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.
12Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech-- 13unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
Let me take you back. Paul here is talking about Moses. Ya’ll know who Moses is, right? Ya’ll saw the Prince of Egypt? Moses, the man of God, who led God’s people out of bondage in Egypt. He led them out to the desert and was on their way to the Promised Land. Ok, so Moses had been out in the desert for a while with God’s people, and God’s people weren’t acting right, so Moses and God had a meeting in which God gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Ya’ll have heard of those, right? Ok. So, you’re still with me. Well, Moses got mad at the people cause they had made this golden calf and started worshipping it instead of God, so he throws the two tablets on the ground and breaks them, then he tosses their calf into the fire. Ok, so now Moses has broken the tablets. He’s the only man ever to have broken ALL Ten Commandments at one time.
Now, Moses meets with the Lord and they make up two new tablets, new look, same great product. Well, Moses comes down from the mountain after meeting with God for forty days and he didn’t know it, but his face was shining like crazy. I mean, you think a sunburn is bad, but Moses was like a neon sign. Eat at Joe’s right on his face. He didn’t know it was shining, but everybody else did. And they were scared. Even his own brother wouldn’t come near him. “Eat at Joe’s? Who’s Joe? It’s so bright!”
After a while the people came near him and he gave them the Commandments again. Then after he had finished speaking with the people, I guess somebody had told him that his face was like Motel 6, the light was always on, so he took a veil and covered his face. So now he’s the Sunny Bride. Well, whenever Moses would go back in to meet with God, he’d take the veil off, and when he would come out, he’d put the veil back on. It’s almost like God is Moses’ own personal tanning bed. He goes in, takes the veil off, catches some rays, then comes back out and puts the veil back on to hide his shining tan.
Let me ask you, why was Moses’ face shining? It was because of the glory of God. Now, Paul says, “If Moses day and time was that glorious, just think how much more glorious will be my day and time…and then the future! Wow!” Moses was in the old covenant, Paul calls it the ministry of condemnation. We’re in the new covenant, the ministry of righteousness and the glory abounds. He says that even to this day, when the Old Covenant is read, a veil lies on their heart. They don’t see the true glory, but when a person comes to God, the veil is taken away, and they see the true glory. Then he goes on to say that, “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.”
We all, looking at our faces in the mirror, see the glory of God shining, and as we look at the glory, we’re being transformed into the same image (glory) and the Spirit of God is making that transformation. So who are you? Well, what do you see?
You see a person that has been transformed into the image of God by the Spirit of God. Ok. We’ve got a little bit more to go here. Are you with me? We’re talking about The Man in the Mirror. Ok.
IV. Remember What You Look Like
James 1: 22-24 “22Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.”
How can that be? How can somebody look in the mirror and see themselves, and then walk away and forget what he looks like? I mean, you look in a mirror, walk away, then you’re like, “Wait a minute? Am I bald? Am I fat? Am I short? Do I have blue eyes? Am I missing teeth? Do I have a zit on my nose? What do I look like?”
That’s absurd. But is it really?
What about the girl who is 5’7”, blonde hair, blue eyes, beautiful girl that weighs 90 pounds. She looks in the mirror and she sees that same 5’7”, blonde haired, blue eyed, beautiful girl who weighs 90 pounds, but as soon as she steps away from that mirror and gets around her friends, she believes she’s fat. She can never exercise enough or eat too little. No matter what she sees in the mirror, no matter that her friends tell her that she’s beautiful, she still believes she’s fat. It’s called anorexia and a lot of people suffer from this terrible eating disorder.
It’s possible to look in the mirror and then forget what you look like. There are two reasons that this can happen. One- you don’t believe the mirror is an accurate reflection of who you are. You don’t trust the mirror. Have you ever been to a fun house at a carnival or fair and walked through the hall of mirrors? You have certain mirrors there that are designed to make you look funny. You can stand in front of one mirror and look all muscular and big like Arnold Schwarzeneggar. You can stand in front of another and look extremely short and fat. You can stand in front of yet another and be ten feet tall and skinny as a rail. These mirrors are NOT an accurate reflection of who you are. So you can walk away from these mirrors and forget what you looked like in them. Why? Because you don’t trust them. You don’t trust the mirror. The second reason you can look in a mirror and forget what you look like is that you’re being deceived and you have a problem, like our 5’7” beautiful blonde friend. She has a problem. The enemy is deceiving her into believing that she doesn’t look like what the mirror says she looks like.
We know that the mirror we’re to look in to see the real us is the Word of God. But let me ask you something. Do you trust the mirror? Or do you walk away from it thinking you’re not worthy? Do you look at the Word that says you can do all things through Christ and then walk away thinking that you could never be good enough? Do you look at the Word that says you have an anointing from the holy one and know all things and then walk away thinking that you will never get an A in Chemistry? If you do, then there’s a reason. Either you don’t trust the mirror or you’re being deceived.
How many of ya’ll trust that the Word of God is an accurate reflection of the real you? Ok, then you trust the mirror in this case. Well, how is that you can see yourself in the Word and then walk away and act totally different than who you are? You’re being deceived. You’re letting the enemy pull the wool over your eyes. You can look at the Word and find that you are the redeemed. You are redeemed from the curse of the law, which means that you don’t have to undergo sickness, disease, poverty, or lack. Yet when sickness comes, you take it and nurse it, or when lack is hanging over you, you let it steal all of your money away. What’s happening here? You said you trust the mirror, so the only other option is that the enemy is deceiving you. Don’t let that happen. How do I stop it, Pastor Nate? I’m glad you asked.
Look at the Word to find the real you, then boldly declare that that is who you are. E. W. Kenyon says “The reason that the majority of Christians are weak, though they are earnest, yet they are weak, is because they have never dared to make a bold confession of what they are in Christ.”
Practice with me. Say this:
I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. My spirit is created in the image and likeness of God.
I am complete in Christ Jesus.
I am righteous in Christ Jesus. I have right standing with God just like I’d never done anything wrong.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
I am God’s child and a joint-heir with Christ.
There is no lack for my God supplies all my needs, in every area of life, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
I have the mind of Christ.
I have an anointing from the Holy One and I know all things.
I will look in the mirror, the Word of God, and see an accurate reflection of myself, and I will never forget who I am or what I look like.
Let’s pray.
