Holy War: True

Hey, um, this morning's gonna be uh uh just a little bit different.

So I'm gonna need you to uh engage, like uh put your thinking caps on.

I know you're not allowed to wear hats in church, dom, but put your thinking caps on.

It's it's just gonna be a little bit different, warn you.

You're just hours away from getting to check out into mindless entertainment and to just eat your feelings and everything else.

But right now I want you to stay uh present.

Um and uh I'll work hard to move through what I feel like the Lord would have for us this morning.

Um we we're in a series, if you haven't been here in a bit, called Holy War.

Um and I I chose that title on purpose uh just to get a rise out of people.

Um we are not looking to fight with our neighbors over issues of truth.

We are personally fighting to live with a sense of reverence and awe.

That it can be uh really easy to take things for granted.

And uh we find that the Bible has a real high view of itself, of God, of life, of others, of a number of things.

And yet for us, it's real easy to take things for granted, real easy to slip into unbelief and skepticism and cynicism, and soon enough it's you know just another person and just another headline, just another death, just another day, that's just another person.

This is just a building, and we just study just another book, and that's just bread and juice, and things kind of lose the mat the magic, the the just kind of the awe, the mystery, the wonder of it all.

And so we're we're going after it uh together as a church.

Um again, we're not trying to equip you um to make a post on Facebook.

In fact, I would recommend not doing that, but we're trying to equip you to live with a sense of wonder and awe, thinking that'll rub off really well on your neighbors.

Um you believe what you say you believe, and I'm sure it'll have an impact on the people around you.

So we've just noticed in myself and in others just this tendency to drift.

Anybody else noticed?

Just you don't know how you got there?

You just look up and you're downstream and you don't know how you got there.

Uh I too have that tendency, and I never drift into good things.

I've never once drifted into anything good.

Uh rarely do I stop paying attention to what I'm eating and look down to find vegetables with no ranch, you know?

Like, that's not what happens.

I don't float into that.

I float into all kinds of other things that are usually covered in cheese.

So, anyway, in me and you is this tendency to drift, and we're gonna do some paddling, and we've been paddling, and we started by talking about the authority of scripture.

Um, then we we then we talked about the reliability of scripture.

Is it just another book?

Or is this in fact God's word to us?

The reason we started with the word of God before even talking about God Himself is because our understanding of God is sourced in Scripture.

So if we don't think that this is authoritative or trustworthy, it's where we get our ideas about God.

If we don't go to the Bible, I don't know exactly, I don't know where we're going.

We could go to a lot of different things.

We go to our circumstances to figure out who we think God is.

We could go to those who we think follow God.

We could look at their lives and read them and try to figure out who God is.

But basically, we wanted to say that our understanding of who God is, we we source that in Scripture.

And we think that the Bible has authority and that it's also reliable, that it's true and it's trustworthy.

So today I actually want to talk about the nature of truth.

Or what we're calling this morning is a high view of true.

And um, let me read this, and it serves as kind of a diving board for the rest of the sermon.

Uh Pilate entered his headquarters again, and he called Jesus and he said to him, Are you Are you the King of the Jews?

And Jesus answered, Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?

And Pilate answered, Am I Jew?

Your own nation, and the chief priests have delivered you over to me.

What have you done?

And Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world.

If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting that I might not be delivered over to the Jews, but my kingdom is not from the world.

And then Pilate said to him, So you're a king.

And Jesus answered, You say that I'm a king.

For this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I've come into the world to bear witness to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.

And then Pilate said to him, What is truth?

I wish, I wish that Pilate would have stuck around long enough to hear Jesus' answer to this question.

I don't know if Jesus would have answered the question.

Jesus usually answers questions with questions.

But I wish that Pilate would have stuck around.

Instead of just shrugging, smirking, scoffing, what is truth, and walking off.

I really wish that he would have stuck in and Jesus would have explained this.

The reason I wish that Jesus would have explained it and answered the question of what is truth is that I've got probably 30 hours into some philosophy books over the last couple weeks.

I remember being, I was like 250 pages into a book, and I had no idea what I had read up to that point.

I mean, have you guys ever engaged not in the content of truth, but the concept of truth, epistemology, or how we know?

Good Lord.

I wish that Pilate would have just stuck around.

I could have just said, Jesus, well, he said what is truth, and then Jesus answered it, and now we don't have to argue for 10,000 years over what is truth.

So this morning we're going to talk about what is truth, not the content of truth, but the concept of truth, the nature of truth.

