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THE BRIGHT LIGHTS OF BROADWAY #5
MIS-APPLIED APPLAUSE
He’s one of the most delightful personalities in gospel
music today. As well as one of the funniest. Mr. Mark Lowry, baritone
in the Gaither Vocal Band, is an incredible musician . . . and an absolute
riot to watch. He’s the comedian in the group, always bantering back and
forth with Bill Gaither, who usually plays the straight man to Mark’s
insults and toupee jokes.
Mark has released a couple of solo albums and videos, and they have titles
like: “Remotely Controlled.” And the latest one, just out: “Mouth in Motion.”
Both very descriptive titles, as he mugs for the camera while showing
that Christians can and certainly do have a wonderful time serving the
Lord.
One of Mark’s regular bits of shtick, though, happens when the Gaither
Vocal Band walks onto the stage for the first time. The crowd is generally
applauding already, and Mark makes a big show of gesturing and whipping
up the fans. As in: “More! More! More!” Then he’ll point at himself with
a look of amazement and mouth — not saying it, but just miming the words:
“For ME?! All this adulation . . . for ME?!” And the crowd loves it.
Well, it’s all in good fun, so in terms of what the Bible teaches about
humility, we kind of let it go. And it seems that Bill Gaither is generally
able to deflate Mark Lowry’s pretend-enormous ego by bringing on a GUEST
baritone, and then saying to the crowd after the song: “Now THERE’S a
guy who can sing!” That kind of thing.
But as we wrap up our Bible study on the topic of POWER, and the various
ways that we seek the Broadway spotlights, the praise and glory, Mr. Lowry’s
cheerleading antics actually direct us toward some important Bible truths.
And written by a man who sometimes had adoring crowds bow down before
him as well: the Apostle Paul.
You can read in Acts chapter 14 where Paul had one of these standing-applause
moments. In the city of Lystra, God enabled Paul to heal a crippled man.
And the crowds watching went absolutely nuts. “The gods have come down
to us in human form!” they shouted, rushing up for autographs. Actually,
they began to bow down and WORSHIP Paul and Barnabas. Verse four says
that the high priest of the pagan temple of Zeus brought out bulls and
wreaths to sacrifice to these new “gods.” In fact, the crowds renamed
Barnabas and Paul, “Zeus” and “Hermes.”
But instead of basking — “For ME?! More! More!” — Paul stopped the would-be
worshipers cold in their tracks. “Hey hey hey! Stop! We’re men just like
you! It was GOD who did this, not us!” And the groupies were so mad that
Paul and Barnabas wouldn’t accept their worship, they dragged Paul outside
the city limits and stoned him, left him for dead. True story.
Knowing this happened to Paul makes all the more interesting what he writes
in his first epistle to the Corinthians. This is an amazing book in the
Bible; in fact, many of you listeners already have a copy of our new ministry
book, Rock-Solid Living in a Run-amok World, based just on these 16 chapters
of Scripture. But here in First Corinthians one, Paul writes this:
“Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Actually, Paul is quoting back from the Old Testament
prophet Jeremiah, so this counsel rings down to us from both sides of
Calvary. Here’s how Jeremiah put it:
“Let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands
and knows Me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and
righteousness on earth, for in these I delight.”
So when any of us might receive a bit of applause —
Mark Lowry, or you, or me — it should be for this: because we know and
love God. Because our ministry, or our words, or our deeds reflect and
glorify Jesus, who alone is worthy, the Bible tells us, to receive praise.
But now, just two chapters later is some more very sound advice on this
question of power and praise. Paul begins to write about the tendency
Christians had even back then to “group” themselves behind a leader. “Oh,
I like Apollos,” some believers were saying. Or Peter. Or Paul. Or whoever.
Just like the Gaither Vocal Band and Jars of Clay and our own Del Delker
all have their followings, some of that was going on in 55 A.D. . . .
and not all of it was healthy.
So Paul writes this:
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only
SERVANTS, through whom you came to believe — as the LORD has assigned
to each his task. I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but GOD made
it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only
GOD, who makes things grow.”
