbelief. Believing is to come into the Light. To disbelieve is to remain in the Darkness. Unfortunately, we have oversimplified what it means to believe in Jesus. Is the definition of believing in Jesus simply intellectual assent to certain facts? Are we believers simply because we believe in the historical Jesus? We have made belief a relatively easy thing.  Many people claim to believe in Jesus. What does this mean? Well, this is not a new problem but is addressed by the Scriptures.

In fact, John is addressing what it really means to believe in Jesus. This all comes to a burning focus as Jesus’ public ministry ends and the time of His glorification is at hand. Believing in Jesus can only be properly understood in connection with what John calls His glorification, or His death.

Jesus had performed many miraculous signs, including raising Lazarus from the dead. As you might expect, this caused Jesus’ popularity to increase. But as His popularity with the people increased, so did the hatred and jealousy of the religious leaders. I think the issue John is dealing with here is what all of these professed believers of Jesus will do when the authorities begin turning up the heat of opposition! Belief cannot be tested in the midst of success and popularity. What we really believe is proven in the fire of tribulation. There were those who jumped on the Jesus Bandwagon after the raising of Lazarus whose belief would be tested when the religious leaders began to go after Jesus. The belief of the people had no room for suffering, yet this was exactly what Jesus was preparing to endure Himself! There is something wrong with following a Suffering Savior and not being willing to suffer. Those who seek the praise of men over the praise of God have a deficient faith because they are not willing to suffer with Christ.

There are those who have a pretentious faith and will believe only if it is personally advantageous to them. But as soon as there is a cost, an inconvenience, or some pain, they are nowhere to be found. For these would-be disciples the World still holds their allegiance and love and so what the World thinks about them is the main thing.

Confessing Jesus only when it is personally convenient is really unbelief. I know it might seem confusing and contradictory for me to say this when the text says that there were some who believed, yet they would not confess Him publicly. Does it not say they believed, at least in some sense? Is this not at least an immature faith or maybe a weak faith, but still faith?

There is a kind of Divine footnote here. There is an explanation for this condition. It was because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. I hold that John is showing us that this is a sham faith.  It is not the real deal. And we are to learn from this that there are people who will make a profession of faith only when and if it is personally convenient for them and costs them nothing and that this kind of faith is an empty profession because it does not do what real faith does. In other words, saying you have faith does not make it a reality. Faith is known by its actions and its fruit. Faith without works is dead, or ineffectual, powerless, hollow, and hypocritical. To love the praise of men more than the praise of God is a condition that makes it impossible to have true faith. This kind of faith cannot save because it is not real faith. For a time, until the trouble comes, it may look like faith. But it will wither under the heat of opposition from the World.

The kind of faith in Jesus that does save, that is the real thing, is a faith that loves the praise of God more than the praise of man and is therefore willing to accept the rejection of the World and whatever tribulations may come as a result of following Jesus. Generally speaking, we are willing to endure certain hardships and inconveniences for the things or the people who have our hearts. But the things that I do not value are not worth any sacrifice, pain, or suffering. I can easily eliminate those things from my life that I do not value. But what I love I will hang on to and you will not be able to force it out of my hands! If I love the praise of God, then there is no price I will not pay to have it. So there is a connection between faith and love, between belief and values. We value what we believe. So faith is not purely intellectual, it is also in the heart.

What we believe in is measured by what we love. A person may say they believe in something, yet they have no real love and affection invested there. This would be like a person saying that he believes very strongly in the growth of a certain company on Wall Street, yet he refuses to buy any of their stock. I don’t think he really believes in that company because he is not investing something in it. Even so, a person might claim to believe in Jesus, yet there is no personal investment. That is not belief. That is just talk.

I am afraid there are many people who claim to be Christians who really just have some kind of intellectual assent to a doctrine and no real, personal investment in Christ Himself. They don’t love Jesus. He is not real to them. That is not faith that is philosophy. There are people who have a Christian philosophy of life, but they do not love Christ. These are the people who probably talk a lot about Christianity, the Church, and the need for world missions and evangelism. Beware of people who talk about Christianity more than they talk about Christ! This is similar to people who are always talking about marriage, but not about their spouses. At some point you have to stop talking about marriage as an abstract idea and just love your spouse! (There are many similarities between marriage and our relationship with God. We are the Bride of Christ!)

Faith also has to work its way down from your head to your heart and you have to start actually loving God. Faith in God is love for God. Loving God is also loving the praise of God. Here is the mark of a true believer and a true disciple of Jesus – their whole goal in life is to be praised by God because they love God more than anything else.

