Sunday's Message: The Great Ends of the Church - The preservation of the truth

As a denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA) has some guiding principles that shape our mission. They’re called The Great Ends of the Church, six statements written in the early 20th century that guide both the vision and work of the Presbyterian Church. And that’s going to be our focus during this series. You see, during the next six weeks, we’ll look at each one, seeking to understand what it means and how we can accomplish it within our community. 

• August 11 - The proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humanity
• August 18 - The shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God
• August 25 - The maintenance of divine worship
• September 1 - The preservation of the truth
• September 8 - The promotion of social righteousness
• September 15 - The exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world

On Sunday, we continued the series by looking at the fourth great end of the church: The preservation of the truth. Below is the text and a recording of the sermon. You can stream the service by going to the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. (EDT).  You can hear a podcast of the service at the Sligo Presbyterian Church YouTube Channel or the Sligo Presbyterian Spotify Page. 

Well, this morning, we’re passing the midpoint in our discussion of The Great Ends of the Church. And to this point, we’ve talked about how we, as the Body of Christ, are responsible for “the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humanity” and for “the shelter, nurture and spiritual fellowship of the children of God” and for “the maintenance of divine worship.” In other words, according to the Presbyterian Church,  these are three things that we’ve been called to do. And as y’all remember, for one, we considered what it means and why it’s important and how it might be done. Now, this is what we’ve been talking about over the last three weeks.

And this morning, we’re going to move on to number four, “the preservation of the truth.” And I’ll tell you, given what we’ve already covered, on the surface, this one sure seems to be the most difficult to define, much less to do. For example, as I was thinking about how I might approach the topic, I remembered that conversation Jesus had with Pontus Pilate right before his crucifixion. You see, after Jesus had been arrested and after he’d appeared before Annas and Caiaphas and after he’d been taken to the Roman governor because he was the only one who could issue a death sentence, Pilate and Jesus had an interesting conversation. After going back and forth over whether or not Jesus was a king, this was what the Evangelist John wrote:

“So you are a king,” Pilate replied.

“You are saying that I am a king,” Jesus told him. “I was born into this world to tell about the truth. And everyone who belongs to the truth knows my voice.”

Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” [John 18:37-38a, CEV]

Now that’s what happened. And you know, I don’t know about y’all but there are times when I can sort of identify with Pilate, because I’ve got to tell you, that’s a question I find myself asking an awful lot now-a-day, What is truth? And why wouldn’t I? I mean, we’re in the middle of an election, for crying out loud. And the Democrats say this and the Republicans say that; and good night nurse, they can’t both be true. In fact, some are bald-faced lies. Of course, I recognize that about seven years ago we were introduced to the idea of alternative truth, you know, that what is true is actually relative and whatever you want to be true is by its nature; therefore, lies can be true, if you really want them to be. But that doesn’t make sense. Man, when I was in school, a statement on the test was either true or false, an answer was either right or wrong and as a result, I was either going to pass or fail. That’s what I learned growing up. But now, everything seems to be in the eyes of the beholder. And if I think it’s right, somehow it’s now right, even if, based on facts, it’s actually wrong, always was and always will be. Now that seems to be our world. Therefore, the idea of truth is really hard to nail down, which pretty much means preserving it, man, that’s virtually impossible. I mean, you can’t preserve something that’s just about as clear as mud.

But you know, that’s exactly what we’re going to talk about during this message. You see, we’re going to define what truth is and consider why it’s important and try, as best we can, to figure out how we can go about preserving it. And hopefully, by the end, we’ll have a much better idea about what “the preservation of the truth” actually means.

