Faithful: Truth Endures

Novelty is fun, but in Christian circles, it is not always a good idea. We should be truly creative and innovative about many things surrounding our methods, but never compromising and never innovating about our message: the truth. The truth endures and does not change. We do not come up with new truth, we continue faithfully in the truth we have received, the commandment to love one another. 

Transcript

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Walter Cronkite. Walter lived at a time when there were only THREE TV channels to choose from! (ABC, NBC, and…. CBS!) 
 In 1962, when Walter was all grown up, he became the host of the CBS Evening News! 
 For nearly 20 years, Walter’s famous signature signoff was heard on televisions across the nation. He’d read the news, then say, “And that’s the way it is…”
 And people believed him!
 
 So, that’s not really a fairy tale… but it almost sounds like one, doesn’t it!?
 There was a time when people looked to news anchors as unbiased, as if they were reporting straight facts. Peopled generally believed that what was received from the reporter on the other side of the glass was true. 
 For those of us of in younger generations, it’s hard to imagine!
 From biased newscasters to corrupt politicians - who can we trust?
 
 We wonder, is there anything true, lasting, or trustworthy in this life? 
 Where would I even look for such a truth?
 Some say, “Look inside yourself! Follow your heart. Trust your gut!”
 Others say, “Look side-to-side for truth. Pay attention to cultural trends and norms!”
 
 But friends, truth isn’t found in your feelings or your feed — it’s found in the Father. 
 That’s what we’re reminded of in our text today.
 
 Today, we turn to the letter of 2nd John. This short letter, only 13 verses in total, is written to warn Christians of false teachers making truth claims, trying to pull the church off-center. So, John spends the first half of this brief letter reminding the church of the unchanging truth of the Gospel and our basic call to love one another. 
 
 Let’s PRAY à READ 2 John 1:1-6
 1 The elder, To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 
 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
 4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us. 
 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 
 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
 The Word of the Lord… Thanks be to God. 
 
 What we believe always informs what we do.
 So, then, it is critical that we believe the RIGHT things, isn’t it!
 
 How many of you have been out to the Royal Gorge? How many have walked across that huge bridge over the massive chasm?
 How many of you looked at the engineering blueprints before doing that??
 Yet somehow, you walked across, and with each step, you believed that the bridge would hold you up. You believed it wouldn’t suddenly come crashing down, sending you to the bottom of the Gorge.
 
 No… You based your belief on some evidence… 
 You knew that people have walked across it, day after day, for many years. 
 You maybe saw the suspension cables secured by concrete. 
 And still, it is only because you believed the bridge would hold you, that you confidently walked from one side to the other (admiring the state flags hanging on the side all along the way). 
 
 John begins his letter reminding us of the truth. Of right belief. 
 Again, he writes - 1 The elder, To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth— 2 because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:  3 Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.
 
 The Elder is John, the beloved disciple of Jesus, the same John whose voice comes through in the Gospel of John. He addresses his letter to “the elect lady.” That is, the “bride of Christ” (the church) and its members. 
 John is compelled by the truth to warn about false teachers and to remind the people of the unchanging, everlasting, enduring truth of God. 
 John calls the church to Right Belief. And, like those of us who are daring enough to walk or drive across bridges, John is basing this belief, this truth off evidence. 
 
 See, as a child, John heard the prophecies of the coming Messiah. He grew up praying for, longing for the one who would rescue Israel from Roman occupation. 
 John encountered Jesus of Nazareth after a long night of unfruitful fishing, and Jesus’s instruction led to a miraculous catch of fish which nearly sunk the boat!
 John saw Jesus die, raise to life, and ascend to the heavens. 
 He experienced the Holy Spirit guiding, leading, encouraging. 
 John witnessed the birth of the church, God’s hands and feet on earth. 
 He watched people die affirming the veracity of the Gospel.
 John has truth to proclaim.
 At its core, it’s the truth that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
 John stands confident in the TRUE STORY of the Gospel:
 That God created the heavens and the earth and made humans to care for creation and live in harmony, to walk with God.
 However, humanity rejected God and instead pursued their own glory. Humans chose independence and power over provision and love. In doing so, they unleashed sin, evil, and suffering into the good creation.
 And so, God quickly got to work restoring the relationship between humanity and creation and Himself, culminating in a grand act of self-sacrifice with Jesus bearing the consequence of sin once and for all on the cross.
 God then gave His Spirit to lead His Church in being His ambassadors in the world, joining in His reconciling work.
 ***That’s the part of the story that John is writing from, and in which we still live… 
 John carried the hope that one day all would be made new, that God’s kingdom would be fully established, and that all sin, suffering, and sorrow would finally and completely be extinguished and overcome.
 
