The Great Ends of the Church: Truth

II Timothy 3:14 - 4:5

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

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Introduction

There's something I haven't gotten out of my head since coming back from Scotland, and it's a quote from Isaac Newton written on the side of a two-pound coin. The quote comes from a letter Newton wrote to his rival Robert Hooke; he says, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." "Standing on the shoulders of giants" is a metaphor, which means that one can gain understanding thanks to the academics, philosophers, and thinkers who came, for their work makes intellectual achievements possible. Our perception of truth and quest for knowledge does not happen inside a vacuum. And our desire to lay a firm foundation relies on selecting ground prepared by those who helped establish the essential truths of our world. 

However, it would appear that people are starving for a word of truth. Or perhaps it would be better to say that people are looking for something sure or steadfast. If that's the case, we'll quickly discover that it appears there is no consensus as to what is a foundational truth. One day, an economist says there's going to be a recession (another says no, things are actually getting better). On another day, a popular diet will state it's the best (while on a different day, it might be said it's incredibly unhealthy). "The preservation of truth" is the great end we look at today. And while there is much that appears uncertain, there is one thing we can count on: the Word of God. 

In our reading, Paul states three ways believers can tap into the truth of God's Word: understanding the authority of Scripture, the active role of Scripture, and the practice of Scripture in our daily lives. 

By Whose Authority?

While it may seem like people from all walks of life have been wrestling with questions regarding truth (especially over the last few years), it is a crisis that has existed throughout history. Take, for example, Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," in which Plato tells of prisoners who knew only one reality, and when one escaped discovering the truth, they went back to reveal what they saw. Yet the remaining prisoners do not believe and refuse to leave the cave. In many ways, we are like prisoners. We know only the truths we have created for ourselves in our postmodern world (created bubbles that amplify the voices and opinions we want to hear). And the one who speaks the truth is the Word of God in the prophets and the disciples who carry on in that same work today. 

Notice how Jesus models the authority of Scripture for us. While tempted in the desert, the tempter asks Jesus to turn stones into loaves of bread. Now Jesus doesn't say, "Well, according to the latest studies, bread isn't that healthy," or "My party doesn't stand for turning bread into stone because that's a crime" (I don't know, you get the gist). Jesus tells the tempter, "Man does not live by bread alone." (Matthew 4) Jesus turns to the Scripture, the Word of God, for answers and the needed truth. The Word of God is inspired and written by human hands (in different times and cultures), but all God-breathed. In our world, where people are turning to x, y, and z, we have the steadfast Word of God that continues to speak new truths to our yearning hearts. 

The Role of Scripture

In the reading from II Timothy, Paul highlights five roles (five activities) that Scripture plays in our quest for truth: salvation, teaching, reproof, correction, and training. These roles are built upon an assumption that those who are hungry for the Word of God would commit themselves to the training and discipline necessary to follow the life way of God. Whether we are mature in our faith or just starting, it is our responsibility to seek counsel and wisdom from the Word of God. While we can turn to the truths learned from general revelation (the absolutes in our world), we must turn to Scripture if we are to become wise and allow Scripture to teach us, correct us, and train us for our as God's hands and feet. 

Living Truth

While we talk about preserving truth, the reality is that talk is not enough. It is not enough to study Scripture; we must flesh them out to see how they play out in our daily lives. We need just as much heart as we do head knowledge. Paul even tells this to Timothy, that spending time in Scripture (God's truth) is a means to prepare us "so everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." If we read our Bibles, we would hear God's; we would follow God's charge to be stewards of the earth; we would hear God speaking through the prophets to care for the foreigner, the widows, and the orphans; and we would hear the truth of God that speaks the truth of God's love for all people and all creation. We can read these truths in our Bible, which is good, but we must also be willing to put them into practice. 

Conclusion

You know that emptiness is a theme in Western and Eastern philosophies and religions. In the West, we tend to view emptiness as a deficit (we associate it with addiction and loss). In the East, emptiness is viewed as a critical component of spiritual enlightenment (we cast off earthly attachments in our pursuit of spiritual truth). What if emptiness was somewhere in-between? What if emptiness was not a negative trait, and what if emptiness was not the end goal of our spiritual journey? Because in the void, there is room for something else; there is room for the light and life of God's truth. 

How many of us have Bibles sitting on our shelves with dust on them? How many of us are quick to turn to what our favorite politician, social media influence, magazine, doctor, etc., has to say about a particular topic but fails to consider what is written in the Word of God? Perhaps we should take this challenge to "preserve truth" by picking up the Word of God and reading it, spending time with it. Will we allow the Word of God to inform us and guide us in our daily lives? If so, we open ourselves to be vessels of God's grace and ready to carry out every good work of God.