PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS: BE REAL
A. What is the REAL YOU, like?
1. I believe there are times when we HIDE behind MASKS and FACADES and not allow our “TRUE-
SELVES” to come out.
ILLUSTRATION:
When Karen Morse of Henniker, New Hampshire was about to GRADUATE from high school, she revealed a startling fact—she could not READ or WRITE at even the most BASIC level. Karen was in the National Honor Society, in “Who’s Who in America Schools,” was CLASS PRESIDENT, and was STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT. She was known as a SUPERB orator and MODEL student. Yet, Karen—a severe DYSLEXIC—had developed elaborate RUSES
through 13 years of school to COVER the fact that she couldn’t even READ street signs.
For her entire life, Karen had lived in FEAR that people would UNMASK her INADEQUACY. Her energy went into CONCEALING the TRUTH. She had become a SLAVE to PROTECTING her FALSE IMAGE.
2. Many people PLAY the same GAMES in their RELATIONSHIPS.
a. They try to HIDE their TRUE-SELVES from other people by PRETENDING to be something
they’re not!
ILLUSTRATION:
While around Christians they put on a PIOUS FRONT. They talk about SPIRITUAL things,
act HOLY, and show CONCERN for people’s NEEDS.
Around non-Christians, they don’t want to talk about anything that has to do with God. They act UNGODLY, and couldn’t CARE LESS for people’s NEEDS. (These, of course, are two EXTREMES, but many Christians fit in there somewhere.)
b. Also, there are those who try to HIDE their TRUE-SELVES from God.
COMMENT:
In their HEARTS they know the HIDDEN SINS that prevent a REAL RELATIONSHIP with their Lord. Deep down they know that their SPIRITUAL ACTIVITIES are a FAÇADE. They know that things are not at all what they PRETEND them to be, but it has become more IMPORTANT to MAINTAIN the IMAGE than POSSESS the REALITY.
B. Jesus- “Blessed [HAPPY] are the PURE in HEART, for they will SEE God”- Matthew 5:8.
1. Being “PURE IN HEART” is more than just living MORAL LIVES.
a. The word that Matthew uses for “PURE” literally means “being free from mixture.”
b. In reference to the HEART, it describes one who is “genuine, consistent, uncontaminated,
without hypocrisy.” In other words, they are REAL—AUTHENTIC.
c. Jesus is saying that we need to “BE REAL before God and before others.”
COMMENT:
Karen Morse had no possibility of LEARNING to READ until she dropped the FAÇADE and asked for HELP. Likewise, it’s impossible to have a GENUINE RELATIONSHIP with God
while trying to maintain a DISHONEST FRONT—a PIOUS LIE.
If we wish to improve our RELATIONSHIP with God and others, we ABANDON the LIE, TAKE OFF our MASKS, and ADMIT our NEED. If we prefer to PRETEND that everything is okay, then we will never find TRUE HAPPINESS.
MESSAGE:
ILLUSTRATION:
Laurie Beth Jones in her book, Grow Something Besides Old, tells about one Halloween night when she had UNDERESTIMATED the number of CHILDREN who would come to the door to TRICK OR TREAT, and she RAN OUT of CANDY. In desperation, she EMPTIED her children’s PIGGY BANKS and began giving out QUARTERS, NICKELS, and DIMES.
One little girl about 5-years-old dressed as a FAIRY PRINCESS came to her door. She had the little CROWN and MAGIC WAND and GLITTER on her CHUBBY CHEEKS. Jones dropped TWO QUARTERS into the child’s sack, and said to her, “I’ve run out of CANDY, but tomorrow you can take these COINS to the store and TURN them into real CANDY.”
The little girl stepped back, and with a PUZZLED LOOK, said, “Lady, I can’t TURN
COINS into CANDY. This isn’t a REAL WAND!”
COMMENT:
(That story has NOTHING to do with my LESSON. I just thought it was FUNNY.)
The fact is, most of us, if not all, have PRETENDED to be something that we’re not at one time or another. There are times when we have HIDDEN our TRUE SELVES, whether it was by being SELF-RIGHTEOUS or by trying to HIDE our Christianity because being a Christian at the time wouldn’t have been POPULAR. We put on MASKS and HIDE behind them.
