The Word Is Truth

Prayer

Truly Truly I Tell You

We started our new sermon series for the season of Lent last week asking the question, Why the Word, taking a deep dive into why the Bible is so essential, why its foundational for us. This is how we, our denomination, ECO, expresses it in our Essential Tenets:

We glorify God by recognizing and receiving the authoritative self-revelation, both in the infallible Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and also in the incarnation of God the Son. We’ll come back to this, but I want to draw your attention to one of the key descriptors of the Scripture used here, the claim that the Bible is infallible.

Infallible means incapable of making mistakes or being wrong. That’s a powerful statement. A bold claim about the Bible - it is incapable of being wrong. You can completely trust it, be absolutely sure of what it says, because it is always right. Put simply, it is truth. That’s our main point this morning as we consider Why the Word, the Word is Truth. Last week, the word reveals, it is God’s self-revelation, he makes himself known through his word. This week, the Word is truth.

And if you go to the Bible, especially the Gospels, the words of Jesus, who is, the incarnate word, the Word made flesh, you’ll see that’s exactly the claim. Jesus is unabashed in proclaiming that he speaks the truth, that his word is truth, that indeed, as he himself says in John 14:6, I am the Truth. Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is a perfect example of this.

Listen to how Jesus consistently begins the different subjects he addresses, one instance of this is Matthew 5:18, For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until every thing is accomplished. Jesus is coming right out and saying, what I’m telling you is the truth. My word is truth. Greek word for truly is a word we’re all familiar with - Amen! Jesus doesn’t ask for an amen (can I get an amen?), he simply delivers it.

This isn’t an aberration, it’s the norm for Jesus. He uses this “amen” language, truly I tell you - 31 times in gospel of Matthew, 13 times in Mark, 6 times in Luke, and get this, in the Gospel of John, it’s not just amen, but a double amen (amen-amen), typically translated as very truly. And John uses it 25 times. The point is this - this is the way Jesus taught. My word is truth, it is infallible.

We see the same boldness expressed in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:21-22 - You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. The way Jesus is teaching here is significant - and, by the way, he does this numerous times throughout this sermon. When he says “you have heard,” he’s referring to the great Jewish tradition of teaching, wisdom passed on for generations. He’s saying this is good, but I tell you - I, me, I’m telling you there is more. I’m the one who will give you the full truth, what God really wants of you, the greater righteousness he is calling you to.

All this comes to bear at the very end of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. His takeaway says so much about the Word of God as truth. Listen to Matthew 7:24-29...

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Basic Bible study tip, whenever you see the word, as we do here, “therefore,” you should ask what is it there for? It’s a transition that indicates that because of all this, all that precedes, what I just taught you, this is what you should do with it. If this is true, then therefore, do this. And the this we are to do, as Jesus teaches here, is put what he teaches into practice. We are to live it out. As a reminder, this is one of our core values: Lived Obedience to Jesus.

Jesus uses imagery of two men, a wise and foolish one, who both build their houses, but the key difference is that the wise man builds his on a foundation of rock, he digs down until he reaches the bedrock. On the other hand, the foolish man doesn’t bother, he builds his house on the sand. So when the torrential rains come, the wise man’s house stands but the foolish man’s comes crashing down. The point is simple - you’re wise to live out what Jesus teaches, you’re a fool if you don’t - it will not go well for you.

Notice how the crowd responds at the end - in utter amazement. First, they are amazed because of the wisdom of his teachings - and it is incredible wisdom. Think about that for a moment - what other moral teaching still informs us as profoundly as Jesus’ teaching on the Sermon on the Mount? You can’t point to anything else - or really, anyone else, that comes close. Jesus is unparalleled in his truth and wisdom. And the crowd is not just amazed at the wisdom of his teaching, but the authority with which he taught. Jesus didn’t rely on other teachers, other interpretations of the Torah, like other teachers of the law did, he spoke on his own authority. Truly, truly I tell you.

Truth Calls for Obedience

This morning I want to emphasize Jesus’ point here at the end of his teaching here at the Sermon on the Mount. And its simply this - if what Jesus teaches is truth, if the Bible, the Word of God is indeed infallible, then it is by nature authoritative, we ought to live according to it, obey it, put it into practice. As our Essential Tenets says, we glorify God by recognizing and receiving His authoritative self-revelation.

To say that the Word of Truth is to say that there it contains no falsehoods. It is to say that anything we believe that is contrary to the Word of God, any way that we live, that we think is OK but does not align with what Jesus teaches us about what is true and right and good, is a lie. And who is the Father of lies? It’s Satan.

Doesn’t matter if we think it’s Ok, if somehow we believe that God won’t mind. Doesn’t matter if everyone else in the world agrees with us. It is still a lie. That’s the thing about truth. It is not a matter of opinion. There is no such thing as my truth. Truth is not based on popular opinion, on consensus. Truth is a matter of what is, in reality - it is a matter of what God declares is. He is the creator of all, he created all of reality, truth is rooted in him. Just to tie this into what we talked about last week, looking at Jesus as the Logos, the Word, this is that Greek perspective - the Word as reason, the force (in this case, the person) who gives structure to the universe. God makes reality. He gives structure to the universe.

Now a quote I love, attributed to Winston Churchill, goes something along these lines, “Men occasionally stumble over truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.” To put that in terms of what it means to be a follower, an apprentice, of Jesus - how often do we stumble over what he teaches, his truth, and then go about our day as if we never encountered it?

