He Came To Show Us Who We Are!
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But
John tried to deter him, saying,
“I need to be baptized by
you, and do you come to me?” 15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper
for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. 16 As soon
as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was
opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him.
17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am
well pleased.” 1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted
by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The
tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to
become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil
took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their
hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered
him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again,
the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of
the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you
will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For
it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the
devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
– Matthew 3:13-4:11
2,000 years ago Jesus came to show us who we are…
1.
What We See…
SO – did
you take a look at yourself in the wacky mirror… How did you look?
AND – if you looked in the mirror, I have some good news for you…
“It’s not you – it’s the mirror”, it’s a distortion of reality…
These mirrors are fun to look at, but take heart, you really don’t look that crazy…
BUT – there is another mirror that is not so fun to look at…
I am convinced, that most people today, have a distorted image of themselves…
They do not see who they really are.
And they don’t like what they see in the
mirror.
What do you see when you look in the mirror?
What do you see when you look at yourself?
Chances are, that what you see is distorted.
“It’s
not you – It’s the mirror!”
2. What It Causes..
When people look in the mirror; when they take a look at who they are… they
FEEL – shame.
FEEL – unworthy.
FEEL – unacceptable.
AND – they live in fear.
FEAR – that they will be rejected…
Go ahead right now and take a look at yourself…
What do you see? HOW – did you feel?
• I
sometimes feel, as if I’m a fake.
• I feel if people who admire me, really knew me, they
might have contempt for me.
• I feel inadequate; I seldom feel as if I live up to what
is expected of me.
• When I look inside myself, I seldom feel any joy at what
I am.
• I feel inferior, to the really good people that I know.
• I feel as if God must be disgusted with me.
• I feel flawed inside, blemished, dirty sometimes.
• I feel as if I just cannot measure up, to what I ought
to be.
• I feel as if I will never be acceptable.
YES
– when
most people look in the mirror of who they are…
They don’t like what they see.
AND -
what they see makes them feel unacceptable, and they fear rejection…
BUT - I got GOOD news for you…
What you see is not who you really are.
UNDERSTAND –
it’s
not you it’s the mirror…
3. Why We See It…
When we look at ourselves in the mirror, why is the image so often distorted?
What kind of things cause us to look squished and stretched, when we look at ourselves?
THERE -
are many…
LET - me share just a few.
A. Secular culture distorts how we see ourselves…
Our culture
basically tells us, that in order to be worthy and acceptable:
You must look good,
You must have the goods.
Your worthy &
acceptable;
• if you’re pretty
• if you can slam dunk a basketball
• if you can hit a 3 pointer
• if you knock the ball out of the park
• if you have a ‘Dr’ after your name
• if you make the final 12 in American idol
• if your record goes platinum
• if you drive an expensive car
• if you make a lot of money
QUESTION
– where
does this distortion leave the average person?
At a place where they always feel like they;
• are not good looking enough
• can’t do enough
• don’t have enough
• and haven’t accomplished enough
It’s difficult for most of us to measure up.
And the more we focus on the world’s standards and values,
the more negative we feel about ourselves.
AGAIN -
it’s
not you it’s the mirror!
B. Un-Accepting Parents…
YOU KNOW – parents can be
pretty crazy and they can say some pretty crazy things.
• Do you want me
to give you something to cry about?
• Close the door, do you think you were born in a barn?
• Do you think I cleaned the house for my health?
• Do you want me to come up there?
• You’re tired, I’ll give you tired
• This is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you.
• Do I look that stupid to you?
YES
– parents
can say some crazy thing, funny things and insane things…
AND, they
can also say some pretty cruel things, some image distorting things…
• Why can’t you be more like your brother
• Can’t you do anything right
• I wish you were never born
• You always disappoint me…
• You
will never amount to anything
• I can’t wait until you grow up and get out of here
• Yeah I’m glad I married your mom, but it’s too bad you
had to part of the bargain
• I never wanted you in the first place
WHY
– do you
look squished, stretched and distorted when you look at yourself?
Many times it’s because your parents, have distorted how you see yourself.
Our world is full of people, who have distorted images of themselves, because of their parents.
“It’s not you it’s the mirror“
C. Graceless Religion
Graceless religion tells us that we have to live up to certain rules, rituals
and practices,
in order to be worthy and acceptable.
Graceless religion creates a false view of God.
One of a God, who is almost impossible to please,
and who is
nearly always disappoint with us.
QUESTION…
• Do you feel like God is always disappointed with you?
• Do you feel like you never measure up?
• Do you feel shamed sometimes to be in his presence?
• Do you feel that He is always angry at you and probably doesn’t
even like you?
“It’s
not you – it’s the mirror”
D. Guilt
Some people, when they look in the mirror of who they are, all they see is their sin and failure.
BUT LISTEN – no matter what you’ve done.
And you may have done some pretty bad stuff.
You are still MORE than you sin!
“It’s
not you – it’s the mirror”
E. Compulsive Comparison
Countless people in our culture, suffer from the disease of, compulsive
comparisons.
When you have this disease, the image you have of yourself is distorted,
because you are constantly comparing yourself to others.
I MEAN;
Every time others succeed, you feel like a failure.
Do you have this disease?
Do you have the disease of comparing yourself to other people?
When you compare…
• How you look
• What you have
• Where you live
• What you know
• What you’ve accomplished
• What you do
To other people, your vision of who you are
will be distorted
QUESTION….
When someone;
• Gets a promotion
• Gets a new boyfriend or girlfriend
• Gets a new house or car
• Looses 25 pounds
• Gets married
Do you
feel bad about who you are?