I. BECOMING “PURE IN HEART” REQUIRES REMOVING OUR MASKS (But before we can
successfully remove our MASKS, we need to understand why we HIDE behind them):
A. We want to be NOTICED or ACCEPTED by others.
1. So in an effort to PLEASE OTHERS, we sometimes PRETEND to be something we’re not.
ILLUSTRATION:
You may not like SPORTS at all, but when with avid SPORTS FANS you lead them to believe that you, too, have a great INTEREST in SPORTS.
When DATING that special someone, you PRETEND to like many of your boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s INTERESTS but in reality, you couldn’t CARE less.
You ENROLL into a COLLEGE CLASS that you DETEST, but that’s the CLASS the POPULAR kids are taking.
COMMENT:
We’ve all done it. We SAY things, DO things, JOIN things that we may not particularly like, but we do them to be ACCEPTED and LIKED by others. (Yet, these things are virtually HARMLESS. We do them all the time.)
2. It’s when we begin to COMPROMISE our FAITH and RELATIONSHIP with God that it
becomes WRONG.
a. Have you ever GONE to PLACES, ENGAGED in CONVERSATIONS, WORE certain CLOTHING, DID certain things INAPPROPRIATE of a Christian just to be LIKED by
other people?
COMMENT:
We all have. And by so doing, we PUT ON MASKS and try to HIDE our RELATIONSHIP with Christ. Jesus- “We are not to HIDE our Christian LIGHT but to let it SHINE”- Matthew 5:15-16.
b. When we begin HIDING our Christianity, we’ll often find ourselves in SITUATIONS that
we wished to God we were never in, but are because of the IMPURITY of our HEARTS.
ILLUSTRATION:
I was reared by FAITHFUL Christian PARENTS who took me to CHURCH every time the DOOR was OPENED. As a TEENAGER, I was extremely SHY. It was very difficult for me to MAKE FRIENDS, especially since we MOVED from a SCHOOL where I ATTENDED for 11 years to a school where I KNEW no one.
The few CLOSE FRIENDS I made were non-Christians—and most of them were THUGS—basically. Yet, I desperately wanted to be ACCEPTED by them, so I didn’t let them know that I was a Christian. Needless to say, when around them I ACTED just like them, for the most part. But when I was HOME or at CHURCH, I was a GOOD Christian boy.
One night, I was RIDING AROUND with a couple of my NEW friends. They were talking about going over to this guy’s house that I didn’t know. We pulled into the DRIVEWAY and KNOCKED on the DOOR. No one ANSWERED. There was a DIM LIGHT in the living room. So, this kid KNOCKED again—still no ANSWER. One friend said to the other, “Good, no one’s here. Let’s BREAK in!”
They went to this guy’s house all along to STEAL his STEREO EQUIPMENT. I didn’t KNOW it, and I didn’t want any PART of it. But I had been HIDING the fact that I was a Christian. I was PRETENDING to be something that DEEP DOWN I wasn’t. And, yet, they thought I was just LIKE them.
I didn’t know what to do. I knew I didn’t want to BREAK into that house. But I couldn’t make myself say, “Hey, guys. Did I MENTION that I am a Christian? And I don’t BREAK into people’s HOUSES!” All I knew to do was PRAY: “God, get me out of this MESS and I’ll never HANG around these guys again.”
The very moment that one of my so-called FRIENDS said he was going to the CAR to get a CROW BAR to PRY OPEN a BACK WINDOW, the FRONT DOOR opened and standing there was the MAN of the HOUSE. One of the GUYS with me knew the man, he was an AIRMAN in the Air Force, and told him that we came over to VISIT. The reason he didn’t hear the KNOCK, is because he was listening to his STEREO through his HEAD-PHONES.
I was so GRATEFUL to God that the man answered the DOOR when he did. And I kept my PROMISE—I never HUNG around those guys again.
3. There is nothing WRONG in wanting to be LIKED and ACCEPTED by others, but not at the
COST of COMPROMISING our FAITH in Christ and our PURITY of HEART.
