CONFIDENCE IN THE FACE OF HARD QUESTIONS; Does it Really Matter Which “Truth” I Believe?

We are increasingly living in a “post-Christian” era, a situation in which Christianity is no longer the dominant civil religion of a society.   Rather, the society has gradually assumed values, culture, and worldviews that are not-Christian or “almost-Christian.”  Think of it as Christian or “Christian-lite” if you will, but is “almost-Christian” the same as Christian?  Christianity has often been ignored or diluted to something less, or embraced secularism (the doctrine that morality should be based on the well-being of man in the present life, without regard to religious belief or a hereafter") or even atheism (there is no God, eat, drink and be merry).  

Such alternative worldviews include, but now-a-days are certainly not limited to: secularism (human focused view), nationalism (nation focused view),  environmentalism (environment focused view) and organized atheism (anti-God view). Sometimes militant and other social, political, or popular ideologies such as veganism or the like may dominate world views. In the midst of so MANY world views is there any world view that is “purely God focused”?  By that I don’t mean God-focused in religious practice, but God-focused in faith: motivation to action? 

For much of our history America has been a place where, even if biblical principles were not followed, they were at least acknowledged or held as a target to be striven for.  But Judeo-Christian ethics are no longer assumed or even embraced.  In our current era of “there is no Truth” we Christians must know WHY we believe what we do and WHY we believe it is the truth.  

This series of study looks at six prominent questions that individuals in secular society used to attack the Christian faith, and provides an understanding of why biblical beliefs are true, along with an apologetic (defensible position) for standing strong against UNTRUTHS hurled against our faith.

Today’s study shows us that knowing the truth of Christ is the only way we can experience freedom.

In today’s culture, people want us to assume that truth is what the individual believes it to be, everyone has their own truths. If that is true, then the concept of truth becomes non-existent because two opposing views can’t both be true. Some conclude that truth doesn’t matter; yet because that notion is so illogical, we should be driven to the opposite conclusion: there must be a singular truth that applies to all people. 

Diverse viewpoints lead to division rather than unification. I saw this quote by Victor Davis Hanson on Thursday:  

“Few Romans in the late decades of their A.D. fifth-century empire celebrated their newfound ‘diversity’ of marauding Goths, Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Huns and Vandals.  These tribes en masse had crossed the unsecured Rhine and Danube borders to harvest Roman bounty without a care about what had created it. Their agendas were focused on destroying the civilization they overran rather than peacefully integrating into and perpetuating the Empire.”  

“Ironically, Rome’s prior greatness had been because of the extension of citizenship to diverse people throughout Europe, North Africa and Asia. … New citizens learned to enjoy the advantages of habeas corpus, sophisticated roads, aqueducts, public architecture and the security offered by the legions. The unity of these diverse peoples fused into a single culture that empowered Rome. In contrast, the later disunity of hundreds of thousands of tribal people flooding into and dividing Rome doomed it.” 

 

“Nations can prosper with heterodox peoples — but only if united by a single, inclusive culture as the American melting-pot once attested.  But a baleful third option — a multicultural society of diverse, unassimilated and often rival tribes — historically is a prescription for collective suicide.  As it sheds the melting pot and adopts the salad bowl of unassimilated and warring tribes, the United States is now seeing a rise in violent racially and religiously motivated hate crimes. … Millions of unlawful immigrants mock their hosts by their brazen illegal entrance. They will receive little civic education to become Americans. But they will learn that unassimilated tribalism wins them influence and advantages.”

While I dare sat the the majority of our class would agree with this assessment of our nation’s current situation resulting from worldly governing policies, I would ask us then “how can Godly and ungodly people, or purely-faithful and purely-religious people,  be unified into a single culture rather than a disunited entity of thousands of tribal people as old Europe used to be?  Scripture points us to the way, and it is found faith in Jesus Christ as the savior of God sent to humanity to lead us back to a family relationship with God.  There must be a singular truth that applies to all people.

