The Importance of Truth

Father, we give you thanks and praise that you used ordinary people to have your word written,

and that your word is true. We confess before you, Father, that it can be very hard for us to

actually even want to know the truth, that we can prefer our self-deceptions, our delusions,

our fantasies, our quest for power and ego and dominance, that we can, Father, just prefer

ourselves to the truth. Father, we know that you know our hearts, and we know that you not only know

us perfectly, but you love us, even as you know us perfectly. And we ask that you would be very kind

to us this morning, and that you would pour out the Holy Spirit upon us with might and power and

deep conviction, so that your word would be able to come into our hearts, and that we would know the

truth and be formed by the truth, to love the truth and share the truth and speak the truth with love

and gentleness. And we ask this in the precious name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.

Please be seated.

So, I'm not doing this just to cause controversy, but I'm going to create some tension in the room right now.

Here's the tension. Imagine that you are watching me in a Starbucks or a Tim Hortons or a Bridgehead

or some other coffee place, and a young woman of color or a young First Nations person says something

about what's going on in our culture or something that's happened in history. And imagine for a moment

that I just put my finger up like this and said, I think you're wrong, and corrected the young woman of

color or the young First Nations woman. And then not only said, I think you're wrong, but began to tell her

why I think she's wrong. Now, that would cause a lot of tension for most Canadians, not all Canadians,

but for many Canadians. In fact, if I was to tell you that I was going to do a video, I'm obviously an old

white guy, and I was going to do a video on truth and reconciliation, or about some aspects of the

experience of African Americans in Canada. In fact, if I was to announce that I'd just done a video like

this and that I was going to be releasing it on Monday, there would be a lot of tension in the

congregation. And I would have a lot of people tell me I shouldn't do it.

The fact of the matter is that the gatekeepers of our culture

say that basically certain types of conversation are protected and are, in a sense, to use the

postmodern language, are privileged. And for an old white guy like me to say something to correct

certain types of classes of person would, in fact, be a great evil. In fact, there's the main theory,

which is taught in universities, critical theory, with all of its different offspring of critical

race theory, critical theory around gender and sexuality, very specifically says that guys like

me can't speak into certain types of issues. There was a very interesting columnist this week

who had a line in his column that when people no longer believe in the truth, all that's left

is fists, is fighting and punching and grasping for power.

Now, I say this because it's a bit of a, it creates some tension, and you can well imagine how much

tension you would feel if I said I was going to release a video or if you saw me talking.

Yet at the same time, we know that there's a lot of people in our culture who are very

uncomfortable with how many of the, there's things going on in our, things going on in our culture,

concerned to truth. It does seem as if, for a significant part of our culture, there no longer

is a concern for the truth. In a sense, critical theory has led to no longer being able to think

critically.

And to be woke, increasingly looks like you go to sleep, rather than being awakened.

It's very interesting if you have a conversation with non-Christians and they start to discover

that you don't necessarily agree with how our culture goes, and all of a sudden,

if they feel safe, they begin to talk, because we know how much we could be jumped on for just

considering some of these particular issues. So for those of you who I have not so offended

that if you're watching online, you've clicked the off button, and you're off to do something

else. And for those of you who still might be steaming, but are at least willing to listen,

but for others of us who acknowledge that there's some wisdom from this fellow saying that when you

no longer believe in truth, all that's left is fists. It's all that's left. Very Nietzschean thought.

The Bible, believe it or not, the text that we looked at today has a lot of profound wisdom to

offer our culture and for us as a congregation. So if you were turning your Bibles to 2 Timothy chapter

2 Timothy 2:14

2 verses 14 and following, we're going to look at this very, very old letter. 2 Timothy chapter 2

2 Timothy 2:14

verses 14 and following. And very interesting enough, as I've shared in each of the last two

weeks when we've looked at it, if you're a guest here, one of the things we do at Church of the

Messiah is we preach through books of the Bible. That's how they're written. They're written as

books. The Bible isn't a compendium of quotes. It has a few things like the book of Proverbs that

have just sayings, but generally speaking, they're written as books. They have a beginning,

they have an end, a middle, etc., and it's best to look at them that way. And this actually was

originally a letter written from jail, a guy doing hard time in Rome during the height of the Roman

Empire, maybe the biggest time of the Roman Empire, close to it, if not the absolute pinnacle of the

Roman Empire. Nero is the emperor, and this particular fellow is in jail. And interestingly enough, he's in

jail because of the truth. He's in jail because he believes something happened, actually really happened

in history. And all the smart people and the powerful people and the popular people don't want that to be true.

