Listening to Understand

Have you ever been lied to? Has anyone ever attempted to deceive you? Have you ever been told something that is not true? How do you handle those things, how do you protect yourself against them. What if the subject was really, really important, wouldn’t you want to make sure you knew the truth?

Today I want to look at two different passages written by Paul to two different churches.

Philippians 1:12–18 NASB95

Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

Apparently there were two different types of people preaching the Gospel. There were those who loved Jesus and loved Paul and were inspired by his example to preach the Gospel to everyone they could. This is exactly what Paul wanted. He wanted the Gospel message to spread and he needed help to get it done so he must have been ecstatic over the fact that others were taking up the task and spreading the Gospel while he was in prison.

There was also another group of people. They too were spreading the Gospel, apparently they were saying all the right things, their words were correct and they were teaching and preaching the same Gospel as Paul but there heart was not in the right place. I don’t know exactly what they were thinking but Paul apparently did because he says that they wanted to hurt him and somehow they decided that if they could spread the Gospel while Paul could not they would hurt him or at least hurt his pride or his feelings. Maybe they were just jealous of Paul’s fame and wanted to be famous too. I am not sure what they were after but for whatever reason they were preaching the Gospel of Jesus with wrong motives in mind.

Did this cause Paul distress, NO! He loved it. The truth is the truth and however it gets spread the truth is being spread. Paul was not looking for fame, he was spreading the truth and he could use all the help he could get.

In another letter Paul said

Galatians 1:6–10 NASB95

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

In this case someone was teaching a different Gospel, a perverted form of the Gospel, and Paul was angry. If anyone, even me, or an angel from heaven preaches a different Gospel let him be accursed.

So if we compare these two situations, one where the truth was taught for the wrong reasons and one where a lie was taught what do we learn. It cannot all be about motivation because Paul was glad for those who spoke the truth for the wrong reasons but condemned those who lied without even bringing up what their reasons were. So it is easy to conclude that what is most important is the truth of the matter, the truth of the Gospel.

Now we know this ourselves but we have a harder time accepting it than Paul did. Parents have been using this phenomenon for years. A boy comes to mom and dad to tell on his brother. Mommy, Daddy Billy has cookies and he wont share with me and sister. Where did Billy get the cookies? We climbed up on the counter and Got into the cookie jar and now Billy won’t share and you said we should share. OOOOPS. He just told on himself for helping get into the cookie Jar. Daddy, Daddy, Susie went all the way down the street and crossed the highway and you said we were not supposed to leave the yard. How did you know she crossed the highway? I saw her. But you can’t see the highway from our yard. OOOOPS.

Sometimes we learn the truth from someone who doesn’t mean to let it slip. Sometimes we learn the truth from a liar, and sometimes we learn the truth from an honest person. Then again sometimes an honest person tells us something that is not true. Sometimes the people who are trying to tell the truth are fooled themselves and pass on what they think is the truth when it is really a lie. So how do you know the difference.

We make decisions based on what we think is true and what we think is a lie and some of those decisions are really important ones. Some decisions affect our future and the future of our children. In a democracy some of those decisions affect our whole country. At least one decision affects your eternal destiny. Seems important doesn’t it. So how do you know if you have good information or not. What kinds of tests do you use to determine what is true and what is false. How do you decide.

Some people say that you should use your own experience as a guide. Try things for yourself and check it all out for yourself and be guided by that. That method is OK for some things but terrible for other things. Lets suppose you were trying to figure out the best way to pack a parachute so that it opens on the way down to the ground, would you want to try several different methods and see which worked best. Suppose you started by just folding it however it made sense to you and jumping out of a plane with it, do you think you would live long enough to figure out the best way.

What if you wanted to buy the safest car, would you buy several cars and purposely get into accidents to see which cars you died in and which ones you lived? Seems rather inefficient to me. What if you wanted to determine if there was a God and if eternity was real, would you just live your life however and then die and see what happens? What if you chose badly?

Not only is it a problem to try everything yourself because of the danger of it but time is also a factor. If you had to test everything yourself you would never get it all done. If you had to test every meatloaf recipe to determine which was the best you would eat nothing but meatloaf three times a day for years and years. In the end you would either have to give up on testing everything or just not know truth from a lie and go through life guessing all the time, that seems like a bad idea.

There is, however another solution. You could trust someone else to determine what is true and what is false. Of course we all do this. We all have to trust information from other sources and we know that there is a chance our sources are wrong. So the more important something is the more time we spend checking it out and the more critical we are of our sources of information. So what about things like right and wrong, morality, eternity, God, salvation, love, relationships, hope or truth. How do we determine what is true and right in the important things?

Some people would say that we take a vote, the answer is to pole the people around us and come up with a consensus and whatever the majority of people say that is what is true and right. Do you think that has been working for us lately. Are the things that are popular and trendy the right and true things. Could that be the way to find truth?

Some people say that the way to find truth is to find the most trustworthy people you can find and then just trust what they say and do. As a matter of fact that is the idea that our democracy is based on. Find the best candidates you can find for office and put them in place and then trust them to do the right thing, how has that been working for us?

If we can’t rely on others and we can’t figure it all out ourselves what do we do..........give up? May it never be. If only there were someone who can never be fooled, someone who always knows the truth in every situation. If only there were someone who was never selfish and always had the best interest of everyone else in their heart. If only there was someone who was faithful and true to their word without exception. If only there were someone worthy of our trust and our confidence. That kind of person would be perfect for determining what is true and what is false. That kind of person would be able to guide you to truth and never lead you astray.

Of course if there were such a person everyone would want to be close to them, to learn from them, to get there questions answered. Wherever he went there would be crowds of people following him and begging for his attention. It would be almost impossible to get close to him. The best that we could hope for would be that he had written a book or something. Maybe then we could all get a copy of the book and read it and know what the truth really is.

Still, it would be better if we had access to him directly. If we had some kind of phone line or message board we could use. If we could leave him messages and he could respond that would be great. But what if we needed an answer right away, what if we were desperate? If only there was some way this person could be with us all the time, with every one of us, to guide us into all truth. That would truly set us free, free to live and work and play without the burden of having to know everything and understand everything, without the fear of getting it wrong because we have the best advisor there ever was right there with us. All we would have to do is ask, and he would answer, then we just do whatever he says and we are golden.

In fact the best solution I can imagine to solving the troubles and trials of the world would be to have a perfect person who knows everything and loves me more than his own life. Someone who left me an instruction book about life and truth, someone who would never leave me or abandon me, someone who would be right there, inside my head and inside my heart every moment so that I was never alone, never without help, never forsaken. Someone who had the power and ability to provide for all my needs and wanted the very best for me. What would be better than that.

I guess the only thing that would be better than having a perfect guide who knows absolutely everything and loves me more than his own life would be if he loved me so much that he somehow found a way to correct all of my past sins. I have already messed up so many things that even if I lived a perfect life from here on out, and there is no chance of that happening, but even if I did. Even if I never made another mistake, told another lie, did the wrong thing, or even if I never again missed an opportunity to do the right thing I have already done all of that so many times. I guess the only thing that would make it better is if Jesus could somehow wash all of that away and let me begin again, with a fresh slate, a new chance. But that would take a miracle. It would be like getting a whole new life, a life that was unspoiled and fresh, a life where all of my past sins were washed away in one amazing moment. It would be like starting over clean and fresh and new, it would be like being born again.

That would be perfect. And it is. That is what Jesus offers you today. That is what the Christian life is. That is what Jesus died for, so that you could start fresh, be born again and never live alone again. Jesus is calling you now, now is the time and Jesus is the answer.