Secrets, Secrets, Secrets

INTRODUCTION

Let’s take a look at these postcards people put on a site called PostSecret

Funny/Silly Secrets

Recycling

Dog Treats

No beat

Weddings are expensive

Serious Secrets

Unhappy career

Secretively hurting

Planning Divorce

Can’t forgive teen pregnancy

And then there are these...

Running for stillborn

Fear of Death

I can always kill myself

Didn’t Jump

Confessions on PostSecret

PostSecret is a blog founded in 2005 by artist Frank Warren

It is now a Facebook page — Instagram Account and more

What is it?

It is a place where people can post their darkest secrets in secret

Warren thought we all have secrets that we don’t tell anyone but we need to tell someone — PostSecret was his idea to give people an anonymous place to bare all

From sexual sins to destructive habits, participants were completely honest based on the privacy of PostSecret

Let me ask you a question...

If you could fill out a PostSecret card right now, what would you confess? What are your darkest secrets, most detestable thoughts, or deepest struggles?

Now let me ask you something else...

Why don’t you share those secrets?

Why do you keep them to yourself?

I’m not suggesting that we share them with everyone or post about them on our Facebook, but why don’t we tell anyone?

Why is telling even one person so difficult?

What are we afraid of?

Being misunderstood? Afraid of rejection?

Truth is we all have secrets...

We all have thoughts, actions, feelings, relationships, and behaviors that we keep to ourselves.

We all have things we hide about ourselves — keep in the dark so people cannot see

Why?

Because we keep secrets so people will accept us — embrace us — love us

We don’t want to be ostracized in our circles of relationships

We don’t want to be judged — misunderstood — rejected

We don’t want to be left out — on the outside looking in

We fear that if people knew then we wouldn’t be accepted

But here is the problem...

The secrets we keep never get better in the dark — we need bring them into the light — but can we and still be accepted? Loved? Embraced?

Let’s look at a miracle story in Mark today that shows us how Jesus might help us with our problem...

SCRIPTURE

Jesus is continuing his ministry — healing — casting out demons — teaching about the Kingdom — and all the while not letting the demons he is casting out speak — Jesus wants his identity kept a secret but why?

Pretty hard to keep it on the down low when you heal the blind, lame, the dumb, and the sick

Pretty hard to keep it all in house when you are casting out demons — right?

But it is important to note here — Jesus’ isn’t secretive because he is afraid people won’t accept Him — it is because he refuses the identity they want to give Him

They want to crown the Messiah a political King — his agenda is suffering and the cross

But along the way he is delivering the imprisoned — healing the suffering — restoring the outcast

Mark 1:29–31 ESV

29 And immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

Guest are coming for dinner and Peter’s mother-in-law cannot get out of bed

Her illness kept her from doing what it was she did — hospitality to her family and Jesus

Jesus does the compassionate thing and goes to her — He takes her hand and lifts her up — she is made well — whole again — healed

What does she do — she joins the party — she begins to serve

diakoneo = to serve

Mark wants us to see in this little short narrative — really an anecdote that Jesus heals so people can respond appropriately by serving the Master and others

Discipleship is very much about being restored to our intended purpose

What kept her from her family and the celebration of Jesus’ visit is now over

Mark 1:32–34 TNIV

32 That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. 33 The whole town gathered at the door, 34 and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drove out many demons, but he would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.

More healing — this time the demon-possessed as well

Jesus wants his identity kept a secret — but I noticed something about those coming to Jesus

They too have secrets they keep...

Yes they are sick and oppresses — and we often think of their suffering physically, mentally, emotionally

But their pain was much deeper than just symptoms of the illness

These are people who must live most of their lives in secret

Their condition often ostracized them from the community

In this time and culture — sickness was a sign of being cursed or even the result of a parent’s sin or personal sin

For Torah-centered Jews they would have felt the impression the Law gave that a fever was a penalty sent by God

Demon-possession was a sure way to be pushed to the outside of the city — no contact with family or friends — no communion with those in the community

Their pain was not just physical, emotional, mental — it was also relational

When Jesus healed them He wasn’t just relieving them of their pain and suffering

Jesus was restoring them back to their families — their friendships — their place in the community

He was restoring them to their created purpose

He was recreating in them the lost image of God

We were not created to be alone — forgotten — unaccepted — unloved

We were created to belong — to be embraced by community — to be loved — to be whole

Jesus not only makes them whole and accepted back into the community but he also frees them from a life lived in the shadows

Jesus releases them from their secret keeping ways

Jesus gives them a new lease on life

They are now free to follow Jesus — free to discover all the possibilities of a new life in the light

Mark 1:35–39 TNIV

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” 38 Jesus replied, “Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.” 39 So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.

CONCLUSION

What secrets are you keeping?

What secrets do you keep that keep you from fully living?

We keep secrets because we are ashamed and shame keeps our true selves hidden

You need to come out of the darkness and into the light

But that is part of the problem isn’t it — who can you trust with such risky information

You need someone who loves you completely — all of you -- including you failures — hurts — secrets — insecurities

You need someone who has the power to set you free — to speak the truth about who you really are

You need someone who can heal your brokenness — bind up your broken heart — recreate your shattered soul — restore you to the life and relationships you were meant to have

This is who Jesus is

He sees and knows everything and yet has compassion enough to reach down on the beds we lie on — to take our hand and raise us up

Jesus looks into the deepest parts of your heart

He speaks truth to all the lies — all the wounds — all the sins that have brought you down

He calls you by name and says rise up — get up off your sick bed — be restored — take your place in this embracing community of love called God’s people

Do you see what Mark is telling us today?

Jesus saves!

He doesn’t just forgive sins and make it so we can go to heaven

Jesus is a healer — He restores us — renews us — loves us as we should be loved — Sure he forgives sins but he also overcomes the results of sin

Jesus is the one who tells the demons to be quiet — he has the power!

Bottom Line: You will never be fully you until you believe the One who created you