Entrusted with Truth
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Big Idea for the Series: In the book of Acts, we see God advancing his Kingdom by his Spirit through his Church.
Intro: As we saw a couple weeks ago, Paul is wrapping up his third and final (recorded) missionary journey. He’s gone throughout Greece and Macedonia, preaching the gospel and establishing the churches. He’s said his farewells to the elders of the church at Ephesus. And then, in the first part of Acts 21, we see that he’s warned by several prophets that danger awaits him in Jerusalem. He’s told that if he goes to Jerusalem, he’ll be arrested because of the Jews there. But, as we have also seen, Paul knows that suffering and enduring persecution are an essential aspect of his ministry, and he knows that God has called him to preach the gospel in Rome. So, despite knowing what awaits him, he heads off to Jerusalem.
Once in Jerusalem, James and the elders quickly warn him of a brewing controversy centered on Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles. Many Jews in the area have become believers in Jesus and still practice their Jewish customs, holidays, and dietary restrictions as they always have. But, a rumor has spread that Paul has been encouraging Jewish Christians that they should not practice these Jewish customs or follow the Mosaic Law anymore.
20 “You see, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of those who have believed. They are all zealous for the law, 21 and they have been told about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or walk according to our customs.
Now of course, Paul had not commanded Jews to “forsake Moses” nor had he forbidden them from following the Mosaic Law. Paul had merely argued that following the Mosaic Law would not save them, it would not make them “justified” with God—it wouldn’t gain them forgiveness of their sins and restore them to a right relationship with God.
4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.
They could go on abstaining from bacon, following the ritual purity laws, and circumcising their boys if they wanted to, so long as they understood that those actions were merely cultural relics and had no power to save their souls. That’s what Paul had actually been teaching. But, as rumors do, the truth had gotten twisted and distorted, and now Paul was being accused of being a threat to the Jewish faith and culture.
So, in order to preemptively put to rest these rumors, in Acts 21:17-26, James and the elders have Paul take some Jewish men who have taken a ritual vow—a Nazirite vow, prescribed in Numbers 6—and pay for the completion of their vows at the temple. A Nazirite vow wasn’t required of all Jews, it was an optional vow to express your devotion to God. Only the most dedicated Jews took Nazirite vows, because you couldn’t drink any alcohol or eat anything made from grapes, couldn’t cut your hair or trim your beard for the duration of the vow, couldn’t go near a dead body (even for a close family member), and you had to bring a large offering at the very end to finish your vow. Then, you’d shave your head to finish it all off.
So, by Paul associating himself with these men under this vow, and by paying for the vows, Paul would be showing himself as someone who was very devoted to God, and not opposed to the Jewish faith or Mosaic Law.
23 Do therefore what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow; 24 take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses, so that they may shave their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.
But, some Jews who had incited riots in some of the cities in his recent missionary journey in Asia minor followed him all the way to Jerusalem. So, despite his best efforts, these Jews stir up the crowd and get Paul arrested.
And there’s some things we can learn through this passage. What I want you to see is how the people in this passage relate to the truth. I want you to notice how the unbelievers handle truth, and then compare that with how Paul handles truth.
FCF: We who are believers have been entrusted with the truth and a responsibility to proclaim that truth to the nations. But, you need to understand that many people will not receive the truth, even when it is plainly obvious, and they will persecute and malign you for your commitment to truth. But as we will see, we can rest assured that in the end, truth will prevail.
Prayer
27 When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, 28 crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. 30 Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
31 And as they were seeking to kill him, word came to the tribune of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. 32 He at once took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. And when they saw the tribune and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
33 Then the tribune came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He inquired who he was and what he had done. 34 Some in the crowd were shouting one thing, some another. And as he could not learn the facts because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
35 And when he came to the steps, he was actually carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the crowd, 36 for the mob of the people followed, crying out, “Away with him!”
Those who proclaim truth should expect to be opposition from the father of lies.
Those who proclaim truth should expect to be opposition from the father of lies.
28 “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
Sometimes, false accusations come through twisting the truth.
Sometimes, false accusations come through twisting the truth.
“Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place…”
Example: “Paul is anti-Israel, anti-Moses, and anti-Temple.”
Example: “Paul is anti-Israel, anti-Moses, and anti-Temple.”
Inviting Gentiles and telling the truth of Christ’s crucifixion gets twisted into “teaching everyone everywhere against the people,” “Paul is anti-Israel.”
Teaching that Christ fulfilled the Law of Moses gets twisted into “Paul is anti-Moses.”
