Faithful: Truth & Lies

 The evil one is known as diabolos, the divider, the deceiver. The devil attempts to divide the church through lies that wedge into the fellowship and split the church into factions. Lies are only given power by believing them. Some people inadvertently run themselves counter to Jesus, anti-Christ, by believing and sharing lies. Our primary act of spiritual warfare is telling the truth, teaching the truth, and believing the truth. 

Transcript

Long ago, when the earth’s crust was still cooling, I was not quite a teenager. It was the late 1960s, and American culture was in a time of great upheaval – societal, spiritual, political. We were gripped by the Cold War with the Soviets, an unpopular war in Viet Nam, the Civil Rights movement, the rise of feminism, hippies and flower power. Rebellion against authority was in the air, drug experimentation was rife with Timothy Leary famously urging the younger generation to “Turn on, tune in and drop out.” Secularism was on the march, as evident in this then scandalous Time Magazine cover of April 8, 1966 – Is God Dead? (which elicited more letters to the editor than any cover before or since).  

In the midst of all this confusion and clashing of values, many young people were hungry for direction, yearning, grasping after truth. Though I lived in Saudi Arabia, I too felt this shaking of Western culture, and at age 14 found two profound questions building in my soul: 1) Was there someone or something at the center of the universe (some Truth with a capital T) that I had to respond to with my life? And 2) Is it really possible to love others unconditionally, without any strings attached, and if so, how do I discover its secret?  

In December, 1967 a pop song was released and started to climb the charts. It was sung by this man, Ed Ames, an entertainer and actor – perhaps best known for his role as Mingo, the Oxford-educated, Cherokee Indian who became a sidekick to Daniel Boone in the then popular TV series. The song sung by Ed Ames was titled, “Who Will Answer?, and when I first heard the lyrics, they haunted me, because they captured the anguish of that decade so powerfully, dealing with broken relationships, death on the battlefield, suicide and the perverse encouragement of some who cheer it on, the debilitating prison of drug addiction, and the omnipresent threat of nuclear destruction.  

I think they still capture the spirit of our age: 

From the canyons of the mind, we wander on and stumble blind 

Through the often tangled maze of starless nights and sunless days 

While asking for some kind of clue or road to lead us to the truth. 

But who will answer? 

Side by side two people stand, together vowing hand in hand 

That love’s embedded in their hearts. But soon an empty feeling starts 

To overwhelm their hollow lives, and when they seek the hows and whys, 

Who will answer? 

On a strange and distant hill, a young man’s lying very still 

His arms will never hold his child, because a bullet running wild, 

Has struck him down, and now we cry, Dear God, O why, O why? 

But who will answer? 

High upon a lonely ledge, a figure teeters near the edge 

And jeering crowds collect below to egg him on with “Go, man, go!” 

But who will ask what led him to his private day of doom, 

And who will answer? 

If the soul is darkened by a fear it cannot name,  

If the mind is baffled when the rules don’t fit the game,  

Who will answer? Who will answer? Who will answer? 

In the rooms with darkened shades, the scent of sandalwood pervades 

The colored thoughts in muddled heads reclining in the rumpled beds  

Of unmade dreams that can’t come truth. And when we ask what we should do, 

Who, who, will answer? 

‘Neath the spreading mushroom tree, the world revolves in apathy, 

As overhead a row of specks roars on, drowned out by discotheques. 

And if a secret button’s pressed because one man has been outguessed, 

Who will answer? 

Is our hope in walnut shells worn round the neck with temple bells, 

Or deep within some cloistered walls where hooded figures pray in halls, 

Or crumbled books on dusty shelves, or in our stars or in ourselves, 

Who will answer? 

If the soul is darkened by a fear it cannot name, 

If the mind is baffled when the rules don’t fit the game, 

Who will answer? Who will answer? Who will answer? 

The cry of the human heart is find the truth that will make sense of a world in chaos and despair. How do we discover such truth? We need the power to discern truth from falsehood. But our first problem is that though truth may be “out there”, the fog and darkness in our souls makes truth difficult to spot and embrace. But the lyrics of this song suggest a fascinating insight. The question being posed is not “What’s the answer?” but “Who will answer?” Who holds the answer to the meaning and purpose of life? 

In Revelation 5:1-5 we find a passage where a similar question is being posed, and the same anguish wells up when no one in all creation is found worthy to answer why things are the way they are and whether there is any good purpose in the future. But then, the scene dramatically shifts: 

Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. 2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” 

Who can make sense of the world and where we’re headed? The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who turns out to be as well the Lamb who was slain, about whom all the redeemed sing a new song: 

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
people from every tribe and language and people and nation;
10 you have made them a kingdom and priests serving our God, 
 and they will reign on earth.” 

Then all the host of heaven, millions upon millions, thunder forth their adoration and praise: Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! And they bow down and worship the Lamb, who of course turns out to be none other than Jesus. 

He is the only one able to answer our heart’s cry. But we are slow to recognize Him, in part because our Truth sensor is so faulty. But there is an equally problematic barrier to our finding the Truth. Our passage in 2 John highlights this issue. There are many deceivers sent out in the world to mislead those seeking the truth. Behind them, whether they know it or not, is a malevolent supernatural being, whose rage against God is so all-consuming that he seeks to destroy everything that brings God joy – and high upon that list is the human race, those He created in His image and likeness, the apple of His eye.  

We swim in a world of lies and deceptions meant to take our eyes off of the soul’s True Enchanter.   Every day we are bombarded with false beliefs meant to sidetrack or even sideline us.  

