The opposite of “The truth will set you free” is “A lie will hold you captive.” The falsehood becomes a defective worldview that distorts and corrupts your view of the whole.
I was reading Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of 2 Cor10 (in The Message) and it struck me afresh just how devastating that distortion can be. Here’s the bit:
“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity…” (2 Cor 10 MSG)
We live in a “massively corrupt culture” which has bought into the lie of “warped philosophies” to such an extent that we can barely think straight.
But the passage is aggressive in its determination to tear “down barriers erected against the truth of God.”
What are those barriers?
According to Adrian Rogers, they are introduced to us at the earliest stage of the Bible’s primeval history: the four lies of “the serpent” that set the agenda for human confusion ever since. Genesis 3 begins:
“Now the serpent… said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
Out of these foundational lies all other lies developed. And this is the very way Jesus refers to Satan – as the “father of lies.” John 8:44 reads: ” [The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him … he is a liar, and the father of it.”
The motive: murder. the method: the lie. Satan wants to bring death—physical, spiritual and eternal—and he does it through deception.
So here are the four “barriers erected against the truth of God.”
Lie #1: God is not loving.
By planting that seed of doubt, Satan wanted Eve to believe God was withholding goodness from her; therefore, God Himself was not good. She would think God was cruel, harsh, and unloving.
Lie #2: God is not truthful.
By casting doubt on His truthfulness, Satan wanted Eve to believe God had lied to her. His question mark at the end of what God said implies God’s Word cannot be trusted.
Lie #3: God is not righteous.
With his “you shall not surely die” response, Satan wanted Eve to believe God would not really hold Eve’s sin against her. Some today think, “God is too good to punish sin.” He’s too good not to punish sin. He is holy and righteous.
Lie #4: God is not gracious.
Satan’s temptation here is for Eve to believe God’s plans for her were not good, and she should look out for herself. He tells Eve, “If God is not gracious, then you’d better become your own god and take care of yourself. Have your own way.”
(This list was drawn from an Adrian Roger’s sermon)
Love, honesty, fair-dealing and grace – what relationship can survive the loss of these things?
And that’s where humanity is right now, within the devastation caused by the fracture of that relationship. And that’s where Paul picks upthe story inRomans 1:
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. …Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts …They exchanged the truth about God for a lie,”
A lie! But what is the truth about God’s desires for us?
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9
How do we demolish this stronghold of wrong thinking? How do we exchange a lie for the truth?
The Bible gives us three ways: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Rev 12:11)
We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. The cross of Christ exposed what evil looks like. It broke the power of Satan’s deception.
We overcome by the word of our testimony.The wordf God on our lips defeats the lies of Satan.
We overcome by total surrender. Our commitment to Christ defeats the purposes of evil.
God direct my thinking today so that it be empty of self-pity, dishonesty, self-will, self-seeking and fear.
I demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and I take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
In Jesus’ name.
[This is a clip from Ken’s forthcoming book, Stronghold).
Dr Ken Baker 