…Pants on fire

Posted on by kevinjandt

exaggeration

Exodus 20:16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

Would anyone agree that telling lies is a good thing?  Nobody wants to be called a “liar”.  Those are fighting words for most people.  I would assert even atheists think telling the truth, for the most part, is a good thing.  Although why they think this I don’t know because without God’s command there is no basis for truth telling.

God’s Word tells us repeatedly to tell the truth, and in fact it’s such a serious matter that it’s one of the seven things that are an abomination to God.

Proverbs 6:16-17 These six thing the LORD hates, yes seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue…

Ephesians 4:29-31 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth… Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.

Paul tells us that it is contrary to sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:10).  There is no doubt God hates lying.

Does anyone disagree?

I’m here to tell you today that we need to reform in this area of truth telling.  I know most of you are probably thinking, “I don’t lie”, at least not on purpose.  I think there is a very insidious way in which Satan deceives us into lying and allows us to wrap ourselves in our own righteous.  It’s called exaggeration.  It’s a subtle but evil form of speaking to your neighbor.

Here’s an example from my own life.

I return from a hard week of work and say, “Oh I’m so tired I put in 40 hours of work in 3 days”.  In reality I did work hard and I am tired but the exaggeration comes in the form of the “stretch” of how many hours I actually worked.  I might have been awake and actually doing something for 40 hours over the course of those 3 days but I wasn’t working the entire time.

In the business I work we get up early.  I may actually have worked 38 hours but there is always the pull to exaggerate, even slightly, to the amount of time or the amount of effort that was exerted.

Why?

I want to seriously ask myself this question, why would I do that?  If I’m telling someone about my long work days do they really care whether it was 40 hours or 38 hours; of course not, but in my mind that sounds more dramatic.  I have the tendency to think of myself a higher opinion.  “Boy I really did something this weekend!”  “Aren’t I special?”

I’m a legend in my own mind…

Don’t we all do this?  Tell the truth…  You know you do this and so do I.

I have a good friend that is an extraordinarily hard working guy.  I don’t distrust him when it comes to his work ethic or his ability to tell me the truth.  Yet he’s an exaggerator.  He has some liberty with the amount of emails sent in a day or the time he arises each morning and goes to bed each night to accomplish his tasks.  Again, I don’t distrust his work ethic but why the embellishment?

I know he’s busy, I know he works hard.  But did he really send out 100 emails today or was it more like 60?  I’m easily impressed so whether it was 40, 60 or 800 in a day I’m going to think he’s pretty special at his job.  He has my respect without the exaggeration.

God thought this was important enough to include this in the top 10 of Christianity (Exodus 20:1-17).  This word “false” holds a very deep meaning.

sheh’-ker

From H8266; an untruth; by implication a sham (often adverbially): – without a cause, deceit (-ful), false (-hood, -ly), feignedly, liar, + lie, lying, vain (thing), wrongfully.

Notice how it says adverbially.  I really like this because it shows us how we use “verbal exclamations” to spin our lies in the form of exaggerations and all along it’s meant to deceive.  And then it goes on to tell us “without a cause”, there’s no reason for it.  Please let that sink in for a moment.  You have no reason to stretch that truth.  It does not profit you.  Ultimately it harms your credibility.

This article is meant to reform the minds and hearts of Bible believing Christians.  I don’t expect it will have any effect on the unregenerate but if God wills it might show someone their sin.  If you are a chronic liar you need to repent and turn from this abominable sin.  If you are just an exaggerator you need to repent and turn from this abominable sin.

Although I’d like to develop some other thoughts, that might have to be another day, but some common expressions Believers should not utilize are verbal exclamations such “I swear to God” or “I swear”, see Matthew 5:33-36.  You should never have to “convince” someone you are a truth teller.

We should also eliminate words like “honestly”, or “to be honest with you”…  This would indicate at other times you are dishonest.  As we begin to consider the meaning of our words and how important the words we use, we can become better communicators and better ambassadors for Christ.

Ephesians 4:14-15 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head Christ…

This is the ultimate goal, to no longer be children, we need to put aside the elementary principles of Christianity and “grow up”; for the glory of the One that deserves obedience and truth telling.

Kevin

Spread good seed

Posted on by kevinjandt

12566863-wheat-germ-spring-wheat-seedlings

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?

