FACING THE NEW YEAR
Warsaw Christian Church, Richard M. Bowman, Pastor Emeritus
Text: John 12:42-43; Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. And Luke 6:26: Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
We are at the threshold of a new year. We have no idea what lies ahead. One of the issues we need to address concerns our goals for the New Year. One of our goals should be to grow in faithfulness to our Savior and Lord. A key question for each of us as we face the future is this: are we more concerned with what men think of us or what God thinks of us?
While our Lord spoke very plainly, there were statements He made that sound strange to us when we first hear them. They are the kind of statements that cause us to scratch our heads and exclaim, "I wonder what He meant by that." For instance, He said, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you" (Luke 6:26). This is an odd statement at first glance. It goes against what we might expect. Why is it woeful when others speak well of us? We rather like it when others approve of us, and indeed, we often go out of our way to do those things which will cause others to speak well of us. Should I be concerned if every member of this church speaks well of me? Should you be worried if everyone in Warsaw who knows you speaks well of you? Are we not more likely to be concerned if others do not speak well of us? Did it ever occur to you to be worried when, no matter where you go, people say, "There is a highly respected person; everyone likes him." Would that upset you? What on earth is going on here? Why did Jesus say, "Woe unto you when all men speak well of you?"
The answer is grasped when we understand the relationship between popularity and another vital word, faithfulness. We, as Christians, enjoy it when we attain some popularity, when others do indeed speak well of us. But we also want to be faithful to God as we know and understand Him in Jesus Christ. The problem is that popularity and faithfulness often come into conflict. There is nothing essentially wrong with wanting to be popular. It is a healthy desire. We would think it strange if someone said he wanted to be unpopular. We all need to be liked, and it feels good to have others' approval. I must confess that when people tell me they enjoyed my sermon, it makes me feel good. You don’t even have to be sincere! I like approval, partly because this job carries many insecurities, and I often think I am accomplishing very little for the kingdom of God. So, when you contradict my often-hidden fears and speak well of me, I feel better about myself. I say to myself, “See, Richard. Three people liked your sermon. You are not such a bad pastor after all!” We can certainly understand the drive within us to be popular. There is nothing wrong with that desire.
However, if you are a genuine Christian, you also desire to serve the Lord Jesus faithfully. We want to give our best to the Master. I doubt that any of you want to be known as a "lukewarm Christian." We know the Bible speaks of such persons, of Christians who are more worldly than spiritual, but we hope such designations are meant for others and not ourselves. We know that Jesus spoke of a group of believers in Him who were ashamed to be openly faithful for fear of offending the Pharisees and being put out of the synagogue. They believed in Jesus but kept their faith secret because popularity with men was more important to them than faithfulness to God (see John 12:42-43). Such compromising is despicable to us; surely, we would never be guilty of such duplicity. We want to be faithful at any cost, don't we? We want to hear Jesus say on judgment day, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." We certainly do not want Him to say, "Your entire life was a disaster, and you did very little that can qualify as faithful service." We don’t want to enter heaven by the skin of our teeth. No, we want to be declared faithful by our Lord. We want both popularity with men and to God faithfulness.
Thus, we have these two legitimate desires. The problem is that it is often impossible to satisfy both desires. They sometimes clash with each other, forcing us to choose one or the other. Many teens struggle with this issue. “Shall I take drugs with the other kids to maintain popularity, or shall I be faithful to Jesus and risk losing my popularity?” Adults face the same conflict. “Shall I apply Christian ethics in my secular job when everyone else is living by different rules, or shall I go along with the crowd, relaxing my standards and improving my popularity?” Pastors are not immune to this problem. What will I do as a pastor when I know that certain truths must be preached, but I also know that certain indispensable members of the church who are also big givers will be upset and offended if those truths are proclaimed? Shall I preach only those things that I know the congregation likes to hear and improve my popularity at the expense of my faithfulness? One TV preacher refuses to talk about sin and judgment because they are unpopular topics. He is very popular.