But he keeps saying it actually happened, and so as a result of that, he now finds himself in jail doing hard time.

And as I've shared before, at the end of the book, he reveals that he believes that he's only going to walk out of

jail, this time to go to his execution, which is in fact what happened to him. And here's, now we're sort of

coming up to the, I guess we've been, we've been, this is our third look at it. Let's look and see what he says here.

So remind them, verse 14, remind them of these things and charge them before God not to quarrel

about words, which does no good but only ruins the hearers.

Now, some of you watching this are hearing this, okay, George, this is just really, really, really puzzling.

I mean, as soon as he says irreverent babble, as soon as he says ungodliness, a good grief, George,

he's talking about religion and spirituality.

George, how can a text talking about religion and spirituality possibly be helpful to our particular issue?

Don't you understand all the fights that come because of religion and spirituality?

Aren't you aware of the terrible history of Christians fighting each other over words?

And George, I mean, and why just the Christian faith? Like, don't, can't you just see that this is, like, what?

Like, some people go look at this, what, George, this, whatever you said about the beginning,

I am interested to try to figure out how you can have a concern for the truth and hear some wisdom about it.

But going to something like this, like talking about ungodliness, good grief, George,

that's not possibly going to be something that's going to lead us to anything profitable.

Now, I'm going to have to confess that Christians have often, in fact, it's interestingly enough,

you can't, in a sense, out-critique the Bible on this because what is the Bible actually warning you against?

It's warning about Christians fighting over words.

In other words, what you can say is that there's been a long history of Christians being hypocrites.

They don't read their Bible.

They don't read their Bible and understand that, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

you guys are getting into a huge fight over, whoa, whoa, whoa, time out, time out.

Let's read 2 Timothy 2, verses 14 to 16.

2 Timothy 2:14–16

Let's take a chill pill and let's have a bit of a, you know, cool down about this.

So, I mean, in a sense, he's writing this because God knows our hearts,

how easy it is for us to forget this and to get into big fights over words, right?

So that's actually, you know, so have there been lots of Christians who've been very bad in the past?

Yes.

Am I a bad Christian many, many times in my life?

Yes, by the way.

I'm not up here trying to point the finger at the other Christians out there.

If I do that, I have three fingers pointing back at me.

But here's the big claim that's underneath this text,

which is a very, very shocking thing for our culture.

To become a Christian is to take the red pill.

To become a Christian.

This is the Christian message.

Some of you have heard me share a line by Spurgeon that Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

And I've been thinking this week that maybe we could reformulate that and say Christianity is one beggar telling another beggar where to get the red pill and urging them to take it.

Now, those of you who aren't familiar with the language, it goes back to The Matrix, a sort of a culturally formative movie that was made about 20 some odd years ago.

And in that, this fellow Neo is given a choice.

He's given a red pill.

The person holds his hand out and gives a red pill and a blue pill.

And if he chooses the blue pill, then everything will just go back to normal.

But what we, the viewer, understand as normal is that he's actually not living the life he thinks he lives.

He's actually just in a vat being used as a battery to give energy to machines.

And he can either take the blue pill and just go back to a life of pleasant illusion and delusion, or he can take the red pill and he will be freed from that delusion and illusion and has to live with the weight of understanding what the world is really like.

And I understand that for most people in our culture, religion is just part of values.

It's part of like a hobby.

It's a type of therapy.

It's something that is understood just to make you feel more comfortable.

And if religion and all is just something to make you feel more comfortable, a type of therapy, something you just happen to like or enjoy, maybe for historic or family reasons, then to argue about the truth or falsity of it is just completely and utterly ridiculous.

It would be like, I don't know, arguing whether crocheting is better or a needlepoint.

It would be like arguing whether you should make pierogies as a family or cabbage rolls.

Like to get into a big fight over that is just a sign of immaturity and untamed egos.

And so for a lot of people in our culture to think that Christians would get into an argument about things is just like that.

It's an argument over whether you make pierogies or cabbage rolls.

But actually, the fact of the matter is, is that Christianity believes that when you receive the gospel, the offer of part of the offer of the gospel is that will you take the red pill?

