Mirror, Mirror on the Wall
Notes
Transcript
Mirrors are interesting things. There is a saying that “mirrors don’t lie.” What one sees in a mirror is what actually is. I can look in a mirror and say: what lovely blond hair I have. However, that would be me disregarding what the mirror was showing me. The mirror is actually showing me that I am becoming exponentially more grey. The mirror doesn’t lie. I just choose to ignore what the mirror is telling me.
When I was a kid, my brother never ignored what he saw in the mirror. In fact, my parents found him sitting in front of mirrors for 20 minutes or so, making faces at himself.
He still makes faces, but not in front of mirrors.
I’m off topic. We all need mirrors in our lives. Something that tells us who we actually are. What we actually look like.
But, we also need to look in that mirror, stare in it, and declare “yes, that is me” Grey haired with a beard that should probably be trimmed sometime.
We need physical mirrors, and we need spiritual mirrors. I have stood up here for three weeks. This is the fourth week. And I have declared that we are all addicted to something. We all have sin that we struggle with. Or sin that we are firmly embracing as our friend.
We need to come to the point when we declare that we are powerless over our addictions, brokenness, and sinful patterns—that in our own power our lives are unmanageable.
We need to acknowledge the truth about God, that God is the one whose power can fully restore us.
But, we can’t just acknowledge the the truth about God, we must fall on our faces before him, there must be a decision to trust God with our lives and wills by accepting his grace through Jesus Christ.
When we come to Jesus in our sinfulness, begging him to save us, he accepts us as we are, washing us clean from our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice on the cross for us, on our behalf.
He accepts us as we are, but he doesn’t leave us as we are. He calls us to change. He has given us a new character, defined by him, to reflect him.
Well, in order to change, we must see ourselves as God sees us.
Yes, God sees us forgiven, righteous, justified, because of Jesus. But, he also sees our sin, our addiction, our brokenness. By his grace, he just doesn’t hold it against, in fact he removes from us as for as the east is from the west. But, if he removes it from us, he wants us to remove ourselves from it as well.
As Paul writes:
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
We must takes steps to follow God in his holiness. That first little step is to make a searching and fearful moral inventory of ourselves.
As David writes:
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
This is hard.
Pray
A. The Mask
A. The Mask
We do not want to truly know who we are. We want to get through our life with as little pain as possible.
To do that, we put on a mask. Yes, so others won’t see, but so we won’t see too.
We are like Sarah in the tent. You may not know this story. If you do, pretend that you don’t.
God visits Abraham. They have a nice chat while Sarah is in the tent eavesdropping like the good wife she is. God tells Abraham that Sarah is going to have a child in a year. And Sarah thinks that is so ridiculous, she laughs. And God says, why did you laugh Sarah, and Sarah says “who me? I didn’t laugh!” And God says, “yes, you did.”
So often, we go through life saying, “no, that’s not me. God you got the wrong idea. No, I’m not addicted to alcohol. No, that wasn’t actually pornography that I looked at. I was just telling the truth about a situation, I wasn’t gossiping. I’m not gluttonous, I just enjoy the taste of food. That was just a white lie, and all those others where also white lies. I’m not proud. Goodness, why would you think that of me.”
We go through life with a mask on our face, trying to hide the truth about ourselves from our ourselves, from others, even from God.
Sometimes, we wear a partial mask. We are open about our problems of the past, the big ones and we are open about the struggle and what we went through to gain freedom and godliness. But, we quickly walk past the mirror and look the opposite direction when it comes to who we are today.
We are the embodiment of
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.
Darkness is nice. Darkness is safe. Darkness is peaceful.
I have a hard time sleeping when there is light. I used to be able to sleep in the light all the time. I have become finicky in my old age. I want pitch blackness, because it is peaceful.
Staying in the mask is peaceful, it is safe, it is what I am used to. I would rather declare that I don’t struggle with hypocrisy. I would rather not admit that it is easier to tell someone that I know what they are talking about, rather than declare that I don’t know, which is a lie.
We who wear the mask are those in Isaiah
Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter.
B. The Fear
B. The Fear
Why do we wear this mask? Why don’t we want to take it off and stare into the light.
We are afraid. We are afraid of so many things.
We are afraid of being overwhelmed by our sin.
And, yes, when the floodgates of how sinful we really are opened, it is overwhelming. The pile upon pile of evil that I constantly cherish in my heart, in spite of all the God has done for me, if horrible. And as I reflect on it, I realize that there is nothing that I can do to change all of that evil. There is nothing that I can do to atone for that evil. There even no way that I can even confess all of the sins that I do.
But, as I reflect on it, and am overwhelmed by it, I see God’s amazing love, that he was willing to take all of that on himself. It shows me the depth of his love.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
The realization of that price doesn’t push me down, but lifts me up, because he willingly paid it.
