Take Off Your Mask!

We're in a new teaching series at our church on our core values. Sunday was on the value of authentic character. We were encouraged to examine the masks we wear when we pretend to be something or someone we're not.

People wear masks at work, in school, around their neighbors, at church, and even in marriage. Often we wear masks because we're afraid we won't be accepted just the way we are. We pretend to be someone we think other people will like, or want us to be. Perhaps one of the most painful experiences is being part of a church where people wear masks and no one is free to be themselves. The emphasis is not on what's inside, but how you look on the outside. It's about the image we portray, or create. Imagine the effort and energy it takes to keep up such a facade!

The church should actually be the last place on earth where we have to pretend to be someone we're not. The Gospel is about being liberated from such strongholds. Paul put it this way in 2 Corinthians 3:17: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. In Galatians he notes that Christ frees us from our masks: For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

In his book, Scandalous Freedom, Steve Brown writes: The church should be a place where we can say anything and know we won’t be kicked out, where we can confess our sins knowing others will help us, where we can disagree and still be friends. It ought to be the one place in the world where we don’t have to wear masks. And, should that happen, the world ----where phoniness is the standard will flock to our doors. Why? Because freedom, genuine freedom, is an attractive commodity.

I am thankful to be part of a faith community that values authenticity. They accept me as I am. I don't have to be someone else. They know I'm imperfect and messed up. However, they don't believe the freedom that comes with authenticity is a license to live without accountability. They know that with freedom comes great responsibility. And that's the reason they pray for me, encourage me and help me to attempt to follow Christ. They understand that Christ accepts me the way I am, but He doesn't want to leave me there. With His help I am being transformed into the person He wants me to be. Mask-wearing churches focus on conformity. Churches that value authenticity emphasize grace that relies on God's ability to transform a life. There's a big difference!

In Luke 18, Jesus tells a parable about two men who went to the temple to pray. One is a mask-wearer and the other takes off his mask. While it may not always be "pretty" or appear "together", I'm going with the faith community who accepts the second man's prayer:

⁹He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰"Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

P.S. Props to former baseball slugger, Mark McGwire for taking off his mask!