That, in fact, Christians believe that if you accept the gospel and begin to be formed by the gospel and the word of God, that that's actually taking the red pill, that you will begin to understand that the world is very different than you think.

That, in fact, there is a devil.

That there is a last judgment.

That there are demons.

That there are angels.

That there is, in fact, revealed truth from God.

That, in fact, it's not just that every view of God is correct, but that the real God, the true God, is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Three persons, one God.

That there is a Savior.

That there is something about the human condition that can't be fixed by the human condition.

And that part of the journey of being a Christian, of the quest of being a Christian, is to begin to be formed more and more and more about the truth so that you can see and understand the world as it really is.

This is, in fact, the claim of the Christian faith.

But some of you might push back and say, okay, George, good grief.

How on earth could you possibly know that, George?

You can get up on your hind legs and make such a claim.

Well, interestingly enough, Jesus, there's a very famous story in one of, in three, I think it takes place in three of the ancient biographies of Jesus.

Ancient biographies, either written by eyewitnesses or written based on eyewitness testimony.

When many, many, many, many, many eyewitnesses were still around and could say, no, no, that's wrong, that's wrong, we need to fix this or whatever.

And in three of these ancient biographies, there's a very, very powerful story.

And it's a story, some of you here will know it, where Jesus is teaching and he's in a room and some fellows have a friend who's paralyzed and they want to see if they can get Jesus to maybe heal them.

But people won't get out of the way, they can't get in.

And so they go up, they knock a hole in the roof, which is pretty rude.

Hopefully they're all carpenters and could fix it later or whatever, however you could fix roofs back in those days.

They never tell you that part of the story, but I'm sure something like that happened.

And they drop the guy and they have ropes or whatever, they lower the guy in.

And obviously they want Jesus to heal this guy.

And Jesus makes this very, very, very shocking claim.

He says, son, your sins are forgiven.

Now, people back, you know, we are such, Canadians in 2021, we are such chronological snobs.

We think that just because back then they didn't have TikTok or flush toilets that they were stupid.

There's a very good argument to be made that using TikTok makes you stupid, by the way.

Or Instagram or Facebook might lower your IQ.

And that maybe a time before that they were actually smarter.

But those people back then, they weren't dumb.

They said the exact same thing a group of Canadians would say.

If it was Tim Hortons, all of a sudden the roof came down and Jesus was there and they asked Jesus to heal the guy.

And Jesus said, son, your sins are forgiven.

All of them said, who can forgive sins but God alone?

Talk is cheap.

You know, Jesus can say whatever he wants.

But they're smart people.

They say, well, that's just a ridiculous thing to say.

So what does Jesus say to them?

Jesus says to them, well, listen, what is easier for me to say?

Son, rise up and be healed?

Or son, your sins are forgiven?

What's easier?

Well, of course, you can't just have somebody just perform a miracle.

All of a sudden, a man like Jesus just says something.

And what goes on inside the body is that if there's like nerve endings or whatever that have been broken or blocked,

or there's a blockage that those in a sense are removed,

that if there's things that aren't connected, that there's an act of creation that will join nerves,

that the muscles that have atrophied will all of a sudden be firm enough that they could walk,

that this is like a mighty thing.

If I just speak that and all of a sudden these acts of creation and negation that create health,

if that just comes, that's impossible.

And so Jesus says to show that I have the authority to forgive sins,

the implication is I'm going to heal this guy,

but he says to show that I have the authority to do this,

son, rise up and walk.

And three of the ancient biographies say that that's exactly what happened to the young man.

You see, the fact of the matter is,

is that in the history of religion and spirituality,

all sorts of claims are made.

But the fact of the matter is,

is that when you just respond to me that, George,

to make this claim that to become a Christian is to receive the red pill,

that's just you talking.

That's because you're used to the fact that,

generally speaking,

religions and spiritualities don't provide any evidence.

They just make claims.

But that's one of the reasons why out of all of the religions and the spiritualities that exist in the world,

the historic and great ones that bespoke and chosen ones of the day,

that what is completely and utterly unique about Christianity is not only that,

like, gospel doesn't mean good rituals, good morals, good advice.

It means good news.

And the good news is that God has actually done something in history in such a way

that you can examine it and see whether or not it's possible to be true.

Because, you see, that's exactly the claim that's made by Jesus.

