Sermon: No More Masks
Scripture: Matthew 18, Romans 8, Philippians 2, John 14
ICE BREAKER: What was your favorite halloween outfit as a kid?
REVIEW:
This week we celebrated Baptisms on Halloween!
Halloween is the day that we all purposefully wear masks. We do our best to transform into someone, or something, else. Perhaps you were a certain celebrity this year or your favorite athlete or something completely made up!
We celebrate wearing masks on Halloween, but that is far from the only time we try to cover-up who we really are. Our culture is living in an identity crisis. We don't know WHO WE ARE! So we do our best to use our skillsets, personality, looks, success, money, addiction, or any number of things to hide the parts of ourself we don't feel good about.
You see this when people come to church. At most churches, you wear your "Sunday best" and dress in a way you would never dress the rest of the week. At church you smile and shake hands and do your best to convince everyone there that your life is put together and perfect. In many ways, Social Media is the new religion - allowing us to literally filter our lives to mask what is really going on.
Do you ever feel the need to MASK parts of your life - hoping others won't see what is really going on?
What are some things you use to project the image of your life that you hope others will see?
When Jesus was getting ready to leave earth, he told his followers to "Go into the world," tell people about Him, and once they believe to baptize them, "IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT..."
This command is a giant statement of Identity! To do anything IN THE NAME OF, carries a weight that we often don't understand in our current context. For most of human history your name was a statement about who you are and where you came from. this is why when two people get married, they join together their last names - they are now living UNDER the NAME of a common identity.
Jesus says we are baptized into the fullness of God who is ONE God in THREE Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of these roles of God says a ton about our identity as believers and our identity as God's Church!
In the name of the Father Identifies our POSITION.
If we have a Father, then we are a part of a family. The Christian life was not meant to be lived alone! We thrive when we come together as the family of God, love one another, carry each other's burdens, celebrate each others victories, and navigate the complexities of life together!
In the name of the Son Identifies our PURPOSE.
We were created to lay aside our human desire for personal greatness and to live as Humble Servants to those around us. Our success is not measured by our own achievements, rather by how we help those around us achieve success. We follow the example of our big brother, Jesus, who was exalted BECAUSE of his humility!
In the name of the Holy Spirit Identifies our POWER.
When Jesus left earth, he promised to send the Holy Spirit as a helper to everyone who believes in Him! Because of the Spirit of God inside of us, Jesus believed we were capable of EVEN GREATER things that what He did during His time on earth! With the Spirit inside of us, we are capable together of changing the world!
This is our identity that baptism signifies! It shows us our Position, our Purpose, and our Power! We are a FAMILY or HUMBLE SERVANTS who are meant to CHANGE THE WORLD!
APPLY:
Jesus showed us what our true identity is. In baptism, we leave behind all the worldly masks that we use to cover our pain and shortcomings. Instead, we give our suffering and our needs to Jesus and let Him use those to do work in the lives of hurting people all around us!
Here is this week's application question:
What is ONE AREA of your life where you are putting on "masks" and what is ONE THING you will do to begin finding your Identity in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
PRAY:
Pray for those who were baptized this week. Sometimes the very beginning of your walk with Jesus can bring up real spiritual opposition. Ask God to search you and show you where you are still finding your identity in this world. Meditate on what it means to live IN THE NAME OF your new identity in Jesus!
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