The Trinity of Truth

Good morning and welcome to another week of church here at the Bridge. I am so glad that we could come together this morning to worship.

The Search for truth

Truth is a complicated topic. It is also a heated topic. The reality is that truth today seems to be ever changing. What is true today may not be true tomorrow. We face the reality that truth is is supposed to be objective. For instance i could share with you a statement like this. What will happen when I let go of this ball? Of course we will answer it will fall. WE know that gravity will take hold of it and it will fall to the ground. Also known as gravity. Isaac Newton was the one who discovered gravity.

Let me ask you this did He discover or simply define it?

Now i know that doesn’t really sound that different. Think of it this way. Newton discovered Gravity or how to calculate Gravity. He didn’t discover that things fall. Before Newton Things fell. The truth was there it was right in front of everyone. Yet, the means to explain the truth were not understood until Newton figured out the math. Truth is people could have come up with any number of reasons why something would fall. Honestly i am willing to bet most people never even thought about it.

With Gravity there is an objective truth that there are forces of attraction between objects in the universe. Most of the time the force is two weak to affect us, yet every day it affects us because we can feel the affects of gravity right now. It is what keeps us attached to the ground.

Newton discovered the objective truth that we could quantify and effectively prove.

What would you do though if you encountered someone who said, “that's nice but the real reason the ball falls to the ground is because “insert crazy reason here”. Or maybe its like this.

Why are fire trucks red? Your obvious answer would be because red is a bright color it grabs your attention, or some other logical reason. I have to say that your wrong because the reason fire trucks are red is...

“Because they have eight wheels and four people on them, and four plus eight makes twelve, and there are twelve inches in a foot, and one foot is a ruler, and Queen Elizabeth was a ruler, and Queen Elizabeth was also a ship, and the ship sailed the seas, and there were fish in the seas, and fish have fins, and the Finns fought the Russians, and the Russians are red, and fire trucks are always “Russian" around, so that's why fire trucks are red!"

I mean it that is the truth and there is no other explanation for why fire trucks are red.

The reality is that there are objective truths out there. There are things that we can say without a doubt that we can assign as truth or true.

When it comes to Spiritual matters we face this challenge every day. The truth in many ways is born out of examination and weighing of evidence and determining if something is true. Sometimes though truth is seen as relative.

What is true for you is not true for me

We have heard this statement before. This idea. Well that is your truth. Unfortunately in the world today this is a popular view and is one that leads down very difficult paths.

The reality is that to make this statement is to cast judgement on someone. It is kind of a backhanded way to say you are wrong but i don’t want to hurt your feelings.

At the end of the day we have to deal with the fact that there is truth in this world and we need to be looking for the truth in our lives and where ti comes from.

These are the challegnes we face in our faith. We are looking for the truth and how it impacts us. Let’s turn to the scriptures this morning.

John 16:12–15 NIV

12 “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Spirit of Truth

Part of the Christian faith is that we have come to see that truth comes from God. God is the source of all truth for us. We find truth in our relationship we share with him and him speaking in to our lives.

Last week we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. It is a great day for us in the Christian church because it is the day that we recognize the power the Spirit has on us. The influence and the guidance that the Spirit shares with us. The truth that the Spirit reveals in us. It was within this framework that i was looking at this mornings passage and i noticed something really interesting.

To be in step with the Spirit is to be in step with Jesus and God. We often talk about our relationship with Jesus because he is the one we resonate the most. Yet, this passage helps us see that the Spirit, Jesus, and God the Father are all of the same thought. WE have an idea for this that is the trinity.

Look at

John 16:13–15 NIV

13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

The Spirit guides in truth what has been revealed in Jesus and speaks what is shared, The spirit leads us to Jesus. Jesus has received everything from the Father. The Father has guided and directed all of Jesus’ life and ministry. Jesus is the fullest expression of God’s Love for us in his life on this world.

So what does all this mean. This seems like it is really complicated. In all honesty the Trinity is complicated. That doesn’t make it not worth trying to understand. The truth that we can gain though is that The Spirit, Jesus, and God the Father are of the same mind and they are connected and they all lead us to truth.

Truth is Hard

One of the realities that we have to face in today’s world is that truth is not always easy. The truth of following Jesus is not a guarentee to be liked or loved by the world. Jesus warns us of this.

John 15:18–19 NIV

18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

Truth is Hard

The unfortunate reality is that following Jesus requires us to live a life that is in many ways removed from the world. We are shifting our focus from an earthly one to one that needs to be driven by God. Our goal in life no longer is our desires but those of God. This is what it means that he will guide us in truth. He will guide us in the truth revealed in Jesus and the life that He calls us to.

How do we live for Jesus?

This is one of the most challenging questions that the church faces each and every day. There are so many competing voices trying to speak truth into this question. We are constantly trying to figure out how do we stay true to who Jesus is and how we live a life that is in pursuit of him. For some this has translated into a message of we just have to love. For others we have to follow the commands in the scriptures.

What is interesting about both groups is our humanness often enters into the equation.

Think about that for a moment.

For some its okay to do what you want as long as you love Jesus. IT doesn’t matter where you are at or what you are doing as long as you love Jesus you are okay. IT doesn’t matter just love. Love Love Love.

There is a response for this from the Scriptures.

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 7

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’

How do we live for Jesus?

Then we have those who want to follow the rules and live by the scriptures and are quick to point out all the problems in the world. They teach the message of following God. Following after him by our obedience. If we just do the right thing we will be okay. We are called to it because the Bible tells me so. Follow the Word, follow the word, Follow the word.

There is a response for them too.

The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language Chapter 7

“Knowing the correct password—saying ‘Master, Master,’ for instance—isn’t going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, ‘Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.’ And do you know what I am going to say? ‘You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don’t impress me one bit. You’re out of here.’

Time to get out of the way

The truth is that if we aren’t careful we may find out we are far from what the Spirit is leading us to. If we aren’t careful we will find out one day that we missed the boat entirely. That this life isn’t about our truth this life is about THE TRUTH. The truth that...

Philippians 2:6–11 NIV

6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! 9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

John 14:6–7 NIV

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Time to Get out of the way

It is time to recognize that the truth of life the truth that we are called to live is a life of love of God. A life that is devoted to him. It is the life that has an open hand for the loss the broken, the downtroden, those who are hurting and the sinners of the world. With that open hand we love them. We eat with them. Yet, we call them to a new life. We all work to improve ourselves to draw closer to God. To realize that our own desires can not be the driving force of our life.

It is time for us to get out of the way and let the Spirit of truth show us what he has for us to give ourselves to him completely and to start living for God.

Let’s Pray