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November 05, 2006
The Truth that Liberates
Leviticus 26: 3-13
John 8: 31-38
November 5th, 2006
A favorite motto at a number of great universities in the western world is drawn from Jesus’ words in our passage today. “You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
Why Gothic architecture in so many old university buildings? Well, because of the origins of universities in the monastic and cathedral schools of the Middle Ages. Even great more modern universities like Princeton and Duke reproduce the architecture of the church schools of long ago.
The genius pushing the search for knowledge on a broad front in all these universities traces back to a somewhat shortened form of Jesus’ words which were, “And you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Without the word “and,” this is a self-evident principle that is supported by reason. Truth, the product of honest investigation brings freedom to those who live by it. No axe to grind about which we might squabble; just many people honestly going after the evidence. We help each other and rejoice when we come on truth supported by the evidence.
But there is little rejoicing and mutual regard in our troubled world. Is this because we’re not all research scientists? Richard Dawkins argues that it is because religion has thrown the world into a tail-spin. The great battle is between reason and religion, the search for truth against the shackles of religious ideology.
I listened to a video made by Richard Dawkins that illustrates the tragic evidence of ideology as the source of violence and hatred in the world. He interviewed leaders from the primary religions contending for influence in the world and was overwhelmed by the animosity he encountered from them all. I watched the interview with fascination and sympathy. Such ferocious animosity from a Muslim convert from Judaism. Such bland acceptance of tradition by various Jews and Christians in Jerusalem. Then he went to Colorado Springs where he attended worship at Pastor Ted Haggard’s mammoth church. Afterward he interviewed the now scandalized pastor. I thought I would have responded to Dawkins’ challenges very differently. Why the hostility? Why the command to get off church property?
This behavior does not follow from the teaching of the Jesus of whom I read in the New Testament. What is the most basic thing Jesus taught? Many who have come to Jesus say that what drew them was His invitation, “Come, learn of me, because I am meek and gentle of heart and you will find rest.”
Let us get back to the quotation from Jesus with which we began this morning. It actually begins, “And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” That one word, “and,” that points to what he said before is a very important word.
The word “AND” attaches “you will know the truth and the truth will make you free” to this: “If you continue in my word you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”
What did Jesus mean when He said, “If you continue in my word?” What is the word to which Jesus alluded? What does it mean to continue in this word? And what is to be free? At the risk of getting picky I want to pick a bit into what this means as I see it. I am pushed farther and farther back as I follow the trail of the word ‘Word.”
You remember that the Gospel of John starts out describing Jesus Christ this way, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In verse fourteen that we read as the last Scripture each Christmas Eve, John writes with awe and wonder, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
In between we read of this Word, “He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him, and the world did not recognize Him.” I use the word “recognize” instead of “know” that we are used to hearing because the Greek word here is the foundation of our word “recognize.”
I see a thread here. The Word about human behavior—come, learn meekness and gentleness of heart—has something to do with the Word that spoke at creation, causing all things, and the Word that was born at Christmas. How can I possibly prove this remarkable belief? I can’t. But there is something about this that rings true to me.
A thread weaves through the mysterious tapestry of creation, a principle of the connectedness of all life. Biology, physics, chemistry, and mathematics to be sure, but also psychology, curiosity about our past--history, languages and the thirst for something that explains the reason for the existence of all the evidence.
John’s Gospel, written long before the explosion of scientific knowledge, tells us that the Son of God played a key role in the physical world and in the unseen spiritual fabric of life—that gives life meaning. “In Him was life and the life was the light of people.” This John writes of this Word that was in the beginning with God.
There is an artificial boundary between spiritual truth and empirical truth. The truth that scientists ferret out in the lab is different from the truth that sets us free in that we can’t discover the truth that sets us free by examining how people think and act. We have to be taught the Truth that sets us free inside. This is part of our dignity and part of our dilemma.
Last year a Korean scientist made up evidence supporting his theory about cloning, a bit of fraud that not only showed reports of his “research” could not be trusted scientifically, but also brought shame to his country? Why shame? Because we must be able to trust the honesty of those who report the evidence uncovered in their research. We tell lies out of the desire for power, or out of fear, or out of embarrassment.
“Continue in my word,” Jesus said to those who wanted to continue learning of Him. Jesus said many things. We point to the sermon on the Mount with all its “blessednesses.” Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are the meek; blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness; blessed are the merciful, blessed are the pure in heart.” If we are quietly reflective we see these words are at the foundation of Jesus’ word to us.
I wonder if it were evident that we Christians continued to live, tried hard to live by these words of Jesus if Richard Dawkins would see our way of life needed debunking. Would he see superstition as the foundation of our faith if the most evident part of it were that we were gentle in spirit, un-aggressive in disposition, hungry for goodness, merciful, and pure in heart? If we speak of the Virgin Birth and the Deity of Christ and the bodily resurrection as the heart of our faith, but cannot point to the effect of this on our lives, there is no wonder that honest skeptics say it’s hogwash.
Jesus did not tell us to defend a superstructure of esoteric doctrines as our primary call. He said, “Continue in my word.”
Continuing in Jesus’ word affects your research as much as it affects your attempts to understand theology. Continuing in Jesus’ words affects what we are like as husbands, wives, neighbors, citizens, soldiers, children, athletes, etc., as much as it points us to try to understand what is true about God and the Christian faith.
It is when we continue in Jesus’ word that we will know the truth that sets us free. If we are not continuing in Jesus’ word, we may have a lot of beliefs, but we will not be free in the desirable way Jesus sets us free. We may have political freedom, freedom of action and belief, and all the rest of the external absence of restraint. But within all this external lack of restraint, it is evident we are in bondage to every trait that creates havoc in this world. Fanaticism is no substitute for continuing in Jesus’ word.
Jesus said, “If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed.” “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” But if you are continuing in His word, you will not be a slave of sin. If our faith is so consumed with matters of words that we haven’t the energy or motivation to continue in Jesus’ word of life, we have missed the boat.
I envision the church as a community, a sub-set within our culture in which people try very hard to take Jesus at His word. We don’t have everything figured out about the natural world, so we are glad to turn you scientists loose to discover what you can. But meanwhile we will continue to live by Jesus’ word—which is not hard to understand, just hard to do.
How can we continue in Jesus’ word? I am convinced that you and I must first have in mind to do this and want to do it very badly. We must want to continue in Jesus’ way so much that it is a more consuming desire than to be approved by other people—who want us to be like they are.
And in our private determination to stay in the Jesus’ way we must avoid conceit if we see that others don’t share this private discipline. Because when pride comes in we’re out of the Jesus’ mode of life. There is the temptation in everyone who tries hard to look at others and think an unspoken prayer, “I thank you God that I am not like other people, adulterers, unclean, or even like this tax-collector.” The moment any hint of that comes in, we’re off the Jesus’ way.
I pray that Jesus’ word will sink into all of our consciences and infect us: “If you continue in my word, you are indeed my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” We believe this. But we must try to continue in it.
And so we pray to God, “O God, grant to us so to continue in Jesus’ way that we may enjoy the glorious freedom for which you created us. Amen. And then let us not deliberately act contrary to what we pray, and God will grant us what we ask.
Pastor Stuart D. Robertson
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at November 5, 2006 11:35 AM