Our words can wound or heal. Prov. 18:21, "The tongue has the power of life and death." And we have all been hurt by someone's toxic words. We say to our children, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me." But this isn't true - words can be very harmful! So, we have a choice to make: We can either believe the life-draining words we hear or instead, embrace the words that give life.

False beliefs take many forms. Inaccurate understandings - of God, of ourselves, of others - can be tragic. Thankfully, our God is a God of truth. As the source of eternal truth, we can trust God's wisdom and direction as we seek to overcome false beliefs. Rather than being enslaved by toxic thoughts, the Bible teaches that we are capable of controlling our minds.

(Proverbs 23:7; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Philippians 4:7-8)

The Bible says, "the heart is deceitful above all things" (Jer. 17:9). Our capacity for self-deception distorts our view of both ourselves and others. We begin to believe our own lies, living in a state of denial or completely oblivious to our blind spots. But God's Word provides the mirror we need to check against these blind spots. When we identify the lies we often tell ourselves, the truth of Christ will set us free (John 8:32).

(Jeremiah 17:9; Psalm 36:2-3; James 1:22)

Today we kick off a new sermon series entitled, Clean Living: Trusting Jesus in a Toxic World. This Christian living series aims to expose the toxic behaviors, emotions, and ifluences that we should be guarding against. We’ll be drawing heavily from God’s Word as we highlight toxic influences such as self-deception, anger, false beliefs, resentment, secret sin, envy, anger, fear, and the value systems of our increasingly secular culture. Rather than being desensitized to these toxic influences, we seek God’s grace and truth to make us clean. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Ps. 51:10)

The closing scene of John’s Gospel describes the post- resurrection reconciliation between Jesus and Simon Peter. After his betrayal of Jesus, Simon Peter was wracked with guilt but Jesus restores him by issuing the same call: “Follow me!” The ultimate dare of faith is to follow Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus is a summons to get back up. John closes his Gospel with “comeback stories” framed by the Good News of the risen Christ. And one of the most gripping of these accounts is the “comeback” of Thomas, the one known through the ages as “the doubter.” But Jesus seems to love a good “comeback story.” For the skeptic, dare to keep hanging around. For the believer, dare to welcome the one whose beliefs don’t quite align with yours.

In the other Gospel accounts, the cross is associated with shame. (In the ancient world, this was certainly true.) But in the Gospel of John, Jesus refers to the cross as His moment of glory. John carefully demonstrates that Jesus is in total control; the cross doesn’t happen to him, but He willfully embraces this path of suffering that leads to the empty tomb. And for His followers, the cross is not only a way of salvation but also a way of life. By seeing the cross in light of the empty tomb, we can dare to see the cross the way Jesus saw it: as a throne.

Jesus closes His final pre-trial teaching with a prayer, albeit a prayer that functions as a sermon! And the emphasis of this prayerful sermon is unity. Jesus desires unity between God and man as well as unity between fellow disciples. The key to this kind of unity is Jesus himself. G.K. Chesterton story. We determine whether or not this prayer is answered. Dare to live the prayer of Jesus by seeking unity with someone with whom you’ve been in conflict.