Don't Believe the Lies - Lesson 1

Lies we believe about Jesus

next few weeks.

We have a messed up image of who God is

thought reality was a comic book and God was just reading our story.

God was just like the air, you couldn’t talk to him, but he was around. (the force, basically).

My dad had a picture of Jesus on the cross in his office at home. I’d look at it everyday. I always saw this image of a half-naked Jesus on the cross. I didn’t get it.

We often get wrong info stuck in our head. Wrong song lyrics, facts.

I think we have over-time, come to believe some lies about who Jesus is.

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important things about us.” - A.W. Tozer -

Todays Big Lie: Jesus is all about rules, and He only likes people who are good, perfect Christians.

The Samaritan Woman (John 4:1-26)

Jewish men wouldn’t have been caught dead speaking to a Samaritan. They were half-Jewish and seen as unclean. One of the worst things you could do in their society was marry somebody who wasn’t Jewish, so the children that came from those marriages were considered scum. This lady was one of the lowest of the low in their world.

Worse than that, Jewish men would never speak to a woman in public… This was scandalous … like, TMZ-style! Anybody who was “religious” would have freaked out on Jesus just for talking to this lady.

If Jesus only cared about man's rules, and if He only loved people who

were good Christian people, He would not have gone anywhere near a

Samaritan, especially a Samaritan woman … let alone a Samaritan

woman who may have had a very scandalous and sinful past.

Zacchaeus (Luke 19)

Luke 19:5–10 NLT

5 When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” 6 Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. 7 But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. 8 Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!” 9 Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Jesus calls out to a tax collector—another one of the most hated of all people in Israel—and goes to share a meal with him. Jewish rules would never allow Jews to go have a meal with a “dirty sinner” like a tax collector. Yet, Jesus cares more for the heart of this man Zacchaeus than He does for the rules of man.

A Leper (Matthew 8)

Lepers were considered unclean. Jewish men would never touch a leper! They would have crossed the street to stay as far away from a leper as humanly possible!

Matthew 8:2–3 NLT

2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared.

The Man With a Withered Hand (Luke 6) On this particular day, the Pharisees, the religious guys with all the rules, are watching Him to see if he heals anybody because they think that will be breaking the Sabbath by working. Jesus doesn't care … He does it right in front of them! And He even kind of rubs it in their face.

He asks them outright: “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” Then He heals the man, and the Pharisees grow enraged that Jesus has broken their rules.

Luke 6:1–11 NLT

1 One Sabbath day as Jesus was walking through some grainfields, his disciples broke off heads of grain, rubbed off the husks in their hands, and ate the grain. 2 But some Pharisees said, “Why are you breaking the law by harvesting grain on the Sabbath?” 3 Jesus replied, “Haven’t you read in the Scriptures what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He went into the house of God and broke the law by eating the sacred loaves of bread that only the priests can eat. He also gave some to his companions.” 5 And Jesus added, “The Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath.” 6 On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. 7 The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. 8 But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. 9 Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?” 10 He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! 11 At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.

The Woman Who Had Been Diseased for 18 Years (Luke 13) He heals this woman who has been debilitated by sickness for 18 years. And the Pharisees get angry again! And Jesus calls them out, basically saying, “You hypocrites—you care more about your own rules, that you made up, than about this woman who has been sick for 18 years!"

A Man Who Has Been Ill for 38 Years (John 5)

Jesus was breaking man-made rules and traditions left and right. He was telling people, “You have all of these rules that are all about you and not about God at all!” Jesus was hanging out with the most scandalous people in their world and saying, "Hey, these are the people that need me!”

Where are you in these stories?

The one who needs healing

The one struggling with sin.

You’re the leper

You’re who Jesus came to be with.

You’re the Pharisee.

Do you know how you can tell who somebody loves? Time … they spend their most valuable asset with them: their time. And Jesus spent all His time with messed-up sinners just like you and me.

Look at his best friends that He spent ALL of His time with: His disciples were a bunch of normal-as-can-be, sinful, mostly uneducated dudes. Matthew was one of those hated tax collectors. Peter was that guy who was always doing something stupid. Judas straight up betrayed Jesus and got Him killed. And those are the guys that He lived, and ate, and walked with for three years.

Don’t believe the lies about Jesus!

So many people might say,

“Christianity is just about a bunch of rules.” No, it’s about loving God, and loving people!

Jesus told them over and over that their rules meant nothing if their hearts were wrong.

He is about loving people intensely! We see in the Scriptures, so many times, that Jesus goes out of His way to love and care for people, even when it is going to make the religious people angry. His rule, above all else, was to love God and love people.

Sometimes his love meant people had to hear or do something really hard. It meant they had to change, they had to believe something different.