CHRISTIANS IN DENIAL
INTRODUCTION
There is a bumper sticker that reads, “Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.” The truth is that all of us have abnormalities that the Bible calls sin. We are all predisposed because of our sin nature to one sin or one problem that disrupts our happiness. None of us are perfect and none of are without problems. Sin is everyone’s enemy. Each of us struggle with something. It may be that we struggle with drugs or pornography. We might struggle with alcohol. We might be co-dependent. We might struggle with overwhelming anxiety or depression. We might struggle with resentment or, bitterness. We might struggle to control our tongues or our tempers. Whatever it is, we all have some defect or some problem that is a result of our own doing. Romans 3:23 says, “Everyone has messed up, everyone has some hang up and has fallen short of God’s glorious idea for their life.”
A. STOP PRETENDING EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE
Galatians 6:7, AMP
"Do not be deceived and deluded and misled; God will not allow Himself to be sneered at- scorned, disdained or mocked [by mere pretensions or professions, or His precepts being set aside]. He inevitably deludes himself who attempts to delude God. For whatever a man sows, that and that only is what he will reap"
People speak or pretend and profess something that isn’t, in one of three possible ways:
1. They choose to let their soul convince them that they really are acting on God’s precepts, when they’re not.
2. They hope blindly for "the best," while they try to convince others that they are obeying God’s precepts.
3. They pretend and profess that they can’t act on them, and that God knows and accepts this because of everything that has happened to them.
None of these pretensions or false professions are acceptable to God. You spiritually fulfill God’s precepts and principles by focusing your belief in three ways, already having done whatever practical things you know to do (i.e., praying, avoiding known temptations, reading God’s Word, etc.):
1. Let your spirit affirm and rejoice in what God has said He will do for those He loves. Speak words of praise from your spirit, sing them out loud, rejoice in them quietly, or exult in them at the top of your lungs.
2. Make your soul concentrate on and rehearse how faithful God is. Do not allow it to dwell on the details of your circumstances or how impossible they look.
3. Make your body conform to your belief in the goodness of God. Put a smile on your face, walk with a spring in your step, stop acting depressed, cheerfully fulfill your responsibilities, get busy helping others, etc.
It is not helpful to your spirit when it bravely takes a stand of faith in the face of all negatives odds, and:
-Your mind is filled with doubt.
-Your mouth is speaking fear. Your lower lip is quivering. Your face is bleak.
-Your eyes are baggy from crying.
-Your knees are weakly wobbling.
-Your hands are flapping limply in every direction!
When your soul is fearful or unhappy, it will do anything it can to try to prevent a unified expression of faith that declares God is in control. Every believer has fallen into this trap, and recognizing it is the first step to avoiding it in the future.
The Amplified Bible defines righteousness as "conformity to the divine will in though purpose and action (Rom. 6:18). This is an excellent description of the believer’s soul, spirit and body being in alignment with His plans and purposes.
I have failed several of God’s assignments over the years because I believed what I wanted to believe. I also believed that I knew "exactly" what God did and did not want me to experience as a child of the King.
Illustration
If you are human, I guarantee you have some problem you need to let God change. I don’t care who you are. You could be a leader in the church, a minister, a policeman, a mother, a father, a child, a teacher. All of us have an area in our life we need to improve and work on. The truth, however, is that often we don’t realize the severity of our problem. The one thing the devil does is blind us to ourselves, making us unable to see ourselves for who we really are. Instead of accepting the chinks in our armor, Satan convinces us to put on masks and pretend that everything is all right. This is called denial. Where we refuse to see who we really are in life.
In the days of royalty in England, kings and queens would often commission artists to paint their portraits. But the artist never included their blemishes and flaws. He always made the king or queen look better than they did. They liked to live in denial about what they looked like. I read a quote the other day from super model Cindy Crawford. She said, “Even Cindy Crawford doesn’t look like Cindy Crawford without three hours of make up and hair.” Nobody really looks that good. They have to cover it up and airbrush everything. Covering up what we look like on the inside is denial. We refuse to accept who we really are.
