Can You Judge A Facebook By Its Cover? Series

OPEN: How many of you do NOT use the internet (a few raised their hands).

How many of you do NOT use Facebook (a significantly larger number raised their hands).

Over the next few weeks we’re going to be talking about “Social Networking”, which is a term that describes how people connect with each other on the Internet. And THE most popular “Social Networking” site is called Facebook.

Facebook has been so popular that there are more people who use Facebook than live in the USA. In fact, if the users of Facebook made up their own country they’d be the 3rd largest nation on earth – with a population of over 400 million.

65 million of those people access their Facebook account regularly thru their cell phones or mobile devices. And experts say that the average user has about 130 Facebook friends and they spend more than 55 minutes a day on their site talking with friends, posting pictures and reading about other people they’ve met online.

Essentially Facebook is a place where people tell other people WHO THEY ARE!

Well, actually it’s a place where people tell other who they THINK they are…

Well, actually, it’s a place where people tell others how they wish others thought they were.

Just to give you an idea of what Facebook is all about, I’m going to have my Facebook Page put up on the Screen: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/profile.php?id=624550960

1. There’s a picture of me in the top left hand section.

2. Just below that is information about where I was born, and where I live now.

3. Off to the right of that you’ll see an icon that says I have 350 Friends/

4. Next to that there is an icon that shows that I have a number of photos you can look at.

Now on my Facebook, I am careful to show pictures that show me in what I think are flattering poses. Pictures that show me as being…

· Forceful

· Debonair

· Affectionate

· Mysterious

· Religious

· A World Traveler (these were all humorous poses)

I’ve been on Facebook for about 3 or 4 years now, and I’ve noticed something about the site that’s really intriguing:

It seems that when people get on Facebook they always reveal WHO they are.

It’s like they believe they’re somehow anonymous because no one is looking them in the eye. And thus, they don’t think anybody is really paying attention.

Now, some people are very nice folks in private… and so they’re nice on Facebook. But others - if they’re mean spirited, lewd, crude and generally despicable in private that’s how they behave on Facebook. And some of these people will post pictures on their Facebook they wouldn’t ordinarily want anybody to see, but they’ll put them online because they think they’re being funny.

There’s just something about Facebook that reveals people – as they really are.

ILLUS: I remember one woman - from the first church I served – she “friended” me (in other words she asked to be able to read my posts and put her posts on my page).

Now that was nice… it was a compliment to me. And of course I said “Yes.”

But then, after a few weeks I noticed a disturbing pattern in her postings. What she wrote on HER Facebook (and thus shared with me) often had foul words, and she would talk about things a Christian shouldn’t be talking about.

So, I sent her a private message explaining that this wasn’t appropriate.

She was remorseful and said it wouldn’t happen again.

But it did.

So I sent her another message… and she “unfriended” me.

And that was ok.

You see, what she began to realize was - the things she thought were private - were being read by a preacher. And she came to the conclusion that if she wanted to do what she wanted to do she had to make sure I didn’t know what she was doing.

So she unfriended me.

She cut me off from her Facebook page.

Because (in her mind) if I didn’t KNOW what she was doing… she could keep on doing it.

Now, she can hide that from me… but she can’t hide those things from God

In Jeremiah God tells us “My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.” Jeremiah 16:17

Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

That woman may have thought she’d gotten away from with something by “unfriending” me, but she can’t hide anything from God. He sees it all. And here in Luke 6 Jesus is essentially telling us that God has a Facebook page for each of us. On that Facebook page God sees exactly who you and I are. Every word we speak is recorded. Every action we do is shown