Saturday, September 1, 2018

Mirror, Mirror on the wall do I look like Christ at all? CFUMC 9/2/18

Mirror, Mirror on the wall do I look like Christ at all?
 CFUMC 9/2/18
When you look at your reflection in the mirror, what do you see?  What do you see?  Do you see a beautiful woman? A handsome man? Do you feel pleased about the reflection that stares back at you?  Or do you always find an imperfection?  Do you always find something that needs to be changed, or removed?
 Some people do not like to look at them self in the mirror at all, because it reminds you of all those things that need to be changed.
Others spend a lot of time in front of the mirror trying to fix those things.
Others spend hours in front of the mirror to admire themselves.
Still others just don’t care enough to pay attention to the mirror at all.
Looking in the mirror is not always pleasant, like first thing in the morning. I understand mirrors in bathrooms, but really? Is that what I want to see first thing in the morning?  Creases on the face, hair like a wild animal, eyes half open, Really?  More and more I wonder who that old guy is looking back at me.
Mirrors are brutally honest. Sometimes a little too honest.  They don’t compromise.  They don’t gloss over our defects. They don’t spare our feelings.  They don’t give empty compliments.  They show us every wart, wrinkle, freckle, scar, gray hair & pimple.
So why do we all have mirrors?   We need them. We need them precisely because mirrors don’t lie.
 We all know the line “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all.”  It comes from Snow White where the mirror could not tell a lie even if it was not what the wicked queen wanted to hear.
Mirrors will not lie to us either. We are not always honest with ourselves. Our egos may distort our perception. We may wish things were different. We may make excuses. We may try to gloss over our weakness. But whether we like it or not, for good or for ill, the mirror tells the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And even if it seems like a kick in the seat of the pants we NEED to see ourselves as we are. We need that moment of complete honesty. We need checks and balances for both our self-image nor the cultural image in order to see ourselves as we really are.
            Spiritually, scripture and prayer are our mirrors.  We stand before God’s holy word.  We bare our hearts to God in prayer…and we come face to face with our true selves whether we like them or not.  That is what James is talking about at the end of the first chapter.
  “Be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.”
As Christian disciples, when we look in the mirror what should we see?  We ought to be able to see a little bit of Jesus.  Thin: sermon on the mount. Think: the way he treated everyone including women and foreigners. Think gentle strength. Think intimate connection to God.  That is what we ought to see in the mirror.
I think James has two scenarios in mind when he wrote this. One is the disciple who looks into the mirror and does not see Jesus. In the preceding verses, James talks about things that we should not see.
  Starting in verse 19  James writes, “You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;  for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.”
I look at that list as I look at my image in the mirror and I see a lot of blemishes and wrinkles.
How often do I speak before I finish listening, or at least I am formulating my reply instead of listening?  … I am afraid I am way too quick to talk sometimes.
 Anger… we won’t even go there… anger is like a big glaring zit on the end a person’s nose that is pretty hard to hide or ignore.  I suspect I am not alone.
Sordidness… we might not know what it means, but we are pretty sure it is ugly right?  Well, it is. Webster defines it as “baseness or grossness.” The Greek word means “filth or pollution;” particularly moral filth and moral pollution. That helped me to understand because we all know pollution is something that doesn’t belong where it is. It spoils the land, water, or air.  Are there things that don’t belong in me as a Christian?
Even worse is the “rank growth of wickedness.”  Has your life been taken over by weeds?  Is it overgrown with things that should not be there?  I know I occasionally find a weed or 10 in my life.
James is talking about looking in the mirror and finding ourselves coming up short and Then we read that famous line,  “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.” 
 These folks look into the law … they look into the scripture and know that they don’t measure up.
They know that we are to be  “imitators of God, as beloved children”
They know that they are to “present themselves to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed”
They know Paul writes, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”
     They know that we are to “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.”
  They know that we are “not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind
They know they don’t measure up but they walk away and forget.
Like looking in the mirror and seeing your hair is all wild and wooly but by the time you look away to get the brush, you forget how bad you look and you go on with your day.
Like looking in the mirror and seeing a big stain on your shirt and by the time you get to the closet you forget what you were doing and go on your way.
            Notice the problem is not what they see, but their lack of response to what they see.

