Truth, and What to Do With It

Truth, and What to Do With It 

Collin Leong. January 13, 2017

What is Truth?

“What is Truth?”, asks Pontious Pilate to Jesus. It would have taken days for Jesus to answer that and to convince Pilate, but Jesus had an appointment with the cross that morning. Many people, like the highly educated Pilate, are confused about truth. How do you tell what is true? Is truth absolute, or is truth relative to your personal situation and circumstances? 

Truth Distorted

There are two major trends today that had never happened before in history. First, there is an overwhelming source of information, of which most are unreliable. You may be familiar with this relatively new sarcasm: “If it’s on the Internet, it must be true.”  The more opinions you read, the more likely you will stray away from the centre of truth.  This applies to “Christian” websites as well. There is so much mis-appropriation and mis-application of "biblical" teachings that one must be very careful to check against the Bible before accepting it wholesale.

The second trend is what can be called the “post-truth” era. More and more, the world is beginning to accept the idea that there are no absolute truths. If a proposition meets your personal objectives, then it doesn't matter if it's not based on facts or reality.  In fact, even something as sure as gender cannot be assumed anymore - it's up to the individual to decide if one is a male, female or something else. They can marry any other gender, or just live together without life-long commitment. The bible did document the sin of homosexuality, in Sodom for example, but never as perverse as our generation!

This drifting away from deterministic truth is not surprising once God is removed from the society as there is no longer any reliable benchmark for truth or purpose. If you claim there is no creator or designer, then the purpose of the design doesn't matter -  it's up to you (the user) to decide. 

Truth Revealed

Conversely, if there is a God, then there is an absolute truth which can only be defined by Him. God communicated it through “revelation” – initially through prophets, then through His Son, and is now sealed in the Holy Bible. 

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law." (Deut. 29:29)

"In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets." (Eph. 3:4-5)

Truth is not just the Word of God, but also a person, with the name of Jesus Christ – God becoming a man whom we could see, touch and interact with. 

 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14). 

Therefore, our response to the Revealed Truth of God is not merely to seriously study it (and many of us don’t), but also to have an intimated relationship with Christ.  The knowledge of the Word gives us an understanding of the general will of God for mankind, but the personal relationship with Christ works at the individual level, helping us to understand His will for us.

What to do with Truth?

The purpose of God's truth is to correct what we believe and how we behave. It is the designer’s manual or map to tell us how to get back to God, and how to have abundant life. And unlike other truths that we know (such as scientific laws, legal laws, and ethics), God’s truth is unique because it is Redemptive, Transformative and Eternal. It is practical for living, but it is also the key that opens the door to eternal life. All other truths may be true in this universe only, but don't matter much in the spiritual and eternal realm. That’s why it is worth knowing above everything else.

Truth of Salvation

The first basic message of “truth” in the Bible is about the way for Redemption.  “It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”. (Rom 1:16).  In a nutshell, it tells that man had chosen a way of life that excludes God or in disobedience to God. We can't find our way back even if we tried for the gap between our sinfulness and God’s holiness is just too wide. Therefore Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to die for us for the punishment of our sins so that we can be forgiven. 

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

One caveat with God's truth is that you need the instrument of Faith in order to truly make it work for you. You can get a PHD in Theology and understand and even believe it, but unless one comes to accept salvation through faith, it is of no eternal benefit. The Bible says even the demons knows the truth but does nothing except to tremble. (James 2:19)

"Without faith, it is impossible to please Him" (Heb 11:6)

Truth of Sanctification

Many of us already know this first part and have believed. But there is the second major message of “truth” in the Bible, which is about Sanctification. 

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth”. (Jn 17:17)

“All Scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” (1 Tim 3:16), 

God’s purpose is to change us to be Christ-like. Just as we needed Faith to attain Salvation, we will need Faithfulness to allow God to sanctify us. We need to stick with it - through trials, failures, unfairness and hurt - and obey Him at all cost for transformation to work.

James compared God’s Word with a mirror where a man reflects on his own state. (James 1:23) There are a number of reactions that man can take. First, he can say “I don’t see anything wrong with me.” This is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is probably the most deadly sin for we deny the convictions of the Spirit and delude ourselves that we don't need to change. 

Christians can fall into this error by "selective reading" of the Bible to avoid commandments that they don't want to follow at specific times or circumstances, or using passages out-of-context to judge others. Instead of embracing and balancing the Whole Truth, even the ones we disagree with, we twist the Word and made God according to our own image. 

Then there are those some of us who will admit that we are wrong when the Word convicts us. We might even confess and ask God for forgiveness. However, we refuse to change and make things right with our fellow humans. We refuse to take the action we know God wants us to take. This is the problem of pride. Most of us are in this state, with one sin or another, or with one person or another.

Thus, knowing the truth and acting on the truth are two different things. James continued to say: “But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1:25). 

Doing it God’s way leads to blessings, even if it may take years before you get justice or get rewarded with the fruits of righteousness, and furthermore these rewards last eternally, unlike the “good feeling” that you gain which is temporal only. 

Conclusion 

In conclusion let us be reminded again what was mentioned earlier – that God’s truth is not just the written Word, which we do need to spend time studying and be grounded in. Truth is also a person. Jesus implied that to Pilate but he didn't get it. Jesus also said "I am the way, the truth, and the life." 

Sometimes we don't want to get too close to Jesus, because we are afraid to hear things from the Lord that we don't want to hear - to forgive an enemy, to give to someone in need, to give up our ambition and spend more time with family, to share the gospel with a colleague, to serve the church in specific ways, or even to serve him full time in another country. 

Don't turn away or stay away from the Lord because of such fears – God desires our companionship above everything else, including our accomplishments. Rather, tell God that what He asks of you is difficult to do and that you are not ready yet, and to give you more time. Admit your weakness to do what He asks. I believe God understands it is not "easy" for us, even if the request is "simple". He will not force us to do something when we are not ready. However, if we are willing to humble ourselves, God will find a way and give us grace to overcome our weakness. 

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor 12:9)