My Reputation?

Posted on by kevinjandt

2052 Conventicle

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and become obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. – Philippians 2:5-8

All of us Christians will applaud this beautiful verse of the Bible, because the death of our Lord Jesus Christ means life for those that believe in Him. We are amazed by this incredible sacrifice that proves He conquered death once and for all. Because He lives, I can live, and so can you.

But I really want to focus on something here that really struck me this past week that I doubt very few Christians consider and certainly don’t apply to their lives.

“He made Himself of no reputation…”

The Lord Jesus Christ completely emptied Himself, made Himself hollow, or useless. This is what this means. It means vanity, or of no effect. Now we certainly know that He accomplished His tasks and He was “effective” in the way He needed to be effective, but not in the way that most view effectiveness.

Look how Isaiah describes Him.

He has no form or comeliness; and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him; He was despised, and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. – Isaiah 53:2b-3

I don’t think any self professing Christian would struggle to read these verses, or to even heartily agree with them, but here is my challenge today. Do you live like this? Do I live like this?

When is the last time you emptied yourself of your reputation?

This past week I had the wonderful privilege to standing on a stool in Hollywood California and publicly proclaiming the Word of God to all those that pass by. Before you start thinking that I’m getting proud of myself, I want to assure you this has nothing to do with me, because I’m going to be greatly challenged in this post as well.

But isn’t it a worthwhile discussion and an opportunity for us Christians to ask ourselves this question?

When is the last time you’ve been looked on with disdain because you boldly proclaimed the name of Christ as Lord and Savior? Do we expect that somehow the servant is above the master? That Christ never expects a thing from us?

As I walked up to the North Hollywood Metro I could hear the word of God clearly coming from one of the men, and I had the joy of meeting Tony Miano for the first time. Tony is a man that publicly proclaims the truth consistently and up to 5 or 6 times per week. He is either open air preaching, passing out bibles and tracts, or standing in front of the abortion clinic pleading for young women not to murder their babies, telling them there is hope in Christ. I’m humbled and ashamed at my pathetic attempts at evangelism when I compare myself to Tony.

But yet when I now return home and consider that if I begin doing this in my town, it won’t take long for me to empty myself of my reputation. How long before I see people in public that I know through my business or I know from high school, or someplace else? It’s not a big town that I live in, so I don’t imagine it takes that long.

What will they say? What will they think?

“Wow, I mean, what happened to Kevin?” “He was a nice guy, a “normal” guy.” “Was he seriously standing there hollering about God? That’s really weird, what a freak…”

Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. – 2 Timothy 3:12

Certainly, Paul didn’t mean that did he?

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 5:10

This is a big challenge for me, and I hope it will be a challenge for you to consider this article. You see in 10 minutes of open air preaching, more people heard the gospel out of my mouth than heard it from me in my whole 49 years of life. Just think about that for a moment.

Over 1000 bibles were given out in four days of evangelism.

And people say this is ineffective… by whose standard?

Please consider your testimony and your witness today. Please consider how bold you will be for Jesus Christ if you call Him Lord? I’m very challenged by this, and I hope you will be as well, because as my brother Tony challenged me about my fear and nervousness, he asked me to dig deeper as to the reason for the fear. “Kevin, I’d say it’s your love of self that has you be fearful.” Ouch…

I would say brother Tony hit the nail right on the head and it’s the reason most would never consider preaching the word publicly, and I hope that today we will consider speaking to someone when it’s inconvenient or embarrassing, or we risk rejection. Wasn’t Christ rejected? Are you above your master?

Are you a Pastor or a church leader, and do you have men that you are training for the work of ministry, to publicly proclaim His name? If you don’t you should, because very few will enter your church building, in comparison to those you can reach out on the streets. Or maybe Noah, Jonah, Jesus, Paul, Whitfield and countless others were wrong? I don’t know…but I suspect not…

Go out and preach, go out and fulfill the Great Commission, this is why you were saved.

 

Kevin

Suffer

Posted on by kevinjandt

asuffer

“Blessed be Your name, on the road marked with suffering…” These lyrics appear in a popular, modern, worship song by Matt Redman. But what does it mean to suffer in today’s Christianity, as I’m sure many people sing along with this song but have no concept of real suffering.

I think most people equate suffering today, in the “church” as something that comes from numerous sources, none of which are biblical standards of suffering. I expect that even making this statement will be offensive to many because when we are suffering we want to believe we are suffering biblically, especially if we name the name of Christ.

What is it to suffer?

Experience or be subjected to (something bad or unpleasant) – this is the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition. I could probably dig a little deeper, but this is what most people will consider to suffer.

When we feel bad, or when we feel like we didn’t get what we deserve, we feel as though we are suffering. Some might be suffering the loss of a loved one, or suffering the loss of a job. These are certainly unpleasant things that occur, and nobody likes them, but are they really suffering as the Bible would describe it?

Our family has recently been watching a series about heroes of the faith. These are people that endured prison, endured beatings, and many of them endured martyrdom. Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned in Communist Romania for speaking out against Communism. He spent over eight years imprisoned and three years in solitary confinement with no lights or no windows. He was beaten and tortured, physically as well as psychologically and yet he maintained his sanity by preaching sermons during the night to himself. His survival and proclamation of the gospel is beyond what we can imagine today.

But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. – 2 Timothy 3:10-12

Paul is instructing young Timothy how to be a faithful minister of the Word. He is setting the example before him of his own life. He is telling him how it’s going to be…and Timothy must know how his future will most likely turn out. Only a true believer will set himself up for this, because it’s not going to be fun.

