Flattery won’t get you anywhere with Jesus …

We love to be flattered!

Admit it, it feels kind of nice when someone says something good about us.

The problem with flattery is that there’s often a selfish intent behind the flowery words proffered. That idea is famously captured in a child’s story, as Pastor Isaac Butterworth illustrates:

• Do you remember the story of the emperor’s clothes? If I am recalling it right, someone persuaded the emperor to buy a suit of clothes that only people with the most exquisite taste in fashion could see. Of course, the emperor could not see the clothes, nor could anyone else – because the peddler was lying. There were no clothes to be seen. But no one would say so, not even the emperor! Why not? Because no one wanted to admit that they couldn’t see the clothes the emperor had spent a fortune buying.

Of course, the emperor wanted to show off his new clothes. So a parade was arranged. And there, on the street, with thousands of onlookers, the emperor rode along, completely exposed. But, knowing that they themselves would be exposed as having less than refined taste, the people wouldn’t speak up and tell the truth. The emperor was out in public in the raw! And no one would say it except a little boy in the crowd. And, of course, he blasted out the facts: The emperor has no clothes!

It’s a child’s tale, to be sure, but it exposes – if I may use that word – some very grown-up truths. Vanity leads to self-deception, and fear of those with power over us causes us to collude in their despotism by flattering them. In other words, we all have a tendency to live a lie.

Even the people in Jesus’ day knew what it was to live a lie, to offer up flattery when the heart behind the words didn’t match. There’s nowhere in the Bible this is displayed better than the story of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.

It’s another tale of a grand parade, and the Bible describes it like this:

“Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, ‘Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!’ The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. ‘Who is this?’ they asked. And the crowds replied, ‘It’s Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.,’” Matthew 21:8-11.

Talk about a grand entrance! The flattery from the people was thick, but Jesus knew their hearts. This would soon be the people shouting out for His crucifixion. Their flattery had no buttery effect on Jesus. Instead, here’s how Matthew records the response of Jesus:

“Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, ‘The Scriptures declare, “My Temple will be called a house of prayer,” but you have turned it into a den of thieves!’” Matthew 21:12-13.

Flattery didn’t get these people anywhere with Jesus.

Hollow words of praise are not the same thing as a surrendered heart to Jesus. He knows the difference and, really, so do we.

Which are you offering to the Savior of the world?

Scotty