Stained Glass Masquerade

In his post at IV Marks, How to Prepare Your Church For Discipline, Jonathan Leeman points out some aspects of Jesus' message that somehow get glossed over when teaching the Gospel:

- Christ came to purchase a people out of sin, so that we will sin no more.

- God calls his people to be holy because he is holy.

- We’ve been baptized into the death of Jesus so that the body of sin might be done away with.

- Through the new covenant, God actually changes people—he gives them new hearts and new desires.

- Christ calls his followers to repent and believe.

- A man cannot serve two masters.

- A house divided against itself will not stand.

- What good is salt that has lost its saltiness? It might as well be thrown out and trampled.

- Only he who perseveres to the end will be saved.

- If anyone says “I love God” but hates his brother, he is a liar.

- This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.

That, along with a discussion we had last week at our small group about how we can be sure if we are truly walking in His light and not in darkness, got my mind back on a subject that screws me up inside every once in a while. I know that I am far from perfect. We're taught that but when taken in context with the above quotes it seems that I'm falling far short of His expectations. When called to repent, that is a 180 degree turn around and sometimes I feel like I'm stuck at 90. I'm luke-warm when Jesus demands that I be hot or cold. I feel like I should be on the blunt end of the accusations Jesus hurled at the Pharisees.

“Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean."
Mat 23:27

How can I be a leader in church let alone a spiritual leader in my in my own household. I can talk the talk but .......

Does anyone else ever feel like this? I look around and everyone seems to have it all together while my faith seems child-like, my mind a scramble and my flesh as weak as it ever was. Am I alone? Sometimes I feel that I'm on a tightrope and that only my relationship with Sheri is keeping me from falling and there's no net. Check out the lyrics to the Casting Crowns - Stained Glass Masquerade:

Is there anyone that fails
Is there anyone that falls
Am I the only one in church today feelin’ so small

Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they’ll soon discover
That I don’t belong

So I tuck it all away, like everything’s okay
If I make them all believe it, maybe I’ll believe it too
So with a painted grin, I play the part again
So everyone will see me the way that I see them

*Chorus*
Are we happy plastic people
Under shiny plastic steeples
With walls around our weakness
And smiles to hide our pain
But if the invitation’s open
To every heart that has been broken
Maybe then we close the curtain
On our stained glass masquerade

Is there anyone who’s been there
Are there any hands to raise
Am I the only one who’s traded
In the altar for a stage

The performance is convincing
And we know every line by heart
Only when no one is watching
Can we really fall apart

But would it set me free
If I dared to let you see
The truth behind the person
That you imagine me to be

Would your arms be open
Or would you walk away
Would the love of Jesus
Be enough to make you stay

We as the church need to preach the hard stuff. Make a decision, raise your hand, fill out a card and get the new believers bible? That's not gonna cut it. We also need to make sure we're not raising up a spiritual generation of hypocrites.

Sin is real, Hell is real.