(precede with video bumper intro - "Landings")
If you watch gymnastics, you know how important the ending is; the landing. An athlete can go through the whole routine flawlessly, and then comes the landing. If she “sticks it,” the crowd goes crazy. If she waivers, everyone groans. You have to land on your feet. You don’t have to be a gymnast or a fan to appreciate that, do you?
We’re starting a new series today.
The Apostles were once accused of being men who had “turned the world upside down.” Well, whether they did it or something else happened, one thing’s for sure: we live in an upside down world. And for us to land on our feet in such a world is going to take some work. So we’re going to work on that through September and October.
What I’m hearing and seeing are people who are searching for answers, for wisdom. We need an authoritative word about how to approach life in this upside down world. So we’re going to look for that together over these coming weeks. What do I do about issues of identity, marriage, human life, ethics and morality? God has a lot of help for us in His word. And my goal is to help us see it and use it. I want us to land on our feet on these challenging subjects.
That brings us to the subject that is the foundation to the whole thing. Take away TRUTH, and everything else is pointless, so that’s where we begin our journey.
I need to give credit where credit is due. I’ve drawn the framework for this message from some of the work of Jack Cottrell, rather than reinvent the wheel. Jack has spoken and written a lot on this subject. Let’s start in…
Romans 1:18-25 (NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen.
Paul is framing the scene here for the greatest news of all time/space history. But before the story of redemption is good news, it’s bad news. These verses we just read are about what has happened to get us where we are.
Men “suppress the truth.” God can be seen and known, in part, just from the things that have been created. But rather than acknowledge God, mankind has chosen the futile thinking and foolish hearts route. Mankind has “exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” The outcome is that the wrath of God will be cut loose and is being cut loose against all this.
Don’t be surprised by what you see around you. It’s what life on postmodern, post-Christian planet earth looks like when mankind rejects truth.
Her name is Rachel Dolezal. You’ve seen her in the news a few months ago. Rachel was born in 1977 to Lawrence and Ruthanne Dolezal. Her parents are clearly Caucasian in appearance. What does that mean? It means that they are a lighter color of brown than some people. You see, we’re all a shade of brown. Some are just lighter than others. The same pigment that makes some peoples’ skin dark brown is what makes others’ skin a lighter brown. We use the terms “black” and “white.” Neither is technically accurate. What we mean by that is that our genes have caused our shading to be lighter or darker. It’s our parents fault! Then there’s Rachel Dolezal. As she grew up, Rachel’s appearance resembled that of her parents – a white, Caucasian, born in Lincoln County, Montana. At some point in her life, Rachel determined that she wanted to be associated with the African-American culture. Inwardly, she considered herself more a “black” person than a “white” person, whatever that means. She talks about the difficulty of being “socially conditioned to be limited to whatever biological identity was thrust upon me.” So, she altered her appearance, and pursued a course in life that somehow was in line with what she was trying to be. Ultimately, she ended up being the president of the NAACP in Spokane, WA. Rachel stepped down from this position in shame this past June, because it was disclosed that she is actually a “white” person. The problem isn’t that a white person can’t be in that position. The problem is that Rachel has been living in a non-reality about who she is. She has been lying about her ethnic background. When questioned how she could be a black person when her parents are clearly not, she said, “I haven’t had a DNA test. There’s been no biological proof that Larry and Ruthanne are my biological parents.” In an interview on NBC, Rachel said, “I am more black than I am white. So, on a level of values, lived experience, currently, I mean, in this moment, that’s – that’s the answer. That’s the accurate answer from my truth.”
Really? When the policeman pulls me over and says I was 15 miles an hour over the speed limit, do I get to look at him and say, “That’s your truth, but that’s not my truth?” When the doctor comes in and tells me the tests say I have cancer, do I tell him that’s his truth, but not my truth?
What do we say to the Rachel Dolezals of our time? She’s just one example of what has happened because the concept of objective truth has been set aside for something else. Truth never used to be preceded by the word “My.” It wouldn’t have made sense. But it has always been the victim of abuse.
Jesus stood before Pilate. “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me,” He said. You can almost hear the cynicism in Pilate’s voice as he says, “What is truth?” (John 18:37-38)
Let’s face it, it’s hard not to sound like Pilate. What is truth? How can we understand the nature of truth, when so many distort it, or hide it, or when the Rachel Dolezals of our world say that she can have her own version of what’s true?