In our day, we're engaged not in a battle over beliefs, but it's actually a battle about belief itself.

How do we know what we know?

What is true?

Is truth something you can grasp?

Is um is objective truth something that exists and is knowable?

So you probably know by now where this is headed.

Again, stick with me.

I do think this is meaningful for us as Christians.

Namely because we're called to know the truth.

We're called to speak the truth in love.

It says that we'll be sanctified by the truth.

Jesus, as we just read, said he came into the world to bear witness to the truth.

God desires truth in our guts, in the inward parts.

Truth is a big deal for us.

And there's quite a war going on, uh, not necessarily over the content of truth, but over the concept of truth.

So we're not going to be talking today about what is true.

We're going to be talking today about what is truth.

Does that make sense?

Let me let me give you an example.

I found myself envious of a of a controversy or a debate that was going on, turn of the century.

From 1900 to 1930, um American Protestants were engaged in a battle.

Historians call it the fundamentalist modernist controversy.

And it's something that still kind of plays itself out today.

But the issue then is the issue that we face today, which is the authority of scripture in light of modern scholarship.

This is not a new battle, this is not a new fight.

The battle for 30 years was over the authority of Scripture in light of modern sensibilities.

We know things, we know new things, so can we change those things?

Can we go around those things?

Can we avoid those things?

The modernists, also known as liberals, wanted to eliminate the supernatural sauce that was out of step with the times.

Anything that was out of step with the times, they wanted to get rid of.

So they wanted to keep the ethical teachings of Jesus.

They wanted to keep even the inspiration of Scripture that it was God breathed.

But teachings such as like virgin birth, you know, it's like we know how babies come, and that's probably not how it happened.

The deity of Jesus Christ, eh, not so much.

His resurrection, his second coming, these were chalked up as mythology.

And actually what they wanted to say in that debate is that they're inessential.

You don't have to believe these things in order to be a Christian.

There were some fundamentalists, and I know that word, nobody wants anything to do with that uh word.

Um, but Jay Gresham Meachin, he was a stud, and he argued famously against this, and he essentially acclaimed that a Christianity stripped of its supernatural elements was not just another version of Christianity, it was another religion altogether.

So there aren't just like, well, there's different takes on Christianity.

He said, no, that's not Christianity at all.

He contended that a Christian must affirm, must affirm a supernatural faith without sacrificing your God-given intellect.

A Christianity stripped of everything that offends smart people and nominal Christians is not Christianity at all.

That's not what Paul, that's not what Jesus taught, that did not teach a Christianity that fails to offend smart people or stir up nominal Christians.

They contended that the Bible, when properly interpreted, that's the big clause, the Bible, when properly interpreted, is the final authority.

And we're still living in this, still asking questions like can it be revised as clever people gain insights?

Can we do away with the parts that don't seem to sync up with our modern sensibilities?

The debate that I just talked about was primarily focused on what is true.

They didn't have to argue over the concept of truth because both groups, the modernists or the liberals and the fundamentalists, both held the same stance on truth.

It's called the correspondence view, that truth is that which corresponds with reality.

They were able to get in a really good fight because about the content of truth, because they agreed on the concept of truth.

Truth being that which corresponds with reality.

They also had a classical view of knowledge, the understanding of justified true belief.

That you believe a proposition, I'm speaking through a microphone.

That is the case, and that I have sufficient reason to believe that my voice is coming through a microphone.

They shared this understanding, and because of it, they got to get in a 30-year fight.

And I found myself kind of jealous.

So here were the modernists saying, virgin birth, that doesn't correspond with reality.

God is a man that doesn't correspond with reality.

And here were the fundamentalists saying, oh yeah, it actually does make sense.

If God is the creator of what we have and see, if he created the heavens and the earth, then it corresponds with reality that he could enable Mary to have a child.

That makes logical sense.

That if he created the heaven and if he enabled what we have, then he could enable what she had.

That makes sense to us.

So they got to get in really a good fight.

And today it's a little bit different because we don't share the same ideas on the nature of truth, the concept of truth.

It's changed.

Both those groups, the modernists and the fundamentalists, believed that objective truth existed and could be known, that you would get there through reason.

That was their big thing.

And that language was sufficient to describe it, that it was knowable and you could communicate truth.

They believed that, so they could fight over the content of truth.

Today we don't agree on the concept of truth.

And before we talk about the content of truth, we have to agree on the concept of truth.

We are experiencing today what Tebone Burnett described as truth decay.

