# 104 Put A Lid On It

Joh 5:41 "I do not receive honor from men.

He certainly doesn’t need it does He?

As you read about Jesus in the Scriptures, have you ever struggled with those times when He healed others and then asked them to “keep a lid on it.”

There was the leper, the blind man, the parents of the girl that He raised from the dead, and many others! Perhaps our text today can help explain His call to secrecy. Jesus did not come to earth to build up a resume of press clippings. He does not need the praise, honor, and accolades of mere men. He came to please the Father.

The answer to the WWJD (What would Jesus do?) craze of several years ago is simply this: He would please the Father.

He wants us to seek the same: Joh 5:44 says, “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

That kind of honor is accorded to those who do the will of God! At His baptism, a voice came from heaven and said, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.” Why was God so well pleased? Because He knew even at the start of the earthly ministry of Jesus, His Son was going to fulfill the Father’s perfect will.

In Mt 12:15-19 Jesus was once again healing many and telling them to put a lid on it, “But when Jesus knew it, He withdrew from there. And great multitudes followed Him, and He healed them all. 16 Yet He warned them not to make Him known, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 18 "Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, And He will declare justice to the Gentiles. 19 He will not quarrel nor cry out, Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

In other words, Jesus wasn’t going to hold a press conference or use social media to broadcast His great deeds. That would only result in the fleeting praise and honor that comes from fickle man. Rather, He  was going to strive to do those things without a lot of fanfare, knowing His Father was observing and “the Father who sees in secret, will Himself reward openly.”(Mt 6:4) The Father’s praise is neither fleeting nor fickle.

This is a great spiritual truth that we would do well to emulate. We should ever fight the tendency to measure our accomplishments through the lips of men. Rather, we should seek the praise of the Father, and that praise will flow as we seek to do the Father’s will.

The skies may never open with a booming voice telling the world that God is pleased with you, but one day, as you persevere in seeking to do His will in Christ, you will hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.”