The Only Audience That Matters

Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you are doing well on the Sabbath day.

I’m going to get right into the message here. When you came to services today, did you behave differently when you stepped up to the door? Maybe saw the person greeting or stepped into the hotel room or into someone’s house, whatever it may be. Or even if you were alone, when you sat down, did you feel like you should act differently? Changed? We all do it in a certain way. If you think about the circumstances you’re in. You’re at work. I don’t care how diligent you are at your job. You’re working away, you’re working away, but the boss walks into the office, suddenly your posture improves, your typing speed may be there, your politeness, your eye contact changes even though you may have been doing nothing wrong.

Being Canadian, I would come back and forth across the border many, many times. I was never carrying narcotics or weapons or anything of the sort, but every time I pulled up to that border crossing, my throat tightened, my speech became more direct. I was very cooperative because the audience changed. Children do it. When they’re on their own, they’re doing their thing. They don’t think their parents are around. Suddenly the parents are around and they straighten up.

I have a fun little story about my eight-year-old. He was playing his Duolingo game where he’s learning Spanish. And he had the covers over his head and was very quiet. I thought, “What is he doing?” I knew he only had access to that one app. And I walked over and pulled the covers off. He went, “Ah.” I said, “What are you doing?” “I was doing the English lessons,” like it was something very terribly wrong. And he panicked because daddy was there and he wasn’t doing the thing he thought he wasn’t supposed to be doing, but suddenly that was very bad and he was worried.

Think about when you’re driving. It’s the same thing. You may be going exactly the speed limit. You are perfectly in your lane. You’re doing nothing wrong, and then you see the police car and what do you do? You immediately look down at your speedometer. “Okay. Good. I’m fine.” When we have a different audience, we behave differently. It’s just what we do. It’s a human condition. It’s what everyone does. When there’s a figure of authority, you and I tend to behave differently. We all do it. It’s a part of human nature. It’s not necessarily a bad part.

When the ministry is around or when the parents are around, our conduct changes depending on who is watching us. And that can be for good or that performance, if you will, can be for bad. When we do these things, we are either snapping to because it’s the right thing and whatever the case may be, or we are snapping to because we want to impress our audience, whatever that audience may be. And it really comes down to, ultimately, as we come to this message, whether we’re focusing on the audience that we should be focusing on or the one that we don’t necessarily need to focus on, because by focusing on the correct audience, we satisfy the other one.

As Christians, we must overcome any sort of need for human recognition and always be focused on God. He’s the audience. It doesn’t matter what our conduct is, public or private, He is that audience. That said, you and me are human beings. So to understand how we can get to the place where our focus is the correct audience, God, we have to understand how human nature naturally causes us to focus on the audience usually right in front of us. It’s not wrong to receive encouragement or appreciation or proper acknowledgment for what we’re doing. The Bible doesn’t condemn praise.

Let’s go open to Proverbs twenty-seven and look. Proverbs twenty-seven, Chapter twenty-seven. Like every single subject in the Bible, it’s not black and white. There’s not a black and white element to it. I guess some aspects, there’s no white or black, or however you say it, about keeping the Sabbath. It’s on the seventh day. How you keep it is nuance. How you do certain things has nuance. That’s part of living as a Christian.

Proverbs twenty-seven and Verse two, again, I said, it’s not wrong to receive praise, but, “Let another man praise you; and not your own mouth; a stranger, not with your own lips.” Praise will come, but we shouldn’t be seeking it or trying to manufacture it. That’s when it becomes dangerous. When we go out and want the approbation of men, and that becomes our focus, then what starts to happen is that becomes who we seek to please. Praise isn’t the danger. Needing praise, seeking praise is the danger. It’s rooted in pride, rooted in vanity, very simple things.

Let’s go to Matthew Chapter Six. And this is not the core of the message, but we need to understand human nature. We need to understand what all of us do. There is not a human in this room or any room around the world hearing this message who doesn’t do this to some degree. Again, you’re turning to Matthew Chapter six. I should catch up with you. Matthew Chapter six. But brethren, by the time we’re done, as we see this element and be able to recognize it in ourselves, oh, there’s a freeingness once we lock on to the correct audience.

Matthew Chapter six Verse one, “Take heed that you do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise you have no reward of your father, which is in heaven. Therefore when you do your alms,” understand alms, kindness, goodness, all the things that we would do to help each other, “do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites in the synagogues and in the streets,” because that’s what they did. It was, “too-too-roo-too-too [trumpet sound], look at me. I’m putting money in the basket, too-too-roo-too-too [trumpet sound], look at me. I’m helping this little widow lady.” That’s what their reward was. That’s what they were seeking.

Continuing, “In the streets, that they may have glory of men. Truly I say unto you, they have their reward. But when you do alms,” us as Christians, “let not your left hand know what the right hand does.” Talk even to ourselves, you could say. “That your alms may be in secret: and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly. And when you pray, you shall not do as the hypocrites do: for they love pray, standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that may be seen of men. Truly I say unto you, they have their reward. But you, when you pray, enter into a closet, and you shut the door and pray to your father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.”

No, Christ, in this case, does not condemn the acts these men were doing, praying, giving alms. Those are all things that we’re told to do as well. When you do the same thing, but do it with a different attitude. I enjoy being able to work with the field ministry as the other men at headquarters do. So we take the experiences and the training that we’ve received and then pass it on to someone else.