The false prophets of the Old Testament were often very popular with the people because they preached what the people wanted to hear. The true prophets said, "woe unto you" because of the people’s sins, while the false prophets said, "You are doing fine. God is pleased with you." The true prophets would declare that the judgment of an angry God was coming upon the people, while the false prophets said, "God will bless you, wonderful people, with peace and prosperity." The true prophets thundered against the people and said that God hates your worship services, your solemn feasts, and assemblies because you only worship God with your lips, but your heart is not in it (see Isaiah 1:13,14). The false prophets declared that God was pleased with their worship, and everything was just fine. We are probably not surprised to learn that the people preferred the false prophets to the authentic, God-inspired prophets. Is it any different in the church? It takes a mature believer to respond appropriately to divine judgment, and Israel seemed short on maturity. They preferred good lies to the hard truth. Thus, Jeremiah, a true prophet, lamented, "The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?" (Jer. 5:31).
What messages do you want Tom and me to preach in the New Year? Do you want to hear that some of you are robbing God with your tithes and offerings? Malachi preached that to Israel, and many did not want to listen to it (Malachi 3:8-11). Many pastors get into hot water with their congregations for preaching tithing. Some of you may need to hear that message, but do you want to listen? If we come down too hard on you in that area, some of you may be offended, and we may lose some of our popularity. Should we choose favor or faithfulness?
Shall we preach that some are far too wrapped up in our secular society and give too little time, effort, and energy to the work of Christ's Church? It is painfully true for some church members, but is that what they want to hear? If we harp too much on that theme, some may go to another church where they are constantly told how wonderful and dedicated they are. What will it be for us in the New Year, popularity or faithfulness?
Shall we talk about how some Christians accept positions of leadership and responsibility in the church but then choose to be very slack and indifferent about fulfilling those responsibilities? Can we preach on such a topic even if it is true? Will we not step on sensitive toes and risk losing popularity?
We are ambassadors for Christ, and that means we represent Him in our daily lives. I recall observing an ambassador on TV a few years ago. I noticed he never gave his personal opinion on matters. He spoke for the government, period. He had no personal opinions; if he did, he kept them to himself. You are also an ambassador according to the word of God, for the Lord of heaven. You are obligated to speak for Him, promote His government, and surrender your opinions to His holy and righteous will. Is that your goal for the New Year? If you work hard at pleasing Christ, many will not approve of you. You may lose some popularity.
Some Christians are better ambassadors for our humanistic society than they are for Jesus. Some Church members would never think of dropping their secular interests because they needed the time to serve the Lord. Shall we tell you, "Oh, that's okay. God doesn't mind playing second fiddle to your secular interests. Just come to church now and then, and give Him a few bucks, and all will be well with your soul." Shall we lie to you to gain popularity, or shall we faithfully proclaim God's message and risk losing your support? Every pastor faces this dilemma.
Do you see the problem we face? The problem is that if we are determined to live faithfully before God, taking our role as ambassadors for Christ with the utmost seriousness, proclaiming God’s love for penitent sinners and the wrath of God against the disobedient, we may have to sacrifice much in the way of popularity. And so, Jesus said, Woe unto you when all men speak well of you. The humanistic society that surrounds us, in which we live, move, and have our being, disapproves of Christ and His ways. If you are determined to live for Jesus, you will be subjected to rejection and ridicule by many. You can kiss your popularity goodbye, at least with some people. What about us? Are we willing to risk losing the approval of others to be faithful to Jesus? Or would you rather cling to popularity and discard faithfulness?
I wish I could tell you that you can have your cake and eat it too. I wish I could say that faithfulness to Jesus increases your popularity with everyone, but it would be a lie. I wish I could tell you that you can have it all: serve Jesus faithfully, be loved and admired by everyone, and have all kinds of wealth and prosperity thrown in as a bonus. It's tempting to be a false prophet, to tell people what they want to hear. What is your choice in 2026? What kind of "prophet" will you be? Will you choose faithfulness or popularity when those two words conflict and you can't have both? If popularity is your choice, I ask you the question Jeremiah asked. "What will you do in the end?" How will you explain that choice when you stand before the throne of divine judgment, your beloved secular world is gone, your unbelieving friends are gone, and it's just you --- and God. "What will you do in the end?"