And it's very, very interesting that in the context,

in the context of profoundly wise writings,

and profoundly wise writings that is out of the writings of what we call the Old Testament,

our Jewish friends call the Tanakh.

I was just talking to a Jewish friend the other day,

and once again we had that very, very same little dance.

I refer to it as the Tanakh,

and he referred to it as the Old Testament,

and I joke that that's like,

that's what you do if you want to be friends.

I use the Jewish term,

and he uses the Christian term,

and we're both talking about the same book.

But, you know,

but it's out of these writings that human rights have developed.

It's out of these writings that are notions of,

the best notions of justice have developed.

It's in fact out of these writings that the notion that powerless people see things about the powerful,

that the powerful don't understand about themselves,

that comes out of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

I mean, that's the grounding that I have to be careful challenging a young Aboriginal woman,

or a young woman of color about what she said.

Because the fact of the matter is,

it's a constant theme of the Bible,

that the powerless often see things in the world about the powerful,

and about the world that the powerful just don't see,

because it's very easy for the powerful to become blinded by power and pride.

That is a biblical idea.

It wasn't invented by French intellectuals in the late part of the 1900s.

It's in the book of Ecclesiastes.

It's in the Psalms.

It's in the Proverbs.

And it's in the context of these profound writings of psychological depth

that have done much good in the world.

It's in the context of this overriding narrative

of creation that's good and of fall,

and that explains the presence of good and evil in the world,

and our divided nature.

It's in the context of this overarching story

of God promising that someday He would send a deliverer

to do what human beings cannot do for themselves.

It's in this context of this overarching story,

of this profound wisdom,

that Jesus comes and walks amongst us and says,

the Romans are going to crucify me,

and I am going to die,

and on the third day I'm going to rise from the dead.

And you're going to know it's true.

And that's what happened.

That's a claim about history.

It's a claim about history

because we would have to say,

good grief, remember the story about the man healed by paralyzed?

Well, if something like that happens,

then maybe he can forgive sins.

That's a very reasonable thing to believe.

But you see, if that's true,

and if, in fact, Jesus really did die and rise from the dead,

if Jesus...

Oh, have I just lost...

I've never turned my mic on?

I've never turned my mic on.

Let's just take it off.

It's irritating.

If Jesus really died from the dead,

died from the dead,

rose from the dead,

if He really did this,

if there's things like miracles that have happened,

it means that the way the Globe and Mail and the CBC talk about the world is not true.

And that maybe to know and hear the good news of the Gospel

and to receive it and accept it

is to take the red pill

and to begin to be led by Jesus

into what the world is really like.

in a world where there is science,

a world where there is truth,

a world where truth should be valued,

and that we should basically try to understand

that using fists to solve issues of truth

is never going to lead to the truth.

The way you come to a leading of the truth

is a moral quest

that the living God,

the true and living God,

desires for you to embark in,

to know the truth,

and to be formed by it.

See, the fact of the matter is,

and this is,

the way the sermon is structured,

I really want to talk a lot about this.

I might just read the rest of the text very quickly

to draw out a couple of points,

but here's the big idea behind this.

Not only is it that Christians understand

that to become a Christian

is to take the red pill,

and it's a red pill

that isn't just to lead you into a...

Here's the other thing.

I think it's going to be on the screen.

The Lord created and launched

a movement of truth and love

that builds communities of truth and love

for the glory of God and the good of people.

See, that's what's sort of behind this text.

It's behind the entire New Testament.

It's behind what our Jewish friends call the Tanakh

and what we call the Old Testament.

The Lord created and launched

a movement of truth and love,

not just of love and not just of truth,

but of truth and love

that is to build...

It does build communities of truth and love

for the glory of God and the good of people.

That's what the Lord's doing.

That's the context behind this advice that he says,

don't quarrel about words,

don't pay attention to irreverent babble,

learn to handle the word of truth.

Learn to handle the word of truth.

You see, because since the truth matters,

words and how you use them matter.

And since the truth matters,

words and how you use them matter.

And if I was to add another thing,

I'd say since people matter,

words and how you use them matter.

Because we all know that we can use the truth

in a cruel and heartless way.

We can use the truth to beat people up,

to belittle them, to diminish them,

to rob them of hope, to make them ashamed.

And I bet every single one of us here in the room

could tell you a story

of how a person has used the truth

in a way against them

which has been brutal, heartless, vicious.

