Disciples tell truth (2)
Notes
Transcript
We are all liars
We are all liars
Few of us have been murderers and thieves, but we have all been liars - Sam Harris
I didn’t mean it.
It’s OK.
Context:
48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Liars from the beginning
Liars from the beginning
Satan - Adam - Abraham
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you.”
Abraham
Isaac - repeats
19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may give me your blessing.”
Jacob
Pattern - continues - through to Apostle Peter
74 Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”
Immediately a rooster crowed.
Oaths to ensure truth
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’
Because are slippery people - a reminder that God is present
The why of contracts
God the third party - and would bring judgment on the one who broke their word
Oaths to erode truth
Oaths to erode truth
34 But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
Heaven, earth, Jerusalem, head - what’s going on there?
16 “Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’
Levels of truth telling.
[different bits being more of less sacred - but we know that’s not the case here - ]
My head’s not as serious as temple, etc - oaths to erode truth.
Can choose when it’s important to tell the truth.
Take God out of the picture.
Jesus: No oaths, just truth
Jesus: No oaths, just truth
37 All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
No oaths. Just tell the truth.
Don’t play the game.
[When to lie? Not our problem…]
How to escape?
How to escape?
3 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord;
keep watch over the door of my lips.
On a train— hit stop: Emergency stop button - a mouth guard.
Heart problem - an overflow valve
18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
Not just in need of a mouthguard - but heart surgery.
Not enough to not speak - but want to love the truth in our hearts.
Need to know the why...
Why are we liars?
behavioural science - to protect ourselves - and our image and expected responses:
why did Adam lie? -
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
Afraid and ashamed.
11 Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
On his own: afraid.
Peter? - afraid, ashamed, alone.
Afraid, Ashamed, Alone
Afraid, Ashamed, Alone
Overcoming fear, shame and isolation
Overcoming fear, shame and isolation
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
God lives in truth. God knows the truth. God has forgiven and cleanses liars like us.
We don’t have to be afraid. We don’t have to be ashamed.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
I am with you always:
Don’t need to be afraid or ashamed.
We are not alone.
God forgives, cleanses, knows and carries on with us.