This idea of an absolute truth is being lost on us.

And there are a lot of factors that go into that, but I just want to address where we're at.

I want to address what's true about truth today.

I then want to talk about the Bible's view of truth.

And then I want to talk about how to believe an absolute truth without being an absolute jerk because I think that's our real fear.

It's just like, be cool, dude.

Just be cool, okay?

Just don't do that, alright?

I don't think people really believe the truth is relative.

I just think they don't like their relatives who are just jerks about the truth, you know?

So I think the whole relative thing kind of breaks down, but I kind of understand the heartbeat of it, which is like, man.

Absolute truth claims have caused some carnage.

So disposing of them is not the answer.

Just because people have abused the truth doesn't mean we get to get rid of the truth.

I it would be awesome if we could.

I don't think we can get rid of the truth.

Gravity cares nothing about how you feel or your thoughts about it, you know.

Anyway.

So today.

Today many would believe, or they would say they believe.

I don't know that I've never met a real relativist.

Uh if you are like um a perspectivalist or you think the truth is relative, I'd love to tell tell me like why or fill me in, because the more people I talk to who say that truth is relative, um I don't think actually believe that is what I'm what I'm getting at.

So, but a lot of people would say, I guess I should say that truth is relative, that it's a matter of perspective and a matter of interpretation.

That what you see is based on where you sit, right?

You would hear people today, I'm trying to bring this to this to the street level.

I spent a lot of time in books where people were uninterested in bringing it to the street level.

But you know, you would hear people talk about my truth, my truth, or that's your truth, or our truth, or white truth, or black truth, but no one is talking about the truth, the truth, because we think that this is impossible to grasp.

We think that this can't be had.

So there's only now such categories as your truth or my truth, or the truth according to my beliefs.

In this idea that the truth is relative, your beliefs are synonymous with truth.

So what you really believe in your heart is what is really true.

The scriptures see a distinction between those things, and no matter how much you believe something, it may or may not correspond with reality or the facts.

But when truth is relative, there's no line, there's no distinction between beliefs that you hold and the truth.

The whole idea that truth is relative, you know, you would find it on the street level, it would sound like this.

What's true for you is not necessarily true for me.

There are as many meanings as there are readers.

And no reader is more justified in his or her interpretation than any other.

One philosopher famously said this: there are no facts, only interpretations.

That where we are at, truly, truly, I say unto you, verily, verily, where we are at and how we got there absolutely affects our view of truth.

Where we're at, where we sit, how we got there, our intelligence, our gender, where we were born, it absolutely affects our view of truth.

But let me be really clear, it does not determine the truth.

The truth still exists.

And I just the the problem with the idea of truth being relative is it we just don't live here.

And even as I read more about especially a moral relativism, the more I realized like these statements made, they kind of end up caving in on themselves.

They uh fall apart, they commit suicide.

Uh, the most famous one would be the statement that there is no absolute truth.

That is a statement of absolute truth, you know, or if truth is only a matter of perspective, then that's just your perspective.

And why would I take it as true?

It all kind of just collapses the more you put weight on it.

And then, you know, these are all like cheesy things that like a college professor would do, but if you asked a group if truth was relative and they said yes, it is, you could throw out true and false statements that would make them see very quickly that they actually believe in objective moral truth.

Statements such as true or false, torturing someone for fun is a really good thing.

Or true or false, torturing someone for fun is always wrong.

And they'd be able to say, yeah, absolutely, we're willing to say.

That and die there.

So, what I want you guys to understand is Christians aren't the only ones drawing lines of what's in and out.

Everybody's drawing lines concerning what's in and out.

If you've ever discovered that you were wrong about something, I don't actually think that you believe the truth is relative.

If you've ever said, I missed it, I missed it, it is a reference to objective truth.

That what you believed wasn't necessarily the truth, and you later found out that you were believing the wrong thing.

Because there was something that corresponded with reality better than what you believed.

And I feel tempted towards those things too.

But as I thought about how we got here, I started to feel some real compassion stir in my heart for just kind of the state that we're in.

And I think in many ways, we've come to the place of believing that truth is relative because of the tremendous exposure in our lives, globalization.

In a pre-modern time, it would have been much easier for birds of a feather to flock together.

In fact, you'd probably go your whole life without seeing a Buddhist church.

And now there's a Buddhist church right across the street.

And then if I start walking that way, I see a hundred other churches.

And then I can go that way and find the Catholic Church.

And if I walk far enough this way, I'll find the Mormon church.

