Authenticity | Student Ministry

Everyone's life is built around something. Something shapes what you trust, how you make decisions, how you treat people, and who you are becoming. You may never name it, but whatever sits at the center eventually shapes everything around you. Jesus didn't come to remain at the edge of your life. He invites you to build your life around him. A life of adventure that's shaped by his truth. A life that molds you into who he's made you to be. A life that includes everyone, everywhere. A life that is ready to follow wherever he leads. These are just values we talk about. These are the values that make us who we are. [MUSIC PLAYING] Hey, my name is Shanna, and I love roller coasters. I don't know about you, but I think they're so much-- It's the same color. [SCREAMING] But here's the thing. I didn't always love roller coasters. I actually really hated them, and I was really afraid of them. But I didn't want anybody to know that because all the people that I thought were cool liked roller coasters, and they would ride them, and they were always the really tall ones. And you want to know what's really scary when you're afraid of heights? Roller coasters. [SCREAMING] And so I made a decision as a young woman,

a sixth grade girl, to be specific, that I was not going to let fear rule my life on the day that we went to King's Island. I wasn't going to do it. [SCREAMING] And then I regretted it because I ended up going on some tall, crazy thing that made me cry the whole ride. [SCREAMING] And I was embarrassed about it. But this was a pattern that continued into my life, because all of my friends liked roller coasters, and so we would go to Cedar Point. We would go to King's Island. We would go to Six Flags. We would go to that like random county fair that shows up and has a big old ride. And I would tell myself every single time, Shannon-- [SCREAMING] --you can do this, get over your fear. You are going to like roller coasters. And so one day, I took a trip with a bunch of my friends to Disney World. And we went to this particular ride that became my favorite. And it's called Space Mountain. Don't know if you're familiar. Space Mountain is one of my favorite rides of all time. And it changed the game for roller coasters for me. I think it's because you can't actually see any of the hills that are coming. You're just kind of along for the adrenaline ride.

And there's a bunch of lights that are just shining into your eyes. And it makes you feel like you're just zooming around outer space. And it's awesome. But the thing about Space Mountain is that the lighting is like a really specific part of the experience. Because if you turn the lights on in the room that Space Mountain actually exists, it's a really tiny, tight, together roller coaster. And the room looks really old. But with the lights off with the right lighting, it's like an incredible experience. And you're like, I am surely zooming through the stars right now. And for me, this was something that kind of changed my perspective on roller coasters, where I was like, oh, I actually enjoy the experience if I can't actually see the hills that are coming. I do like this feeling. And then I was able to start enjoying roller coasters of all kinds. And now I just generally think they're so fun. But that was a moment where the lights kind of turned on because they were turned off for me. And I think that this is true for a lot of things in our life where light can light up a lot of things or give us perspective on what is real and what is true and the things that we would prefer to show people

or to keep in the dark. We're in a series right now that's called Core Values. And Core Values here at Crossroads students is just the things that we hope to be true for us and for you, the things that we hold dear, that we want to be true for our whole community. And so each week we've been talking about different core values. This week we're talking about authenticity, which is just defined as something that is real and true and is a core value to you to be authentic. And the opposite of authentic is artificial. If you were here last week, then you know that Jason talked about AI videos, which is artificial videos where he was like, hey, raise your hand. If you think this is real and none of them were real, they were all fake. They were all crazy. And that is so prevalent in our world right now. It's actually really, really hard to find anything that's authentic. Everything is always like a question mark of like, is that real or is that a filter? Has that photo been edited? Is that video even based? And I think that we do this a lot in our lives where we want to present what we think other people wanna see, right? We want to show our best selves. We want to appear a certain way.

We put certain things into the light for other people to see, but we keep a lot of things in the dark because we're afraid of how other people might perceive us. We are uncertain if it's actually something that people will like or they can handle, or it's just stuff that we don't really know what to do with. Here's a great example. Anybody have a messy room right now? I'll keep my hand raised 'cause I do my rooms a mess. I've been traveling all summer, my clothes are everywhere. I wouldn't want any of you to see it. What I've noticed is that a lot of middle schoolers like to have specific lighting in their bedrooms. Like LED strips. I've seen a lot of you have like these really cool colored LED strips and that's like the only light that you'll turn on in your bedroom is those like blue strips or the red strips or the pink, whatever colors your favorite and it's a vibe. Like your room looks like a vibe but it's also dark. You can't actually see how messy it is and that's how you like it. You don't want to confront the truth of how much of a mess your room is and so you only turn on the LED strips but then your mom comes in and she flicks on the big light. The one that is fluorescent, it's bright and it shows everything in every single nook and cranny of your room and she's like clean.

Your room, this is disgusting. Why are you living like this? And you're like mom, if you just don't turn on the big light then you don't know, it's fine. And that's how we like to live. There is an authentic reality that we often try to avoid. By lighting our lives in a certain way. And at Crossroads students, we actually believe that it's best for you to live fully in the light, to know the fullness of what's true about you, to know the fullness of what's true about God and the fullness of what's true about what he is inviting you into. But here's what I think stops us. We think if people knew blank, they might see me differently. And it makes us pause, it makes us stop ourselves from being fully authentic, from being fully real. Because whatever you fill in the blank with, if they only knew this about me, whatever it is, it causes us to close in to ourselves. And here's the thing, there's a difference between being like raw and like spilling your beans and every single part of your business to people and being like protective with boundaries, but still being honest about who you are. There is a way to still be authentic and to be real about who you are and to spill your beans with safe people versus just having everything on display like the big lights are turned on.

