Still Wearing Masks? - Hypocrisy - Self-Deception Series 32 – Purity 1121
Purity 1121 08/15/2023 Purity 1121 Podcast
Purity 1121 on YouTube:
Good morning,
Today’s photo of green and blue waters along the
shore of a peaceful lake scene comes to us from Nik Harrang who shared this
serene scene from his family vacation to Lake Tahoe in western California over
the weekend on social media.
Well, It’s Tuesday and although I was just on
vacation for two weeks, my employer has decided to bless me with a day off
today with the “catch” that I am scheduled and expected to work Saturday. As I choose to look on the bright side of
things since I have decided to follow Jesus, I am content with the situation because
after a relatively easy day at work yesterday, I spent the late afternoon
waging war on my lawn with my “little buddy” the name I gave to the smaller, and
(let’s face it) less efficient, craftsman lawnmower I bought in haste earlier
this summer when I neglected to maintain my previous mower and think I killed
it. I have a small plot of land at River house but because I live down by The
River the front portion of my lawn/weeds grows thick and more than once my
mechanical “little buddy” coughed, choked, and stop when the moist grass clumped
and refused to be expelled from the undercarriage of the mower. That’s the reason I named the new mower “little
buddy” because shortly after I purchased I could see that it wasn’t as powerful
or efficient as my previous mower so to maintain my cool at its lackluster
performance I got in the habit of speaking encouraging words to it. “Come on,
little buddy… you can do it!”
In those early, drier months, a little encouragement
and patience seemed to be adequate as my buddy may have been “little” but it
got the job done. However, as the rains
have been plentiful this summer and the lawn has become robust and water logged
even on dry days, my “little buddy” has struggled
mightily and as I mow I have to employ all the patience I have to not “lose it”
as I repeatedly find myself having to lift and shake and bang the lawn mower on
the asphalt surface of State Route 9J in order to clear the mower of the grassy
debris when I do the front part of my property.
State Route 9J is highway by the way and I really have to focus on what
I am doing when I am out front because the traffic is whizzing by at 55 miles per
hour. More than once yesterday afternoon
did I come close to the end of my patience and the end of my life as I had to be
sure that the road was clear when I dragged the spurting lawn mower out to the road
to knock out the clumping grass.
In the past, I have shared how I loved “stewarding”
my property down by The River as I would listen to worship music or Christian
audiobooks when I would mow the lawn or when I would shovel snow in the winter
and just marvel over how blessed I have been with what the Lord has brought me
to. Well, yesterday the mood was less
celebratory as I called on the Lord for strength and had to repeated bring my
thoughts back under control as the struggle mowing invited the enemy to whisper
all kinds of negative and condemning thoughts into my mind. But I “got ‘er done” and although I may have
contemplated hiring a lawnmowing service or spending a small fortune on a
bigger badder mower in the future, I calmed myself will consider perhaps mowing
the lawn every week instead of two weeks, schedule and weather permitting,
going forward.
As much as I would like to put on a happy face and whistle
while I work, yesterday’s struggles demand that I keep it real and avoid
portraying myself as someone who is always “shiny and bright” just because I am
a Christian. While I am no curmudgeon either
(or take some in pride in a grump like some people do), I want to portray
myself as honestly as I can because one of the things about “church-ianity” that
bothered me all my life was how people in the church building put on “masks”
along with their Sunday best. Their
appearance and manner would lead you to believe that they were just fine upstanding
Christians who did everything right and didn’t have any cares or concerns because
they didn’t talk about such things. But then you would see the mask slip as
they spoke angry words to their family members to keep the flock in line or you
would hear about some scandalous behavior they were involved in. In light of those reports or little red flags
indicating problems you discovered that the “Christian persona” that they were
putting out there was just an act. They were one of those “hypocrites” in the
church!
And that brings us to our current series on Self-Deception,
where we have decided to investigate some of the ways we deceive ourselves by
walking through Step 2, Deception Vs. Truth, of the Steps to Freedom in Christ
to see what ways we may have been deceived by “the world” and ourselves and in
what ways we have wrongly defended ourselves.
So we present the ninth of the “Ways to Wrongly Defend Yourself”:
9. Hypocrisy
The Steps to Freedom in Christ describes lying as “presenting
a false image.”
We touched on hypocrisy yesterday as we looked at
lying as a defense mechanism. I gave examples of lying by saying “everything
was fine” when it wasn’t and by telling lies about who you were in some manner
to create a false image.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of examples of hypocrisy
in my experience to draw from and the truth is that if we are honest we all dip
into the hypocrisy pool at one time or another.
