Today I have a very simple sermon to offer you, and
not a long sermon. It’s a conceptual sermon—about a concept, not about some
kind of event, not about one book of the Bible, not even about a particular
doctrine like the deity of Christ or salvation by faith. I just want, with you,
for about ten minutes, to take a look at one idea, one concept, okay? It’s the
concept of Truth.
Truth. What is it?
I quickly marked down for myself twelve places (in
Scripture).
(Why twelve? It
reminds me of how, probably 25 years ago, Vladimir Ivanovich asked my why there
were twelve tenses of verbs in English. I told him, “Well, Vova, it’s obviously
because there were twelve apostles.” Somehow he didn’t believe me.)
And so, twelve places from sacred scripture. And about
each one of them I’m literally going to say a few words.
And so the first place is Psalm 119:142:
Your righteousness is everlasting
and your law
is true.
It will be a good, interesting exercise some time,
when you read sacred scripture, to, every time that you encounter the word
“truth”, substitute that word with the word “reality.” And take a look at how
the verse speaks to you, what it suggests to you, when you take the verse that
way.
Because “truth” is nothing less than reality
itself. The order of things. It’s
everything the way it is.
The Lord has invited us into reality, into authentic life, through Jesus Christ. He has invited back into the order of things, the way
God established it.
We have returned to reality
in Jesus Christ.
And so “Your law”, which the psalmist refers to, is nothing
less than this reality.
God’s law doesn’t contradict the authentic order of
things. On the contrary, it affirms it, asserts it.
And we want
to live in correspondence to reality, don’t we! Because in reality there is health, there is peace, “shalom”, there is
flourishing. That’s what the Lord has invited us into. Into reality.
Further in connection with this truth, Romans 1:18
gives us the diagnosis of sin. Where Paul writes:
The wrath of
God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and
wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness
So let’s try our experiment again, substituting the
word “truth” with the word “reality.”
By sin, by unrighteousness, they suppress reality.
They renounce the actual order of things.
And of course the outcome of this is death. Because we can’t
live, we can’t flourish, in the sphere of unreality and self-deception.
John 18: 37. (I promised I would be going through
these verses quite quickly!) This is the kind of passage that
comes back to me all the time in life, to my memory.
“You are a king, then!” said Pilate.
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In
fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the
truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
Jesus came
to bear witness to reality, to reveal it, to open up to the hearts of people
what really is, and to bring us back to real life, the kind that God created
it to be.
The one
who belongs to the truth, to reality, will come to know the very King of
all reality.
And in
John 8:32:
And you will know the truth (reality, you will know everything like it
is), and the truth will set you free.
That is, we will be coming into the knowledge of, and entering into, our
authentic appointment, what we were
created for. We will be realizing
ourselves. It’s not an accident that the words “reality” and “realize” sound so
similar. To be realized is to live in correspondence with reality.
And this is a process. It isn’t right away, it doesn’t all come about in
a second, in one moment. It’s a process that requires a whole life.
And what’s the source of this process, the driving power of this realization?
Where do we get the strength from to travel this path? The Lord tells us in the
Gospel of John 16:13.
But when he, the Spirit of truth (the Spirit of reality,
the Spirit of the living God, the Spirit of our true Creator and Maker, Who
created everything, Who established the divine order of things, what that
Spirit) comes, he will guide you into all the truth. (He will show
everything the way it is, so you can live in accordance to it). He
will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell
you what is yet to come.
Now, do I understand all this?
How it works? No. Do I believe it?
100%. 100%. And in the next chapter, 17:17, the Lord prays, he asks of
His Father:
Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Sanctify them by reality!
You see, we’re not just talking about some kind of religious truth. A
lot of people take the word “truth” that way: “Well, there’s your religious truth, and the Buddhists
have their religious truth,” as if
we’re only talking about opinions, about views, or very simply about beautiful
poetic ideas.
Nothing of the sort. We’re talking about everything the way it is. And
that reality actually sanctifies us when we are in vital connection with it. In
other words, when we more and more belong
to Him, we more and more resemble
Him, specifically Christ—we are
talking about Christlikeness!
This is only reinforced by what we read in John 1:14. Who is this we
resemble more and more when our lives are in harmony with the reality of God?
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
There it is: the source. In the flesh.
