Whose Blood

I'll never forgot it. Sitting in my middle school history class learning about the Spartans and Trojans. The Spartans stuck out in my mind particularly.

You see, they had this white cloth they would dye red for battle. This was for a strategic purpose. When going into war, and a soldier gets wounded, a man wound bleed out.

Naturally, when blood hits oxygen, blood turns red. So these soldiers would play a trick on their enemies using this color scheme. If they came into battle wearing red, their enemies would never really know when they were hurt. Their bloodshed was covered in their dye. This covered their weaknesses, and allowed each individual soldier to fight longer than he (honestly) should.

If no one knows when you're bleeding, they don't know when you're dying.

A person could fight.. and fight... until they bled out.. and died.

As a Christian, we believe our souls are redeemed by the blood Christ shed on the cross. With that being said, I enter this conversation asking you one question...

"Are you wearing the blood of Christ or yours?"

There are three levels to this conversation, today.

(If you're one of my low-attention span boos - treat this like you do your Bible plans and catch up as you can :) )

Today we are going to cover the following (go ahead and hit "Save" to favorites now, if you aren't used to reading a lot at one time):

1) Being covered by the Blood

2) Bleeding out

3) War tactics (Defense Mechanisms)

The Spartans dyed their white clothes in red so their enemy wouldn't readily identify why they were hurting, or if they were hurt at all. When God looks down upon us, as Believers (and it's never too late to be a Believer), He sees the blood of His Son. God doesn't see us in all of our imperfections. He sees us as His children covered in the Blood of Christ. This means our goal as Christ followers is not to live as perfect people.

Our goal is to live as people perfected by Jesus.

I will dig deeper into this a we progress in today's message.

Whether we profess the redemption from Christ or not, so many of us are walking around BLEEDING OUT. This is deeper than wearing our emotions on our sleeves. We walk around bleeding on every life we encounter. Unlike the Spartans, we are not "fooling" out enemy.

1st Peter 5:8 speaks of the devil prowling around like a "roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." Lions, like any predator, know where blood is. So the more we think our defense mechanisms are working (acting like we're not bleeding) the more we are presenting ourselves to our predators. John 10:10 says, "the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy." If we are walking around leaving a fresh scent of blood - how can we be surprised when our temptations are at every corner?

We lead the enemy to our weaknesses, simply because we wreak of our vices. But we calm ourselves in this by calling it a "defense mechanism."

Defense mechanisms keep us to ourselves, which also prevents people from getting close to us. The ultimate Catch-22 of this tactic is: we are bleeding, knowing people can see we are hurting. But we push them away, and then get upset that "no one is around."

It's the perfect trap. That we set for ourselves.

Here's the reality, boo. PEOPLE CAN ONLY HELP TO THE EXTENT THAT WE ADMIT WE NEED IT.

That was a horrible expression of grammar. (Trust me. I went to school for Journalism, and it hurt me more than it hurt you to read that.) :)

It's still true. If we walk around bleeding (almost in need of a spiritual tourniquet), but we act like it's a paper cut.... we are setting ourselves up to be disappointed by people.

I DON'T NEED YOU (our inner expressions shown outwardly )

WAIT... WHY ARE YOU WALKING AWAY (our attitudes from the inside)

This circular transgression of emotion is where most of us fall. And why is that?

It's religion.

Many of us know the scripture, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2nd Corinthians 5:17)

This scripture, misunderstood and poorly executed, causes us to become "new" while operating with an old mindset.

I'm new. And if that's true, how can "old stuff" hurt me?

By that logic, it can't.

Therefore, I can't be hurt.

But friends. That's farthest from the truth.

Not only does the Bible say we are "new creatures," it also says we are "white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). This Biblical text calls us to a higher level of (not just accountability, but truth in our new identity).

Friends, if we are "new" and new means "white as snow," we are called to be vulnerable.

We are intended to walk around under the grace of God's blood..

Our redeemer.

Our transgressor.

Our salvation.

But instead we are claiming a false purity.

We pretend like this blood we are bleeding is Christ's... from the cross.

But this blood is ours.

Think about the last time you intentionally wore all white.

(Yes.. I mean your Labor Day boat party, if you're an HBCU alumni). But think about it...

How confident are you...? Picking out that 'fit.

Walking out your house.

Taking selfies in the mirror.

In your ALL WHITE.

Then you are around people. You're in public.

You realize all the people who will readily identify if you get even the smallest mark on your ensemble. You become hyper aware of your outfit and your audience.

You're not even having fun anymore, because you're too obsessed about your potential stain and/or the people who would clown you if you made such a faux pas.

Doesn't that sound like Christianity?

"Man.. I want to show how great God is... but if people see this side of me I'll never live it down."

Fam... This is where we get messy..

Where our faith get's sticky and our testimony gets called into cross-examination...

Ever heard of the "Trojan Horse"?

(Yes... I know... "This ain't Sparta")

It's a pivot... Follow me :)

There was a Greek tale (whether it's accurate or not... is not my point... just role with me)...

The Greeks were at war with the people of Troy. To infiltrate the boundaries of their land, it is said the Greeks sent a wooden horse as a gift. Once the Greeks brought the horse into their land.. BOOOOOOM

A bunch of Grecian soldiers jumped out of the horse. This gift was really a "gotcha" from the Greeks.

Why am I bringing this up now... in the middle of Sparta!!?!???!!!??

Because so often Christians bring the "gift of Christ" to the world, only to SURPRISE those around us with an attack.

Let's tie this up with the dyed fabric of Spartan warriors... Something that was white (maybe as.... snow), but it becomes 'our' problems. 'Our' lack of healing. 'Our' trauma.

Presented as our "Salvation" but it's really our MESS!!!

We tell our friends and the world, "I'm covered by the Blood of Christ."

"Look how great my life is."

"Nothing's wrong."

"When you see me, you see Jesus." (WWJD... amirite).

But if when people see you, they see horror.. pain.. tears... heartache...

And you tell them "This is Jesus."

How do you really expect people to follow you to Salvation, when you redemption looks like hell?

Let's look at the life of Christ really quick.. In a fairly wrapped up nutshell.

Jesus stressed out, a few times.

(He "wept" at the death of Lazarus - John 11:35. He also sweat at the Garden of Gethsemane; almost to the point that his sweat looked like blood in Luke 22:44).

Y'all... Fam... Pretending to "not be hurt" might be great in war strategies.

But it's the antithesis of Christ.

Hiding pain isn't of God. Anymore than HIDING (by itself) isn't of God.

When Adam and Eve hid in the garden... God found them. (Genesis 3:10)

When Jonah hid, God found him, too! (Jonah 1:3)

Even Moses, started a whole new life, and God found him for his calling. (Exodus 3)

There are plenty of places in the Bible where people hid from who they were destined to be (for better or worse) and God still found them.

My question to you is, why wait to be found - if you know who you are.

Whose you are...

Why do we feel in order to be who we're are called to be, we have to hide who we are RIGHT NOW?

Where you are is not a mistake.

What you are feeling is not to be hidden.

God wants to use ALL OF YOU.

Do you want to delay who you are for who He is?

Why?