The praise of God is not the praise we give to God but the praise God will give to men. Men should praise God, but there is coming a time in the future when God will actually praise people! (Praise is the recognition and proclamation of the deeds or the virtues of a person. The opposite of praise would be to criticize and to pick someone apart and find their faults.) This will happen on the Day of Judgment that has been appointed by God and to which every person will be summoned. On that Day, and not before, everyone will be either praised by God, the result of which is eternal glory and joy, or criticized by God, the result of which is eternal sorrow and ruination.

God knows the truth of what is in the hearts of men and this will be fully revealed, though it is often hidden from us now. God is not just going to judge works, He is going to judge men’s hearts, or their motives, for doing what they did. In other words, what if outwardly you did certain good things, but you didn’t do it for God? Will you get praise from God for those things? I think not. It would not be right if you did because God’s praise was not what you really wanted anyway. I believe there will be some very moral and very religious people in Hell! God looks at the heart and judges the motive. The right thing done with the wrong motive does not count! We should not just be afraid of doing the wrong thing, we should be afraid of doing the right thing for the wrong reason! Having the outward appearance in order is not enough for God because God also looks at the heart. And so Paul says that

“a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God” (Romans 2:29).

God cannot be fooled like men can be fooled. Men look only on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. For God it all begins with what you love, which is what you really want. Jesus spoke extensively on this subject in the Sermon on the Mount:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 6:1).

Jesus then goes on to give three examples of religious works: giving, praying and fasting. Jesus says we should do these things, but we should do them in secret, and not for the praise of men:

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:2-4).

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6)

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18).

The whole point of the Sermon on the Mount is that external righteousness, like that of the Scribes and Pharisees, is not good enough. Sin is a heart problem and not just a behavior problem. True righteousness must therefore come from a renovated heart that loves God. Everything here must be viewed in a religious context. These are not people doing wicked things. These were people doing religious things, but doing them for the wrong reasons – for the praise of men rather than God. This is a temptation for every religious person and for every religious group – to do the right things only for other people to see rather than for God. Notice there is no out given so that we can simply stop doing religious things. We are to do these things, but for God, not for men! God will judge your heart, your motives, and He will reward you by giving you what you really want. Praise from God will be for those who love God, which was the motivation for everything they did, pursuing only the praise of their heavenly Father.

Having the praise of God is actually what the New Testament calls the hope of glory. Perhaps some people have trouble understanding what the Bible means when it promises believers eternal glory.

The kind of glory promised to believers is something similar to what happens in the world when a person has an unusual talent or who accomplishes something that is difficult or amazing. This person receives glory, praise, or fame. They are recognized and celebrated. What the Scripture is teaching us is that at some point in the future God is going to look at some people and give them glory, or praise. He is going to recognize them and He will actually take pleasure in what He sees! There are some people to whom God will say “well done, good and faithful servant!” And then these people will be celebrated for eternity, enjoying the pleasure of God forever, and being welcomed into His eternal Kingdom with great joy. (Some people have said we should not seek glory and praise for ourselves, that this leads to pride and is selfish. And they are right, if God is not the object of our affection. I can’t be proud if I humbly seek God’s approval and I can’t be selfish if I desire what God made me to desire. It can never be wrong to seek praise and glory from God, because He made us for Himself. To seek any other glory is idolatry.)

In his magnificent sermon called “The Weight of Glory” C.S. Lewis eloquently describes this glory or praise from God, as well as the horrible alternative:

“The sense that in this universe we are treated as strangers, the longing to be acknowledged, to meet with some response, to bridge some chasm that yawns between us and reality, is part of our inconsolable secret. And surely, from this point of view, the promise of glory, in the sense described, becomes highly relevant to our deep desire. For glory meant good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the heart of things. The door on which we have been knocking all our lives will open at last.”

“In some sense, as dark to the intellect as it is unendurable to the feelings, we can be both banished from the presence of Him who is present everywhere and erased from the knowledge of Him who knows all. We can be left utterly and absolutely outside—repelled, exiled, estranged, finally and unspeakably ignored. On the other hand, we can be called in, welcomed, received, acknowledged. We walk every day on the razor edge between these two incredible possibilities.”

The ultimate desire of every believer is to have this praise and glory from God. But we will have to wait for it. At some point in the future, we do not know when, our Creator will summon us to stand before Him and He will inspect us. Some will fail that inspection and be forever rejected. Some will pass the inspection, not because of anything they did on their own, but because of God’s grace. We are His workmanship. He is making us praiseworthy. Your job is to let Him do His work in you – preferring what He wants above every other temporal pleasure, so that you can be happy forever in His presence.