Selfie: Control

Everyone who has a phone take it out…

let’s take a selfie

Is that still the word… sometimes I get out of touch

What social media apps are you guys on

Facebook

Instagram

Snapchat

What else is out there?

See I remember Myspace… Live Journal, Xanga…

That’s old school stuff right there

What are those things called that you use to make your selfie look like a dog or whatever?

Filters…

There we go!

What’s your favorite filter? Just yell it out? Anyone have one that they see a bunch?

Today we are continuing our talk on Damage Control

Say Control

Today I want to talk to you about selfie: control

Now I’m not talking about self control the concept of having restraint… I’m talking about the concept of having control of how others percieve you… having control of who others think you are… of your image.

We live in a world that is run by filters

Have any of you ever heard of this program called deep fake?

It is a graphic program that can take someone’s face and digitally replace it with someone else’s in a video. Some of the deep Fake video’s are so convincing that if you didn’t know you wouldn’t know

But you don’t have to go that deep with it

How many of you have seen people post so many photos with filters on that youforget what they look like?

I tell you what I hope some of my friends don’t go missing … the police will be out there looking for people with dog ears and nose piercings and rainbows coming out of thier mouths!

This is all fun and games but

There is something deeper at play here.

We’ve fallen into not only filters on our faces but filters on our lives

We only post the stuff on social media that we think will make us look good

You edit and filter each picture

You post all the glorifying posts and you neglect to post all the real

You are working at stuntin’ for the grahm … doing things just to post it on social media so that your image… how you look to the world will increase

And then that transfers into your real life relationships

Before we go any further let’s jump into scripture.

If you have a bible near you turn to the book of Exodus Chapter 34:29-35

We’re going to look at Moses here and his veiled face

While you’re turning there here’s a little context

The children of israel had been out in the wilderness now for 50 days

This is where the celebration of Pentecost comes from

50 days after the passover moses came down with the ten commandments and gave the law to the children of Israel

READ 34:29-35

So let’s dive into this a bit

Moses had a face to face encounter with the living God

it was so awesome and amazing that he walked away with his actual skin glowing

I’m talking glow int he dark… emanating light from his skin from just being in the presence of God

But after time the glow would fade… The longer he was away from the presence of God the more the glow would fade

And 2 corinthians tells us that moses was worried about people seeing the fading glory of God so he hid his face

Hiding the slow fade of the Glory of God

Moses was using the veil to manage his image

he didn’t want the people to see his face loosing the Glory of God

When he was in the presence of the most high it changed him and he was glad to let that be seen, But when he saw it slip when he saw the light diminish he would cover his face so that the people wouldn’t see the real moses start to slip through

Now in the context of the Old Testament, what moses did was for the people’s hard hearts. Moses didn’t have the Holy Spirit living inside him

Did you guys know that those of you who have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior have the power of the living God inside of you

The same power that spoke creation into creation and raised Jesus from the dead is alive and active in your very hearts

Moses, abraham, isaac, david… Any of those guys would’ve traded their situation for yours in a heartbeat

They had to follow the law and live by the faith in a future day of Glory to be in the presence of God

We have the law of Grace and the Spirit of truth living inside of us and we can access God at any moment of any day because he dwells inside you.... Pretty cool right?

Back to the text

What we see in Moses this veiling is exactly what we do on social media, its what we do in real life situations

How many times have you been around your brothers and sisters in the faith and when they ask you how you’re doing you say fine

I’m stealing this from Rob Schmutz but i like his definition of fine

Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional

You’re not fine, but you want to manage you want to control the way that other people see you

You don’t ever want to look you don’t have it together or that you need someone

We use this selfie control in all these areas of our lives when That’s not what God has for you

Christ didn’t call you here to be around others so that you can portray an image of strength

Christ calls you out of this lifestyle of seeking to manage your image in order to live into his image

It’s not about your image… its a bout his image in you

If you still have your bible open, turn to or write it down and check it out later

READ

Paul is talking about how living in Christ brings us eternal hope and how the glory of Christ surpasses the glory of the law

Since we have a hope we are very bold… Not to veil our faces but what?

Down in 18: we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image

That is the image of the Glorious Christ Jesus

From one degree of glory to another

He’s saying that when you are beholding the face of Christ you don’t have to manage the way others view you

you don’t have to fight for other people’s attention

You don’t have to impress anyone

You don’t have to worry about the right filter to put on your life

You don’t have to worry about controlling your selfie

Because as we behold his glory HE transforms us from one degree to another

That is bit by bit, step by step, inch by inch.

You may not be able to see how you reflect the GLory of Christ more today than you did yesterday… but if you look back to where you were last year… have you been being transformed from one degree to another

If not… could it be because you have been spending so much of your time and your energy trying to control the way others see you instead of just beholding the glory of Christ?

Remember… his grace is sufficient, not your effort. His grace transforms our hearts from the inside and not our efforts transforming our hearts from the outside.

What does that look like?

Beholding the Glory of Christ means spending time in his presence, listening to him, reading your word, It means being able to just be real in the presence of the lover of your soul

the one who will not leave or forsake you. The one who will shine his light into every dark place of your life

So again i ask… What’s your favorite filter? It’s my hope that you will be able to eliminate the filters and allow the light of Christ to shine in every area of your life as you are seeking to look into his wonderful face.