But on the other hand,

we also know people who,

out of a mistaken notion of love,

will not speak the truth.

I remember many, many, many years ago,

there was somebody who told me

they thought that they were called

to the ordained ministry.

And I hate conversations like this.

I'm very Canadian.

Eh?

Yeah, I'm very Canadian.

And so I, you know,

Canadians always prefer passive aggressiveness

over just, you know, being direct.

And so anyway, I said to them,

I didn't think God was calling them

to be ordained.

They were upset with me.

And then they told me

two or three other people in the church

who all thought they were called

to be ordained.

And then a week later,

one of the other,

a couple of the other people

came up to me and said,

I hear that you told Bob

that you didn't think

he was called to be ordained.

And he's really mad.

And I said, yeah.

And they said to me,

we don't think he's called

to be ordained either,

but we didn't want to hurt his feelings.

And we're really glad you told them.

Now, whether I told it

in a gentle way or not,

I don't know.

I'll find out maybe I was too harsh,

you know,

with a particular person.

But we understand

that since the truth matters

and since people matters,

words and how you use them matter.

And see, once again,

if you understand

that the Christian faith

is trying to communicate

about what the real world

is really like,

like,

I'm very simple-minded.

At the beginning of the service,

at the beginning of the sermon,

when I say to you

that ultimately

God caused the scriptures

to be read,

like,

I actually think

that's what happened.

I'm very simple-minded.

I think that's what

actually happened.

And when I pray

that God would pour out

the Holy Spirit upon us,

I actually believe

I'm talking to my Father

in heaven

and that Jesus

is interceding for me.

And I actually believe

when I talk to God,

I ask him to pour out

the Holy Spirit,

that he will,

because that's something

he asks us to pray for,

that he will do

what I've asked,

what we've asked him for,

and that he actually does

pour the Holy Spirit

out upon those of us

in the room.

I actually believe

that's what's happening.

And I don't just say this

because I'm weird,

although many of you

now maybe think I'm weird.

I do this because

I believe that Jesus

really did rise from the dead,

that the tomb was empty,

that they never found the body,

that he appeared alive

to many, many witnesses,

that the miracles he does

in the Bible

actually happened,

that you can't say

that Jesus was

a great moral teacher,

because if he,

the Bible very clearly shows

that Jesus claimed

to be God

and you can't claim

to be God

and be a great moral teacher,

he either knew

that he wasn't God

and therefore he was lying

and therefore he can't

be a great moral teacher,

or he actually,

he wasn't God,

but he thought he was,

and then he's insane.

He's like the,

he's like many of the mental

people who are off their meds

that we see wandering

around the streets

of Ottawa,

poor,

demented people

that need our mercy

and we should pray for them,

and that's Jesus.

Or he really did rise

from the dead

and the grave is empty,

and he did claim

to be God,

and he did claim

to come to save us,

and that means

he's the Lord.

And that the world

is different

than the way

Ottawa U

and the CBC

and the Supreme Court

of Canada

and Hollywood

and Bay Street

tell us.

And we need

to be part

of a community

of truth and love

to learn

how to love better

and love the truth better

and not live

by hatred

and not live

by fear

and not live

by lies.

And that is

what Jesus calls us to.

And you see,

this is why

when Paul says here

that you need to,

you know,

don't get into

quarrels

and infighting

and don't just

listen to irreverent babble

but learn to handle

the truth rightly

because if there

really is this news

that there is a God

that does exist

who loves you

and loves you so much

that he died upon

the cross for you

so that if you accept

what he's done for you,

God does in your life

what you can never

do for yourself.

He makes you

right with himself

and the Holy Spirit

actually lives in you

and you actually

at a spiritual level

become changed.

Your emotions

might not change

right away.

Your body might not

change right away.

Your finances

or any of these things

but at a spiritual level

who you are

at the level of your

of the depths

of who you are

that now actually

is completely

and utterly changed

as if you have

become born again.

If you were to hear,

if you were to get

an email tomorrow

saying that

dear sir,

dear madam,

we regret to inform you

that we've now done

an audit

and discovered

that the Pfizer

and Moderna vaccine

that was given to you

had been mishandled

and hadn't been kept

at the proper temperature

and so therefore

was completely

and utterly worthless

and we administered it

to you,

every single one of you

who received an email

like that

would feel sick

and angry.