And it’s something that struck me years ago, and I sound like a broken record about it, is attitude is everything when you work with new prospects or people who want to come to the Church or frankly anyone. It is very easy to take someone without knowledge and a great attitude and bring them to a place where they have knowledge with that great attitude towing along at the same time.

It’s very difficult to take someone who has a lot of knowledge and a poor attitude to change their attitude. That’s what this was about. It was about the outward desire of what they were seeking. The human recognition is what became the driver of the Pharisees. That’s what they cared about. Christ plainly said that was their reward.

Let’s go to Matthew twenty-three. Let’s stay in the same book of Mathew. The chapter is over. Chapter twenty-three, Verse five. Chapter twenty-three, Verse five. “But all their works they do for to be seen of men.” Sounds very familiar to Chapter six, doesn’t it? “They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments. And they love the uppermost rooms of the feast and the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the market, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi,” or Teacher, Teacher.

“And be not you called Rabbi: for there is one Master, even Christ; and all you are brethren. And call no man your Father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be you called masters: for there is one Master, even Christ.” Basically leveling the playing field, which is a very interesting way to look at it, as Christ looks at it, as we’ve learned about government recently. How God looks at people differently than how people look at people.

Even when you talk about the ministry or the deacons or lay members, He says, “No, no, simplify how you look at other people. “But He is the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whatsoever shall exalt himself shall be abased;” wanting to be shown. “And He that humbles himself, he is the one that shall be exalted.” Christ goes right to the root of the message here, right at the root of the attitude. All their works they do to be seen of men.

What’s interesting is these are individuals that aren’t even like the ones that were praying or loud or showing their alms. These are individuals that would have been seen as, in this time especially, as the righteous, as the religious, as the religious elite, if you will. They didn’t have to go around and do the pomp and circumstances because their vanity was quieter, wasn’t it? Because they didn’t have to show it, because they had the power.

When you have power, you don’t have to show power because you get the attention. When you’re in a position of power, it’s easy to exert power, but it’s harder to be able to keep the humility that comes with God giving power and recognizing where all of our power comes from. You and I can’t do what we do on human steam. We don’t have that ability.

We don’t have the ability in us to change who we are, to take an element of our character that’s not where it needs to be and then make that into something that needs to be righteous Godly character. We simply can’t do it on our own. And when we recognize that, where it comes from, it keeps us humble, it keeps us in the right attitude, and it helps us look to the right audience, God, in whom we want to please. That’s why Christ says, “Be a servant. That’s the key. Think of serving.”

Okay. Let’s look at John. Go over to John Chapter fourteen. I’m still just building this first point. And you’ve already lost your place. So if you wanted to write it down, people naturally focus on the physical. People naturally focus on the physical. I don’t say wrongly. I say naturally because that’s exactly what you and I, all of us do. It’s just how it works. When you walk into the room, any room, Sabbath services, your office, grocery store, I don’t care what it is, you don’t walk into the room and think, “I wonder where all the angels are?” or, “I wonder if God is in the room.” That may cross your mind at times.

But you’re more thinking about, “I’ve got to go through these doors, and I hope they open in time, and that I’m going into the supermarket.” You’re thinking about the physical, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We live in the physical world, but we have to transcend the physical in our focus and in our attitude. John Chapter twelve. Okay. Did I say two or twelve?

Go to John Chapter twelve, and Verse forty-two. John twelve, forty-two. “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on Him;” Wow, is that an amazing statement? “Among the chief rulers.” So there were very high ups in the time that believed on Christ and thought, “Oh, this must be Him,” but, “But because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest they would be put out of the synagogues.” Lest, you could say, people would have judged them.

Verse forty-three, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” Their focus, even though it says “they believed,” was such that they were focused on human beings, which can happen to you and I. We can believe, we can be Christians, we can live this way of life, but we can also be overly concerned what other people think: Other Christians, co-workers, friends, family, spouses. Everyone will have opinions, brethren, about how you and I live our lives. It’s a little easier with God’s people, but sometimes we can compare ourselves among ourselves.

But those that are without are going to have opinions and they’re going to be, depending how close they are to us, be the hardest ones for us to say, “No, I’m not looking at the person in front of me. That’s not my audience. I see the being behind all of this. He’s my audience.” These men couldn’t obey. They couldn’t obey because they wanted to do the safe thing. They wanted to do the easy thing. They wanted to be accepted because “What if they’re wrong and what if this wasn’t the Christ? Well, it looks like it. We believe it. But what if it’s wrong? We won’t get the roles or the position or the placement that we’ve striven to get.” And we can flag that in ourselves.

Sometimes human nature is human nature. You and I, until we get rid of these physical bodies, they go away, we will always create a juggling or a balancing act when it comes to human attention versus attention from God. You know why? Because inherently the balance is not wrong. If you walk into a room and you do whatever you choose to do and someone says, “You really shouldn’t be doing that,” and you look at them and say, “You are not my audience. God is my audience,” that person will look at you and think, “I don’t know if I want to be in your audience.” No. It’s the balance.

You work with the people around you. You interface, you interact, fellowship, kindness. All the things that you do and I do as a Christian require us to do with other people. If we could be perfect to be God-like and never enter a room, then the Church of God would be full of a bunch of monks. We would be in quiet, solitude, praying quietly, never talking, but that’s not how Christianity works.

It requires you and I to interact with other human beings, which means we have to balance the physical audience in front of us with the spiritual audience that judges us and therefore they have to come together and it’s about finding the correct balance because Christianity is about moderation. It’s said over in the Bible over and over again that we shouldn’t lust, but when we go to the feast, we’re allowed to do whatever our heart so lusts after.

