First Sunday of Advent: What is Truth? Part two

What is Truth?

Part Two of Three

On the first Sunday of Advent this year I preached a message to the people living in the 55+ community that I visit each week. I reorganized that sermon into an essay. Because of its length, I divided the message into three parts. My text focused on Luke 1:4 wherein the beloved physician tells us the purpose of his letter: “So that you (i.e. Theophilus) may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.”

You can find part one here: https://thecontemplativecatholicconvert.blogspot.com/2018/12/first-sunday-of-advent-2018.html. 

Continuing with the theme of God's truth, part two now focuses on what are some of the essential truths God wants everyone to know – and by which He wants everyone to live:

Truth number one: You and I – everyone on planet earth – are sinners. If we don’t get this truth about our sin-nature, then none of the other truths of Scripture can have the impact God designed truth to have.

Scripture gives several lists of damnable sins, but here is only a partial one for an example: Galatians 5:19-21 “. . . .sexual immorality [which includes pornography, fornication, adultery, and homosexuality] . . . hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness . . . and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

The Holy Spirit does not soften the point as so many pastors and teachers might soften the point. Sin is a damnable offense against God. That’s why He reiterates the theme throughout the New Testament, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23); and then: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

That was truth number one: We are sinners. We might not want to think of ourselves in that way, but our opinion of ourselves is worthless if that opinion contradicts God’s truth. We need to acknowledge to God the truth about our sin nature. If we do not, Truth number two will be meaningless and – worse – of no eternal value to us.

Truth number two: Jesus came to save sinners from eternal damnation.

Most Christians can recite John 3:16 from memory: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

That verse is an important truth to hide in our hearts: God loves the sinner (not the sin) – God loves the sinner so much that He sent His Son into our world to save everyone who wants to be saved from the eternal Lake of Fire.

St. John tells us again in his first epistle: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)

Propitiation is an uncommon word in our day. The Greek word, ‘hilasmos,’ translated as propitiation in most Bibles, carries the idea of appeasement, atonement, or satisfaction. It means Jesus’ death on the cross appeased God’s wrath toward sin – thereby providing the means of reconciliation between the sinner and God. The word is closely tied to the idea of a substitutionary sacrifice whereby the sin – and the requisite punishment for the sin – are transferred from one person to another.

Here is how Isaiah explains what Messiah did for us: Isaiah 53:5 “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

The New Testament writers pick up this theme in the various letters. Here is what Paul writes to the church at Corinth: “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)

Now let’s summarize: God’s truth tells us we are all sinners. Truth then tells us Jesus became our substitutionary sacrifice to pay the penalty – to pay the ransom – our sins deserve. That’s why the Lord Jesus said: “. . . the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28).

Truth number three tells us God calls us everyone to a lifestyle of repentance. We’ll look at that truth next time.

