We live in a culture, a society and a time when people are impress with how each other look or what we know. We have gotten so far into this fad that we are afraid to allow people see who we are and what we really look like.
And that’s why many men are afraid to allow people to see them cry; now I didn’t say that men can’t cry or they don’t cry, but I said that they are afraid to allow others to see them cry, reason being is that, we believe that others may look at it as a sign of weakness. That’s why when we do cry, we try to be along so that no one can see us, because we don’t want people to see the softer side of us.
Society has dictated to us so much how we ought to be, so much so that our lady will go the beauty shop and spend almost every dime that they make to try to enhance the beauty that they already have, they dye their hair, curl they’re hair, they press their hair, straighten their hair, they go there to get their eyebrows arch, there legs waxed, and there nails manicured because as a society we are bothered by how people perceive us. And that’s why we will spend thousands of dollars nipping, tucking stuffing, clipping, and reducing stuff because we are trying to hide all of the blemishes that we have. We are afraid to allow anybody to see the flaws, errors, mistakes, faults, defects and imperfections, we are afraid to let anybody see the impurity so we camouflage, hide, conceal, disguise and obscure ourselves with masks.
We are afraid to let people know that we have some flaws on our body, we are afraid to let them know that our ears are not lining up with each other, we are afraid to let them see that our face is not really straight or that our nose are crooked. Or that we have some scars that cannot be hidden. We are afraid that people will know that our hair really looks like, we really don’t want people to know who we are.
EVEN IN FASHION
We try to look successful by wearing all of the latest fashion cloths, driving fancy cars by trying to keep up with Jones, and the Smith or just your next door neighbor. We run around with three phones and two of them are off.
Yes you might be driving around in a nice car, and you might have your two or three phone, but what good are they if your gas at home is cut off, or you don’t have any food in the refrigerator, your water is cut off, and your lights is threaten to be cut off. The question is who is it that you are really trying to impress?
People know when you are broke, they might not ever say anything they just might keeping laughing in your face and just let you keep on fooling yourself. And by the way people that are rich or comfortable went through a process. A process of saving penny pinching put something away for a rainy day. Most rich people bargain shop. I see more rich people in the thrift shop then I do poor people. Tell your neighbor take off the mask.
We have become so superficial that we would rather hide what we really look like; this beautiful creature that God has made, rather than to take off the mask. And here’s a nugget. I rather be, an expensive original for one day, than a cheap copy all of my life.
What is a mask? A mask is something that hides or conceals the true face it is used to hide who a person really is. And I’m afraid that the church is filled with people who come to hide, it is filled with people who don’t want anyone to know what going on in our lives, so we show up for this big mascara party, and what better place is there to hide than within the church. We come in with a smile when we know that we are hurting. We will tell people that we are blessed beyond measure, when we know that we are in a crisis.
Many of us come to the house of God looking cheerful and smiling like there are no issues in our lives, no problems surrounding us, no money problems, but let me testify for myself. There are some days that I have walked in the house with sorrows, there are some days that I have been stress, oppressed, depress, suppress, overwhelm, quelled, and under pressure problems. There are days that we have been camouflaging, concealing, disguising, pretending and masking ourselves like nothing is wrong. And this ought to be the place, where we can take off our masks and ask the Lord, Lord please help me.
But instead the church is filled with hurting people, it’s filled crying people, unsatisfied people, disappointed people, and unhappy people, the church is filled with people that are not content and simply just wake up every morning and just go through the motion, the church is filled with people who are not pleased or even satisfied, the church is filled with people that have some unresolved issues. Is there anybody else that can be real and say that I have some unresolved issues?
I have seen countless people go hunger and stay in the house for weeks, and the reason that some people suffer is because they have so much pride to say that I need some help. There are people that go sick for years because they are to proud to tell somebody that they are sick or that they body is racking with pain.
Because we put on a mask, we have sisters that will stay in abusive relationships, and crazy situation and after they have been abused, they put on their make-up to hide the bruises because they are scared to share with someone that they are dealing with a problem so they put on a mask, because it’s something about a mask that gives them the courage to go just a little bit father.