And like I said, it all starts with “what,” what is this truth business all about? I mean, in a world where determining what is true seems an awful lot like deciding which cereal to buy at Riverside, what is the truth? Now, in my opinion, before we can talk about preserving anything, we’ve got to be able to answer this question. But I’ll tell you, I think we’re in luck, because even though what’s going on in our society might not be all that helpful, I believe the Bible is crystal clear about what the truth actually is. I mean, just listen to this passage, again from the Gospel of John:

Jesus said to his disciples, “Don’t be worried! Have faith in God and have faith in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house. I wouldn’t tell you this, unless it was true. I am going there to prepare a place for each of you. After I have done this, I will come back and take you with me. Then we will be together. You know the way to where I am going.”

Thomas said, “Lord, we don’t even know where you are going! How can we know the way?”

“I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father. If you had really known me, you would have known the Father. But from now on, you do know him, and you have seen him.” [John 14:1-7, CEV]

Now, that’s what Jesus said to his disciples, and I’ll tell you, right here we’ve got our answer.

I’m telling you, see, when you get right down to it, for Christians, Jesus is the truth. And I’ll tell you why. You see, because he’s the incarnate word, we can understand God by listening to him, and I’m talking about how we can understand both God’s freedom and God’s love. And you know, because Jesus is the light of the world, we can know the way, the way to live the kind of lives that are grounded in God’s freedom and that reflect his love. And because Jesus is the one called the resurrection and the life, we can not only look toward the future with all kinds of hope, we can get a little taste of this new resurrection life right now in the present. You see, if we want to know what we should be preserving, we don’t need to look any further than the one who lived and died and was raised. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life!” [John 14:6a, CEV] That’s what, or maybe better, that’s who the truth is.

And why is it important? Why is it important for us to see Jesus as the truth? I mean, why is it important that in a world full of ideas and examples and voices, he’s the one we can trust to be genuine and right and true? And why is this truth worth preserving? Well, for me, it really comes down to three very basic reasons. 

You see, first, through Jesus Christ, we have freedom, freedom from the past, freedom from those anchors that can prevent us from moving forward, and freedom from all that baggage that we just plain weigh us doing. You see, when Jesus died on that cross, man, we died too. And it was through that death that we’ve been set free. In other words, sin is no longer our boss; we now have a choice. And I’ll tell you, I think that’s why the Apostle Paul wrote this to the Corinthians: 

We are careful not to judge people by what they seem to be, though we once judged Christ in this way. Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person. The past is forgotten, and everything is new. God has done it all! He sent Christ to make peace between himself and us, and he has given us the work of making peace between himself and others.

What we mean is that God was in Christ, offering peace and forgiveness to the people of this world. And he has given us the work of sharing his message about peace. [2 Corinthians 5:16-19, CEV]

I’m telling you, right here and now, what we’ve done or left undone should never hold us back from what we can do now and in the future, because, through Jesus Christ, we have freedom from the past.

But, you know, we also have hope, hope as we look toward the future, hope as we move into the unknown, and hope as we step into that pitch black room, confident that there’s a floor on the other side of the door. Man, we can have hope, because we can trust that, no matter how dark the world seems to be and no matter how confused and uncertain we might feel, there’s resurrection and life in our future. And since it’s not based on anything we can earn or deserve, instead it’s grounded in grace, it’s not something we can lose. You see, because his tomb was empty, we have every reason to believe that ours will be too. As a matter of fact, it’s like what Paul wrote in his first letter to the church in Corinth:

But Christ has been raised to life! And he makes us certain that others will also be raised to life. Just as we will die because of Adam, we will be raised to life because of Christ. Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us. But we must each wait our turn. Christ was the first to be raised to life, and his people will be raised to life when he returns. Then after Christ has destroyed all powers and forces, the end will come, and he will give the kingdom to God the Father. [1 Corinthians 15:20-24, CEV]

I’ll tell you, where we’ve been can’t compare to where we’re going. Man, this is something we can trust, because, through Jesus Christ, we have hope as we look toward the future. 

