FaceValues - TRUTH: Is it all a matter of opinion?
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Rev D. Graham Leitch
based on materials provided by FaceValues
20 October 2002

We come, today, to the end of our FACEVALUES series. In it we have been looking at some of the values (historically rooted in the Judaeo-Christian tradition) which are embedded in the Bible and, until recently, most decent folk would have acknowledged and thought of as the foundations of a healthy society.

I say “until recently” quite deliberately - because during the past 50 years (but most especially during the last 10 years or so) - we have seen these foundations shaken. Things that to our forebears seemed self-evident (things like chastity outside of marriage and faithfulness within it) now seem unimportant. The old-fashioned values are out of fashion!

In this series we have been reflecting upon contemporary trends and re-visiting the Bible to check out what it reveals as the core values Christians, on the one hand, should display themselves and, on the other hand, should seek to see inform private conduct and shape public life in Scotland today.

THE SUBJECT OF TRUTH
The subject today, which makes up the last chapter, is the subject of TRUTH.

I guess most adults can remember their first day at school. There is no pride like the pride of your first school uniform -most of the blazers less like a tent than a marquee - generous in proportion to allow for growth - in the case of some of us who had to make do with “hand me downs” from our brothers or sisters that first school blazer was the first “brand new” item of clothing we ever possessed.

DAVIDSON’S MAINS PRIMARY SCHOOL
As some of you know I went to Davidson’s Mains Primary School - and emblazoned on the breast pocket of it its grey jacket with blue trim was the school badge bearing the words:

“honest and true”

Of course wearing the badge didn’t change the person and I can still remember vividly one of my more bare-faced lies. On the way to school each day from Silverknowes there was a bridge made of iron sections about 6’ by 4’ - on one of them I has drawn with coloured chalks a picture of one of the less popular teachers - a Miss Wood by name, adding an uncomplimentary and very rude description of her.

Now the Head Teacher was on the case and when the question was put “Did I draw that picture of Miss Wood?” I protested my innocence vehemently.

“Who? Me! Of course I didn’t!!”

I can still “see” that picture of Miss Wood, by the way. I was very proud of it I think it was the best picture I’d done! But I couldn’t tell my parents or show them it. Honest and true:

THE DISHONEST FISHERMEN!
And now, as a grown up, I belong to that dedicated band of men and women, mainly men, called anglers, who are proverbially dishonest when it comes to the size of “the one that got away.” At Angling Club dinners they need to space the chairs at the table that far apart!!

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
When we turn to the Bible we find, interestingly, that the key word for TRUTH gathers round it ideas of firmness and stability

1. GOD IS TRUE
GOD IS TRUE because He is strong, firm and reliable, dependable and trustworthy - one upon who we can lean and know that we won;’t be disappointed; one to who we can turn and know that we won;t be misled.

The two pictures in the story that Jesus told of the man who built his house on the rock and the man who built his house on the sand sum up our choice. The man who builds his house on the rock is the man who makes TRUTH - in the story itself the truth of Jesus’ teachings - the man who places truth and truthfulness at the centre of his life.

The man who builds his house on the sand is the man who lives by falsehood - lies and deception.
The first man’s future is safe but the second man’s future precarious!

2. GOD’S WORD IS TRUE
In the Bible God is TRUE But in the Bible we find it written that God’s Word is true -

“Your law is true....all your commands are true......all your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal...”
(Psalm 119:142, 151, 160)

There is in these words the reminder that we cannot re-write scripture or the laws of God or alter his command to suit our own convenience, predilections or pleasure. The word eternal doesn't just mean from heaven; it means forever!!

We neglect or overturn the way God means it to be at our peril. In life everything isn’t just a matter of opinion - there is a road called “the way” and there are other roads that are “not the way” To choose
the road that IS “the way” leads to happiness and life because it;s the way God made life to be. But to follow the path that is not the way leads to heartache and trouble, to disintegration and destruction.

Jesus got it right when he told God “You WORD is truth.”

3. GOD’S PROMISES ARE TRUE
The third thing the Bible emphasises is that GOD’S PROMISES ARE TRUE - that God is faithful and what He says He does.

