I think we can all relate. I I can relate, especially as a new believer. You know, coming from a world where everything was performance-based acceptance for me. I grew up with that sort of background of you perform well, you're accepted, you're loved, you're hailed. 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. And it was all about what I was getting from people, you know. And so that this is this is an important uh topic, I think, for us to hit. 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. Why is it that we're so tied up with what man thinks of us? You guys heard the saying, right? We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like. Now, obviously, as Christians, we love everybody. But but that that has most truth most people, that has a ring of truth to it, you know. So yeah, let's jump into it.
SPEAKER_01You went right to the core heart issue. 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. And one of those three or four sins is uh the need for approval or the praise of men. And so I I think you're you're right, man. Inerrant in every single one of us is this incessant diabolical need for approval. And that actual, our actual desire for approval is rooted in wanting to be reconnected with God. But because we are fallen fallen, we dis distort that desire and instead seek the approval of men. Right. And so we do that. Um, and it's I think the approval min is a drug. It's a drug because you you get it and you're like, oh, that was that felt really good. 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.
SPEAKER_02You know, you mentioned Martin Luther a bit ago, Oscar. He he said that he said, God creates out of nothing. Therefore, until a man is nothing, God can make nothing out of him. Man, Luther look good, man. And and it's so true.
I I think that the whole approach to showmanship, and and now let's talk about that, right? 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. How can we avoid it? What are the things that can help us steer clear of that?
SPEAKER_03I think the major thing for me is that in the sight of God speak we in Christ. It's just this the knowledge that everything I do, everything I say is seen by and heard by God. And that helps me. I preached at a church last night and I think to myself, what did I pray beforehand? That was really, oh God, help me to make this come alive. I want to encourage the hearers. I don't want to impress them with my speaking, I want to impress them with what I say. And so I think the essence of where we're at spiritually is in what we pray in secret prayer before we preach. Not what we preach, but what we pray before we preach. Wow. Because that's not scene of man, that's scene of God.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And that's all that matters.
SPEAKER_01Every single one of us are walking around all day through the lens of is this postable? What filter should I use? How many people would like and comment on this? Should I do it? Should I do it? 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. It's like, start evangelizing. Ray was evangelizing long before
he started posting stuff on your camera. Right, exactly. Before, yeah, before existence existed. The point is, is we do so much, so much for showmanship. We we do so much for the approval of others, and I think it's it's ingrained in all of us.
SPEAKER_03I got a little confession here, and I think Easy might agree with me. I just love using humor in a sermon. Oh yeah. It's like a little mountaintop in the middle of it. It's so neat when people laugh at something like that. Because you're giving them pleasure and it it comes back on you make. That's great, Mark. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01But you do in a diffusing way. You do in a way that draws them into the truth. Because again, to the point, like I'm we're not saying props are all bad and humor is all bad. The point is, is like these things, when used for the glory of God, is okay. But more often it than not, it's used for the glory of self.
SPEAKER_03Aaron Powell Something else comes into it, and that's the area of having life in what you're speaking. 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. 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. Yeah, I mean.
SPEAKER_00Well, you listen, and I agree also with you here, uh Ray, and easy, you know, the same thing. Do you like humor as well? Then all four of us, right? I I I love the idea because the message at times is is very heavy, it's very weighty. And you get a congregation that is almost holding their
breath the whole time, right? It's just like uh enough. Give me uh a source of release and relief from what you're saying. So bring it in that humor. It's like, oh. Plus, we're emotional beings, right? We we can navigate through a conversation and touch upon all the sorts of emotions. And I think a good preacher is able to do that. A couple scriptures uh allow me to share. Matthew 6, 1, it says, beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them. And then Matthew 25, verses 5 through 7. They do all their deeds to be seen. They love to have their place of honor at feast and to be called rabbi. 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. Final verse, Matthew 23. Uh talks about whitewashed tombs outwardly. They appear righteous, but they're filled with hypocrisy. 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. What is your motive by what you're doing and what you're doing and why you're doing what you're doing? Right? 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. There's no audio device, you know, ready to go. What happened to just sharing the gospel, being ready in season, out of season?
Everything traces back to love. So, what does that do? It gives us the map that takes us back to what? 1 Corinthians 13, which tells us what love is. And one of the primary descriptors of love is it does not seek its own. That's at the heart of showmanship. It's seeking your own, it's seeking what? Your own praise, your own attention, your own exaltation. So the key is love. What? Love for God and love for people. Because if I love God, I'm seeking to bring Him glory and honor. If I love people, I'm not seeking to use them to serve me with their praise. I'm seeking to serve them by giving them what they need. And right, that's why a lot of preachers don't preach truth because I won't get the praise. Oh, I'll get rejection. I'll get people being mad at me, you know. And so I really think we need to inject love into all of this. Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights from the Living Waters podcast. Friends, we value your time. So we've created a bite sized version of our podcast for listeners who want to get equipped without the jokes and fellowship. Be sure to check out the full episode every Thursday where we dive deeper into the topic. Until then, you can watch the full podcast episode available now on livingwaters.tv.