And right next to the Mormon church is Grace Community Church.

And there's so much exposure that you find yourself going, well, they're doing some good things.

And heck, that guy seems alright.

And they're doing some good stuff.

I don't know how to filter this.

They must all be good.

And so I am going to adopt a worldview or a framework that lets everything work because we don't know how to discern or filter the amount of messages that are coming our way.

You would have lived your whole life a couple hundred years ago without meeting a Buddhist.

You would have lived your whole life.

And so now we're faced with this incredible exposure to people and to other beliefs.

And so what that does is it goes, huh, this must be a matter of preference.

This must be a Christianity must be a lifestyle choice.

And some people choose to go over there, and some people choose to go over there.

That must be what's going on.

So truth can be obtained.

Many people think that truth can be obtained, right?

I'm speaking through.

Let me make three truth claims.

You ready?

They're not different than each other.

I'm speaking through a microphone.

Democracy is better than socialism.

Jesus Christ is the risen Lord of the universe.

These are all claims to truth.

But they're different, right?

Some things can be observed, right?

And some people would say, yeah, truth can be obtained in those areas where we can observe the facts.

But don't talk about ethics, don't talk about God, don't talk about souls, don't talk about eternity, because that doesn't fit on the first floor of our house.

So sure, these things we can talk in terms of truth claims or absolute truth.

He's absolutely talking through a microphone.

But when it comes to a preference, democracy being better than socialism, I mean, some of you are like, that's not a preference at all.

I'll argue that right now.

But you understand that we end up having to argue these things in different ways, right?

I was with a group of pastors in Vermont.

One of the guys with us is from London.

Somebody at the table trying to engage the quiet guy from England says, What was the best rock band to come out of the UK?

And he says, I don't know.

There was so many.

And I said, I do know.

It's the Beatles.

I know.

And I'll argue right now.

Well, I don't know, Zeppelin, Floyd.

I mean, we went down the list and a fight broke out, you know?

But I I mean, I I know, I mean, I would, I don't know that I would die that night, but like I know that it's the Beatles, you know?

So we're arguing over this.

But it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, on the first floor of the house, sure, uh, truth can be obtained.

But when it comes to the second story, when talking about souls, things that we can't observe, well, let's chalk up to simply being a preference, a lifestyle, or a hobby.

Don't claim that that's truth.

That's just what you decide to do with your Sunday.

Listen to me.

Christianity is a claim on reality.

It's not a lifestyle, it's not a hobby, it's a claim on the reality of the way things are.

Jesus Christ is the risen Lord of the universe.

That is a claim.

That's a worldview, not just something you do on a Sunday.

That's a claim on truth.

So some people would be believe that truth is is relative.

And there's some truth in that.

Some people would say that truth is constructed.

This is a this is a big one right now, that it's it's socially constructed.

So it's not just you that made it up based on what you believe in your heart, but that communities at a certain time in a certain place determine what is true.

That truth is constructed inseparable from the needs of a certain people in a certain time and place, that the truth is made.

It's built by culture and it's actually built by language.

And if it's invented, if someone came up with the truth, then somebody please come up with a better one than the one we've got.

If it's invented, then reinvent it.

If we built it, then by all means remodel it.

If it's been constructed, then deconstruct it.

This is what this is what is behind the marriage debate.

If marriage between a man and a woman was just constructed, then we know new things and by all means reconstruct it.

But if marriage between a man and a woman is revelation, if it is a revelation from God, then it's a very different thing.

But that's what is again, this isn't just the content of truth.

This is again the concept of truth, not just a battle over what we believe, but a battle over belief itself and how we know.

The other um big thing today would be that truth is like pragmatic.

It's whatever works.

Whatever.

I mean, I can't think of a better word to just sum up where we're at.

I mean, let's be truth.

Let's be honest, like truth being relative is just straight up lazy.

You don't know how to filter all the messages, so you just come up with something that lets it all in.

Whatever, dude.

Whatever floats your boat, whatever wakes you up in the morning, man.

Hey, whatever you want to believe, knock yourself out.

Like, good for you.

I mean, I'm just glad you're into something.

Just be passionate.

Just have faith in faith.

That's all that matters.

Right?

And truth becomes like a means to an end to your happiness.

But again, this just kind of breaks down logically, doesn't it like let's say I'm unorganized, which is not true.

I'm super organized.

Let's say I'm messy, which is also not true, I'm not.

But let's just say I was, for the sake of a preaching illustration.

