Tag Archives: Truth

Seeds of Truth

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Jesus frequently left people scratching their heads, trying to figure out what He meant.  But when He told the parable of the sower (see: Sow What) he explained what it meant:

“Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path. The one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away. The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:18-23)

Jesus was talking about you – “anyone,” He said, anyone who hears the message about the Kingdom.  And that’s you.  The message of the Kingdom is the message of Jesus, how He came to give people eternal life.  But there’s a couple of things to pay attention to.  First, it’s not simply hearing the message, but how you process it that makes all the difference.

Next, it’s important to realize that when the message is not understood, it bounces  off  hearts have become hardened to it.  But it does not simply lie there.  Jesus said it is “snatched away” by the “evil one.”  There is a very real battle going on over your heart and soul.  Another name for the “evil one” is “the father of lies.”  If you turn away the truth, you open yourself up to believe lies.

Thirdly, receiving the message with an emotional rush – perhaps joy – is frequently ineffective, because sooner or later the joy wears off.  Trouble comes (because of the real battle for your heart) and the joy fades.  If you latched onto Jesus because you think He will always make you happy, you will inevitably be left empty and disillusioned.  This is important to know, since so many people try to use emotionalism to convince people about Jesus.  Watch out for that.  The message of the Kingdom makes sense when you truly understand it.  You don’t need to be manipulated into believing it.

You should note that some receive the message but the “deceitfulness of wealth” and various worries of life choke it.  Jesus said you cannot worship God and money.  Again, there is a battle going on, and the evil one wants you to think you will be happy if you are rich.  Some people have a tenuous grasp of the truth but they let go of it to chase money.  Pay attention.

The only seed that matters to a farmer is the one that grows, matures and produces a crop.  The only “planting” of the message about Jesus that makes any difference, ultimately, is the one that results in life (the birth of the Holy Spirit in a soul), growth (heartfelt changes that emerge from the Spirit’s life inside) and a “crop” (new life in Christ is infectious, it rubs off on others.)

There is a lot to ponder in this parable and its explanation.  Taking the time to understand it is well worth it.

Quotes from: The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

The Path to Freedom

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When he pushed a 2×4 into the bear trap, the huge, rusty, steel jaws of that thing snapped shut, breaking that piece of lumber like a toothpick.   Everyone in that football stadium, attending Promise Keepers, flinched from the violent sound of it.  Then a father and his son were invited up onto the stage.  The son was blindfolded while a few bear traps were placed in the middle of the stage.  The father then called to his son, telling him to listen to his instructions as he walked across the stage.  At one point, as the kid was heading right toward a trap, the father shouted, “STOP!”   He did stop.  He followed his father’s spoken instructions, eventually winding up safely in his father’s embrace.  As you can imagine, this object lesson was indelibly pressed upon us that day.

Jesus said,

“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

We are blindfolded from the truth in this earthly life, deceived by our limited understanding and false assumptions.  We stumble through life, unknowingly and inevitably heading toward peril.  That is, unless we “hold to” the teaching of Jesus.  It’s not enough to hear Him say, “STOP!”  Holding to His teaching means also responding to what He says.  If we do, Jesus says, we will “know the truth and the truth will set [us] free.”   Real freedom comes to us when we carefully follow the instructions spoken to us by the One Who knows where the traps are.  Real freedom is the path that leads to the full embrace of our Father.

July 4th is the day we celebrate freedom in this country.  According to our Declaration of Independence, we believe all people have been “endowed by their Creator” with the “unalienable right”  to liberty or freedom.  Such freedom may be our right but it is not guaranteed to those who refuse to listen and respond to the Creator.  It is those who “hold to [His] teaching” who “know the truth” and are thereby set free.

No Lie

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Jesus knew He would be tortured to death within the next several hours. He knew the men around Him had left everything behind to follow Him, that soon they would be consumed by a tsunami of terror and grief. He had one last chance to speak with them. It was time for straight talk. Here’s what He began with:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-4a)

In effect, He said:
A. No matter what happens, don’t panic; God is trustworthy and so am I
B. I am going to fix it so that we can live together with God forever.
C. It really is true that God’s “house” has “rooms” (literally, places for people to move in and live forever).
D. There is no way I would lie to you about this at a time like this.
E. I’ve got to leave you, but I will come back for you.

All of that is comforting. It sounds like what a loving father might say to his family just before he leaves to immigrate to a new country where they will be safe, and where he will bring them as soon as he has a job and a place to live. “Don’t worry! I will come back for you!” Comforting.

But then Jesus said:

“You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:4b)

You can imagine how that comment raised anxious questions:

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:5-6 )

Jesus wasn’t lying about any of that, either.

Honesty

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It is okay to lie, as long as you have your fingers crossed. At least that was the rule we had as kids. Now the rule is: you can lie, as long as you explain it in the fine print. That’s what they told you when you filed that insurance claim, right? In Jesus’ day they had rules about lying, too. Everyone assumed you were shading the truth, unless you took an oath. The extent to which you could lie under oath (government officials, listen up!) was determined by what you were swearing by. If it was something sacred or highly valuable, then you had to mostly tell the truth. If not… well, then the rules loosened up a bit.