For example lets play a game of, "Does it really matter?" 

• Does it really matter if you shower at night or in the morning? No, but it really does matter that you shower. 
• Does it really matter if you prefer Mexican food or Chinese food? No, but it really does matter that you eat. 
• Does it really matter if you wash dishes by hand or use the dishwasher? No, but it really does matter that you clean your dishes.
• "Does it Really Matter Which 'Truth' I Believe?" Good question!

We will look at what John 3:19-21; and 8:31-36 teach us about the Truth.

Jesus had been teaching about His identity and His relationship to God the Father. He concluded by saying that everything He said was from the Father, who was always with Him, and that all He did pleased the Father.  Let’s see what Jesus said.

John 3:19-21

19 “This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Here John said Jesus taught exactly what we discovered last week about the corrupt officials who were trying to destroy Daniel” “everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.”

Sometimes we are so familiar with John 3:16 that we fail to keep reading this story. God loved the world and sent Jesus to be our Savior, but judgment is also highlighted. God’s plan is that sinful humans will accept the good news about about Jesus and be reconciled to God through repentance and faith; however, anyone who rejects this good news is “condemned”. This passage reminds us that the decisions we make about Jesus, sin, and salvation in this life form the basis for that ultimate judgment at the end of time.  Choices matter!

“God is light” this passage tells us. Darkness is the absence of light and indicates the absence of God, who is light.  But fallen humanity is not just lost in darkness—they love the darkness. When faced with the choice between the darkness and the light, most reject God, preferring to live without God and remain in the darkness of their selfish and harmful natures. Those without God in their lives are in active rebellion against God. The unbeliever’s deeds are evil because God is absent from their lives.  

Evil in this context refers to something morally base and inferior when compared to God’s holy standard of conduct. In this case it is not referring to a single act of evil; even believers sin at times. Rather, the one who lives in darkness practices evil (as a lifestyle) because that is the “natural” inclination of his heart. His life is characterized and dominated by evil. Living in the darkness is not just a matter of ignorance. Those in darkness hate the light and avoid the light. They are in active rebellion against God. Jesus came into the world to accomplish salvation for humanity; but rather than embrace salvation, the people who loved the dark hated and killed Jesus.

Although some sins are committed in broad daylight, many sins occur in secret (in the darkness) away from public scrutiny. Paul wrote to the Ephesian Christians, “Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them”.  God knows all that we do, think, and say. Sinners foolishly believe they can keep their sins from exposure, but no sins escape God’s omniscience and judgment.  We are to point out the harmful nature of sin.

God is truth; truth is part of His nature and everything He says and does is the truth. Therefore, His word can be trusted. Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself to the world. Jesus is “full of grace and truth”,  He is the incarnate Son of God; He is “Truth incarnate.”  To perceive Jesus is to perceive God the Father. By implication, the gospel message that Jesus proclaimed is the truth as well. 

At the moment of salvation, the believer is freed from the domain of darkness and brought into God’s kingdom. God is light and Jesus is “the light of the world”. Those who follow Jesus live in the light and have “the light of life”. Unlike those who attempt to hide their sins in the darkness, the believer gladly comes into the light, realizing there is nothing to fear. 

The believer living in the light desires that his deeds may be seen by all. The believer’s life of obedience to the truth (living out Jesus’s commands) is evidence of the redemptive and transformative power of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul described this lifestyle of obedience to God as walking by the Spirit and the results of this lifestyle as the fruit of the Spirit.  The source of this life and the power to live it out come from God in the person of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Let’s look at what Jesus identified as the results of this lifestyle.

John 8:31-32

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you continue in my word, you really are my disciples.

