Living the Truth in an Untruthful World

 

In the post-modern world, a simple argument clears up a lot of the confusion, or maybe it doesn’t.  You’ve probably heard it. It begins with a question: Is there absolute truth? Answer: No, there is no
absolute truth. We create our own truth. What is true for you may not be true for me. All truth is subjective. Question: Are you sure? Answer: Absolutely.

That argument conjures up a worldview with an absolute condition of no absolutes. Not much there to stand on.

My worldview is grounded in the absolute truth of Scripture—a biblical, Christian worldview. From here I judge the world. That's right, I judge. I don’t pass judgment on the person who can’t live up to my standards. Sometimes I can’t live up to my own standards. I don’t judge the unredeemed for living like sinners. But I do judge sin, and evil, and untruth. And I judge righteousness.

These are the things you shall do: Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; Give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace   Zechariah 8:16

I can’t pretend to understand the worldview of a person who has lived an entirely different kind of life than me. But I can, without argument, point to absolute truth. And the absoluteness of it urges me away from what the world is telling me I should accept—that I’m wrong more often than right about what is true. That I’m wrong about morality, family, marriage, gender, the value of human life, racism, and what it means to be free, among other things.

Most of us who hold a biblical worldview are pretty clear on general moral behavior and God’s plan for family life. God values life, and so do we. We know God created male and female and that marriage has certain eternal parameters. But most of us have had to show some love to those who slip outside of those boundaries. That doesn’t mean the truth is no longer true. Truth does not become untrue.

As for racism, it has taken too long for American Christians to paint the multi-racial picture of the New Testament church. But it was happening, and still is, thank God. Except that the social climate of recent years seems to have draped a cloud over the church. Some Christian leaders have embraced the shadows, and some believers have retreated into the disjunction that was giving way in the light of truth, before the clouds shoved in.

It's a complicated dilemma, and there’s no pretending it isn’t. But it’s not an excuse to alter your biblical worldview. What the world teaches about racism is not what the Bible teaches. In my own mind and lifestyle, I am not a racist, and my worldview does not allow for racism. But now I am persuasively being taught a new way of thinking that insists on racism. It tells me that I can’t help but be a racist. If I can’t help it, then there is no hope, except for revolution—social and governmental upending.

I can’t begin to express the depths of my concern for our nation, and for our churches. But there is someone who can and does express it very well. This is one of the best books I’ve ever read. If you are a churchgoer or a Sunday morning golfer, a teacher, politian, a protestor or a sympathizer, black or white or any other ethnicity, read Fault Lines: The Social Justice Movement and Evangelicalism's Looming Catastrophe by Voddie Baucham. It’s not an easy book. It is an important book. You will be blessed by it, and absolutely enlightened.

As for what it means to be free, the fight won’t win it. The post-modern, post-Christian worldview doesn’t get it. Subjective truth can’t even imagine it. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way to attain true freedom. 

Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed   John 8:36

The Actual Gospel

Is there more than one?

Last week my Sunday school teacher used the term the actual Gospel, and it yelled, “Hey, I’m a title!” Titles do that. After class I told my teacher I was stealing, uh, borrowing it. I placed it at the top of the “things to write about” pile in my head and went to church.

I wondered why my teacher felt the need to use this idiom. He said it in reference to what's available in the wide world of Western Christianity. What American seekers of all things Godly are apt to find, or not find, when they walk into a church. 

"We need to make sure we're giving people the actual Gospel," he told us.

Was he lumping his students into the church of the itching ears the Bible warns about? Did he think we might have trouble distinguishing the real thing from the counterfeit? Would we settle for something soft and comfortable? Diluted? I scratched my ears and shook my head.

Now, when I watch a TV preacher or pick up the latest bestselling self-improvement book, I expect to hear the truth, yet I sometimes find myself disappointed. Sorry, but I don’t want to learn how to be a better Christian. Well…yes, I do. But not from somebody who’s got a formula for success. As far as doing all the things Christians are supposed to do and getting all the things Christians are supposed to get, who came up with that list?

Celebrity Christians aside, when I walk into a sanctuary I expect I will hear the actual Gospel. But my teacher brought up the fact that many churches in the post-modern, post-Christian, totally relevant new world I so easily forget about are filling itching ears with facsimile gospels, just like the Old Book said they would.

