1 THE BIG CON Your life will be based on truth. Or your life will be based on lies. Or your life will be based on a combination of lies and truths, without your knowing the difference. And why that matters is because what you believe and how you think will determine how you live. The following statement has been attributed to many sources, most often to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. Where does your destiny begin? With your thoughts. If I can control what you think, I can control what you value. If I can control what you value, I can control what you choose. If I can control what you choose, I can control how you live. And if I can control how you live, I can control you. If I can get you to believe a lie about who you are and who God is; if I can deceive you about how good people are supposed to act and what will make you proud of yourself and bring you joy, I can cause you to live a life that is wrong and false and you ll never be the wiser. Wait, stop, that s too much power for one man!
2 You re right, I don t have that kind of power. But the world does. The culture that we live in the images that are placed in our minds by advertisers, the values that Hollywood promotes, the spin the media puts on the news of the day, what passes as truth at many of our universities, what men who don t know God tell each other about the good life, the culture in which we live and move and have our being, in ways that are subliminal and powerful the world has the power to shape what we think, what we want, what we value, what we choose, and how we live. And I m here to tell you, because it s what Jesus taught, that the world is a liar. It will deceive you, it will play you for a fool, it will con you into believing that it knows what s best for you, wants what s best for you, and will deliver what s best for you if you just trust that what it s telling you is true. Our theme for this session of Quest is: The Big Con: Lies the World Wants You to Believe. Do you know how con games work? Someone tells you a lie they want you to believe. It s a lie you d like to believe because it promises to give you something you want on the cheap, but in the end it will take from you something that is costly and dear.
3 But before the guy who s lying to you asks you to trust him, he gives his trust his confidence to you. Or at least he appears to. Here s a scene from the movie House of Games where a seasoned grifter explains how the game works. Clip: House of Games Does the world really give you its confidence? Or at least appear to? Of course it does. It tells you that you are intelligent enough, good enough, and together enough to know what s right for you. The world tells you that it trusts you to know what s best for you; It says you re smart enough to call your own shots and make your own rules. You know what makes you happy, so follow your heart, satisfy your desires, and do what you please. It s never wrong to be you or to get what you desire. Don t let others tell you what to do or how to live or make you feel guilty. Only you know what s right for you.
4 Me, the world says, Me? I m just here to help you get what you want. I m just here to show you the way. I m just here to make sure you don t miss out on all you desire and all you deserve. And if the world can get you to believe that, you will give it your confidence; you will believe its lies about who you are, and who God is, and what s right and what s wrong, and what will make you proud and bring you joy. And the world will own you without your even knowing what happened. In this series we re going to look at some of the lies the world tells us. Lies that have formed the way we think without our knowing it, and consequently have formed our desires and our goals. See if you can follow this. When you put faith in Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you, your heart is changed. It s not that all your selfish and sinful desires are eradicated, at least it s not that way with me, but there is a change. There is now within you a deep longing to follow Christ and do what s right. But what doesn t change, not immediately, not without work, is our minds.
5 We don t instantaneously unlearn all the wrong things we ve been taught by our culture. We don t immediately recognize all the lies the world has told us and reject all the ways it has influenced our values and our goals. And make no mistake about it, all of us have been affected by the culture we live in. Look what Paul wrote to the believers in Rome. Romans 12.2: 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. Two important thoughts here. A. We have already been formed by the values of the world. Look at it. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world Paul is writing to Christians and he tells them: you have been living with the world s values and beliefs. He doesn t say: Be careful or you will live like the world. He says: Do not conform to the ways of the world any longer. It s a given. We have all been influenced and infected by the values of our culture. Before we came to Christ the world was hard at work, shaping us into its own image, working to conform our thinking and our behavior to its pattern. What we want out of life, what we think it means to be successful, how we picture what it takes to be a man. What we re willing to go along with so others will think we re good guys.
6 How we think about sex, how we think about marriage, how we think about God and religion. All of this has been at least partially formed in us by the world s influence on us. Here s the second important concept to get from this verse. B. Only as our minds are renewed can we recognize and do God s will. Paul wrote: 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. When will we be able to live out God s will, test it in the hard places of our lives, and prove that it works for good? Only when our minds have been renewed. Only when our thoughts and our beliefs no longer conform to the pattern of this world. Only when the beliefs and the values of our culture are replaced in our thinking by what s good and godly and true. To live a new life, we must have a new mind. To live a Christ-like life, we must have a Christ-like mind. That s why Paul writes to the Philippians: Philippians 2.5: Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. In the weeks to come, we will look at several of the lies the world wants us to believe at many of the ways it wants to con us so we will live by its values rather than the values of God s kingdom.