B. We want to APPEAR to be SOMETHING that we’re not.
1. This is what Jesus accused the PHARISEES of doing in Matthew 6:1-18—performing certain
RELIGIOUS ACTS before others to APPEAR HOLY and be HONORED BY MEN.
a. Jesus said, “the Pharisees would announce their GIVING, they would STAND on busy street corners and PRAY long and eloquent PRAYERS, they would DISFIGURE their FACES when FASTING, all in an effort to be SEEN and ADMIRED for their GODLY LIVES”.
b. Ironically, when people have to FLAUNT their RIGHTEOUS ACTS in order to APPEAR
GODLY, they cease being GODLY.
COMMENT:
If we are endeavoring to CONVINCE people that we are GODLY by our “ACTS of
RIGHTEOUSNESS,” then obviously, there is something wrong with our SPIRITUAL LIVES.
We don’t perform these acts—WORSHIPPING GOD, GIVING GENEROUSLY, SERVING PEOPLE, DOING GOOD, PARTICIPATING in VARIOUS MINISTRIES, etc., because we are trying to CONVINCE people that we are GODLY CHRISTIANS. We do these
things because that’s WHO WE ARE.
2. In Matthew 6, Jesus is not referring to those who are trying to HIDE their Christianity as I did as a TEENAGER, but those who are trying to HIDE their UNGODLINESS behind a MASK of
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.
a. The Pharisees went around POINTING fingers at others—POINTING out their FAULTS
and SHORTCOMINGS—and OVERLOOKING their own.
COMMENT:
They would go to great lengths to APPEAR to be so RIGHTEOUS and HOLY. Regarding their RIGHTEOUSNESS ACTS, no one could COMPARE—no one was BETTER at it than they. Yet, when it came to PURITY of HEART—to their MOTIVES—Jesus described them as “whitewashed tombs that look beautiful (clean and pure) on the outside, but on the inside full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean”- Matthew 23:27.
b. Jesus is telling this to His disciples because He doesn’t want them to be that way, but instead to have PURE HEARTS.
3. I think one reason many put on SELF-RIGHTEOUS MASKS is because they desperately want
the APPROVAL of their fellow-Christians.
ILLUSTRATION:
They feel, “If my Christian family ever found out what my PROBLEMS are, they
won’t LIKE me anymore.”
Consequently, we have those in our churches HURTING over a PROBLEM they are ASHAMED to admit, so they COVER IT UP with the “EVERYTHING-IS-ALL-RIGHT-
WITH-ME” MASK.
We also have those STRUGGLING with SIN and need HELP to OVERCOME but won’t tell anyone for FEAR of what others might THINK, so they put on the “I’VE-GOT-THIS-CHRISTIANITY-THING-DOWN-PAT” MASK. But BEHIND the MASKS you will see TEARS because they are CRYING their HEARTS OUT.
C. We think it’s easier to PRETEND what we ARE NOT than to POSSESS the REALITY.
1. There’s a lot of unnecessary EFFORT that goes into HIDING behind MASKS.
a. Once you start HIDING behind MASKS, you have to be extremely CAREFUL to keep up
the FAÇADE or you’ll be EXPOSED.
ILLUSTRATION:
When I was HANGING around with the WRONG CROWD in school, I didn’t want them to know that I was a Christian. In order to keep this FAÇADE, I had to SAY things and DO things that really bothered my CONSCIENCE as a Christian. I knew better, but I wanted to be
ACCEPTED by my new FRIENDS.
I couldn’t INVITE my friends to my HOUSE because I knew my PARENTS would say something about CHURCH and GOD, and I didn’t want them to THINK that I was some GOODY-TWO-SHOES who went to CHURCH. (Is that TERM even used ANYMORE?)
ILLUSTRATION (cont):
At school I was PLAYING a DOUBLE ROLE. While around the KIDS I went to church with, I wore the MASK of a GOOD Christian. And while around my WORLDLY friends, I WORE the MASK of a THUG. I didn’t want one GROUP to see me with the other, so I was constantly DUCKING in and out when WITH one GROUP and the other GROUP was coming.
b. The MISERY my HYPOCRISY caused! The trouble is, no matter how hard I tried to KEEP the MASK securely in place, the MASK finally had to come off. THANK GOD IT DID!
