634 Whose Approval? - John 12:43

Whose approval do you seek? This is particularly challenging for me today. Let's talk about it. 

Hi, I'm Mike Henry Sr. With Follower of One. Thanks for joining me again today for the Follower of One Podcast. 

Today, I want to read John 12:42-43. "Nevertheless, many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God."

Our key verse is verse 43. Do we love the approval of men rather than the approval of God? I oftentimes change my behavior because of what I think some other person might want. 

And I can't do a comparison of all the choices that I make every day. It's too overwhelming for me. My goal is to live for the approval of God; to do what He wants. There's a passage in the Parable of the Talents where the Master says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." My goal is to hear Jesus one day say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

And maybe that's your goal, too. Often, people who take their faith seriously come to a little bit of a conclusion like that. We want God to say "You did a good job," when we get to heaven.  

How do we do that?  I think a key is right here in this verse, we don't love the approval of men, but we pursue the approval of God.

What does that require? Often for me, it requires thinking seriously about my motives when I take an action. Or even before that, choosing my actions based on what I believe God would want me to do.  That's the way I need to show up at work every day. "Okay. God, what would you have me do today?" 

I don't know if I've said it recently on the podcast, but you don't work for your boss. And if you're the boss, you're not the boss. We have another boss. We were created for a purpose.  I've changed jobs several times in my career, but I've often said that I was never unemployed because God had a purpose for me every day. He has a purpose for us. And when we pursue the approval of God, He shows it to us.

Matthew 7:7 says, "Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you." We have to continue to persist. This is a constant, regular, recurring, going back to God for His approval to find out what He would have us do, and then to go do it. 

And it's also a challenge for me because I feel like I never measure up, which maybe we'll talk about that in the next episode. But today let's focus on the approval of God, rather than the approval of men. Let's follow God and do what he says. And he will call us forward.

These Pharisees believed in Jesus, but they didn't do anything about it, because they were worried about getting put out of the synagogue. Is God challenging you to live differently because of your faith today? Ask Him to search you and to tell you where you can change your behavior so that you're following Him more and you're seeking His approval more.

Thanks so much for being a marketplace minister. And thanks for trying to live your faith on a daily basis. The world needs to see genuine Christians who mess up but do it humbly. We live our faith and we're trying to make sure there's only one copy of us: that there are no versions, there are no masks, and there's no hypocrisy. 

We actively pursue the approval of God. And we try and make a difference in the world through that. Let's try today to follow God and search for his approval by asking him to do something for the people around us.  Bless the people around you and serve them.

That's what Jesus did. Thanks for being a marketplace minister. And thanks for making a difference in your life. Everything we do because we follow Jesus matters. Thanks very much.