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

Teach them…

Posted on by kevinjandt

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Today I write with much anticipation.  I’ve been holding onto some information that I hope you will find encouraging and useful in your daily application of life.  The catch to this is that you are a sold out follower of Jesus Christ and you desire to bring your life into complete obedience to Him.

This clearly puts people in one of two camps, more on that later.

I hope to write a several articles on the development of a Biblical family and our journey.  Our family continues to be challenged by God’s Word and I see the smallness of my vision.  I desire for God to pour out His grace as I work toward a much bigger plan.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”

“You shall….”   Thus says the LORD.  Deuteronomy 6 is a command for fathers.  If you are in the first camp this is something you must do.  This is not optional for you men if you are going to lead your family as God has designed.  You are to teach the commands of God diligently to your children, every moment of every day.  Whenever you are with them you should be focused on teaching them lessons about living in the fear of the LORD.

This is NOT optional.  Can I say this any louder or with any more urgency?

Fathers this is your job!  It’s not the job of the youth group leader with mousse in his hair.  It’s not the job of a government run school teacher.  It’s not the job of anyone other than you.  The big question that determines which camp you reside in will be how seriously you take this directive?

I recently attended a conference and had a brief opportunity to speak with a man that I’ve come to admire tremendously.  Geoffrey Botkin and his family have had a great influence in the life of my family.  He has influenced me.  His wife has influenced my wife and his daughters have influenced my daughters.  He is a man that I desire to emulate.  I had the opportunity to ask him what simple steps I should take to implement this diligence in my family.

His words still echo in my mind.  “Be consistent in family worship….  Have deep and meaningful conversations with your family, and turn off the television.  Be producers, not consumers.”  Ouch!!!  His simple words sunk deep into my heart and pierced me.

We had begun a consistent pattern of family worship many months ago and I was thinking we had a pretty good thing going.  Each morning we would gather around the breakfast table and open God’s Word and discuss.  Even more recently we began a study of the Proverbs and I began training our family in memorizing the Westminster Shorter Catechism.  So we had been working on the “when you rise” part, but weren’t we missing some of the verse?

In the evenings the TV came on and life quickly was passing us by…  Passive entertainment “amusement” means to turn off your brain.  Literally to “not think” from the Latin word “muse”, to divert your attention so you can be deceived.  Consider the seriousness of shutting down your brain?  We are a society that seeks constantly to be amused.  Do you want to be a consumer or a producer?  What are you going to put into your mind?

Last night I turned on the television for a while and after 30 minutes or so of watching something I was sickened by the overt sexuality in the commercials and on the commentary show that was discussing the movie I was watching.  The girls came home from their meeting and I decided to turn it off.

Does this mean the TV will never be on in our home?  No, this is not some sort of a path to piety.  This is not a means by which anyone will be guaranteed salvation.  It’s a step to engage my family in something that will profit us for eternity should the LORD be merciful.

So what do we do in the evenings?

It’s been over a month since my brief conversation with Geoffrey Botkin and I’ve made some dramatic changes in our home life.   I’ve sought my children’s forgiveness for leading them poorly.  We had a family meeting and discussed our purpose in life.

We now gather in the evenings as a family and we have meaningful conversations.  I’ve actually learned more about my children and what’s in their hearts.  We started reading together or listening to valuable Bible teachers.

We have a long way to go.  My children need to understand this life is a battleground and not a playground.  We need to understand we are called to be soldiers for Jesus Christ and to bring the world under His dominion.  We need to teach diligently “deep spiritual realities”.

Why?

Deuteronomy 23:14 For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.

So here is the division between the camps.  If the LORD God walks in your camp you will be holy, you will not see unclean things.  He will either deliver you or He will turn away from you.  Today I hope you will be encouraged and challenged by God’s Word.

God is calling you today to stand firm for Him and to conquer this world for Him.

Psalm 144:1-2 Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle-my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.

Kevin

Woman

Posted on by kevinjandt

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I had decided I didn’t want to do a whole series on Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship, but there is too much here to not take opportunity to hit on some very relevant topics that can be applied today just as they were when the Lord Himself declared them.  All of these “struggles” or should I say sin issues sometimes ensnare the saints as easily as they ensnare the sinner.