Why?

Because they didn't

handle the drugs properly.

They didn't handle

the vaccines

properly

to your harm

and it's because

we're talking

of the real world

that the Bible

says what it says.

But some of you

might say,

George,

and this is a very,

very valid pushback,

you'd say,

George,

well how do you know

the difference

between quarreling

over words?

How do you know

the difference

between irreverent babble

and rightly handling

the word of truth?

Like, George,

how on earth

do you know that?

I mean, George,

you've been involved

in controversies,

I know you have

and so how do you know

when you're doing that

or what?

Like, what's going on,

George?

And if you have

that question,

that is the world's

best question

because, you see,

that's part of the point

of verses 14 to 16

because I have to come

to God and say,

God, is it I?

In this case,

is it me?

Like, which one

am I here, God?

I shouldn't come

to the text

arrogantly presuming

that I'm only

always rightly

handling the word

of truth,

that there's no ego

ever in me,

that I never want

to win an argument,

that's what other

people do,

that's not...

Time out, George.

Part of the point

of the mystery

of the text

is on one level

we all understand

the distinction

between this,

we all understand it.

What we don't

always understand

is which side

of the distinction

we were just on

three minutes ago.

And so this text,

you see,

I have to watch

the time,

this text is calling

for you and me

and us as a church

to constantly have

moments of moral

reflection about

our own lives.

Jesus warns us

about seeing specks

in other people's eyes

and not seeing

the log sticking

out of our own eyes.

The book of Psalms

warns us about

the problem we have

of flattering ourselves

too much to detect

or hate our own sin.

And so a text like this

is to call me,

not to say that

I'm never going to

try to actually

defend the truth.

It's not that I'm

never going to

actually try to

be careful with words,

but to always come out

of it and say,

okay,

you know,

Lord,

was I...

What was going on

there in my life?

Like,

was I just...

Did I cross a line

at some point

in there?

Was I doing something

to manipulate

the other person?

Was I doing something

to belittle

the other person?

Was I doing something

to shame them?

Was I just coming

on so heavy

that I...

Was I stopping...

Was I stopping listening?

Did I stop listening?

Did I just listen

to the first three words

they said

and then close my ears

as I formulated

my rebuttal?

Have I walked away

thinking how proud

and wonderful I was

with my cutting word,

my telling word,

that I got you word?

Is that what went on

in me?

Lord,

did I just leave

that conversation

as a bully?

As an arrogant person?

You see,

here's where the gospel

is very important.

The word Christian

doesn't mean good.

The word Christian

means a follower of Jesus.

Why do I need

to be a follower of Jesus?

Because I do wrong things

and I can't fix myself.

I need a savior.

And that's part of the profound

and wonderful news

of the gospel.

Is that Jesus

doesn't weigh my merits.

He doesn't say,

oh gosh,

George is so brilliant.

He's so articulate.

He's so winsome.

He's always gentle.

I'm going to bring him

into my kingdom

because boy,

is he ever going to add value.

No,

that's not how the gospel works.

I was a person

completely and utterly

caught in self-deception

and I needed the Holy Spirit

to pierce the darkness

and blindness of my mind

and bring the red pill

into the center of who I am

and I need the grace of God

to take my anger,

my pride,

my vanity,

to pierce all of that

and bring me that red pill

of the gospel

that I would know

my savior

who saves me

and saves you

not weighing my merits

but pardoning my offenses,

who saves the angry,

who saves the timid,

who saves the proud,

who saves the weak,

who saves the person

who has no backbone

and the one

who's just completely

and utterly encased

in armor,

who saves the indigenous

in the First Nations

and the black,

the people from the Caribbean

and Africa

and Singapore

and China

and the Middle East

and Afghanistan

and Canada

not weighing our merits

but we need a savior,

I need a savior,

you need a savior.

There is a savior.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

You see,

this tells us

another important thing

is to know the truth

about God,

the world

and yourself

is a moral quest.

To know the truth

about God,

the world

and yourself

is a moral quest.