Our entire orientation and structure of reality. Fixing our gaze upon Him, we are oriented to
the way everything really is, to what everything really is, for better or for
worse. Much as C.S. Lewis once said, i.e., that he believed in Christ much as he
believed in the rising of the sun: not only because he could see it but that by
it he could see everything else.
That’s how we press on to the fulfillment of our own God-given
appointment in life, our purpose and fulfillment. Because it dwells in Him. It
springs from His all-encompassing glory….
And we saw His glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father.
He’s full of truth, faithfulness, trustworthiness. He will never deceive
you; He will never let you down. Your life can never be worse in connection
with the all-encompassing reality revealed in the glory of Christ.
Which demands of us…what? In response?
2 Timothy 2:15
Make every effort…
Which demands what?
Make every effort!
Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who
does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately.
This is our responsibility, and it doesn’t refer simply to preaching. By
our life we teach the truth, we bear
witness, we show everybody around us what
reality really is, where to turn to, how to orient, why to live at all—that’s
our responsibility; it’s a life of worship in the closest relationship with the
living God.
This “worship” is not only within the boundaries of these walls but in
life itself.
Our Lord talks about this in the Gospel of John (again!; John talks a
lot about this!), 4:24.
God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and
truth.
They worship in reality, genuinely! In other words, they are the real,
spiritual worshippers.
Just picture it: genuine encounter with the living God—that’s what our
risen, conquering Lord and Redeemer summons us to! What a privilege this is!
What an honor! To genuinely know the living God, to have a relationship with
Him, fellowship with Him—not like an illusion, not like a dream, not like a
mere religious concept, but in reality. Inside, from the very heart.
And how is this gauged? What kind of test is there for all this? How do
we check—are we living, are we growing, are we walking in this reality?
A good test is in the Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians—1 Cor. 13, the
chapter of love—from verse 4:
Love is patient, love is
kind, it is not envious . Love does not brag, it is not
puffed up. 5 It
is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about
injustice, but rejoices in the truth.
Our heart, in love, naturally rejoices in God’s reality, whenever we see
the manifestation, the genuine
manifestation of God’s grace in the life of another, we naturally rejoice. Why?
Because we recognize in this our beloved Savior—we see Christ shining through!
In the manifestation of this real love! Our spirits leap in joy and say, “Oh,
there You are!” And this affirms Who we belong to.
Two more places (Bible passages) are left.
Ephesians 4:15. Let’s begin with verse 14.
14 So we are
no longer to be children (the subject here is maturity!), tossed back and forth by waves and carried
about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry
out their deceitful schemes. 15 But
practicing the truth in love (see, here’s where these two concepts join
together into one concept—true love, real, genuine love!; love that corresponds
to the very character of God and reflects His reality)—but practicing the truth in love we
will in all things grow up into the head, which is Christ.
Christ. Maturity.
Such a remarkable thing, in Christ—maturity.
The Lord God…never (I
guarantee you, brothers and sisters, that our loving Lord God) never in
life—never!--will suggest to you that you be delivered—delivered—from something that you actually need. It won’t happen. He’ll never suggest it to you! To be
delivered, to be freed, from what you can’t live without, no—that’s never going
to come from God.
“Practicing the truth,” you will “in all things grow up,”
whatever it is you are required to toss, chuck, forsake, despair of, cut out
and excise from your life on the way. The pain will be in perfect harmony with
Reality, with the Truth Who loves you.
This is truth, this is the way of sanctification, this is the way of
liberation from everything unneeded, everything pernicious, from everything
false. No matter how it seems to you. You have to entrust yourself to Him. If
He suggests, “Get rid of that, get free of that,” then do it. You’ve just got
to. Because that’s what it means to really live. Anything else is unreal. Untrue.
And the last verse, Psalm 43:3.
Send your light, the psalmist asks God, Send your light, (Light!
This is vision! It’s understanding! It’s awakening, revival!) Send
your light and your truth (Your reality!)
They (the
light and truth) will lead me,
they will escort me back to your holy hill,
and to the place where you live.
“I am the Alpha and Omega,” says our God. He is the beginning and the
conclusion. Everything starts with Him, and toward Him all is directed in our
life. He encompasses our whole life. “Send light and truth,” let them lead me on, and lead me in! From start to finish. From the point of departure to the very…arrival, in His dwelling places, the
forever home, where “I will prepare a place for you.”
Glory to God, that He has liberated us from deception, from the lie, and
led us into the fellowship of His true, risen Son, Jesus Christ, the only real
Life there is.
