Who do you follow?
Who do you listen to?
Who is setting your course?
Who is telling you what you can or can’t accomplish?
As I was reading in the book of Acts this morning, it hit me how often the crowd didn’t have any clue what it was doing. Here’s what I mean…
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” (Acts 14:11) And yet a few verses later we read, “Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead.” (Acts 14:19)
These men are gods! No wait! Let’s stone Paul!
Then we have this…
Some of the Jews who listened were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with many God-fearing Greek men and quite a few prominent women. But some of the Jews were jealous, so they gathered some troublemakers from the marketplace to form a mob and start a riot. They attacked the home of Jason, searching for Paul and Silas so they could drag them out to the crowd. (Acts 17:4-5)
Doesn’t take much to start a riot. Just gather a few troublemakers and form a mob.
Acts 19:23-34 is one of my favorites…
About that time, serious trouble developed in Ephesus concerning the Way. It began with Demetrius, a silversmith who had a large business manufacturing silver shrines of the Greek goddess Artemis. He kept many craftsmen busy. He called them together, along with others employed in similar trades, and addressed them as follows:
“Gentlemen, you know that our wealth comes from this business. But as you have seen and heard, this man Paul has persuaded many people that handmade gods aren’t really gods at all. And he’s done this not only here in Ephesus but throughout the entire province! Of course, I’m not just talking about the loss of public respect for our business. I’m also concerned that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will lose its influence and that Artemis—this magnificent goddess worshiped throughout the province of Asia and all around the world—will be robbed of her great prestige!”
At this their anger boiled, and they began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was filled with confusion. Everyone rushed to the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, who were Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia. Paul wanted to go in, too, but the believers wouldn’t let him. Some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, also sent a message to him, begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater.
Inside, the people were all shouting, some one thing and some another. Everything was in confusion. In fact, most of them didn’t even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander forward and told him to explain the situation. He motioned for silence and tried to speak. But when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they started shouting again and kept it up for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians! Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Did you catch the fact that most of them didn’t even know why they’d assembled? Of course that didn’t stop them from shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” for two hours.
And then in Acts 28:3-6, after Paul and 275 others with him are shipwrecked on the island of Malta…
As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.
One moment the people are convinced Paul is a murderer being judged by the gods and the next moment they’ve decided he is a god.
As it was 2,000 years ago, I suspect the crowd is wrong more often than it’s right. To be honest, the crowd isn’t very smart. The crowd doesn’t think well. The crowd listens to the wrong voices.
The crowd is motivated by fear. The crowd will tell you why something can’t be done rather than why it can be done. The crowd will discourage you from standing strong. The crowd will encourage you to follow along on the path of least resistance.
The crowd will discourage you from charting a different course, from pursuing your dream, from taking steps of faith.
So what about you?
Who do you follow?
Is it the crowd?