Ten Promises: Ninth
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Jerry-Proctor and Gamble
How far we have fallen even since then.
How far we have fallen even since then.
Fact or Fiction.com. Verifiably false.
Cavanaugh—shouldn’t have anything to say about it. Weren’t there.
Feathers
There was a pastor in a small town who was well loved by his congregation. One of the members of his church, became one of the pastor’s closest advisors and one of his closet friends, sadly though, eventually his friend got offended and left the church. After he left he told all kinds of lies and half truths about the pastor. He allowed people to believe lies…most of the congregation turned against him due to these lies...so much so that eventually the pastor had to leave his beloved church. A few years later the lying manipulative friend began feeling convicted and he went and apologized to the pastor. He asked what can I do to make things better? How can I fix what I have broken. The pastor said, I want you to take your favorite pillow, the pillow that you love, that you can’t sleep without, I want you to cut it open and take it outside on a windy day. I want you to shake it out and let all the feathers from your favorite pillow blow away in the wind. When you have done that come back to me. His friend was sad to destroy his favorite pillow, but he figured this was some kind of symbolic penance as his pastor friend was known for his parables. He did what the pastor asked and went back to him and said I did what you asked. The pastor said, ok, now, I want you to go gather all the feathers and put the feathers back in the pillow, sew it up, make it like it was before, so you can again use your favorite pillow. He said that’s impossible. The pastor said, exactly my point. The damage was done. Trying to fix the damage done by lying, by innuendo, by half truths, by gossip, was like trying to find all those feathers that had been blown away by the wind and stuffing them back into the pillow.
How do we get the feathers of truth back in the pillow?
How do we get the feathers spread out all over the development…all over social media…all over back in the pillow?
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
:
The ninth commandment can be simply understood as “do not lie”.
A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.
Underground Railroad and Do I look Fat
Ethical Debates: Underground Railroad
Cavanaugh...
We love to take commandments like this one and get into ethical debates about what is lying and what isn’t lying. In other words, we are looking for the exception clause.
So when we hear, do not lie, we are quick to say well what about during the civil war, when people in the south were hiding slaves in their homes from the Confederate soldiers, and were helping slaves escape to the north in the underground railroad. Would it be ok to lie to save one of the slaves?
Well, I don’t see any slaves today, I don’t see any underground railroads, and third, you are trying to distract from the main issue, which is your heart and the way that you lie.
Or, is it ok for me to lie when my wife asks me if she looks fat in a dress? Number one, it depends. Number two, say NO without even looking or even a second of delayed response.
We are always looking for the exception clause instead of focussing on main issue which is the subtle and not so subtle ways that we lie.
A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.
It’s really serious. Lying is the same as physically assaulting someone. Sometimes it can be worse.
Feathers
The ninth commandment can be simply understood as “do not lie”.
There was a pastor in a small town who was well loved by his congregation. One of the members of his church, became one of the pastor’s closest advisors and one of his closet friends, sadly though, eventually his friend got offended and left the church. After he left he told all kinds of lies and half truths about the pastor. He allowed people to believe lies…most of the congregation turned against him due to these lies...so much so that eventually the pastor had to leave his beloved church. A few years later the lying manipulative friend began feeling convicted and he went and apologized to the pastor. He asked what can I do to make things better? How can I fix what I have broken. The pastor said, I want you to take your favorite pillow, the pillow that you love, that you can’t sleep without, I want you to cut it open and take it outside on a windy day. I want you to shake it out and let all the feathers from your favorite pillow blow away in the wind. When you have done that come back to me. His friend was sad to destroy his favorite pillow, but he figured this was some kind of symbolic penance as his pastor friend was known for his parables. He did what the pastor asked and went back to him and said I did what you asked. The pastor said, ok, now, I want you to go gather all the feathers and put the feathers back in the pillow, sew it up, make it like it was before, so you can again use your favorite pillow. He said that’s impossible. The pastor said, exactly my point. The damage was done. Trying to fix the damage done by lying, by innuendo, by half truths, by gossip, was like trying to find all those feathers that had been blown away by the wind and stuffing them back into the pillow.
Jesus talked about the seriousness of lying and where lying comes from:
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
Maybe that is why Jesus said that lying is satanic.
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. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
Satan’s native language is lying. The very first sin, was borne out of a lie. Satan approached Eve, with Adam sitting silently by and said. Remember in the garden:
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
Gensis 3: 4
When Peter caught church members in a lie, listen to what he said...
When Peter caught church members in a lie, listen to what he said...
