The Truth, the whole Truth, and nothing but the Truth, so help me God.
Everybody knows this phrase. It is the traditional vow given prior to a sworn testimony before a court of law. It is illegal to lie under oath. In fact, lying under oath (perjury) is a profoundly serious crime. One would think that they should be very careful about how they manage the truth. So, what is “truth” anyway?
About two thousand years ago Pontius Pilate cynically asked that question of Jesus Christ. The Lord was in Pilate’s custody waiting to be judged, condemned, and eventually punished … precisely for telling the truth about Himself. Irony at its worst, don’t you think?
Webster defines truth as “the body of real things, events, and facts.” However, since we have invoked the name of God into the issue, the dictionary also states that “the truth” is a transcendent, fundamental, or spiritual reality.
This is exactly what Jesus was speaking to Pilate about in the first place. You cannot mess with the transcendent or the spiritual when it comes to matters of truth.
Jesus had already told Pilate that the reason He came into the world was to testify to the truth, and people who were on the side of truth would listen to Him (John 18:37). But Pilate was in no place to hear Jesus. He was too busy dealing with a highly sensitive political matter.
That is an all-to-familiar theme in history. In that moment “his truth” was all about maintaining the peace and order where he governed. Pilate knew he would have immediately been replaced had he failed to do that. He also knew that Jesus was innocent of any real crimes and was merely the subject of foreign religious regulations that he could never understand. He tried hard to let Jesus go free, but the chief priests would not let him off the hook.
Wanting to do the right thing is not ever enough. The accusers successfully intimidated him with the threat of mob violence, and even called Caesar their ONLY king (sorry, God). Sad. When spiritual leaders expect ungodly government officials to do their bidding, the results are a lot less than what was promised. Usually, truth ends up being re-crucified.
Today godless politicians put their right hand on the Bible and swear in God’s name to do things, while not even believing that there is an absolute truth. For that matter, perhaps many don’t believe the God of the Bible really exists, even when claiming to be practicing Roman Catholics, Methodists, or whatever brand of religion that provides virtue cover.
Political expediency seems to be all that matters. Like Pilate, politicians fear the mob that they see much more than they fear God whom they do not see. It is no wonder that the instructions of our Lord are lost somewhere along the way. He said that would happen. Favor with the mob gets people reelected; doing the right thing seldom does anymore. Having favor with an outdated “god” is too abstract now to be worth the effort.
This reality is also apparent in American business and industry. “Virtue signaling” (appearing to be sympathetic to “woke” philosophy or behavior) has become a means to curry favor with the counterculture mob. Crowd appeasement drives business plans and advertising significantly more than does any concept about the truth. Today’s crowd is fickle and easily manipulated, very much like the crowd who yelled “Crucify him!” at Jesus on Friday, after having sung “Hosanna” to Him less than a week earlier.
Church leaders are not immune to the same sort of duplicity. These days pastors must take great care in their choices of sermons and the frankness of their counseling. Many passages in the Bible are offensive, and the truth can stir up anger in anyone who is not walking in it.
Holiness, living in obedience to Scripture, seems to have become passe. Nobody wants to hear a barrage of religious dos and don’ts. The crowd comes to church to be edified and affirmed, not challenged. If the pastor loses their favor, the church will soon have to close its doors. So, doctrine must be modified, and scriptures have to be reinterpreted to accommodate the demands of the crowd. Sadly, that is all too common.
The issue is whether we Christians are on the side of truth or on the side of popular opinion (the mob). If we really care about the truth, then heeding to what Jesus says is imperative. That is abundantly clear.
We cannot keep calling Him Lord in church and ignore His instructions when we are somewhere else. As I have previously emphasized, merely believing in Jesus falls well short of what He desires from those who love Him.
Take note of John 8:31-32: To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
There were those in Israel who believed that Jesus was the Messiah. That was a good beginning, but “holding” to His teaching has always been the true mark of a disciple.
Jesus is clearly talking about obedience. That is a difficult hurdle for this present generation that has been impacted by a false philosophy which deceives young people into believing that they can choose their own truth and act on it with little regard for its consequences.
Individualism and moral relativism will cancel truth. Woe to anyone who stands in the way of the mob’s self-determination and lawlessness.
