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“If
you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the
truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
Keidyne,
this is your confirmation verse. I chose
it for you because I have taught you the truth from God’s word; because you
have learned the truth as it is laid out in Luther’s Small Catechism; and
because this morning you will confess that you believe this truth to be the
only thing that saves you and gives you eternal salvation. It is a beautiful passage of Scripture. And the word truth itself is also a beautiful
word that should ring sweet in our ears.
In Greek, the word even has a beautiful sound to it: ἀλήθεια.
In your confirmation verse, Jesus uses this word ἀλήθεια three times. You wouldn’t notice it right away because of
how it’s translated into English. But we
could also say it like this: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My
disciples, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Jesus
makes a big deal of truth, and by saying this word three times like this, he
reminds us of our Baptism where he made us inheritors of his life by joining us
to the triune name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are true children of God. What distinguishes a child of God from a
child of hell is that a child of God knows the truth.
Truth
is the most precious thing that you can possess. It consists of certainty and confidence in
the face of uncertainty and worry. And
what truth is available to us in this world?
Nothing is certain. Everything
changes. People’s opinions, political
correctness, styles, friends, loyalties – everything is constantly
changing. Even the world’s definition of
right and wrong is constantly being rewritten to match the sins that are
popular. People pretend to know the
truth and even act as though what they say is unquestionable – as though it has
always been the case. But they believe
all sorts of lies, and they will believe different lies tomorrow.
Truth,
however, is inflexible. It doesn’t
change. It does not cater to what we
might want to believe. It simply
requires all hearts to believe. To those
who want to believe lies, this claim of ours to have the unbending, unchanging truth
sounds a little ridged. We are called
bigots and closed-minded and intolerant, because we say we know the truth. But for us who want to know for sure how God
regards us, and where we stand before him who judges the living and the dead,
there is nothing that can compel us to give it up. The truth makes us truly free. That pretty word ἀλήθεια literally means, something that
can’t be hidden. In the end, the truth
will be revealed and all lies will be exposed for what they are.
In
the meantime, people try to ignore the truth.
Here is a little social experiment to demonstrate. If you ask a group of people whether it is
really important that they know the truth, they might say such things as, “The truth is whatever you feel is right,”
or “What is true for one person might not
be true for another.” Or they might
just dismiss truth altogether and say, “As
long as you’re sincere and happy, it’s not really important what people call
truth.” Poor truth. No one cares about you. They redefine you. They treat you like you are just an imaginary
creature that everyone can design in his own mind. Poor truth.
Well,
naturally this is what happens when truth becomes just an idea. If truth is just an idea, then who are we to
insist that everyone give it the same shape as we? Then we could say with Pontius Pilate to
Jesus: “What is truth?” But
truth is not just an idea waiting for someone to describe it. Truth is a living and active reality that
stands whether anyone recognizes it or not.
Truth is eternal. And truth has
been given to us as a precious gift from heaven. Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Truth
is personal. To demonstrate this, let’s
continue with our social experiment.
Let’s ask those same people who dismissed the importance of truth – when
it was just an idea – whether they think it is important that people know the
truth about them. Does it matter if everyone believes a lie about you? Now suddenly the truth becomes important. It takes on a definite shape and form and becomes
worthy of being defended. Sure, lots of
people will still say they don’t care: “As
long as I know who I am it doesn’t matter what others say or think about me.” Oh sure.
Some small peace of mind this gives!
But they are not telling the truth.
They are lying to themselves and they know it. They care very much what other people think
and believe about them. That is why they
present themselves as cool or smart or as popular as possible. And as they get older they will become
increasingly concerned about being righteous – that is, being without fault or
blame before others. They want people to
think highly of them. When truth gets
personal, it suddenly matters a great deal!
Yet,
how much more personal can truth get than when we ask how God thinks about us – what God
believes and says about you? In the end it’s true that it doesn’t matter
whether everyone believes lies about you.
You can rise above it! But it
most certainly does matter that you
know the truth about how God sees
you, what God believes about
you.
When
people are unsure how others regard them, they get desperate. They try to please the crowd. And then when their efforts fail, they just give
up and say that truth doesn’t matter anyway.
“What I think and feel! That’s all that
matters! Forget them!” And we can hardly blame them. Who wants to be constantly at the mercy of
mean people who think and believe mean things?
But
then people do the same thing with God.
They are so unsure and desperate for God’s approval that they eventually
say, “Forget about what is truth! I’ll invent my own truth. To me, God would do this and wouldn’t
do that…” They think that in this
way they have freed themselves from the terrible fear of uncertainty and
judgment. “I cannot know,” they figure, “so
it is best to say that nobody can know.” What a load off the chest! Forget the struggle. Dismiss the notion that there are any such
things as truth and falsehood. Just go
with the flow and don’t worry about such unsure things.