Recently I went to get a haircut. Kim is a delightful 33 year old gal from a small town in WI. I asked her, “What is the biggest lie you used to believe, but now know isn’t true?” She said, “I used to believe that people were all kind, because the town I grew up in was so small that everyone knew everyone else. But then I moved to Col Spgs, and discovered that there are some mean people in the world. 

I tried the question out on some others as well. Sarah is a downtown waitress in her 20s. She said, “I believed that having as many virtual friends as possible would make me happy. I discovered it’s much more important to have a few real, deep friendships.” 

Ford is a waiter in his 40s. His answer came quick, “The lie I believed was that government was here to help.”  

About a month ago, I went for a dental check-up. Rachel is my dental hygienist. Her answer: that people and things could satisfy my heart.  

Just four days ago, I met Remi, a young woman from northern India. She entertained my question with an immediate response. “My father always told me I was a princess, and I believed him. Then I moved on my own to the US, and discovered I had to work to make a living. It was a rude awakening.” 

Perhaps you’ve been thinking of your own answer to that question. There are so many falsehoods swirling about in the world around us. All of them, I submit, are the offspring of one grand lie. The first lie, the one swallowed by our first ancestors, Adam and Eve. When the Serpent questions Eve about God’s command not to eat from the tree of good and evil, she recounts that to disobey God will lead to her death. Then the Serpent replies,  

4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

The devil’s lie casts doubt in Eve’s mind about the goodness of God. God doesn’t really love you. His command is meant to hold you and Adam back from your full potential, but you can break free from His tyranny. Eat – and discover that you can becomes gods yourselves.  

That fundamental lie has led to the shipwreck of all subsequent human history: jealousy, greed, arrogance, bloodshed, misery, abuse, pollution, moral perversions, all in the name of trying in vain to find somewhere else the fullness of life we once experienced in communion with God.  

That first lie – that God doesn’t love us, just wants to enslave us for His own hidden ends, that we can be independent of God and find our own ultimate happiness – is Satan’s attempt to derail us. 

But the Gospel message is God’s reply to the Great Lie. The devil tells you that you don’t matter to God, that He doesn’t really love you, that your disobedience to God will enhance your life. God says, I love you so much that I stripped off my robes of divine glory and stepped off my throne for you; I stooped down to enter your world by clothing myself in flesh and living as one of you; I came to seek and save the lost; I came not to be served but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many. How much do I love you? I came to destroy the works of the devil. My broken body and blood poured out testify against the lies of the devil. 

But Satan is a master of deception and he has kept much of the world enthralled by continually spinning lies. Jesus warned about those who embrace the devil’s lies in John 8:44: 

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 

This passage always reminds me of a pastor who boarded a plane for a conference and happened to sit next to a trial attorney. They struck up a lively conversation about their respective work when the pastor asked the attorney about how he handled closing arguments before a jury. “I’ve always wondered,” he said, “when you’re in the midst of your closing, what do you do if you make a mistake?”  

“Well,” the attorney answered, “that depends. If it’s essential to the case, I always go back and correct it. But if it’s a minor error, I just let it pass.” 

Then the attorney said, “How about you? You speak every Sunday. How do you handle mistakes you make?” 

“Pretty much the same as you. As a matter of fact, just this last Sunday I was preaching on John 8 where Jesus speaks of the devil as the Father of all liars. I misspoke, however, and called the devil the Father of lawyers, but the mistake was so small I just let it pass.” 

My apologies to the legal profession. The point is that the lies of the devil pop up everywhere, and he is especially intent on misleading people about the true gospel. The apostle John warns his readers over deceivers in their midst who are denying the foundational truth of the Christian faith: the Incarnation – that God the Son left His glory in heaven and became a full human being. Not pretending to be human, not a hologram or virtual reality Jesus, not an apparition but a flesh and blood human being, all because of love. The key verse in our passage is v. 7: 

7 I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. 

The Greek word here for flesh is sarx. John doesn’t use soma, a perfectly good word meaning “body”, but a body may look human but not be human, but sarx means that pink stuff which is under the outer layer of human skin – the meat that covers our skeletons. He wants to emphasize the truth that the full extent of God’s love for us is shown in God actually becoming one of us so He could offer Himself as a ransom for sinners. God was not willing to “phone in” His love, or text His thoughts with warm emojis. The fullness of His saving love for humanity demanded His coming in human flesh. The deceivers or antichrists are all who try to preach a different Jesus who has no power to save lost souls. John says more about this in his first letter: 

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 

In the opening to his first letter, John is even more forceful about the full humanity of Jesus: 

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard…. 

He knows that followers of Christ are living in enemy territory, in the world where the devil holds sway (1 John 5:19): 

19 We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 

But he also knows that it will not always be so. Christ has called his Church to be the advance guard raiding the enemy’s territory and rescuing captives: 

Shining light into dark corners 

Bringing love where hate has reigned 

Speaking hope into despair 

Proclaiming truth where deception has closed eyes and ears 

Announcing the victory of God’s Kingdom over the tyranny of death 

Celebrating the triumph of the One who is Truth over all the lies of the evil one. 

So, ever-vigilant against the lies of the enemy, we lift up the true Jesus, who came in the flesh, and we say, in the words of Maltbie Babcock, a Presbyterian minister who penned these words in 1901: 

This is my Father’s world, O let me ne’er forget  

That though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. 

This is my Father’s world, the battle is not done. 

Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and earth and heaven be one. 

Amen.