Uncommon Faith

Teach them…

Posted on June 25, 2013 by kevinjandt

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 June 18, 2013 by kevinjandt

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 June 10, 2013 by kevinjandt

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

You are that man!

Posted on June 4, 2013 by kevinjandt

Have you ever been confronted with sin in your life? How have you reacted to someone that loves you enough to point this out to you?

Your reaction tells you a lot about yourself.

Did you get angry?

Did you become defensive?

Did you deny it, or accuse them of being self-righteous? That’s an old favorite.

Did you notice that I said someone “loves you” enough to risk your relationship to tell you about your sin? Did it mean they are without sin? Of course not, we all sin, but don’t pull “judge not…” out of your hat, unless they are accusing you of something they are embroiled in themselves.

2 Samuel 12:5-9 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had not pity.” Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little, I also would have given you much more! Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword: you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon.

David was a man after God’s heart, the king of Israel. He was chosen by God to be of the royal lineage of the King to come. How is it possible for this man to fall into such incredible sin; adultery and then murder?

The question before us today is how we deal with our sin, when we are confronted and how we deal with others sin, if we need to confront them. I’ve appreciated a recent blog post by a friend as she is wrestling through her own judgmentalism. Amy’s Blog Certainly, we must continue to check on our motives and we are not to be judgmental but we must be capable of discernment and judgements.

Brothers and sisters we must confront sin as sin. We must call it for what it is. If we really care for the souls of others we must be able to gently turn them from their sin (James 5:19-20). Nathan skillfully but firmly showed David his sin, he didn’t hide from it or attempt to justify it.

Do you despise the chastening of the Lord? (Hebrews 12:5-6) How does a believer react to sin?

2 Samuel 12:13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

This is a very straight forward and God honoring reaction. No excuses, no justification, no buts… “I have sinned”

David recognizes his sin. He sees this as sin, how often do we excuse our sin as something other than what it actually is. Do we realize when we are in sin? Sin is deceitful; it blinds us to the actuality of what it really is. We can so easily fool ourselves.

I’ve seen this recently from my last blog post on atheism. Comments She was offended that I would think to know what she was thinking. I don’t know her thoughts by any supernatural power of my own. I know her thoughts because the Bible shows me what she thinks. Romans chapter 1 is a crystal clear example of this. She is futile in her thoughts and in her wisdom she has become a fool. So God gives them up and unless He grants her the ability to see her sin she will die in her sin.

Secondly, notice that David has sinned “against the LORD.” When we sin my dear friends it is against a holy God. Yes, we sin against others but ultimately our responsibility lies with God. We’ve committed treason against the One who created us. We are so arrogant and so self-righteous that we can’t even begin to see how offensive this is to God. Does God really hate our “little” sins that much? God hates sin so much that He would pour out His wrath on His Son. Yes, God hates sin more than our minds can even possibly begin to understand.

Yet it also pleased God to crush His Son. (Isaiah 53:10). Why? Because God is love! He loves those that love Him enough to provide a way out of the mess we are in. We are in a mess even though we may not understand it. Like a pig will go to slop before he’d eat a beautifully prepared prime rib dinner, mankind has no idea we love slop.

David recognized his desire for slop and out of that came one of the most beautiful Psalms ever written. Psalm 51 should be a consistent and regular part of our reading. If you dare forget God’s love or become sloppy in your worship of Him. Turn to these words for renewal.

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight… Psalm 51:1-4

I’m humbled beyond words for God’s mercy in my life and I can only hope I continue to see my sin for what it cost the Son.

May God have mercy!

Kevin

I Don’t Believe in Atheism

Posted on May 28, 2013 by kevinjandt

“Atheism is a strange thing. Even the devils never fell into that vice.” -C. H. Spurgeon

I don’t believe in atheism.

I don’t believe people, when they say they don’t believe in God.

I don’t believe God is a mystery that cannot be known. He’s real, He’s alive, and all are responsible to know Him.

Of course I realize people claim to be atheists; it seems to be somewhat popular these days. Atheists say they don’t believe in God or a god.

For today’s discussion I’d like to say that nobody really believes what they say because the Holy Scriptures contradict them. I realize this is a circular argument in their eyes but for me the argument ends there, it’s just that simple.

A so-called atheist might say, “you can’t prove there’s a god” and since I’ve come to this conclusion, I don’t believe it, or we can’t see God so we don’t believe it.

God has revealed himself to mankind and just because we say we don’t believe it doesn’t make it so.

Romans 1:19-23 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Pressing to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the in corruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-and birds, and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Man is without excuse. God has revealed Himself through nature.

Hebrews 1:1-3 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…

Man is without excuse. God has revealed Himself through His Son.

Luke 1:1-4 Inasmuch as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and minister of the word delivered them to us. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainly of those things in which you were instructed.

Man is without excuse. God has revealed Himself through His Word.

Opponents of God are free to believe or not believe as they wish but they must know that won’t release them from accountability. Every human in all of history will stand before God and give account of their life. Nothing will be left hidden. Every sin you’ve ever committed will be brought before the Just Judge and a verdict will be rendered.

You might say well my sin isn’t that bad, or I’m a relatively good person compared to that guy….

You need to compare your life to the life of Christ and see how you measure up to His standard. Perfection is the measuring stick by which you will be judged. Every thought, word and deed for the entirety of your life must be perfect.

You may not like this, you may not believe this and you may not accept this as truth, but that won’t change it.

You can laugh, you can scoff, you can ridicule but what you can’t do is escape it. I must warn you today not to take that chance.

Ezekiel 3:17-19 “Son of man. I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel: therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: When I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Yet, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.”

So why are there people that call themselves atheists? Again the answer is simple.

No accountability.

If they say they don’t believe what the Bible says, they don’t have to give account for their sin. They can live guilt free and never have to answer for how they lived their life.

Turn to Christ, see Him as the only One that can save and cast your cares upon Him. Matthew 7:24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…

Kevin

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