Talk

The Chain of Shame

Louie Giglio

September, 30, 2018

What have you allowed to DEFINE you? Is it who God says that you are, or is it the memory, the guilt, or the shame of your past mistakes? Many of us walk around daily carrying a chain of shame, preventing us from walking in the freedom that was purchased for us at the Cross. But the pathway to freedom is open to all in the covering of Grace. After all, grace redefines us from failure to family.

Key Takeaway

Grace cancels guilt and redefines your identity. Jesus died and rose again so you could walk in freedom, it's strong enough to overtake your guilt and leave it at the cross where it was atoned for already.

We can live free from guilt and shame. In Genesis 2:25, from the beginning, this is how we were meant to live. Adam and Eve were naked in the garden and felt no shame. Paradise has no shame in it.

Guilt- Legal term and state. The POSITION of being accountable for our sins and our shortcomings. One has to take responsibility and accountability.

Shame- Emotional and mental state. The PROCESS of being defined by our sins and shortcomings.

Grace is the way to freedom from guilt and shame.

1) Grace cancels guilt.

Grace is not a milquetoast, weak thing. It's a left hook of releasing power in our lives.

Isaiah 6:1-7.

Isaiah describes recognizing his own sins and shortcomings as he was before the Throne of God. He repents and instead of being met with wrath, an angel touches his mouth with a live coal and says his guilt was forgiven and his sins atoned for. In the same way, we recognize our guilt and know it needs to be atoned for. There's a finished work of Jesus on the Cross that we receive through grace and repentance. God immediately moves towards His children's repentance. Repentance is a door opening to His grace. Jesus took our guilt away and atoned for our sins. He is the reason we can walk guilt-free. See 1 John 1:9

The enemy knows you're saved and going to Heaven, but he will take you on a lifelong guilt trip, rendering you ineffective in the Kingdom work. He's going to wait you out, he's going to try and keep a hold on you. To keep you ashamed in darkness and isolated. The only way out is to step into the light with God, where He has your freedom.

2) Grace redefines you from "failure" to "family".

He makes you His child, giving you full access as a coheir with Christ and His inheritance.

1 John 2:1- we are called children

1 John 3:3- children

Galatians 4:4-7- adopted as children

Peter and breakfast on the beach. John 21

Peter made a promise to be there for Jesus but betrayed him 3 times. However, even though Peter bailed on his word, Jesus didn't bail on His. The rescue mission of God continued. Jesus gave His life and was resurrected 3 days later. As soon as Peter hears, he runs to the tomb but finds it empty. Jesus appears to the disciples a couple of times and tells them to head to Galilee. Peter went straight back to fishing because it's what he knew. Jesus goes down and meets Peter and the disciples after they have fished all night. Jesus invites Peter for breakfast. Not for an interrogation of Peter's denial, or in the halls of justice to prove him guilty, but to tell Peter something amazing that would change the stakes of his life. Jesus had a plan and purpose for Peter and came to find him personally to tell him.

Jesus restored a fallen brother on His 3rd appearance to the disciples. He has this conversation with Peter in front of all of them, it wasn't a side conversation. Jesus didn't accuse Peter of anything. He didn't ask him why he had let him down or if he was sorry. He didn't need to. Jesus knew that Peter had been agonizing over his actions. So when Jesus asked him, "Do you love me more than everything I pulled you out of?" and Peter confirmed, Jesus told him to "Feed my sheep." Essentially, He's calling him to the leadership He had placed on him.

Are there consequences? Of course, there are, but Jesus would rather restore your identity. Jesus had already paid for Peter's sin, but He knew that Peter was being defined by shame. He wanted to redefine who Peter was and remind him of his true identity.

Do you love Him more than your past, your dreams, your pleasure? If you answer "yes", then Jesus wants you to be a leader and help build the Church.

Peter was the rock that Jesus built His Church upon, a gospel proclaimer. He preached the first sermon in the power of the Holy Spirit and 3000 people were saved that very day. Peter isn't remembered as the shameful denier of Jesus. He's remembered as a hero of the faith, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. A legend, not a failure.

