“Knowing and Speaking the Truth”
Original sermon given September 18, 2022, written and delivered by Pastor Gregg Ramirez at First Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church
Watch the sermon live here
“Knowing and Speaking the Truth"
II Timothy 2:1-8
II Timothy 2:1-8
For a moment I’d like you to imagine that you’re at your friend’s home with some close friends from church. The conversation ranges naturally over a number of faith related topics. Then, suddenly to your surprise and embarrassment, the host’s 15-year-old son announces with some belligerence that he doesn’t believe in God anymore. “It’s simply not rational,” he says. “There is no proof.” No one had any idea he’d been moving in that direction. There’s a stunned silence. What would you say in response? Your opportunity will pass quickly You only have a few seconds before the moment passes in order to initiate further dialog. Would you be one of the silent ones? If so, you’re in the same boat with most Christians today.
What I’ve just shared with you is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the challenges of our faith that are out there in public conversations. Many of you remember a time when there was a common consensus of acceptance of our traditional Judeo-Christian values in society, but that all began to change dramatically from the 1960’s onward with the arising of the secular world view, that posits that there is no God, no afterlife, and no absolute truth. We’re in a time when pluralism is the dominant force. My truth is as good as your truth. Since 2000 the internet has gained prominence and it’s opened the way for a host of truth claims to be considered. There’s also been the rise of the “nones” those who claim no religious affiliation. At a more personal level, many of us in the church thought that as long as we got our children to church, Sunday School, and youth group they’d stay connected to the church. We were wrong and I daresay many of you have been witnessing more of your friends and loved ones who have quit the church. They’re part of a great apostasy, a falling away, and many scholars see our society as being post-Christian where our values are viewed as irrelevant and subject to increased hostility.
However, there are other observers, who take a different spin and assert that we have reverted back to the same conditions of other Pre-Christian culture experienced by the early church where everything was up for grabs, and it was an uphill battle against a diverse culture full of religions claiming equal validity. We’re in a pluralistic culture like the first believers who had to contend the entrenched worship of the various Roman and Greek gods and goddesses, the philosophies of fatalistic stoicism (our cynics today) and the sensuality of epicureanism, and the secret wisdom and rites of Gnosticism (our New Age religions today) with its hierarchy of angelic mediators. Those within that culture thought it scandalous that Christians would have them reject all of their gods in order to worship a poor rabbi who got crucified in far-away Judea.
What do you do in the face of such resistance? It was a daunting task and who was the one called upon to go toe to toe against the opposing belief systems? It was Tim – Timothy, the young man St. Paul addressed in today’s lesson and there’s great relevance for our lives because Tim was like a lot of us. He was not like the bold St. Paul who was ever ready to go face to face against the opposition. No, the young man Timothy was more timid by nature. He had issues with his stomach – some say it was his nerves. Just prior to our lesson, Paul urges him to fight the good fight in refuting false doctrine. It was Tim’s job to speak to those challenging claims to the faith like the one posed by the 15-year-old boy who didn’t believe in God anymore. Paul urged Timothy to do the work of an evangelist and in his second letter he exhorts: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, love, and self-control.
What is St. Paul’s first counsel to Timothy in the face of huge resistance? You pray! That’s the focus of the first verses in today’s lesson. He urges that intercessions be made for all people – from the highest to the lowest in society. Inroads to the culture would only be achieved as God’s Spirit made hearts receptive to the Christian message. Paul declares that such prayer is good and pleases God our Savior. However, when it comes to our churches today, I can’t overstate the relevance of the Apostle’s next instruction where he urges that God wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Indeed, when you read both 1stand 2nd Timothy Paul is making it imperative that God’s people would get in the game by knowing and speaking the truth – in other words, by having the right knowledge that leads a person to intellectual acceptance. We Christians are called upon to have a response to that 15-year-old boy’s objections. In her book Another Gospel? Christian author Alisa Childers speaks about the way most of us consider what our faith is about. Isn’t it love and peace and joy and hope? Then she goes on to say that churches need to more engage in the intellectual side of faith. Haven’t we taken for granted that it was true without really taking the time to know why we believe what we believe? That’s the knowing and speaking the truth that St. Paul had in mind. Alisa Childers went on to say that the proper understanding of biblical faith is about trust – a trust that is not a blind leap into the darkness but based on good evidence. Personally, she had to come to grips with this when the progressive pastor at her church started to deconstruct everything she had learned about the faith in her youth.