It's not just

an intellectual quest,

it's a moral quest

to believe

that there is

a way of solving

difficulties

that doesn't involve fists,

that there is a truth

that does exist,

that you can have

a conversation,

that you can listen,

that you can hopefully

enter into in a way

which is gentle

and respectful

of the other person

and that you can

pursue the truth,

that you as Christians,

because we have

a father in heaven,

that we can pray

that people who

disagree with us,

that they will come

to know the truth,

that we can pray

that if we are blinded

about this particular issue,

if my privilege

or my skin color

or my power

has blinded me

to privilege,

that Lord,

have mercy upon me

and deliver me

from my blindness

that I might know

the truth,

that I might be

humbled by truth,

mastered by truth

in a way

which is always

loving of you

and loving of your creation

and loving of other people.

Lord,

have mercy upon me,

have mercy upon us.

May we be a community

of truth and love

for the glory of God

and for the good of people.

Just,

it's the time I just,

let's just read

the rest of the text

so you hear it.

Verse 17,

or verse 16,

but avoid irreverent babble

for it will lead people

into more and more

ungodliness

and their talk

will spread

like gandrine.

Among them

are Hymenaeus

and Philetus

who have swerved

from the truth

saying that the resurrection

has already happened.

They are upsetting

the faith of some.

What's probably

going on there

is if this idea

that somehow or another

I've just,

whoa,

I'm resurrected.

I'm already living

in the heavenlies.

Well,

what my body does

doesn't matter

and how can you say

that I lied,

that I,

like,

it's a way to actually,

it's a way to make you

sound religious

and spiritual

while it pardons

the crap

and the lies

and the anger

and the violence

and the evil you do.

That matters.

That matters.

And then it goes on

and says in verse 19,

but God's firm foundation

stands bearing this seal.

The Lord knows

those who are his.

You know what,

I don't have the time.

I shouldn't say that.

Go back in your devotions

and read the rest

of this text.

But here's the point

about the text.

Since people,

and it's already been covered

in the stuff

that's going on,

you'll go back

and you'll see

that the fact

that the truth,

knowing the truth

is a moral quest,

it means you have

to flee certain things

and pursue certain things.

And pursuing things

like faithfulness to God

and being right with God

matter if you want

to know the truth

because it's too easy

for my pride

to make me hurt people

and for my pride

to no longer

want to know the truth.

It's too easy

for that to happen.

To know the truth

isn't just a matter

of the mind,

it's also a matter

of a moral quest.

And here's the thing,

since people matter

to God,

people should matter

to you.

Therefore,

seek to win

the person for Christ,

not the argument

for your ego.

Since people matter

to God,

people should matter

to you.

Therefore,

seek to win

the person for Christ,

not the argument

for your ego.

And in the secular world,

if you're in the business world,

if you're in the scientific world,

if you're in the media world,

I mean,

to seek to win

the world for Christ,

you can't maybe

always try to win

them for Christ,

but you can win

for the good

of the culture,

the good of the people,

because the truth

is good for you.

Don't live by lies.

Don't live by hatred.

Let's be people of truth

and people of love.

Please stand.

I invite you to stand.

Father, we give you

thanks and praise

that you continue

to do this wonderful,

miraculous work.

You've done it,

Father,

for very powerful people

where you've pierced

the darkness

and brought the gospel

home to them.

You've done it for addicts

and you've done it

for alcoholics.

You've done it for housewives,

for soccer moms.

You've done it

for politicians.

You've done it

for working class people,

Father,

that you continue

to desire people

to know Jesus,

to know that he is

the way,

the truth,

and the life,

that he loves them,

that he is the Savior,

that he is the one

that can fit them

for heaven,

that to make them,

to begin to form them

to be a person

of the truth

and a person of love.

And Father,

we thank you

that Jesus is still

the Savior,

that you are still

bringing him to people.

And we ask,

Father,

for our loved ones

and our friends

who do not yet know Jesus,

that you would bring

Jesus home to them

and that they would

take the red pill

of the gospel.

And if there is anyone

here who is present

or watching this online,

Father,

that the Holy Spirit

would move in their lives,

that they would take

the red pill

of the gospel.

And Father,

we ask that the Holy Spirit

would so form us

by the gospel,

so form us

by your word,

that your Holy Spirit

should be so real

and active within us,

that not only that each one

of us as individuals

will be a person of love

and a person of the truth,

but that we,

a Church of the Messiah,

that we will be

a community,

Father,

of love,

a community of the truth

for your great glory

and for the good

of our city,

the good of our nation,

the good of our world.

And we ask this

in the name of Jesus

and all God's people said,

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.