Yet, the scripture says it is the true disciple that will know the truth and be set free by it. For one thing, only the truth that you know and actualize makes any real difference in your life. What one mistakenly thinks is truth is less than useless.
The grace of God is not just a matter of dumb luck. God’s favor typically falls on those who keep seeking, asking, and knocking to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection. That sounds like discipleship to me.
Disciples pursue the Lord and crave His teachings. That is where they find the eternal truth, the only truth they can trust, and the truth that will make them free, especially from the law of sin and death.
They are also set free from their own conflicting personal issues. Their lives are now in Him, transformed to His image and not conformed to the pattern of this world (Romans 2:12).
The Lord’s words are forever true. We can count on that regardless of anything else in our lives. His promises are the reality we can enjoy in the here and now, even if we are temporarily suffering. They are also our sure hope for tomorrow. He assures us that Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). We are free, indeed!
God bless you.
LeRoy
[LeRoy Curtis is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Asbury Theological Seminary. He served four years as a U.S. Naval Officer after which he became a pastor, Bible professor, educator, author, and missionary living in E. Africa for eight years where he and his wife developed a curriculum of biblical studies for untrained pastors in rural Kenya. His passion for training young church leaders takes him to various parts of the U.S., Latin America, and Africa. He and Judy are currently residing in Carrollton, Georgia.]
Veritas…quid est veritas?
You preach it Rev. Curtis! I see evangelical ministers contorting themselves into pretzels perverting the Scriptures so that can please their congregations, even though this means consistently having to call good things “evil” and evil things “good.” How else can one explain the wholesale endorsement of a twice divorced, utterly profane, openly vengeful, constantly prevaricating con man as their political savior?
You would have thought that a few of these ministers had read what happens when one sells their birthright for a bowl of stew. As C.S. Lewis warned, when Christians have the choice between morality and power, they always choose power.
Truth is stranger than fiction – with clergy and laity alike.
Well said STF!
LeRoy says, “The issue is whether we Christians are on the side of truth or on the side of popular opinion (the mob). If we really care about the truth, then heeding to what Jesus says is imperative. That is abundantly clear.”
Jesus said blessed are the meek and the poor in spirit — he encouraged his followers to love their neighbors as they love themselves. I wonder how many believers reconcile these seminal words of the Savior with Pres Trump’s egregious speech and behavior? Sad.
Jax – is it only the egregious speech and behavior of Republicans you’re concerned about? I noticed you didn’t mention any left-leaning politicians in the same breath as you mentioned Trump.
Here’s an interesting point to ponder: What do you think grieves God more – Trump’s speech and behavior, or mankind’s love of killing the lives that God himself knew before He created in the womb?
the_wing_t,
Of course, I worry about egregious behavior on both sides of the aisle in the USA — but sadly I see more outspoken “Christians” speaking up for the far right, which is reflected in my comment. For instance, it breaks my heart that Pres Biden’s immigration policy has slashed the number of migrants allowed to apply for asylum at our Southern borders! I feel like this goes against everything Jesus and the God who is Love stands for. You are exactly right, no political party can be relied on to represent Christ for us, which is why we have to do it ourselves, and as best we can, determine which party comes closest to the ethos of love and compassion that Jesus demonstrated. Neither party in the USA does that very well!
But I feel like more liberality is more mercy, grace, forgiveness, welcoming, etc. Conservatism by its nature wants to “conserve,” that is, draw back and protect what little there is, whereas liberalism, by its nature, ought to ease restrictions and give more; to be liberal with your _____ means you give your ______ away, which I think is more in line with how Christ modeled living for us. Not pulling back and protecting but, as our spiritual father Brennan Manning said, “With merry abandon, we must in every way possible scatter abroad the indiscriminate love of God.”
Now as for your question about abortion … “mankind’s love of killing the lives that God himself knew before He created in the womb” — first, I don’t think anyone loves killing anything except deeply disturbed people, so you’ve framed the question unfairly.
Next, I don’t think the Christian Scriptures give us any direction one way or another on how God feels about abortion. The only thing we can know for certain is that if we mandate every pregnancy must be carried to term, we are making a mandate for the bodies of actual human beings, forcing them to do what we deem they ought to do no matter what they want, which is an affront to human rights and specifically civil rights in the USA.