 This is the Truth that John is compelled by, and, if you have surrendered your life to Jesus, this is the Truth that “lives in you and will be with you forever.” 
 And it matters that this is true! It matters that we know and believe the right things.
 Not so we can walk around with a sense of superiority, lording truth over people and looking down on those who don’t know the truth.
 No, John wants us to BELIEVE the RIGHT things so we can DO the RIGHT things and live out the full joy-filled life that God offers us.
 
 St. Augustine, one of the church fathers, spent years chasing fulfillment through pleasure and philosophy. When he finally believed the truth of the gospel he found lasting peace. He wrote, “our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Augustine’s right belief about grace led to a liberated, joyful life of faith and service.
 
 There is opposition to this in our culture. Let me describe three competitors. 
 1) One philosophy has been called “Secularism” or more classically “Nihilism”
 Secularism/Nihilism says, “There is no greater truth! This world is all that there is, there is no meaning or life beyond this world!” 
 This has also been called, “the age of despair” and we see it as trust has eroded in traditional institutions (churches, government, media, education) because they’re all seen as corrupt and built on obsolete truth claims.
 
 2) Another competing philosophy is Emotionally Expressive Individualism.
 Expressive Individualism says, “Truth comes from within me. Truth is defined by my inner feelings, my emotions, my desires. You and I may have different ‘truths’ bubbling up from within, but what’s important is that we are each ‘true to ourselves...’” 
 This is at play when people blend religious claims saying, “I’ve taken a bit of this from Buddhism, a bit of that from Christianity. This works for me, and I’m glad that Islam works for that person!”  Inconsistent.
 
 3) A third philosophy we might call Conformism, or Cultural Relativism. 
 This is what MS/HS students have always had to combat! It’s essentially peer pressure. But it’s also always a challenge for adults!
 Cultural Relativism says, “Truth is determined by what society approves of at any given time. Truth comes from the crowd. We need to go with the flow, change with the times, be on the right side of history. We need to make sure we don’t get left behind with outdated ideas.”
 This is seen when what was “wrong” last decade is now celebrated as “progress,” simply because the crowd applauds it.
 It’s seen in politics when leaders shape their convictions around polls instead of principles.
 
 As we consider these competing philosophies, we need to ask, “What is the fruit of each of these ideas? What do these ways of viewing the world lead to?”
 
 Nihilism (no truth) leads to despair, cynicism, and emptiness. If nothing matters, why care about anything? What’s the point of living? This is at the heart of some of the political violence we’ve seen recently and, also, in the rise in depression and suicide rates. 
 
 Expressive Individualism (my truth) leads to isolation, exhaustion, and chaos. 
 Agreement/affirmation becomes a prerequisite for relationship with others. You’re constantly having to assess and perform your identity. Everyone is trying to follow their own truth-compass, and all of them seem to be pointing in different directions.
 This philosophy of emotionally expressive individualism is seen in many of the difficult conversations around sexuality in our culture. 
 
 Cultural Relativism (their truth) leads to ambiguity, constantly shifting tides, even complicity with evil. There is nothing to stand firm on, there is nothing that lasts, and people are easily influenced or swayed. In its extreme form, we could look to the citizens of Nazi Germany and how they permitted the Jews to be treated… because society just kept moving that direction!
 
 So, we then need to ask, “What is the fruit of God’s truth? What is the fruit of the Gospel?”
 John says “Grace, mercy, peace, and love (v.3)”
 Jesus says “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31b-32)
 Holding Fast to Jesus’s commands… Holding to God’s truth…
 Believing and living the TRUE STORY of the Gospel… leads us to freedom. 
 
 Modern society rejects this. It says, “to be free is to be without restraint. To be free is to have every option available to you.” We talked about this during our “Freedom” series a few years ago.
 But freedom is not absence of constraint. It’s about choosing the right constraints. 
 
