Can you Judge A Facebook By It’s Cover?

Can you Judge A Facebook By It’s Cover?


How many of you do NOT use the internet? How many of you do NOT use Facebook?

Facebook has been so popular that there are more people who use Facebook than live in the USA. In fact, if the users of Facebook made up their own country they’d be the 3rd largest nation on earth – with a population of over 400 million.
65 million of those people access their Facebook account regularly thru their cell phones or mobile devices. And experts say that the average user has about 130 Facebook friends and they spend more than 55 minutes a day on their site talking with friends, posting pictures and reading about other people they’ve met online.

Essentially Facebook is a place where people tell other people WHO THEY ARE! Well, actually it’s a place where people tell others who they THINK they are… Well, actually, it’s a place where people tell others how they wish others thought they were.

There is something about Facebook that’s really intriguing: It seems that when people get on Facebook they always reveal WHO they are. It’s like they believe they’re somehow anonymous because no one is looking them in the eye. And thus, they don’t think anybody is really paying attention.

Now, some people are very nice folks in private… and so they’re nice on Facebook. But others - if they’re mean spirited, lewd, crude and generally despicable in private that’s how they behave on Facebook. And some of these people will post pictures on their Facebook they wouldn’t ordinarily want anybody to see, but they’ll put them online because they think they’re being funny.

There’s just something about Facebook that reveals people – as they really are.

Story from a pastor:

I remember one woman - from the first church I served – she “friended” me (in other words she asked to be able to read my posts and put her posts on my page). Now that was nice… it was a compliment to me. And of course I said “Yes.”

But then, after a few weeks I noticed a disturbing pattern in her postings. What she wrote on HER Facebook (and thus shared with me) often had foul words, and she would talk about things a Christian shouldn’t be talking about.


So, I sent her a private message explaining that this wasn’t appropriate. She was remorseful and said it wouldn’t happen again. But it did. So I sent her another message… and she “unfriended” me. And that was ok.


You see, what she began to realize was - the things she thought were private - were being read by a preacher. And she came to the conclusion that if she wanted to do what she wanted to do she had to make sure I didn’t know what she was doing. So she unfriended me. She cut me off from her Facebook page. Because (in her mind) if I didn’t KNOW what she was doing… she could keep on doing it. Now, she can hide that from me… but she can’t hide those things from God.

And neither can we! In Jeremiah God tells us “I am watching them closely, and I see every sin. They cannot hope to hide from me. .” Jeremiah 16:17

Hebrews 4:13 “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.”

That woman may have thought she’d gotten away from with something by “unfriending” the pastor, but she can’t hide anything from God. He sees it all. And here in Hebrews the writer is essentially telling us that God has a Facebook page for each of us. On that Facebook page God sees exactly who you and I are. Every word we speak is recorded. Every action we do is shown. Because God sees us as we really are. And Jesus says in Matthew 12:36, “… I tell you this, you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.” Uh, oh!  Comment from me in class:  "If one of you happen to be behind me on judgment day, get ready for a long wait while I try to explain all my 'idle' words"
Now just to put your mind at ease - none of us come off looking all that good on the Facebook page God has for us. As Romans 3:23 says – “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

But in Luke 6 :43, Jesus is telling His disciples that, while that may be true, they shouldn’t get real comfortable with that idea. While all of us do mess up in our lives on occasion, God is looking to see what kind of fruit we’re bearing in our lives.

He says: “A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit.” Luke 6:43 Then Jesus points out what kind of fruit God looks at:

• God looks at what we SAY:

“A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.” Luke 6:45

•AND God looks at what we DO:

"So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” Luke 6:46

What Jesus is saying is this: what we say and what we do are reflections of what is inside of us. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.

How you and I TALK… and how you and I WALK are reflections of what we’ve stored in our hearts. In computer language they have a scientific description of that process. It’s called “Garbage in, garbage out.” If you put bad things in a computer… you’ll get bad things out. And conversely, if you put good things in… you’ll get good things out. And many times the problems with the computer is the “operator”.

So, as Christians, what’s INSIDE of us? Well, it’s supposed to be the Spirit of God. And how do I know if I’m filled with the Spirit of God

Well, if we’re filled with the Spirit of God… we’ll show the FRUIT of His being inside us.

Galatians 5:22-26 says “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another.”

What Jesus is saying in Luke 6 is that God EXPECTS the fruit of Galatians 5 to be IN us. God expects us to show love to each other, create an atmosphere of joy around us, promote peace in the congregation, show kindness to others… etc.

THIS should be our objective as Christians. Because we know God is watching… He’s reading our Facebook page.

Facebook users need to realize their comments are seen by many people. And their names are attached to their comments - they are not anonymous. Their words can/will be revealed to many people.

But, we must remember that this is not just true of Facebook users. This whole lesson actually is relevant to anything we say or do – it can be at work around the coffee pot, in the parking lot of the church, in line at Wal-Mart, or… the list could go on and on!

So God is telling all of us the following:

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Ephesians 5:15-17