Jesus blasted through all this insanity by saying;

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
 (Matthew 5:33-37)

Say what you mean and mean what you say. God’s design is for people to tell the truth. Imagine that! Sounds easy, until you consider all of our unwritten rules for “white lies.” But imagine a world in which “Do I look fat in this?” was a real request for honest input, and there was no implied compulsion for a reply that was anything other than the truth. Much easier, much more relaxed, I think. I have lived in cities where everyone assumed you were likely to lie (two forms of id, please…). I’ve lived in small towns where everyone assumed you were telling the truth. I’ll take the latter, any day.

The startling thing here is Jesus’ assertion that anything less comes from Satan, the evil one. Next time you lie (statistics say adults do so on average about 3 times an hour!) think deeply about the root of your motives. See if “the evil one” isn’t peeking out from behind them…

Tell the truth.

Gimme a Scroll Bar!

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Were you surprised the government couldn’t run a website as well as Amazon does?  Not me.  The first time I filed my taxes online, I remember you had to click on a big button that said SUBMIT!  Submit, indeed…   But once I pushed the button, the screen went blank and nothing seemed to be happening.  For a long, long time.  Freaked me out, because I wasn’t sure if they got my return or not.  I wondered if I should shut off the computer and try again or if that would ruin everything.  There was no way for me to know because nobody at the IRS thought to program in a little scroll bar – you know that little green, line thingy that shows you the download progress when you order a new app or song?  it lets you know everything is okay.  Don’t panic; just wait.   That scroll bar has probably done more for mental health than psychiatry has.  It’s nice to have some real time feedback to let you know that everything is proceeding in the right way.

There is a “scroll bar” for Jesus.  Think about it:  How can you be sure, once you have put your faith in Jesus, that anything has changed?  How can you know that by believing in Jesus you really do have eternal life?   John said you can know in three ways:  First, you can know because Jesus came all the way down to where you are – all the way down to stand in the waters of baptism  (See “All the Way – Part 1″).  Secondly, you can know because Jesus went all the way to the Cross – giving His life, spending His blood – which no one would do unless it was going to work (See “All the Way – Part 2” and “What’s Love (or Justice) Got to do with It?“).

But you can know in a third way, too.  God gives us a scroll bar, too – something to let us know everything is okay – don’t panic.  God gives us real time evidence that we have been connected to Him forever.

This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.  (1 John 5:6 )

The Spirit shows us day by day, in real time, that we are alive in Christ.  He is like a scroll bar.  Obviously, He is a lot more than just evidence that everything is working, but the fact that He testifies – continuously – is important.  We don’t need to wonder if trusting Jesus is really effective.  We don’t need to wonder if we have eternal life.  The Spirit shows us.

Here’s the rest of what John said:

For there are three that testify:  the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.   We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.   Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.   And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.  (1 John 5:7-13)

That’s the truth.  It comes with a “scroll bar.”

The Main Thing

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The teacher said, “Label these maps,” and I did that.  But some of the girls went overboard, trying to impress the teacher with how good they were.  So they colored their maps, too.  I’m still mad about it because it made me and my buddies look bad.  Got all the countries labeled right and I still got a lousy grade.

Pharisees in Jesus’ day colored their maps, too, so to speak.  They went overboard, keeping all the religious rules with strict detail.  Tried to impress God and made everybody else look like a putz.  Now, one of those Pharisee guys was also a head official in the Jewish ruling council.  Double toady.  But he got curious about Jesus, and went to see Him secretly, late at night.  He thought Jesus would be impressed with how good he was.  But Jesus flunked him, said he’d never make it, not the way he was.

Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again [literally – “born from above“].’  The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  (John 3:5-8  my added note)

It’s not about how hard you try to keep the rules.  The main thing is the Spirit of God, living in your soul.  How does that happen?  The Spirit gives birth to the Spirit.  It happens when you accept Jesus’ offer of complete forgiveness and reconciliation with God.  Then He gives you the Spirit.  Alive.  Inside.   Because this is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, God and Jesus take up residence in your soul.  His words, not mine:

…I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. … On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  …   “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.   (Excerpts taken from John 14:16-23 –  Read the whole thing; it’s amazing!)

Being a Christian is not about “do this” and “don’t do that.”  It’s about surrendering to Jesus and receiving His Spirit, His eternal life.  That’s the main thing.   That is why John said:

 We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  (1 John 4:13-16 )

How about you?  Do you know what John said he knew?  Do you have God’s Spirit living in you?  If not, consider this:  If you believe that Jesus was telling the truth, that Jesus really is Who He said He was, and that He really can connect you to God by His Spirit, then ask Him.  Sincerely ask Him for His gift.  You will likely have a few other things you want to say as well – but those are between you and Him.  Ask Him for the Spirit.  You will be amazed…

Foxhole Radio

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A razor blade and a pencil!  Prisoners of war in WWII who could scrape together a razor blade and a pencil were able to construct simple radios, allowing them to hear the truth about allied advances.  Their captors lied to them about who was winning the war in order to discourage them and manipulate them into doing self-destructive things.  But hearing the truth through these “foxhole radios,” many prisoners found the strength to resist.

