Last we talked about not wearing masks. We talked about how each of us wears masks and none of us truly knows each other, because of those masks. I told you about my friends growing up and how, even though I hung out with them everyday, I know just as much about them today as I did back then. We talked about how we even try to wear masks around God, but unlike everyone else he knows us. He knows the games we try to play. He knows when we feel happy and when we feel sorrow. He knows us like know one else does, and he wants us to take off the mask and be set free by living truthfully. Because if we don’t take off the mask and live truthfully with him, then he will someday tell us, that he never knew us. God’s response to us it based on our decision to wear the mask, and and now we’ll have to live eternally with that decision.
Today, I want to share with you a verse. It comes from the book of John in the Bible and John quotes Jesus as saying this, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.”
Jesus calls his followers sheep. Sheep are a lot like dogs in the sense that they can distinguish their shepherd’s voice from a crowd and follow it. Jesus is saying that those who truly follow him, know his voice and he knows them. Jesus is talking about people who are living lives without masks.
Jesus is talking about people who live in truth and not behind masks. But we’re not like that right? We all live truthful lives, right? I mean, just look at the internet and people’s pictures, there’s no masks there.Everyone’s truthful and no one does anything to hide who they really are while they’r online.
Well we all know that that’s a lie; people all over the internet live behind masks. We use computer programs like photo shop to change the way we look. We use programs to make our bodies look thinner or muscular. We use programs to make it look like we own expensive cars, or houses. We use programs to make people think that we are living the high life. But the reality is, we’re just living behind masks. And the people that live this double life online have succumbed to lies, they are living on the opposite side of truth. And when we see these photoshop fails, we can joke about it, because it so easy to see behind the mask and to see the untruthfulness about it all.
But hear’s the thing, some masks are easier to spot than others. Check out celebrities on the ads of TV or on the cover of some magazine. A bunch of good looking people. Rich, attractive, famous, they have it all and they don’t need masks right?
Well, unlike everyday photoshops that we see on line, by people that are do-it-yourselfers, celebrity masks are harder to see. Do an online search of before and after pictures of some celebrities. You’ll see that the difference between their photoshops and ours, is the abilities of the editor. They have to put on masks to make themselves look better, just like we do.
Jesus said in John 14:6 said, “I am the way the truth and the life.” Jesus called himself truth and one day he met a man named Pilate. Pilate was a governor. He had a wife, power, riches, but he couldn’t see the difference between the lies that surrounded him and the truth he encountered in Jesus. When Jesus was brought before Pilate for judgment Pilate asked the question, “What is truth?”
As Pilate looked into Jesus’ eyes, Truth was staring right back at the governor, but he couldn’t see it. Pilate had believed the lies that were all around him, he had believed the masks that people wore, that when it came to knowing what truth was, he couldn’t recognizing it.
How many of us have heard Jesus’ voice calling? In a message, in a talk, in the quiet of our own minds or hearts? But how many of us wouldn’t know what that voice sounded like, because our ears are so used to the lies, that we wouldn’t know truth if it was standing right in front of us?
There is a a song by Casting Crowns called, “The Voice of Truth.” In the song, the singer talks about hearing different voices from the Bible. The voice of David’s giant Goliath, says that you cannot stand against me. The voice of Peter’s waves, says you cannot walk me. But in all the voices, there is Jesus’, the Voice of Truth. And the singer says, that when all the other voices, all the lies of this world, speak to him, that he will only listen to the Voice of Truth.
Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Do you know the voice of Jesus? Do you know what truth really sounds like? The Bible holds truth within it’s pages; God is speaking truth to us right now, but only those who will look and listen will find it. Today, take a couple of minutes of looking into your own heart and ask the question do I know the difference between the lies that surround me and the God who is truth?
If the answer is yes, take a moment to thank God for revealing his truth.
If the answer is no, cry out to God and ask him to help you hear his truth.
Let us not live in lies and behind masks, but in the power and grace of the Lord God, the Voice of Truth.