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
Acts
John says in Revelation that liars are left outside of Heaven:
Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
We can all agree that the Bernie Madoff’s of the world, the one who defrauded investors of 50 billion dollars through a Ponzi Scheme, or the cyclist Lance Armstrong who won seven Tour de Frances while on illegal drugs and later said that he actually believed himself when he would lie…we can all agree that these people are liars and breakers of the 9th commandment, but what about us? What about the more respectable and understandable lies?
Bernie Madoff…he developed a Ponzi Scheme that defrauded investors out of 50 billion dollars. Later it was said, “it was one big lie.”
Lance Armstrong-believed the lie
Charles Dawson
Jerry/Proctor Gamble—How Far We have Come
In the 20th century after Charles’ Darwin’s origin of species was written, there was a mad scramble to find the so called missing link…a human/ape transitional life form. And one man Charles Dawson, not Charles Darwin, but Dawson, claimed to have discovered a skull that was the missing link—it was a skull with stained teeth…the skull made worldwide news and Dawson to his dying day claimed that it was authentic. However, it was later shown to be from a 600 year old orangutan and the teeth were glued in to the skull and even stained to look old…a total lie.
Nazi Lie—was that the Jews were responsible for all of Germany’s problems including the loss of World War I, Hitler claimed the Jews had killed and eaten Christian children in the Middle Ages.
It’s second nature and that’s a problem because Satan’s nature, his native tongue Jesus said is to lie.
Hitler and his cronies orchestrated what they called “the big lie”…that no matter how a lie is, or because the lie is so big, if it is repeated enough, people will believe it. Hitler said that everyone tells
small lies, but very few people have the courage to tell huge lies. Hitler said that since a big lie is so unlikely people will actually come to believe it.
Especially in age of social media where what we put out there is instant, constant, global and permanent.
And we can agree that the great liars of history break the 9th commandment. And we can even agree that we break the 9th commandment when we tell lies which we all do.
Depths of requirements of 9th
Way deeper than we thought. The ninth isn’t just telling the truth, but loving the truth. Not just telling the truth, but telling the truth for the right reason. Listen to how one person from church history put it:
So what are some of the ways.
We love to take commandments like this one and get into ethical debates about what is lying and what isn’t lying. So when we hear, do not lie, we are quick to say well what about during the civil war, when people in the south were hiding slaves and were helping slaves escape to the north in the underground railroad. Would it be ok to lie to save one of the slaves.
Well, I don’t see any slaves today, I don’t see any underground railroads, and you are trying to distract from the main issue, which is your heart and the way that you lie. So what are some of the ways.
Way deeper than we thought. The ninth isn’t just telling the truth, but loving the truth. Not just telling the truth, but telling the truth for the right reason. Listen to how one person from church history put it:
What is Required?
That I bear false witness against no man,
nor falsify any man’s words;
that I be no backbiter, nor slanderer;
that I do not judge, nor join in condemning any man rashly, or unheard;
but that I avoid all sorts of lies and deceit, as the proper works of the devil,
unless I would bring down upon me the heavy wrath of God;
likewise, that in judgment and all other dealings
I love the truth, speak it uprightly and confess it;
also that I defend and promote, as much as I am able,
the honor and good character of my neighbor.
“Other false witnesses include withholding the truth (deception), a half-truth (is a whole lie), gossiping (deceiving or lying), testifying any untruth in a court of law, exaggerating, slanting the truth, spreading falsehoods, slandering, deceiving for one’s own interests, or anything that is not true to any person at all.”
John Murray: Our call to truthfulness is based on the truthfulness of God. All untruth and lying is to participate on the curse of this fallen world. Any kind of misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the truth is falsehood, even if unintended. If it is passed on, even in good faith, we are as guilty as the one who originally lied. Any kind of erroneous misrepresentation is a violation of the 9th commandment and the truth of God. Therefore, judging something you did not firsthand see, or making judgements and passing on those judgments based on second hand information, is to participate fully in falsehood, as much as one who blatantly lies.
Ways:
1. Half Truths: Snake Bite
Half Truths: Snake Bite
We tell half truths. We leave things out.
If you look up funniest jokes of all time, this one will pop up in the top ten. It goes like this.
