How to Lose a Crowd in Seven Days
(Reading — John 12)
It was six days prior to Passover when John 12 begins. By the time of Passover, Jesus would be crucified and His followers would have abandon Him. Are you a great leader if all of your followers leave you? Are you a great leader if they all disagree with you? Are you a great leader if your followers don’t understand you?
For Jesus, the answer to all of those questions was yes. The path of obedience to the Father is one that will often lead in an opposite direction from what normal thinking would predict or assume. Even in our current culture within the American Church, there is a great deal of thinking that is more like the popular culture than the thinking Jesus clearly operated in. Jesus never had an inkling of a thought to gain a crowd, rather, His only pursuit was to be obedient to the Father — doing and saying only what the Father desired of Him. In many cases, the words and the actions were ones that turned people away rather than making them loyal followers.
What His words were actually accomplishing was to filter the crowd to find the people whose hearts were pure in following Jesus. They weren’t following Him for their own gain or to see miracles, rather, they were following because they knew He was the Messiah. Obedience was the motive. Here are some things Jesus did that helped to turn many away:
Point out the corruption in the heart of your followers
This is what Jesus did with Judas. He didn’t hesitate to show that Judas was thinking wrong and it was probably clear to Judas that Jesus knew the corruption was much deeper. Here’s how Jesus responded when Judas complained about Mary’s “waste” of the perfume: “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial. The poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
This whole sentence is one that had to be quite embarrassing for Judas. There were many people around to hear it, and Jesus starts by saying “Leave her alone.” Ouch! That in itself would be embarrassing. It has the feel of a parent getting on to their child. Yet Judas was a grown man and supposedly a little higher on the follower list because he was one of Jesus’ chosen disciples. Then Jesus goes on to point out, in front of everyone, that Judas had wrong priorities and clearly was not giving Jesus the importance that was deserved. I would have to also believe that the line, “the poor you always have with you” might also have come across as saying “You’re so concerned about the poor now, but have you been giving money to the poor up until this point? No, you’ve been stealing it.”
After this exchange with Judas, how could it have ended well. If Judas weren’t corrupt, maybe Jesus would have responded differently, but clearly this interaction sent Judas over the top because by the end of the week Judas had betrayed Jesus, turning him in to the Pharisees.
I’ve heard that Adrian Rogers once said that pastors should be more concerned about filling the pulpit than filling the pews. I wholeheartedly agree. Unfortunately there seems to be an emphasis in the church today to fill the seats rather than to preach the unashamed truth of God’s Word. Pastors and teachers should always be willing to speak God’s truth without hesitation, even if it will be revealing the corruption of the hearts of those who are listening. Better to speak the truth and have no followers than to hide the truth so you can have many followers. It is a sad fact that many chose to keep the hard teachings of Jesus under wraps because they’re afraid it will turn people away. Jesus was not hesitant to speak things that would turn people away.
For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
Lead a movement that is opposed to the ways of the popular culture
Speak or act in a way that is directly opposed to the popular culture’s way of doing things and you’re sure to bring opposition. Jesus’ thinking was a world away from that of the religious leaders of His day, and this had the Pharisees scared of Him. They were very bothered noticing that many people were following Him due to the miracles. That’s why they plotted to kill Lazarus because as long as Lazarus was alive it would lead many to be interested in Jesus. Eventually this is why they plotted to kill Jesus.
The teachings of the Bible are not in agreement with our culture. The truth of Gods Word reveals how corrupt our culture really is. This should not keep us from speaking God’s truth wholeheartedly, but understand that you won’t be popular if you are true to God’s Word. It will bring persecution. You can bet on it.
Refuse the route of popularity and fame
Here’s one that even went against his own disciples thinking. They tried to encourage Jesus to do things that would help Him be more known and have more followers, but He went out of His way to keep from drawing a crowd, although it was inevitable that He would draw a crowd.
It is wrong thinking to believe that doing things that would make us popular would help us in the long run to reach more people with the Gospel. This is the thinking that has been evident in many Christian music artists. They decide to tone down their lyrics in order to reach a wider audience and to be played on secular radio. Their thinking is that if more people are listening then they can reach more people. The truth is what the people need to hear, however, and if we’re avoiding speaking the full and honest truth, then they will never hear what they are desperate for and in the end it will have only helped the artist gain more money and fame and the fruit will be nil.
Lead the crowd instead of letting the crowd lead you. Sure, it’s hard to be popular if you’re not doing what the crowd wants. In fact, the only way to have fame and popularity is to do what the crowd wants you to do. That’s how many politicians work for success, they look to see what the poles are telling them and they adjust to win people over. And, unfortunately, there are far too many pastors who operate this way too.
Jesus didn’t take poles. All Jesus cared about was obeying the father.
Even some of the people who believed in Jesus had a hard time with not pursuing popularity. In verse 43 it says that some of the religious leaders believed in Jesus but were unwilling to do so publicly “for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.” And their reward will be of no respect due to their poor thinking.
For they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
Be willing to lay your life down and not fight
Here lies the greatest challenge to following Christ. When Jesus willingly gave His life over to be tortured and crucified, He made the following a much bigger deal. He called His followers to follow Him and to be willing to hate their life in this world, or be willing to lose their life for the sake of God’s glory. “If you follow me you must lay down your life.” These are hard words to follow. This is not the phrase you print on the billboard if you’re trying to get many people to come to your church. It’s not the words you put on t-shirts or car tags and sell. It’s not great marketing material.
If you want to lose a crowd really quick, ask them to die for you. Better yet, start walking down a road that will lead to your death and to theirs. This will scatter them quickly, and that is exactly what happened with Jesus.
Fortunately, by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, our thinking can be changed and we can have the faith to believe and to obey — following Jesus wherever He leads us. Knowing that right now it might not make sense to us, but believing that in the end we will understand and see God’s glory in it. Just as we see with the disciples. In verse 16 it says that “at first” they didn’t have a clue what He was talking about or what was really going on, but “after” they could look back and understand.
If you want to have crowds following you, then choosing Jesus will be a hindrance to that. Because Jesus was not about crowds. He was not about popularity or fame. His only concern was to walk in total obedience to the Father. The only way we will come out on the other side of this life in the best possible way is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, choosing to obey no matter what, caring only about the glory of God and allowing everything else to take a backseat.
And I know that His commandment is eternal life.