Matthew 5:27-30 “You have heard it that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’  But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.  If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.  And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”

Are you an adulterer?  Have you noticed how impossible it is to live up to the standard that Jesus set for His followers?

This is impossible isn’t it?

Today’s culture certainly makes it as difficult as possible by placing images of sexuality every place the eye looks.  Doesn’t this seem to be harmless enough to lust after a beautiful woman, why would this be equated with adultery?

Lust – epithumeō – to set the heart upon, that is, long for (rightfully or otherwise): – covet, desire, would fain, lust (after).

Bonhoeffer writes – ADHERENCE TO JESUS allows no free rein to desire unless it be accompanied by love.  To follow Jesus means self-renunciation and absolute adherence to him, and therefore a will dominated by lust can never be allowed to do what it likes.  Even momentary desire is a barrier to the following of Jesus, and brings the whole body into hell, making us sell our heavenly birthright for a mess of pottage, and showing we lack faith in him who will reward mortification with joy a hundredfold.  Instead of trusting to the unseen, we prefer the tangible fruits of desire, and so we fall from the path of discipleship and lose touch with Jesus.  Lust is impure because it is unbelief, and therefore it is to be shunned.  No sacrifice is too great if it enables us to conquer a lust which cuts us off from Jesus.  Both eye and hand are less than Christ, and when they are used as the instruments of lust and hinder the whole body from the purity of discipleship, they must be sacrificed for the sake of him.  The gains of lust are trivial compared with the loss it brings-you forfeit your body eternally for the momentary pleasure of eye or hand.  When you have made your eye the instrument of impurity, you cannot see God with it.  Surely, at this point we must make up our minds once and for all whether Jesus means his precepts to be taken literally or figuratively, for here it is a matter of life or death.

Life or death!  Do you believe this?

Will you try and soften this teaching, or find a way to justify your “looks”.  Some will use the argument that this could be “interpreted” in some other way.  Once again the Lord draws a line in the sand to show people their sin and their need for a Savior.  He points it all back toward Himself as the only place of refuge.

The culture we live in today has placed a high priority on prostituting its women.  Even men and fathers that go to places called churches willingly allow their daughters to be the object of lust from men.

Go to a youth group meeting or a church function and look at the attire of these young women.  Does it include the shorts that ride up so high you can see more than necessary?  It’s not just the young women showing too much.  How about the ladies that are revealing themselves below the neckline?  I don’t offer this as a crude response, but for us to consider what we are telling people.  This is commonly accepted in churches and nothing is said or preached from the pulpit.  Why?

If you’ve allowed this in your family I urge you to repent and seek your daughter or wife’s forgiveness.  Then be committed to change, it won’t be easy especially for those that consider this part of the culture acceptable.  As a father of three daughters it’s not easy to find chaste and modest clothing.  We consistently struggle to live in the world but not be of the world (1 Corinthians 5:10).

Will you do something about this in your household?

If Jesus has shown you sin in your life, what can you do about it?  That’s where the act of mortification comes in.  “Cut it off”!  The act of obedience leads to faith.  You can’t have faith without obedience.  In the words of that famous theologian Bob Newhart, “STOP IT”.

Jesus was not really promoting mutilation of our bodies, but was telling us it’s time to take drastic measures.  Stop going to the places that “offend”.  Turn off the television, stop going to R-rated movies, and change your homepage.  Do whatever it takes to turn your eyes from sin.  Place your faith in Christ, turn from sin and be healed.  Stop selling your soul to every woman that walks past you and stop selling your daughter or wife to the gaze of any man that comes along.

 

Kevin

I am a Murderer!

Posted on by kevinjandt

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Have you ever killed someone?  I have…   I’m a convicted murderer!

Most of you are going to say no and I suppose it’s possible someone reading this might say yes and they might have taken human life.

Can you define “murder”?  Here is the Merriam-Webster definition; the crime of unlawfully killing a person especially with malice aforethought.  Most of us will think of famous serial killers such as Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy or even someone like Adolph Hitler, but would you ever consider yourself as evil as men like this?

Of course not!  We don’t have a tendency to think of ourselves this way; we think we are pretty “good” by our own standards.  But Jesus set the bar higher, and by doing so He told us we are every bit as bad as these men if our thought life is out of control.