It’s a classic scene in movies – the coach, the commander, the boss, tells everyone some story about some heroic act that someone did, and it inspires the team, the army, the company. The facts of the story are all distorted, but that doesn’t matter, because it inspired everyone. So, it’s “true,” because it worked. Does it matter?
A liberal minister is asked if he believes the resurrection of Jesus to be true. He understands that the resurrection story gives people hope and encouragement, so he says yes. But what he means is that the story really does help people, not that he thinks it really happened.
This approach wears a lot of names: situationalism, multiculturalism, pluralism, diversity, inclusivism, and postmodernism. They’re all about relativism, which simply says that the truth of anything a person says depends on the circumstances in which it’s said.
What does all this have to do with anything? We’re here in the church, and we’re just supposed to love, aren’t we? Love God and people.
We have these words posted all over CCC: Love God, Love people. Those are simply the 2 greatest commandments, according to Jesus (Mt 22:37ff): Jesus said the entire law and prophets hang on these 2 things – to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and then to love your neighbor as yourself. Why get worked up over truth?
Which matters more, love or truth? Before you answer that, let me caution that we really can’t separate the 2. What I want to say today is pretty simple: to truly love you have to first love truth.
I. If You’re Going to Love God, You Must Love Truth
The greatest commandment, to love God, includes not just with your heart, but with all your mind too. Really loving God includes loving the truth.
Ill - Let’s say I was away from home, and I received a letter. It’s signed by my wife, so I believe it’s from her. I read it, and she tells me that she loves me, and misses me, and she can’t wait till I’m back home. Now, those words mean a lot to me, because I love her and she wrote them. When the person I love says something, it means something to me. I couldn’t claim to love her and think I have a letter from her, and then just chuck it aside. Throwing aside her words would be like throwing aside the person who wrote them.
If I really love God, what He says will really matter to me. And what other people think of His words will matter to me too. You can’t separate God from what He says.
Jesus said to the Father, “Your word is TRUTH.” I can’t say I really love God and say that I don’t care about truth.
If you wonder at this, read Psalm 119.
Psalm 119:16 I delight in your decrees…
Psalm 119:70 …but I delight in your law.
Psalm 119:97 Oh, how I love your law!...
Psalm 119:111 Your statutes…are the joy of my heart.
Psalm 119:127 …I love your commands more than gold…
Psalm 119:140 Your promises…your servant loves them.
Psalm 119:159 See how I love your precepts…
Psalm 119:163 …I love your law.
Psalm 119:174 …your law is my delight.
If you love God, you’ll also want to worship Him. If you’re going to worship God, you have to have truth. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well outside the city of Sychar, “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) You can worship God from the heart. It can be very spirited, but it can also be very misguided.
Let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that the only thing that matters is sincerity. Jesus was speaking to a woman from Samaria. They worshiped with a lot of spirit! But they did it wrongly. It was uninformed. It didn’t have truth.
God isn’t honored by idols. God isn’t honored by making Him a deal. God isn’t honored by you acting one way inside of a certain building, and another way outside. God isn’t honored by false teaching about Him.
No, if you’re going to the God Whose word is truth, and the Son of God Who is the way, the truth, and the life, you must love truth
Now, let’s go to the 2nd commandment. Jesus added this 2nd greatest commandment: love your neighbor as yourself. After the command to love God, this is the greatest commandment! That’s pretty important, isn’t it?
So, there are some schools of thought that say that’s what we should be all about. “Let’s not get all caught up in whether doctrine is right or wrong. Let’s just love people!”
That sounds good on the surface, but the fact is…
II. If You’re Going to Love Your Neighbor, You Must Love Truth
Ill – Lucy Griggs, St. Joe, IN, loved her baby, and like any mom, it was really hard on her when he became sick. For weeks he was having stomach trouble, and losing weight. You can’t afford to do that when you’re not yet 2 years old. The doctor told Lucy to take him off of all dairy products – no cheese, no milk. Maybe that was the problem. But her little boy continued to be sick. She took him back into the doctor. “You said to take him off of dairy stuff, so mostly I’ve just been feeding him yogurt.” Lucy loved her baby, but Lucy needed more than just love to love him the right way, didn’t she? She needed truth – in this case, the truth that yogurt is a dairy product! Once she got little Jr. Griggs off the yogurt, he got better.
If I’m going love my neighbor, if I’m going to do what’s best and most loving for him or her, I have to love truth.