 Then James goes on to another scenario, “25 But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will be blessed in their doing.”
Those who see their faults, their pollution their weeds and do something…. What does James say?  They will be blessed in their doing.
This is a simple call to action. a call to active discipleship. In other words, keep growing.  Keep seeking to look a little more like Jesus every day. Keep striving to have the mind of Christ. Keep working to live with the heart of Jesus.  Keep trying to live with the acceptance Christ exhibited.  Keep seeking a more intimate relationship with God in prayer.
Christians are not perfect.  No one especially God expects that of us in this life.  But we ought to be on our way to perfection. We call that sanctification. Sanctus is the Greek word for HOLY.  Sanctification is the process of the Holy Spirit helping us to become more and more holy each day.
Those who see their spiritual flaws in the mirror and do nothing are resisting sanctification.
Those see their flaws and try to be more like Jesus each day… are on the way.

So which are you?  Are you a hearer that forgets, or a hearer that acts?

One more thought here. What does God see when God looks at us?  Imagine that the mirror is actually a one-way mirror. As we are looking at ourselves, God is looking at us from the other side. What does God see?
God, of course, sees us as we are, pollution, weeds and all. God knows your every flaw and weakness.  God knows your every slip and omission.  God knows us better than we know ourselves and God sees us perfectly.  Honestly. Completely.
The good news is that when God looks at us in the mirror God sees more than the pollution and weeds. God sees beyond our flaws and weaknesses.  God sees past our slips and omissions.  God sees us more truly than we see ourselves. God sees us perfectly.  Honestly. Completely.
And what does God see? God sees beloved children,
The story in Genesis goes like this: “Then God said, ‘Let us make people in Our image, to be like Ourselves; they will be masters over all life, the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals and small animals.’ So God created people in His own image.  God patterned them after Himself.  Male and female, He created them.  God blessed them (gave them the blessing of creation) … and the passage concludes  “And so it was. Then God looked over all that He had made, and He saw that it was excellent in every way”
Hear that… when God looks through the window at us, he sees us as excellent in every way!
In some ways what we see is irrelevant compared to what God sees. No matter what we see.  No matter the ugliness.  No matter the failure.  No matter the wrinkles and blemishes.  God sees the most excellent you and the most excellent sons and daughters.
When I look in the mirror I can be pretty hard on myself… but God’s view is a different view… it comes not from the law of should’s and ought’s that we all have playing in our minds.  God’s view comes from “the perfect law that gives freedom” James says.   The way I read that it is the law of grace.
What does God see when God sees us in the window?
Consider this… no matter what you see, God sees one of the beloved creatures that he declared “very good” at creation.
No matter what wrinkles we see, God sees the inside that is made new in God’s love.
No matter how mussed our hair, or scarred our face, God sees the heart that more than anything wants to be like him.
You are beautiful to God, because God designed you, and God created you, just the way God wanted you to be. In God’s image.  You are God’s child, and you’ve been created in God’s image. And nothing can change that. No amount of sordidness or wickedness in our lives can disguise the fact that we are made in God’s image.
Mothers are universally proud of their babies. I’ve never known a mother who didn’t think her newborn baby was the cutest, most wonderful, and most beautiful in every way.   That’s the way God is too.
I once knew a family who had a baby with a cleft palate.  A wonderful child, but not what the world considers perfect or beautiful. Do you think the mom had any qualms about showing off her “beautiful” baby?  Not a bit. (and I respected her for that.) In her eyes, her baby was more than what the world saw on the outside.
In God’s eyes, we are more than we see on the outside when we look int the mirror.
I want you to know, today, no matter what you see God sees you through the window of his love and grace.  God loves us, and each one of us is beautiful, BEAUTIFUL in His sight.
I am not saying that what we see is unimportant. It is very important that we seek to be more like Jesus every day. What I am saying is that no matter what you see good, bad, or ugly… God loves you including your good, bad, and ugly.

Mirror mirror on the wall… do I look like Christ at all?
To be honest with you, yes but not as much as I would like. How about you?
So I have to remind myself and I remind you, “Mirror mirror on the wall, God’s excellent love is in us all.” AMEN


No comments:

Post a Comment