Teaching that Jesus was the perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sins gets twisted into “Paul is anti-Temple,” and since the Temple was the OT meeting place between God and man, the implications are that Paul is anti-God.
Don’t be surprised when unbelievers twist what you believe and make you out to be against what is actually good. “Anti-women,” “Anti-freedom,” etc.
The past couple of weeks, I’ve gotten a crash course in this. Ever since Al Mohler’s amendment to the SBC constitution was announced, the internet has been abuzz. Mohler’s amendment to the SBC constitution simply clarifies what we have always held as Southern Baptists, that God created men and women equal in his eyes, equal in the image of God, but different in the roles that we occupy in the family and in church.
One of the ways those differences in roles shows up in the Bible is that the Bible has very clear limitations on who can hold the office of pastor.
Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve;
This verse very clearly teaches that, in the context of the church, positions of authority and teaching over men are to be restricted to men only. And this rule is not just some backwater cultural thing that only applied to ancient cultures, rather, the reason that he gives is grounded in God’s conscious choice in his order of creation. God could have created Adam and Eve simultaneously, but he didn’t. He also could have created Adam and Steve, but he didn’t. Men and women are different BY DESIGN, it was a conscious, intentional choice by God. And what we know is that when God created the world and he created men and women, he looked at all of it and he said, “It is VERY GOOD.”
God created men to be the natural leaders of their homes and families, to provide, protect, and bear the responsibilities of shouldering the burdens of the family. And that leadership, provision, protection, and burden-carrying is intended to extend into the church as the family of God.
And God created women with a natural nurturing instinct, with the God-given, glorious, and frankly miraculous, ability to create life and nurture and care for a baby as it grows and matures. I do not have my wife’s gift of nurturing. I’m not a super empathetic kind of guy. My solution to a skinned knee is to “walk it off” or “rub some dirt on it.”
We need both.
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
We need women! That’s why you see so many movies about the chaos that ensues when mom leaves the house and dad has to care for the children!
But, if we’re being honest, women need men, too. Despite what our culture says. Men, you have a role to play.
The beaches of Normandy were not taken by women. The Empire State Building was not built by women. And your family and your church cannot be LED by women. Now, none of those things could have happened without women, but none of them were led by women, either. Just as no baby can be made without a man, and yet it is ultimately the mother who bears the primary burden of bringing forth life and nurturing it.
Men are not better than women by virtue of their leadership role; it is simply that leadership in the family and church is the role that God created us to fill: to lead, to shoulder heavy loads, to protect the vulnerable from the fiery darts of the enemy, and to storm the beaches of Hell.
When you see a young man open a door for a woman, do you not smile and say, “Good job”? When there’s a noise at the door in the middle of the night, which of you thinks that it ought to be the wife’s job to go check it out? And when we see a man who refuses to provide for his family, who instead of protecting them attacks them, and who shirks his responsibilities to lead, do we not call him a “deadbeat?” Men have a crucial role to play in the development of their children and their wives.
Now, all of that ought to be fairly self-evident and unobjectionable if you are searching for the truth and reading your Bible honestly.
But, in the past two weeks, I and many of my brothers and sisters in the SBC have been maligned and attacked for that truth. In the past two weeks, I have been compared to the Pharisees and even compared to slave-holders by those who do not like this teaching from Scripture.
The accusations have essentially been, “If you believe that women are not eligible to be pastors then you’re anti-women, anti-equality, and anti-progress.” Sound familiar?
Now, that’s just an illustration of what can and does happen. If you take a stand for the truth of God’s Word and you don’t back down, you can expect to have people twist your words against you and accuse you of all kinds of things that are false.
They did it here to Paul, twisting his words around and accusing him falsely. They did it to Jesus. And Jesus himself warned us that they would do it to us as well:
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
If you stand for truth, you should expect to be attacked with falsehood. That’s what happens to people who speak the truth.
Sometimes they will twist the truth into falsehood, and other times they will simply outright fabricate a lie.
Sometimes, false accusations come through blatant lies.
Sometimes, false accusations come through blatant lies.
crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Example: “Paul brought a Gentile into the Temple and defiled it.”
Example: “Paul brought a Gentile into the Temple and defiled it.”
They accuse Paul of defiling the temple by bringing a Gentile into it (which he never did).
This one is just a flat out lie. A rumor based on a false assumption that no one bothered to fact check.