Jesus does the same for us. We don't have to be defined by shame, we are defined by our Savior. He wants us to serve Him and bring glory to His name. Get busy building the Church.

Psalm 34:5 says those who look to Him are radiant, their faces are never covered in shame. Radiance is the opposite of shame.

The enemy tries to get you to look away from the Lord, but it gets worse...

We end up believing that Jesus did cancel our guilt and forgave us, but we often say, "I can't forgive myself." That is an outright work of the devil.

You never could forgive yourself. You were never in a position to forgive yourself, but while you stood bound by your sin and couldn't, God stepped into position to do what only He could do, which was to forgive you.

You need to humble yourself under the finished work of Christ and say, "I agree with God." If He says you're loved, then you say you're loved. If He says you're forgiven and free, then you say you're forgiven and free. If He says His Son bore the shame for you, then you say, "I will not bear what my Savior bore." If He says you can go forward, you say you can move forward.

Saying "I agree with God" breaks the pride of "I can't forgive myself." which says when You (Jesus) rang the bell of my freedom, "it wasn't good enough." Jesus's bell shook Hell and it's good enough.

If you do choose to defy the enemy and look at Him, He won't meet you with condemnation; He'll meet you with breakfast, He'll meet your needs, He'll meet you with serving.

Our strongest sense of the sense of smell. It's no mistake that Jesus made breakfast at a charcoal fire. It's only mentioned twice in Scripture.

The first one represented denial to Peter. The second one replaced that with restoration, a new beginning, and a Savior with a face full of grace. There's no shame on Jesus's face, just glory- it gets transferred to ours. Once we surrender, our faces are never covered in shame.

“

"Saying 'I agree with God' breaks the pride of 'I can't forgive myself.' which basically says, when You (Jesus) rang the bell of my freedom, 'it wasn't good enough.' Jesus's bell shook Hell and it's good enough."

”

Louie Giglio

Discussion Questions

What is the definition of guilt? Why is it being a legal term so important?
What is the definition of shame? How are guilt and shame related to each other?
What is our only hope of walking free from guilt and shame?
Read Isaiah 6:1-7. What is the point of the hot coal? How do you see Jesus in this passage?
Has the enemy taken you on a long guilt trip? How is 1 John 1:9 meant to be an encouragement?
When Louie said that grace redefines you from failure to family, what does he mean? What comes along with being adopted as children of God?
Read John 21. How would you feel if you were in Peter's position? Are you? Have you done something you are letting own you instead of repenting?
What do you think God is going to ask you? What did God actually ask Peter? Read verse 15.
Have you ever said that you can't forgive yourself? What is that actually saying to Jesus about His sacrifice?
Read Psalm 34:5. How can you dwell on this verse this week? Why are our faces never covered in shame if we are in Christ?

Scripture References

1In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.

2Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

3And they were calling to one another:

“Holy, holy, holy is the

Lord

Almighty;

the whole earth is full of his glory.”

4At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

5“Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the

Lord

Almighty.”

6Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar.

7With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve

4This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the

Lord

God made the earth and the heavens.

5Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the

Lord

God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7Then the

Lord

God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8Now the

Lord

God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9The

Lord

God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.14The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15The

Lord

God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the

Lord

God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18The

Lord

God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19Now the

Lord

God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21So the

Lord

God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22Then the

Lord

God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

24That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

25Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

4But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,

5to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

6Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “

Abba,

Father.”

7So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish

1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3“I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5He called out to them,

“Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

6He said,

“Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.”

When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.9When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10Jesus said to them,

“Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

11So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12Jesus said to them,

“Come and have breakfast.”

None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus Reinstates Peter

15When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter,

“Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”

Jesus said,

“Feed my lambs.”

16Again Jesus said,

“Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus said,

“Take care of my sheep.”

17The third time he said to him,

“Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time,

“Do you love me?”

He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said,

“Feed my sheep.

Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him,

“Follow me!”

20Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

22Jesus answered,

“If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

23Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said,

“If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

24This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

25Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

5Those who look to him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.

Louie Giglio

Louie Giglio is the Visionary Architect and Director of the Passion Movement, comprised of Passion Conferences, Passion City Church, Passion Publishing and sixstepsrecords, and the founder of Passion Institute.