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Bethel Mennonite Church - Gladys VA

A Conservative Christian Church (and podcast)

Out of the Closet

March 15, 2020

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Whoever you are, God has a particular and unique journey for you. Your life is not by accident it is ordered and directed by the Lord.

A closet is a good place to hide when playing hide and seek, but a closet is not a good place to live. It is tight, and stuffy and uncomfortable.

Many of us have a compartment of our life that we kind of keep hidden from other people. We have things hidden there that we don’t want anyone to know about and we don’t like to talk about the things in that closet, or even acknowledge that they exist.

Too many of us choose to live, at least part of our lives, in that closet. Closet living is not the way that God intended for us. We should never settle for life in the closet, or for having a closet with a closed door. God has something much better for us. He is inviting us to come out of the closet, to reveal what has been in the closet.

John 10:10 – Satans intent for each of us is to kill and destroy. Jesus came to give us abundant life, not a life to hide in a closet.

Luke 4:18 – Jesus came specifically to free us from closet living. He came to set us to free, to not be bound by those things that we try to keep hidden or carry on our own.

Isaiah 42 – Jesus came to free us from those chains that would bind us. We see here the heart of God, His gentleness and kindness. He sees the hope of life and wholeness in the broken reed. The candle that is barely burning anymore isn’t pinched off, he fans it back into a vibrant flame. He wants to bring new life to the fire that is almost out.

Isaiah 57 – Jesus wants to restore us and give us all that He has for us. Why does He lower himself to abide with the broken spirit? To provide freedom and to nurture it back to a place of abundance and fulfillment.

God’s heart is for the restoration of His fallen creation.

John 14 – Jesus says of Himself that He is the Way, the only way to the Father. God longs to have a relationship with us, to reestablish that which was lost because of our own rebellion and sin and separation from God.

It is through this relationship with Him that we can be rid of having to live with this thing in my life that I can’t talk about and reveal. This thing in my life where I kind of have to live a lie and pretend that everything is ok. The thing that I can’t get rid of.

As a loving Father He wants to take us by the hand and lead us through the valley into truth and light and true life.

Jesus also says that He is the standard of truth. A preacher can teach and preach the truth, but he can’t claim to be the truth. Jesus is the one and only one who can say that He is the Truth.

John 3:19-21 – Jesus brings the truth and the light together. Truth and light are almost synonymous, they walk hand in hand. The one who stays in the closet is afraid of the light and the truth. He wants to keep that covered and in the dark.

John 8:32-36 – He who practices living in the dark lives a lie. Truth and darkness can not cohabitate they don’t mix. Jesus tells us that truth takes us to freedom and light. If Jesus sets us free He promises us freedom. It’s true, complete and total freedom.

Much of what we may be feeling today may be lies. Satan uses lies to control us and to make us think that living in truth and living in the light won’t work. Satan wants us to believe that we are safer in the darkness than we are in the light. We are so far from being safe when we are with the enemy.

Perhaps we feel like there is too much risk in opening the closet and coming into the light. This is a huge lie, there is a much greater risk if we stay in the closet. It is not safe in the closet, but freedom is promised if we step out into the light.

Only in the wings and light of the almighty can we be safe. Perhaps we have things in our lives that we’re hiding because we don’t want people to know, it would be embarrassing. We tell ourselves that at least in the darkness we know what to expect, that just isn’t true!

David tells us that the Lord is our Light and our Salvation. He is our Savior, He is our Healer.

John 8:12 – Jesus is the light of life. Jesus didn’t come to just give ordinary life, but abundant life, life that flows out and touches others as well.

Our tendencies pull us towards darkness and towards hiding. Jesus is inviting us to step into the light, to receive freedom and the inheritance that God is preparing for us.

Why is light such a repulsive element? What makes us not want to expose our lives to the light?

Stop for just a moment. Ask yourself who is holding the light and calling us towards the light? It’s Jesus himself! What does he want for you? He wants wholeness and healing.

We should never be satisfied with closet living. God has something so much better for us, He wants us to be free. Jesus wants you to be so free that you have nothing to hide, nothing to keep in the closet.

Jesus is the one who brings us that freedom through His death, sacrifice and resurrection. Jesus makes it possible to live above the circumstances of life.

Is there anything too great for Jesus to take care of? Absolutely nothing is to huge for God. No case is too horrible that it cannot be redeemed, the ashes too far gone for them to be returned to beauty.

If you think coming out of the closet is out of the question, its just too risky and too hard. Peter tells us that God has provided for us abundantly, He isn’t limited. “For so an entrance shall be ministered to you abundantly.”

If you’re stuck in the darkness. Don’t go one more day without seeking help. God so wants freedom for us that He will provide the way to get out.

Related Sermons:


  1. Living Life with Purpose – Session 5
  2. God is Light
  3. Conduct Worthy of Christ – Jerrill Schrock
  4. God is Light (With Children’s Class) – Mark Yoder – 2012.09.28
  5. Filled With Light – Rich Bowman – 2013.05.19

Filed Under: Duane Nisly, Special Meetings Tagged With: Isaiah, John, Luke

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