If you are truly interested in what the Bible says regarding abortion, I highly recommend this episode of The Bible for Normal People by Pete Enns and Jared Byas which discusses the Scriptures Christians often cite as proof that abortion is murder.
If The Citizen doesn’t print the link, google The Bible for Normal People Episode 207: Pete and Jared on Respecting the Bible for What It Is and Isn’t. Pete Enns is a Bible scholar and professor and knows what he is talking about.
White American Christian men may find it easy to declare that women do not have a right to their own bodies because the Bible says abortion is murder, but the Bible doesn’t say it, and turning women into chattel is just plain wrong no matter what religion you follow, or if you follow no religion at all.
So no, I think God is more grieved by a society that deems women less than men and condemns them to servitude than He is grieved by the idea of a woman terminating an unwanted pregnancy.
But this is just my opinion, I could be wrong. If it turns out I went around telling people God was more caring, and more loving, and more compassionate, and just in all ways better than He really is — I imagine He will be too embarrassed to admit it anyway!
Dear Mr. Curtis–Oh, my goodness. I must disagree with this!
In particular, “The grace of God is not just a matter of dumb luck. God’s favor typically falls on those who keep seeking, asking, and knocking to know Jesus…”
This concept reads like a spiritual “bait and switch”. Salvation offered by grace as a free gift…but then the work begins?!
Or like the warning, “The large print gives, but the small print takes away”. Grace that turns into obedience?!
In the words of St. Paul, “God forbid!”
Grace, a free gift, has no strings attached. No reciprocity. In this case, forgiveness is ours; not because of who we are or what we do. It is entirely up to the One forgiving, and what He has done.
My spiritual father and Episcopal priest, the late Robert Farrar Capon, writes, “It was all done, once and for all, by the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
His paraphrase of the Parable of The Prodigal Son says it all—“The father puts no immediate steps between forgiveness and celebration. There is none of that, “Well, Arthur, you’re forgiven…but let’s have some good behavior now to make the deal stick”–none of the ungracious talk by which we make the house of forgiveness into a penitentiary.”
And no, this is not “cheap grace”. Simply because, as the late Brennan Manning (author and laicized Catholic priest) wrote–“It works without asking anything of us. It’s not cheap. It’s free.”
From start to finish, anything less is not The Good News!
Wow, Suz, bringing the GRACE!
Love it, could not have said it better myself because I am so mean and snarky. Well done!
And LeRoy is so close! He says …
“[believers] are also set free from their own conflicting personal issues. Their lives are now in Him, transformed to His image and not conformed to the pattern of this world (Romans 2:12)…The Lord’s words are forever true. We can count on that regardless of anything else in our lives. His promises are the reality we can enjoy in the here and now, even if we are temporarily suffering. They are also our sure hope for tomorrow. He assures us that Heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will never pass away (Matthew 24:35). We are free, indeed!”
YES YES YES that part is all yay and amen as the Scriptures say — all that LeRoy needs now is that thirsty encounter with “a cellar full of fifteen-hundred-year-old, two-hundred proof Grace–bottle after bottle of pure distilate of Scripture, one sip of which would convince anyone that God saves us single-handedly. The word of the Gospel–after all those centuries of trying to lift yourself into heaven by worrying about the perfection of your bootstraps–suddenly turned out to be a flat announcement that the saved were home before they started…Grace has to be drunk straight: no water, no ice, and certainly no ginger ale; neither goodness, nor badness, not the flowers that bloom in the spring of super spirituality could be allowed to enter into the case” as the beloved Robert Farrar Capon said of the Reformation.
We have to rediscover the intoxicating power of grace every lifetime it seems. I pray and believe LeRoy is about to stumble into it!
Dear Visionaryjax—Love it! “…God saves us single-handedly”!
St. Paul warns the Galations–“It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
As a follower of Jesus, the Universal Christ, my only obligation (indeed my only commandment) is to Love. And that desire and ability are through Him and by Him (indeed the author and the finisher of my faith!)
One last paraphrase by the incomparable RFC–I’s the best deal we will ever get!
Thanks be to God.