Fake or Fact: Appearance

Appearance

HELLO EVERYONE!

Man it is good to be back with you all!

My name is Zach Klundt- I am the director of student ministries here at Bethel.

And I am miss you all so much— no you— i’m kidding!

I really have guys! I have missed you all like crazy!

August flew by and I cannot tell how pumped I am to be here with you all tonight!

We did something tonight that we have never done before.

We had both of our groups present!

It is insane!

As we have gather together tonight, we decided that for the next couple of weeks our message series is going to be the same for both Junior High and High School.

We are starting a series called Fake Or Fact

And by saying that phrase Is this real we want to examine four areas of our life where we want mask the reality.

They are appearance, friends, social media, and our faith.

And our main verse for the next couple of weeks is found in Romans 12:2

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

The world can be so negative, and at times we may feel the overwhelming need to lie, seek attention and manipulate our situations.

But here is what Paul was encouraging the people he was writing too.

By staying away from this world— as in not conforming to it.

We are not of the world but we are sent to the world.

This means that we may have to change or adapt how we have been living.

I know life change is hard.

You if you are follower of Christ, your life is going to change because of it.

You can’t live life totally unchanged and unmoved when you meet the unstoppable God.

But we will we know that we should not be conformed to this world, we can acknowledge that there is some good in the world right?

And that involves us testing so that we can discern what the will of God is.

What is good and acceptable and yes even perfect.

So tonight we are going to be looking at our appearance.

Now show of hands how many of you care how you dress everyday?

As in your look at the mirror as you walk out to make sure that your shirt doesn’t have a stain on it.

A good chunk of us.

That is not a bad thing.

I look in the mirror to make sure my collar is straight and my outfit at least matches.

And while I believe their is nothing wrong with this, I do think that we can put a bigger emphasis on how we look.

While our default may be to put girls in this category by themselves, that is not the case in our world today.

Men and women both share attention-seeking attributes.

Both want to be seen by the other.

And growing up in a small high school, I can admit to you all that I cared how I looked.

But man, I did not look very good doing it.

I don’t know if this is still a tend anymore, but I use to wear a t-shirt over a collared shirt.

I would also wear two t-shirts.

Even in the summer.

DUMB and Hot!

I cared about what others thought of me.

I would wear something cool to get people to see me more clearly.

And it had an effect at times.

And the more I get attention based on how I looked the more I wanted to dress up, or look a certain way.

I can only imagine that we know exactly what this is like.

Because we still do this.

But a life that is living out the real gospel— is a life that is not seeking attention.

Please hear me, it is okay to look nice and presentable.

However there is a line— when that is all we think about.

That consumes our thoughts and we plan on how we are going to get more attention.

Maybe we show off a little bit more skin— that seems to do the trick, people seemed to really notice me today— I’ll do the same tomorrow.

We begin to chase likes and hearts by seeking the attention of others.

I want to break down the why tonight.

Why does appearance matter to us?

And how maybe we are chasing a fake reality as opposed to a real one.

so we are going to break this down into three points.

Number one:

We worry about other’s opinion

Galatians 1:10 ESV

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

I love how Paul ten verses into his letter to the church of Galicia is just like— I don’t seek the approval of man!

If I were going too do that— I would not be a follower of Jesus!

It is so easy to want others to approve of me.

I want that in my own life.

As a 3 on the enneagram— i want you to like me.

I need you to like me.

Please like me!

WHY DON’T YOU LIKE ME!!!

It is really easy to fall into fades and what is hot right now.

I really want to know who decides what is in and what is out.

I have a closet of clothes I bought when things were in but now I am being told I can’t wear certain shirts because they are to in anymore.

And that is just trash!

So I want to meet those people.

Does anyone know where I can find them?

Have you ever bought something to then have it fade out only a week later.

I did that with shoes.

Everyone had to have nike shoxs when they first came out!

Shoes that would make you jump higher, and make you run faster!

It was not until you got those shoes that you realize that I am the one who has no hops and there is no shoe that is going to help that!

But anyway— I begged my parents for these shoes to only have them show up right about a week before they were no longer cool.

I was devastated and I ended up not really wearing them a ton and my parents were not happy.

But all my friends made fun of me for old shoes.

Here is the issue of why we should not be seeking the approval of man, because our value is not summed up in a comment, a like, or dm request.

YOU HAVE A GREATER DEAL OF VALUE!

You are not to be some meat on a stick, you are not the flavor of the day, you are choose and loved by a savior and he gave his life so that you could live in freedom.