2. As much EFFORT that one goes through PRETENDING to be something they’re not and as
much FEAR one has in being EXPOSED, wouldn’t it be best to POSSESS the REALITY?
ILLUSTRATION:
As a TEENAGER, it would have been so much easier for me to be what I was—a Christian, than it was to go to the LENGTHS that I did to HIDE it just to be LIKED, and then be placed in SITUATIONS that made me extremely UNCOMFORTABLE and FRIGHTENED.
And as an ADULT I have learned that it is so much EASIER to be REAL, to be HONEST, to CONFESS my SINS and SEEK HELP to OVERCOME them, than to LIVE in constant GUILT and FEAR that one day I would be EXPOSED.
COMMENT:
HIDING behind MASKS is really not the answer. Ask the people who have been EXPOSED. The HEART-BREAK it produces for them and others is not WORTH it.
II. BY BECOMING “PURE IN HEART” (REMOVING THE MASK) WE SEE GOD
A. Undoubtedly SEEING God face-to-face in HEAVEN is the ultimate FULFILLMENT of this
PROMISE.
1. However, I believe that Jesus is also referring to SEEING God now—to see Him as One we
don’t have to HIDE from—to see Him as the LOVING, PATIENT and FORGIVING Father He is.
COMMENT:
God wants us to BE REAL, because by BEING REAL we’ll see ourselves as we really are—we’ll see our SINFUL WAYS, we’ll see our MASKS that we’re trying to HIDE BEHIND. We’ll also see our STRENGTHS and our DESIRE to PLEASE God. But most of all we’ll SEE God’s LOVE for us.
2. God knows the REAL you and the REAL me—and He LOVES us anyway, but, as I often say, He LOVES us too much to let us STAY that WAY.
B. God wants us to TAKE OFF our MASKS and allow Him to WORK in our lives to MAKE us what He
wants us to BE.
COMMENT:
God can work with the PURE IN HEART molding them into the IMAGE of His Son. That’s why King David, racked with GUILT over his ADULTEROUS relationship with Bathsheba and then having her husband KILLED in BATTLE, said, “Create in me a PURE
HEART, O God . . .” –Psalm 51:10.
He had been HIDING from God because of His SINS. So, he PUT ON his MASK trying to PRETEND that everything was all right, but in REALITY he was living in MISERY. And it wasn’t until he TOOK OFF his MASK, until he QUIT HIDING, until he ADMITTED his SIN problem, when he finally was able to say, “God, I want a PURE HEART once again. I want to come back to You. I want to SEE You.”
CONCLUSION:
A. Wouldn’t you like to be part of a church where MEMBERS don’t have to HIDE behind MASKS?
1. REMOVING our MASKS is a SCARY thing.
a. It’s especially FRIGHTENING for those who have come to believe that SURVIVAL comes a lot easier behind a MASK.
COMMENT:
It’s FRIGHTENING for those who are concerned with what others may think if they knew what they were REALLY LIKE—if they knew their FEARS, their STRUGGLES, their TEMPTATIONS, their SINS.
b. We all WEAR them.
COMMENT:
Even our FACEBOOK page HIDES what’s REALLY GOING ON in our LIVES. We put out this WONDERFUL FAÇADE on SOCIAL MEDIA for everyone to SEE and ADMIRE, and just hope they don’t DIG DEEPER and find out the TRUTH about us.
2. But by WEARING MASKS, we are forming BARRIERS and putting up WALLS between us and our FAMILIES, FELLOW-CHRISTIANS, FRIENDS, and most of all GOD.
COMMENT:
We think our MASK is actually keeping our RELATIONSHIPS intact, when in REALITY we will never come to ENJOY the FULLNESS of those RELATIONSHIPS that comes only from BEING REAL—having a PURE HEART.
B. If each of us would REMOVE our MASKS, I believe that we will be SURPRISED of how much more PEACEFUL and HAPPY our lives will be.
WHAT KIND OF MASK ARE YOU HIDING BEHIND?