Maybe we are afraid of acknowledging how evil we are. Our identity has been so wrapped up in the lie that we are living, we do not know how to live apart from it.
It’s like having a bad friend. We refuse to acknowledge the bad influence the friend is, because he is my only friend and I cannot imagine living apart from him.
So, are our sins. If we don’t acknowledge, we don’t have to change. We can maintain the status quo. If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Unfortunately, Peter, it’s broke. It’s been broke for a while.
Or perhaps we are scared of the results of the truth.
A good, long look at a spiritual mirror will not only reveal our sinful actions and sinful inclination, but will reveal the reasons behind them, they will reveal our idols.
Yes, we might be a workaholic, but that is because we enjoy a comfortable lifestyle and that comfortable lifestyle is more important to us than God himself.
We don’t want to see those idols. So, we keep shoving them down. Remove all the mirrors from the house. God, you don’t have to convict me today. let’s schedule that for next year.
Perhaps, we are afraid that if we are truthful about it, we will have to be truthful to other people. Well, that’s a topic for next week. Ignore that fear, stuff it, for now.
We have a choice every day, to live based upon fear. Or to live based upon truth.
Paul wrote:
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
So, when we come to the spiritual mirror, to see ourselves for who we really are, and we sense ourselves getting slower and slower and wanting to pull away from that awful truth of who we really, we turn to God and say: I’m scared. I’m afraid of something. I know what you call me to do, and I am afraid. Help me.
And when we do,
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
C. The Reveal
C. The Reveal
So, we rip that mask off and say, “yes, God, I know. This is truly who I am. I am so sorry.”
Why do we do it?
Well, because he tells us to.
Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being,
And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.
I hate to brake this sermon up, but I have to discuss a little bit of translation.
The NIV says:
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
The translators took the word ‘innermost part” and applied it to the mother. However, other translators correctly apply it to David.
God desires us to live with integrity. To be truthful about who we are, in public and in private, in what we say and what we know. We must be truthful, in our innermost parts, acknowledging faithfully, this is who I am. I will speak and declare the whole truth.
In fact, God inspired John to write:
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
That’s rather blatant in the face.
We do it, because God tells us to. But, we do it because when sin and brokenness are brought into light healing comes.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light.
We are not to have anything to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but we are to expose them. We are to fling the mask off. We are to stare into the mirror and declare to ourselves and our God: this is me. I am ashamed of it. This is me. God, change me.
But, we must do it in detail.
We look at things in our life. We are honest about our resentments, our fears, the harms that were done to us, the harms we have done to others, sexual misconduct, and all the events and behaviors and activities surrounding the issue that is most convicting to us. This is a record of our pains, sins, and struggles.
It gets tiring. Yes it does. And the list can get pretty long, but it better.
For each item, we explore it.
Remember what I said earlier? We don’t just look at the action, but we look at the why, because we want to unearth the idols. Why in the world am I a people-pleaser? What am I trying to get from that, what does God offer to supply if I would just turn to him?
So, for each event that we write down, we explore, we plunge the depths. This is where a notebook comes in handy. And you say, but I don’t have time for this! Do it when you can’t sleep, or when your spouse or sibling made you really mad and you just want to get away.
We describe the thing, the event, and the harm it caused. We write out how we responded, which wasn’t probably a godly response. We list the nature of the response. And then we write what we valued.
You want an example?
Several years ago, I wrote this:
My issue of people-pleasing harms my friends. It has caused them harm because I was scared of what they thought, so I wouldn’t open up to them . I wouldn’t tell them when I was hurt, or when they could grow. I would stretch truth or spin in order to escape loosing face. I responded to this harm I caused by escaping times or situation when I would have to talk. If people asked a question, I would evade because I felt insecure. My response was insecure, self-protective, dishonest, fearful, and prideful. My harmful behavior and response valued my ego, my security, and my sense of respect. Which are idols for me.
There you go. The reveal. Taking the mask off.
D. The Result
D. The Result
What is the result of doing all of this, going through all of this pain, taking the time to make a searching and fearful moral inventory of ourselves.
We prepare ourselves to be radically changed by God. We open up our lives and say “yes, God, I agree with your assessment of me and I want to be compete changed by you, every part of me. I want complete revival!
As we cry over our sin and our brokenness, admitting that we need God’s help alone, we will experience the truth of these verses:
Record my misery;
list my tears on your scroll—
are they not in your record?
Then my enemies will turn back
when I call for help.
By this I will know that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise—
in God I trust and am not afraid.
What can man do to me?
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
The Lord is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Do we want to know God intimately? Do we want the blessing that he promises and the ways that he willingly offers to help?
Then, let’s live with integrity in our innermost being. Let us know wisdom in the secret places of our lives. Let us look in the mirror and declare the truth.