And I lost a thousand bucks, and I was like, that's it.

That is it.

I'm done with operating this way.

And change ensues, and I get organized and I get on top of my money, and I succeed, and I affect change, and it works.

The belief that because I lost a thousand dollars, some changes need to be made.

And then I find out two years later, after I've succeeded in business, that it was actually my roommate who stole a thousand bucks.

He stole the thousand bucks from me.

We then at that point don't go that losing the thousand dollars was true because it worked for me.

It had an effect on me, it changed me.

No, the claim that I lost a thousand dollars is now false, even though it worked.

Even though it changed me.

This this you need to hear or write down because it's a little Dr.

Seussy.

Things aren't true because they work.

Things are not true because they work, they work because they're true.

Christianity is not true because it works.

Well, worked for me.

He's not drinking or smoking, or you know, that's not the issue here.

It's not true because it works.

Christianity works because it's true, because it corresponds with reality, that which is, as opposed to that which is not.

So truth today is relative, uh, constructed, uh, pragmatic.

Can you recognize this?

I hope this isn't just me like throwing stones, because there could be another guy somewhere else doing the same thing with his church.

Relative, constructed, pragmatic.

What does the Bible teach concerning the concept of truth or the nature of truth?

The Hebrew word emet, which is at the root of a majority of words related to truth, involves the idea of support or stability.

That the truth is that which supports, that the truth is that which brings stability.

And from this flows the idea that truth is faithfulness and conformity to fact.

I want you to see just the significance of the truth on the Trinity.

That God the Father describes himself as the God of truth in Psalm 31, 5.

I love this passage from Isaiah where this is what God says.

I have not spoken in secret.

From somewhere in a land of darkness.

I have not said to Jacob's descendants, seek me in vain.

If I didn't think the truth could be known, I wouldn't ask you to pursue it.

This isn't some carrot dangled out in front of philosophers.

I have not said to Jacob's descendants, seek me in vain.

I, the Lord, speak the truth.

I declare what is right.

Jesus, we know, is described as being full of grace and then full truth.

I am the way, he says, and the truth and the life.

Truly, I tell you, a lot of sermons start that way.

I am telling you the truth about who God is and who I am.

And I want that to be very clear.

So clear that in Shakespearean fashion, I am going to start my sermons with truly, truly, I say to you.

In Revelation, Jesus is called the faithful and true witness.

And as we read earlier, he came to bear witness to the truth.

We get our Father facts from Jesus.

Facts about who God is.

The Holy Spirit is described as the Spirit of Truth.

It's said of the Holy Spirit that he would lead us into all truth.

Truth is a big deal to the Trinity.

Here are some uh biblical distinctives of the view of truth.

Truth is revealed by God.

It's not constructed or invented by individuals or communities.

Let me say this real quick because I know some of you are just kicking and screaming when I say this, but beliefs, again, what you believe may be the result of human invention, is probably the result of human invention, and group construction.

But truth comes from the disclosure of a moral and personal God.

Your beliefs may be the result of invention and the result of construction, but truth is revealed by God.

J.K.

Chesterton gets it right.

He's funny.

His quotes are good.

He captured this idea of divine revelation and he said this concerning Christianity.

I won't call it my philosophy.

When he would argue in the public square, they'd say, Well, your philosophy, and he'd say, I will not call this my philosophy, for I did not make it.

God and humanity made it, and it made me.

It's not mine.

Truth is revealed by God.

It's beyond us, it's anchored in something beyond us.

Truth is objective and knowable.

Subjective.

Objective truth, I had to look this up, the difference between objective and subjective.

I use those words all the time.

I'm just not even sure if I know what they mean.

Objective truth is truth that is not dependent on any creature's feelings, desires, or beliefs in order to be true.

Objective truth just doesn't need you to buy in.

It's true with or without you.

You can either line up with it and have beliefs according to it, or you can line up with something else, but it will not be the fact or reality.

I love it how Paul puts it in Romans 3, 3 through 4.

Or what if someone didn't have faith?

What if they didn't feel it?

What if they didn't have the desires?

What if they didn't have faith?

Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?

Not at all.

No, it's still true.

God's still faithful, whether you believe it or not.

Let God be true and every person be a liar.

Wow.

God's truth is not dependent upon any individual or group's experiences or interpretations.

No matter how strong they feel or how entrenched they are in them.

Here's where I need to make a case for, because we believe in objective truth, it doesn't mean that we don't believe in subjective truth.

Subjective is based on the influence, or is based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.

