Sermon - CoSMI - 1.0.3 - False Assumptions
Proverbs 30:8
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.
Isaiah 41:29
See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion.
Zechariah 10:2
The idols speak deceitfully, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.
I must admit that I find it intriguing when people make mistakes and misunderstand situations, even if they have been given completely factual descriptions. On occasion, I will allow these misunderstandings to persist, purely for humorous purposes. Once upon a time I had a discussion with a young woman about using our denominational residential summer camp at Keats Island for a weekend retreat. She was concerned about the amount of time that they would spend doing dishes. "Oh," I said, "Hobart will take care of that." "Hobart?" she asked. "The dishwasher," I replied.
(For those not familiar with the equipment in commercial or industrial kitchens, I should mention that Hobart is the brand name of a line of commercial and industrial dishwashing machines.)
She misunderstood. At this point she thought that there was a man, living at the camp facility, who did the dishes. For the next five minutes I answered all of her questions completely truthfully. I noted that Hobart was old, and short, and somewhat round, and of a somewhat greyish complexion. But I never did take the extra effort to ensure that she understood that Hobart was made of stainless steel panels and piping, rather than flesh and blood. My amusement over this whole situation was accentuated by the fact that it took place in the church kitchen, and I was stacking dishes in a different version of a Hobart dishwasher.
But sometimes we allow people to have, and to hold, false assumptions. Especially about us. Sometimes we even rely on them.
For example, and as a first example, generally because it's the first thing we say to anybody else, there is the standard exchange of, "how are you," expecting the answer, "fine." Generally speaking, this is probably a lie. We are not only allowing people to have false assumptions about us, but actively promoting false assumptions about ourselves. Possibly we are fine. As a matter of fact, it might be quite possible that we are more than fine. If that is the case, we generally say so. But if we are less than fine, very often we don't want to say so. Very often we don't want to admit that we are less than fine.
Admittedly, we are lying to people, because they have first lied to us. They have asked the question how are we. And, the thing is, they don't really care. They don't want to know how we are. In all too many cases this is just an automatic response like saying ouch when you bump your elbow on something. If you think that I am lying at this point, then, the next time somebody asks how are you, start telling them how you really are. And watch to see their eyes start darting back and forth, looking for the quickest escape routes out of the room.
And, of course, on social media, we do this lying preemptively, without anybody ever lying to us in the first place. Nobody has, in fact, asked how we are. But we pretend that they have, and therefore start saying how great we are. Or, and this is a more insidious and invidious way of lying, we simply tell all about the good things that have happened to us, and the interesting parts of the lives we lead, and we don't ever mention the bad things that happened to us, or the difficulties and boring parts of the lives that we lead.
Or there's another one. This series of sermons is directed in an audience of people who are influencers on social media. Or intending to be influencers on social media. And there was an old book, from a number of years ago, that ask the titular title, if you were charged with being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Well, in your case, would there be? You are talking to an audience of 50,000, or 500,000 or 50 million. Whatever the size of the audience, you are talking. You are talking about your day, your ideas, your opinions: let's face it, you were talking about yourself. And when talking about yourself, how often, without the question being specifically asked, would people know that you are in fact a Christian?
Let's dial it back a notch. I was married at one point. I am now a widower. But people don't have to talk to me very long before they know that my wife's name was Gloria, and that she was a kind, and loving, and organized, and immensely curious person, who had some interesting ideas about how much you should take every opportunity to see the world as babies and infants see it. They may learn these things about Gloria before they ever learn that she is dead. That's because Gloria was immensely important in my life, and has changed me, as compared to what I was before I married her, to what I am today.
Is God important in your life? Has God made changes in you? Would people find that out, just simply by talking to you, or by listening to you talk on your social media channel?
Or, let's take it in another direction. What if you are presenting to your followers that you are a Christian, but your faith is a little, shall we say, fluid? Do you really believe? Or are you relying on the fact that there is a large Christian market, and that being seen as a Christian allows you to penetrate that market. Is your belief in God rather vague? Should you really be presenting yourself as a Christian, when you aren't really sure what you believe?
In trying to find Biblical or scriptural passages to support this sermon, I found a number of things that seem to relate oddly specifically to social media. For example, there is Isaiah 41:29: "See, they are all false! Their deeds amount to nothing; their images are but wind and confusion." Can you think of a more appropriate description of social media? So it would seem that trying to ensure that you are as honest as possible when posting something on social media would be a very good thing, if only to cut through the masses of misinformation and even disinformation that is spread out there deliberately.
And then there was Proverbs 30:8, "Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread." I found this amazingly appropriate. So many of you, with aspirations as influencers, are trying to make your daily bread, your livelihood and living, as influencers from your social media account. And pay attention to that "neither poverty nor riches" aspect. So many people think that being an influencer is the road to riches, but if you are making your daily bread, if you have enough to get by on and enough for your needs, why is it that you need riches?
And the final passage, from Zechariah. If you have aspirations to be an influencer, you have aspirations to be a shepherd. You are attempting to lead people. You are attempting to influence them and guide them. Make sure that you do it truthfully. Make sure that you are doing it honestly and well. If a blind guide leads blind followers, the Bible also tells us that they will both fall into a ditch.
This (CoSMI) is a series of sermons and devotionals directed at those who work as influencers in the field of social media.
Sermon - CoSMI - 1.0.1 - Authenticity
Sermon - CoSMI - 1.1.3 - Reputation
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