We struggle through life to find our identities and in the process of
growing up or in growing into who we are in Christ, we can easily be seen as
presenting a false image because of our tendency to be inconsistent. We want to be a fine upstanding Christian,
but we have secret sins. We want to be the “sports team, celebrity” fan or enthusiastic
“hobbyist” but we don’t know as much as those “die hard” fans or don’t know as
much about our latest interest as those people who have been practicing it all
their lives (or so they portray). Instead of admitting our struggles to “do the
right thing and repent publicly as Christians, or to admit that we don’t know
as much about our current interest or hobby, we choose the “easier path of
hypocrisy” and decide to just fake it till we make it or hide beneath masks to
shield people from the truth about us.
During covid-19 the world was told to put on masks.
In the early days, people bought up the supplies and they were very scarce. As
the pandemic continued, people started to make their own masks and merchants profited
by creating masks with designs and logos that people identified with. I myself purchased a black mask with a white
cross on it to represent my Christian faith.
But as clear as I thought that the symbol of the cross was a representation
of my Christian faith, some approached me and revealed that I was wearing it as
a memorial to “all the people who died of Covid” While I said that I certainly had empathy for
all those who lost loved ones during those months, I informed them that I wore
it because I was a Christian and wanted to encourage people to put their faith
in Christ. Instead of advertising some
sports team or other symbol or design that was fashionable, I wanted to display
what I believed in and put my faith, Jesus represented by a cross that He died
on to save us.
But I also was very aware of the things I said and
did when I wore that cross. I was working two jobs back then and had most of my
exposure to the public with my night job at Walmart. So when I was working I tried
to represent my faith by being kind, courteous, and helpful. I didn’t wear a mask with a cross on it and
act like a jerk.
When I came to faith in Christ, I was a big sinner but as I got to know more
about God and the Bible I realized that if I wanted to represent His kingdom I
should repent of my sins and start living according to what the Bible said was
right. I eventually went into recovery
and pursued sexual purity because of the conviction I felt to not only “talk the
talk, but to walk the walk” of being a born-again Christian. I hated the hypocrisy that I had seen in the
church and when I decided to put my faith in Jesus I eventually decided that I
didn’t want to by a hypocrite by claiming the forgiveness of God and living in
darkness. I was finally in the light of
God’s grace, and I increasingly became committed to reflect that light. While I am still a work in progress, I am
sure not who I used to be and endeavor to not present a false image by being as
honest and transparent as I can be.
I often say, “If you don’t like hypocrites in the
church, don’t be one.” because our Lord and Savior was the first to point out
when someone was trying to appear to be clean on the outside when they were polluted
by sin and bitterness on the inside.
Jesus condemned hypocrites and the last thing we
want to do as Christians is to portray a false image of ourselves and be guilty
of what Jesus condemned the Pharisees for.
So we humbly admit the truth about ourselves, lean on the Lord’s
strength and guidance to help us to walk in His ways, and give all the glory to God for any
positives changes in our lives as we encourage others to follow Jesus.
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For
those who want more evidence for Christianity than my simple encouragements provide,
I offer apologist, Frank Turek’s website, https://crossexamined.org/ .
Today’s
Bible verse comes to us from “The Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling” By
John G. Kruis.
(
While Bible verses on various topics of Counseling can be found with a quick google
search, we encourage you to purchase this resource to support the late author’s
work. (https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Scripture-Reference-Counseling-Kruis-ebook/dp/B00CIUJZT2?ref_=ast_author_dp )
This
morning’s meditation verse comes from the section on Affliction, Discipline,
Chastisement, & Trials.
Romans
8:18 (NIV2011)
18 I consider that our
present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed
in us.
Today’s
verse fall under the eighteenth point of our counseling reference guide
resource’s section on Affliction, Discipline, Chastisement, & Trials
18. Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Today’s verse encourages us to look to the fulfillment of our faith and the blessed state that is our future.
The apostle Paul suffered greatly. He was beaten, imprisoned, and eventually executed for His faith in Jesus but before he died he wrote that he considered his sufferings to not be worth comparing to the glory that would be revealed in us.
This can, of course, point to our eternal state in God’s kingdom – in heaven and in the future new heaven and new earth. On the other side of our death, or when Jesus returns, we will be in the presence of the Lord, and we will be transformed with glorified bodies at some point. We will be like the resurrected Christ! I can’t imagine what that is going to be like, but I can imagine is going to be good. So death has lost and our present suffering can lose its sting, when we contemplate the glorified future we have with God!