32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Jesus is the Truth who sets those who believe in Him free from slavery to sin.  But just because some Jews had believed in Jesus did not mean they were committed to Him. This had happened before at a Passover Festival, where “many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing”. In that case, as here, Jesus knew the true nature of their belief, that they were not truly committed to Him and the gospel. Similarly, after He fed the five thousand, many followed after Him for the food He had provided. The difficult nature of Jesus’s teachings also caused many who claimed to be His disciples to stop following Him, although the Twelve remained committed to Him.

To know Jesus is to know the truth about God and how to have a saving relationship with Him. This relationship requires a faith commitment to Jesus as Savior and Lord, the truth of which is demonstrated by how the believer lives his life. Living out the truth of the gospel through one’s life demonstrates the genuineness of one’s faith in Christ. A specific indicator of the genuineness of a disciple’s faith in Christ is freedom. The Greek term for free means to liberate one from domination. Knowing Jesus, who is the truth, brings transformation and leads to freedom in the life of the disciple. This statement leads to the question, “Freedom from what?”  It is instead a statement about a living relationship with God, “the truth,” who gives freedom to human beings. 

John 8:33-36

33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they answered him, “and we have never been enslaved to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.

35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever.

36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”

The implication of Jesus offering the Jews freedom is that they were currently slaves. However, the Jews disagreed, proudly noting they were descendants of Abraham, a religious statement rooted in their conviction that they were the spiritual children of God and were the ‘descendants’ of Abraham.  Pharisees did not regard political liberty as the test of freedom. Being sons of God, a holy people, God’s possession, according to Deut 14:1-2, was for them the test of being free. They apparently thought their genealogy gave them an exemption from slavery. 

A few verses later, Jesus responded to their claim. Jesus acknowledged their biological relation to Abraham, but Jesus stressed they were rejecting Him, the ultimate truth of the Father’s revelation of Himself, who was speaking and obeying what He had heard from God the Father.

Truly I tell you is a translation of what in Greek is amen, amen. The Greek is a transliteration of the Hebrew term, which emphasizes something is certain and sure, truthful and faithful. Jesus was emphasizing that what He was about to say was truthful and trustworthy. Furthermore, when Jesus spoke, He spoke with the authority of God the Father.  

A very poor analogy would be in the ballpark of Jesus saying, “look sir, your house is on fire.  I am a fireman and am here to safely get you out of this burning house.  The government has authorized me to do this.  Follow me.”  To which the man replies “nope.  I like my house even though it is on fire.”  Reject the guidance of the knowledgable expert at your own peril.

Today, the very word slavery triggers negative, or reactive responses to many people, but anciently slavery was an accepted part of life throughout the Roman Empire and one of the main drivers of the economy. It is estimated that in the first century AD, one out of three persons in Italy were slaves, while throughout the empire one out of five people were enslaved.

Jesus compared sin to a kind of slavery. The first man and woman chose to sin through their own free choice. Every human being since (except Jesus) has been born with a fallen nature, enslaved to sin. Like having an addiction, they desire to sin and do not have the power to stop sinning. This slavery is an endless cycle of desire, sin, repeat. 

Jesus compared the status of a slave and a son in the same household. The slave’s situation in the home was temporary. The master was not required to keep the slave as a permanent member of the household. At any time the master could sell the slave or give the slave to someone else. A son, on the other hand, always remains a son, a part of the household.

The Son of God has full authority because the Father “has given all things into his hands”. Those who acknowledge the Truth through repenting of their sins and placing their faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord are set free from their enslavement to Satan and sin. However, this freedom is not absolute freedom to do whatever one pleases without limitations; rather, it is freedom in the sense of no longer being enslaved to sin (which leads to death) and having the ability to live in relationship with and obedience to God (which is eternal life). Believers are now able to not sin (which before Christ was all that they could do) and are now able to obey God (which before Christ was impossible for them to do).

Paul wrote about this freedom when he said that human beings have two choices—obey sin or obey God. Obeying sin leads to death, while obeying God leads to righteousness—life. He urged the believers in Rome to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God”.

It really DOES matter which “Truth” we believe.