Avocado People

            As often as possible Joanne and I like to get out to walk together. These are great opportunities to catch up with each other and to solve all the problems of the world. Some of our conversations are about deeper things, while others deal with the ordinary and mundane. It’s the being together that really matters. One of the mundane things Joanne mentioned on a walk last week related to an avocado. She had taken one to work to eat at lunchtime. But when she cut into it, she found many dark spots that weren’t very appetizing. When she told me about it, I said, “That’s the thing about avocados… when you buy them you have no idea what they are like on the inside.” To me they all look the same from the outside. Perhaps there are experts who can see more than I can, but every time I pick one out I’m just taking my chances.

            I thought about what I had said, and soon began to consider how we as people are often like an avocado. We may look pretty good from the outside, but we so often keep to ourselves what is going on inside. Our bruises are not always the obvious type. So people frequently cannot tell from external appearances what’s really there.

            A couple of Sundays ago I preached from Matthew 5:27-30 on the topic of lust. (to listen go to http://fbcbarharbor.com/media.php)  This is a perfect example – especially of men – of a topic that displays our “avocado-ness”. At the end of the sermon I invited men to take a response envelope home with them and consider trusting me enough to share where they were at with regard to issue. My hopes were high, but my expectations a little more realistic. I wasn’t sure if anyone would be willing to be vulnerable enough to respond.

            Why is it that we close up so much when our sins, habits, and undesirable qualities are having an impact on our lives? Some reasons I can think of include embarrassment, shame, guilt, and fear. We have a great amount of fear about our foibles.  We don’t want someone to think less of us or to judge us or even turn away (reject) us. So we present something different to others. We are more concerned about… “What do you think of me?” than we are about “This is what I really am.”

            I have always wondered what it would be like to be in a James 5:16 church, where people freely confessed their sins and shortcomings to one another. I think it might be a little more like Alcoholics Anonymous, where people describe the depths of their weaknesses and failures and receive a round of applause when they finish. Is the applause for what they’ve done? No. It’s for the step they have taken to be real and “come clean”, if you will. There is great power in doing this in our lives.

            In church life I find that men tend to be less inclined than women to let others see what’s inside. Intimacy is a scary thing. The popular definition (“into-me-see”) gets at what the challenge is. Yet for any of us – male or female – who allow others to “slice into us” and see the inside, the rewards and blessings are great. Above all, we have freedom to see ourselves as Christ has made us and God sees us.

            One of the real problems of holding back and covering up because of shame, guilt, or fear, is that these things reveal what our hearts believe God thinks about us. We believe God is ashamed of us, disappointed in us, or that He is always ready and on the verge of condemning us. We may also feel that He will leave us if He looks too closely at what’s really inside us, or may be really angry at us. When Adam and Eve sinned, what is the first thing they did? They covered up. But the second Adam – Jesus Christ – has come. Through the cross and by His grace God the Father sees us as perfect and righteous children. He rejoices over us and delights in us. This is why we delight in Christ and the Gospel. In Christ there is no hiding. All the stuff inside that I typically try to hide is the very stuff that the cross has dealt with. So, to be in Jesus means to be free from guilt, shame, fear, and condemnation. And it is also why I can be real with my brothers and sisters in Christ: because it is all under the cross. Glory to God! May the Lord peel back our coverings and open our hearts to one another, so that our joy in Christ may grow and His glory might shine all the more. AMEN!

James 5:16 (NIV)  Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Romans 8:1 (NIV)  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Romans 8:15 (NIV)  For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV) ³⁸  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

PRAYER:  Father, lead your children to be real with each other. Nothing is hidden from you. When people open up to me, take away any inclination in me to be critical or to judge. Instead may I remind them of the Gospel of grace – in Christ and through the cross we are forgiven and made whole. May you be glorified as I live by the Gospel instead of trusting in works. Jesus is my righteousness, and I glory in Him, in you, My Father, and in all you have done for me.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!  

Scott