Truth Series Sermon #1
SELF LIES
CHCC – June 26, 2011
II Corinthians 10:4-5
INTRODUCTION:
In this series of sermons I plan to focus on the kinds of lies people tend to allow to float around in their heads. We will deal with Self Lies, Worldly Lies, Marriage Lies, and Religious Lies. There’s something very basic I learned it from the Bible, and it’s the foundation of my theological grid. This basic theology has two parts:
1. God is truth. Everything I learn from God is absolutely true. God’s Word is true 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. It is true whether it is popular or unpopular, whether people think it’s trendy or out-of-date, whether it’s appreciated or mocked. Romans 3:4 Let God be true, and every human being a liar.
2. Satan is a liar. This grows out of the first statement that God is truth. God’s Word says that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44
Christian belief rests on this foundation, but too often we fail to apply this to the way we live our daily lives.
Too often we listen to … meditate on … and even live by … the lies of Satan --- we do this because we haven’t stopped to examine the source of our thoughts and beliefs.
Today we will focus on the lies we tell ourselves. The Greek Scholar, Demosthenes said, “Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self; for what we wish we readily believe.”
The way we THINK makes all the difference in life. Some of our thoughts are so deeply entrenched that we’re not even aware of them.
It’s easy for us to get caught in a trap called Stinkin Thinkin’. I learned about this terminology from a recovering alcoholic in AA. He explained that they were taught to avoid the kind of thought processes that would shift blame for self behavior to others, and to take responsibility for our own actions.
The LIES we believe can literally ruin our lives.
In Romans, Paul warns about the importance of our thoughts: Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. Romans 8:5-6
I want to start today by focusing on a very common false belief:
1. I must have everyone’s love and approval …
This is the person believes deep down that: “Everyone MUST …
• Like me
• Accept me
• Approve of me
• Love me
• Think I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread
• If anyone is displeased with me, I have to find a way to make them like me.
The truth is that no matter what you do or who you try to be, there will always be someone who will not like you. I read in a leadership magazine that any leader can expect to have about 12-15% solidly behind him, no matter what. AND any leader must realize there will always be about 12-15% who will NEVER get behind him no matter what.
So generally speaking you can expect that 10-15% of the people in your life will not approve of you. You’ll never win them over, no matter how hard you try.
Jesus understood this. John chapter 2 says that many people put their trust in Him because of his miracles, but Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew human nature. No one needed to tell him what mankind is really like. John 2:24-25
Some of the best advice I got early in my ministry came from someone who told me, “God doesn’t call us to be successful --- he calls us to be faithful.” If we are pleasing God, we don’t need to give a thought to whether we are pleasing people.
Trying to please people will turn you into a social chameleon … constantly shifting colors to fit in with your surroundings. If you do this long enough, you become an APPROVAL ADDICT. An Approval Addict will end up feeling frustrated and guilty because they compromise what they know is right in order to please the people around them.
Tomas a Kempis: "Do not let your peace depend on the hearts of men; whatever they say about you … good or bad … you are not because of it another man … for as you are, you are."
If you become a people-pleaser, you lose all sense of who you really are … you compromise your values, and you lose the joy of living.
Listen to the TRUTH of Galatians 1:10 where Paul asked: Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
The lie is that you must win the approval of people.
The truth is that God doesn’t want you to try to please people. God wants you to put your ENTIRE focus on pleasing HIM.
• So, when you catch yourself believing, I must have everyone’s love and approval ---
• Replace the Lie with the truth --- If I try to please people, I cannot be a servant of Christ.
It’s easy to fall for Satan’s lies, because … like any good liar … he tells us what we want to hear. That’s why so many people believe the next lie:
2. I can’t be happy unless things go my way …
Don’t we deserve to have life the way we want it? No waiting in line, no flat tires, no financial troubles, no unreasonable bosses, no squalling kids, no arguments with the spouse. Wouldn’t that be great?
But, you see, it’s one thing to wish life were this way, and another thing entirely to deceive ourselves into expecting it to be this way all the time.