If we can be honest for a moment, let us ask why do we dress the way we dress?

It makes us feel good, maybe.

But if we were truly honest, many of us dress this way because we have a low opinion of ourselves.

I wish there was a way to take those thoughts and those feelings away from you.

Because they are worthless lies.

We tell ourselves I have no value, I was made broken, ugly, and I am worthless.

I know these are thoughts many of us have probably had before.

And if you are feeling that way tonight, I want you to know that you are called loved, and chosen before you were in your mothers womb.

Psalm 139:13–16 ESV

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

You know what God doesn’t do, He doesn’t waste his time.

And to know that God crafted, formed and made you exactly as you are right now, should give us a great deal of acceptance and love.

We should feel so loved by a God who cares for us!

For he know us.

I find it often that it is the people’s option that matter to me are the ones who I don’t know.

Because if it my friends or family— they are going to love me for me— but it is ones who I have no idea what they really think of me.

But let me tell you something today that may change your life.

You are loved, and valued by God.

He sent his son into the world so that can receive his free gift of salvation.

If want to worry about what others say or think and you are chasing their approval then following after Jesus is not for you.

But if you want to see your life change and transform into something better— then it is time to turn off the voices that don’t matter and it is time to turn up the ones that do.

The next fake reality that we chase is:

We worry about our status

This may date me a bit but early on facebook asked you to update your status.

Now it is just like you post and to be honest— most of you don’t even have a facebook because that is were all the old people are.

Well I looked back at some of my old post when it was set up like this:

Zach is and then you fill in the blank:

Here are a couple of status’ I had and oh yes they are terrible.

is drowning his sorrows in choc milk

is taking a nap if you need me text me

is winner winner chicken dinner

is class 9-5 today

Like, I go back and read some of the stuff I wrote and I just want to start again.

Just wipe it clean.

It is embarrassing.

But for some reason when facebook launched the craze was to update your status.

Tell the world what you are doing.

Zach is...

trying to figure out facebook....

13 years later— still can’t.

But we tend to care a ton about our position in life.

We care about our status with others.

We do want to be in people’s good graces and at times that may mean that we pretend or we put on a mask.

That we deal in the false reality.

We know the answer to the question of is this real?

Well of course it isn’t.

No one knows the real me but look where I stand with the people.

If you can’t be your true self around someone then they do not deserve you.

You see God in his word tells us often that the world will let us down.

It is going to happen.

Hence why we do not conform to this world, that we don’t take stock in this world.

Because in the end your status with this world will only matter by what you did with the Gospel of Christ.

Did you live our your faith?

Maybe your status is on mission for the kingdom!

I hope it is.

I hope that you are living for Christ!

That his status is the only status worth chasing!

And the last point I want to take about as we answer why does appearance matter to us.

We worry about going unnoticed

Nobody want to be a nobody.

We want to be noticed.

We want others to know who we are.

I think this is where we really get down to the attention seeking.

We never want to be in a place where we have lived a life and it has gone by unnoticed by the outside world.

This would be terrible and sad.

To live a whole life and have nothing to show for it.

I believe that is my biggest fear is that I would be forgotten.

That I want to leave a legacy behind.

But let me tell you the only legacy that will last.

It is the legacy of how the Gospel impacted your life and then your families life.

That is what will matter the most.

That we fade into the background and God is center stage.

by doing so, then we communicate that we are loved and cherished by God.

We know that our salvation cost God his son.

Our sins cost God his son.

And it means that your life has value and God noticed your life and he sent his son to save it.

But here is the kicker.

It does not matter what you wear, what your style is or isn’t, he loves you.

and he wants to meet you where you are, not to say that God accepts us where we are.

Rather He accepts us despite the way we are.

He receives us only in Christ and for Christ sake.

But the best part is God doesn’t leave us the way he found us, but to transform us into the likeness of his son.

That is the Gospel and it has the power to take those of us who are fake and show us what is real.

The Gospel points to not us— but to the cross.

The Gospel is all about Jesus and the attention shifts off of us and onto him.

And many of us have to decide tonight, if that is how we want to live our lives moving forward.

Because you can’t get the attention while God plays backup.

No it does not work that way!

God sent his son for you so that you could have freedom from sin, there is nothing else in this world that matters, but who you say Jesus is and if he knew you.

Do you know who Jesus is today?

Who do you say he is?

I hope you do know him and if you don’t we have leaders all over who would love to pray for you.

Do not leave here without knowing the good news of Jesus.

Let’s Pray

Pray to wrap it up.