Well, praise Jesus today, everyone. I had a short message that I wanted to share about how we should always be a light for Jesus, not as the pastors are who are just paid to preach. So, some time ago, a few months back, I went to a client's house to do some work. And at that client's house, there was a guy who, the client asked to do something. And I thought that, that guy was the client's son. He was a younger guy, probably mid-twenties, and everything that my client asked that guy to do, he was very respectful to do. Although he wasn't very well-dressed, it wasn't like he was wearing a business hat or a business suit. Nothing about him seemed very professional, and I thought, he has a pretty professional attitude for being this lady's son. Well, later, I found out that this guy was not my client's son, but he was a hired hand. And then it hit me, the reason why he was trying to be so respectful was not because he was just a son or a free hand…. He was a hired hand, and he was there just for the summer months. And so I realized that a lot of times, people are only respectful when they are being paid to be respectful.
But I kind of pictured this same man out of that scenario of being paid, and I wondered if he would still be professional. Hopefully he would be. But I know a lot of people are only helpful when they're being paid to be helpful. I know some pastors that will only want to teach, they'll only want to speak about Jesus Christ when they're being paid to do so. So if you're not in their congregation on Sunday, during the hours of 8 to 11, they will tell you to come during the time of worship. They will say, come back next Sunday at 10 o'clock and then I'll give a sermon. But they're unwilling to share the gospel or to have normal love, just genuine love for people, outside of their ceremonial sort of love that's essentially paid for by the congregation. So pastors have become what Jesus called a hireling, which is a hired hand. And when a wolf comes, or when someone comes that is going to destroy the sheep, if it's also a threat to that leadership, they also leave. They run away because they're just a hired hand.
So I wondered to myself, guys, are we representing Jesus all the time? Or have we become like the pastors and Christians who only represent Jesus when it is convenient, when someone is going to do something for you, when you're in the professional setting? Or behind closed doors, are we still representing Jesus? Are we representing Him in our private life? Are we representing Him when we're frustrated, when we're angry? Are we able to put off the desires of the flesh, our frustration and our anger for the love of the Lord? Or does the flesh arise up in us to where we're no longer bearing a good witness for Jesus?
In the professional setting, when people are composed, even if they are upset, they still deal with their clients, they still deal with their patients. Even when they're pushed to their limit, they still put on a sort of a smile because they know they're being paid to do that. Now with Jesus, we're not as paid pastors, but we are hired by the Lord, by our King. And if we're serving Him, and if we're ambassadors for Him, then we should be His servants no matter if we are in the professional setting, in this world I mean, or if we're at home with our family. Wherever we are, we're supposed to be representing for our King, for Jesus Christ.
And so the question is, are we representing Jesus all the time wherever we are? Or are we segmenting our relationship with the Lord to this divided time that we call church, or that we call fellowship, or around people that we consider the body of Christ, and are we different elsewhere? Because I see that all the time in the professional world. You see people at their business, and because they want your money, they're very professional at the store, you know, at the hardware store, they're very professional. But once they're out back and they're smoking, they're joking around with their buddies, then they're going to be talking evil of all the clients, because you're not listening. So they have these different personalities depending on who they are, and they're only representing their company as long as they have to be professional.
But us, if we're really the children of God, we should be representing our Lord Jesus Christ all the time wherever we are. And so that is my question for all of us as the children of God, as the body of Christ, are we representing Him as His children righteously? are we doing a good job presenting the gospel to people by our actions, by our love? Or are we like the professional setting where people have this split personality, that they act one person, and then they play the hypocrite?
So make sure that you're really living holy all the time, that you're living for the Lord all the time, and that you're being a good example for Jesus Christ. I want to pray for those who want to be a good example for the Lord, that want to win people into the body of Christ, as Jesus said, fish for men. “So I want to pray for you if you're serious about following Jesus Christ. So Lord, I pray for those who have an ear to hear. I pray for people to truly repent, to come into your kingdom, that you would give them life, and that they would shine for you, that they would be unashamed to stand for you and your gospel, and that they would start fishing for men. I pray that we would not be hypocrites like the men in the world, but that we truly would shine for you, Lord, wherever we are. In your name I pray, Lord Jesus. Amen.”
