Thinking About Truth

Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

John 18:37-38

With his one rhetorical question, Pilate encapsulates the lie of relativism. This lie says that there is no absolute truth, there are only perceptions of the truth. Truth is relative. It varies from culture to culture and society to society. There is no fixed, certain, unmovable, absolute truth. There’s your truth, and there’s my truth. And what is true for you, may not be true for me. But who am I tell you that you’re wrong, because that’s your truth?

If believed, this lie leaves us with a world and a God that make no sense. If there is no absolute truth, then I cannot absolutely say that God exists, or that He has called you to repent of your sins. In fact, if there is no truth, then I can’t say for sure that anything is sinful. Maybe it’s a sin for me, but not for you. Or maybe it’s considered a sin in our culture, but is praiseworthy in another. If truth doesn’t exist, then nothing is certain and Christianity is just an opinion. If truth isn’t fixed, then reality as a whole begins to break down and it becomes hard to make sense of anything.

But what does the Bible say? Are we adrift at sea in a world without truth? No! 

If you were to flip the Bible open at random and pick any verse, chances are you would find a truth claim. Because literally, every page of the Bible assumes, implies, and makes clear that truth really does exist and that it doesn’t change over time. 

But instead of flipping the Bible open at random, let me share just a few verses with you. The first is Isaiah 65:16 which says “...he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth.” God identifies Himself as the “God of truth.” Why would He do that if truth doesn’t exist?

Or consider 1 Timothy 2:4 which says that God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” How can people come to a knowledge of the truth if truth doesn’t exist?

So, make no mistake, truth does exist. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that truth is relative or that my truth is different from your truth. Truth exists and God is its source. He is the God of truth! This is why we find truth primarily revealed to us in God’s Word. The Bible, is our primary source of truth. It is the standard by which we determine what is true. Don’t allow anyone or anything else to be your final standard of truth but God’s Word. Cling to it!

Favorites in the Family (W.o.W. Rewind)

 Jacob made love to Rachel also, and his love for Rachel was greater than his love for Leah.

Genesis 29:30

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Genesis 37:3-4

Jacob had been his mother's favorite son. His brother, Esau, had been his dad's. Favoritism in the home was what he knew. It was what he was used to. And as we read the last half of Genesis, it becomes clearer and clearer that it is a toxic trait that Jacob's home life will be dominated by. 

Through a series of circumstances that weren't entirely Jacob's fault, he was tricked into marrying a pair of sisters. This is a bad idea which is why Scripture expressly forbids it in Leviticus 18:18. But Jacob made this bad idea worse by playing favorites. Scripture tells us right away that he loved one of his wives better than the other. Unsurprisingly, this created a rivalry between the two women. And for years they competed for their husband's affection by trying to outdo the other by having more children.

Sadly, this only made the situation worse because Jacob treated the children the same as he treated their mothers. He played favorites among his own kids. Showing preference to the one who was born of his favorite wife. Predictably, this led to rivalry among the kids. It got so bad that the brothers sold their rival into slavery and told their father he was dead. Deep down in their hearts, I believe they wished he really were dead. 

There are so many lessons we can learn from Jacob's life but one of them is undoubtedly the danger of playing favorites with our families. I know that most of us think we would never do that, but how many adults do you know who believe they weren't their parent's favorite child? Obviously, some parents still make this mistake. Be very careful that you aren't among them. Favoritism is toxic, and it will ruin your family.

Divinely Powered Weapons

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God...

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

What weapons do we wield as Christians against the Devil? In these verses, Paul speaks of weapons that have “divine power.” And he says that we use these divinely-powered weapons to “to demolish strongholds and arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.”

But what are these weapons? Paul doesn’t say in this passage. But as we look at his ministry, and at how Paul attacked false teaching, I think we can get a pretty good idea of what these divinely-powered weapons must be.

First, I think one of them must be the clear proclamation of the truth of the gospel. Clear explanation of gospel truth is a Spirit-powered weapon that God uses to tear down the lies of the enemy. Consider, for example, all the letters Paul wrote to address errors in the church. The New Testament is filled with these letters in which Paul is carefully explaining and teaching the gospel. Why? Because Paul understood that we can’t just win people’s hearts for Jesus… we must also win their minds.

I think the modern church has largely forgotten that! Too many of us think that if we can just make people feel good enough about church, if we can just make them feel good enough about Jesus, then we will win them for the Lord. But, that’s not how the New Testament church did it.

Have you ever read Romans? Have you ever read 1st or 2nd Corinthians. They aren’t exactly what I would call “feel-good” books. They aren’t primarily aimed at making people feel good. No! They are filled with sound doctrine, with logical arguments and detailed explanations that are primarily aimed at the mind.

We must learn to do the same. If we want to rescue people from the lies of the enemy, we must give them a clear dose of the truth. And if we want to safeguard our own minds from the enemy's attacks, then we must take in a steady diet of the truth presented in God’s Word ourselves.

Another divinely powered weapon that we see at work in Paul’s ministry is prayer. If you read Paul’s letters, you will see that he is constantly praying for his churches. Why? Because prayer unleashes the power of God in our lives. It's through prayer that the Spirit of God acts and convicts men and draws them to the truth. So, pray for yourself and for others to know the truth and think clearly. And pray for those who have been deceived by the enemy, who have been captured, to be set free from his strongholds and come back out into the light of day.

A third and final divinely-powered weapon that I see at work in the Apostle Paul’s ministry is the example and witness of his daily life. The Apostle Paul lived a divinely-powered life that confirmed his message, silenced his critics and gained a hearing for the gospel. He didn’t just preach the gospel, he lived it. You and I must do the same if we are going to unmask the lies of the enemy.

Follow the Spirit

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27 So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch... The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

Acts 8:26-27, 29

Philip had just sparked a revival in Samaria that brought many Samaritans to Christ. In fact, verse 14 tells us that it was a significant enough revival for some of the apostles to come down from Jerusalem to check it out and take part in it. So, Philip has been doing a great work! And now, God tells him to take the road that leads to the desert?

Philip must have wondered why! Why would God ask him to do this? There were so many new converts in Samaria that needed to be discipled. Surely, Philip could be more useful there. This didn’t make any sense. Why would God send Philip away from the action to this deserted place?

We serve a God who works in mysterious and wonderful ways. What He leads you to do, won’t always make sense. Sometimes, obeying what you believe the Spirit is prompting you to do will make you feel downright foolish. Because it won’t make any sense to you. You won’t know why you are doing what you are doing. You will just know that you believe God wants you to do it.

Is that enough for you? Are you willing to take the next step that God is pointing out to you even if you can’t see where it leads or why God wants you to go that way? You’ll have to, if you are going to be used by God to go and tell others about Jesus.

You see God is at work in people’s hearts long before you ever get to have a conversation with them about Jesus. And only He knows who is ready to hear from you. Sometimes, you won’t understand why God is asking you to do something. But, if you are willing to obey Him— even when it doesn’t make sense—then God can do things through you that are bigger than you are. 

If you are going to be used to lead people to Jesus, then you will have to listen and be willing to follow the promptings of the Spirit. To be an effective soul winner, you must be willing to step out in faith and obey the promptings of the Spirit even when they don’t make sense to you, even when you don’t know where they lead. Will you follow the Spirit?