Category: Deception

“Rethinking Our Culture”

 

Very few of us seem to inventory how much we are like the world’s culture. Somehow we have baptized the current culture we are in as ‘sacrosanct’—as if in some way we have captured the Kingdom of Heaven’s culture. …

As we enter Day 6 in this month of corporate fasting coupled with our Solemn Assembly and Heartwork, we are encouraged in the Heartwork Devotion for today to “Unlearn Our Culture.” The way I see it before I am able to learn something new, I need to unlearn something “old.” And before I can unlearn something “old,” I need to identify the old as out of sync with the Word and Jesus’ Heavenly Culture—no matter how much I have baptized it or relabeled it or PC’ed it, eh?

This rethinking actually requires that I stop and think. Ouch! Then I ask the Lord Jesus Christ to reveal to me by His Spirit those ‘things’ (such as, habits, thoughts, attitudes, passions, etc.) that are displeasing to Him. We may be surprised to learn that some of these “things” may be rather “good” things. But because I have been infected by the culture around me, I have made them an ‘idol’ or have engaged ‘them’ in my own strength. In this way I have tarnished a ‘good’ thing….

But, we may also find that we have been deceived or even deceived ourselves into thinking that this habit, thought, attitude, passion, etc. is, in fact, justified, warranted, and simply Okay. “I have a right to….” You can finish this sentence. But as the Light of His Word and Holiness concussion us, we are first blinded to the Truth of our deception, maybe even to the point of being defensive. But once our spiritual eyes begin to adjust to the Holy Light, we see clearly the distinction between Truth and Deceit.

This can definitely lead us to a ruining, a wrecking, an emptying, an undone state of life. Some times I fall into verbal self-flagellation where I bemoan the fact that I have been so naive, so stupid, to have been deceived so. Once I snap out of this, I am able to thank the Lord Jesus for being merciful to me to end this deception. Here then begins the transforming process of unlearning the culture! And it all started by rethinking…. Are you courageous enough to join me. I wasn’t—not at first, and without the Lord Jesus being my courage, I would not have gotten this far. How about you?

Your thoughts?

Main Text: — Romans 12:2 (NIV84)— Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Additional Scriptures to Renew Your Thoughts

 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you— Romans 12:2 (The Message)

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.— James 1:22 (NIV84)

For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. — 1 Peter 4:3–4 (NIV84)

Heavenly Father, strengthen my feeble arms and weak knees. Empower me by the Lord Jesus Christ’s Presence thorough His Holy Spirit to reject those cultural ‘bad’ habits, attitudes, thoughts, & _____. Lord Jesus Christ, be my courage as I turn from these ‘things’ that so displease You and pursue You along with those who call upon You out of a pure heart.  In Your Love and Great Mercy,  Amen.

Pastor Mike

“Can We Know How Much We Are Deceived?”

Date: 11-06-14

Text: — James 4:1-3 — 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. [NIV84]

The Big Idea: I discovered yet another factor in my remedy for self-deception.

My Thoughts: 

In our walk with Jesus, can we really know how much we are deceived by this world’s system? In the passage above, James jabs some rather pointed indictments, while pulling no punches later in the verses that follow. But as we read this, is your initial response, “I don’t do any of this?” Mine was. I do not kill anyone. I really don’t covet…. Ah, but do? Is it possible that I have not because when I ask, I ask merely to spend it on my selfish pleasures (v. 3)? Good question, oh my soul; good question, indeed.

Twice in his letter, James warns us not to deceive ourselves (1:22, 26). Self-deception is very cunning. The sad truth is, we really do not know when we are deceived. (If we did, we wouldn’t be, right?) I think this is why James closes his letter with “My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth…” (5:19 emphasis added). (The Greek word for wander has the implication of being deceived from any source.)

Lifestyle worshipers, is it important to discover how much we are or have been deceived? I think so. If the truth shall set us free, then knowing the Lord Jesus (The Truth!) more intimately will set us free from deception, be it self-delusion or other-concocted.

Several years back, for several Sundays—which seemed like months, “We don’t know how much we are deceived” kept sneaking into my sermons. I am not sure if the Holy Spirit was talking to someone else, but He sure was directly talking to me. It was shortly after this that I had an epiphany. I received a DVD in the mail asking the question: “Is America A Christian Nation.” For years I had argued it wasn’t. I had all my history books from College and high school which clearly demonstrated we were more deistic is foundation than Christian, but as the DVD unfolded with original documents to establish that America, indeed, had deep Christian roots it her founding, my worldview of this began to crumble and a melancholy grieving overtook my life for some months to follow. (In subsequent research, I had discovered that this specific aspect of history had been systematically sterilized from our text books for decades.)

Now I know to some, this would seem like a frivolous bunny trail of sorts, but for me it was a soul stirring moment. Because after this unveiling, I had to ask, “How much more was I being deceived on other subjects—civil or sacred?” Back to the Word I went!

If the Word is the Truth, and if the Holy Spirit has imbued it with the very essence of the Holy Trinity, then it naturally follows that this Word shines a bright spotlight on any deception I may be in…. So I studied the Word all the more intensely. And in doing so, I discovered yet another factor in my remedy for self-deception, and I think James is subtly telling us this: We need each other to expose our blindspots.

In Love, I need to confess my sins to my accountability team (see 5:16) in order to find healing, and part of this healing is lifting the self-deception from my life. I must practice true wisdom from above (see 4:17) by often checking in with a close confidant in order to get a ‘spiritual checkup’ as one would a physical checkup. And in Love, I must make myself available for those who have ‘wandered from the truth,’ and gentle restore such a one, who may not realized that they, too, have been deceived.

Have you discovered these same elements if addressing deception? Your thoughts?

Scriptures to Renew Your Thoughts

Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive.” — Matthew 24:4-5 (NIV84)

I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments. For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness —Colossians 2:4-7 (NIV84)

Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. —1 Corinthians 3: 18 (NIV84)

 

Heavenly Father, by the shed blood of Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and through His power, I submit myself to You. Renew my mind. Deliver me from any deception I may be exposed to, whether it is self-imposed or not. I put You on, Lord Jesus Christ, as my Belt of Truth. Sanctify me and set me apart by this Truth: Your Word is Truth.  Be that part of my life that has been in bondage to any deception. I release myself into Your hands. In Your Name, Amen.

Pastor Mike