Harvest Rochester
Burn Your Mask
Jonathan Walters
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- 84% of millennial aged non-Christians know a Christian personally
- 15% of millennials notice a positive difference in the lives of those friends
- 51% of self professed Christians admit they have attitudes and actions characterized by
self-righteousness or hypocrisy
- 14% (only 1/7) claim to represent attitudes and actions consistent with Jesus
“It’s a lot easier to point fingers at how the culture is immoral than it is to confront Christians in
their comfortable spiritual patterns.” - David Kinnaman
“Hypocrisy is the natural state of the human mind,” - Robert Kurzban
The sin (of hypocrisy)is in thinking that who others think you are matters a great deal more
than whom God knows you to be.” - Kevin DeYoung
Hypocrisy is the mask of public virtue that hides private vice
[Rom 2:1 ESV] Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in
passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very
same things.
[Matt 23:12 ESV] Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be
exalted.
Hypocrisy is consistently revealed by the absence of authentic humility.
Hypocrisy is less about the actions you see and more about the heart you don’t
Hypocrisy is an infection of the heart
Fear shames us into believing that we will be found out
Pride drives us to exert our own ability, control, and accomplishment
Self-indulgence enables us to wallow in the mud of our secret sins and guilty pleasures
[Rom 5:5 ESV] and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
[2Tim 1:7 ESV] for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
The Holy Spirit is...
Power - the antidote to our fear and shame
Love - the remedy to our pride, control, and greed
Self-control - the cure for our self-indulgence
There are no masks with God -
Recognition - God, the hypocrisy I despise in others lives in my heart.
Redemption - God, I am desperate for the healing forgiveness found only in You
Reliance - God, I cannot do this on my own, heal my heart, today and tomorrow.
What mask are you wearing? ____________________________. Burn it.