In her book Childers used a phrase from The Wizard of Oz: Dorothy says, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.” It’s a different world out there. People are converted to the faith by being convinced that the Gospel is true. For Paul, faith comes when knowledge is coupled with truth. And what is truth? Here’s the saving message we’ve come to embrace: “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all men - the testimony given at the proper time.” What is the great import of that truth? There’s only one God versus all the pagan gods. There’s only one Mediator and He’s not a prophet or an angel. Both true man and true God, He’s the only go between God and mankind. He perfectly represents both sides and so is able to speak for and take the place of humanity as the ransom for all the world’s sins.
That’s the great reason for knowing and speaking the truth. God wants all to be saved by being convinced that Christ’s ransom is the only means of escaping the Divine Wrath as one trusts in God’s provision of a ransom from the bondage of sin. The great gift is life, and this life is not bios, physical life, but zoe, eternal life, as one is born again to an imperishable existence. And why do we believe this is true? It’s because Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and because He did, we believe His words are true! That’s the precious gift and truth we have to offer and it must be defended against many opponents. Through today’s lesson, I believe God is calling us to demonstrate a commitment to communicate, to plant seeds in people’s minds that would lead them to embrace God’s gift of salvation so that they might have Christ with them to carry them through all the garbage, falls, failures, disasters – the inevitable results of existence in this life.
But how to do that? Consider the 15-year-old boy. When I heard this comment – belief in God irrational – that he was professing to be an atheist, I would have liked to ask: Do you believe in the scientific impossibility that something came out of nothing – the sun, moon, stars, flowers, birds, fish, thousands of different species came out of nothing? And He might say, “well, scientists say that the universe began with the big bang. It just happened. I would respond – to have a big bang, doesn’t there have to be a big banger? Yet, isn’t it the case that such a dialog like this could become a heated argument that ends up going nowhere? Isn’t there enough of this kind of divisive talk already in our polarized society? So how about doing it another way by asking questions? Like, “what do you mean by God?” If he means an old man with a beard who sits on a throne out in space, Christians don’t believe in that kind of God either. Maybe he rejects the God of organized religion, but still believes in a divine force. Maybe he’s believing that science has disproved God, but then it could be asked. Could you point me to the scientific evidence that proves there is no God?
What are we to understand from this? St. Peter tells us to talk to others with gentleness and respect. Later, St. Paul tells Timothy that the Lord’s servant is not to quarrel but instead be kind to everyone. So, talking to others on faith matters doesn’t have to end up in a heated argument as so often takes place in our society today where both sides remain polarized. I would think most of us here don’t like drama. So that’s why I share with you this other approach of knowing and speaking the truth – of learning how to ask questions to, in effect, put a stone in people’s shoes. In this way spiritual strongholds can be broken down by causing individuals to reconsider the truth of the Gospel. That’s our great trust from God and like St. Paul, we can develop new skills to teach faith in ways that others will listen. God has called us to be faithful to use our resources to be stewards of His truth from Scripture. Through the power of the Holy Spirit enlightening us by the Word, we are enabled to know and speak the truth.
For my part, I’m on the learning curve regarding all of this. It’s a continual process to better become a witness who increasingly knows and speaks the truth. I try to daily look at a few pages from a book called Tactics and sometimes along with my wife we think through those misconceptions that are so rampant in our society so that we could put a stone in people’s shoes. Also, more than once, I’ve thought about it regarding this church. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for a group of us to be a skill shop, a study group to sit down and work through the opposing assertions and practice how best to challenge others by asking the right questions?
The big question is: Do you care enough to get in the game and be part of the solution? The eternal destiny of many loved ones and friends is in the balance. Will they by faith come to Jesus who is the ransom? In the Greek the word for ransom is Lutron, and significantly it comes from the root, “luw”, which means to loose, set free, unbind. Lutron is often used as the payment for one who has been kidnapped in order to be released. Likewise, Jesus paid the ransom for us who had been kidnapped by the powers of sin, death, and the devil. As a result, we have the gift, the zoe, the way, the truth, and the life. Do you really believe He’s the only way? It’s easy to let that slide, but dare we not forget C.S. Lewis said that it all boils down to this: He’s either a liar about that, a lunatic, or He’s Lord. And if He’s Lord, He gives us grace to be about the greatest of causes – gifting others with forgiveness, life and salvation as we know and speak the truth.