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means without the written consent of Paul K. Weigel, ©
January 2000.
A Journey In The Wilderness
From Page 95, Reputation
God is not like a man; He is not
concerned about His reputation. Nobody has ever come to Jesus because
He had a good reputation as a Saviour and Lord. They come because
they are without hope on their own, and the Holy Spirit has revealed
Jesus as the only answer. In most denominations, there is a hierarchy
of pastors and churches based upon size and reputation. The Flesh
wants to find acceptance. It fears rejection and seeks approval,
evenadulation. A pastor, church, or individual is not free to walk
in the Spirit if they are seeking acceptance from others. The struggle
for a good reputation is a work of the Flesh. With every perceived
fluctuation in our standing, one way or the other, we are tormented
by unrest. The Flesh cannot be satisfied, it must be put to death.
Jesus and the spiritual men of the Bible were despised by most men.
Only in the long view of history were their lives confirmed and
redeemed. Martin Luther, although he had many subscribers to his
Spirit-lead conviction that we are saved by grace and not dead works,
had far more people in his time declare him a heretic. Who was he
to oppose the established authority of the Church? To walk and stand
for the things of the Spirit is to invite conflict, criticism, and
dissension against our actions and our person. If we are not free
of the struggle to be seen as “right” and “good”
we will never be able take a stand for what we know is the Spirit’s
“walk” for our lives. Our reputation is a wall that stands
between us and God and His purposes for us. It is good to have the
opposition and hatred of some people. The image we present to others
needs to be crucified on the Cross. We need to confess our faults
to others openly, being transparent as sinners, redeemed only by
grace. It is in this lowly position that we find freedom from the
tyranny of the Flesh. Jesus picked the lowly and poor to spend time
with because that is what He was. They were humbled in His presence,
but the Pharisees were agitated. He reduced them to mere sinners
who had nothing with which to make themselves better than others.
They could not be justified by their good works in His holy presence.
Pharisees operate in self-sufficiency and independence. They are
looking for someone to elevate them to a new level of independence,
honour, and sufficiency. As leaders, they had an image to maintain.
What is the image that we project as the Church? The Church projects
the image of being sufficient, able, together, capable. We present
ourselves to the world as if we have it “together”. We
think that if we look good, we will attract people to Christ and
His Church. This is misguided at best. It is for this reason we
have not been able to attract the unable. These are the ones Jesus
came to save (Luke 4:18). The poor and the weak know what they are,
and are looking for an answer to their need. The more able and sufficient
we appear to be, the less the unable are attracted to us as a Church.
We want the able for our Church because they appeal to our Flesh.
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