The emotion of lust is not wrong. The direction of it is what can be wrong. The need to serve and be seen is not wrong. To do those things are not wrong. It’s when the focus stops being on “I’m pleasing God” and changes to “I’m looking to please men.” Because once we choose the wrong audience, our conduct starts to change. We have to be able to understand that visible righteousness, because that’s what it can be. Can turn into wrong motives. Again, attitude is everything.

Point number two, actual righteousness requires action and attitude. It’s both. You can’t have a great attitude and do nothing because you’re not growing. Again, we’d be monks. We could sit in a room and “huum-dau-dau-dau” [monk humming sound] or whatever they do, right? I’ve never been a monk, so I’m not sure what they do, besides they make good beer. That’s pretty much my monk depth. But they’re not doing anything, but you and I have to.

We don’t have a choice. We have to get in front of people. We have to take the time to drive to services. We have to be able to go out there and interact in the world around us. We have to force ourselves. That’s one of the reasons why you don’t retire, because if you retire, you can pull back from society, pull back from being a light. God says, “No. I want to get you out there. I want the world. I want people around you to see Christianity being lived.” It requires good attitude and action.

You can’t have just one. Obviously, you can’t have no action. I’ve just explained that. But what if you have action, but the wrong attitude? Both. Both have to be balanced because you could have a wrong motive and serve your heart out. And your mind can lie about it, too. “Our heart is deceitful of all things,” Jeremiah seventeen, nine. “Desperately wicked: who can know it?” The verse goes on to say, “God searches the heart.”

I’ve known people. I’ve had the privilege of being at headquarters for quite a long time and being able to see people come and go, both here and around the world. Some many, many, many don’t go. They stay. They endure. But I’ve seen people that would surprise you that leave. They looked like servants. They worked long hours.

I remember when I first started coming down to Ohio, we’d work late into the night doing renovations, working really hard. We didn’t care about our own time. It was all about what the work could do and what we could do for the work. Serve and sacrifice. Put our heart, our money, everything into it. And some of those people looked on the outside like they were doing the righteous thing. And realistically, they were.

They were doing the right thing. They were serving. They were doing everything that on the outside looked righteous, but they didn’t endure because what was inside was the wrong attitude. They were focused on the praise of a person or persons and not the praise of God. Because you know what happens with persons, it doesn’t matter who it is, it’s not just Mr. Pack. It could be your minister. It could be anyone. Those human beings, wait for it, brethren, are human beings. They’re going to make wrong decisions. They’re going to make mistakes. They may try their hearts out, but they’re going to make mistakes.

And when we put human beings on pedestals and treat them like they’re God, when they don’t look like they should be on those pedestals, what had just happened? But they were perfect. The first time you came to Sabbath services, especially if you met in a group, you were nervous. Don’t lie. And if you’re newer, this is going to be fresh in your mind because I thought the same thing, even though I had parents in the Church.

But I thought I was going to walk into a hall of spirit beings, that everyone would be righteous, their words would be pure, every conversation would be spiritual. And then I learned quickly, and I was warned by the minister, but it didn’t help because I was still young and naive, but they weren’t. They were growing and changing and developing and overcoming and enduring and going through trials and tribulations and all of the aspects that you’ve done, you’ve been in God’s way any length of time. Takes both.

Let’s go to Luke eighteen. Luke Chapter eighteen. Luke eighteen, and we’ll start in Verse nine. “And He spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous,” so trusted in their own selves, “and despised others. Two men went up to the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a publican,” a tax collector, which was very looked down on that day and that time.

Verse eleven, “The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank you.’” Oh, can you imagine? When you read this, it makes you want to throw up in your mouth a little bit, because you have known someone who’s like this, and maybe you were or I was at a time, but, oh, you’ve definitely known someone and you just bite your lip or you swallow the blood or however you handle that in these sort of situations. But I digress. “God, I thank you that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this publican.” Publican’s probably sitting over there going,

“Wow.” “I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I possess.” He’s probably talking like that, wasn’t he? Loud. Everyone would hear it. “And the publican,” Verse thirteen, “standing afar off, would not so much as lift up his eyes toward heaven, but smote on his breast saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalts himself shall be abased and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.”

Christ directed this parable to those who trust that they’re righteous. Brethren, you can know you’re righteous by what you do and your attitude and how you focus on helping. And again, I’m not narrowing this just to Sabbath service, because that’s one part of your week, two hours, four or five hours a week that you’re dealing with other of God’s people. No. You’re a Christian twenty-four/seven. So this is work and school and interactions in your neighborhood when you’re mowing the lawn, everything.

But those who trust in themselves that they are righteous, that’s a different matter altogether. That means we’re not looking to God’s word to determine if we’re righteous or in effect or therefore the conclusion of looking to God, our true audience of our behavior. We’re trusting in ourselves. The publican didn’t need the attention. He needed the forgiveness. He needed the connection to the creator.

It’s not saying that people should stop fasting or praying or tithing or obeying or serving. Of course not. But our focus isn’t those in the chairs around us or isn’t the person standing at the pulpit or on the video. No, our focus is God, on how He sees our conduct, how He sees our action, how He looks at us and looks into our heart and understands what’s inside, what’s driving us to live the way that we live our lives.

