Don't Overthink Truth

DON’T OVERTHINK TRUTH

“Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself?”

(Eccl 7:16)

INTRODUCTION

A. Solomon is not suggesting a lukewarm relationship with God nor a lackadaisical pursuit of knowledge or wisdom, but we can overthink the truth, resulting in confusion, not clarification.

B. From these few words, we will consider two forms of truth: revealed and discovered.

1. Solomon combines both forms in Ecclesiastes, and it is not always easy to know when he speaks from experience and when he speaks by revelation. Fortunately, we don’t have to do so.

2. For our purposes, it will be sufficient to examine five “isms,” the first four of which relate to revealed religion and the last as it relates to the pursuit of non-revealed wisdom.

I. FANATICISM

A. Some people view all committed Christians as fanatics because we believe in the absolute truth of God’s word.

1. That which would earn us a badge of honor as basketball fans would earn us the title “fanatic” when practiced as followers of Christ.

2. Which badge we earn has nothing to do with the level of commitment, but to what we are committed.

B. When does one’s commitment become fanaticism?

1. First, consider a definition: “Defined in psychological terms, a fanatic is a man who consciously over-compensates for a secret doubt” ( Aldous Huxley).

2. Second, consider whether the doubt is political or religious, fanaticism manifests itself in the same way (Acts 19:23-34).

a. A threat is identified (vv.23-26)

b. Flames of fear are fanned (v. 27)

c. A mob mentality takes over (vv.28-32)

d. Reason is rejected (vv.33-34)

II. CEREMONIALISM

A. Whereas fanaticism displaces commitment with emotionalism, ceremonialism replaces commitment with dry forms, which suck the emotion out of religion.

B. The guide “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor 14:40) becomes legislation by tradition.

1. Illustration: A visitor responded to the message, “Praise the Lord,” and an usher quickly informed the worshipper, “We don’t do that in this church.”

2. Divisions have occurred over one cup or several, wafers or one piece of bread, break then bless or bless then break, etc.

III. PHARISEEISM

A. Jesus said that all the Law and the Prophets could be reduced to two commandments: love God and love one another.

B. In contrast, the Pharisees had 613 laws—365 negative commands and 248 positive, an example of which we find in Matthew 23:23-28.

IV. EMOTIONALISM

A. Whereas “Let all things be done decently and in order” becomes legislation by tradition in ceremonialism, it is ignored in emotionalism, making it hard to distinguish worship from a rock concert or a pep rally.

B. Paul lays down two rules that will keep emotionalism in check (1 Cor 14:26-35)

1. All things in the assembly must be for the edification of the entire body, not for the glorification or stimulation of the individual (vv. 26- 33).

2. God’s order is to be observed (vv.34-35).

V. SOPHISM

A. Our first four “isms” related to revealed religion, which always takes precedence over learned wisdom.

B. Sophism was a school of philosophy, and neo-sophism has found its way into the bloodstream of the Western world, including into the church.

C. R. C. Sproul gives us a sufficient explanation of neo-sophism:

“The cry of the sophist was, ‘Give us some news we can use.’ Ultimate truth is not possible; what matters is the here and now in my political situation. Sophism gave rise to “how to” schools that majored in the art of political expediency. The new science of rhetoric became popular. This ‘science’ was not concerned about discerning truth through argument and debate. Rather, rhetoric stressed the importance of political persuasion.

“Whatever is persuasive is true. Science was reduced to popularity opinion polls. Does this sound familiar? Whatever is persuasive is true. Sophism became equated with superficiality where truth and ethics were relativized and politicized” (The Politization of Truth: The New Sophism. Ligonier Ministries. 1992).

CONCLUSION

A. It is impossible to love true wisdom, whether revealed or discovered, too much, if our pursuit of the two is controlled by a loving relationship with the God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit (1 John 2:24-27).

B. Don’t over-think “truth,” but do think (Rom 12:1-3)