The Lie (3)

“But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’” Luke 20.14

To be God
Why would people choose to live by the lie when the truth Who sets us free from ignorance, sin, and death invites them freely into His family?

The answer is quite simple: People do not want to serve God, they want to be God.

Those who reject God, and choose to live on the lie side of the human divide, want to exercise God’s right to define the terms of their existence. They want to exercise God’s authority to prescribe how they should act, what their values and priorities should be, and how they should relate to other people. They want to possess whatever of God’s creation they desire, and to do with it what they will. And they insist that all others must recognize their authority to be a law unto themselves in all matters.

Augustine described this desire for autonomy as a “deadly corrosive.” Once people embark upon the lie as their chosen course in life, life becomes a matter of making sovereign choices to satisfy one’s every desire, with no regard for anything other than what works to enable me to get what I want.

In the kingdom of the lie, life becomes a kind of artful dodging of undesirable consequences in a smash-and-grab of good times and good things.

Yet always, always, looming over the heads of those who live the lie is the fear of death (Heb. 2.15).

The law of sin, the fear of death
Those who have embraced the lie do not want God to dictate the terms of their morality. The law of sin, which operates in all people (Rom. 7.21-23), powerfully inclines them to reject God’s authority and standards and to prefer their own. People derive a kind of sinister pleasure in saying to themselves, as William Ernest Henley says, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul”, even though, deep inside, all people know this isn’t true.

Who of them can control the erratic driving habits of those cars coming at them from the other side of a painted line? Who of them can master the storms and cancers and violent whims of others? Who of them can know even the simplest detail of what their lives will be like in the next hour?

The Bible teaches plainly that those who reject the truth of God and turn to the lie know that they’re turning away from a reality they will never be able to deny, and Whom they will one day have to face (Rom. 1.18-20). They know God, even though they deny Him, and usurp His prerogatives and scorn His ways. And within that framework of convictions, if only at the level of the subconscious, death becomes an even more fearful prospect than it already is (Heb. 2.15) because of what all people know – or at least, fear – lies beyond it: a terrifying encounter with the living God, Whom they have repudiated and rejected.

But while all people fear death, most of them try hard not to think about it. Instead, they euphemize and seek to postpone death, while they press on in their course of being deceived, thinking that the next choice, the next decision, the next acquisition or experience will give them the happiness they desire, and vindicate their pretended autonomy. Let someone suggest to them that they are living according to the lie, and they will shrug it off, respond with laughter or scorn, or become angry and even violent.

For all its elusiveness and its many shape-shifting forms, the lie powerfully holds the affections and thinking of those who believe that, by pursuing it, they will discover the full and abundant life they are persuaded they deserve. All their reasoning bends to the justification of their own presumed autonomy; all their choices are made with a view to obtaining the god of the good life, however they have defined it.

Yet, deep in their souls, they know they are denying the only hope Who can save them from their folly, and make their lives make sense.

For reflection
1.  In what ways is “the desire for autonomy a deadly corrosive”? Can you give some examples?

2.  How is the desire for autonomy related to the problem of idolatry in our day?

3.  Meditate on Proverbs 14.12 and Hebrews 2.15. What role does the certainty of death play in the lives of those who are living the lie? How can we use this as a way of focusing on the Good News?

Next steps – Conversation: Talk with some Christian friends about how you might encourage and assist one another in reaching out to those who are trapped on the lie side of the human divide.

T. M. Moore

The Christian life is one of joy in the Spirit. We are called to be bringers of joy to the world. Our booklet, Joy to Your World!,shows why Jesus is the great Good News of Christmas. It’s the perfect stocking-stuffer for friends and coworkers. Order your copies by clicking here.

A PDF of this week’s study, The Lie, is available by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.