Hollow Applause

 

"Many in the crowd spread their coats on the road ahead of Jesus, and others cut leafy branches in the fields and spread them along the way.  He was in the center of the procession, and the crowds all around him were shouting, 'Praise God!  Bless the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  Bless the coming kingdom of our ancestor David!  Praise God in highest heaven!'  So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple.  He looked around carefully at everything, and then he left because it was late in the afternoon.  Then he went out to Bethany with the twelve disciples." Mark 11:8-11 (NLT).

 

Jesus was not fooled.  The crowds that now shouted "Praise God" would soon cry "Crucify him."  How hollow their praise must have sounded to Jesus, for he knew that shortly these same people would scream for his blood and claim no king but Caesar.

 

The praise of people can make us soar.  The approval or applause of others can lift our spirits and strengthen our hearts.  But never forget that the same people who clap for you will also hold the spikes and wield the hammer that will pin your body to a cross.

 

It is the sin nature in all of us that makes us hypocrites like this.  We bless and curse.  We praise and condemn; extol and criticize; act Godly and demonically.  There is a part of us that wishes to please God, and a part that wishes only to please ourselves.

 

It is the battle of the ages - - the battle for your soul and mine.  It is the battle between God and Satan, holiness and Godlessness, submission and rebellion.  Within us is the capacity for goodness, purity, sincerity and righteousness; but also evil, impurity, insincerity, and unrighteousness.  We can give both sincere and hallow applause.

 

No wonder Jesus went to the Temple to look carefully around.  He knew that the religion that centered around this place could never save the world, or present a cure for the duplicity within every human.  So he stood inside the Temple taking it all in, knowing that soon his death would provide a better way - an escape from the evil that lurks within all of us that causes us to give hollow applause. 

 

No leader should listen long to applause.  Even if it is sincere, it is only fleeting.  The same people who sing your praises today may crucify you tomorrow.  The very ones who campaign for you now may push for your downfall later.  The same friends that view you as the best in the present may see you as the worst in the future.  It is ever the way of the leader to deal with such contradictions.

 

It isn't that people are plotting against you or insincere in their praise of you.  No doubt the people who clapped for Jesus were absolutely sincere, but their sincerity did not last long, for they were sadly and weakly human.

 

We are sadly and weakly human too.  There is a little hypocrite who lives in all of us.  A leader must never forget this.  He or she must always stay focused on the mission ahead, not the applause behind.  The mission never changes, but applause often does.  The mission never dies, but applause always will.  It is no more permanent then the breath you just took.

 

It is the sin nature in us that makes us capable of hypocrisy.  And don't kid yourself into thinking that you aren't capable of doing much bad.  You are, and so am I.  We are capable of far more evil than we would ever admit or imagine, and this is precisely why we need Jesus so badly.

 

Moses was the humblest man on earth, but he disobeyed God when he struck the rock to get water out of it instead of speaking to the rock like God told him to do.  God was so angry at Moses that he denied him entrance into Canaan.  He told Moses that he treated him as unholy by disobeying.   Abraham had so much faith that God considered him righteous, but he lied about his wife's identity.  David was a man after God's own heart, but he committed murder and adultery.  Peter left everything to follow Jesus, but denied him three times. 

 

We are no better or worse than these stalwarts.  Given the right set of circumstances we may be surprised at what comes out of us.  I thank God for his amazing grace that saves a wretch like me.

 

But there is joy in the midst of this blackness of ours.  The joy is found in the fact that God knows all about our weaknesses and capacity for evil, and he loves us anyway.  Further, he sent his son to die in our place to pay the penalty for our sin and provide a cure for the power of the sin-nature over us.

 

If we accept him fully and follow him daily, he will increasingly turn our hollow applause into sincere adoration.  He will turn our poisonous, critical tongues into instruments of praise and encouragement.  He will change our hearts so that we will not even desire to sin any longer.  It will ever be a battle, but through Jesus we can win.  We must take his hand and never look back.

 

If we do not, then we are committed to a lifestyle of hollow applause.  Now you don't want that, do you?