30 Then all the city was stirred up, and the people ran together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.
They could have probably fact-checked this. At very least, Jewish Law—the Law they were accusing Paul of denying and maligning—demanded that no one could be put to death except with the word of at least two witnesses. There’s not a single witness that is put forth who could actually verify that they saw Paul with Trophimus the Ephesians inside the restricted areas of the Temple. Not a one. Because it didn’t happen.
The court of popular opinion doesn’t always wait for evidence before rendering a verdict because unbelievers don’t care about the truth.
And we need to take to heart the warning here, lest we fall prey to this as well. When someone makes an accusation against someone else, suspend judgement until you have the facts and some evidence. Don’t jump to conclusions. The mob here wanted Paul to be guilty, so they didn’t even bother to figure out if he actually was. The second someone made an accusation, they judged him guilty and tried to kill him.
Our society is moving more and more in this direction. Accusations against service leaders are at an all time high. Trust in police, government officials, and even pastors is at an all-time low. People want to believe the worst of others, so they don’t bother fact-checking anything.
We cannot do that, brothers and sisters. First off, even if it is someone you don’t particularly like, we should not be those who sit around hoping the worst of people. We should not desire evil of anyone, even those who consider themselves our enemies. Secondly, when accusations are made—of anyone—we ought to be those who say, “Where are the witnesses? Where is the evidence?” The truth matters.
Why is it this way? Why are unbelievers so hostile to the truth?
Jesus is the Truth.
Jesus is the Truth.
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you reject him, you have rejected the ultimate source of truth in favor of a “truth” of your own design.
Sometimes it amazes me how unbelievers can embrace what is plainly false and seem to have no troubles of conscience about it. But there’s a reason for that. Unbelievers Have already rejected the greatest truth of all—Jesus. He is the source of truth, the definition of truth. So, if you are willing to cast THE truth aside, you will have no trouble casting aside any other truth.
Ultimately, all truth comes from God, and God’s children are those who walk in the truth; and all falsehood comes from the father of lies, Satan, and all of his children walk in falsehood like their father.
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did...”
43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Jesus said that those who rejected him could not “bear to hear [his] word.” That is still true today. And the reason that unbelievers hate the truth is because…
Unbelievers hate the truth.
Unbelievers hate the truth.
We see this in the next section of this passage, as Paul finally gets a chance to defend himself and speak the truth. He’s hauled away in chains by the Roman authorities because they knew that the mob was going to kill him if they didn’t intervene.
37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the tribune, “May I say something to you?” And he said, “Do you know Greek? 38 Are you not the Egyptian, then, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?”
39 Paul replied, “I am a Jew, from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no obscure city. I beg you, permit me to speak to the people.” 40 And when he had given him permission, Paul, standing on the steps, motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great hush, he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:
Paul gains permission to speak to the mob. The tribune assumes that Paul must be a terrible criminal based upon the reactions of the mob. He figures that maybe he’s the Egyptian Sicarii, an ancient group of cloak and dagger Jewish assassins who were known for killing Roman officials and leading insurrections. (Barabbas, the criminal that was released when Jesus was crucified, might have been a Sicarii, or possibly in another similar group called the Zealots.) The tribune here references a rebellion led by an Egyptian Sicarii, and an ancient historian, Josephus, actually refers to a similar incident, and it might even be the same one this tribune is referring to.
But, no, Paul is not an assassin, nor has he done anything worthy of a beating or death. He is a citizen of some standing, and well-educated; no some common criminal.
So, the tribune gives him a chance to speak to the people.
The truth is offensive to the world.
The truth is offensive to the world.
Sometimes we think that if we just had the right way of communicating it, the truth wouldn’t be so offensive or objectionable. But sometimes it isn’t the way you said it so much as it is what you said. Listen to how carefully Paul proclaims the truth here.
So, as Paul speaks, listen to how he describes his Jewish heritage and establishes common ground with the people:
1 “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.” 2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even more quiet. And he said:
So, Paul is addressing them in Hebrew, to let them know that he’s one of them. And not just a typical Jew—because many of the Jews wouldn’t have even spoken Hebrew, but Aramaic—so Paul is not just a normal Jew, he’s a high-ranking, well-educated Jew deeply trained in their religion.
3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day.
Not only is Paul a well-educated Jew, well versed in their religion and Law, he’s a student of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a prominent, well-respected Rabbi in the Pharisees sect. Gamaliel is so well known that he’s recorded in ancient documents as one of the greatest Rabbis. It would be kind of like saying, “I studied under Billy Graham or John MacArthur.” And the Pharisees were well-known for their meticulous observance of the Law. So, by pointing out that he was a Pharisee, Paul is saying, “No, I don’t hate the Law, in fact, I love it more than you all.”