Let’s go back to Zachariah Chapter five. Zachariah. I don’t know what it is. I always go to Jeremiah when I’m trying to go to Zachariah. They rhyme, but that’s about the only reason. Zachariah Chapter seven, excuse me, and Verse five. Chapter seven, Verse five. Verse five, “Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priest, saying, ‘When you have fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did you at all fast unto me, even to me?’” When you fasted, was it about fasting towards God? You’ve heard it said.

If you do a fast and you don’t spend the time to, and you’ve heard in a message recently, if you don’t spend the time to spend more time in prayer and study and be able to use that fast, you just did a hunger strike. You may have lost a couple of pounds, great, but you didn’t draw closer to God. Verse six, “And when you did eat, and you did drink, and you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Should you not hear the words which the Lord has cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities there around her, when men inhabited in the south and in the plain?

And the word of the Lord came unto Zachariah, saying, ‘Thus speaks the Lord of hosts,’ saying, ‘Execute true judgment, show mercy and compassion every man to His brother.” Verse ten, “And oppose not the widow nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.” That’s a hard one, brethren, because what would evil be?

It’s not simply, “You know what? So-and-so was promoted, so-and-so was ordained, so-and-so was this, that, or the other. You know what? I think I want to murder them.” That’s not the conclusion you’re jumping to. I hope it’s not the conclusion you’re jumping to. No. I joke, but the Bible says that forms in our hearts first. We hate someone, we’ve murdered them in our heart.

When we’re jealous of what they got, when we’re resentful of what they have or what they’ve been given, even if they didn’t deserve it, that’s when it’s the hardest. If you see someone around you get promoted and you do the right thing every day at work and go through the motions and strive and serve and give your company what it is to make it a better company, but you see this person over here lying and cheating and stealing and back rubbing and doing all the things to climb the corporate ladder and they get promoted, you can’t hate them. That’s what God says.

You can’t have evil against your brother. You can’t put anger, like, “How dare they?” Can you get mad in the moment? Of course you can because you know what? We’re human beings, but ultimately we have to make peace with the fact that God rewards us, and if He so chooses not to, He so chooses not to.

Second Corinthians Chapter ten. Second Corinthians Chapter ten. It’s not just your co-workers and your friends. It happens in the Church too. Both when someone has something or been promoted or something that was given to them, a duty or role, they were head of this department or that of the feast, a variety of things. That’s one thing. But there’s also this. Second Corinthians Chapter ten, starting in Verse twelve.

Verse twelve reads, “For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that come in themselves: but they measure themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves,” let’s say this is in the Church, “they’re not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us.”

If you have authority in God’s Church, even if that means you’re in charge of bringing something to the potluck, that’s an authority given to you, a responsibility, or setting up chairs, or giving the prayer or the sermonette, or the announcements, or whatever that authority starts and stops, wherever that is, any bit of authority, the Bible clearly says God has distributed to us a measure to reach even unto you. That authority wasn’t given you by the minister. God says He inspired that minister to give you that authority, so He was just the conduit to give you something that God wanted you to have, that measure.

Brethren, when you’re asked to do something, this is the big test and it’s hard. I don’t downplay this at all. When you’re asked to help set up or do a job or a task, especially in the Church, are you hoping that you please your minister? You are. At some level, you are. But did you know-- I heard this from Mr. Pack years ago, and because he saw it, he saw it over time. This is a man with so much more experience than any of us can conceive.

Then you hear stories and you hear bits of them. I’ve got to hear many stories as many of the Minute headquarters can hear of his experience. You ask him a specific question and then the knowledge fountain goes and you learn things that you didn’t know, even after knowing him for decades. But he told me years ago in a group of men, many of us weren’t even ordained at the time, he said, “If you want to please me, please God because I’m seeking to please God. So, if you please God, you will please me. Maybe not in the moment, because there could be a situation where that doesn’t mesh, but ultimately it will always be that case.”

So if you want to please your minister, because he’s seeking to please God, please God. Do the chairs with the zeal and that focus and the attitude. You say, “You know what? This is God’s Sabbath service. He’s going to look down. He’s going to have a presence here. I want it to look right because He’s measured me some authority.” I’ve signed up for the potluck. That’s some level of authority given to you, that God has measured to you. So when you bring that dish and you put your heart into it, whatever it is, and I’m just giving simple examples, and it can go up as far as what I’m doing today, standing behind the pulpit, because it’s a serious thing to be able to teach, who are you seeking to please?

Let me use myself as an example right now. I am hoping to please God with the message that I’m delivering, worked on, thought through, put in place. I’m hoping to edify all of you, help you grow and develop and see the Bible in different ways, but ultimately I fail if I’m thinking about my audience being pleased. That’s the same with you. But you know it’s not easy because right now you are standing or sitting in front of me.

So I am thinking about my audience and reactions and people and how people are doing and the various things. So it never leaves the mind and you won’t do that. It won’t leave your mind either. If you see the minister looking at you, setting up the chairs, it will be in your mind. But try to imagine, we can’t visualize God or create an image of Him, but in the broader sense, imagine the authority, the spiritual depth of the authority behind the man. That’s who our focus is.

Continuing in Verse fourteen. We’re still in Second Corinthians. You should still have it open. “For we stretch out ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reach not unto you; for we come as far as to you also in preaching in the gospel of Christ: Not boasting of things without our measure,” beyond what we’ve been given, “that is, of other men’s labors,” we stay in our lane, if you will. We focus on the things that we’ve been given, willing to help and support and work together.

