| Today is the fourth in a six part series on The
Great Ends of the Church found in our Book of Order.
The series is entitled "It’s What We Do" because these six
"great ends" are really what the church ought to be about, ought
to be busy doing. It should be in our DNA—first of all, as
individual followers of Jesus Christ because, after all, it is
individuals who make up the church. If we aren’t accomplishing
Proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of Humankind;
providing for the Shelter, Nurture and Spiritual
Fellowship of the People of God; seeing to the
Maintenance of Divine Worship; the Preservation of the
Truth; the Promotion of Social Righteousness and the
Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World then we
are failing in our purpose as a church. In fact, it could
rightly be said that if we aren’t working toward and
accomplishing these great ends of the church...we aren’t a
church. We’re just some social group. So it is toward these
great ends that we must strive and work. It is what we do.
Today’s topic is the Preservation of the Truth and our
Scripture reading is from the gospel of John, chapter eight,
verses 31 and 32. Listen to the word of the Lord. (Read)
"Truth" can be a slippery slope. Holding to something as the
"truth," acknowledging the existence of an absolute truth is
sticky business. Yet, we are called as the Church—that is to say
you and I who constitute the "Church" are called to "preserve
the truth." How do we do that? How do we preserve the truth when
we know, for example, of some horrible things that have been
done throughout history all in the name of some proclaimed
truth? We can even cite examples in the history of the Church
where horrible things were done in the name of "truth"—some of
what was done in the Crusades being one example; the Salem witch
trials another; the perpetuation of slavery another, just to
name a few. We could cite plenty of other examples. Proclaiming
and preserving "truth" is a slippery slope.
We don’t even need to cite horrible examples. We can cite
good examples, yet ones that still reveal the slippery slope of
truth proclaiming and preserving. The Declaration of
Independence, for example. There is a document that is revered
and held high in our history. Who isn’t familiar with these
words?: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. Yet, even in the declaration
of these "self-evident" truths we run into a slippery slope.
Right away there is a language problem. All men are
created equal. Only men? What about women? "Well, Ron, come
on, that’s just the language of the time. They meant men and
women. That’s how they’d write it today" Perhaps. Yet, only
men were represented in the framers and signers of the
declaration. In the government they established women couldn’t
vote let alone serve. Women couldn’t own property and only in
some limited areas were married women required to be consulted
when their husbands were selling their property. The
self-evident truth that "all men are created equal" is
one that we today would have difficulty signing off on. And, of
course, several of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence were slave owners. We all know of the long struggle
in our history over that issue, but, for some, "all men are
created equal" meant only certain men. So, even in
something wonderful like the Declaration of Independence we find
a slippery slope regarding truth.
How, then, is it possible for the church to take on and
fulfill its task of "preservation of the truth?"
First of all, let me reiterate something I’ve said
before and will say again, and again, and again after today. We
must seek to preserve the truth in a grace-full manner. As in
John’s description of Jesus Christ (as the "Word" who became
flesh and dwelt among us)—"full of grace and truth." By
the way, if this were a sermon about exhibiting grace I’d say it
must be done in a truth-full manner! Always that goal—living
life "full of grace and truth." Truth without grace is
malicious. Grace without truth is meaningless. So always there
is that—living "full of grace and truth." In fact, it could be
rightly said that living out all of the great ends of the church
requires living full of grace and truth. So, first of all, in
order to "preserve the truth" we must also exhibit grace.
That being said—and it is of itself a difficult enough
task...living "full of grace and truth"—how might we preserve
the truth? We must begin with the equally difficult task of
identifying exactly what is the "truth" we are called to
preserve. As with Pilate to Jesus, the question "What is truth?"
I think it is interesting, in attempting to answer that
question, to explore various references to truth in the Bible.
One immediate discovery is Jesus often prefaced his words
with "I tell you the truth." Or, in King James language, "verily
I say unto you." Jesus spoke the truth. And so, part of our task
in preserving the truth is researching, studying and seeking to
apply the words of truth that Jesus speaks.
Relatedly, we find in a search of the word "truth" used in
the Bible, Jesus referring to God’s word as truth. In his upper
room prayer for the disciples he asks of God to "Sanctify
them by the truth; your word is truth." So, our search in
discovering the truth we are to preserve takes us beyond just
the words of Jesus. It takes us to the entire word of God...the
Bible. Holy Scripture.
Yet, we know, of course, about the challenge in coming to a
consensus of truths from the Bible. The history of the Church is
replete with examples of disputes over the truths to be found in
Scripture. The existence of denominations is, in itself, a
testimony to the struggle over the truths of Scripture.