So here's what I want to say.

You should subjectively experience objective truth all day long.

Have all kinds of feelings about objective truth.

Experience it, personalize it, make it your own.

We believe in subjective truth, that things need to be experienced in order to become real.

When we say we believe in objective truth, it doesn't mean we don't believe in subjective truth.

And when we say we believe in subjective truth, it doesn't mean that we say we don't believe in objective truth.

They don't cross each other out.

You get what I'm saying?

Sorry about the riddles.

It's not one or the other.

So make it your own.

Like that ringtone.

Get your own ringtone that just is you are into.

Objective truth must be.

Objective truth must be subjectively appropriated.

It's got to become yours.

Take it, own it, personalize it, feel it.

But what you feel does not determine the truth.

The truth is true outside of what you feel.

Here's where it gets a little it these ones are probably a little bit tougher for us.

Truth is universal.

The scriptures claim that truth is universal.

To be universal means this: it applies everywhere, engages everything, and excludes nothing.

All those terms for us just get us going, right?

Oh man.

But what about my individuality?

I'm like a snowflake.

There's no one like me.

One size can't fit them all.

It can't.

Here's just some examples.

Salvation is offered to all humanity, not just a particular group of people.

God placed all things under Jesus' feet.

One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess.

Jesus proclaims, this is just Matthew, just in Matthew 28, which is the Great Commission, which is kind of the standard for us as a church.

This is why we're doing what we're doing, is what Jesus said in Matthew 28.

He claims that he possesses all authority.

I mean, I just can't get my head around that.

Jesus possesses all authority, is what he says.

So then he says, based on that, I want you to go into all nations.

And then he says, I want you to teach people to obey all that I commanded.

And then he ends it by saying, I'll be with you always.

These are very universal truths.

All and always are usually an indicator that you're dealing with a universal truth.

There's loads of universal claims.

I'll read you my favorite one.

I promise we're just a couple minutes away from how to not be a jerk.

And then you're just a couple minutes away after that from checking out.

Stay with me.

This is a vision.

The new heavens, the new earth.

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, salvation belongs to our God, not the gods.

Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

There is a group here making a universal claim.

Salvation belongs to our God.

What I love about this is it's every tribe, every tongue, every nation doing it.

A universal truth doesn't have to flatten us.

The Bible honors truth, it also honors unique.

Unique individuality, that you've been hand-made by God.

It honors your uniqueness way more than naturalism does, way more than other worldviews.

It honors an absolute truth, a universal truth, and that it honors our uniqueness, and it honors our gender and racial identity, that those things can coexist.

Don't buy it that they can't.

Don't buy it that you have to give up on objective truth or a truth that can be known in order to embrace uniqueness or in order to experience gender or racial identity.

My goodness, the first time the gospel is preached, it comes in tongues.

No one language owns it.

No one group can say it's ours.

Everybody heard it in their own language.

Some guy was speaking in tongues under the power of the Holy Spirit.

No one group owns the truth.

That universal truth doesn't flatten us or erase our identity.

That's amazing, by the way.

I don't know if anyone feels like clapping, but that's just exciting.

Jesus can do that.

I don't know how, I don't know how he can do it.

We've not had a president or a ruler or a leader yet be able to do this.

But Jesus can do this.

John 8, 31, if you abide in my word, hear this in the depths of you right now.

Let this confront your ideas about absolutes and universal truths.

If you abide in my word, you're truly my disciples, and you will know the truth.

And then what will the truth do to you?

It will set you free.

The truth will set you free.

I mean, that's unreal.

That is not the way we think about this.

Universal objective.

Don't dump that on me.

Don't you know that's been used to subjugate women and minorities for years?

It's true.

That is true.

That has happened.

But we can't dispose of truth because of it.

That's like saying some medicine caused some strong reactions.

We're not bailing on medicine altogether.

Cars cause car accidents.

We're all going to go get in one, you know?

Just because something's been abused doesn't mean we get to get rid of it.

Objective, universal truth exists and is knowable.

Truth is eternal, it's not trendy or superficial.

You can read a couple verses on that.

God's word remains forever.

It's good to know because kind of fads come and go in terms of like what we value.

This is tough right here.

Truth is exclusive.

The scriptures teach that truth is exclusive.

I actually think that this corresponds with reality.

That for every yes, there's like a million no's.

If this is in fact a microphone, it's not a chair.

If it's a microphone, then it's not a shoe.

If it's a microphone, then it's not just my ability to project my voice.