There are some men that will drown their sorrows in a bottle, or in some street prescribe drug to numb the pain of coping with the situation of life. It’s something about the bottle that gives them that liquid courage to say what they been wanting to say. It’s something about that drug that gives them the mask to stand up when they would normally sit down.
I remember a few years ago Jim Carey made a movie called The Mask. He found this old ancient mask that gave him the power, the confident and the courage that he needed to make it through life pressures, and if you don’t know the movie let me tell you that he was a kind of person that everybody push around, but when he put on his mask nobody was able to shove him around.
And I’m mighty concerned about us here at New G, that there are some of us that are wearing some masks. We will smile in one another’s face and then stab them in the back. We will tell them we love them and yet do all matter of evil against them, it’s because we are hiding behind some masks.
The reason that we put on a mask is because we want people to see us differently, and some people put mask on, because they want to fit in the in crowd. They will say one thing in your face and another thing behind your back. Some people will say I’m with you all the way, and before they can get out of your presents good, they are talking about you.
So brother pastor how does one really take off the mask well I glad that you asked. You can first of all start of by keeping it real. Because when you keep it real you don’t have to stay up all night long trying to figure out how you are going to impress you neighbor on the next day but you can go to sleep at night.
You see you don’t have to act like you are valuable, because once you know who you are and whose you are, you will know and understand that your God doesn’t make any junk, you will know that he made you valuable.
So the record is that there were two men that were standing before God, and these two men are praying in the temple. Verse 10 says that two men went up into the temple to pray;
One was a Pharisee, a religionist; and the other one was a publican,
One was a so call church goer, and the other man was a tax collector
One was a hypocrite and the other one was just a down right sinner.
One put on a façade, a front, or a mask if you please to come to God, and the other man just came as he was.
The thing to note here is that:
Both men went to the most prominent place to pray, they to the temple, the house of prayer itself. There is no better place to pray, no better place to seek God's face then in the house of the Lord. Both men were in the right place, to seek God's face.
But the bible says that the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, even though He called "God" by name and addressed his words to God, his words were not going up to God. And I am afraid that there are a lot of prayers still stuck up in the ceiling, because we are praying to ourselves when we don’t come to God in a pure a righteous way.
He was not praying a true prayer, in fact he wasn’t even talking to God because the bible says that He was thus speaking to himself, and perhaps to others who could hear him, but he was not talking to God.
But then the bible says that he begin to include God in his selfishness because he said God, that I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, an extortioners, which means that when he was dealing with others that he had always been fair and just, kind and giving, rather than coming across as not being fair or as taking advantage of others.
He said that he was not unjust: he treated all men justly by recognizing, commending, and promoting them and their welfare. In other words what he was saying is He moved to the side for others and let them go first.
He said that he was not an adulterer: he was faithful and moral, never going astray in his behavior. Or even as this publican a betrayer or non-religious person: he was not as the tax collectors who sold their loyalty and religious privileges to serve the Roman empire; by which they betrayed their own nation
He went on to tell God about his weekly activities about how he fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all that I possess. He was just boasting and raving about how good he was while he was standing in the face of God, but yet he was putting down his fellow man. He had on a mask.
And too many folks are just like that today they are trying to make their selves look good by trying to put down others.
In others words, He was there in his mask trying too fool God about who he was, but I’m glad that God has x-ray vision.
He can look beyond that smile and seek your hating spirit
He can look beyond those clothes and see the wicked hearts
He can look beyond those close lips and see a gossiping tongue
That was one man, but I think that I need to tell you that there was another man, and this one man was willing to take off his mask because the bible says that the publican, was standing afar off, who would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
In other words, what he was saying was, that I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about somebody that can save anybody. In other words I believe that this man was taking off his mask to show God just who he was.
The bible teaches us that one man left God’s house feeling satisfied about himself. But the word says: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So I’m here to tell you that if you want God to exalted you then we need to take off the Mask.
For when we take the mask off, He can take a change us. He can change the drunk in a man of God. when we take off the mask, he can change a prostitute and make her an missionary, he can than take a gambler and make then deacon, he can take a drug addicted and make them preacher the gospel.
When you take off the mask then the world can see your great beauty
I heard the bible says let your light so shine, that men may see your good work, but how can we allow our light to shine when we are hiding behind our masks?
