Title: Truthiness (Part 1)
Text: II Timothy 3:14-16
Thesis: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful…”
Series: Belonging, Believing and Becoming
I invite you to journey with us as people who value:
• Belonging to a caring faith community.
• Believing the truth of God’s Word.
• Becoming more like Jesus Christ.
Introduction
I’ve been following the 9 News Truth Tests in which 9 News staff research the claims of the campaign ads bombarding us of late. We hear from the Hickenlooper people and the Beauprez people and the Udall people and the Gardner people… every candidate spins the facts as they see them and wish for us to see them.
The researchers break the ads down in two ways:
• The Claim – the researchers state the claim
• The Verdict – the researchers assess the degree of truth or truthiness in the claim
There were some claims that are true. If you know the candidates at all you know where they land on the political spectrum. However while some ads were said to be true in some ways, almost all of those verdicts are softened by words like: Fair. Needs Context. Glossing Over the Facts. Opinion. Debatable. Deceptive. Unfair. Generally there seems to be more truthiness than truth being bantered about.,
The word “truthiness” was chosen as the “Word of the Year” in 2006.
Stephen Colbert coined the word “truthiness” to describe the intuitive, not always rational feeing we get that something is just right.”
The Dialect Society defined truthiness like this: Truthiness is “the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true.”
Just as there are elements of truthiness in politics, truthiness also describes the current way many Christians regard their faith. It seems most Americans do not feel their religion is the only way to eternal life… even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise.
Here are some facts:
• 92% of Americans believe in God.
• 74% of Americans believe in life after death.
• 63% of Americans say their scriptures are the word of God.
• 57% of evangelical church attenders believe many religions can lead to eternal life.
• 70% of all who have a religious affiliation share that belief.
Imagine that… 70% of all Americans believe there are multiple paths to eternal life.
The people who interpret surveys suggest that there is either:
1. A growing religious tolerance of pluralism
2. Evidence that Americans either dismiss or do not know the fundamental teachings of their faith
This is where truthiness weighs in. As I said earlier, it seems most Americans do not feel their religion is the only way to eternal life… even if their faith tradition teaches otherwise. The key word there is the word “feel.” That kind of whimsical approach to faith based more on beliefs reinforced by feelings rather than facts tends more toward truthiness than truth.
Here at Heritage one of the things we value is “believing the truth of God’s word.” We believe the Bible is the written Word of God and we believe Jesus is the Living Word of God.
Next week we will focus on Jesus as the Living Word of God but today we are focusing on the Written Word of God.
I. The Written Word of God
A. The Written Word of God is Purposeful
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. II Timothy 3:16
God makes himself and his will known in Scripture. Our text states all scripture is inspired by God, or as theologians put it, God-breathed and useful.
When we say:
1. Inspired. We believe the fact that the Bible is inspired by God which gives it a unique authority.
When we say:
2. Useful. We believe the fact that the Bible is useful in giving a unique and God-given purpose.
Something is useful when it has practical worth. It is useful if it has applicability. For example you may still have one or two of those big, fat, clunky old telephone directories that seem to have outlived their usefulness… but if you have a young child sitting at your dinner table who needs a booster seat… that telephone directory becomes useful. News is useful if it’s news you can use. Information is useful if it is helpful.
When we break down the implications of the usefulness of Scripture we see it is useful for:
a. Teaching and rebuking are about what we believe.
• To teach what is true, i.e., teaches us truth
• Make us aware of what is wrong in our lives, i.e., rebukes us when we are wrong
And it is useful for:
b. Correcting and training have to do with how we live.
• Corrects us where we are wrong, i.e., corrects us
• Teaches us to do right, i.e., trains us to do
The Written Word of God has a purposeful function in our lives… it is one of the ways God speaks to us; revealing truth and error in belief and practice, i.e., what we believe and how we live.
The Written Word of God is not only purposeful, it is powerful.
B. The Written Word of God is Powerful
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes… Romans 1:16 (Earlier I spoke of II Timothy 3:14-16 where Paul reminded Timothy that it was the Scripture that gave him wisdom to receive the salvation that is from Christ.)
In Romans 1:16 Paul makes two assertions. He stated his pride in the Good News or the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Then he states the source of his pride. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes.
The word interpreted “power” is “dunamis” in the original language… it is a derivative of the word dynamite. When we think of dynamite we think of something explosive but a better understanding of the word dynamite or power is to think of something as having great effect or great potential
The idea is not to think of the Word of God as having great destructive power but great life changing power… it is the power that moves mountains and changes lives for God and good.
Paul asserts that the Good News of God’s word holds the power of salvation… not for one or two or three or even 500 but for everyone who believes. The power of God’s word is so vastly expansive that it includes everyone who believes.
The Constitution (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1), grants Presidents the power to grant clemency in one or more of the following ways: the ability to grant a full pardon, to commute a sentence, or to rescind a fine. Typically a president will grant pardons or clemency just before leaving office and it is always interesting to see who gets off and why, be they old friends, cronies, campaign backers or friends of friends of friends of the President to whom something is owed. As you can tell, I am not in the least cynical.