There were two men who went on a hunting trip together. They were in the middle of nowhere, ten miles from the closest town. No cell phones. Away from civilization. One of the guys got bit by a poisonous snake. He was fading fast. So the other guy decided to run the ten miles to the closest town to get help. He found the local doctor, but he was delivering a baby and couldn’t leave. He said, this is what you need to do, take one of my scaples and cut out the wound to the best of your ability, then you need to suck out the venom....you will have to do it several times to get it all out. The bite was on the guys backside. So he said, you’ve got to be kidding me. I can’t do that. The doctor said, you need to run back to him, do what I said. The man said, what happens if I don’t. The doctor said then your friend is going to die.
He ran back the ten miles…his friend was shivering, and so he said I found a doctor in the town, the wounded friend said great what did he say? He said, “he told me that you are going to die.”
Now, did the doctor say that the friend would die? Yes he did. He said if he didn’t do exactly as he told him, his friend would die. But that wasn’t all that the doctor said. He lied by telling a half truth. And we do that in more serious ways all the time.
We don’t want to hear the truth. Like Jack Nicolson said, you can’t handle the truth.
Fact or Fiction.com. Verifiably false.
Cavanaugh—shouldn’t have anything to say about it. Weren’t there.
Cavanaugh—shouldn’t have anything to say about it. Weren’t there.
We don’t want to hear the truth. Like Jack Nicolson said, you can’t handle the truth.
Where are you in the series? I will answer you but after I do, neither one of you are allowed to talk. Why? Because she doesn’t want to hear the truth. We are like that.
Half truths, leaving part of the story off, allowing people to believe things about us that aren’t totally true.
Ananias and Saphira
I believe that if everyone’s web search history, everyone’s text messages, everyone’s emails, everyone’s behind the scenes conversations, everyone’s thoughts, were displayed for all to see, if we knew the FULL TRUTH, not the half truth about each other, we would all run for the hills. If people knew the truth about you, they would leave you. Jesus knows the full truth about us, he knows all of it, and he pursues us. He comes and dies as the result of false witnesses, he became sin for us so that we could be the righteousness of God.
But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land?
Breaking the 9th commandment is saying what is untrue but it is also not saying everything that is true. It is deception. Twisting the truth. It is a sin not only to deceive, but to allow yourself to be deceived.
Agenda Based Lying
2. Agenda Based Lying
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
The wisdom of the prudent is to discern his way, but the folly of fools is deceiving.
A prudent person is discerning and doesn’t allow their own agenda to dictate the truth. Whether or not the truth lands with the truth they prefer...
When someone you normally respect seems completely confused it may be an agenda based truth.
Our country just came through this Supreme Court process. I don’t have a dog in the fight. If I thought that politics could save people I would have become a politician. But since only the Gospel can save I became a pastor. So I have no dog in the fight.
If your immediate reaction is to overlook accusations against politicians you support or to perpetuate accusations against those you oppose, and if the situation were reversed and it were a liberal supreme court justice nominated with the same accusations against them and if your opinion would have magically changed, you are breaking the 9th commandment. We do this all the time in smaller ways. We adopt a position on small things, even in a relationship and it is an agenda based truth that we have adopted.
3. You Weren’t There
But consider this…if the situation were reversed
Any information received second hand and passed on is to participate in untruth, because we did not observe it firsthand and do not know if it is true. Anything we evaluate and pass on must only be through first hand observation. The bar has to be HIGH.
2 Timothy Cavanaugh—if your opinion would have changed if the shoe was on the other foot—if it wasn’t your guy being accused but the other guy being accused…then you have disqualified yourself from the conversation. The truth isn’t in you.
But it’s even deeper than that. Any information received second hand and passed on is to participate in untruth, because we did not observe it firsthand and do not know if it is true. Anything we evaluate and pass on must only be through first hand observation. The bar has to be HIGH.
We don’t know what happened. Full stop. Why a full stop? Because you weren’t there and the testimony hasn’t been established by two or more witnesses with specific dates, places and times. To make ANY judgments about the truth of the facts beyond that, unless you were there, is breaking the Ninth Commandment.
We don’t know what happened. Full stop. Why a full stop? Because you weren’t there and the testimony hasn’t been established by two or more witnesses with specific dates, places and times. To make ANY judgments about the truth of the facts beyond that, unless you were there, is breaking the Ninth Commandment.
4. Gossip
Any information received second hand and passed on is to participate in untruth, because we did not observe it firsthand and do not know if it is true. Anything we evaluate and pass on must only be through first hand observation. The bar has to be HIGH.
