Taking off Our Masks and Stepping Into Biblical Community
The Masks We Wear
Teaching comes with its ups and downs. “In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33) is a verse that can give many a teacher, student, and anybody seeking his peace great comfort in their walk in life. Having people to walk with makes this fallen world much more tolerable, and this is something the Lord desires deeply for us.
It is certainly a God-honoring “up” for a teacher when you can teach a lesson that you know bears fruit, both immediately and for the long term, gives your kids a safe space to be transparent, and builds a stronger community. But for such a single lesson to hit so many keys on the piano of teaching would not only be a most marvelous melody but one that is remarkably rare. Thursday, however, the Lord in his grace allowed me to teach a lesson, straight from the awesome AVID curriculum, where all of the chords were plucked just right.
On Tuesday, I returned to my English teacher roots as my 9th Grade AVID classes read and broke apart a poem “We Wear the Mask” by Paul Lawerence Dunbar. Fast-forwarding to Thursday, the kids enjoyed arts and crafts time by creating a simple mask out of paper plates, scissors, glue and popsicle sticks, but with a twist: the kids on a note card had to respond anonymously to the question, “If you could take off your mask and reveal something to the class, what would it be?” The students then got in a circle wearing their masks, while I read each statement written down one at a time. When a student’s truth was read, they had the option to take off the mask to their classmates, or leave it on.
This was eye opening.
I physically held back tears both at the first two cards I read to start the day, and during the last period of the day. Many students did not. Eating disorders, depression, suicidal thoughts, homosexual feelings, childhood abuse, feelings of not being good enough, stress from living up to high standards and the list went on and on with both masks coming off during the reading of these proclamations, and masks remaining firmly on.
Sure there were some kids whose “deep truth” was, “My birthday is April 14th,” yet as one student in a spark of youthful wisdom roughly stated during our Socratic Seminar the following day, “I think those of us who wrote down things like that have the most we are hiding.” Never the less, the lesson I believe God showed me that day was that people, even when young, even with many immature of a deep abiding faith, even in a public school classroom, will pounce on the opportunity to bring things into the light.
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1:7
Jessica and I are blessed with the ability to attend a church which echoes the truths of the one-another’s of scripture by consistently stressing the value of walking in authentic, Biblical community. The kids on that Thursday were blessed, just as Jessica and I are in community groups at Watermark Community Church, by allowing burdens we bear to be shared by others (Galatians 6:2), to walk in the light (1 John 1:7) and to fulfill, even if unknowingly and only partially, the one-another’s of scripture. Kids, teens, adults, the elderly, and everyone in between who seek intimacy with God will find that the way God allows for this intimacy is through intimacy with other believers. There are many reasons for this, and these reasons are what we will explore today.
Personal Experiences with Community
I was once a hot mess, entangled in many of the fleetingly pleasurable snares the world had to offer. But then, Jesus. Since walking with the Lord, and even during the season of my life of walking towards the Lord, he had in eternity passed already laid not only the foundation of our path together, but knew the feet of others who would tread the same path with us, and comfortingly, by my side. God loves us and commands us to love each other like he has loved us (John 13:34-35). He celebrates this.
Now, in the early years of coming back into my walk with Christ, there were always mentor figures God placed in my life to open up to. This remains to this day. But, it wasn’t until I began attending a church that brought to light the importance of fellowship, studying God’s word, and most importantly, living authentically and confessing sin, within the confines of a small group that I began to see fruit bear to a high degree in every aspect of my life.
Through community group, I learned importance of developing deep friendships with men whose first priority is Christ and his Kingdom (Matthew 6:33), how to purely love women who aren’t my wife as I would my sister (1 Tim 5:1-2), and to always be ready, willing and eager to pray with and for my wife, especially in the moments leading up to a fight (Husbands, Stop and Pray). Through re:generation, I learned that recovery and discipleship in Christ go hand-in-hand with walking with a community of believers and that God will sharpen us to where we can cut strands of hair in two (Proverbs 27:17). So while Christian Community, walking with others closely while seeking to walk close to God, has given much fruit in my own life, what does this look like for a church seeking to incorporate this, or a believer seeking to incorporate such an idea with the believers God has already placed around him?
The One-Anothers
At least 59 times, we are encouraged by God in scripture to fulfill his character in us through our interactions with the believers he places around us. These are called the “one another’s” of scripture. God doesn’t give us a simple list of rules to follow as if to earn our salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9), but he loves us, died for our sins so we don’t have to impossibly work for our salvation, and provides us wisdom in his scripture on how to live a fruitful life to his glory and our pleasure. How we love each other and fulfill the 2nd great commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) is a near all-encompassing part of our lives since we are to not live in isolation (Proverbs 18:2) but we are to instead “love one another with brother affection (and) outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10), “(teach and admonish) one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16), “be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32), as so much more with one another. None of this can be accomplished in isolation.
Christian Community
Well, while all these verses are well, good and admonishing, what does this look like in practice? For a much more in depth answer to this question, see the corresponding links below, but here are the six core values of community of an ideal model church of community and their corresponding foundational verses. As Christians in community, we are to…
- Devote Daily (John 15:5), (For more on this, also see Quiet Times – A Beginner’s Guide)
- Pursue Relationally (Romans 12:10),
- Counsel Biblically (2 Tim 3:16-17),
- Live Authentically (James 5:16),
- Admonish Faithfully (Colossians 3:16), and
- Engage Missionally (Matthew 28:19-20)
This blog post needs conciseness, and cannot give proper treatment to the depth of the important aspects of Biblical community. I again encourage you to click those links, not as advertisements for a local church I do dearly love, but to simply learn how a small group of Christians can learn to abide well with Christ and each other.
Concluding Calls
In conclusion, teens aren’t the only ones who wear mask, and adults aren’t the only ones who need a Christian community of believers surrounding them. Another student, maybe more than one, in the following day’s Socratic Seminar also observed how pain can grow and things can get worse when we leave our masks on. Ahh, how much sweeter wisdom sounds from the mouths of kids.
I am proud of my kids for their willingness to open up and share things which were heavy on their hearts. The world we live in can provide awful communities full of bad advice. It’s unfortunate too that many congregations of people which claim Christ as Lord, fail to fulfill the one New Commandment the Father commissioned him to speak (love each other like he has) and also fail to provide a local church which acknowledges, encourages and strengthens the small Biblical community. Many more fail to teach clearly the love of God for us shown to us through Jesus Christ’s death on a cross for our sins and proof of his divinity through his resurrection and that salvation is not had through works, but by the grace of God alone. If this is somehow your story, God is not mad at you; he loves you deeply. Seek confirmation of this through a Christian that God has placed somewhere in your life. I guarantee there is one, or you will find one quickly following reading this.
Finally, I do plead, that if you are a parent, provide your child a church-home, and make sure this church home is a place which emphasizes community, both for adults and children, so that sin may be confessed and brought out into the light at all ages. There is miraculous freedom and healing in not having to wear masks (James 5:16, 1 John 1:7-9).
Lord, thank you for the unique opportunities you provide for us to bring sin, that which weighs us down, into the light. Please provide the youth of America and the world, every last one, with opportunities to learn of your love and rid themselves of the burdens of sin through confession. Help us to flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on you from a pure heart (2 Tim 2:22) and to move the heart of the one reading this post to find a Holy Spirit-abiding, local church which recognizes your desire to work through the body through Biblically-based community. Please provide the one reading this with that opportunity, for both them and their family. We love you Sir, to you be all the glory and it’s in Jesus’ name, by the power of the Holy Spirit I pray, amen.