By
denying any real truth, people think that they have come to know some form of
peace. But this is only the peace that
the world can give. It is a peace that
assures you that if you are the best person you can be according to your own
standards, you will be fine. “Be true to yourself,” they say. “That’ll
do the trick.” But this peace that
the world gives is a false and disappointing peace for two reasons:
First, it
never really satisfies. It’s like a Band-Aid
on a gunshot wound. Instead of addressing
the real need for peace with God, it covers it up. But it leaves the conscience in doubt. And if it is in doubt, it is constantly fighting
against the judgment of God. It is at
constant war. It is impossible to trust
in God if you are not certain of how he regards you.
The
second reason that such peace is disappointing is that it is based on a
lie. It simply isn’t true. One can easily convince himself, but that
doesn’t make it so. Jesus says that
whoever sins is a slave of sin. We need
Jesus to set us free because only he is without sin. The only thing that can give us true peace is
the truth that for Jesus’ sake we are truly free from God’s judgment.
Jesus
promises to send the Spirit of truth. “He is coming soon,” Jesus says. But another spirit is coming as well: the ruler
of this world. The devil rules this
world by telling the lies that the world wants to believe. The world wants to be freed from guilt and
blame by pointing to something that they have done. The devil offers them just this. He convinces people that the source of peace
is found within. And so he directs
troubled sinners who cannot put off the shackles of their spiritual slavery to
the very sin that enslaves them. The
devil has nothing in Christ. He seeks to
steal you away from him who gives true peace.
But
over and over, Jesus teaches us how to resist this devil’s lies. He gives us his word. You have learned this word. And I speak to all of you. And yet, Keidyne, I speak to you: look! All these who have long come to know the truth that sets them free
return again and again to hear it. They
know it. But they need it. “If you abide in My word, you are
truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you
free.” Jesus did not say these
words to those who did not know him, who had not heard him. He spoke these words to those Jews who
believed in him. And so now he speaks
them to you who will soon swear you do: “If you abide in My word, you will know the
truth.”
Knowing
the truth is not getting all the right answers one time – like you did last
Sunday. Knowing the truth is more than
storing away a bunch of facts about God in your brain. Knowing the truth requires that you recognize
your constant need for it. It requires
that you know where you are and who prowls around to devour you with
lies. It is to know what you are, and all your weaknesses, and how much you need what
only Jesus can give. Jesus gives you his
word. He wants you to abide in his word. This means remain in it. Keep hearing it. Make your home
in it. And what word is this?
Jesus
says that the word you hear is not his, but the Father’s who sent him. What does this mean? It means that the word that you are to abide
in is the word of the Father to his Son – his command to lay down his life for
you. It was the Father’s will to place
all your sin on his eternal Son so that he could give and count to you all of
his Son’s obedience. It is the word that
Jesus took for truth because it came to him from our God. It is the word that exposes your sin. And yet it is the word that required Jesus to
pay the penalty in your place. It is the
word that tells you it is finished. It
is the word that actually delivers what is true. It speaks to you of what has truly taken
place. Your sins are paid for. You are righteous in God’s sight. And though you find no peace in this world of
lies, you have peace with God who cannot deceive you.
Everything
God teaches you is for this purpose. He
does not teach you tidbits or factoids.
He teaches you his word that overcomes the devil and makes you his
child. We cling to everything God says
because we know that it is by abiding – remaining
– in his word that we will always know the truth that sets us free from sin,
from death, from a bad conscience, and from God’s judgment.
Today
is Pentecost. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit
in order to teach us the truth. He
teaches us not only to know the truth, but to believe it and treasure it. He teaches us to love what Jesus gives us
more than we love what this world has to offer.
Because only what Jesus gives us lasts forever. Only what Jesus gives us is from our loving
Father who wants to make his home in us so that we will live with him forever. He wants to abide with us. And so we abide in him. We remain with God by keeping his word.
And
we do so by hearing it. We do so by
doing what he tells us to do. He tells
sinners who cannot find peace in themselves to find peace in Jesus. He tells you to take and eat & drink the
body and blood of him who cancels your guilt and guarantees you that God does
not fight against you, but for you.
This
is true Spirit-filled worship.
Spirit-filled worship is not where your emotions are excited and you are
drawn into yourself. That is not where
truth is found. Beware. Do not look for this experience. It will deceive you. But Jesus will not. Spirit-filled worship is where the truth of
God’s word brings Jesus to you and you to Jesus. This is how he gives you peace. He demands nothing of you. He gives you everything.
Amen,
amen, which means this is most certainly true!
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