Who are you?

Imagine for one second that I am the world’s best reporter and I was writing a report on who you are.  

To gather information, I’d go to your school, family, best friends, colleagues, neighbours and of course google.

Now if I were to just sit down and interview all those people with questions like,

• What is this person like?
• What do you think their relationship with God is like?
• What does that person value?
• Who is _______??

You probably have a good idea of how people would respond.  

On our last day in China, I asked the team of pastors to simply encourage one another.  We started with the pastor on my left, and everyone said something great about that persons personality and character.  It went around the whole table and finally ended on me.  

People started sharing many kind and gracious words.

“Andrew you have a kind and sensitive heart”

“You are seemingly unflappable”

“Thank you for providing such humor and joy”

“You are great at what you do, but I think there is even more in your future”

“I won’t believe how old you are until I see your birth certificate”

I won’t lie - it felt really good to hear all these things.  These are the qualities that I strive to attain and the confirmation of a group of influential leaders felt really good.

However, the reality is, this is my reputation from just a few other people.  While it’s great to have this outward appearance and people respect you - this is just human opinion.  

Imagine now - somehow - I had the ability as the best reporter in the world to go up to God and ask those same questions.

• God tell me about ____.
• What are they like?
• Tell me what they think about you?

What would these two reports look like?

Is what the people around you would say be much higher then what God would say about you? And if so, is it possible that you are more concerned about your reputation than your character (who you really are before God)?

And we know it.  We are aware of that difference between our reputation and character - even though sometimes we will deceive ourselves saying, ‘it’s good enough that what people around me think of me is good.’

In the book of Revelation (ch 3) it talks about the people in Sardis.  

“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

We’ve all heard of pastors who served for years and then made some shocking decisions.  Or marriages that looked perfect from the outside yet fell apart seemingly overnight.  (insert your personal example here)

Most of you reading this know me or maybe knew me growing up.  Maybe you have this perspective that I’ve been a pretty good kid my whole life - maybe my reputation hasn’t changed. And some of you might have known me at certain times in my life and now say, oh wow look how he has changed.

The reality is we can deceive whoever we want.  We can even deceive ourselves, however Jesus says, “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

It continues on….

²Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. ⁴Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 

There is something so silly about being fake when something so big is on the line.  Imagine faking your whole life that your following Jesus - is that your goal? Because that joy won’t last very long. 

We need to be honest with our disbeliefs, honest with our fear of surrender and honest with our concern for what we see in our church compared to what is written in the New Testament. 

In reality it is this conflict that led me into ministry work.  Seeing one thing and reading something else.  Seeing my own life - and reading something else in the book that my faith is based on.  

“I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.”

To hear Jesus confess my name before the Father and the angel - that will be awesome. And that is what I truly want to live my life for - nothing or no one else.