Do you ever wonder why so few people respond to the gospel message?  Those of us that take the Great Commission seriously see our efforts go by mostly unheeded.  If we read the Bible we know the answer of course, but yet isn’t it sometimes discouraging?

How many souls have you prayed for?

How many times have you discussed the glories of submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ yet they don’t exhibit change?

Some listen politely, others tell you to buzz off and others think they have time to make a decision later (Acts 17:32-34).

If you share the gospel on a consistent basis I want to encourage you today.  The gospel is the power unto salvation (Romans 1:16) and our responsibility is to spread the good seed (Mark 4:26).

Jesus told us few would be saved… (Matthew 22:14)

If the Lord sees fit to bring a soul back from destruction we must rejoice in that and consider it rare, yet let’s not be fooled into thinking it’s an everyday occurrence.

The human heart is wicked and if we embrace this truth we can rely on God’s Word and trust Him for the results of our preaching.  I know this is almost so simple it seems ridiculous, yet how often I’ve prayed for those I love “if only they would hear what I’m saying”.

Can you think back to a day before you believed?

What things occupied your mind?

Can you remember when God opened your eyes to see the beauty of His truth?

A heart that was at enmity with God, which truly hated Him is suddenly melted like a wax figurine thrown into a fire and a new heart emerges.  What a miracle!

Let us continue to spread the good seed and trust God for the results of salvation.

Kevin

Words matter

Posted on by kevinjandt

Think

Have you spent any time considering how many words you speak in a day?

What did you say?

What was really important about what you said?

In other words, words matter.  More importantly how we speak matters.

The vast majority of the populace will give very little thought to what they say on a daily basis.  Those in the Evangelical Christian world will probably give more thought, but today I want to focus on a subset of those that desire some serious reformation in the way we use our language.

I’m hopeful those that will read and really consider this will believe they are Christians.  Not just a person that attends a weekly church service, but someone that lives a true life of discipleship and desires to be obedient to the demands of scripture.

Am I an expert in the English language and have a mastery of my words?  Far from it, but I have a desire to change, I’m hopeful you will as well.

Let’s begin by throwing out the obvious.  I will probably do another article on this someday.  Christians should NOT use course language of any sort (Ephesians 4:29, 5:4, Colossians 3:8 and many others).  If you are accustomed to this and you call yourself a Believer you need to examine your claims to Christianity.

Jesus was very clear when He said “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.”  In other words you are what you speak (Matthew 15:18-20).

Christians should not use foul language of any sort or foolish joking.  Our call is for holiness not for foolishness.

Ecclesiastes 10:1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment.  And cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.

Do you want to be respected for wisdom and to be honored?  Then stop trying to be funny.

Today let’s focus on “cultural” words; the words that creep into culture and are adopted into the everyday language.  This can be commonly referred to as slang or in another generation “jive talk” (I have to laugh writing this as I’m sure my kids will make fun of me), but you know what I’m talking about if you grew up in the 70’s.

Here is a selection of some of these terms that Believer’s should stop using.

“like”

Unless you are  using it properly, this is an awful phrase to utilize and it really dumbs down your ability to communicate your message properly.

“OMG”

This is a clear violation of the 3rd Commandment.  Even though some will try and pass it off as “gosh” it’s still a reference to God and His name.  Please stop it.

“You know what I’m sayin’…”

Need I say anything else?  This is filler and is common in ghetto style talk.  It will not make you look cool and will definitely make you appear less intelligent.

“Just sayin’…”

If you have something to say to somebody and you stand behind your words, don’t hide behind this phrase.  Allow your “yes” to be yes and your “no” to be no.  If you need to confront sin in someone do so in a Biblical manner.  See Matthew chapter 18.

“Don’t judge me…”

This is another modern phrase that the youth of America enjoy.  In other words “please excuse me from any responsibility”.  I have no authority to judge you other than by the Word of God, but if that is judging you then you need to discuss it with Him.

“Umm”

This is my number one and we could also throw in “ahh” as a similar type word.  We’ve began working with our children and ourselves to eliminate “umm” from our vocabulary.  Again, this is filler.  I’m trying to fill in time or make a transition to my next thought.

I think “umm” is devastating to the person who really desires to think before they speak.  We want to be heard and in an effort to be heard we speak quickly and don’t take the time to formulate our ideas.