You and I have been “prisoners” in this world, kept in the dark and lied to by Satan, in an attempt to control us and cause us to do self-destructive things.  We don’t need a razor blade or a pencil; we need God’s Holy Spirit to “guide [us] into all truth” John 16:13.  Jesus gives this Spirit to all those who fully trust Him.

Jesus said:

 “If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.  (John 14:15-17)

Notice that the kind of trust Jesus responds to is the trust that is turned into action through obedience.  That is because Jesus’ commands tend to contradict the things the world tells us.  Who you trust is revealed by who you obey.  Also see in those verses that the Holy Spirit does not merely visit, He lives within the believer forever! This is the best part of the “Good News.”  If Jesus merely died for our sins, we would still be stuck in our same. sinful condition.  But by giving us the Holy Spirit, Jesus connects us to God in the way God designed for humans to operate.  Now we have access to the truth from within our souls, truth that contradicts the lies we are taught in the world.  (An example of a contradictory truth is Jesus’ teaching that the greatest person in a group is the one who takes the lowest position and serves the most.  Luke 22:26)

John has been living with this Spirit and knows how wonderful the difference is.  He also knows how deceptive and tempting the lies of the world are.  So John reassures believers with these words:

You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them (deceiving spirits – in verse 3), because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.  (1 John 4:4-6)

The Spirit of God is our foxhole radio.  During the war, foxhole radios only helped the prisoners if they listened to them and believed what they were hearing.  You get the point…

No Small Detail

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On Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, near Atlanta, GA, a new billboard now invites people to “Find Jesus in the Quran.”  Surprised?  Don’t be.  Most of the religions I checked have some form of belief in Jesus.  The problem is not what these religions (Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhism, Baha’i, and even some watered down versions of Christianity!) believe about Jesus, but what they do NOT believe about Him.  They believe He was a prophet, an angelic being, a wise teacher, an incarnation of love, etc.  But they do not believe that Jesus, as the Son of God, is the human manifestation of God.

What difference does that make?  It’s no small detail, but a make or break essential.  Here is what this “wise teacher” said about Himself:

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:9b)

I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

Don’t avoid the meaning of this second, simple statement; the people who first heard it did not misunderstand what He meant.  As they picked up rocks to bash His brains out, they said they were doing so:

“… because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”  (John 10:33b)

To say that Jesus was merely a “wise teacher” is to ignore Who He claimed to be.  You can’t have a watered down version of Jesus without denying that He told the truth.  To deny Who He is, is to oppose Who He is.  Here is how John stated this blunt truth:

Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.  No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:22-23)

You might find someone called Jesus in the Quran, but you will not find The Son of God, The Savior in that book.  Make sure you know Who He really is!

Personal note:  Thanks for waiting; we had a great time visiting kids and grand-kids for Thanksgiving, arriving back in Colorado just as the state became freeze-dried by an arctic blast.  Brrrrrrrr…

Light Reading

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This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5)

What is Light?   To a physicist light is electromagnetic radiation, radiant energy shining out from a source.  If you are lost at night, light is hope.  Artists know light as the ultimate medium.  A philosopher might equate light with truth.  A mechanic needs light to know why your car makes that screeching sound. A prisoner in solitary knows light is life.

John says God is light – completely.  There is nothing of God that resembles darkness at all.  Consider:

Morally, light is perfect righteousness, absolute purity:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,  Isaiah 5:20a

God reveals Himself through the prophets as light:

For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life, (Proverbs 6:23)

God sent Jesus as The Light:

I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth, I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.  (Isaiah 49:6)

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

John Mayer, singing about his struggle to do the right thing in Gravity, makes this plea:  “Keep me where the light is…   keep me where the light is…”   f

Amen.

Whap!!!

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Isaiah’s prophecy about Jesus’ perfect leadership (see “Will the Real Leader Please Stand Up?”) includes glimpses of the results and they read like fantasy: wolves lying down peacefully with sheep; children playing with poisonous snakes without any fear of being attacked. Whether or not those images will be fulfilled literally, the end results of perfect Leadership will seem too good to be true. Imagine a world with no need for warning labels, helmets or lawyers!

But in order to accomplish such thorough peacefulness, first, Isaiah said, Jesus would take out a mighty club and smash the wicked. Now, there is a scene rarely pictured in Sunday School books. (“You there! You’ve had your last warning! Whap! Crunch!…) Hard to imagine. Even harder when you understand that His club will be the words He speaks, His

    Truth

.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

In a world in which a top law enforcement official can give testimony that by his own admission is “the least untruthful,” the Word of Jesus will descend like a mighty club, putting an end to all the nonsense. And that is good news. Whap!!!