But that’s not all. You see, through Jesus we also have direction, direction as we live right here and now, direction as we try to figure out what we can and should be doing, and direction that we can claim as we attempt to do the best we can with what we’ve got. In other words, Jesus gives us an example that we can follow, a model of how to be truly human, a guide that will enable us to become everything God called and created us to be. Man, we can’t go wrong if we get in the habit of asking, “What would Jesus do?” And I’ll tell you, I think this was exactly what Jesus told his disciple to act when, right before his arrest and trial and crucifixion, he said this to them:

My children, I will be with you for only a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but you won’t find me. I tell you just as I told the people, “You cannot go where I am going.” But I am giving you a new command. You must love each other, just as I have loved you. If you love each other, everyone will know that you are my disciples. [John 13:31b-35, CEV]

You see, right here and right now, we can decide to love others as we’ve been loved by God. And I’ll tell you, right along with having freedom and hope, through Jesus Christ, we also have direction. And in my opinion, that’s why preserving the truth is important.

Which leaves us with “how,” how might we actually do it? I mean, since we know that Jesus is the truth and since, through him, we have freedom and hope and direction, how can we see that the truth doesn’t just get lost among all the other stuff that’s fighting to get our attention in the world now-a-days? In other words, how can we preserve the truth?

Well, for me, it comes down to us deciding to do two things. I mean, on one hand, it means that we’re going to protect the truth, and I’m talking about protecting it from error and distortion. And I’ll tell you, that may be a whole lot more challenging than it may seem on the surface. You see, there are a lot of crazy ideas floating around in our world. And just because someone has attached the name “Jesus” to them, man it doesn’t mean they have anything to do with the Bible or with Christianity. And so, in order to protect the truth, we might need to learn a little more about what the truth is, and that might demand some time and effort on our part. But I’ll tell you, it’ll be worth it. As a matter of fact, the more we study the Word of God and consider how we can apply that word within our lives, the less likely we’ll find ourselves in the situation Paul had to deal with in the Galatian churches when he wrote this:

I am shocked that you have so quickly turned from God, who chose you with his gift of undeserved grace. You have believed another message, when there is really only one true message. But some people are causing you trouble and want to make you turn away from the good news about Christ. I pray that God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from our message to you! It doesn’t matter if that person is one of us or an angel from heaven. I have said it before, and I will say it again. I hope God will punish anyone who preaches anything different from what you have already believed. [Galatians 1:6-9, CEV]

You see, on one hand, I think preserving involves protecting the truth.

But I’ll tell you, on the other hand, I think it also requires some active and intentional promotion on our part. In other words, we may best preserve the truth by sharing it with as many people as we can. And you know, when you think about it, that just makes sense. I mean, the more people understand the truth, the more likely they’ll be to believe it and to apply it to their lives. And since, as we’ve talked about in the past, we can share the good news through the words we say and the works we do and the attitudes we show, this is a job we can all do together. And you know, when we do, when we decide to take what was given to us and share it with others, we’ll actually be doing the very last thing Jesus commanded his disciples to do. You see, right before his ascension, he said this:

But the Holy Spirit will come upon you and give you power. Then you will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and everywhere in the world.” After Jesus had said this and while they were watching, he was taken up into a cloud. They could not see him, but as he went up, they kept looking up into the sky. [ Acts 1:8-10, CEV]

You see, we can decide to protect and promote. And for me, that’s how we can preserve the truth.

Of course, since we’re in an election year, I have no doubt that there’ll be all kinds of folks who’ll claim to offer their own version of the truth. And while some of it may be pretty accurate, a lot will be pure baloney. Of course, that won’t prevent some sincere men and women from eating it up like my Uncle Chuck at an “all you can eat” buffet, while the rest of us, more likely than not, we’ll end up a little confused and a whole lot frustrated. I guess you could say that the truth just ain’t what it used to be.

But as it relates to the church, I’m telling you, it hasn’t changed in nearly two thousand years. You see, Jesus was, is and will always be the truth. That’s what it is. And through Jesus, we have freedom and hope and direction, and that’s why it’s important. And when we decide to protect and promote it, well, that’s how we can preserve it. And for me, that’s what the preservation of the truth is all about.