THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES by TIM CHADDICK
I recently caught up with Tim Chaddick, author of the new book, The Truth About Lies: The Unlikely Role Of Temptation In Who You Will Become. He graciously agreed to guest blog and below is an excerpt from his book. Enjoy!
I’m not sure what comes to mind when you think about your past, but when I think about mine before I met Jesus, it was like this giant burden that I carried on my shoulders. It weighed me down. It left me longing for deliverance. People in every century and cultural background have experienced this pain or shame over what they have done or what has been done to them, wondering if there is healing at all or if we are just doomed to collapse under its weight.
The people of the first century, in the apostle Paul’s day, longed for the same freedom, only they hoped it would somehow come from the many gods of Greco-Roman society. The idea was that you might be able to find deliverance from the sorrow, pain, and burden of the past by showing yourself worthy to the gods. If you did, maybe, just maybe, the gods would show up. They called this an “epiphany,” an appearance of deliverance. Everyone was waiting for it, hoping it would happen someday. Paul’s response to the desire of this culture is classic and controversial:
That epiphany you want? It’s already happened.
Earth-shattering events have taken place, there has been an unveiling, an appearing of God’s grace to lost people— grace that delivers us from the domain of darkness and opens up the prison doors for those in captivity. In the Person of Jesus Christ, the grace of God is shown. The power of Christian living is found in between the finished work of Christ in the past and the promise of His return in the future. We are told this over and over again in the Scriptures. Why? Because these truths must be held together in our hearts if we are to overcome sin and temptation. But this is where we often slip.
If you are a music lover, then you know the pleasure of listening to your favorite album on headphones. I love hearing in both ears the sonic subtleties and nuances of great music and good production. If you love this experience, then you know how horrible it is when one of your earphones doesn’t work. It drives me insane because I’m getting only half of the mix! You need both left and right ears to enjoy the music properly.
Like a pair of headphones, we need to hold both the truth of Christ’s work in the past and the promise of His return in the future. But frankly, some of us are living with only one earphone in. On the one hand, you might be very aware of Christ’s work in the past, but you have no expectation in the future, and so you are filled with worry and perhaps discouragement. On the other hand, you could be alert to the reality of Christ’s soon return, yet be forgetting His finished work, and you end up being burdened with guilt, trying to work your way forward. You must hold both truths together.
You need to listen to grace in stereo.
Many of us give in to temptation because we are distracted by the “next big thing.” You might be dissatisfied with your job or your current relationship or even your church. You might be tempted to think that the solution for your discontent is to find better versions of those things. To use the apostle’s word, you are looking for an “epiphany,” waiting for the next curtain to open on a stage for the thing you think will give you the hope you need— whether that be another career or another relationship. But if that hope is anything other than Jesus Christ, it’s an illusion. It can never give you what your heart needs.
When we are distracted, giving in to the temptations of worldly passions, we find ourselves simply looking for recovery. But this is where grace educates our hearts. God is not in the recovery business; He is in the transformation business.
Grace brings about a change of mind and a change of heart and life. You are not only called to grow, but you are empowered to grow. It does not happen by my own efforts of being a “good person,” or focusing only on the badness of sin. Though legalism tries to capture the will, only grace captivates the heart. If you were to say to a person behind bars in prison, “Be free!” it would be an insult. That is what religiosity and legalism does. But … if the prison door has indeed been opened and a way of freedom made, then saying “Be free!” is not an insult but an invitation. Walk through the door. Jesus Himself has opened it.
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Tim Chaddick is the founding pastor of Reality LA and the author of The Truth About Lies: The Unlikely Role Of Temptation In Who You Will Become, released Aug. 1 from David C Cook. Reality LA is a thriving church in the heart of Hollywood, CA, and is a part of a movement committed to relational church planting and serving the broader body of Christ. Tim and his wife, Lindsey, live in Los Angeles with their three daughters. For more information, go to www.timchaddick.com, @timchaddickand www.facebook.com/timchaddick.