Therefore our mouth spews out things we haven’t thought through thoroughly (say that quickly three times).  This is one of the things I really enjoy about writing.  I have an opportunity to “think” and then put my words on paper.  If I can transfer this over to the way I communicate in person it will really be beneficial to me as a communicator.

I could spend a more time going through other words that I think God finds offensive and makes the Believer less credible in their message but I’m hopeful I’ve made my point.  So why should we be concerned about this?  I see a couple quick reasons.

The number one reason is to be a better ambassador and witness for Jesus Christ.  The Lord was very purposeful in His use of language.  He spoke with clarity and authority.  The result was few words but very powerful and direct words.  Imitate me as I imitate Christ says the Apostle Paul.

Secondly, we need to constantly be reforming.  If we are truly to live Romans 12:2 then this should be an area to bring under control.  “If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue, but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless…  James 1:26

Today I urge you to be mindful and purposeful in your spoken words.

Kevin

What should I do?

Posted on by kevinjandt

DSCN2597I have a friend that we recently sat down and had breakfast together.  I’ve discussed the gospel often with him and have made attempts at explaining the truth of God’s word.

Most people are willing to live their lives without any real concept of God.  They are content.  They trust in themselves that everything is okay.

On this occasion I could see that my friend was struggling because he recently had a close encounter with death.  Not himself, but someone that he knew.  It wasn’t expected…  is it ever?  This man was under 40 years of age and he left a family to figure out how to go on without a husband and a father.  This man woke up one day not realizing this would be his last day on earth.  What a weighty and powerful thought.

Have you considered today could be your last day?  I doubt it; I know I didn’t think that this morning.  What happens when you die?  These are all questions we must consider now, while we are here on earth.

What will happen once you die?

Will you go to heaven?  Are you good enough to go to heaven?

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived.  Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Isn’t this bad news?  Haven’t we all committed some of these sins?  Paul is clear isn’t he?  See also Galatians 5:19-21.

I know what some of you will think, just like I used to think.  “Well I’m not that bad and surely God will overlook most or some of my sins.”

I’d like for you to consider that your sin and that my sin is an insurmountable debt.  One that is impossible for you to pay.   Let’s use an analogy of the financial mess this country is in of the debt you have incurred against God.

Jane Wells of CNBC puts the federal budget in household terms:

According to the White House, below are projected revenues and expenditures for 2013 without the bill approved to avoid the fiscal cliff:

  • Income: $2,902,000,000,000
  • Outlays: $3,803,000,000,000
  • Deficit: $ 901,000,000,000

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill voted on New Year’s Day actually adds $349,640,000,000 to the deficit this year, despite the tax increases.

That makes the new deficit $1,250,640,000,000. Meantime, our National Debt is somewhere around $16,400,000,000,000 at the moment.

Hard to get your head around all those zeroes? Why not remove seven of the zeroes after each figure and look at these numbers like it’s your household budget:

  • Income: $290,200
  • Spending: $380,300
  • Deficit: $90,100

Deficit after you make fiscal cliff changes: $125,064
Balance on your credit card: $1,640,000

I know you are thinking that “my sin is really not that bad”.  I’m here to tell you your sin is that bad.  You are defiled, you are like raw sewage and in the deceitfulness of sin it’s impossible to see.

How many times have you lied in your life?  It’s estimated the average man lies six times per day.  That’s over 87,000 lies by the time you are 40 years old.

How many times have you had angry thoughts about someone that Jesus actually equates to murder?  See my article on murder.

Think about how often you’ve gossiped?  Must I continue on for you to see your misery or are you starting to get just a glimpse?

Sin has a cost.  It must be paid for.  The choice is easy.  You pay for it, or allow Christ to pay for it.  He already paid the price and now you must make a decision.

You can think that it’s going to be okay…

You can believe you are good enough…

Or you can ask the question.  What should I do?  This is the question my friend asked.

James 4:6-10 But He gives more grace.  Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners: and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Lament and mourn and weep!  Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

If this seems difficult to understand and it might even seem harsh I would ask you to consider what it meant for Christ to go to the cross?  He had to die a brutal death, endure the shame and punishment, take on the wrath of God to pay for the sin that you and I are incapable of paying for.  He didn’t deserve to die, but because of an incredible love He did it so some could be saved.