God’s Church does not have silos, if you will. Everyone works together. I wish brethren could experience headquarters for some period of time, of seeing the different individual skill sets, departments, directors, work together to be able to do and accomplish what should not be possible for it. I put myself in this group, a group of ragtag fellas and ladies who really aren’t trained to do the things that we are doing, but because we choose to work together, because we help each other and support each other, we’re able to do amazing things, multitude of counsel, et cetera.

But you have your task. “You don’t get into other men’s labors; but having hope, when your faith is increased that we shall be enlarged by according to our rule abundantly. To preach the gospel in the region beyond you, not to boast in other man’s line of things made ready to hand. But He that glories, let him glory in God. For not he that commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commends.”

Your minister could love you, think very highly of you and not know in the background you are committing adultery because you’re more focused or whoever it is on pleasing the man when he only may see some of you. Because human beings can only see some of us. Your minister, your employer, your manager, your boss doesn’t see all of you. He only sees whatever is applicable in that circumstance. Your minister, even less. It’s a few hours every single week and then you go and live your week. It’s a tiny percentage of your life. But, as we come into point three and simply phrase, point three is God sees the whole man. Point number three, God sees the whole man.

You can turn to Second Samuel sixteen. You’ll know this account. I almost don’t even need to go through it because you’re going to know, but I’m going to go through it anyway because it’s so applicable talking about choosing a king. God sees so much deeper than the physical appearance, the outward presentation, how we perform, how we dress, how hard we’re working. Those are all good things.

But, again, I tend to be a fan of hyperbolic examples, someone can look really good on the surface and be a serial killer in private. Spiritually speaking, physically speaking, I suppose too, but spiritually speaking, doing things that will destroy their spiritual lives privately, but look great on the surface, but God sees that.

Second Samuel sixteen. You’re probably there. A page for me. Starting in Verse six. “And it came to pass,” we’re going through here, the various fellows, “Oh, is he going to be king? Is he going to be king?” Verse six, “And it came to pass, when they were come, he looked on Eliab, and said, ‘Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.’” Verse seven, “But the Lord said unto Samuel, ‘Look not on his countenance, or on the height of His stature; because I have refused him:’ for the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Brethren, that’s where our attitude comes from. Our attitude doesn’t go south, heart, mind, you can tie them the same. It doesn’t go south because your shoulder is sore. Your attitude isn’t poor because something happens externally. No, poor attitudes build inside of us. It could be a minor offense, or, “They shouldn’t have gotten that,” or, “I should have received this.” They start small, but they can build. And our hearts, our tongues, our minds can strengthen us, focus us on our Creator, again, the audience that matters, or it could deceive us into seeing something that’s not really there or not understand that God sees so much deeper.

Verse eight, “Then esse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, ‘Neither has the Lord chosen this.’ And Shammah passed by and he said, ‘Neither this one either.’” Imagine Samuel, “But I’m going down in ranks here. Lord, what are you looking for?” “And again, Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.”

Verse eleven, “And Samuel said unto Jesse, ‘Are here all your children?’ He said, ‘There remains the youngest, and, behold, he keeps the sheep.’” Didn’t even bring him. Not someone who, “You know what? He’s good with the sheep, but he’s not the tallest or the prettiest or the most handsome and the stature, and not all of the elements a human being would think to look for.” “And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down until he comes here.” “I had a job to do and I’m going to make sure I get it done before we leave.”

“And he sent, and brought him. He was ruddy, and with all of beautiful countenance.” So he didn’t seem like he was-- David is described here. This is a funny way to say it, but he didn’t have this strong, massive size and whatnot that the others had. He was ruddy and of beautiful countenance. He was a bit pretty, you could say, attractive and goodly to look at, young.

Not the person you expected to think, “You know what? That’s going to be the king.” He didn’t have this build and the stature. “And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him: for this is he.’ And Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of the brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose up, and went to Ramah.”

God looked at something beyond the physical appearance. Didn’t say David was unattractive, but he didn’t have the stature or the size or whatever the kingly attributes that a prophet of God assumed one would need. It was something very different because, as it says, the Lord sees not as man sees. His thoughts are not our thoughts.

Continuing on here, go to Hebrews Chapter four. Hebrews four, and verse twelve. Hebrews four, twelve. Excuse me. I’ll have a drink. Verse twelve, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of asunder of soul and spirit,” life and spirit, so physical and spirit, “and the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts,” your mind, “and intents of the heart.” Intents of the heart is the best way to describe one’s attitude. What is your attitude? What’s the intent? What does my heart want to do?

“Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked,” before God, you could say, cut off in the middle of that verse, “and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” We’re naked to God. There is a planet of naked people running around in the terms of God’s mind, as uncomfortable as that sounds. That’s how God sees us.

Think back to a time when you can see someone naked and it wasn’t a problem, when they were babies. I remember when my son was little and still, I guess to this day, there is still a purity at those younger ages where the concept of being naked doesn’t even cross the mind. And it’s one of those things that you think, “Okay, it’s really, really cute, but at some point we’re going to have to...” No. But there’s a purity there. Doesn’t cross the mind.

That’s how God sees us, because He sees us as little children running around naked, trying to do our things, trying to accomplish and grow and develop. And He looks at us like that because He can see right into our hearts and see the intents of our hearts. That’s what separates you and I from pleasing people and pleasing God: the intent of our heart, the being, the audience, again, that we’re striving to seek.

