Misinterpretation; Misrepresentation: It’s About The Truth Part 2
Scriptures: 1 Timothy 4:12-16; 2 Timothy 1:5-7; 2:1, 15; Galatians 2:11-14
Introduction:
Last week I delivered Part one of this message on truth. My Focus last week was to set the stage with an explanation of the five senses and how although we depend heavily on them, they do not always lead us to the truth. In that message I shared with you a specific example of how our senses fail us using the story of Isaac. Within that story I told you that we wear cloaks (and/or masks) to hide who we really are – and I asked you to think about what you would do if you wore a sign that said you were a Christian. Some of you might change some of the places you visit routinely while others of you may change how you talk. Some of you believe that you would not change anything and that is fine also. This morning I want to conclude this series by us taking a serious look at ourselves and the truth that we hide about ourselves. Let’s go into the heart of the message: “Misinterpretation; Misrepresentation: It’s About The Truth”.
I. Misinterpretation
I want to begin with Misinterpretation. To misinterpret something means to not translate correctly. Think of someone who is interpreting a language for someone else. Imagine if you will, that I am standing before you delivering this message and we have people in the congregation who only speak Spanish. In order for them to understand the message, I would need someone to interpret the message. What happens if the person doing the translating of what I am saying gets it totally wrong – they misinterpret what I am saying? The message I am delivering would not be the message that they are receiving because the translator was getting it wrong. All of us misinterpret things from time to time. We judge others by what we see; we half listen to those we talk to so we misinterpret what they say; and because of our own issues, we misinterpret the actions and/or concerns of those who love us. But the worse case in my opinion is when we misinterpret ourselves. There are times when we accept the thoughts that others have of us as our own thus forgetting or misinterpreting who we really are. Let me walk you through this.
Let me give you an example of what I mean when I say we misinterpret ourselves when we take on the thoughts that others have of us. Again, remember the definition of misinterpretation is to not translate correctly. Turn with me to 1 Timothy 4:12-16 and 2 Timothy 1:5-7; 2:1, 15.
“Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who heard you.” (1 Timothy 4:12-16)
“For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well. For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline…..You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus….Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 1:5-7; 2:1, 15)
Timothy was a young Pastor, probably in his mid 30s, when Paul placed him in charge of the Church of Ephesus. Because of his age, apparently there were some other members of the Church who questioned his authority and or qualifications to be the head of this Church. Some of these older members were so vocal that Timothy began to misinterpret himself and what God had placed within him. Through his misinterpretation of himself, he had begun to neglect the spiritual gifts that were within him. The gifts were still there, but because Timothy began to doubt his abilities based on the complaints of some of the older members, he began to lose his way. In the first Scripture we read from 1st Timothy, Paul encouraged Timothy not to allow anyone to look down on his age, but to show the doubters who he really was by how he talked and how he carried himself as a believer of Jesus Christ. Paul reminded Timothy of what was within him and told him to begin to focus on and be absorbed within them, especially his teachings because of the impact on the people. Paul understood that even though some of the members were complaining about Timothy age and experience, it was his teaching and his understanding of God’s Word that would help those same people come to salvation. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he reminded him of the faith that was within him as it was in both his grandmother and his mother. Paul also encouraged him to be strong and to be diligent about studying God’s Word so that he could rightly teach it to others without being ashamed. If you notice, Paul was not addressing the people and their acceptance of Timothy – he was addressing Timothy. At the point where Timothy was, it had ceased to be about the people and had become about how Timothy saw himself. Paul focused on Timothy’s perception of himself and how to change that for he knew if Timothy changed how he saw himself, the people would eventually come around. The same applies to you and I. We do not have to accept others interpretation of who we are unless it is the truth.
Some of you may be wondering if this could ever happen to you, where you found yourself in a situation where you took on the thoughts that others had of you as your own. All Pastors goes through this at some point in their ministry. There is always, and I stress the always, someone in the congregation that knows how everything should be done and why whatever is being done by the Pastor or anyone else is wrong. They blame it on everything from the Pastor’s inexperience to the fact that the Pastor just does not have the knowledge that they have. This is what Timothy was faced with and over time it took his toll on his own understanding of himself. Timothy had heard the negative for so long that he began to wonder if he truly was fit to pastor this Church. This is what Paul was addressing – Timothy’s perception of himself. You see, it was not about his age, but about what God had placed within him. I tell this to each of you because many of you are misinterpreting who you are and what God has placed within you. You’re seeking answers from everywhere and everyone except the One who placed it with you, God. I encourage you to go back and seek the truth about yourself. Forget all the “stuff” that people have thrown on you that you accepted. Shake it off and discover who you really are and what God has truly placed within you. Stop using excuses for not doing what you know is right.