7 Though the lies that our culture tells us are specific to our time and our setting, they are only the latest expression of the same con game the world has been playing from the beginning of time. Here s how John described it in his first letter. I John 2.15-16: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world the lust of the flesh, and the lust of his eyes and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. Real quick. The word world in the Bible in Greek it s the world kosmos can have many meanings. It can mean the entire universe, planet earth, humankind, or the way we re using it here, the values of humankind, indifferent or hostile towards God, which organize and motivate human society. The world in this last sense is what Paul was writing about when he wrote do not conform to the pattern of this world (Romans 12.2). It s what James was referring to when he wrote Don t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God (4.4). It s what John means by the term later in his first letter when he says that believers are to overcome the world (1 John 5.4-5). So, back to 1 John 2, where the lies of the world are exposed. These are the things the world tells us will bring the fullness of life and joy. I m simplifying these concepts a bit so they are easy to grasp.
8 First, (A) THE LUST OF THE FLESH: sensual pleasures sought outside of the guidelines God has given. Often when we hear this phrase, the lust of the flesh, our first thought is sex. One reason for that is because we re men and our first thought is always sex. Some of you saw the movie or read the book, The Case for Christ. The author Lee Strobel set out to prove that Christianity was false when his wife accepted Christ. He was an atheist and so was she when they were married, and he wanted to demolish the arguments for the divinity and the resurrection of Jesus so he could get his wife to return to her senses. He was at the time a hard-drinking, full of himself, Yale Law School Grad, writing as an investigative journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Years ago, I heard him talk about how upsetting it was to him that his wife had converted. He told the audience that when she told him she had become a Christian and was going to get baptized, his first thought was, Damn, I ll probably never have good sex ever again. I mean, What would Jesus do? Not that. Definitely not that. And probably not even that. We read lust of the flesh and our first thought is sex. What Augustine described as scratching the itching sore of lust. And that s part of it but just part of it.
9 Its deeper meaning is the idea of living for self and one s own pleasure. It s the idea that we will experience the fullness of life by fulfilling our earthly appetites. So it can include sex, alcohol, drugs, but also exerting our will and getting our way over others through anger, rage, ruthlessness and/or worldly ambition. Give in, don t hold back, gratify your desires, don t restrain them. The world tells us that is the way to life. Second, John mentions (B) THE LUST OF THE EYES: greed aroused by what we see; being captivated by the outward show. This is believing that happiness and life can be found in acquiring material possessions and position. It s the idea that something out there can solve the needs and the problems that are in here. It s believing that success is determined by the size of your bank account, the address of your house, the make of your car, the watch on your wrist, or the title on your office door. The lust of the eyes is the temptation to love things and use people. It s the siren s song seducing us to live for things that are physical and temporal rather than for realities that are spiritual and eternal. The lust of the eyes is a shallow life tempting us to fill a spiritual longing with a material solution. It s the life of the little man who defines himself by what he has and what he does, rather than by who he is and his relationship with God and others.
10 Third, John writes about (C) THE PRIDE OF LIFE: the pretentious egotism and spiritual arrogance that sets oneself up as the final arbiter of right and wrong. This is the big one. This is the spiritual conceit that causes us to tell ourselves, if not out loud, then quietly in that deep place within our hearts where our decisions are made and our lives are determined, I am the Lord my God and I shall have no other gods before me. I will decide what is right for me. I will set my own rules. I will call my own shots. And no one else will tell me how to live. Of course, if we are Christians, or pretending to be, that kind of thinking will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to express out loud, even if it s stated quietly enough that only we can hear. So, we will change it to something more palatable. We ll tell ourselves: The God I believe in wants me to be happy. The God I believe in would never think it s wrong to and we fill in the blank with whatever it is we desire to do. The God I worship isn t the uptight God of the Bible with an outdated view of morality. No, the God I worship thinks like I think, wants what I want, and judges the way I would judge. In fact, the God I worship is just like me. That was how we were first conned and it was the first lie we believed.