There's a million no's that come as a result of saying that's true.

But it's not oppressive.

It's actually freeing.

Spend your life in a fantasy.

This law of non-contradiction, I think this is really difficult for us because we want to embrace a worldview that's more inclusive than this.

But this law of non-contradiction is tough.

And that Christ made very specific claims.

It's not just the church saying that he's the only way to God.

Jesus himself said he's the only way to God.

Christ made very specific claims.

And there is in the world, in we Plato would agree with me.

It's not just Christians who buy into this.

There's a law of non-contradiction.

That if this is this, then it can't be something else at the same time.

Because of that, Paul blows into town and he says things like, These gods are not gods at all.

They are not gods at all.

There's some confrontation because not everything can just get along, right?

Coexist, again, I get the heartbeat of that.

But there are some exclusive claims that are made by Jesus Christ.

And to buy into them means that you're opting out of some other ones.

Alright.

So the last part, are you guys with me?

Can I just thanks for going to class with me?

Can I just share my heart?

I'm done with this, man.

I just want to share my heart and some stories.

And this is the way I feel.

Most people believe in absolute truth.

Even people who claim they don't.

When you ask them enough questions, they do.

What they don't believe in is being an absolute jerk.

That's what they don't want to do.

Believing that truth is relative plays into our cultural values really nice.

It accommodates, it doesn't confront.

It plays really nicely into individuality.

Hey man, it's up to you.

You decide what's true for you because you're a snowflake and there's no one like you.

It plays into that really nicely.

It also plays into consumerism, which is totally our thing.

I'll take a little bit of this, and I like Travis's preaching, but the worship's weird, so I'm going over to this church.

And truth being relative is really works for that.

Tolerance, I mean, that that is that's the last standing remaining virtue.

The problem with it, again, is it collapses on itself.

We uh believe in tolerance so much that we can't tolerate the intolerant.

And I think where you find Christ working is that you'll notice Jesus loving the oppressed and the oppressor.

We should give everyone a voice.

Everyone should have a voice.

We should be celebrating that people have a voice.

We should never suppress or annihilate the opposition.

We've never been called to that.

But just because you gave someone a voice doesn't mean what they're saying is true.

And even if they're poor, it doesn't mean that they're innocent.

There's still a call for us to discern what's being said.

But we should always make sure people have a place to say it.

And that's why we have Facebook.

I'm getting snarky to try to keep you guys engaged.

Come on, man.

I know I know, like maybe maybe you're here, you know, and you're like, yeah, I believe in absolute truth, and you know, our country's going to hell in a handbasket.

I also know that there are some of you here, and the idea of absolute universal truth is is scary for you.

It's like, man, one way to God.

Because like imposing your truths on somebody else is what?

I mean, it's it's arrogant, it's intolerant, it's sometimes, it's been violent in the past.

Doesn't it's freedom robbing, don't take my rights?

Am I right?

These things are scary.

Truth has been used by those in power to subjugate women and minorities.

It absolutely has.

We can't give up on it.

Before I talk about just a few ways not to be a jerk if you believe in absolute truth.

Maybe I convinced you, maybe I didn't.

But I just want to say this uh don't let anyone reduce your Christian heritage to crusades.

Don't let anybody reduce your Christian heritage to slaves.

Don't let anyone reduce your Christian heritage to oppression.

Our heritage is we have a rich heritage of loving the oppressed and loving the oppressor.

There is so much more.

You can't chuck Christianity based on those abuses.

I know people who are busting their butts around the world on behalf of others.

Just like you can't chuck feminism.

Maybe you chucked feminism.

Feminism has done some amazing things.

You can't just throw it out because there's been some abuses.

You can't just chuck it.

You get to vote.

I mean, come on.

Like, seriously.

Like you can't just take these whole worldviews and throw them out.

There's something there for us.

And don't let anyone reduce Christianity to crusades.

My goodness.

Christian church has been working to bless, embracing diversity, fighting for the oppressed.

I don't, the majority of the people that I know, which may be because I'm a pastor, man, who are working, who are actually doing something about it, believe and follow Jesus.

I know a lot of people, excuse me, who are bitching about it.

The people I know who are doing something about it, know love, and follow Jesus.

So a few ways to not be a jerk and believe in absolute truth.

You should uh humble yourself.

Listen, we're called, we are called to persuasion, no doubt, but not coercion.

We're called to provide evidence.

We are not called to intimidate.

We are not called to silence the oppression or annihilate.