4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, 5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to the brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.
Not only was Paul a student of Gamaliel and a strict Pharisee, he took his religious devotion to the next level—he even imprisoned and helped execute Christians.
But then, something happened. Paul recounts his conversion testimony. He had been on his way to Damascus to imprison or kill any Christians he found, when Jesus himself appeared to Paul and blinded him. Paul realized in that moment that he was wrong, that Jesus really was the Messiah, so he repents and is baptized.
(We’re going to jump over vv. 6-16 for the sake of time, since we’ve studied Paul’s conversion in Acts 9 already.)
In vv. 17-21, Paul recounts his commissioning and how he ended up ministering to Gentiles.
17 “When I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’
19 And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. 20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’
So, Paul has demonstrated through his story that their accusations aren’t true. He’s an Israelite of Israelites, a Pharisee strictly devoted to the Law of Moses, so zealous for their religion that he imprisoned and killed people he thought were threats to it.
But, then he had a vision of God, multiple visions, actually. And he realized that he had overlooked some really important parts of the Law. And, God had commissioned him with a job to do, to take the gospel to the Gentiles.
21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ”
Paul has done a masterful job of relating the truth to these people and relating to them as people. He’s literally speaking their language. He’s dropping cultural hints and name dropping to establish connections and trust. He’s not browbeating them, he hasn’t even accused them of any wrongdoing, he’s being sensitive and cautious in his language. He’s making Scriptural connections to the OT.
What I want you to see about this is that this speech by Paul is about the most sensitive, cautious, masterfully worded explanation of the truth that Paul could muster. But, at the end of the day, Paul has to proclaim the truth, that the gospel and salvation is through Jesus Christ and it is now available to all, even those who don’t follow the OT Law. And that was the part they couldn’t bear.
They hated Gentiles. They couldn’t stand their Roman governors, they thought they were better, more deserving than the Gentiles. (Not all Jews, of course, just the ones that we see here in this passage.)
Paul could have been more blunt in his proclamation of the truth, like Peter did at an earlier point in Acts 2:23 when he said that they had killed their Messiah:
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
He could have accused them of denying the truth and murdering the innocent, like Stephen the martyred Deacon had done, as Paul stood there holding the coats of his murderers.
“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.
He could have said any of that and he would have been right in saying it, and it wouldn’t have been wrong for him to say it.
But Paul made a concerted effort to meet them on their level, speak their language, and communicate the truth in as gentle and inoffensive way possible.
But it doesn’t matter, because they aren’t interested in the truth. So, the second he mentions Gentiles, they’ve heard enough.
21 And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” 22 Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.”
So, as Paul wraps up his speech, the real reason for their hatred of Paul is revealed. They are afraid and jealous.
They viewed Paul’s ministry to Gentiles as a threat against their way of life. The large number of converts drew people away from the Temple and their ways of life. If Gentiles could be saved without converting to Judaism first, then the Law was (in their minds) rendered meaningless.
This seemed to be a threat to their perceived superiority over the Gentiles, their national sovereignty, their temple, their way of life. To them, Paul had just confirmed that he was anti-Israel, anti-Moses, and anti-Temple. (c.f. Ac 21:28) That’s what they wanted to believe, and nothing could convince them otherwise.
Of course, that wasn’t true. Paul loved Israel, he loved and respected Moses and the Law deeply, and revered the Temple as instituted by God. But, Paul recognized that these truths were simply symbols, placeholders in time, until the greater, deeper fulfillment of these symbols was revealed in Christ.
For people whose hearts are hardened against the truth, anything less than affirmation will be interpreted as condemnation.
For people whose hearts are hardened against the truth, anything less than affirmation will be interpreted as condemnation.
It didn’t matter how effectively he communicated. It didn’t matter how gently he said it. It didn’t matter how knowledgeable he was on the Scriptures. It didn’t matter that the evidence was in his favor. It didn’t matter that he genuinely loved them and wanted their best.
Sometimes it’s not about how you communicated the truth, it’s about the truth that you communicated.
I’m not encouraging you to be intentionally harsh or rude when you share the gospel. And I’m not saying that it doesn’t matter at all how you communicated the gospel.
We all know the verse where Paul tells us to “Speak the truth in love.”
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
The problem is that this verse doesn’t mean what many of us have grown accustomed to thinking it means. Many of us, myself included in the past, have interpreted this in a way that means that we are to speak the truth as gently and inoffensively as possible. That we should avoid being blunt or exposing sin in a way that might cause shame.