11 Genesis 3.2-6: The woman said to the serpent, "God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden or you will die.' "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." You don t need God, telling you what is good and evil. That s what creation s first con artist told the human race. You can make up your own rules. You can be like God, determining what is right and wrong for yourself. Physical pleasures. Material possessions. Self in the position of God. These, the world promises, will bring you life and joy and fulfillment. This has been the con since the beginning of time. And in some way every lie we ll look at in this series is a variation of one of these three themes. In recent times there has been a TV character who has embodied these values. Let s see who is the first to guess who he is. In 2009 he was listed by the online magazine Ask Men as the most influential man in the country ahead of then President Barak Obama, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs who was alive at the time, Jay Z, Jon Stewart and George Clooney even though they are all real people. The series lasted seven seasons and ended two years ago. (Picture when I say put it up)
12 He is dapper, charming and cool. Confident and decisive. He is powerful, creative and professionally successful. He is also arrogant, cynical and self-centered, willing to cut ethical corners and to sacrifice his relationship with his children for professional success or physical pleasure. He may not always be right, but he is never wrong Lust of the flesh? Yep. Serial womanizer who cheats on both his wives many times, including just to name a few, the wife of a client, his daughter s schoolteacher, a friend s wife, and a 21-yr old he meets on a business trip. He handles his anxiety primarily with alcohol and finally is told that he can continue to work only as long as he is sober. Lust of the eyes? Loving things and using people? When a woman who works for him complains that he takes her ideas and the credit for her ideas without mentioning her, he says, It s your job, I give you money and you give me ideas. But, she says, you never say thank you. And he shouts at her, That s what the money is for. He tells another woman who he s having an affair with, you exist for my pleasure. And his mind she does.
13 When someone accuses him of being professionally dishonorable and asks him, How do you sleep at night? He replies smugly, On a bed of money. That s how I sleep at night. The Pride of Life? I ve shown you this scene before but for a different purpose. Clip: Man Men. I create reality for others. I reject the rules for myself. There is no one for me to answer to. No higher authority. No one to think about other than myself. He describes happiness this way. Happiness is the smell of a new car, it s freedom from fear, it s a billboard that screams whatever you re doing, it s okay. Not doing what s right or what s ethical or what s good that s not what creates happiness. But being able to believe, getting your conscience to the place that you can justify whatever you re doing, and convince yourself, it s ok, that s when you can be happy. What we see in Don Draper is a man who has believed the lies of the world.
14 Lust of the flesh he denies himself no pleasure that he desires. Lust of the eyes he lives for money, possessions, position, power and reputation. Pride of life egotistical, arrogant, a conscience that is remarkably unbothered by what others would consider moral failings. And what is the result? Emptiness. Seinfeld, of course, was a series about nothing. The creator of Mad Men says that it is a show about people who are empty and who are looking for something to fill them. In particular, it s the story of a man of the world who is on a quest for meaning, happiness and identity and who gives himself to everything the world says will bring him what he is seeking. Here are two clips from Draper that describe his experience of life, a life that has been about another glass, another sale, another woman, another conquest a life that is ultimately unsatisfied and sad. Clip: Mad Men https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itjrnhdzm0k 2.26-3.01/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwg4-xjuqpo 1.00-1.34 You can make your life about this moment, this pleasure, this job, this sale, this world. Don Draper Picture 2
15 You can live that way and be suave with the ladies. You can live that way and rise to the top of your profession. You can live that way and look great in a suit. But you ll never be more than an empty jacket, empty of substance, empty of significance, empty of the kinds of relationships that make life good and meaningful. Pic Don Draper Sad And the happiness you thought you would find by believing and living by the lies of the world, you ll find it was one big con job and your life was traded away for nothing. That s not some preacher wagging his finger at you. That s not the Bible telling you that the world will never satisfy. That s the lesson Don Draper, one of the brightest lights on Madison Avenue, wealthy, powerful and masculine, worldly wise and world weary, who ends up losing the respect of his partners, becoming dependent on alcohol, being discovered having sex with a neighbor by his young daughter, and running away to live a nomadic life as a mechanic. that s the lesson of Don Draper s life. The world does not satisfy. Our culture is a liar. And it s playing you for a fool.
16 But you don t want to see it, much less believe it. Because it promises you what you want everything and it tells you that you can have it all on the cheap. I hope and I m afraid Don Draper is an influential man. Afraid because he embodies who many men want to be and he looks so good doing it that shallow men will miss the message and be seduced by the image. Hopeful because Draper exemplifies what the lies of the world create a man who is empty, shallow, alone, and unhappy. It s funny that whenever anyone is conned, people look at them and say, How could you possibly have fallen for that? Couldn t you see you were being played for a fool? Why in the world did you trust someone like that? Don t be that guy. Brothers, the world wants to con you. And if you let it, You re going to come to the end our your life, and be full of regrets. My hope is that this series will help you recognize the lies of the world and how much more God has for you. After John warns us about the lies of the world that life will be found in the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, he writes: 1 John 2.17: The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.