04.07.2013 Combating the Lies We Listen to

I am starting a new series – kind of a brief/on and off – different narratives, the stories we have heard – going on in our heads and how they shape our lives and form our character and destiny – things we believe about God, ourselves and the world – and they determine the quality of our relationships with God and others.
If you want to spiritualize it
Tozer: What you think about when you think about God is the most important thing about you.
The story you tell yourself about God ultimately determines what your life is like.
That is what we will look at – some of those stories and how we can transform them.
Thank You, Lord, that You want to change our thoughts when we think about God so our thoughts are Biblical and true – that we would see You more clearly and understand who You are – instead of some of the lies and misconceptions we’ve heard about God. Help us to be willing to have our wrong thoughts exposed – because our lies will be formed by that. May we have more meaningful and effective lives in our ministry to You.
The reason we have these narratives – we have been told many lies – told by the media/friends, family – lies about God and how He works – lies about yourself.
This is true from the foundation of history – a lie determined the history of the world – Genesis 3
3 Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.”
First lie: God is not good. He is withholding good from you. God knows that when you eat, you will get wisdom and knowledge and God is withholding that from you.
The lie is, in its simplest form, God does not love you.
You have that lie in your head DAILY – and at times, we don’t even know it. When something negative happens in your life – does God care about me in this circumstance?
Theologically, we have heard enough Bible to know that God loves us – we know that is true Biblically – but in reality – when we look at our lives, we question it – we question what we know to be true theologically. We know that God is good, but what good is God?
I don’t see that in my life all the time, and at times it seems that He doesn’t care. This can ruin our experience of our relationship with God.
These seem like basic things – what you think about deep inside – what you really believe – affects, ultimately – who you are. These stories need to change.
This is a very practical message – first – Identify the source of the lie.
There are several places – Satan – the father of lies. We need to understand that we have an enemy that is lying to us – He is the source of all lies and that is the way He works – lying about you, God, and others. If we don’t combat it, we are more susceptible to it.
“I can’t get no satisfaction” – “He can’t be a man if he doesn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me” – these are lies that are pumped into brains – unless you experience this or think that – you can’t be accepted.
That is the first way Satan does this – so be aware of it.
Family – Second – upbringing. – A Person’s view of God is shaped by the view of their parents. What do you think about when you think about your parents – even those who have the best parents – there are lies in my brain because they are humans and even the best of parents fail. We see this with the prodigal sons – with both of the sons – the Father is the picture/symbol of God. In the story – there are two sons who have a warped view of their father. For one, he rebels – and for the other – to reject. Both have the wrong concept of who the father was – they misunderstood him – and those watching misunderstood him.
It is a picture – we have a wrong picture of who God is and how He acts – and we either rebel or reject.
The older son did everything right – “I’ve obeyed all your commands and never asked for anything” – That is even worse – like God is some sort of dictator – but that is not the case – God is the one who spends everything for you.
He spends everything by giving to us.
You see this throughout Old Testament stories – how family shaped the people. The people are shaped – the way they serve God is affected by those stories – Cain and Abel – one is twisted – and Cain kills his brother. Moses – Deficiencies in his background – Families/implements are narratives in our heads –
Reflect on these: How have I been affected – what lies have been told me? The first is an extreme case – cases of abuse and evil – and that happens – and in that case, many lies are told to that child – things believed falsely because of the way the parents have treated the child. Someone in that circumstance needs real help – maybe a support group or pastoral counseling. If you are in that circumstance and have never had help – you have to have help!
Most families – performance based love. This causes us to look at God – God loves us if we are good. If you got As – and your parents said – good girl – you got an A! And that comes back to – They love me if I get good grades.
Those things have created stories in your head and will determine how you look at Go. If you are waiting for the lightning bolt to strike – you have wrong attitudes toward God. There are a lot of people walking around who believe this.
Praise and correction should be for what a child has done and not for who they are. You don’t say – Bad boy or bad girl!
If you climb the ladder – you are good. That is how we are around here! I hope that is a joke.
Luke 18: 9 Jesus also told this parable to some who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else. 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed about himself like this: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: extortionists, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of everything I get.’ 13 The tax collector, however, stood far off and would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, sinner that I am!’ 14 I tell you that this man went down to his home justified rather than the Pharisee. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
The Pharisee was a rule-follower – performance based – avoided certain sins – but he believed that those things won God’s favor. You can’t gain God’s favor by your actions and deeds – you can only gain his favor by His grace and mercy.
Eph. 2: 8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.
Favoritism can cause problems – Joseph – Jacob/Esau – there are many stories – and some of us had siblings who are just wonderful.
Abandonment – absent parents – unengaged parents – favorites – “God views someone else as a favorite”
Broken promises – “But you said we would” – You might not even remember making the promises – but to kids – perception is reality. We had those without parents. Will God be faithful to His promise? Will He come through?
That was Family –
The third way we receive these lies: Religion and the Church – The things we should do and the things we ‘must do’ – and it comes back to ‘doing the right thing for God to accept me’ – and that is dangerous. In Galatians – they want to say – you have to get circumcised and follow the food laws – Paul came down hard on Peter for that.
Church is supposed to be a place for transformation/repentance/forgiveness – but all of those must happen under God’s grace. They are a response to God’s mercy and grace.
Those are two different attitudes
How do we make it work for us?
Be aware – like Eve and Adam – we are likely to be deceived and led away from simple devotion to God
Second – identify the lies that have been told you – do you know what they are and how they got there? You need to know that – it takes time – willingness to examine – and then going from your childhood on – you know the areas you struggle with – those core struggles stay there – and they have sources in our lives and we need to open those things up – as painful as it might be.
Find ourselves in the biblical narrative.
We tend to look at the Bible as examples to follow or avoid – but what is it? IT is a story – From Gen. 1 to Rev. 22 – it is all stories – even the epistles are stories about churches and the problems they are having.
Psalms – songs about people’s lives
The gospels tell the story of Jesus
Acts/Epistles – Show how the first followers lived like Jesus called them to (or not)