What I hear at church on a regular basis seems quite the opposite of telling people what they want to hear. A few weeks ago I heard a comment that maybe we can be a little tough with the Gospel by telling people they need Christ because they’re sinners. My pastor would say something like dirty, vile, rotten sinners. But when I hear that, I don’t take offense. It makes me really, really happy. No, grateful. Not just grateful. Free. And freedom is what keeps me coming back for more.

The Gospel—there is none but the actual—is not about telling somebody they’re so loved, so perfect just the way they are that God can’t take His adoring gaze off them. And it’s not about telling people they’re so up to their necks in evil nastiness that God can’t stand the sight of them. It’s about God being so good and loving and forgiving that He desires to rescue us. God liberated me despite the depth of my sin, but He also disregarded the general goodness that might leak out of me before my death. Am I rotten? Yes. Wonderfully made in God’s image? Yes. That’s why He rescued me.

So how does that add up to freedom? Because my sin has let me go. It’s powerless. Because my goodness has let me go. It’s powerless. Don’t tell me I can sin less by being good. Don’t tell me I can improve my goodness by sinning less. If I’m good it’s because I’m forever bound to His goodness. If I’m escaping the sin that still calls my name it’s because I’m eternally bound to His righteousness. If all that being bound sounds like the opposite of freedom, then you don’t understand grace. If your itching ears entice you to forget about sin, to set your own moral gauge because God just wants you to be a good person, then you don’t know the actual Gospel. 

If you're under the impression you're too good for Hell, find a new church. If somebody’s harping on your vile, corrupt, evil self without telling you how to get free, then you’re getting suckered. Find a new church. But if you’re hearing that you’re vile, corrupt, and evil and somebody’s got to pay for it, keep listening. If it's the actual Gospel, you're about to find out who paid the price of your freedom. 

                                                        Spoiler alert: It wasn’t you.     

The Promises of God

One lie leads to another.

It's said that a lie only leads to more lies, so it’s best not to start that ball rolling. The natural progression is that a lie grows. Bob tells Sally he didn’t go there (lie), then Sally asks where he went. He tells her where he went (lie), and she asks what he did there. He tells her that he met up with some friends (lie), and she asks which friends. Now the ball is rolling.

But there’s also a natural progression to truth. In a perfect world, Bob and Sally show each other love and respect. Bob really doesn’t go there. Sally has no need for questions. Bob has no reason to lie. Why? Because Bob and Sally made a promise. And the progression is that one promise leads to another. 

Before Bob and Sally and all relationships among human beings, a great cascade of promises began when God spoke the world into existence, and it continues today. Unlike us, God speaks only truth. And His promises never fail.

It may seem strange that what is commonly referred to as the first promise in the Bible was spoken by God to a snake—that is, Satan. But really, the promise was for us.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heal. Genesis 3:15

God makes it known that Satan will be defeated (his head gets crushed), while the One who comes to save will suffer and appear defeated. But then He will defeat even death.

This is the last promise in the Bible:

“He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming quickly.’ Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22:20

Some may see this as a promise unfulfilled since Jesus hasn’t returned. How long does it take to come quickly, anyway? But the reference is not to what we consider speedy, but rather suddenly. No one knows when, but when it happens, some will think they should have had more time. Besides, our understanding of quickly has got to be monumentally different than God’s.

In between these promises, in the pages of Scripture, God makes and keeps His promises. A Promised Land, victory over enemies, offspring too numerous to count, protection, peace, joy, the knowledge of God. Promises of salvation, sanctification, justification. Promises of Heaven, of eternal life. Promises of a Great Redeemer.

Too many promises to list in this short space flow from the Word and fill us with hope because those of us who follow Christ know Him, and we know His words are true. But there is one promise that seems to me to act as the hinge for all the rest:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.Isaiah 9:6-7

If it just makes you want to sing Handel’s “Messiah”, you’re not alone. But the promise here of the birth of Christ is presented in only the first few words. After that, it’s all about the promise of His second coming, about His rule and authority. And all this is accomplished by the zeal of God. Here’s the definition of zeal: great energy or enthusiasm to achieve a goal, fervent pursuit. This is God’s plan, His desire for His world. For us.

All the promises spoken by God revolve around the promise of the Son. They are for our good. To bring us to the realization of the truth and then to help us live victoriously. They are for God’s glory, that all should behold Him, and know Him, and know that He is good.