The Nature of Truth and Reality Part 1
April 26, 2015
On the one hand, a message on the nature of truth may seem unnecessary for this church,
in that we have emphasized this concept over the years. On the other hand, if we ever
become indifferent or careless about this most important topic, then we are in danger, as
Paul states to the Corinthian believers, of having our “minds led astray from the
simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). This morning, let us consider
not only this simple but profound question, “What is truth?”, but also, “What priority
should it have for us?”
Please pray with me. “Father, we are not here to be entertained or merely to be
stimulated intellectually. Rather, we desperately need You as Holy Spirit to penetrate
into our hearts in a way that will transform us more into conformity with Yourself and
Your will for our lives. Please illumine our minds and hearts with deeper understanding
concerning the priority of Your truth, to the praise of Your glory. Amen.”
We might assume the word “truth” represents a simple concept easily defined by most.
Instead, we actually find a widespread confusion when it comes to individuals being able
to give truth a consistent and defensible definition. Let me illustrate this confusion and
the importance of this question, “What is truth,” by sharing this clip from Focus on the
Family’s excellent Truth Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvKOgCrag8
(play from 1:09: Ravi Zacharias to 4:30: end of Os Guiness comments).
Os Guiness makes the profound point that we see within the professing Christian
community an increasing erosion of clear thinking about Biblical truth. According to a
number of surveys, the majority of professing Christians – some surveys put it as high as
75 to 80% -- reject the notion of truth as being objective and absolute. Instead, truth is
seen as a construct of one’s individual perceptions, opinions, and belief.
Of this drift away from Biblical truth, even by professing Christians, Francis Schaeffer
made this observation as long ago as the 1980’s: Having turned away from the
knowledge given by God, man has now lost the whole Christian culture. In Europe,
including England, it took many years – in the United States only few decades…
Today if you distributed a questionnaire, you would find that most of the people you
asked would have little or no concept of true Christianity…. Now we are in an
absolute minority.
It is just here, where we find secular culture pressing in upon our thinking, that we cannot
be muddle-headed as Christians. Os Guiness calls our thinking about truth as the most
important issue for Christians. I would say it like this: My first loyalty is to truth
rather than even to Jesus Christ. That is, if Jesus Christ and Christianity are not
one and the same with the truth, then I cannot honestly embrace either.
If I were to give a simple, working definition for this term truth, I would say that it is an
accurate representation and description of reality – what actually is. In this context,
truth and reality are synonymous. And contrary to popular opinion, something is not
actually true for the individual simply because he sincerely believes it to be true or is
committed to it by faith. That is, one’s belief and commitment do little good if the object
of that faith and commitment is actually false. As Dallas Willard observes, Reality does
not adjust itself to accommodate our false beliefs … [our] acting on false or
ungrounded beliefs or inadequate information [about truth] leads to destructive
encounters with reality. Dallas Willard I can sincerely and passionately believe any
number of things about the brick walls we see in this room, including that I can run
through them; but if I do not act consistently with the actual nature of these walls, then
my head will be bloodied every time I run into them because of my erroneous beliefs
about their reality. Furthermore, this nature of objective reality helps reinforce a further
conclusion about truth: if one thing is true, then anything that contradicts that true must,
of necessity, be false. Truth about the brick wall is not relative to each of us; there is
only one reality, and anything that contradicts that reality is false.
When Os Guiness observes that the question, “What is truth,” is the most important issue
confronting each of us, he is doing more than merely stating his opinion. Jesus Himself
stated: To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should
bear witness unto the truth. John 18:37 If we take away the fundamental premise that
truth represents absolute reality, then anything we say about Jesus Christ and Christianity
is mere empty verbiage devoid of meaningful content. The claim of Jesus Christ is that
His statements about truth are accurate statements about reality as it actually is.
DELETE RED SECTIONS:
But Biblical truth is more than merely accurate statements about the reality. Jesus said of
Himself … I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but
through Me. John 14:6 This is profound, because we see that Biblical truth is not
merely a religious system or philosophy. Rather, it is ultimately Personal as summed up
in Jesus Christ, whom John describes as being full of -- the ultimate expression of –
grace and truth. In this context, then, we have what many consider some the most
profound words ever written: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory … full of grace and truth … the only begotten God (who
became human) has explained God to us [in human terms]. John 1:1, 14, 18
I want us to think for a moment about the profoundness of these words and their utter
uniqueness in human history. Throughout his existence, finite man has looked for the
bedrock that can give meaning and purpose to his life. Every philosophy and religion,
without exception, falls short in giving man any thoroughly consistent answers for
knowing with certainty the true meaning of his life. At best, man is left drifting in an
infinite universe with only his finite, vain speculations. Thus, it is just here that
Christianity gives us the only possible answer for how man can know “true truth” about
the meaning of his existence. Rather than starting with man, Christianity starts with the
infinite, personal God. As being infinite, He is big enough to be Absolute Truth; as
Personal, He communicates with man in the most personal manner possible – through
Himself becoming human – and speaking to us in human terms that we can understand.