Our call to truthfulness is based on the truthfulness of God. All untruth and lying is to participate on the curse of this fallen world. Any kind of misunderstanding or misrepresentation of the truth is falsehood, even if unintended. If it is passed on, even in good faith, we are as guilty as the one who originally lied. Any kind of erroneous misrepresentation is a violation of the 9th commandment and the truth of God. Therefore, judging something you did not firsthand see, or making judgements and passing on those judgments based on second hand information, is to participate fully in falsehood, as much as one who blatantly lies.
When someone you normally respect seems completely confused it may be an agenda based truth
4. Gossip
Besides that, they learn to be idlers, going about from house to house, and not only idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they should not.
Gossip
Busybody=gossip. Someone who seems busy but they aren’t. You say, everyone tells me everything. There’s a reason for that…because you are a busybody.
Could be telling the truth…but it is still gossip.
Instant, constant, global, permanent.
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.
Saying things that are exactly true, at exactly the right time, for exactly the right reason to exactly the right people in exact the right venue.
You say, if I followed those rules, I wouldn’t talk. Bingo.
5. Don’t Want to Promote Truth
:
We don’t want to hear the truth. Like Jack Nicolson said, you can’t handle the truth.
Feathers
There was a pastor in a small town who was well loved by his congregation. One of the members of his church, became one of the pastor’s closest advisors and one of his closet friends, sadly though, eventually his friend got offended and left the church. After he left he told all kinds of lies and half truths about the pastor. He allowed people to believe lies…most of the congregation turned against him due to these lies...so much so that eventually the pastor had to leave his beloved church. A few years later the lying manipulative friend began feeling convicted and he went and apologized to the pastor. He asked what can I do to make things better? How can I fix what I have broken. The pastor said, I want you to take your favorite pillow, the pillow that you love, that you can’t sleep without, I want you to cut it open and take it outside on a windy day. I want you to shake it out and let all the feathers from your favorite pillow blow away in the wind. When you have done that come back to me. His friend was sad to destroy his favorite pillow, but he figured this was some kind of symbolic penance as his pastor friend was known for his parables. He did what the pastor asked and went back to him and said I did what you asked. The pastor said, ok, now, I want you to go gather all the feathers and put the feathers back in the pillow, sew it up, make it like it was before, so you can again use your favorite pillow. He said that’s impossible. The pastor said, exactly my point. The damage was done. Trying to fix the damage done by lying, by innuendo, by half truths, by gossip, was like trying to find all those feathers that had been blown away by the wind and stuffing them back into the pillow.
How do we get the feathers of truth back in the pillow?
How do we get the feathers spread out all over the development…all over social media…all over back in the pillow?
Saying things that are exactly true at the right time for the right reason to the right people in the right venue.
Don’t Want to Hear Truth: Nicolson
We don’t want to hear the truth. Like Jack Nicolson said, you can’t handle the truth.
Where are you in the series? I will answer you but after I do, neither one of you are allowed to talk. Why? Because she doesn’t want to hear the truth. We are like that.
We don’t want to hear the truth about ourselves. We also...
6. Don’t Want to Promote Truth
When we encourage people who are wrong. You go girl stuff.
When facebook first came out
Do the same thing when we encourage people who are wrong. You go girl stuff.
Church hopper don’t have whole story.
Accepting something as fact that is disputed
It is true that there are times that your “haters” give you fuel, and that it is refreshing to leave relationships behind, and to embrace the people who “accept you as you are”. True enough. But there are other times that you were and are wrong. There are times that people who love you are bold enough to speak into your life to try to help you from self destruction. How do you know which is which? Focus on truth. Focus on the facts. And be brutally honest with yourself about the facts. Ask yourself whether it was your actions that caused your “haters” and those who “weren’t loyal to you” to cause them to misstep at times. Was it their reaction to your wrongdoing that hurt your feelings? What is loyalty anyway? Isn’t it loyal to love someone enough to try to save them from destructive choices? Look around at the people “supporting you”. What kind of people are they? And be careful to differentiate between those supporting you and those praying for you and continuing to be kind (they may not tell you in clear terms where you are wrong, which is unloving and unwise of them, but they may know you are wrong all the same). Ask yourself if part of your defense was to attack the humanity of those confronting you. An addict almost always calls out the hypocrisy of his confronters. The key difference between them and you could be that your issue is life dominating and obvious to all around you and their issue is simply being human and sinning from time to time.