Throughout the history of our country Presidents have signed official pardons. FDR granted 3,687 pardons. Harry Truman pardoned 2,044 people. Dwight D. Eishenhower pardoned 1,157. JFK pardoned 575. Lyndon B. Johnson pardoned 1,187 people. Since then pardons have been issued more sparingly with President Obama having granted only 61.
But this is the point… God’s word says that God will pardon anyone and everyone who will receive it.
During his presidency, Andrew Jackson was asked to grant a pardon to George Wilson, who had been sentenced to hang for a crime. The President granted the pardon but George Wilson refused to accept it. It became an issue that eventually reached the Supreme Court… did George Wilson have the right to refuse an official presidential pardon? Did the court have the power to force Wilson to accept the pardon?
When the case came to the Supreme Court, the then, Chief Justice, John Marshall wrote the following decision: "A pardon is a deed, to the validity of which delivery is essential; and delivery is not completed without acceptance. It may then be rejected by the person to whom it is tendered; and if it be rejected, we have discovered no power in a court to force it on him.”
In other words, George Wilson committed a crime. He was tried and found guilty. He was sentenced to be executed. A written presidential decree granted him a full pardon. But George Wilson chose to refuse that pardon. The courts concluded that the pardon could not be forced upon him.
I am sure you have figured out where I am going with this by now but isn’t it ironic that God exercises His Divine power to make a universal pardon available to everyone who has ever and who will ever live…
In I Peter 3:18 we read of how Christ died for all the sin of all the people of all time in order to bring us to God. But God will not use that power to force anyone to accept it.
The Bible has an innate power that no other person, power or authority on earth can claim. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes… God’s Word has the power of salvation for all who believe.
Just as we value God’s Written Word for its purposefulness and power, we recognize its sole claim to permanence.
C. The Written Word of God is Permanent
“Heaven and earth will disappear, but my Words will never disappear.” Matthew 24:35
It’s World Series time. The 2014 World Series will be the 110th edition of Major League Baseball's championship series. The best-of-seven playoff will be played between the National League champion San Francisco Giants and the American League champion Kansas City Royals. This is just the second World Series in history to pit two wild card teams against one another and this is the first World Series to feature two teams who each won fewer than 90 games during a regular season that was played in full. (It seems the Royals and the Giants both got hot at the end of the season.)
It may be the 110the edition of Major League Baseball’s championship series but The Saturday Evening Post is celebrating 200 years of America’s Favorite Pastime with a Special Edition.
The July 8, 2014 issue of The Saturday Evening Post ran a piece called: Beyond the Canvas: The Permanence of Baseball. In that edition there was an ad announcing the Special Edition of the Saturday Evening Post celebrating 200 years of America’s Favorite Pastime.
“Styles and fads have come and gone with each new decade in America’s history, but baseball has stayed nearly constant. Whether you visit Fenway in Boston or Wrigley in Chicago, fans of all ages still cheer from the stands over the sounds of cracking bats and hollering concessioners. As The Saturday Evening Post covers show, we can relate, at least in one way, to the past through the maintained traditions of this shared sporting experience.” (Joseph Scale, Beyond the Canvas, The Saturday Evening Post, July 8, 2014)
The cover of this special edition will feature a Norman Rockwell painting that was the cover for the April 23, 1949 edition of the Post. In the foreground are three umpires… one holding out his hand to catch the raindrops that would signal the disappointment of a rained-out game. In the background two managers are arguing whether a player was safe or out. You can almost hear the crowd singing in the background: “Take me out to the ball game, Just buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack, I don’t care if I never get back.”
The Great American Pastime may have been around for 200 years but 200 years is way shy of forever.
The Psalmist wrote, “Your eternal word, O Lord, stands firm in heaven.” Psalm 119:89
The Old Testament Prophet Isaiah wrote, “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of God stands forever.” Isaiah 40:8
Peter wrote, “For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.” I Peter 1:23
Note the certainty of the words: Eternal. Stands firm. Stands forever. Lasts forever.
All truth has permanence. Truth endures. Facts are facts. If 2 + 2 = 4 then 2 + 2 = 4 anywhere and everywhere forever. 2 + 2 has always and will always = 4. And God’s word has always been and will always be God’s word… even if the world as we know it, baseball included, goes up in smoke.
Conclusion
There is nothing “truthie” about the purpose, power and permanence of God’s Word. That’s why we place such high value on believing God’s Word. There are many uncertainties in life but the Written Word of God is not one of them.
We build our faith and practice on the fact that the Bible is God’s Word.
Real faith or belief is based on facts not truthiness feelings or hunches or personal bias or concepts or wishes or hopeful thinking or delusion. We have faith because we believe the Word of God to be true.
A person may fall off a ten story building and shout out all the way down, “I believe I’m going to be okay” but that person would be wrong. The fact that there is a hard landing at the bottom suggests otherwise. Here at Heritage we do not just want to think we are going to be okay… was want to know we’re going to be okay.
That is why John wrote in his epistle, “I have written this to you who believe in he name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” I John 5:13
And so we affirm the Written Word is in fact the Word of God: “We believe the Bible is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine and conduct.”