Notice here that it’s God who gives the assignments;
it’s God who makes Himself responsible for the final harvest. You and
I do our part: planting, watering, spading, fertilizing, weed-pulling,
or whatever. And we should do it well, do our best. But who put the DNA
in the seed so it would grow? God. Who gave seeds the capacity TO grow?
Who prepares the heart? God. Who gets the credit for the final harvest?
God again.
All of this is so helpful whenever you hear that wonderful sound of building
applause — and it seems to be aimed at you. You watered the plant well,
and people are clapping, maybe even a standing ovation. But friend, really
. . . who created the beautiful blossom? In the end, it was God, right?
C. S. Lewis, who turned quite a few heads with his wonderfully inventive
books — remember The Chronicles of Narnia? — writes a lot about pride.
In fact, we’ve quoted from this chapter before, and the title is no accident:
“The Great Sin.” But here’s what he says about power and applause:
“Pleasure in being praised is NOT pride. The child
who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty
is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says ‘Well done,’
are pleased and OUGHT to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what YOU
are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and RIGHTLY
wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, ‘I
have pleased Him; all is well,’ to thinking, ‘What a fine person I must
be to have done it.’”
And really, that’s the difference right there, don’t
you think? In this life, people are going to clap for us once in a while.
When the Gaither Vocal Band sings, people applaud; I know I do. I love
their music. I get a kick out of Mark Lowry’s little jokes; they’re good
clean fun. But how does Mr. Lowry DEAL with the applause of men?
The same holds for me. People sometimes write in, appreciating the radio
program. Or my brothers and my mom and dad and I sing at a camp meeting,
and people clap. They come up and say, “Lonnie, would you autograph your
family’s CD?” And I say sure. I enjoy it. Signing autographs and shaking
hands are as enjoyable for me as for the next person.
But if I take that applause after my brothers and I sing a song, and apply
that approval to ME, and think to myself, “Lonnie, what a guy you are!”
. . . then I’m a fool. Because when we sing, “Wonderful Savior,” or “The
Gentle Stranger,” or “His Love” — listen, those songs are about JESUS,
not ME! We have a little song I like on the album called “The King and
I,” and I can tell you this: the applause and the worship are to go TO
the King, not to “I.”
All of us have to watch out for this — mis-applied applause — every single
day of our lives. It’s a fact that even in the world of religion, some
people will get more standing ovations than others. Some preachers get
to ride in limousines; others don’t. Some write great bestsellers and
get invited on Larry King Live; others remain behind in a little dirt-road
country church with 25 members on a good weekend. But ALL of us, in high
stations or low, need to remember to pass ALONG the hand-clapping, the
pats on the back, the headlines, the glory, the pieces of praise, to the
place where they belong.
We’ve mentioned a couple of times this week the Christian writer Chuck
Colson, who, during his years in the Nixon White House, was absolutely
ADDICTED to power and pomp. He loved the limo rides, the trips to Camp
David, the hush-hush of putting together big global deals, or clandestine
strategies to “get” the people on Nixon’s “enemies list.” And, after he
was indicted and served his time for Watergate and became a born-again
believer, he then moved into ANOTHER high-powered position: director of
the WORLD ministry, Prison Fellowship. And there are STILL tuxedo moments
for Colson, crowded ballrooms, standing ovations, TV interviews. But now
Chuck applies First Corinthians three to all the glory. “Who is Paul?
Who is Apollos? Who is Colson?” Just fellow gardeners — weeding, watering,
watching, and waiting. And giving glory to God.
I absolutely love a line from his book, Kingdoms in Conflict, and this
takes us back to yesterday’s devotional, where we talked about why Jesus
finally DID permit some cheering on His behalf as He rode that donkey
into Jerusalem. But here’s what Colson says about you and me wanting to
be admired and loved by the crowds:
“It’s ludicrous for any Christian to believe that he
or she is the worthy object of public worship; it would be like the DONKEY
carrying Jesus into Jerusalem believing the crowds were cheering and laying
down their garments for HIM.”
It’s a mistake you could forgive . . . in a donkey.
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