Does God lie or act in vain? No! The very thing is unthinkable to the prophet Balaam as he tells the King in the book of Numbers (23:7)

“God is not a man that He should lie. He doesn’t change his mind like humans do. Has he ever promised without doing what he said.”

And here is a golden promise given by Jesus in God’s name - you can check it out yourself by a simple act of faith and surrender:
“Come me to you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” Not I would or I might but I WILL!!

3. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE TRUE
And the fourth and final thing the Bible teaches is that GOD’S PEOPLE are true.

Look at what the Bible says:

The way a person is saved by God is “through belief in the truth” (2 Thess 2:13)
To become a Christian is “to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4)
The Christian stands against evil with “the belt of truth” buckled round his waist (Ephesians 6:14)
The Christian keeps himself pure by “obeying the truth” (2 Peter 2:22)
The Christian is called to “act in line with the truth” (Galatians 2:14)

When Peter had failed to “act in line with the truth” Paul took him to task.

WHAT IS TRUTH?
But, to quote Pilate’s ancient question: ”What is TRUTH?”

Today our interest is not in that question as the starting point for a philosophy debate; our interest is in truth and falsehood as currencies in everyday life.


1. TRUTH IS HONESTY
At its simplest level truth is the opposite of lying - its being honest and straightforward in our speech - There was a time when strict honest - accuracy of speech - was drilled into children because even careless untruths were frowned upon. So we find Dr Johnson, for example, offering this piece of advice to parents:

“Accustom you children constantly to the telling of the truth...if a thing happened at one window and, in relating it, they say that it happened at another, do not let it pass, but instantly check them. You do not know where deviation from truth will end....”

Today, of course, such advice would be considered neurotic or just plain silly, yet is it!! “You do not know where deviation from truth will end.”Johnson says - but we DO know - it ends, like the house build on sand, in disaster!!

The Bible puts a high value on honesty. This is seen in the gravity of the punishments for dishonesty found in its narrative. In the book of Joshua when Achan, after concealing his theft of a rob and of gold, is discovered he is put to death. Dishonesty is intolerable! It’s the same in the New Testament when Ananias and Sapphira attempt to deceive the apostles concerning the amount they made from the sale of their house - when they lie what happens? They are struck down and die.

Clearly the Bible doesn’t take lying lightly. In the Book of Revelation it describes the liars destiny - “their place,” it says (Rev 21:8) “will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur” - the liar is a child of the Father of lies.

Why is the Bible so adamant about truthfulness. Why is it so hostile to lies and dishonesty. I think we find part of the explanation in Ephesians 4 where Paul gives the reason why, in the church (in Chrisian community) people must be honest and not lie

“Strip yourselves of falsehood” Paul urges “and let each of you speak the truth with his neighbour because we are all members of the same body...” (Ephesians 4:25

Listen to this:
“We can live in safety only because the senses and the nerves pass true message to the brain. If they took to passing false messages, if, for instance, they told the brain that something was cool and touchable when it was hot and burning, life would very soon come to an end. A body can only function healthily when each part of it passes true message to the brain/.. if then we are all bound into one body, that body can function properly only when we speak the truth.....”

Now of course Paul was talking about the Church, but the same is true of society.Life is based on trust, as we saw last week, and the more lying there is, the more trust is destroyed....”

Ask yourself then, Am I an honest person? If not, then remember Jesus Christ died to nail the sin of lying to the Cross. Repent! Tell God you have betrayed him - as Peter did in the garden - by untruthfulness. And accepting His forgiveness seek his help to be HONEST and stop being the liar.

“An honest answer” one of the Bible’s proverbs says, “is like a kiss on the lips!”

Politicians today don’t do much of that kind of kissing!!

2. TRUTH IS INTEGRITY
But truth isn’t just about honest speaking - it’s about honest dealing too. It isn’t just about veracity, it’s about integrity

Honest speaking must be matched by honest dealing. There is a wonderful verses hidden away in Leviticus, which gives the commands of God, which says:

“Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.”
(Leviticus 19:36)

And then the reason is immediately given: “I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt....”