The different branches of Presbyterianism alone testifies to
that struggle.
More than that, the disputes that arise within our own branch
of Presbyterianism indicates the difficulty in answering the
question "what is truth?" Our General Assembly will be meeting
in Minneapolis the first part of July. I find myself dreading
it. What controversies are going to surface this year as PCUSA
Presbyterians gather together in the search for truth? I’m not
the only one dreading it. I learned the other day there is an
overture before this General Assembly to make meetings of the
General Assembly a quadrennial affair. In other words, meeting
every fourth year. Not all that long ago it was decided to move
to biennial General Assemblies—every other year. Part of the
motivation is stewardship—it costs a lot in time, money and
energy to hold a General Assembly. But, frankly, a primary
motivation is so we don’t have to deal with the controversies
every year. Apparently, every other year is still enough of a
headache that they’re going to consider moving to every fourth
year! Anyway, I’m not looking forward to July’s General Assembly
and the inevitable controversies that will come from it. But, we
will deal with them—which is a not so subtle way of
announcing a future forum (or forums!) that will address what
took place at General Assembly. So, look forward to that because
I am! (Are my teeth showing? They say if you show your teeth,
people will think you’re smiling!)
Anyway, in the midst of all of that—denominations, General
Assemblies, et al—do we dare attempt to identify "truth," let
alone preserve it? I think we can...and we must if we’re going
to claim to be the church.
Which led me to the essential tenets of reformed faith. It’s
one of the things we ask when we ordain.
"Do you sincerely receive and adopt
the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed
in the confessions of our church as authentic and
reliable expositions of what Scripture leads us to
believe and do, and will you be instructed and led by
those confessions as you lead the people of God?"
Essential tenets. Sounds very similar to "truth." I think the
essential tenets of reformed faith bring us as close to anything
I know that is the truth we are to preserve.
So, what are they? What are the essential tenets?
Interestingly, it’s a bit hard to pin down! A search of the
PCUSA website does not lead one to a list of the essential
tenets. It’s my understanding that attempts to clearly identify
the essential tenets—through things like overtures to general
assemblies—have been defeated. Conversations with colleagues
lead to responses like, "Why would we want to do that?" or, "Oh,
we don’t want to do that!" Why? Because one of the PCUSA’s
greatest strengths/greatest weaknesses is our diversity...more
than that, our celebration of our diversity. And so, we hesitate
to identify essential tenets out of fear we’ll set a standard of
who’s in and who’s out in the church. In other words, the
Preservation of the Truth is probably the great end of the
Church with which we most struggle.
But, again, I think we can and we must attempt to fulfill
this great end of the Church or risk failing to be the church of
Jesus Christ in the world. So, with the help of some other
resources in the Church—both the Church known as the PCUSA and
the universal Church—my humble suggestion of our essential
tenets, our "truths" that we must preserve.
1) Authority of Scripture: Yes, we will struggle in
gleaning what truth Scripture is leading us to uphold. But, we
at least begin our search with an understanding that Scripture
is our authority regarding matters of faith and life. Whatever
the topic of discussion—whether ordination standards, or
abortion, or any other topic—the question that must always be
asked is, "What is your understanding of what Scripture has to
say about this topic?" An essential tenet of faith, a truth that
we must preserve is that of Scripture as authority for our
lives.
2) One God: Whom we worship, who is revealed in the
Bible and who is the source of all life.
3) Status of Humanity: Humans were originally created
in the image of God—fully righteous and holy. But disobedience
to God brought sin and death upon humanity and all of creation,
including separation from God.
4) Jesus Christ: God uniquely entered into human
history through Jesus Christ, His Son. Through Christ’s death
upon the cross and through his resurrection from the dead, Jesus
paid the penalty for our sin and restored us to a right
relationship with God. This act of salvation is given only by
God’s grace (God’s unmerited favor) and received through faith
in Jesus Christ.
Those are, I believe, the essential tenets of reformed
faith—the truths of our faith that we are to preserve. There’s
room in there for discussion—what we identify as authoritative
in Scripture, for example; or, how we understand God as one God
in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit—but those are the
truths we are to preserve if we seek to be God’s Church in the
world: Scripture as our authority in faith and life; God as the
one God alone whom we worship and serve; Humanity as created in
God’s image but that image now broken and corrupted by sin;
Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord through the witness of his life,
his death upon the cross and his resurrection from the grave.
Jesus said to those who believed in him, "If you hold to my
teaching, you are really my disciples. Then, you will know the
truth and the truth will set you free."
Let’s take a moment for silent reflection upon these truths
for our lives...and what we might do to preserve them.
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