There's value in knowing the difference. And here's the thing, when it comes to God, I think we often can view him with that same question of if God knew blank, he would see me different. And the reality is, there's nothing that we can hide from God. God knows everything. And for some of you, that might feel really scary, like that might raise the hairs on the back of your neck, but it's actually the best thing for us because God is described as light. God is light. There is everything under the sun, good, that's characterized by God. Nothing is bad when it comes to God. We would call that darkness. And there's actually a verse in the Bible that talks specifically about this. And so we're gonna look at first John to understand this a little bit better. First John one verses five through seven, say this. This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you, God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and we don't live out the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son,

purifies us from all sin. What I think that this verse is really helping us understand is that we can be real with Jesus because Jesus is in the open. But it's not in a way that makes us feel shame. It's not in a way that makes us feel like, "Oh, I'm really uncomfortable that things are in the light." It's an open invitation that when we walk in the light with Jesus, we actually can walk towards something better. When things are in the light, it means that they're not hidden. It means that we're not actually carrying shame around with us. But we're being authentic. We're actually allowing ourselves to live out in the open. That God knows everything about us, that we are looking at God and not feeling shame, and that He helps us to get to a better version of ourselves. And part of the way that He does that is through something called confession. His first talks about how if we are walking in the light with Jesus, but we're still trying to act like we're living in darkness, that those two things cannot be true. And so we have to bring things willingly to Jesus. And that is where this word confession comes from. We're honest with God about what's true about us. And it's not that we're giving God a new revelation or something that He's discovering for the first time and then going like, "What did you do?" That's something your mom would do if you tell her, "Hey, I broke your vase last week and I tried to hide it in the closet and I didn't tell you, but by the way, I broke it." And then she's like, "What do you mean? Why didn't you tell me what happened?" That's not how it is with God. God already knows, but we are participating in the relationship by saying, "Hey, I know that I've been hiding these things. I know that you know that I've been hiding these things, but now I'm actually bringing it to you and I'm telling you so that I'm not actively trying to hide anything from you." And then what's amazing is that God immediately gives us His forgiveness. That's the beauty about confession is we're not waiting for this judgment call to be made the moment that those words come out of our mouth, but there's actually an open invitation then for us to continue to walk closer to God that nothing has to stand in between us. And that's actually how the next few verses in 1 John go. So let me read them for us. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and He will forgive us and purify us from all unrighteousness. And so if we're talking about confession, I actually have something that I would love for us to try

together. Confession is done a few different ways. First, it's talking to God. Just like I said, before we read the end of that verse, it's having a conversation with Him and telling Him something that He already knows is true, but you are getting yourself to recognize those things as well. And that's usually done through something that we call prayer, which can happen out loud, it can happen in your head. It can also happen when you write things down. This is my journal. You can tell because my name is on it. This is mine and it is not yours and don't you dare even try to take it from me. For me, I love to write my prayers down in a journal because I have ADD. I don't know if any of you do too, but I get distracted really easily. And my mind is a loud place. And so it's helpful if I can open up to the last page that I was and just jot down. Hey God, I need to confess these things to you. I've been really distracted. I've been struggling with jealousy. I've been looking for contentment in all the wrong places. God, I want to tell you, I already know you already know, but I need to get myself to understand that these are things that I've been withholding from you and trying to keep in the dark. And I want to bring them into the light. And then I can write immediately after, God, would you forgive me? And God, thank you for forgiving me. And I can see that immediately and understand this exact thought that first shot is talking about. That when we confess our sins, when we confess our mess, the things that we're hiding in the dark are shame that he is faithful. He's just, he is quick and kind to forgive us. And so I want us to practice confession today. Whether that is you sitting in your chair and having a conversation with God, or writing it down, because you are just like me and you need to write it so that your mind doesn't get distracted. And for some of you, confession can also look like talking to another person, talking to a trusted adult specifically in this context, where you can tell them, hey, there is this specific thing going on and I need some extra help. I want to bring God into it, I know that he already knows, and I want to bring you into it so that I can have a little He wants me to do with my life. And so I'm going to pray for you guys so that you can start to have that conversation with God. Maybe think about something that you want to confess to Him, things that you've been hiding in the dark that you want to bring into the light. So God, I thank you so much for these middle schoolers. Lord, I know that each and every one of us have things that we like to hide in the dark,

things that we don't feel super, super comfortable with having in the open. We don't know if people will look at us the same way. We're afraid that we'll be judged or we just know that it is not the best thing for us. And so we just want to pretend like it isn't there. But God, I know that you know all of us, that there isn't a single part of us that you're afraid of. You just want us to openly and freely give those things over to you so that you can help us walk closer to you and closer to who you've made us to be. And so God, would you bring to mind anything that any of these middle schoolers might need to confess to you? And God, would you help them to be courageous, to confess that to you, to be authentic? And God, that would be something that's really freeing and really helpful for them. And so I pray over them. I pray that you would help them. I pray that they would know that you've already forgiven them. And I pray that you would continue to just bring them closer and closer to you in the light. And I pray this in your name. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]