Start with wearing themask in darkness and shining the light on it...
Read “In The Dark” story:
A young soldier and his commanding officer got on a train together.
The only available seats were across from an attractive young lady who was traveling with her grandmother.
As the four engaged in conversation, the soldier and the young lady kept eyeing one another.
There was an obvious mutual attraction.
Suddenly the train went into a tunnel, sending the train car into darkness.
Immediately two sounds were heard: the smack of a kiss followed by the whack of a slap across someone’s face.
The grandmother thought, I can’t believe he kissed my granddaughter, but I’m glad she gave him the slap he deserved.
The commanding officer thought, I don’t blame the boy for kissing the girl, but it’s a shame that she missed him and hit me instead.
The young girl thought, I’m glad he kissed me, but I wish my grandmother hadn’t slapped him for doing it.
And as the train broke into the sunlight, the soldier couldn’t help but smile.
He had managed to kiss a pretty girl and slap his commanding officer and get away with both!
It’s hard to get away with anything in the light. That’s why so many people love the darkness (John 3:19).
"And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." -Hebrews 4:13
There are no secrets in your heart that God does not already know about it.
Why Hide Who We Are?
1. The TROUBLES that TANGLE you
Ever eat vomit?
Proverbs 26:11 - "As a dog that returns to his vomit, a fool that repeats his folly."
Even though we’re cleansed through and through, we will still be accountable for what we do.
"For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn away from the holy commandment handed on to them." -Peter 2:20-21
Story: Baboons On The Loose
In eastern Africa a troop of about 50 baboons made themselves at home right next to a farm.
The baboons were amusing at first but soon wore out their welcome.
Before long they were ravaging the corn and other crops and helping themselves to anything they could get their hands on.
The frustrated farmers in the area made plans to have the animals destroyed.
To do this they set up cages with food in them. Their plan was to capture the baboons and then kill them once they were trapped.
Baboons, however, aren’t stupid animals. Sensing that the cages were dangerous, they refused to go in.
But the farmers were patient. After several days, one of the hungry baboons ventured into the cage and sampled the food.
It was good --- very good. And nothing bad happened.
The next day, the same baboon returned for more food. Other baboons soon followed.
After a few days, the entire troop of baboons were going into the cages to feast on the food that had been put there by the farmers.
Rather than being afraid of the cages, the baboons started to like them.
For several weeks, the baboons went into the cages every day to get their food.
One day, however, the food was tied to the door latch. When the animals grabbed the food, the doors of the cages slammed shut.
The baboons were spooked at first, but quickly went back to finishing their meal.
They showed no real concern for the fact they had been trapped in a cage.
Sin is a lot like those baboon traps. Down deep you know it can harm you, but just like the food in those traps, it looks pretty good. And you’re hungry! That’s the sin nature.
You may try to resist temptation and do the right thing at first. But then you start to see other people indulging themselves without anything bad happening.
And just like the baboons, you start to believe that you can get away with it yourself.
2. The FOLLY of wrong FRIENDS
Read Story: Bad Company
A great stag (an adult male deer), mighty and majestic, became sick and staggered off to a corner of the pasture where he often fed.
He chose a lush, green corner where plant life abounded and where he could rest until he regained his strength.
His companions began coming to his resting place in great numbers to see him and to ask how he was doing.
Each one, however, thinking only of himself, helped himself to the lush food that surrounded the ailing deer, until the ground all around his bed was bare, and the food was all gone.
Before long, the stag died, not from his sickness, but from the hunger and weakness his evil companions had caused.
That story, based on one of Aesop’s fables, is an illustration of how bad company can hurt you.
It’s just one example of why the Bible says, "Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14, NLT).
That doesn’t mean that God wants you to turn your back on people who don’t know him. It doesn’t mean that he wants you to have nothing to do with non Christians. It doesn’t mean that you should shun non Christians or treat them poorly not at all.
You should still follow God’s command to treat everyone kindly and with respect. You should still witness to unbelievers, and try to help them trust Christ for salvation. You should still be friends with them.
However, if you’re obeying God and growing closer to him, you’ll find that you have less and less in common with unbelievers.
After all, like the Bible says, "How can goodness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the Devil? How can a believer be a partner with an unbeliever?"
In other words, choose carefully the friends you spend the most time with.
Seek out Christian friends who will help you grow in your faith. And be aware that bad company like the sick stag’s companions will do you more harm than good.
God doesn’t want you turning your back on people He will remove those around you if you are trying to obey His commandments and live for Him.
3. The HABITS that HAUNT
Read Story: Old Habits
The French Revolution was tough on nobility. For years the people with money and power in France ignored and humiliated the common people, forcing them to suffer and starve while the noblemen lived in luxury.
With the revolution came payback.
