Chapel

Behind the Mask

John 1:11-13 “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Good morning!

INTRO:

My name is Ben Wofford.

I’m married to Allison who helps here.

We have 3 sons, Roman, Camden, and Declan.

Or Ro, Cam, and Dex

I’m the student pastor here at BBC

I just want to say thank you.

Thank you for being part of the Co-op here.

Thank you to Holly and all the work she has done for years to make Co-op a success.

If you’re a parent here, thank you.

____________________________

TRANSITION:

Briefly this morning, I want to share my testimony with you, like Joe did last month and then I want to challenge all of us from John 1.

To Begin,

What do we have coming up at the start of next week?

Halloween!

I see a lot of good costumes here today.

But one of the best parts of Halloween is dressing up.

Putting on a costume and enjoying a few hours feeling like

Whether Batman, superman, a princess, or a mermaid…

It’s fun to dress up and wear a mask for a few hours.

However, do you realize we often wear masks the other 364 days of the year too?

What is the mask I wear and don’t realize it?

How do I take it off?

Share my testimony briefly.

Saved young age, didn’t understand.

Dated a girl as a freshman in high school… Her dad died.

She broke up with me 3 months later.

And it made me angry.

I tried to just be a friend to her through a hard time in her life, why would she just throw all that away a few months later?

This made me angry.

But I masked it..

I hid my anger. I hid my frustration. And I wore a mask.

Discuss Sophomore summer being angry.

Summer after my sophomore year of school going into my Junior year of high school, God rescued me of that anger.

I turned my life back to Christ and surrendered to ministry.

I took off that mask of Anger and realized that even though people around me saw the mask, God saw past the mask.

He saw me… and I responded in faith to Him.

- Senior year of high school, a friend of mine died in a motorcycle accident.

different response.

My walk with Christ recognized and expected hard times.

My security in this life is not in my circumstances, but is solely on Christ.

- 6 years ago my parents divorced.

the effects of that still affect me and my family today and always will.

But in all these situations.

What am I to do?

How do I keep from putting on a mask to hide what I’m feeling inside from those around me?

1. Take off the mask.

John 1:11-12 “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”

It’s good to wear the mask at Halloween, but don’t wear it the rest of the year.

Like me, during bad times in your life, you’ve probably put on a mask.

Maybe someone asks you, “How you doing today?” And you say, “Good” but you know inside, you’re not good…

If I can encourage you today.

God loves you, exactly you, as you are and wouldn’t change a thing about you.

You may wear a mask around other people, but before God, there is no need to wear a mask.

Romans 5:8 “8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Some people say, God loves us in spite of our sin.

But I don’t think that’s what Romans 5:8 says.

God didn’t die for you in spite of your sin.

He died because of it!

Romans 5:6 “6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”

What qualifies you to be loved by God?

It’s not you being perfect,

having the right answers

doing everything the right way and in order…

NO.

It’s actually, the fact that you have sin. and you NEED God that qualifies you.

My friends, take off the mask.

John 1:11 says not everyone will receive Him.

If you haven’t received Him, then God wants you! He died to save you after all, but you have to receive Him.

Have you done that?

2. You are a child of the King.

But to All who receive Him… listen to this.

John 1:11-13 “11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Look at what John 1 says,

“To all who received him, he gave the rights to become children of God.”

It really is that simple!

Your sin qualifies you for God’s forgiveness…

But!

You must receive it!

Too many people walk with a mask pretending they have received God’s grace and mercy, but they have not

John 1 simply says, Jesus has done it all!

Receive his forgiveness!

He goes on to say in vs. 13.

You were born:

not of blood

not of flesh

not of the will of man.

(blood) Just because your family believes in Jesus, doesn’t mean YOU do.

It’s a personal decision to follow Christ, Your family can’t decide that for you.

(flesh) It’s not your good works that save you

(will) it’s not your desire to do good more than your desire to do bad…

It’s the finished work of Jesus:

His death, burial for 3 days, and resurrection.

That is the gospel. and because of it, God offers us Salvation and life.

John 1:1-4 “1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”

Jesus is God (vs. 1)

Jesus is creator (vs. 3)

Jesus is life (vs. 4)

Friends,

Who is Jesus to you?

Is He your life?

Don’t feel like you need to wear a mask around him.

Application:

There’s a song that says, “This little light of mine… I’m gonna let it shine…”

The Scottish Missionary Ion Keith-Falconer who said, “I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness that in a land flooded with light.”

Friends, you have one life.

One candle to burn.

Don’t burn the candle wearing a mask.

Or are you letting Christ’s love shine through you?

As the warmth of God’s love

and the light of His candle burns in you.

It will burn away any mask that tries to take His place.

My favorite Preacher, Charles Spurgeon, lived in the 1800s in England,

He once said,

"The name of Jesus Christ is hell’s terror, heaven’s delight, and earth’s hope."

Jesus is whom hell hates, Heaven delights, and our hope.

Friends… He is our hope on earth.

Satan wants you to think you aren’t good enough for Jesus.

He wants you to hide behind the mask.

Feeling ashamed, broken, frustrated, sad.

But those things are the end result of what the world offers us and calls good.

Do not chase after the things of this world, wearing a mask, thinking you will find rest for your soul.

Shine your light, rather, as a child of God

Sing daily, Hallelujah, How you love me Jesus.

Enough to die for me.

And find Rest, fulfillment, and hope!

Let your light burn for all to see the love of Christ!

You have one life,

How will you use it?

If we have the privilege of living a long life,

I don’t think we will lay in our death beds many years from now and regret that we didn’t spend more time on the sports field.

More time playing video games.

More time on social media.

We will regret 2 things only.

That I didn’t proclaim Christ more richly

That I didn’t proclaim Christ with the people we love doing what we love.

That is what we most treasure.

Every day is a gift from the Lord.

How will you use this one life?

Let’s pray friends.