Thus, when Jesus states: “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the
world, that I should bear witness unto the truth,” we can appreciate that we have a certain
basis for knowing the truth that gives absolute purpose and direction to our lives. This is
not truth based upon our opinion, preference, or sincerity of our faith. Rather, this is
objective, absolute truth as defined clearly by God Himself.
Furthermore, this truth as communicated by Christ is knowable to the human mind in
rational, understandable terms. Let me illustrate this point by considering the Acts
account of Paul proclaiming the gospel to King Agrippa, Beatrice, and Festus. After
listening to Paul for a time, Festus cries out: “Paul, you are out of your mind. Your great
learning has caused you to go mad!” But Paul responds: I am not out of my mind, most
excellent Festus, but I utter words of sober truth, rationality, and soundness of mind.
Acts 26:25 NAS/Lexicon In the context of our secular culture, we must understand that
the gospel is not a message primarily about religious experiences some people have, or a
warm, fuzzy, feel-good panacea to cater to one’s preferences. Rather, it is a message of
substantial content that is rooted in rational truth that interfaces with the rational, human
mind. Peter reinforces this concept of the gospel as intellectually sensible when he
exhorts his readers to Always be ready to give a logical defense to anyone who asks
you to account for the hope that is in you … . 1 Peter 3:15 AMP While it is true that
God is ineffable – meaning that His infinite Being is ultimately unknowable to our finite
minds – we must at the same time understand that He has clearly and definitively made
Himself knowable to us with a limited knowledge, but a knowledge that humans can
grasp with certainty and accuracy. The Christian doctrine of God is based upon His
revelation and is no mere human speculation or theory.
Now let me make a very important qualification. We all know that knowledge of the truth
about God through Jesus Christ is far more than merely the rational and logical. As I
know my wife in a deeply personal manner that transcends mere “head knowledge,” so I
know God relationally in a personal manner that also goes beyond my head knowledge.
But just here is where we get it wrong if we deemphasize the necessity of rational truth
about God. Schaeffer says it like this: It is therefore most important to get the balance
between the truly rational, on the one hand, and the involvement of the whole man
at every level on the other, as something which flows on from the first. Much can be
added to the rational, but if we give up the rational, everything will be lost. Why is
this? Again, Schaeffer makes a vital observation: Do I really believe Christianity is
truth, or does my Christianity rests only on an experience, an emotion-and when the
experience, the emotion, cools, my Christianity collapses? That is, we see large
numbers of our youth and the larger American evangelical community basing their
Christianity upon their personal preferences for what they want their religion to mean for
them and how the perceive, in their own eyes, how God ought to be, and upon their
subjective feelings and individual religious experience. And when the emotions cool,
when the personal preferences are deflated, when the experience wanes, so does faith. Or
when persecution and trial come, as they surely do, then personal preference, feeling, and
experience are found to be a poor faith foundation. And we see this all around us in the
very shallow, self-centered mindset that so many have toward religion, in general, and
Christianity, more specifically.
Of the importance of rational truth in relation to our faith, let us consider some verses
from Romans 1. Paul writes: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
… men who suppress the truth … because that which is known about God is
[logically, sensibly] evident within them, for God made it [reasonably] obvious to
them … so that they are without excuse … . Though they knew God (through the
compelling evidence by which they were surrounded), they did not honor God [and,
as a result], they became futile in their thinking (with vain imaginings, foolish
reasoning, and stupid speculations) and their senseless minds became darkened and
deceived. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie … Therefore God gave them
over to the lusts of their hearts … . Rom 1:18-25 (NAS/AMP/Paraphrase Let me
ask some questions and you supply the answers:
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Why are they without excuse? Because of the compelling evidence that appeals to
the rational mind.
What was their essential sin? The rejection of clear-cut, reasonable truth.