The guillotine was the method of choice for the people’s revenge. During the revolution, many noblemen tried to escape execution by disguising themselves to slip out of the country undetected.
One of them, the Marquis de Condonset, donned the ragged clothes of a peasant and attempted to work his way to the nearest border.
His ploy worked until he stopped at an inn full of real peasants.
The disguised nobleman walked into the inn, sat down at a table, and ordered an omelet made with a dozen eggs.
That wasn’t a smart thing to do in front of a group of people who never would have been able to afford such an extravagant meal.
The nobleman’s mistake ended up sending him to the guillotine.
It’s not easy KEEPING UP APPEARANCES to be something you’re not. Sooner or later, the real you will come to the surface and expose you for what you really are.
This is especially true of people who pretend to be Christians. Sooner or later, the truth will come out.
Becoming a Christian involves being born again-being changed from the inside out. Only when Christ changes your heart can you truly begin to act like a Christian.
You can’t wear a Christian disguise. When you’ve been reborn, your life will begin to show it.
Your actions become the evidence of the change that’s taken place in your heart (James 2:18). Faith without actions is
just as phony as actions without faith.
4. The DEEDS that DESTROY.
Many people harm themselves by the things they choose to do...and in doing those things, you wonder if they know God.
Do you ever wish you could often know how to tell if someone is a Christian or not?
"So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the Devil. Anyone who does not obey God’s commands and does not love other
Christians does not belong to God." -1 John 3:10
This verse makes it simple.
If someone continually does bad things, says bad things, thinks bad things, then they cannot be of God.
We hold the appearance of goodness but when others aren’t around...
2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says even good people can be agents of Satan
This mask or appearance is most common but at the same time the most difficult to wear.
Difficult because you’re always trying to change the appearance to the person or situation you are in.
"We won’t dare compare ourselves with those who think so much of themselves.
But they are foolish to compare themselves with themselves." - 2 Corinthians 10:12
This appearance is also the hardest to take off because it begins to shape itself as your character But eventually, there will be something that
happens to tear it off...
DVD SEGMENT OPTION - Show Mrs. Doubtfire clip during the restaurant scene where Mrs. Doubtfire (Robin Williams) is trying to be two different people, and the troubles that follow switching back and forth to the other...
End after Robin Williams pulls off the costume and walks off...
Trying to keep up all those appearances because we refuse to let go of what God has cleansed us from.
Mrs. Doubtfire’s false appearances finally caught up with her just as your appearances will catch up with you.
How do you stop KEEPING UPAPPEARANCES?
By letting Godmake you who you weremeant to be through Him
1. Talk to Gody daily.
2. Get involved with God’s people
3. Build strongholds through music and reading the Bible
4. Take a stand for what you believe in. (taking a good look at Jesus and telling people what you have seen)
When you start to CARE you’ll find that there is no need to COMPARE yourself with others.
Closing Story: The Mirror
Author Robert Fulghum tells this story of one of his professors, a wise man whose name was Alexander Papaderos:
At the last session on the last morning of a two-week seminar on Greek culture, Dr. Papaderos turned and made the ritual gesture: "Are there any questions?"
Quiet quilted the room. These two weeks had generated enough questions for a lifetime, but for now, there was only silence.
"No questions?" Papaderos swept the room with his eyes.
So, I asked.
"Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?"
The usual laughter followed, and people stirred to go.
Papaderos held up his hand and stilled the room and looked at me for a long time, asking with his eyes if I was serious and seeing from my eyes that I was.
"I will answer your question."
Taking his wallet out of his hip pocket, he fished into a leather billfold and brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter.
And what he said went something like this:
"When I was a small child, during the war, we were very poor and we lived in a remote village. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror.
A German motorcycle had been wrecked in that place.
"I tried to find all the pieces and put them together, but it was not possible, so I kept only the largest piece. This one.
And by scratching it on a stone, I made it round.
I began to play with it as a toy and became fascinated by the fact that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine-in deep holes and crevices and dark closets.
It became a game for me to get light into the most inaccessible places I could find.
"I kept the little mirror, and as I went about my growing up, I would take it out in idle moments and continue the challenge of the game.
As I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child’s game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life.
I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of
light. • But light-truth, understanding, knowledge-is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it.
"I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know.
Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world-into the black places in the hearts of men-and change some things in some people.
Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of life."
And then he took his small mirror and, holding it carefully, caught the bright rays of daylight streaming through the window and reflected them onto my face and onto my hands folded on the desk.
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" (John 9:5), and as his followers, we are to be like that little mirror, reflecting the light of Christ into the dark corners of the world.
That is the meaning of the Christian life. "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
That is the appearance that Jesus desires for you life. Not to keep up appearances, but to shine his appearance through you and all that you are.
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