But this interpretation creates a problem for us in the Gospels and Acts, because if that’s what the Bible means when it says “speak the truth in love,” then what do we make of Jesus’ statements here?
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred?
33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
So, if you apply your interpretation of Ephesians 4:15 of what it means to “Speak the truth in love” to Jesus, did Jesus “speak the truth in love” here? And if Jesus fails your test, what does that imply about your standards?
Now, you might say, “Well, he’s Jesus, he can say that, we can’t!” Ok, well, then what about John the Baptist, who said the same exact thing?
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
And what about Peter’s words when he faces the High Priest and elders of Israel?
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well.
Were Peter’s words inoffensive? Were they soft and tender? Or were they direct, forceful, offensive, sharp and cutting to the point? Were they unloving?
Or is it perhaps that speaking the truth in love doesn’t mean that we’re never blunt or offensive, but that when we speak the truth we are motivated by love for people who have been deluded into falsehood?
I’m certainly not saying that you need to run around trying to offend people, and I’m not calling for carelessness or arrogance in how we communicate the truth. I’m not saying that it doesn’t matter at all how you communicate the truth. If you don’t love the person enough to die for them, then you don’t get to call them a brood of vipers.
But, I am saying that how you communicate the truth is secondary to the question of if you communicate the truth. When someone is trapped in a burning building, which matters more: getting their attention and communicating the message, or making sure you do it gently and inoffensively?
Sometimes, the Spirit will lead you to be gentle, as Paul was in this passage. And other times, the Spirit will lead you to roar like a lion. Neither form is inherently more “Christlike” than the other. And neither one guarantees that the hearers will listen. What matters a lot more is whether or not the heart of the hearer is hardened against the truth, or softened by the Holy Spirit to receive it.
I don’t know of a single pastor who has complained that his church was sharing the gospel TOO boldly, because most people are scared to death of offending anyone.
Peter spoke boldly at Pentecost and 3,000 people were saved. Stephen spoke boldly and was stoned to death. Paul spoke gently here, and they called for his death. At other times, Paul spoke gently and harvested souls.
Those who hate truth love violence.
Those who hate truth love violence.
22 …Then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.” 23 And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, 24 the tribune ordered him to be brought into the barracks, saying that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.
When the irrationality of unbelievers’ rejection of Christ is revealed through logic and plain appeal to truth, you can bet that they will resort not to repentance and faith, but to violence.
That might be to slander and character attacks, it might be to raise their voice and yell, or it might be to resort to actual, physical violence.
Remember what I’ve said before, if you want to tell the difference between a real sheep and a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing, try to pull the wool off. But, if you do, expect the teeth to follow.
There is an inherent, ontological connection between falsehood and violence.
Truth exposes falsehood, it lays bare the motives and hearts of those who hate it.
The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
Why did his people not receive him? Jesus tells us himself in John 3:
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
There’s two lessons for us here.
First, understand that those who are confronted with the truth really only have two options: 1) repentance, 2) violence. Understand that and be prepared if you’re going to confront someone with truth.
Secondly, how do you respond when someone confronts you with the truth? Do you bare your teeth and growl? Shift blame, accuse others, make excuses, go on the attack? Or do you take it to heart, reflect, and repent?
If we belong to the Truth, let us walk in the Truth.
Ultimately, truth will prevail.
Ultimately, truth will prevail.
25 But when they had stretched him out for the whips, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog a man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?”
26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” 27 So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.”
28 The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” 29 So those who were about to examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
The truth prevails. Paul’s citizenship is confirmed, his back is spared, and he will live to see another day.
Even in such minutia as Paul’s origin story and how he came to be a citizen, God was working all things together for his good.
The truth, of course, would eventually land Paul in prison for good, and finally executed. Not yet, but eventually. The truth isn’t always a “get out of jail free” card. But, we do know that one day the truth will be revealed from one end of the sky to the other when Jesus returns to save and to vindicate his people and to put an end to all falsehood.
Truth is serious business. Truth matters. And the closing words of the book of Revelation tell us that the Truth will be the dividing line between heaven and hell:
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches...”
Which group are you in? Do you love the truth? Do you embrace the truth, even when it exposes your sin and shortcomings? Do you submit yourself to the Truth, to the Word of God?
Or do you, like those in this story, suppress the truth, ignore it, twist it, pervert it, and run from it? Have you accepted and submitted your life to the Truth of Jesus Christ?