Upon your death you will stand before God and give an account of your life.  Today gives an opportunity to realize you are poor and destitute, unable to pay your debts on your own.

2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 

The “good-news”, the gospel says you don’t have to pay your debt because Jesus Christ has already paid the price.  Do you believe that?

What will you do?

Kevin

Teach them… Part 2

Posted on by kevinjandt

This past Saturday we attended a wedding.  One of my cousin’s daughters was getting married and it gave us a wonderful opportunity to see some family that we haven’t seen in many years.  I’m pretty certain I could write several posts on different observations I had at this wedding but I’m going to stay focused on my children for this article.

I want start by asking a question.  What do you expect from your children when you go to an event such as a wedding?  Or have you never given this any consideration.

I’m sure most parents will give the standard line, “now we want you to behave while you’re here today…” or something similar to this.

…And I could ask the question why do you want them to behave?  Is it for your benefit, their benefit or some other reason?  Maybe I’m getting off track already, but I’d like you to think why you want your children to behave?

One of the things I’ve began to focus on is the intentionality with which we instruct our children.  If we are to teach them diligently in the ways of the Lord and do this when they rise, when we walk by the way and when they lie down, that includes the whole day.  So as we drove to the wedding I asked the girls what is our purpose here today?

In short our purpose is to represent Jesus Christ, to be different, to be set-apart (holy), to bring all things into submission under the Lordship of Christ.  This is a biblical mandate for the Believer (Matthew 28:19-20).

Proverbs 13:20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

My job as a parent to my children is to instruct them in “Biblical” wisdom, to give them a purpose for their life.  I need to instruct them that life is a battleground and not a playground.  I would make an assertion today that if you are not intentionally training your children for battle they are still on the playground.

This became very evident to me this weekend as I spent time observing the behavior of a number of the children at this wedding.

I want to be careful not to throw this as a blanket statement over all of them and I can only speak to the moments in time I observed them.  I don’t know all of their lives very well.  However, to see those walking with the wise and those that are a companion of fools became very clear.

I considered what is the desire of most children?  It appeared to me many of them would desire more time with their IPhones than trying to learn anything from someone wiser than they are.  If you ask one of these children a question will you get more than a one word or at best a one sentence answer?  Do they quickly turn back to Temple Run, Facebook or their next text message?

One of the criticisms most people make about children that are Home-educated, is the “socialization” stigma.  People are “concerned” that these kids are somehow being sheltered and can’t engage society.  I see a couple types of socialization that we can discuss.  One is the negative aspect of being socialized.  This I’m willing to bear that stigma.  I don’t care if my children are ever socialized into the culture of this world.

Are they companions of fools?  Do they only want to be around their friends, spend time playing video games, communicating with their smart-phones; do they despise their parents?  This type of socialization I’m more than happy for my children not to have.

Then the other type of socialization that I just don’t see in the Home-school families I’ve been exposed to is the ones that can sit and have an on-going conversation with an adult.  These kids don’t have their face planted in a phone all day long.

I would like you to really take a moment and think about your children in this manner.  Does it happen by accident?  Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6 instruct parents and fathers specifically to train your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  Part of this training is gaining a mastery of the language, through reading, writing and speaking.

Not speaking to their friends via text messaging…

Talking face to face with someone, knowing how to discuss the topics of the day or more importantly how to give a defense for their faith and the hope they have in Christ if they are a Believer.

Jen and I had a great affirmation of our diligent efforts to train on Saturday.  We asked our second daughter Madeline to come outside with us and take a picture.  We left our oldest daughter Grace inside to stay with my Aunt Jan at the table.  Grace quickly agreed and smiled as we left.  She was sitting with one chair between her and Jan and as we walked across the room we looked back and watched Grace slide over to the chair directly next to her to so she could be more engaged in the conversation.

Are we proud of this because Grace’s actions made us look good?  This is the desire of most parents I would assert.  No, we want it to open up the door for the gospel to be preached.  It is the only thing that holds value in this world.  It is the purpose of raising our children.

Ecclesiastes 6:3-6 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he-for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness.  Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, even if he lives a thousand years twice-but has not seen goodness.  Do not all go to one place?

If you want your children to be successful so they can have a better life, you might want to reconsider your purpose and theirs.  That might have some temporary value, but does it have eternal value?  Does it matter without eternity in mind?

Kevin