To take this seriously, that Jesus is the Truth, means that we don’t change what God teaches us through the Scriptures, we don’t adjust it to suit us, what we think, what we want it to say. Rather, we are to adjust our lives in accordance with the Scriptures. We align ourselves with it, what we think, how we act, what we value.

And if we just take a look at some of the myriad ways people have strayed from obedience to God over the centuries, it is always the Scriptures that are proved right. When we stray from God’s Word, things go poorly - like the foolish man, the house collapses, when we twist or ignore the Word of God.

One such example would be that of the sexual revolution, push that began largely in the 1960’s, a push against what was viewed as the prudish restrictions of the Biblical understanding of sex (which has always been one man, one woman, one flesh, in a lifelong covenant - marriage). It was an embrace of what was seen as sexual freedom, the pleasure of sex over and against its primary purpose - bearing of children. With the moral basis being consent, as long as the two (or more) persons all consent, whatever they want to do sexually is ok.

Louise Perry has a book called “The Case Against the Sexual Revolution” where she goes into great detail documenting how terribly harmful the sexual revolution has been for our culture, particularly for young women. It’s fascinating, Perry was not a Christian when she examined this, she just looked at the evidence, the data, she came to the conclusion that the Biblical view - sex within the bounds of a marriage relationship was best. That people flourished most living in accordance with God’s commands. A fun note to this is that going down this path, studying all this, has led Louise Perry and her husband to embrace all of the truth of God’s Word, they’ve become Christians.

Another example comes from Galatians 2:11-14, Paul writing about his experience with Cephas, Peter: When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. 14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Peter, Cephas, was feeling social pressure from Jewish Christians who had not fully embraced the Gentile Christians - because they were convinced they had to follow the Jewish law, that grace through faith was not enough. Because of that pressure, he and others, including Barnabas, separated themselves from the Gentile Christians - because they saw them as not clean, not good enough. Listen to how Paul describes confronting him - “when I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.” They were not living out the truth Jesus teaches. How often have we not lived out the truth of the gospel through the centuries, allowing differences such as social class, race, political allegiances, divide us? We embraced the lie that we were morally superior? That somehow we were better because of how we looked, how much money or status we had, the color of our skin, our nation of origin? How much harm that’s caused - and is still causing.

There’s no shortage of examples we could look at - question of abortion, gender identity, consumerism - all places where we have bought into the lies of the culture over the truth that Jesus teaches. Conclusion is clear - if I’m not actively seeking where it is in my life that I need to grow in greater obedience to what Jesus teaches, then I’m not really putting my trust in him, acknowledging that he, he alone, is the Truth. If week after week, I sit in the pews and listen to sermons, or in reading the Scripture - and nothing in my life changes, I’m not responding in some way, how much am I putting into practice what Jesus teaches?

Listen to what Jesus teaches in John 8:31-32, To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus is saying - if you hold to my teaching, if you obey my words, put them into practice, that’s what makes you a true follower, then you really are my disciple. As we do this, as we trust Jesus, obey him - even if we can’t imagine it actually being the best way to live, it seems foolish - but as we say, Jesus, it doesn’t make sense to me to do this, but because I trust you, I will do what you teach - it’s then that we’ll know the truth of it. We’ll know it by experience - wow, Jesus, you were right. This really is the best way to live.

We’ll know the truth that it really is better to stop judging others, and instead treat them with grace. It really is better to live simply, sacrificially, generously, rather than always making sure I have what I need and want. It really is better to stop, rest, take Sabbath. It really is better to let go of those grudges, that anger, and forgive those who have wounded me. It really is better to humble myself before God and others, to let pride go. It really is better to put Jesus first, above and before everything else - make sure I’m doing the things in my life to be with him, daily. This is the Jewish perspective of Truth, the Word, Logos, that what Jesus teaches us is not just a foundation, it is THE bedrock on which we can and should absolutely build our lives.

Turn now, as we always do, to spiritual practices, where we consider ways to put into practice what Jesus is teaching us. My hope is that you’re thinking about how you can and should respond in obedience to what Jesus is teaching you this morning. Two thoughts on what we should do with this central point, that the Word, what Jesus teaches, is Truth. This comes from Mindy Caliguire, who wrote the book, Soul Care.

First is that to live in obedience to God’s Word is that we must know the truth. That requires what we talked about last week, regular reading of God’s word. But I want to take it a step further. We need not just to read the Bible, but study it. To learn what it teaches. Idea of faith seeking understanding. We believe, we trust, in Jesus, and seek to grow to understand more fully what that means. We’ll talk more about that over the next couple of weeks in our ECO Moments on how to study the Bible.

Second step is just as important - we must surrender to the truth. It’s not just knowing what Jesus teaches us, God’s word to us, we must surrender to it. We surrender to it by living in obedience to it. We recognize it as authoritative it over us. So, as we listen to the sermon, as we read and study the Bible, it should be with a readiness to respond in obedience. To take seriously how what we are learning, we can put into practice. We ought to be attentive to those places that we resist, because that’s particularly where we need to surrender our will to Jesus. This is so important if we want to be those who are really disciples of Jesus, who know his truth, and those who are set free by that truth.

Closing Prayer, Time of Reflection