We look beyond where we are because we’re not looking at the physical. You and I are travelers on this planet. We see the city of far off. That’s the being who lives in that city that we are trying to please. We want Him to judge us for our conduct. Brethren, human beings will make mistakes in judgment of our conduct. You will be wronged by someone around you. It could be someone who has God’s spirit in the Church or someone who doesn’t.

It doesn’t matter because even when someone tries to offend you, the Bible tells us we’re not easily offended if we’re Christian and we’re close to God because we see that person, that person who cuts you off in traffic, the one who took the promotion, the one who’s rude to you in the grocery store. You look at them and you say, “This is a future God being that right now doesn’t understand how to live their lives.” And you don’t say it in a condescending manner. You say it in a manner that you were there too. I was there.

We were all seeking to please men, every single one of us. We grew up that way. It wasn’t until God called us that we were able to see a different father because if you had fathers, you all did, or mothers in your lives, depending on whatever your circumstances were, as a child, you wanted to please them. Seeing the disappointment in a child when they think they haven’t pleased you, their whole world is about pleasing you. As they get older, it diminishes.

Then you have teenagers, and pleasing you goes really low on the spectrum of importance. And then they get back into their twenties and pleasing you suddenly becomes something they care about again. But then conversion happens and then they realize by pleasing their parents, it was just a type of pleasing the true Father that’s in heaven that can judge them, who can give them the gifts, who can give them eternal life. God sees it all. He sees the whole man.

And because of that, point number four, private conduct proves real character. Number four, private conduct proves real character. You can go to John thirty-nine. So if God sees everything and we can put on a show, just like the Pharisees did, to look really good around people, to put on that act at services, at work, at school, among friends, we can put that on, but God sees everything. The big test, even if we’re putting it on in public, because we won’t put it on if we do this, is what do we do in private?

Genesis thirty-nine. What happens when it’s only God that sees? Because you know what? It’s easy to forget that God can see us. When you’re alone, it’s easy to not think about the being whom you are trying to have audience with, who you are trying to please, who all of us are trying to be the ones that stand in front and try to remember, “I’m standing in front of the judgment seat of Christ or I’m standing before God’s throne. This is the conduct that I’m expected to be able to do and grow and change, all of those.”

Genesis thirty-nine, Verse seven, “And it came to pass after these things,” Verse seven of Genesis thirty-nine, “that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph,” you know the story, “and she said, ‘Lie with me.’ But he refused and said unto his master’s wife, ‘Behold, my master, what’s not that is with me in the house,” so they’re alone, “and he committed all that he has to my hand;” He said, “No, this is not what I should be doing.”

“There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you’re his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” So much here in Joseph’s focus. So this woman of power wanted to seduce him. He understood the master’s role. Master wasn’t there. Could he have gotten away with it? Probably. But He looked at the situation and said it’s a great wickedness, which, okay, that’s an easy element, adultery.

He would have known, taught from a child, but he didn’t say, “Why would I do this against my master because he trusted me. He’s given me all that I have. He’s put me over this house. I’m number one in this house and ultimately the role that he took.” He said, “I can’t do this sin against God.” He saw who he would be sinning against, what it would mean, who the audience ultimately was behind it. And it wasn’t easy.

Verse ten, “And it came to pass, as she spoke to Joseph day by day.” So this wasn’t one conversation or two conversations. And Joseph had to run out of, you see, without his loincloth on, if you will. Now this was day after day after day, trying to wear him down. “That he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or be with her. And it came to pass about this time, Joseph went to the house to do his business; and there was none of the men in the house wherein.” Ah, she had her opportunity. “And she caught him by his garment saying, “Lie with me, and left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.” He ran.

This wasn’t a test that happened in public in front of the guards, in front of the master, in front of the town or the community or the city. This was a private test with Joseph. Sure she was there and she was the test, but if he would have done the act with her, she wasn’t going to tell her husband. No. It was a private thing. He chose because he didn’t see her. He didn’t see the master. He didn’t see the men of the house. He saw the person behind it. He saw that he would be sinning against God. And the test was given to him by his creator to do the right thing when it was in the moments when no one would see.

Secrecy does not give us safety, brethren. When we’re alone in our house and choose to watch the wrong shows or pull up the wrong things on the internet or have the wrong conversations, every circumstance is different, every age group is different, but doing the right thing, it’s never different because we see, God is looking at us naked no matter what we’re wearing, no matter if we’re in the shower or sleeping or on the sofa, God sees us naked. He sees right through any pretense, any circumstance, any put on, anytime you and I think we figured it out.

We can outsmart those around us because if you’re smart, you can outsmart those around you, especially human beings, especially your minister. Because you know what he will do? He will give you the benefit of the doubt because our job as ministry is not to manage your life. It’s to help you get to the kingdom of God and then bring you back and guide you back when we see you going on a path that would have you leave the path toward the kingdom of God, to leave the Church.

But otherwise, that’s not our job to manage your lives. That’s your job. That’s how you grow in character. But Joseph fled. He got out. He ran. Sometimes you’ll be put in situations where to maintain the righteous decision, you have to run. It could be spiritual, but it could be actual. You just say, “I got to get out of here. I can’t be here. I will make the wrong decision. This is wrong.”

Let’s go to Job thirty-one. Stay in the Old Testament here. Job thirty-one. Job Chapter thirty-one. We’re near the end there. Let’s start in verse one. “I made a covenant with my eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? Job saying, “For what portion of God is there from above? What inheritance of the almighty on high? Is not destruction to the wicked and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Does not He see my ways, and count all my steps?”