I am reminded of something that happens all the time with us that I think will make this clear for each of you. There are times when we face situations where we get so caught up in the moment that we forget to restrain ourselves. During these times we immediately misinterpret what is with us because what comes out of us is not from the Spirit of God. When you let others drag you into their mess, whether that is through them cussing you out and you return the favor because you feel the need to defend yourself, you in fact misinterpret who you are. When someone tells you that you are no good and will never amount to anything; when people tell you that what you are doing is not good enough and will never succeed; when those close to you tell you what you know God has placed within you is not from God and you accept it; when those that you trust tell you that you have not heard from God about what you are doing and you begin to doubt, you are misinterpreting yourself. You see how easy it is. Whenever we accept someone else’s opinion of us and what we are doing and forget about what God has called and equipped us to be, we misinterpret ourselves. We are all much more than what people will give us credit for. God knows the depth of who we are, but we must stop believing the lies and step up to the plate. Quit living in the mistakes of those who have walked before you: you life begins today! God has a future for you, but you must choose to accept His over the others. When you begin to misinterpret yourself based on other people’s opinion of you, you begin to live a lie and not the truth. Misinterpretation is still about getting to the truth! Let’s look at the next falsehood, misrepresentation.
II. Misrepresentation
Misrepresentation happens when we distort the truth and represent something other than the truth. For example, let’s say someone asked you to represent them at a meeting. There is an important vote coming up and they want you to cast their vote for them. Well, after getting to the meeting, you decide that you want to vote differently from how you had been directed. So you vote the way “you” want to vote. In this example, you did not represent the person who sent you, you actually misrepresented them. Had you conducted yourself and voted the way that they wanted you to; you would have been considered their representative. To misrepresent something is to make claims about something that is untrue or as in the case of my example, to act different from the one you are representing. This applies to material things as well as spiritual things. It’s the latter that I want to speak to this morning because as Christian, we are supposed to represent Christ.
Remember last week when I told you that we hide behind our cloaks, showing people only what we want them to see? We misrepresent ourselves so that we can be accepted by others. We hide behind masks and cloaks so that people do not see the real me or the real you. People judge us based on what we show them, our representation of our selves. Their knowledge and understanding of us (after they interact with us) is based solely on what we want them to think. We show them what we want them to see in us – whether it is true or not. I was having a conversation with my brother about this and he told me of a poem that really puts this into perspective. The poem is titled “We Wear the Mask” and was written by Paul Dunbar around the year 1896. In this poem, he deals with the masks that African Americans wore when dealing with white Americans. Here is what it says:
“We Wear the Mask”
(by Paul Dunbar)
We wear the mask that grins and lies, It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,
This debt we pay to human guile; With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.
Why should the world be over-wise, In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while, We wear the mask.
We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries, To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile, Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise, We wear the mask!
In this poem he speaks of what African Americans had to do in order to “get along” in white America. Remember, during the time that he lived, slavery was still on the minds of many and blacks were still viewed as being beneath other races. Even today, over 110 years after he wrote this poem, the scars of slavery remain and the idea that all men were created equal still in question. All of the turmoil surrounding Sen. Obama and his former pastor testifies of this truth. There are many blacks in America that still harbor hatred of whites because of slavery and there are still whites in America that still harbor hatred of blacks for the same reason. However, because it is not feasible to make these thoughts known, these people wear masks. They smile in one another’s face misrepresenting what they truly feel on the inside. While one person may feel hatred for another, they hide that hatred behind a mask of friendliness. This is so common that we actually bring it into the Church. Let me share with you a story that happened with Peter and Paul. Turn to Galatians the second chapter.