I’m challenged by this, and I hope you are as well, because I think we need to be. I think we must be…

We don’t currently experience this today, at least not in this country, mostly… But I believe we will, and I believe I must prepare my children. It’s why I think it’s important for them to see those that gave their lives for the faith. They suffered and died to proclaim His name.

Consider these great heroes of the faith, their names are unknown to us, but their example lives on, and it’s one for us to consider when we are afraid to open our mouths and hand someone a gospel tract.

…Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mocking and scourging, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented— of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should be made perfect apart from us. – Hebrews 11:35-40

This doesn’t sound like my Christianity? I realize we are in a different time period, and the place we live right now, is unlikely that I’m going to be destitute and or sawn in half. But should I then say, this has no place in a conviction in my life? Absolutely not, this should shame me when I won’t open my mouth, or I look at my 401K statement and think, boy if I only had a little more, I’d be in pretty good shape.

No, how about giving until it actually effects my 401K? How about standing on a corner and proclaiming the name of Christ and actually praising God for the ridicule that will no doubt ensue? Would this be better or worse than being slain with the sword? That’s not a mutually exclusive proposition; I can do one without the other. I probably won’t be slain, but I will probably be made fun of, and that would be a slight way in which I could suffer for Christ sake, wouldn’t it?

Could I, or could you risk some embarrassment every now and again, to give someone a message of love? To tell them they need Jesus, because without Him they are on a crash course for Hell? Do we believe that? If we sort of don’t…then we won’t… If Hell is real, then its consequences are real, and we need to tell people, we need to warn them.

I’d like to consider this verse in a different way today.

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled.” But ou do nt give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead. – James 2:14-17

This verse is clearly and plainly for believers, please don’t be confused, and here is how I want us to think differently about it. If we don’t live out our faith in a tangible and real way, proclaiming Christ to dead people, we are doing the same thing to them. We might even give them something warm and fill them with food; in fact lots of misguided ministries do just that. But…..do they give them the bread of life?

Do we tell them God is holy and man is sinful? Do we tell them Jesus is the answer to their sin problem? Do we tell them they must turn from their sin, and embrace a new life in Christ? This is the gospel, this is necessary, and they need to be born again, or they will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So, let’s go out and suffer, just a little bit this week. Just a little bit, so we can learn to suffer a little bit more and then someday, maybe we can really learn how to suffer.

 

Kevin

I’m a Good Person…

Posted on by kevinjandt

good-person

I don’t believe I’ve ever met a person that hasn’t thought themselves a good person, for the most part. Most of them will say, “I’m not perfect, but I’m basically good.”

I’m old enough to be a Seinfeld aficionado and there is an episode “The Bizarro Jerry”. Jerry, Kramer and George, have exact opposites and Elaine becomes friends with them. They are actually nice and the George counter-character is not cheap but generous. They like to go the library and read, not sit in a coffee shop making fun of people.

Christianity is kind of like the Bizarro-world. Everything is upside down. “The first will be last and the last will be first”, “he who desires to save his life will lose it and he who desires to lose his life will find it”. The Son of Man came to serve and be a ransom for many; it goes on and on…

So why is it not surprising to me that when people think they are “good” they are not? They might be nice, they might be kind and they are probably “good” by the world’s standards but how do they measure up to the biblical standard?

“They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.” – Romans 3:12

Matthew 19:17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

And of course this man said to Jesus, “whew…I didn’t think I could be good enough to keep the commandments, now what should I do?” Unfortunately, just like you and me, this man thought he was good enough. His sin had him deceived and the hard impenitent heart must be broken and crushed. If Jesus didn’t love him He wouldn’t have exposed his sin. He would have allowed him to stay in his deception.

When I consider whether I really love someone or not I must expose sin in their life or there’s no chance to break up the “good person” fallacy. I must be like Jesus.

Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

That was it…the challenge to this young man’s life was to sell everything he had. Give up everything that is important to you. Abandon your life as you know it…   Stop sinning, and follow Me!

What do you place as a priority in your life over Jesus?

If it’s anything and I really do mean anything you are the rich young ruler. You MUST be willing to sell it all. The command is clear. It’s easy to read it plainly and understand what Jesus is demanding, so don’t tell me Jesus didn’t really mean I need to sell everything. Maybe He did for you? Maybe He did for me? I don’t know for sure, but I know He’s telling you and me today, that we are holding onto something that we deem more precious than Him.

This is why Christianity is even more bizarre than the Seinfeld Bizarro-world, it’s completely upside down and counter-cultural, and the world hates it. The world hates it because it loves sin, and we love our sin, until the great physician heals us.

The biggest question you can ask yourself today “Is this the Christianity that I know?” Will you willing give up your life as you know it to follow Him?

Are you “good person”, or are you in need of a Lord and a Savior?

When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” – Matthew 9:12-13

If your hope is built on anything but Christ’s righteousness, you only have your own righteousness. You are not sick and don’t need a physician. But if you realize your goodness can only be found in Him then you’ve found the right Jesus.

I must and Believers must expose the “goodness” of man for what it is, filthy rags, and call sinners to repentance. If you are to imitate Paul as he imitates Christ, then we must be like Christ in how we evangelize, if we truly love them and desire the best for them.

As we learn to love people more and more we must also realize that they crucified Jesus. His love was the perfect love, but it didn’t mean the message was always popular.

Let’s go out today and “Be Like Jesus”

Kevin

Take the good person test