By Mark Siverling
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
- John 8:31-36 (ESV)
At Recovery at Summit, our teaching series for October-December will be about confronting the lies we are tempted to believe about God, others, and ourselves. Our lives become disordered, difficult, and joyless when we live according to lies. But when we align our hearts and minds with God’s reality, we find freedom, hope, and joy. Unless we take the time to examine what we really believe, and how those beliefs affect our lives, we won’t ever confront the lies that drive us. A major part of the Christian life is learning to stop believing false things and to live in light of the truth.
Why do we believe lies?
Christians through the ages have turned to the Bible to understand how lies take root in our hearts. Theologians have traditionally identified three sources of lies: the world, the flesh, and the devil. In the beginning, God created humans for intimate relationship with Himself. He cultivated a garden for us, and invited Adam and Eve into meaningful cooperative work with Him. But our many-times-great grandparents were not satisfied to work with their Maker; they wanted to be gods themselves. So, they rebelled, and put all of humanity under the curse of sin. Therefore, sin clouds our understanding of truth. We find it easy to believe lies because our pride prevents us from surrendering to God, who loves us and always tells us the truth. Lies also come from outside us, from a world corrupted by the curse and the culture of millions of fallen humans. But while the choice was Adam and Eve’s, they were tempted and influenced by Satan (The Accuser), a fallen angel who rebelled against God before humanity did. To understand this Accuser, consider how Jesus confronted the religious leaders of His day by comparing them to Satan.
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” - John 8:44
Satan is not the opposite of God; Satan is a creature made by God and subject to God’s sovereign reign. Satan cannot control us, but he lies to us and leads us into lives of unreality, both as individuals and as a culture.
What does the Bible say?
The Bible can be relied on to reveal what is true. Here are a few important truths:
A. The Bible is the true Word of God.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
- Hebrews 4:12
B. God never lies.
God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
- Numbers 23:19
C. The Holy Spirit opens our hearts to believe the truth.
“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”
- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16
D. Abiding in Jesus leads to freedom from lies.
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free…So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
- John 8:31-32, 36
Addressing Lies at Recovery at Summit
Is your life hard? Do you struggle with hurts, habits, or hang-ups – things that hold you back in your relationships with God, self, and others? Lie-based thinking hampers our ability to experience the abundant life Jesus promised (John 10:10) and to cope with living in a broken world. Over the next three months, we’ll examine some common false beliefs:
“I don’t matter.”
“God cannot forgive me.”
“I don’t need to confess.”
“I can do it myself.”
“The process will save me.”
“I cannot escape my trauma.”
“I must try harder.”
“I will never be free.”
Learning to live according to truth instead of lies means surrendering to Him who knows us best.
“Spiritual pride is the illusion that we are competent to run our own lives, achieve our own sense of self-worth and find a purpose big enough to give us meaning in life without God.” - Timothy Keller, The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
This surrender to the God of truth helps us flourish in all the ways that really matter.
“When we believe the truth—that is, ideas that correspond to reality—we show up to reality in such a way that we flourish and thrive. We show up to our bodies, to our sexuality, to our interpersonal relationships, and above all, to God himself in a way that is congruent with the Creator’s wisdom and good intentions for his creation. As a result, we tend to be happy.” - John Mark Comer, Live No Lies
I invite you to join us at Recovery at Summit every Thursday evening from 7:00-9:00 PM, as we consider together how to expose the lies we believe, to abide in Jesus, and live according to the truth.