Job was saying, “I even have to watch my thoughts because I know that I’ve made a covenant. Not just with the blood of Christ, not with commitment. I made a covenant what I do with my eyes, where they go, what they see, what they linger on.” Because he understood if I don’t control my eyes, I may start to think about that maid and lust begins in the heart. And it’s not just this particular circumstance. Your eyes can go to a lot of different places, especially this day and age.

Job understood, “You know what? I have to control the things that no one even knows about, my thoughts.” That’s what God expects, brethren. He expects you and I to control our thoughts, and no one knows your thoughts. You could have hate inside of you and smile all day long, and people would have absolutely no idea. Again, people can put on a show, but God sees right through that. He knows your thoughts.

I love the examples throughout the New Testament of where Christ read people’s minds and He was in the flesh. So if He could do it in the flesh, how much more can He and the Father do it as spirit? Our brains are amazing things, but they created that amazing thing. They know how it works. They can see how it functions. And the things we put in our mind, we allow into our mind, is the start of when we start making our mistakes. So we have to control our thoughts. Those are the most private of private things. Again, private conduct proves whether God is truly the audience because we’re thinking about what we should do that’s right.

Point number five. Public service must be without self-display, or you could say it in a more positive way; public service must be done with humility. Public service must be without self-display or you could say done with humility. Either way. We don’t vaunt ourselves because we do it humbly, because being visible isn’t wrong. If being visible was wrong, again, you and I would be doing chants in a concrete building with some sort of robe on.

To do things in fellowship and serve, that’s very visible. Serving others, not just at services. Again, sometimes it’s easy to think, “Oh, but I attend alone. How do I serve?” No. You have a job. You have work. You have your neighbors. I don’t care where you are and what stage of your life you’re in. You are interacting with other human beings on a day-to-day basis. Maybe it’s week-to-week, depending on your health, but you are interacting with other human beings. So you can do public displays of service. You can serve because really, most service is public, isn’t it, unless you do it in secret. But it has to be carried with a private, inside, thoughtful, unseen humility.

Philippians Chapter two. Philippians Chapter two. Start at the beginning of the book, verse one. Philippians two, “If there be any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, or any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, fulfill you my joy, that you be like-minded, having the same love, of one accord, of one mind,” how all of us should be. “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind esteem others better than ourselves.” Not through vainglory, not to focus on ourselves, looking at others as higher than ourselves. “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. But he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in a fashion as a man, physical, human, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, of the stake.”

It’s the converse, or the comparison, or the separation of two items you’re looking at. There’s doing things in vain, glory, strife, wanting to get the attention for our tasks. Look how great I did. And again, if you receive praise, we started the message off with it, that’s not wrong. But that’s not your focus. Our focus is to be more like Christ, who humbled himself unto death. He gave the ultimate service, sacrifice of his life, so you and I could be sitting in a room where we’re sitting today, to be able to have access to the Father, to have his Holy Spirit, and to be able to become God.

That’s the standard. That’s what we’re striving to do. Not to be the man. Because none of us are important. Human beings are like grass. We come and go. God wants to see everyone make it, but if we don’t live up to the standard that he puts on us, especially his firstfruits, then we won’t. We won’t be there and be ready. Colossians chapter three. Colossians three, just over a few pages, verse twenty-two. Colossians three twenty-two. “Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, fearing God.”

Because, brethren, the easiest thing to do is to please men. Men pleasers we’re all. We all have that element in us. We all want to please the person that assigned us a task, but that shouldn’t be our focus. We’re not doing it as show, like, look how good I did. No, it’s, we see God behind the task, spiritual, physical, whatever that task is, whatever the assignment is. We have to obey our masters over us. That can be your boss. That can be your minister. Those can be your parents. It doesn’t matter who it is, the police officer, the judge, the mayor, whatever level of authority over you, we obey. We obey those over us.

And we don’t do it as eye service, not just to please them, because we see God behind them. We see all of the work that God puts into things behind them. So verse twenty-three, “And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as unto the Lord, not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.” Even when we’re talking about doing things that could be done as pleasing men, which means you’re doing them in front of men and women, but do it unto them as you’re doing as if you’re doing it to the Lord.

Verse twenty-five, “But he that does wrong shall receive for the wrong, which he has done: and There is no respect of persons.” God doesn’t care if you’re widow Jones in Paducah, or you hold an office in God’s Church. Each have different responsibilities, different judgments, different expectations, of course. But God says, I’m not a respecter of persons. I give them a little measure of authority where I choose to give it. And that’s my choice to do it as I see fit to do because we serve God. That’s our focus. Number six, number six, as we continue here, “God’s recognition is the only reward that matters.” God’s recognition is the only reward that matters.

As we come to a close here, we’re starting to wrap up at least, if God is the only audience that matters, then his recognition is the only reward we should be focused on. But again, if you do that, you will ultimately please those around you, especially those that are converted. But even who are not, some people may be bitter about the way you live your life. You go to Church on Sabbath or you go to services on every Sabbath, but over time, your dedication, you living the way that you live, doing the right thing, it’s another thing that’s in my bones and it’s something that we teach and tell people to do the right thing when it’s the hard thing.

I’m going to give a sermon about this at some point in time. Even when you’re in your work and you’re doing your job, and each day, it’s the hard thing because the people around us, they’re trash-talking your boss, let’s say that. You don’t do it because you know, no, I have respect for those over me. You may not like your boss, but the angels wouldn’t speak ill of Satan. How much more so we as human beings shouldn’t speak ill of other human beings, especially if they’re over us. That’s hard. That’s a hard thing to do because people look at you and be like, “Why are you being such a party pooper? Stop being a goody two-shoes.”