 Pastor Tim Keller talks about this saying:
 “…think of a fish. Because a fish absorbs oxygen from water, not air, it is free only if it is restricted to water. If a fish is “freed” from the river and put out on the grass to explore, its freedom to move and soon even live is destroyed. The fish is not more free, but less free… The same is true with airplanes and birds. If they violate the laws of aerodynamics, they will crash into the ground. But if they follow them, they will ascend and soar… “Freedom is not so much the absence of restrictions as finding the right ones, those that fit with the realities of our own nature and those of the world.” (- Tim Keller)  
 John writes his letter because he wants us thriving in the truth! He wants us joyfully walking in truth! He’s not trying to narrow our lives, narrow our experience of the world by calling us to Right Belief. He’s inviting us to Freedom! To a life of love and joy! 
 
 John affirms this saying, 4 It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.  John sees people who are truly disciples of Christ. They are holding to Christ’s teaching, living out God’s truth, and he is filled with Joy!
 In order to walk in truth, we need to know the truth. We need to know how to discern what is true, and what is not. John is very concerned that we do not fall into falsehood.
 Pastor Mateen is going to talk more about that next Sunday, so make sure you’re here!
 
 When we know the truth, when we walk in the truth, we walk in love… John says, 5 And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
 It was maybe 50 years earlier that John had sat in an upper room. 
 Jesus, whom he had come to know as the promised messiah, the foretold of King… This Jesus humbly knelt before John to wash his feet. After getting up, he spoke of an impending betrayal and his coming death.
 In this intimate and solemn moment, Jesus says, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (John 13:34)
 
 But what does it mean to “love one another?” This is a challenging question in our society. 
 Is love about being nice? Does love mean affirming everything a person believes or desires? Does it mean biting our tongue when we see a beloved friend running against truth?
 Many of you know the challenge of trying to love someone (a child, a sibling) well as they engage in self-destructive behavior. You (and others) see the dangerous or harmful track they are on and you long to help them move out of that place. 
 You know that love sometimes involves communicating challenging truths for the good of the other person. This is hard, and it’s part of loving someone well.
 
 I get to do a fair number of weddings, and the “Love” John calls us to is the same agape love that I talk about in wedding messages. 
 This kind of love involves action! It involves acts of commitment and selflessness. It involves respecting another person and waking up each day choosing to care about and care for them.
 That kind of love isn’t only for marriage, it’s for all Christians!
 
 Again, John tells us that the right beliefs lead us to the right actions.
 John tells us that Truth is not just a creed framed on a wall—it’s a way of life under Christ’s authority.
 This is where we struggle. We modern people can get behind the Truth that Christ died for our sins. We can say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty and in Jesus Christ his only son, Our Lord…” [I can affirm the Apostles Creed!]
 But then we ask, “Should I really believe/trust the Bible to teach me how to live?”
 I mean, can’t I just know the truth and have right beliefs about salvation, then continue to do what I want? 
 
 Friends, if truth is truth, it MUST inform our actions. God’s truth, the commands of the Lord, lead to the best, most full, most excellent lives we could ever desire. 
 Culture says, “There is no truth!” or “Find your truth!” or “Follow our truth!” 
 Jesus says, “I AM the Truth.” --- “I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
 
 Where we fail in our articulation of, memory of, understanding of, enacting of the truth, Jesus exists as embodied truth. When we turn to him, look to him, seek his correction (rod) and guidance (staff), and walk in his presence and love, we experience Truth. 
 In Jesus, we have truth to stand firm on. We have an everlasting/enduring truth that we can “Hold Fast” to. He is the truth and in Him alone we find a life worth living and a hope we can trust.
 
 Friends, our passage today focused on two things: Right Beliefs and Right Actions.
 So, as we end our time, I want to call you to two things:
 
 #1 – First, I challenge you today to get ever more acquainted with the Truth! 
 I’ve shared before that when federal agents are trained to spot counterfeit money, they are first inundated with genuine cash. They’re trained to become so familiar with the real thing, that it is easy to identify when something is off.
 That’s how you need to approach the Truth, and you train in this by engaging with scripture. 
 We’ve got Bible Studies, Life Groups, workshops, other resources… We long to help you learn to read and grasp the truth! Let us walk with you!
 
 #2 – Second, I challenge you to practice, as John says, “Walking in truth.” 
 The world will keep changing its truth.
 But you, beloved child of God, are called to walk in the truth that never changes,
 to walk in obedience to His commands, 
 to keep walking in the love that never fails, until the day that you see Truth himself face to face.