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, ‘If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?” (Galatians 2:11-14)
If you remember Peter you may recall that he had a reputation for “the man” among the disciples but what we find is there were times when he was actually misrepresenting himself. Remember when he walked on the water? He asked permission of Jesus to do it and Jesus told him to come on out. Peter actually walked on the water until “his senses” took hold of his faith and he began to sink. What he was trying to prove we do not know but whatever it was, he started off right but got scared and failed. (Matthew 14:22-31) Then there was the time during the Lord’s supper when Jesus informed His disciples that He would be betrayed and that His disciples would deny Him. Jesus turns to Peter and tells him that Satan has demanded permission to “sift you like wheat.” Why would Satan make this demand for Peter? Because Peter was the one who represented himself as a true follower of Christ, someone who would fight to the end for Him. He told Christ this very statement on the night of the Lord’s Supper and Christ told him that that night before the rooster crowed, he would deny Him 3 times. (Luke 22:31-34) Finally in Luke 22:54-61, we find that Peter does deny Christ three times. In each of these instances, Peter was actually misrepresenting himself. Christ knew that if push came to shove, that Peter would save his own life. Satan also knew it and that is why I believe that he made the request. You see, because of the way Peter represented himself, the other disciples looked up to him. If Satan could rattle his cage, he could likewise rattle the cages of the other disciples. This was Peter’s mode of operating, “Save Peter”.
So, when we come to the story in Galatians, 2:11-14, Peter is in another situation where he has misrepresented himself and chooses to save himself. This is what took place in the situation recorded in Galatians. The Galatians were Gentiles who had come to accept Christ. Although the Jews were happy that the Gentiles were accepting Christ, there were many Jews who still maintained that the Gentiles were second class citizens unless they followed the rituals of the Jews, especially that of being circumcised. The rite of circumcision was applied to all Jewish male babies and was a clear mark of distinction between Jew and Gentile, in which the Jewish people naturally took pride. Because of this, before Christ, Jews were forbidden from sitting down and eating with Gentiles. Peter had been enjoying the company of the Gentiles – eating and fellowshipping with them before the other Jewish visitors came. When the other Jews came who were associated with the circumcision party, all of a sudden Peter withdrew himself from the Gentiles and began to act as if he had not been “hanging out and eating” with them. Because of Peter’s standing in the community, other Jews followed his lead and this rightly angered Paul.
But I want you to notice what took place. Peter had been representing himself as a disciple of Christ, which he was. But he also represented himself as a friend of the Gentiles, someone who accepted them as a brother and sister in Christ. Yet, when the other “strict Jews” came to visit, the other side of Peter came out. Now look at what Paul said to Peter in verse 14: “….If you being a Jew live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Paul flat out busted Peter because of his actions. When these other men came, Peter all of a sudden felt the need for the Gentiles to start observing the rituals of the Jews. What is so funny is that he was telling them to do something that he himself was not doing. Peter was living like a Gentile! This is a classic case of how we misrepresent ourselves so that we can be accepted by others. However, what we fail to remember is that when we do this, we are actually lying and living a lie. We cease to walk in truth that comes through the Spirit of God.
Conclusion
If you had to wear a sign on your head that said you were a Christina, would it change your behavior? Are you currently living a lie? Are you all holy and righteous at Church while being someone totally different at home? Are you constantly judging others in an attempt to make yourself feel better? Are you misrepresenting yourself as a true child of God on Sundays? Are you misinterpreting who you are based on lies you were told? Are you shutting down the gifts that God has placed within you because someone else does not appreciate them?
We are at a point as Christians where it is time that we start walking in truth. Walking in truth about who we are and whom we represent. The time has come to stop mocking God by wearing the acceptable mask while knowing that deep within us there is someone totally different. The time has come for us to stop relying on someone else’s testimony about God to get us through, but to have such a closeness with God that we will have our own testimonies. The time has come for us to stop seeking revelation from the “spiritual” personalities on TV and seeking it through our own study of God’s word.
It does not matter what you show me and others for God knows the truth. You may choose to default on “God knows my heart” but I warn you, God truly does know your heart and because He does, He knows how you think and what your motivations are. People have wondered because we are small if God is in what we are doing. We evaluate the move of God by the number of people that are members of a place. I want you to understand, numbers are not what prove that God is in a place. What proves that God is in a place in you and I. When God is moving within you and I and we are growing spiritually, God is in wherever we are. God is in this place, but what we need is for each of us to accept His presence in our lives. That comes with growth. Whether you are hearing this or reading it, you need God’s presence in your life in order to walk in truth. If you are tired of living a lie, reach out to God today – He will lead you to the truth of who you really are.
May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