This self lie can be a real killer for anyone who has convinced themselves that every day must be the perfect day … or else I have permission to throw a hissy fit. (for lessons on throwing the proper hissy fit, please find a two year old and observe. They have this maneuver down pat.)
If you believe the lie: I can’t be happy unless things go my way … then Satan can steal your joy every day of your life! And believe me, one thing Satan ALWAYS wants to steal from you is your JOY.
Here’s a test: Do you lose your joy if …
* your car breaks down
* the cleaner ruins your shirt
* the driver behind you honks one nano-second after the light turns green
* you’re standing in a long line and the line next to you is moving twice as fast
* the Spurs lost the first round of the playoffs to a #8 ranked team
If you answered YES to any of those questions, you need to replace Satan’s lie with the TRUTH.
Look at James chapter 1: Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:2-4
I remember something a Christian professor named Howard Hendricks told. He said one time he asked a student, “How are you doing?”
The student said, “Pretty good, under the circumstances.”
He responded, “Well, what are you doing under there?”
Christians should never live under the circumstances! We are called to be OVERCOMERS, not UNDERGOERS!
If we apply this truth in the small, every-day trials, then we will be able to have JOY even when the big troubles and tragedies of life hit us full force.
The way we handle small problems is preparation for the big problems that will eventually hit all of us. That’s what the scripture in James means … when we learn to have JOY during small troubles, then perseverance will finish its work and we will be mature and complete … able to have JOY no matter what.
• If you’ve been secretly thinking, I can’t be happy unless things go my way
• Replace the Lie with the truth: Because of Jesus I can have joy in all circumstances.
The next self-lie I want to talk about is a close cousin to the last one. If we believe the lie that I can’t be happy unless things go my way, it’s a close jump to believe:
3. My unhappiness is somebody else’s fault …
This could be called the “poor me” syndrome. Why blame circumstances when you can blame a person. “I could have a happy life if only I’d had better parents … a different spouse … a different job … a better church …”
The problem with the blame game is that it won’t solve … or even improve … any of our problems. We can spend all day blaming someone else and at the end of the day we’ll be just as miserable as before. Even if the person deserves all the blame, it won’t help us to focus on how guilty they are.
Blame doesn’t accomplish anything
… Well, maybe it does accomplish something.
Years ago I heard a teacher named Bill Gothard explain the one thing that blame will accomplish. He explained that when you blame someone, you focus on their faults and their sins. You ANALYZE them in your mind. In a way, you MEDITATE on all their faults.
What does this accomplish? Eventually you will become LIKE the very person you despise. You may not do the exact same thing they did, but you will develop flaws that mirror theirs.
You see this all the time.
* Someone resents his boss for yelling at him … then he turns around and yells at his wife.
* Someone hates his parent for abusing him …then he finds himself abusing his own children.
* Someone holds a grudge against the friend who slandered him … and the next thing you know, he’s gossiping about that friend.
Don’t replay over and over in your mind the terrible things that someone else has done.
Apply the TRUTH found in Philippians 3:13-14: This one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
For the Christian, there is no reason to waste your time blaming other people.
We have the wonderful promise of Romans 8:35:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
In other words: NO ONE has the power to “ruin” your life in Christ.
• If you’ve been wasting your time with the lie: My unhappiness is somebody else’s fault …
• Replace the Lie with the truth: Nothing and NO ONE can ever separate me from God’s love.
CONCLUSION:
Author, Steven Covey said “In between stimulus and response is choice.”
We can choose to believe Satan’s lies or we can choose to fill our minds with God’s truth. It’s that simple.
If you look at the sermon outline page in the bulletin you’ll see a couple of books listed.
I got some ideas for these sermons from The Lies we Believe, by Dr. Chris Thurman. This is a good book for examining whether your attitudes line up with God’s Word.
Search for Significance is a powerful book that I discovered years back. In it Robert McGee talks in depth about 4 firmly held false beliefs. I make a point of keeping a copy of this book in my library. I’ve given my copy to many different people through the years … and I’ve been told over and over that the book made a big difference in their way of thinking.
II Corinthians 10:4-5 is a good verse to close with today: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
This week, let’s examine our thoughts … and let’s take every thought captive for Christ.