As those redeemed by Jesus, who confess Him Lord and Saviour, Christians should be “squeaky clean” when it comes to honest dealings. Too often here we let the world drag us down to its standards (after all everyone does it!) rather than seeking to lift society up to God’s standard.

“Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin.”
(Leviticus 19:36)

Truth isn’t just about honest speaking - it’s about honest dealing! How rare this is now! We live in a society in which nothing can be taken at face value - every claim is misleading and the truth is hidden in the small print. Nothing is what it seems.

The whole tele-marketing industry is a cynical exercise in confusing and conning the bamboozled potential customer.....

The whole concept of INTEGRITY counts for nothing in most business and commercial enterprises today - everything is profit driven...nothing matters but securing your market share - whether by honest or dishonest means.

In the Old Testament book of Amos (Amos 7:7) we find the prophet being given a vision:

“This was what God showed me: the Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb-line in his hand. And the LORD asked me ‘What d you see, Amos?’ ‘A plumb-line’ I replied. Then the LORD said ‘Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel......”

By God’s standard, society is no longer true to plumb - its gravely out of line with true.

God’s great need today - because it is society’s great need is a generation of men and women of integrity. And our Christian duty is surely to “model” integrity and display its worth to a dishonest world.

3. TRUTH IS OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDS
Thirdly, truth in the Bible is OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDS, doing this his way, following His will not our own.

When the Bible talks, as John does in one of his letters, about “walking in the truth” this is what it means. To “walk in the truth” is to act in line with God’s commandments, law, purpose and will.

This means honouring and obeying the principles order, commands and rules the Bible reveals as “the Way” and opposing and rejecting approaches to life, relationships and society the Bible reveals as “not the Way”

This doesn’t that we simply and uncritically accept the traditional way texts have been interpreted and applied. I’m not arguing for a return to Victorian England! It is our duty always to be testing and reassessing our interpretations of the inspired word humbly to determine ass far as possible whether our present understanding is correct.

What faithful Christians are not at liberty to do it to edit the Bible, to pick and choose the bits that suit us and reject the rest - it by the abiding principles and the moral code of the Bible and teachings of Jesus (all of therm) that God calls us to live.

Now the Christian cannot impose his view of truth like some kind of dictator - a benevolent dictator is still a dictator!! But we can defend Christian principles and the Christian view to the best of our ability and and promote kingdom values and the cause of God at every level of society in every way that we can.

3. TRUTH IS A PERSON - JESUS CHRIST
Finally, TRUTH in the Bible is inextricably and supremely linked not to an ethic or philosophy or even to a religion, but to a person - JESUS CHRIST.

Jesus not only said “I am the true vine” and is called “the true light” and the “true bread from heaven” but also “I AM THE TRUTH.”

For Christians the person and work of Jesus and his teaching together provide the KEY that unlocks the door to the whole meaning and purpose of life.

LIFE IS LIKE A JIGSAW
Without him life is like a jigsaw in which some of the pieces are missing and others have been forced out of shape into the wrong place where they don't fit properly. This does violence to the whole picture.

Only with Him - Christian testimony says - is there the possibility of of the missing pieces being supplied and all the pieces fitting together according to the divine plan.

That’s why the Christian Gospel at its heart isn’t about values but about JESUS. That’s why Christian evangelism points people not to a moral code or ethical system but to HIM!!

I began with a story from Primary School - let me end the same way. Most of you will remember the elementary experiment - perhaps your children have done it. You scatter iron filings on a piece of card and then you take a magnet and place it under the card - suddenly the random scattering of iron filings changes and a pattern emerges.....

The random scattering of life's bits and pieces remain a mystery without Jesus - but once we come to faith - once we trust Him, once we put Him at the centre we begin to discover the random scatterings of life changing shape and patterns emerge.

It all begins with two things John talks about in one of his New Testament letters:

He speaks about “knowing Him who is true” - it begins KNOWING JESUS - entering into a relationship with Him.

And he speaks about being “in Him who it true” - it is out of a relationship with Him who is the TRUTH and our daily experience of His grace that all the rest flows.

May the jigsaw fit together and from the random scattering of life may the truth of Jesus and the secret of its meaning be revealed.

AMEN.

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