The Man In The Mirror

The Man in the Mirror

An Accurate Reflection of the Real You

5/7/03

I. Introduction

A man was looking for a job and he noticed that there was an opening at the local zoo. He inquired about the job and discovered that the zoo had a very unusual position that they wanted to fill. Apparently their gorilla had died, and until they could get a new one, they needed someone to dress up in a gorilla suit and act like a gorilla for a few days. He was to just sit, eat and sleep. His identity would be kept a secret, of course. Thanks to a very fine gorilla suit, no one would be the wiser.

The zoo offered good pay for this job, so the man decided to do it. He tried on the suit and sure enough, he looked just like a gorilla. They led him to the cage; he took a position at the back of the cage and pretended to sleep. But after a while, he got tired of sitting, so he walked around a little bit, jumped up and down and tried a few gorilla noises. The people who were watching him seemed to really like that. When he would move or jump around, they would clap and cheer and throw him peanuts. And the man loved peanuts. So he jumped around some more and tried climbing a tree. That seemed to really get the crowd excited. They threw more peanuts. Playing to the crowd, he grabbed a vine and swung from one side of the cage to the other. The people loved it and threw more peanuts. Wow, this is great, he thought. He swung higher and the crowd grew bigger. He continued to swing on the vine, getting higher and higher—and then all of a sudden, the vine broke! He swung up and out of the cage, landing in the lion’s cage that was next door.

He panicked. There was a huge lion not twenty feet away, and it looked very hungry. So the man in the gorilla suit started jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, “Help, help! Get me out of here! I’m not really a gorilla! I’m a man in a gorilla suit! Heeelllp!”

The lion quickly pounced on the man, held him down and said, “Will you SHUT UP! You’re going to get both of us fired!”

Tonight we’re going to examine the subject of who you really are. We’re talking about “The Man in the Mirror- An Accurate Reflection of the Real You.” Are you like this man pretending to be something you’re not? Or have you been deceiving yourself for long that you actually believe that you’re something else? Who are you really? Who is the man in the mirror?

II. Who Do You Think You Are?

1 Corinthians 13: 11-12 “11When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.”

Ancient mirrors, which were manufactured at Corinth, were made of metal and gave dim reflections, which is why Paul says that now we see in a mirror, dimly. This is an illustration of our imperfect knowledge during this age. Now, when we’re in heaven, we’ll know things instantly and knowledge will be full and complete. But right now it’s imperfect.

But, Paul says we see in a mirror, dimly. Have you ever seen your reflection in a spoon? It’s kind of funky, right? What about seeing your reflection in a window? That’s pretty dim, too, huh?

While, there are certain things we won’t know until we get to heaven, like whether or not Adam and Eve had belly buttons, one thing we can know is who we are and what we look like. Now, mirrors in Paul’s day were metal and you couldn’t see a very accurate reflection of yourself, it was kind of like looking into a spoon. But in today’s age, we have mirrors that very much display what we really look like. (Pull out mirror) Like this mirror, for instance. If you look in this mirror, you can see yourself and what you look like. Well, if we want to know who we really are, what mirror do we look in? We have to look to the Word as a mirror to show us who we really are.

III. Behold Yourself

2 Corinthians 3: 7-18 “7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, 8how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.