Grace Confronts the Lies We Believe - Outline

Introduction

Relationships have a list of unspoken rules—guidelines for how people should treat each other.

Relationships have a list of unspoken rules—guidelines for how people should treat each other.

Tension

Then there are those “sorry not sorry” moments.

Then there are those “sorry not sorry” moments.

And it’s in these moments—when someone crosses a line and acts so badly and is fine with it—that grudges are born unless grace confronts the lies we believe about ourselves and others.

Truth

As long as there have been people, there are have been lies we believe about ourselves and others. Eve and Adam believed they could be like God. Cain believed that everything had to always go his way. Yet, God always intervenes into our lies that we believe about ourselves and lies we believe about other. And, this is grace because it sets us free from those lies that will diminish and destroy our faith, family and friendship.

And the Bible actually addresses this very issue.

As long as there have been people, there are have been grudges. And the Bible actually addresses this very issue.

About, 2,000 years ago Yeshua was laying the foundation for what would become a worldwide movement. He was setting the DNA for A radical return to Jewish faith that was centered around Him and Him alone. And Yeshua was recruiting disciples.

However, Yeshua was recruiting disciples from the other side of the wall. Literally, he was recruiting women to be his disciples. Something no Rabbi or respected religious leader would do during that period of time.

Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 1—That You May Know the Truth Mary

“May the words of the Torah be burned, they should not be handed over to women” (j. Sota, 10a, 8), and “The man who teaches his daughter the Torah teaches her extravagance” (Sota, 3, 4; cf. B. Sota, 21b.)

Yeshua was not trying to fit within the Judaism of his day, He was trying to reform Judaism and bring it back to what it should be and that meant changing the way women were treated. In our story in , Yeshua comes comes to the home of two sisters, Mary and Martha.

I have heard this story used so many times to brow beat women, especially wives. Martha is portrayed as a ruthless and unrelenting, even nagging housewife whose spiritual dullness can only be cured by becoming more like a Mary who is quiet, learning and in a posture of submission. Most men wag their fingers at women and say, “Don’t be a Martha, you need to be a Mary.” But, Mary and Martha could as easily be Tom and Chuck. Chuck could be busy grilling and Tom having a bromance with Yeshua. The point of the story is not gender.

What happens though is by telling the story this way it creates this religious lie that “All my problems are due to me being a busybody.” Or, equally dangerous is the self-righteous lie that says, “God I know you are pleased with because I am not like that woman who is always doing domestic duties, I fast twice a week, spend three hours in prayer, and go to Bible study as often as possible.”

I want to challenge us to see this story as trying to probe something deeper than just gender, than just the active life with all of its cares and labours as compared to the contemplative life of prayer and quiet and study.

I want to challenge us to see how grace confronts Martha with a lie she believes about Yeshua, a lie she believes about herself and a lie she believes about Mary.

Grace not only accepts us, heals us and welcomes us. Grace also refuses to allow us to go on living in the lies we believe. The only way to break free from the lies we believe about God, ourselves and others is to allow Grace to show us the truth.

Being a able to spot a lie is the first step to experiencing freedom. The ultimate way to be set free is to experience God’s grace for you.

Application

Track It

Spot It

Truth It

Declare it

Landing

When you have believed a lie long enough, giving it up can be frightening but in actuality it will be empowering and give you real shalom.

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