B. LET’S STRIP THE OLD NATURE FIRST
Ephesians 4:22-24 (AMP)
"[First] Strip yourselves of your former nature-put off and discard your old unrenewed self-which characterized your previous manner of life .... [Then] be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind-having afresh mental and spiritual attitude; and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image. . .
For years, far too many Christians have been trying to get their "act" together in a completely backwards mode. When we are unsure of how to first strip off and discard our old natures to be able to "put on" the new nature, we try instead to project a new-nature "persona" through an act of our wills. Regardless of a believer’s good intentions for presenting a witness for Christ, such an ongoing "role" must be maintained. A genuine "fresh mental and spiritual attitude" is not a role; it is a reality that requires no rehearsing, no props, no script. It is a state of pure "being." We will never successfully rehab our old natures to assume a spiritual role that can then be integrated into our new creatures’ spiritual state of being. We must strip, put off, and discard the old and become new. This can be done once and for all. Using the keys of the Kingdom.
Three things have to happen before you will ever force your soul to change.
1. You have to be thoroughly disgusted with where you are. If you’re not and you attempt to change just because you’re told you should, when you get a few miles out and the pressure starts coming down and the heat starts rising up, you’re going to be in deep trouble. You will look back and decide that where you "were" really wasn’t that bad after all! You will almost always turn back in defeat.
2. You have to believe that there must be something better than what you have.
3. You must believe that there is a means of your getting to it. Do you want to change? One of the very first things to do is change the way you’ve been praying not only for yourself, but for others, too.
C. THE SHORTEST DISTANCE TO VICTORY – TRUST HIM!
I work at maintaining a "reaction-free" life, always trying to ask myself these questions if something bugs me:
1. Why did that upset me?
2. How come there is still a hot spot inside of me that made that barb like a heat-seeking missile?
3. Why haven’t I been able to let God neutralize that old wound yet?
I try to remember to focus on my vulnerability to the barb rather than focusing on the barb-thrower. I mentally "red flag" the now-revealed hot spot in my soul, asking Jesus to show me what I have built up or laid down that is blocking His grace and mercy from this area. We cannot hold our shields of faith steady and straight when we’re also having to hold multiple layers of self-protection and self-control in place over unhealed hurts and unmet needs that we are afraid to trust Jesus with.
Galatians 5:2 (AMP), Paul says this to all Christians,
"…If you distrust Him, you can gain nothing from Him"
That’s a scary thought for the control freaks who trust only themselves, isn’t it?
D. CLEANSE YOURSELF FROM ALL IMPURITY
Matthew 5:3 in “The Message” translation says,
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God.”
Sometimes the only thing that gets us to admit we need help, is to run out of rope. Catastrophe. Perhaps you sit here today and you know you have a problem with something and you are in denial about it. You’ve experienced some of the pain but not enough. People have pointed it out to you but you just ignore them. And you remain in denial, resistant to change.
I read about a lady who went to buy her husband a shirt and she noticed the tag on the shirt read, “Shrink Resistant.” Curious about what that meant she asked a salesman and he said, “That means it will shrink, but it just doesn’t want to.”
And perhaps that is you. You are shrink resistant. You don’t want to shrink and admit you need to change. You are trying to keep your sins hidden. You’re still holding on to your pride. But let me tell you this and I tell you in love. Your problem will be exposed sooner or later. Admit now you need help. Don’t try to hide anymore.
Proverbs 28:13 says, “You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you.”
Psalm 119:9-11
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!
God cannot use a polluted vessel. Look at James 3:11-12:
11 Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
12 Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.
This passage is referring to the tongue, but the principle is the same. A polluted spring cannot produce fresh water. God has called us to purity and holiness. Without purity we cannot experience God’s power. Romans 12:1-2 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. This is how we align ourselves and find the perfect will of God. If we do not take care to renew ourselves, we will soon be conformed to this world and become polluted in our hearts and minds.
ALTAR CALL
More Sermons from Tony Silveira are availabe at http://www.carismachurch.com