It is true that there are times that your “haters” give you fuel, and that it is refreshing to leave relationships behind, and to embrace the people who “accept you as you are”. True enough. But there are other times that you were and are wrong. There are times that people who love you are bold enough to speak into your life to try to help you from self destruction. How do you know which is which? Focus on truth. Focus on the facts. And be brutally honest with yourself about the facts. Ask yourself whether it was your actions that caused your “haters” and those who “weren’t loyal to you” to cause them to misstep at times. Was it their reaction to your wrongdoing that hurt your feelings? What is loyalty anyway? Isn’t it loyal to love someone enough to try to save them from destructive choices? Look around at the people “supporting you”. What kind of people are they? And be careful to differentiate between those supporting you and those praying for you and continuing to be kind (they may not tell you in clear terms where you are wrong, which is unloving and unwise of them, but they may know you are wrong all the same). Ask yourself if part of your defense was to attack the humanity of those confronting you. An addict almost always calls out the hypocrisy of his confronters. The key difference between them and you could be that your issue is life dominating and obvious to all around you and their issue is simply being human and sinning from time to time.
The Gospel frees us to both receive the truth about ourselves and tell the truth to others about them.
Wouldn’t talk.
Hearing one side of the story
The Gospel frees us to both receive the truth about ourselves and tell the truth to others about them.
6. Don’t Want to Hear the Truth: Nicholson
We don’t want to hear the truth. Like Jack Nicholson said, you can’t handle the truth.
Where are you in the series? I will answer you but after I do, neither one of you are allowed to talk. Why? Because she doesn’t want to hear the truth. We are like that.
We don’t want to hear the truth about ourselves.
If We all Knew
It is true that there are times that your “haters” give you fuel, and that it is refreshing to leave relationships behind, and to embrace the people who “accept you as you are”. True enough. But there are other times that you were and are wrong. There are times that people who love you are bold enough to speak into your life to try to help you from self destruction. How do you know which is which? Focus on truth. Focus on the facts. And be brutally honest with yourself about the facts. Ask yourself whether it was your actions that caused your “haters” and those who “weren’t loyal to you” to cause them to misstep at times. Was it their reaction to your wrongdoing that hurt your feelings? What is loyalty anyway? Isn’t it loyal to love someone enough to try to save them from destructive choices? Look around at the people “supporting you”. What kind of people are they? And be careful to differentiate between those supporting you and those praying for you and continuing to be kind (they may not tell you in clear terms where you are wrong, which is unloving and unwise of them, but they may know you are wrong all the same). Ask yourself if part of your defense was to attack the humanity of those confronting you. An addict almost always calls out the hypocrisy of his confronters. The key difference between them and you could be that your issue is life dominating and obvious to all around you and their issue is simply being human and sinning from time to time.
I believe that if everyone’s web search history, everyone’s text messages, everyone’s emails, everyone’s behind the scenes conversations, everyone’s thoughts, were displayed for all to see, if we knew the FULL TRUTH, not the half truth about each other, we would all run for the hills. You say, I can’t tell people the truth about myself, if I did people would leave me…and they would!
Allowed himself to be crucified as a liar why? Because he died as us. He was innocent. He was the truth itself. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
But Jesus knows the full truth about us, he knows all of it, and he pursues us. He comes and dies as the result of false witnesses, he became sin for us so that we could be the righteousness of God. Allowed himself to be crucified as a liar why? Because he died as us. He was innocent. He was the truth itself. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
But he was bearing the sins. He was crucified for lying. For claiming he was something he was not according to them.
Peter: Do You Love Me
The Apostle Peter was hard headed, stubborn, volatile, passionate. He gives me hope for myself. He so desperately wanted Jesus to be the Messiah who would return Israel to it’s former glory. He didn’t get all of Jesus’ little stories he would tell.
We could talk about ethical scenarios...
CS Lewis said that Jesus was either the greatest liar and lunatic of all time, or he was God. There is no in between when it comes to the truth about Jesus. And Jesus forced Peter to come to terms with this after he was resurrected from the dead. After Peter had denied Jesus three times. He asked Peter three times, once for each denial, if Peter loved him. And you need to answer that same question today. That is the most important truth you need to answer. Both those who are searching in their faith and those who have been Christians for decades.
But I would rather talk about Jesus.
Jesus asked Peter, do you love me? What is the truth about your love for me? Peter said of course I love you.
After Peter do you love me? What is the truth about your love for me? Peter said of course I love you.
He said Peter do you love me? What is the truth about your love for me? Peter said of course I love you.
Jesus said, ok, if you love me, make sure you are a culture warrior for the truth. Make sure you argue on social media about every political issue that comes up. The most recent, most important political issue of our time needs your voice Peter. So if you love me, you will speak out for truth. No, Jesus didn’t say that.