“It’s
not you – it’s the mirror”
AND – here’s the bottom line… these things make us feel a lot like Cinderella felt.
NOW – we all know the story of Cinderella.
She had a wicked stepmother, and some very wicked & ugly step sisters.
These wicked women, made Cinderella their servant and they constantly put her down.
I MEAN – they were so relentless – they were able to convince Cinderella,
that she would never be anything more then a hand-maid.
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I look at Cinderella, I can’t help but think…
“Doesn’t she see how beautiful she is?
Can’t she see how different she is, from those ugly step-sisters, both inside and out?
Why doesn’t she just look in the mirror, and see who she really is?”
BUT TRAICALLY – the voices of her step-sisters & step mother, were much too loud.
Cinderella believed that she was not good enough,
and that she would never be anything more than a servant.
She also believed, that the only chance she would have to go to the ball,
was if she had some costume to hide behind, to cover up who she really was.
An outfit to put on. (And her ‘fairy god-mother’ provides just the costume.)
But, the whole time Cinderella was at the ball, she was watching the clock.
AND when it struck midnight, she ran out of there as fast as she could,
for fear of being exposed, for the homely house
maid, she believed that she was.
Like Cinderella, we have an enemy that whispers in our ears, and shouts deep in our hearts,
that we are not worthy.
An enemy who uses many things, to distort how we see ourselves.
Who tells us that we are not worthy or acceptable, as we are.
Who is more cruel then those step-sisters, who shouts in our hearts,
that all we are, and can ever hope to be, is a homely hand maiden.
Understand, the reason that we feel like that sometimes,
is because we have a distorted view of who we are.
But listen, 2,000 years ago, Jesus came to remove all those distortions!
HE CAME – to show us who we are.
He came to tell us…
“It’s not you – it’s the mirror”
AND – the reason that He can, is because, He was
4. The One
Whose Mirror Was Not Distorted
When
Jesus looked into the mirror of who he was, he did not see a distortion.
INSTEAD - Jesus saw clearly who He was, every single time he took a look.
WHY – is that?
WHY – did Jesus see himself so clearly?
WHAT – was it that made Jesus so sure of who He
was…
The key to understanding this, is found in the passage that we read from Matthew chapter 3 as we began this morning.
There we see Jesus, who is without sin, standing in line with sinners, to baptized.
And when His turns comes, His cousin John, kind of freaks out.
YOU SEE – John knows 2 things…
He knows who Jesus is…
AND – He knows who he is…
SO – John says, “Jesus this doesn’t seem right, I shouldn’t be baptizing you… You should be baptizing me…”
AND – Jesus replies, ‘No John, you are wrong, this is exactly the right thing to do”
AND – mark records these words;
10 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” - Mark 1:10,11
When Jesus heard the affirmation, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
He is reminded in a deep way of who he is.
The temptations in the desert, were temptations to make him believe He was someone else.
You are the one who can turn stone into bread.
You are the one who can jump from the temple.
You are the one who can make others bow to your power.
Jesus said, “No, No, I am the one loved by God.”
LISTEN – when the Father ripped open the sky.
And when the Father shouted… ,
“You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
Jesus was given a mirror, that if He would continue to look in it…
It would NEVER allow the image of who He really was, to ever be distorted.
• When the devil tempted Him,
• When the people rejected Him,
• When they wanted to make Him a worldly king
• When they praised Him for His miracles
• When the leaders turn against Him
• When a friend betrayed Him
• And when everyone abandoned Him
Jesus still knew who He was.
He was never tempted to be someone else…
The only thing that Jesus let define who He was, was the love of the Father!
And when Jesus looked in that mirror of the Fathers love,
What did Jesus see?
Who He really was…
What did it cause?
It caused Jesus to feel worthy and accepted, with no fear of rejection.
Why did Jesus see it?
Because the love of the Father, was the mirror
in which he saw himself.
5. Seeing Ourselves in A Different Mirror
2,000 years ago Jesus came to show us who we are…
Try to imagine what it was like,
the
very first time someone looked in His mirror and saw who they really were:
“ I am not
a failure; I am not just someone who men use and throw away when they are done…
I am a person of worth who God loves… I am someone that He spoke to, I am the
first person He ever told that He was the Messiah…
(the
woman at the well in John 4)
“I am not stuck, I am not trapped in this system that I helped to create, and no longer even believe in. I am not some legalistic Pharisee, who God wants to throw away… No, I am some one who He invites, to be born again into His Kingdom.” (Nicodemus John Chapter 3)
I am not alone. I am not unacceptable. I do not have to live the way I have been living and feeling the way I have been feeling. Jesus says he wants to be my friend. (Zacchaeus Lk 19)
I am not just a criminal. I am not just a useless human being, a thief only worthy of death. No, I am one he has invited to go with Him to paradise… The thief on the cross
The good news is, the great news is, just as Jesus invited them, and so many others,
He invites us, to looked into the same mirror, that He himself looked
into as he walked this earth.
God loves the people of this world so much, He gave His only Son, so that everyone who has faith in Him, will have eternal life and never really die. – John 3:16
The Father is once again ripping open the heavens:
And He is saying to us, don’t let your failures, or even your successes, define who you are.
YES – God cries out today…
• Your are my child.
• The One I love.
• The One I want to adopt into my family.
• The One I chose, before the foundations of the earth
were even laid.
• You are the One, who though you have flaws and failures,
are still is worthy of my grace.
• Worthy even of the death of the Son that I love.
We need to look in a different mirror…
The mirror of our Father’s love and acceptance.