First Sunday of Advent 2018: Truth - Part One

First Sunday of Advent 2018 This is part one of a message I preached to the members of the 55+ community I visit each week. Because of its length, I have here divided it into three parts. Here is part one: ------------- Sunday, December 2, is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent, as many of you know, begins the Church’s liturgical year. It’s also the time when we have an opportunity to pay a little closer attention to the New Covenant God promised the world – and to where that promise began: in an animal feeding trough, in a stable. God did not send His Son to be born in a palace, surrounded by the comfort and warmth available to the wealthy. No, God’s Son was born in a stable surrounded by rotting straw, and manure, and the pungent odor of stale animal urine. A place where mice scurried in and around the straw on the dirt floor. A place where flies buzzed around the young mother, her husband, and the newborn Baby. It was a place not too unlike the places most of humanity is born into in 2018. Think of the billions of people born in what we call Third-World nations such as parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. I mentioned a moment ago the New Covenant that God promised the world. The term is synonymous with a perhaps more familiar term: The New Testament. God promised such a thing as early as chapter three of Genesis, but Jeremiah makes the promise more clear: “Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”  (Jeremiah 31:31-34) For this essay, my text comes from the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus; so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught." (Luke 1:1-4) Let me draw attention specifically to the reason Luke wrote this letter. You’ll find it in verse 4: “So that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.” TRUTH is the essential element of all good and productive relationships. No meaningful bond can last long when founded on fabrication, deceit, and falsehood. That includes a relationship with our Creator, who has been revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Truth is what every writer of Scripture proclaimed. Why? So we might know EXACTLY what our God wants us to know, so we might live safely and fruitfully in relationship with each other – and live eternally with Him in heaven. What is truth? You might remember the verbal exchange between Pilate and Jesus. You’ll find it in John 18:37-38: Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” Pilate *said to Him, “What is truth?” And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and *said to them, “I find no guilt in Him." How many today are just like Pilate?  They ask, “What is truth?” And then walk away without so much as hesitating a moment for an answer. So, here is truth. No wishy-washy opinions. No obfuscations – just God’s timeless and transcultural truth straight from the book we call the Holy Bible. But before we get too far along, simply saying the Bible is God’s timeless and transcultural truth begs the question: How do we know it is the fully inspired, fully inerrant, and fully infallible word of God? I will not use circular reasoning by quoting to you passages from Scripture that attest to those things. Instead, I’ll appeal to logic. I call it Logic 101. First, we know God is love. If He were not love itself, He would not have sent His only begotten Son to die for us. We also know from our own life experience that love, by its very nature, longs to communicate with the beloved. Next, God is omnipotent . That means He does what He wants when He wants and in the way He wants, and nothing in all of creation, seen or unseen, visible or invisible, nothing can thwart His plan. If that were not true – if God is not omnipotent, then He would not be God. Therefore, since He is omnipotent -- and in love with humanity -- it is quite logical to believe He is able to ensure His communication with us through the writers of Scripture to be exactly what He wants His beloved – you and me – to know. What does He want us to know?  A Baccalaureate degree program in the subject would hardly scratch the surface of that question, so I will focus brief attention over the next few essays on only a few truths.

Christ the King, Part Three

In many liturgical churches, Sunday November 25, 2018 was known as the ‘Solemnity of Christ the King.’ I shared a message around that theme with the 55+ community I visit each week. Because of its length, I divided it into a three-part essay. Here is part three:

The Solemnity of Christ the King:

Why Came the King

Part Three

“Pilate therefore said to Him, “Are You a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world . . ..” John 18:37

So, Why Came King Jesus?  Why did He come as a human baby and grow into a man not to be served, “but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many”? (Matthew 20:28)

Why give up His unspeakable riches and power in glory to become flesh and blood, totally dependent on a woman and her husband for food and clothing, a rugged roof over His head, and daily protection and comfort? What did He have to gain by leaving heaven to enter our lives? St. Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” 

Why did our King come to us? Here’s what He tells us in Romans 5: (6-10) – and I can only hope the person who wrote that note on Facebook someday understands this (see part one): 

“For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us  (Romans 5:6-8) 

Why came King Jesus? All those who know Him can answer that question with one word. ‘Love.’ Unconditional love. He loves you and me despite our sins – even as we spit in His face, even as we pulled away the shoulder and looked down our nose at Him. He loves us. Without condition. Without wavering. 

Yes – those who pull away the shoulder and mock His love will – without doubt and without a second chance after death – spend eternity in the lake of fire – but it is not HE who sends us there. We choose to go there. God prepared that place NOT for people, but for the devil and his demons: 

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46) 

We deliberately, methodically, intentionally step over every barrier and obstacle He places in our path, again and again, until we are bruised and bleeding from banging into His barriers and over His obstacles. 

We own every step of our journey toward hell. 

Eternal death and eternal life. It's our choice. That's why Solomon wrote: "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart.” (Ecclesiastes 7:2 

Death is the end every man and woman faces. That is why the King pleads with us: "Pay attention! Take to heart where you're headed on your life-journey.

I covered three points in this three-part essay: (1) Jesus is King. His Kingship is more certain than gravity itself. His Kingship is more extensive than eternity itself. (2) Jesus is a richly benevolent King. A loving, merciful, compassionate, and gracious King; and (3) Jesus came that you and I might worship Him, because in worshiping Him we become like Him. Think how your life would be different if you better imitated Jesus. I certainly wonder myself how my life would be different if I better imitated Him. 

Why came the King? To invite you and me into His loving embrace. 

Will you come?