We begin a mini-series of successive topics Paul hits on "Living It Out." This week we look at truth - not just truth-telling, but the problem we have with living the truth out in our daily lives. Jeremiah said, "the heart is deceitful above all things" (17:9) - so how practically shall "you know the truth, and the truth shall set you free" (Jn.8:32)? Let's talk about how the Gospel transforms liars like me into people who joyfully live and share the Truth.
Discussion Questions
Where do we get the guts to tell the truth? Why do we easily lie at times while other times we’re brutally honest and transparent – even magnanimous about how honest we are? Why the difference in behavior?
“Don’t lie” is not the point of this. So what is the point of this?
Hiding
Read Ephesians 4:25. This is the opposite of I can’t be real with the world and I don’t want the world to be real with me - to paraphrase Billy Joel. Why do we reject the intimacy that we desperately want? Can you share how this has played out in your life, in part or in whole?
We keep others at a distance, surely. But we can also keep ourselves distant from ourselves. Why do we do this? (Jeremiah 17:9) When have you come to some self-realization and said, I’m kidding myself – everyone has seen this about me, but I’ve been avoiding it. How has this confession helped you bond more to others; more so than if you had kept lying to yourself? What were you trying to save? What were you losing?
The fool says in their heart that there is no God. (Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1) This is not a punch at the atheist. Rather it’s directed at those who live as if there’s no God; especially theistic, religious people. When we live as functional atheists we are disconnected from God. Yet when we confess, we get closer to Him. Why? Recall what confession means.
We can use truths to push away The Truth. How? What are examples of this?
The Flip
Grace has an agenda: to draw us out of our mess, see Him as He is, and be transformed into His likeness. (1 John 3:2; 2 Corinthians 3:17-18) How does God transform liars into truth-ers? What kind of truth-ing in your own life has to be from God – more than you just living up to ethical standards?
The church is a model house where sinners are given a home to recover and be transformed under a covering of grace. It’s a place to love people who do to us what we did to Jesus. What does compassion look like; not with the so-called poor and needy, but in common church relationships?
Honesty
We cope with the sight of ourselves by turning to lies, from sources that do not know us, nor reflect back to us honestly who we truly are. God knows us better than we know ourselves, and Jesus experienced the full range of humanity, yet did not sin. (Jeremiah 17:10, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Hebrews 4:15) He knows us better than our coping mechanisms and idols. How have you seen this raw change of direction towards God’s loving honesty transform your life?
Retell the story at the end of the sermon. How was the pastor freed? Have you ever been liberated like that?
GOSPEL: Truth died a liar’s death. We now can take in the ugly truth about ourselves; not by looking into a distorted funhouse mirror, but by accepting who we really are - an ugly mess. God is not out to destroy you but to restore you.