What was the outcome of their rejection of truth? Being given over – released by
God – to the logical consequences of their own choice to worship the lusts of their
hearts rather than the Creator. Romans 1 and 2 is a catalogue of consequences.
Schaeffer states: Men do know the truth and yet deliberately turned away (Romans
1:21, 22). Sadly enough, there is a kind of anti-intellectualism among many
Christians; spirituality is falsely pitted against intellectual comprehension in that
they stand [seemingly at odds]. Such anti-intellectualism cuts away at the very heart
of the Christian message.
Jesus stated: If you abide in My word (teaching), then you are truly disciples of Mine;
and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. John 8:31-32 This
is not intellectualism, but it is, nevertheless, a function of the mind and intellect – as Paul
states, … we are transformed by the renewing of the mind (intellect) … . Rom 12:2
Jesus prayed to the Father: Sanctify [us] in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou
didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. John
17:17-20 We are not set apart into primarily some religious experience, but first and
foremost into the hardcore truth about God as revealed through the content of the gospel.
This is truth that is to interface with and permeate our intellect. Of this truth, Jesus
stated: when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth …
John 16:13 Therefore, this is not a function of one’s level of education, but of one’s
relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit can illumine any
human mind with His truth regardless of one’s level of education.
Furthermore, Jesus stated: the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and
truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. … God is spirit, and
those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:23-25 Do we
understand that people from various religions speak in tongues, worship their version of
God through song, and even experience warm, subjective fuzzies as a result? But there is
no true worship of God apart from doing so “in truth.” We cannot overemphasize the
priority of our faith being rooted and grounded in this Biblical concept of truth as
described this morning.
Let me share this strong admonition for each of us. Paul writes concerning the day of
the Lord (the return of Christ) … that it will not come unless the apostasy comes
first … 2 Thess 2:2:2-3 Apostasy is an interesting word used sparingly in the Bible. It
essentially means a falling away – a defection from truth. Strong’s Concordance
Many commentators would agree that in the very end of times, there will be a seemingly
great defection of professing believers as genuine faith in Christ becomes far more costly
because of difficult times. Jesus may have been describing the very last days before His
return when He stated: For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show
great signs and wonders, so as to mislead (from the truth), if possible, even the elect.
Matt 24:24-25 This great spirit of deception will be so powerful that, unless something
else even more powerful is at work, even the elect would be deceived. But whether or
not we stand on the very cusp of the end of times, the spirit of lawlessness has been at
work throughout history. Francis Schaeffer observes: Jeremiah spoke out expressly
against apostasy [in his day]. And here is a hallmark of our own generation, one that
shows that the church today has been infiltrated by relativism, the concept of
synthesis (where we view many religions as equally “true” and valid. … More and
more since the 1930s the church has ceased to use the word apostasy… Nevertheless,
on the basis of the word of God, there is such a thing as apostasy; and when we see a
real turning away from God, we’re not faithful to the word of God unless we call it
what it is.
And why did and do professing believers get sucked into these destructive doctrines and
heresies and, as a result, fall away from the truth? Paul explains why in 2 Thessalonians:
because they did not [passionately] receive the love of the truth – [therefore], they
are banished to their chosen world of lies and illusions. 2 Thess 2:12 NAS/Message
In his Screwtape Letters, where C. S. Lewis depicts a hierarchy of demons who are
attempting to lead Christians astray, the head demon Screwtape is mentoring his nephew
Wormwood in how to effectively lead his specially assigned Christian astray. Screwtape
says to Wormwood: God wants humans to be free lovers of Him and each other.
Therefore, He lets humans stand on their own. It is during such tough periods,
much more than during the peak periods, that [the human] is growing into the sort
of creature God wants it to be. Hence the prayers offered in the state of dryness are
those which please Him best."
He goes on the say: He wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away
His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there He is pleased even with their
stumbles. Do not be deceived, Wormwood. Our cause is never more in danger than
when a human, no longer desiring, but still intending, to do our Enemy's will, looks
round upon the universe from which every trace of Him seems to have vanished, and
asks why he has been forsaken, and still obeys.
Such obedience can only take place, by the grace of God, when our faith is based upon
the bedrock of truth. Religious sentiments, preferences, opinions, feelings, etc., will all
prove inadequate in such situations. Only personal conviction as concerns the truth of
God will prove adequate, in the grace of God, to sustain us in the difficult times to come.
Are you lukewarm in your commitment and passion for the truth? Close with thoughts
from Revelation 3. Run to Christ and ask Him to give you a deep passion and love for
His truth … for Himself!
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