We're called to bless those who persecute us, to pray for those who do us harm.

That's what we're called to do.

Humble yourself.

We believe that the Bible gives us accurate and sufficient revelation in what it addresses, and it does not address everything.

It gives us accurate and sufficient information on what it addresses, and it does not address everything.

You should never claim to have totally mastered the good book.

You should never claim.

Claiming that there is absolute truth is different than claiming you have absolute knowing of that truth.

No one be caught saying, I have absolute knowing.

Contend for absolute truth, but don't contend that you have absolute knowing.

Even Paul, who wrote most of what we just read, said, I see dimly.

I see in a mirror and it is dim.

I see in part.

Right?

So absolute truth doesn't mean that we absolutely know everything.

Humble yourself.

You haven't mastered the book, and you should be corrected, and things could, could and should occur to you.

Serve.

Man, this is a good one.

I'll tell you how to be someone who believes in absolute truths and not be an absolute jerk is don't just have a stance.

Serve.

Don't just have a position on something.

Give up your position to serve.

To serve.

Because people are cynical and skeptical about truth claims because they believe that all truth claims can be reduced to a claim for power.

That if you have knowledge, that if you have the corner on the market, what you have is power.

And people have done funny things with that power, but not our Lord, who gave up his position and gave up his place to serve us.

And so here we have Jesus making some absolute, universal, massive claims, but people are still flocking to him.

He absolutely believed in absolute truth, and he was not a jerk.

Because he served, he laid down his position.

Here's the problem: people are really skeptical and cynical of any truth claim that provides you privilege.

That if it just means that the truth means that what you have from it is privilege, people are going to be cynical and skeptical about it.

Isn't that convenient that the truth lines up with everything you need it and want it to be?

The truth should be confronting us, not just others.

And we should be serving as a result of it.

And I'm sick of this, man.

No one banned us from helping refugees.

Do something.

No one stopped us.

Do, serve.

Don't just have a stance or a position on it.

Do something about it.

It speaks volumes because what it communicates is that every claim to truth is not also a claim to power.

Does that make sense?

That makes sense, right?

The other thing I think we could do is listen.

We really could.

I think that one of the beautiful things about both the diversity and the belief that truth is relative is it's really good at pointing out where we've been morally selective.

Everyone's got their pet deals, man.

Everyone's got their jam.

Or it's like they're majoring on this and they're minoring on something else.

They're seeing something really clear, but they're missing something else.

Listen to what people have to say to you.

Ask questions.

And when they say, hey, what about this?

Oh man, I never saw that.

You know?

Don't be so defensive.

That's what I've been uh trying to do.

Is just listen and be okay when something's pointed out to me.

Not trying to defend it, but being like, Yeah, I could see, I could see how that's frustrating to you.

The other thing I want to call you to do is share.

Many times we don't share.

Many times we back down.

We're intimidated because we care more about what people think about us than we do care about them.

And it's really pride.

And I'd ask you to humble yourself and share the truth that you do know.

I think this can shake us, right?

This idea that, like, don't impose your beliefs on me.

Get out of here with that church talk.

You know, whatever it is.

I mean, it only has to happen a few times before you're really on your heels.

But I want to ask you to share, get vocal about what you believe.

Otherwise, it's only going to be the crazies who are getting vocal.

That's a bummer for all of us.

When I talk about sharing, I just want to charge you.

You should have some more conversations over coffee and less stating of positions on a public platform.

It's just not going to go good right now.

It's just not.

So I I just feel like people are giving like hours of their lives to arguments that are going nowhere.

So I'd go to coffee with someone and ask them how they're seeing it or what they're thinking or how they feel about it.

So I'd charge you just to speak the truth in love.

Thanks for going late and going to school.

Would you stand with me?

I want to pray for uh a great grace on this church to engage in conversation.

Even now as we go to the Super Bowl, and Lady Gaga is probably gonna do something weird, and then the room's gonna get in an argument, and Lord, it's just a lot of pent-up frustration and anger and fear.

Not a lot of listening, so just invite you, Holy Spirit, to speak in to us to give us truth on the in parts, the innermost parts of us.

Bless this church.

I pray that you'd equip us in these overwhelming times to navigate conversation, stand for truth, and still serve the people around us.

Jesus, you're amazing.

I don't know how you did it, but man, would you help us?

It's crazy right now.

It is crazy weird right now.

We don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

You still model for us this brilliant balance of grace and truth, and we want it.

And everybody said, Amen.