But over time, when you don’t waver, they stop pushing. They stop trying to do the thing that they want you to be part of and you will get respect. And, ultimately, you may get it from your boss because the example, you maybe get promoted because it’s not your boss or the people around you giving you that promotion. It’s God saying, “You passed the test. You saw me behind what was happening. You look to please me, so I will reward you.” God gives the reward. He’s the audience that matters because he’s the one that issues the reward. God’s recognition needs to be enough because human recognition changes.

People play favorites, people switch around, circumstances change, jobs change. People can change. So, ultimately, it requires God’s recognition because he’s the being that says he changes not. He stays the same. He’s consistent forever. Hebrews chapter six, verse nine. Hebrews chapter six and verse nine. Hebrews six. I’ll take a drink so you can turn there. Verse nine, “But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, that things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward his name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.”

You serve, you work, you help each other, and still do it. You never get a quit. There’s no such thing as I’ve served enough. I’ve heard people say that before. I’ve been in God’s way for da-da-da-da-da years. I’ve done the serving I need to do. No. Because the greatest among us are servants. When we are God, we will be serving. You continue to serve. You minister unto the saints and you do minister. And if we desire that every one of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, never stopping, always doing, always seeing God behind it and knowing he will reward you and me.

Verse twelve, “That you be not slothful, but followers of them through faith and patience inherit the promise.” The promise ultimately is salvation, is eternal life. The ultimate reward. No human being can give you eternal life. No human being can take eternal life away. They can make it harder to get there or easier to walk away. But they are... It’s a funny term, it’s a video game term, so forgive me, but it’s a good way to look at those around you in a certain way when you’re trying to look towards the kingdom of God and look towards God. In computer games, it’s been a long time, but there’s still a bit of a nerd left in me.

There are players in the game that are called non-player characters, so NPCs. They’re the ones that just kind of walk around and they’re doing whatever they’re programmed to do. And your job is to do whatever the game has you do. I’m speaking from a place of ignorance because it’s been a long time since I played video games. But the people around you are non-player characters. They are going about the business as Satan programmed them to do. They live their lives, they go through things. Their lives, they’re not brainless, of course. We’re human beings. We’re not a game. This is not a simulation.

So if you look at them in that way or think of them, it’s like, no, you’re someone who could be a God being. Right now, you don’t understand. You can’t give me a reward. You are not the one who ultimately can give me salvation. My job is to work my way through life, helping the people I can help, growing in character, changing, developing, building that true spiritual character, even in the very quiet times when I’m alone and it’s just my thoughts. No, we have to be able to do that. We can’t be slothful. We have to look toward the one that gives us the reward. Let’s go to Second Corinthians chapter five. Second Corinthians chapter five verse nine.

It’s verse nine of Second Corinthians five. “Wherefore we labor that whether present or absent,” so whether authority is there or not, “we may be accepted of him.” Verse ten, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that which he has done, whether it be good or bad.” And let me extend that. Whether it be known or unknown, whether it be public or whether it be secret, whether it be stuff, it would be items that we say and do, or just even the thoughts of our mind. Brethren, we only have a single audience we should be caring about. You know that academically. So do I.

Living it is so much harder to do. We can’t be focused on pleasing others. We can’t think we can get away with things in secret because those folks, those people that we’re trying to please in public aren’t around. Human applause doesn’t turn the wrong motive into righteousness. Human neglect, being ignored by people, doesn’t change righteous obedience into something less. You and I are not merely living before a congregation or a family or an employer or a minister or peers. We are living because we know at some point in time, we will stand before Jesus Christ in front of that judgment seat and be judged.

The Father will be there too. We know that. It takes two for a judgment. We will stand there and be judged. All of our actions, public and private, focus on motive, our attitudes, the intents of our heart, and you can be confident to stand there if you’re suppressing those items and growing and changing and trying to do the right thing, no matter how hard it is. Christ is going to come. The Father is going to come at a time very, very soon. We’re going to be able to be part of the group that goes first if we’re ready, if we see God as the one who we’re striving to be like and who we are trying to please.

Men can only praise. God can reward. He’s the only audience that matters. So we have to live every single day of our lives in front of an audience that shifts around, that we balance, we have to juggle. People around us, they’re going to see portions of your lives. We have to be an example when we’re in front of them. Some see the public. They see the visible actions, the outward restraint. Some see even the finished work in certain circumstances. They may praise at what looks good. It’s good. Take the praise. Don’t feel bad about praise. As it says, let another lips praise you. It says don’t stop their lips.

But they can misunderstand. They can forget what was done, miss what was costly to you, or just simply blow off hard work because they don’t care. But God does not look at you that way. He doesn’t. He sees the whole person. He sees the motive behind the service, the heart behind the words, the private choices behind the public example, the quiet obedience when no one else does, when no one else hears your thoughts. So the goal really for you and I isn’t to avoid ever being seen. Our goal is to serve even when we’re not seen, and serve but not perform.

You can receive appreciation humbly, but don’t require it. Accept responsibilities, but don’t turn it into a status. Do what is right when it’s hard because you know you’re doing it in front of God. That’s how a Christian becomes free from performing for men. I said at the end of this, there is a freedom with living the way of life God expects us and how he expects us to do it. When we become free from performing for men, you and I live and learn, and learn to be and focused on the only audience that matters, God our Father who watches us each and every day.