Is Sincerity Enought? Series

Is Sincerity Enough?

Acts 26:1-29

Intro: Series about truth

Last time: truth is not relative

Creating our own reality

Truth is objective

Can’t escape the fact that things are true simply because they are

Thinking or accepting something as truth, does not make it true

ILLUSTRATION: Playing “Make-believe”

READ: Acts 26:1-29

BG: King Agrippa/Paul

Paul’s defence during his trial

Enthusiastic devotee to the Jewish faith

He insists that the Christian faith is continuous w/ Judaism

Hostility to the church

He did not blindly accept Christian belief – overwhelming conviction to convert

v. 6 “... And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today”

Expectation that God has and will fulfil his promises ... in particular Paul believes they have been fulfilled in the person of Jesus

Proof is in the resurrection of Jesus

v. 8 “... Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?”

Sincere belief does not make what you believe, true

Your belief may be sincere, but you may be sincerely mistaken

There are many things that are false or wrong, not matter sincerely one might believe

Why is sincere belief an inadequate test of whether it is true or not?

Josh McDowell says,

“... Belief will not create fact. Truth is independent of belief. No matter how hard I may try, believing something will not make it true. For example, I may believe with all my heart that I want it to snow tomorrow, but this will not guarantee snow. Or, I may believe that my run-down old car is really a new Mercedes convertible, but my belief won’t change the facts.

What is self-contradictory in the idea that sincere belief dictates what is true?

The problem: we can believe sincerely that something is true, but have no power to necessarily make it true.

I may believe sincerely that the All Blacks are the World Champions of the Rugby World Cup. The truth of the matter is that we did not win the last world cup, South Africa did. We did not even make the semi-finals. Sincere belief is not enough. We have to accept that perhaps truth is defined by circumstances outside of our control. We may win the World Cup next year—then this statement will be true, but not because we believe it to be true, but because the facts lead us to this conclusion.

Why do people make the catastrophic error of thinking that all religions are right and that it does not matter whether the claims the make are objectively true?

It is easier to say that all religions are the same – or at least are different expressions of understanding God

However, as I established a few weeks ago – that we must examine the claims of different religions to understand what they say

If one set of beliefs—are contradictory with another—then we cannot accept that they are both right

The most we can say is that both of them are wrong—the least we can say is one of them may be right

When it comes to Christian faith—how do we know?

v. 14 “... kick against the goads”

Goads were used to prod cattle and livestock forward

Metaphor – used to prod cattle and livestock forward

Frequently kick back – causing themselves more injury

The thought is that Paul has been kicking against God’s “goading,” and God has been trying to urge him to go in a certain direction.

To “kick against the goads” today means, there is a way of right life & right belief but we fight it ... we aren’t hurting God... hurting ourselves

Self revelation of God

Evidenced in creation

Directly with individuals

The written word

In Jesus (Life, death and resurrection)

Continued through us