I like my doctor. He’s a very caring person, and he’s about my age. We both recently became grandpas. He doesn’t rush me when we visit him. He doesn’t overcharge. He’s a Christian man, so I trust him too. But that’s not enough! He has also been to medical school! He may be very kind-hearted and well-intentioned. He may just really want to help people. But that’s not enough! I want a doctor who’s knowledgeable and skilled. I want a doctor who understands disease and treatments and prescriptions! Otherwise, no matter how nice he is, he’s not going to help me much with medical matters.
The same thing is true of us and loving our neighbor. We can’t really love our neighbor without a knowledge of how to help them best.
Think about it: what are some of the typical wants that your “neighbor” has? What might someone ask you for?
Now, what is the greatest need all of those people have?
Their greatest need is a spiritual need, isn’t it? Their greatest need, when all is said and done, is to be freed from sin. How can you, follower of Jesus, meet that greatest need of the people around you unless you have a grasp of the truth? How can you help lead people out of darkness without truth? How can you show them life that is real life, unless you have truth?
Jesus said
John 8:31-32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
The reason anyone is lost in the first place is because they’ve bought into a lie. Remember Rom 1? “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie.” What they need is truth! If we’re going to love our neighbor, we’re going to have to love truth, enough to share it and to help them know it.
OK, here’s one last point, fill in the blank for me:
III. If You’re Going to Love Other Christians, You Must Love Truth
This concept is laid out in a simple verse from I Peter:
1 Peter 2:17
Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
Loving the Church, the brotherhood of believers, is more than just a good idea. It’s a command of Scripture. So this isn’t just about loving your neighbor now. This is especially about showing love for those who are Christians. If you’re going to do that, you’re going to have to love truth!
Caring about the Church, the way that Jesus cares for the Church, means caring about what’s going on with Christians all over the world. It means when Christians are suffering in Iraq, that touches us. It means that when little churches in the US are failing and shutting their doors, that touches us. It means that when false teaching creeps in and misleads people, we’re touched by that too. It also means that we care about truth in the Church.
Paul wrote
1 Timothy 3:15
if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
What does a pillar or a foundation do for a building? It holds it up. If the foundation crumbles, if the pillar is removed, the building will fall. It’s the Church’s role in our world today to hold up the truth.
That’s why it’s important that we study God’s word, understand it, and unashamedly proclaim it.
There have been several trends in the church in my lifetime that have drifted from the truth. Many churches all around us have found it easier, maybe less controversial, not to make doctrine an issue. They cave to pressure, and say it’s the loving thing to do. I say that if they really loved the Brotherhood, they would love the truth. If we really loved other Christians, we would want them to practice what’s true. John wrote to Gaius,
3 John 1:4
I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.
John was talking about the Brotherhood. Loving other Christians means loving the truth.
The last time I checked, there was a lot to read in the Bible. There was more there to care about than just John 3:16 and the 23rd Psalm. The last time I checked, there were 1,189 chapters, 31,173 verses, 6,468 commands, 1,260 promises, more than 8,000 prophecies. Could it be that the truth God included in His word matters to Him, and He wants it to matter to us?
Conclusion:
I don’t know much about the spiritual life of Charles Lindbergh. I just see that he understood something about the importance of truth. Truth is really important when you’re a pilot. The laws of physics and the law of gravity don’t change. Whether you know them or believe them, they’re always true. The limits and capabilities of an airplane are what they are, regardless of what you want them to be. I wonder how much of that played a role in what Lindbergh wrote:
I saw the aircraft I love destroying the civilization I expected it to save. Now I understand that spiritual truth is more essential to a nation than the mortar in its cities’ walls. For when the actions of a people are undergirded by spiritual truths, there is safety. When spiritual truths are rejected, it is only a matter of time before civilization will collapse.
If you’re going to love God, if you’re going to love your neighbor, if you’re going to love other Christians, you’re going to love truth.
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about using the book of Psalms as appropriate prayers. I want to do that today, right now. Would you please bow your heads as I return to Psalm 119 and use a part of it as a prayer today?
Psalm 119:65-72 (NIV)
65 Do good to your servant according to your word, O LORD. 66 Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. 67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word. 68 You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. 69 Though the arrogant have smeared me with lies, I keep your precepts with all my heart. 70 Their hearts are callous and unfeeling, but I delight in your law. 71 It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. 72 The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold.