Jesus, said, if you love me, make sure you have all of your theology right and make sure you correct everyone else’s errors, especially since, Peter, you have all the answers, you know all the answers to life’s deepest most complex questions…since you have been armed with that information, you should be the theology police to prove you love me.
Jesus said, to show that you love me, make sure you don’t ever drink, don’t ever smoke, don’t ever dance, don’t watch HBO, do your quiet time, only in the morning, because the morning is the only time that I will speak to you, and make sure you call each other brother a lot…and be Mr. Serious, Mr. Legalist, Mr. No Grace. In other words, be yourself Peter.
Jesus said, to show that you love me, make sure you don’t ever drink, don’t ever smoke, don’t watch HBO, do your quiet time, only in the morning, because the morning is the only time that I will speak to you, and make sure you call each other brother a lot…and be Mr. Serious, Mr. Legalist, Mr. No Grace. In other words, be yourself Peter.
Jesus said, if you love me, if that is the truth, that you love ME. That you love JESUS. The person of Jesus. The 6 foot 2 or 5 foot 6 or whatever human being guy, dude, who walked the earth, got dirt under his fingernails, who claimed to be God in the flesh, who claimed to bring new life, if the truth about you is that you love Jesus, Jesus said, get your stinkin eyes off of your stinkin self and start focussing on others. THAT is how you will know if you are a person of truth. That is how you will know if you are trusting in me, the way, the TRUTH and the life.
Start feeding others.
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Start allowing others to experience me.
Feed my sheep. If you are all about yourself, all about me, you are deceiving yourself. The truth isn’t in you. What does that mean for Reach Church—to be a church not for ourselves. To be a church for other people. To feed the sheep out there.
Go after the one sheep out there who is lost. And do everything you can to feed them, to reach them, to bring them to me. I want that sheep out there. That one is mine, he, she won’t be lost, it can be you who gets the joy of bringing them to me...
So when we come to the 9th commandment we can talk about weird ethical paradoxical situations that we will never face, or we can face the only question of truth that matters, and that is this Jesus’ question to Peter, his best friend, do …you....love....me....do....you....love....me....do....you…love....me....do....you....love…me? The result? In our lives?
Kirkbride Jesus
I was driving on the Delaware campus…there is a guy there named Kirkbride Jesus. I don’t know anything about him. He preaches on the corner. He’s crazy. The kids just pass by him. Street preaching isn’t effective. It just isn’t. We are supposed to reach the culture with their language. Street preaching isn’t the language of the culture. But as I saw that Kirkbride Jesus standing there, in my spiritual gut, do you know what I thought, do you know what I felt, and it wasn’t some empty uninformed thought, it was based on years of experience, years of observation, years of hearing reports, I thought Kirkbride Jesus has probably been more effective in reaching UD students than all the churches in the state of Delaware combined. In fact Kirkbride Jesus has probably been more effective in reaching UD students than all the campus ministries at UD combined. But let’s not welcome Reach Church on the UD campus. Let’s fight them and be jealous of them and undermine them. Because we want to hold on to our 124 kids, when Jesus said go get my sheep, they will know my voice, and that voice can come through you, you can split theological hairs with that voice, you can pontificate on whether or not this music is right for the church or that music is right or whether or not it is too loud here or too soft there, or you can spend the maybe 65 70 years I have given you in the here and now on going and getting my sheep. So you can have the 124…I’m going after the 25,000. And we are going to go get them. And we are going lose battles. But we are going to be who God called us to be while we do it.
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
So when we come to the 9th commandment we can talk about weird ethical paradoxical situations that we will never face, or we can face the only question of truth that matters, and that is this Jesus’ question to Peter, his best friend, do …you....love....me....do....you....love....me....do....you…love....me....do....you....love…me?
The truth of the Gospel frees us to both receive the truth about ourselves and tell the truth to others about them. The truth of the Gospel frees us to love others and honor God.
The result?
The truth of the Gospel frees us to love others and honor God.
and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
False Witnesses brought against Jesus
Why are we free?
CS Lewis: Either Jesus was the greatest lunatic and liar in history or he was God.
Allowed himself to be crucified as a liar why? Because he died as us. He was innocent. He was the truth itself. I am the way, the truth, and the life.
But he was bearing the sins. He was crucified for lying. For claiming he was something he was not according to them.
CS Lewis: Either Jesus was the greatest lunatic and liar in history or he was God.
What is truth?
The Hope: All about Witnesses
500
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
:
Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.