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JESUS' TOP TEN WORDS OF ADVICE #8

TRUTH REACHES OUT FOR MORE

"Keep the faith" is an expression I'm sure you've heard. "Hold on to the truth" is an admonition believers are very familiar with. But you know, I've noticed a problem with that. Too many people trying to hold on tight to the truth--end up making a fist. Sometimes people use their truth as a weapon--to keep out new ideas. Sometimes just going over the same ground can sink you into a rut.

Truth is a big theme in the New Testament. Jesus and the apostles celebrate God’s truth 109 times. And what’s striking is that they always picture a truth greater than we are, a truth larger than life.

The Apostle Paul tells us: I can be chained up, but the Word can’t. Peter writes: we may be transient as grass, but God’s truth stands forever. James claims that we are born again through the word of truth. Jesus Himself promises that the truth can set us free.

The New Testament, in other words, turns truth itself into a life-changing promise. Throughout Scripture we hear that God’s thoughts are high above the earth; His word stands eternal in the heavens; His righteousness is like mighty mountains; His judgments are like the great deep.

God’s truth is bigger than we are. It’s out there filling up the universe. We can’t reduce it to anything inside us.

But here's the thing. The New Testament emphasizes another great principle at the same time. And that principle can seem quite opposite. It's this: God’s truth has to get inside us. If it doesn’t get inside, it’s not truth.

Jesus said it was the Spirit who would lead us into all truth. John went so far as to say, “The Spirit is truth.” What's the Spirit? Well, it's God working inside us.

When Paul urges us to grow in truth, he talks about grasping the height and depth and breadth of Christ’s love; he prays that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened. Truth must be written on our hearts and minds; it has to be something we feel and experience.
So there we have it. Two principles. First, the truth that sets me free has got to be bigger than me. It can’t just be what feels right; it can't just be me making up the rules as I go along.
At the same time truth has to be something I feel, something that lives in my heart.

How do we put these two things together? Well, think about oxygen. I believe God’s truth functions like oxygen for the soul. To nourish us it has to come from the outside, right? We can’t keep breathing in what we exhale. The air we need is created by the vast atmosphere circling this earth.

But that air has to get into our lungs. Its molecules have to mix with our blood molecules. If it stays on the outside, if it's only something I nod to regularly, but don't absorb--then it doesn't do me any good.

That’s why one of the New Testament's Top Ten words of advice has to do with absorbing truth. And it's precisely this: We hang on to what we have by reaching out for more. We hold on to the truth by trying to get more of it.

Listen, Bible writers don’t tell us to possess the truth; they urge us to love the truth. Paul pointed out that many people had lost their way in life because they “refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) Jesus often advertised teachable children as model citizens of the kingdom; he contrasted those children with those trying to capture and quantify “the truth.” Peter urged believers to “crave pure spiritual milk” like newborn babies.

To love the truth is to keep learning. That's so important. Truth isn’t something you acquire, like jewelry. You don’t show it off and then lock it away in a safe place. Truth is something that has to keep flowing in to stay alive. You have to keep breathing.

We don’t hang on to what we have by making a fist. We hang on by reaching out for more.
So think about this. How do you know if you love the truth? Well, I'd say, check out what happens when you disagree with it. What if the truth isn’t on your side? What if the facts contradict your opinions? What if you find certain texts in the Bible that don’t quite fall your way?

One night, a drunk was stumbling along a bar. He stopped before a huge stuffed tarpon hanging on the wall. Squinting his eyes in amazement, he announced, “The fella who caught that fish is a liar!” That was his confused way of refusing to believe his eyes.

What about us? What do we do when some new truth doesn't fit into our frame of reference?
One day Jesus instructed his disciples out on a lake to throw their nets on the other side of the boat. They'd been hauling in empty nets all day. What difference would that make? Well these seasoned fishermen reluctantly obeyed---and hauled in an enormous catch. They had to accept a disturbing fact: this wandering rabbi knew more about their profession than they did.

Make sure it doesn’t require major surgery to get a new idea into your head. The greatest obstacle to the truth is not ignorance; it’s human pride. What we need most is to remain teachable.
Pride filters out. The teachable listen in.

Pride knows all the answers. The teachable ask questions.

Pride nurtures blind spots. The teachable go to where the light is.

Loving the truth means we follow something bigger than us—wherever it leads. We have to keep breathing in this ocean of fresh air, this uncontainable Word of God.

Try this. When you get up tomorrow morning, ask God to teach you something you don’t know. What can you see that you’ve been overlooking? Who could you listen to that you haven’t heard?

The simple act of opening yourself up to learn can make a huge difference. And it helps you do something else that’s equally therapeutic: speak the truth. The New Testament emphasizes the fact that honesty sets us free. Paul encourages us to “put off falsehood and speak truthfully to [our] neighbor.” (Ephesians 4:25, NIV) He says---grow up into Christ by “speaking the truth in love.” Writing to a group plagued by lawsuits and incest he calls out: “We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you . . . As a fair exchange—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts also.” (2 Corinthians 6:11-13, NIV)

We can unleash enormous energy in our lives just by being transparent with God and with other people.

A colleague of mine once produced a series for television in which he interviewed counselors and some of the people they had helped make breakthroughs. He wanted to find out exactly what truths, what principles, had made the difference. Well, what these people said over and over was this: opening up made the difference, being honest turned things around.

Friends, only open hearts heal. Risking honesty is one of the most powerful investments we can make. It’s such a relief to finally exhale.

Remember:

The closed pretend everything’s okay. The honest know it’s okay to be imperfect.

The closed try to be someone else. The honest are known for who they are.

The closed sit on the truth. The honest feel the weight of conviction.

The closed conceal their mistakes and multiply them. The honest admit their faults and divide them.

During one of his long preaching tours, Dwight Moody was traveling by train with a singer named Towner. Several seats down, a drunk with a badly bruised eye recognized the famous evangelist. He started bawling out hymns.
Moody was very tired that day. He didn't want to deal with the drunk and he said, "Let's get out of here." But Towner told him all the other cars were full.

A little later, when a conductor came down the aisle, Moody stopped him and pointed out the noisy drunk. The conductor gently quieted the man, bathed and bandaged his eye, and then led him back to a seat where he could fall asleep.

After reflecting on all this for a while Moody said this to his companion, "Towner this has been a terrible rebuke for me! I preached last night to that crowd against Pharisaism and exhorted them to imitate the Good Samaritan, and now this morning God has given me an opportunity to practice what I preached and I find I have both feet in the shoes of the priest and Levite."

During the rest of his tour, Moody told this story as an example of our need to connect with others. He'd learned a valuable lesson and he didn't want to forget it.

After Moody had become a national figure he conducted many conferences in Chicago.

Religious leaders from all over the country came to learn about ministry. They came to listen to Moody most of all, of course, one of the most successful evangelists America had ever seen. But when other men took the platform to speak, guess where Moody was? He was sitting on the front row, pen and paper in hand, eager to jot down notes, eager to listen carefully to others.

This great man who taught so many others never forgot how important it was to keep learning himself. That was a big key to his success. And it can be our key too. Loving the truth means always staying open to it. We hold on to what we have by reaching out for more.

Thank you for being with us today. Hope we've been good company. Be sure and join us tomorrow when we'll look at the second most highlighted word of advice in the New Testament: "Thanks Lightens Your World." Until then, this is Lonnie Melashenko reminding you that it's always true, friend, God loves you.