Latest / The Living Waters Podcast / Addicted to Applause: Why the Praise of Man Never Satisfies. - Highlight Episode 361

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Addicted to Applause: Why the Praise of Man Never Satisfies. - Highlight Episode 361 · The Living Waters Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: I think we can all relate.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_02: I I can relate, especially as a new believer.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, coming from a world where everything was performance-based acceptance for me.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: I grew up with that sort of background of you perform well, you're accepted, you're loved, you're hailed.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I've shared the story with you guys before when I stopped feeling the love at that church where I was in the youth group, I was gonna leave.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: And it was all about what I was getting from people, you know.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: And so that this is this is an important uh topic, I think, for us to hit.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I I think it's important first of all for us to begin by talking about what it is that compels us in that direction.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_02: Why is it that we're so tied up with what man thinks of us?
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_02: You guys heard the saying, right?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: Now, obviously, as Christians, we love everybody.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: But but that that has most truth most people, that has a ring of truth to it, you know.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: So yeah, let's jump into it.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_01: You went right to the core heart issue.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it was Luther that pointed out that all of our sins are rooted in like these three or four main sins, um, which are all idolatrous in nature.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: And one of those three or four sins is uh the need for approval or the praise of men.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so I I think you're you're right, man.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Inerrant in every single one of us is this incessant diabolical need for approval.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that actual, our actual desire for approval is rooted in wanting to be reconnected with God.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_01: But because we are fallen fallen, we dis distort that desire and instead seek the approval of men.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: And so we do that.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's I think the approval min is a drug.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's a drug because you you get it and you're like, oh, that was that felt really good.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so then you want, you're not satisfied, and so you want more approval, and you'll go to greater lengths and greater and greater lengths until you lose a sense of self, all to seek the approval of other people.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you mentioned Martin Luther a bit ago, Oscar.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_02: He he said that he said, God creates out of nothing.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_02: Therefore, until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_02: Man, Luther look good, man.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's so true.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: I I think that the whole approach to showmanship, and and now let's talk about that, right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: Doing good works to be noticed by men, to get praise from men, to get applause, to to get recognition, even to feel good, you know, all of it I think has at its core the thought that we are something, or we're trying to prove that we're something.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_02: How can we avoid it?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: What are the things that can help us steer clear of that?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: I think the major thing for me is that in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: It's just this the knowledge that everything I do, everything I say is seen by and heard by God.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_03: And that helps me.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_03: I preached at a church last night and I think to myself, what did I pray beforehand?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: That was really, oh God, help me to make this come alive.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_03: I want to encourage the hearers.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to impress them with my speaking, I want to impress them with what I say.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: And so I think the essence of where we're at spiritually is in what we pray in secret prayer before we preach.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: Not what we preach, but what we pray before we preach.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: Because that's not scene of man, that's scene of God.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: And that's all that matters.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Every single one of us are walking around all day through the lens of is this postable?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_01: What filter should I use?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: How many people would like and comment on this?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_01: Should I do it?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Should I do it?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I think you see that we I've talked to people, I've heard from people talk about like, I want to start evangelizing, but I need to get a camera.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, start evangelizing.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Ray was evangelizing long before he started posting stuff on your camera.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: Right, exactly.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: Before, yeah, before existence existed.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: The point is, is we do so much, so much for showmanship.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_01: We we do so much for the approval of others, and I think it's it's ingrained in all of us.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: I got a little confession here, and I think Easy might agree with me.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: I just love using humor in a sermon.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's like a little mountaintop in the middle of it.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's so neat when people laugh at something like that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because you're giving them pleasure and it it comes back on you make.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: That's great, Mark.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: But you do in a diffusing way.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_01: You do in a way that draws them into the truth.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because again, to the point, like I'm we're not saying props are all bad and humor is all bad.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: The point is, is like these things, when used for the glory of God, is okay.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_01: But more often it than not, it's used for the glory of self.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Aaron Powell Something else comes into it, and that's the area of having life in what you're speaking.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: You really was Abraham Lincoln said when I hear a man preach, I want to see him like he's fighting off bees or something like that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_03: So that there's a there's a balance to the whole thing where you've got to have some life in that which you say, and you've got to have a little bit of movement, but not be a showman about it.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I mean.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you listen, and I agree also with you here, uh Ray, and easy, you know, the same thing.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like humor as well?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Then all four of us, right?
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I I I love the idea because the message at times is is very heavy, it's very weighty.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you get a congregation that is almost holding their breath the whole time, right?
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just like uh enough.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Give me uh a source of release and relief from what you're saying.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So bring it in that humor.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Plus, we're emotional beings, right?
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: We we can navigate through a conversation and touch upon all the sorts of emotions.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a good preacher is able to do that.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: A couple scriptures uh allow me to share.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Matthew 6, 1, it says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then Matthew 25, verses 5 through 7.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: They do all their deeds to be seen.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: They love to have their place of honor at feast and to be called rabbi.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then 1 Thessalonians 2, 4, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, we speak not to please man, but God.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Final verse, Matthew 23.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh talks about whitewashed tombs outwardly.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: They appear righteous, but they're filled with hypocrisy.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And to Oscar in Easy's point earlier, right, that the litmus test that we throw around to see where we stand amongst people is just motive.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: What is your motive by what you're doing and what you're doing and why you're doing what you're doing?
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you're throwing a YouTube channel up there in order to be seen by a man, it seems like uh your motive is not right, or I can't witness to that person because I don't have my camera going.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: There's no audio device, you know, ready to go.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: What happened to just sharing the gospel, being ready in season, out of season?
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_02: Everything traces back to love.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: So, what does that do?
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_02: It gives us the map that takes us back to what?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_02: 1 Corinthians 13, which tells us what love is.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: And one of the primary descriptors of love is it does not seek its own.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: That's at the heart of showmanship.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's seeking your own, it's seeking what?
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: Your own praise, your own attention, your own exaltation.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: So the key is love.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_02: What?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_02: Love for God and love for people.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: Because if I love God, I'm seeking to bring Him glory and honor.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_02: If I love people, I'm not seeking to use them to serve me with their praise.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_02: I'm seeking to serve them by giving them what they need.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: And right, that's why a lot of preachers don't preach truth because I won't get the praise.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I'll get rejection.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: I'll get people being mad at me, you know.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: And so I really think we need to inject love into all of this.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights from the Living Waters podcast.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: Friends, we value your time.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: So we've created a bite sized version of our podcast for listeners who want to get equipped without the jokes and fellowship.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: Be sure to check out the full episode every Thursday where we dive deeper into the topic.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: Until then, you can watch the full podcast episode available now on livingwaters.tv.