Matthew 5:21-23 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will in danger of the judgment,’  But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.  And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council.  But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”

This past week I’ve been shown my sin of murder…  It’s not a pretty picture.  I won’t win any awards for this.  I don’t like to admit my faults, and I certainly don’t like to call my faults sin.  But this is what I must do.  I call myself a Believer and therefore I must confront my sin and I must deal with it.  I could ignore it and I could attempt to justify it.  But I would only be deceiving myself.

I’ve been reading a book called “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  If you don’t know anything about Bonhoeffer I really encourage you to investigate; he’s a fascinating man and as I’m reading this book it shakes me to the core of the reality of what a true disciple of Jesus Christ must look like.  I look around at those in churches and I don’t see very many disciples.

I see a lot of church goers, I see a lot of religiosity, and I certainly see a lot of deception, not because they are any worse than I am.   I see the ugliness of my sin and I hate it.  I detest the man I am in my flesh.  The only potential difference between me and them is a willingness to deal drastically with my sin when it appears front and center.  I don’t speak in specifics.  I speak in generalities about this, because I know many people that confront sin within their own lives and within the lives of others, but I can boldly make the statement that most won’t.

Bonhoeffer writes – The judgment he passes on others falls on the murderer himself.  In this context “brother” means more than “fellow-Christian”: for the follower of Jesus there can be no limit as to who is his neighbor, except as the Lord decides.  He is forbidden to commit murder under pain of divine judgment.  For him the brother’s life is a boundary which he dare not pass.  Even anger is enough to overstep the mark, still more the casual angry word (Raca), and most of all the deliberate insult of our brother (“Thou Fool”). 

Anger is always an attack on the brother’s life, for it refuses to let him live and aims at his destruction.  Jesus will not accept the common distinction between righteous indignation and unjustifiable anger.  The disciple must be entirely innocent of anger, because anger is an offence against both God and his neighbor.  Every idle word which we think so little of betrays our lack of respect for our neighbor, and shows that we place ourselves on a pinnacle above him and value our own lives higher than his.  The angry word is a blow struck at our brother, a stab at his heart: it seeks to hit, to hurt and to destroy.  A deliberate insult is even worse, for we are then openly disgracing our brother in the eyes of the world, and causing others to despise him.  With our hearts burning with hatred, we seek to annihilate his moral and material existence.  And the murderer will himself be judged.

When a man gets angry with his brother and swears at him, when he publicly insults or slanders him, he is guilty of murder and forfeits his relation to God.  He erects a barrier not only between himself and his brother, but also between himself and God.  He no longer has access to him: his sacrifice, worship and prayer are not acceptable in his sight.

So what do I do about it?  What do you do about it?  What do you think now, do you think you are a murderer on the massive scale of Ted Bundy.  These are the hard and challenging words of Jesus Christ that really separate people.  When the Lord called Believers to pick up their cross daily and follow Him, this is what He meant.  Have you ever sat down with someone and told them that you’ve murdered them.  It’s very humbling.

I found that out last week as I confessed my sins to a friend and told him I had murdered him.  I told him I’m seeking his forgiveness and I’ve sought forgiveness from God.  I confessed and I repented.  Now I must turn from my sin and do it no more.

How about you?  Certainly nobody has kept this standard, so what will you do with this now that you are no longer ignorant.  I suggest you make out a list of your victims.  Then you go to each one of them and sincerely seek their forgiveness.  Restore the relationship with them so you can restore your relationship to God, fully and without any hindrances.   Do it quickly while you have it fresh in your mind, be resolved to not let the sun set on your anger.

Look at what Bonhoeffer says again.  Therefore “go thy way, first be reconciled with thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.”  This is a hard way, but it is the way Jesus requires if we are to follow him.  It is a way which brings much personal humiliation and insult, but it is indeed the way to him, our crucified Brother, and therefore a way of grace abounding.

If you don’t think you’re a murderer, you are deceiving yourself.

Repent, turn from your sin and be healed.   We all have an opportunity to deal with our sin here on earth, to do the humiliating work now, to seek Christ for His forgiveness or be accountable to Him for our sins at our judgment.  He is freely offering forgiveness if we will only humble ourselves before His throne.

 

Kevin