But this verse could also point to the sanctification that can happen in our lives before we go into eternity! In the early days of my recovery from alcohol, drugs, and eventually sexual immorality, I suffered a lot. I had previously been in fleshly cycles of addiction and giving those things up created physical and mental pains in my life. But because God was faithful in leading me out of the darkness and because of the hope of sobriety and purity set before me, I was able to endure the suffering for the “glory that would be revealed” in me. I’m “walking in glory” now! I celebrate my freedom and rejoice over what the Lord has done and actively encourage others to consider their sufferings in choosing to repent to be nothing to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in them when they experience the freedom and victory that the Lord is leading them to!
So, endure the suffering
of this life and whatever battle you are fighting, because I know the Lord is
leading us “from glory to glory” and there is no end in sight for the glory
that will be revealed in us!
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As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from The Holy Spirit By A.W. Pink.
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage you all to purchase A.W. Pink’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available online
for $0.99 (https://www.amazon.com/Holy-Spirit-Arthur-Pink-Collection-ebook/dp/B008CM5292/ref=sr_1_3?crid=AHKAQOM39CTN&keywords=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit&qid=1684376225&sprefix=a.w.+pink+the+holy+spirit+%2Caps%2C96&sr=8-3)
A.W. Pink’s The Holy Spirit
20 - The Spirit Cleansing
The title of this chapter may possibly surprise some readers
who have supposed that cleansing from sin is by the blood of Christ alone.
Judicially it is so, but in connection with experimental purging, certain
distinctions need to be drawn in order to a clearer understanding. Here, the
gracious operation of the Holy Spirit is the efficient cause, the blood of
Christ is the meritorious and procuring cause, faith’s appropriation of the
Word is the instrumental cause. It is by the Holy Spirit our eyes are opened to
see and our hearts to feel the enormity of sin, and thus are we enabled to
perceive our need of Christ’s blood. It is by the Spirit we are moved to betake
ourselves unto that “fountain” which has been opened for sin and for
uncleanness. It is by the Spirit we are enabled to trust in the sufficiency of
Christ’s sacrifice now that we realize what Hell-deserving sinners we are. All
of which is preceded by His work of regeneration whereby He capacitates the
soul to see light in God’s light and appropriate the provisions of His wondrous
mercy.
It is now our purpose
to trace out the various aspects of the Spirit’s work in purging the souls of
believers, for we do not wish to anticipate too much the ground we hope to yet
cover in our articles upon “Sanctification,” yet this present topic would be
incomplete were we to pass by this important phase of the Spirit’s operations.
We shall therefore restrict ourselves unto a single branch of the subject,
which is sufficiently comprehensive as to include in it all that we now feel
led to say thereon, namely, that of mortification.
Nor shall we attempt to discuss in detail the varied ramifications of this
important Truth, for if we are spared we hope some day ere very long to devote
a series of articles to its separate consideration, for it is far too weighty
and urgent to be dismissed with this brief notice of it.
“For if ye live after
the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify’ the deeds of
the body, ye shall live” (Rom. 8:13). A most solemn and searching verse is
this, and one which we greatly fear has very little place in present-day
preaching. Five things in it claim attention. First, the persons addressed.
Second, the awful warning here set before them. Third, the duty enjoined upon
them. Fourth, the efficient Helper provided. Fifth, the promise made. Those
here addressed are regenerated believers, Christians, as is evident from the
whole context: the Apostle denominates them “brethren” (v. 12).[1]
---------------------------more tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
Breaker”, "Freedom in Christ" series of Discipleship Classes via the
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at https://mt4christ247.podbean.com, You can also find it on Apple podcasts
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These teachings are also available on the
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Email me at mt4christ247@gmail.com to receive the class materials, share your progress, and
to be encouraged.
My wife, TammyLyn, also offers Christian
encouragement via her Ask Seek Knock blog (https://tammylynask.blogspot.com/ ), her
Facebook Group: Ask, Seek, Knock (https://www.facebook.com/groups/529047851449098 ) and her podcast Ask, Seek, and Knock on
Podbean (https://feed.podbean.com/tammalyn78/feed.xml)
For those who require the assistance of a Deeper
Walk International Prayer Minister to experience healing or your freedom in
Christ, I highly recommend Christy Edge’s Life on the Edge Freedom Prayer
Ministry. You can schedule a session by going to : https://cedge216.wixsite.com/life-on-the-edge
“The views, opinions, and commentary of this
publication are those of the author, M.T. Clark, only, and do not purport to
reflect the opinions or views of any of the photographers, artists, ministries,
or other authors of the other works that may be included in this publication,
and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of any entities the
author may represent.”
Encouragement for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Arthur Walkington Pink, The Holy Spirit
(Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, n.d.).
