Growing Closer to God Part 3
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Man in the Mirror
Man in the Mirror
In 1987 Michael Jackson released a hit single called “Man in the Mirror.” Setting is later years aside and our personal feelings on the man, this song came to mind when I read today’s scripture. As a Pastor and a Father I have heard Wives complain about husbands, husbands about wives, Children about politics, everyone complains about politics, and Christians complain about the status of our world today.
I haven’t listened to Michael Jackson in years. Growing up in the late eighties yearly nineties on of my mentors, I believe his name was Chris, was a African American man with a mullet and those multicolored sports sunglasses. He was a summer counselor at the YMCA where I would get sent every summer until I moved from Pennhills, Pa at about the age of 8 or 9. I don’t remember a lot about Chris, but what I do know is that he started me on watermellon seed spitting, music, sports, and hip hop dance and if I remember correctly Michael Jackson was always on his WalkMan.
Man in the Mirror has been one of those songs that hit many movies in the early nineties.
The Lyrics are:
I'm starting with the man in the mirror I'm asking him to change his ways And no message could have been any clearer If you want to make the world a better place Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
From Paul explains that we are all sinful.
as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
In quoting Paul is telling everyone that we all start this live in the same exact predicament—sinful. We all enter this world without an extra advantage over another. He describes this by saying Jew first and also the Gentiles—Meaning the entire world and every human in it starts in a very sinful place. The moment we are conceived we are born into sin.
There was a fight breaking out over Newly Converted Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles over getting circumcised. Paul explained to both parties that the physical circumcision no longer meant anything. The Old Testament promises were filled through Christ and thus it was no longer needed, but the Jews found themselves believing they were somehow superior through circumcision. Paul reminded them that all were equally created sinful and all had the same ability to come to Christ no matter their physical disposition.
Paul goes onto state in the beginning of Chapter 3 that only God is just, honorable, and fully truth. He opens our text this morning with this
What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
The term under sin means that we are all sinful. The idea of thinking you are better, more holy, or more Christian shows the pride inside and points back to the fact that we are all sinful. To judge people is to sin.
We are opening, this morning with
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
We are going to be looking at the three escalating truths you should ask yourself when you look in the mirror. With each truth we travel deeper into ourselves. We discussed last week how God chips away at us layer by layer thus getting deeper into who we are as time goes on.
Tongue
Tongue
The first test is the test of the tongue
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
Those words. When you really read the bible and pick apart phrases and such thee authors really don’t leave much to the imagination. I have never opened a grave before, but imagine if you will the stench, the stale air, and the disease that comes from a grave. This is why when we are barried today they put our casket into a vault and seal the vault because they found that the disease that comes from death can have a huge impact on the plants and wild life around it.
The venom of asps. Asps are nothing more than the totality of venomous snakes. It’s all inclusive, copperhead, viper, rattler.
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
What comes from your tongue is determined by your heart. If you slander, gossip, putdown than one can understand your heart to be over taken by sin and the spirit of the Lord cannot be with you. The only time we can judge is in direct proportion to the person’s need that we can fill. Our mouth is our biggest betrayer. The next place to search
The Feet
The Feet
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
Romans 3:15
Listen: If you only have time for yourself or those whom you deem worthy of your time you are traveling down a sinful path.
Time is your most precious gift
The reality is you can always make more money, you can always buy more land. But nothing you do will give you back time that you spent.
I understand all of these actions can be faked pretty well. People do it all the time. You can cook someone a meal all the while cursing them for taking your time. You can tithe all the well holding resentment in your heart. That’s why God states that he judges us by our hearts.
However, I also figured out during my time in ministry that a snake always bites, and wolf always hunts. One can only keep the shroud for so long before something sparks their true heart to come out.
Because:
Romans
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
The eyes are the window to your soul
You can tell a lot by a person’s eyes. And honestly the biggest threat to a Christians life is when we lose the fear of the Lord.
Now I know much of this sermon could be deemed negative and leaving you feeling like a failure and that’s ok because I hope you use that feeling to propel you forward into your relationship with Christ, but I want to leave you with a bit of hope. When I first got to this church I used this saying a lot and got backlash for it. Since then I stopped using it, but I believe it has a certain amount of truth to it:
It’s ok to fake until you make it.
See Paul writes some fairly Condemning words at times, but in his writings there is always the undertone of grace. Since we are naturally sinful anything we do to please God goes against our very nature as a person. I grew up with a very hard life. When I became a Christian I hated most people and in turn most people hated me. Loving people wasn’t an easy thing for me to learn. I believe for at least the first 5 years I faked liking most people. Many people in my beginning ministry thought I liked them and I didn’t.
But I have found that practice makes perfect. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment my heart changed. But at some point, as I grew closer to God and my wife rebuked me on many occasions, I truly began to love people. I can remember the first time I truly cried over someone else’s pain. That led me to crying over movies, tv shows, and commercials. I would like at my wife and tell her I’m broken. I can’t stop crying, I can’t stop loving, I can’t stop feeling. This is why I believe God states: start with your tongue, then your actions and pretty soon you will capture the heart and proper fear of God.
Fearing God isn’t living a life scared. It’s a respect for his power. It’s an understanding of his judgement. And it’s the concept of his love. I don’t witness to people, spend time with people, converse with people because I have nothing better to do. Honestly I do it because I respect God’s judgement and his love and know that because there soul is on the line—ultimately there is nothing better to do than to bring people to Christ.
So be encouraged you may slip up. It may feel completely awkward. You may feel like your faking it, but one day you’ll look back and realize to your surprise you aren’t faking it anymore. You made it.
If you’re struggling to embody the love of God for people I want t pray for you. It’s a dangerous prayer to ask God to break your heart for people because it has filled me with so much pain, but it has also filled me with more love than I can express. Don’t wait for the world to change. In the words of Michal Jackson
Start with the Man or Women in the mirror.