Searching
for Truth Is A Mark of Nobility
Jim
Davis
Acts
17:1-12
We live in an information age where we are
bombarded with an overwhelming amount of information. Much of this information
challenges our thinking. It is essential that we maintain an attitude conducive
to examining this bombardment of information. We must maintain an attitude
that would allow us to be flexible enough to accept truth we may not be
aware of. But we must be firm enough in our convictions to recognize error
when it is taught.
As we are bombarded with information
it is essential to realize that nothing but the absolute truth will lead
us to freedom. Truth gives us a basis for evaluating what we observe
and choose to believe. Knowing spiritual truth is conditional upon us holding
to Jesus’ teaching. .
"You will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free." Everyone has heard this statement of Jesus quoted more times
than they can count, but how shall we know the truth? What is essential
for knowing spiritual truth? Jesus prefaces his statement by an essential
element required for knowing the truth. "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
NIV)
In Acts 17, we see two approaches in dealing
with new information we receive. I want us to look at those two approaches
today.
Acts 17:1-12
When they had passed through
Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a
Jewish synagogue. As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and
on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining
and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This
Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews
were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing
Greeks and not a few prominent women. But the Jews were jealous; so they
rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started
a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in search of Paul and
Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when they did not find
them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before the city officials,
shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now
come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house. They are all defying
Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus."
When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into
turmoil. Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go.
As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea.
On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. Now the Bereans were
of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message
with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what
Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number of
prominent Greek women and many Greek men. (NIV)
Doubting What We Believe
Doubting Thomas has never been very
popular in Christian circles. But Thomas teaches us that there
is certainly nothing wrong with questioning what we are asked to believe.
If you confront your beliefs and what you are asked to believe relying
upon God's truth you have nothing to fear. If either is true both will
withstand the investigation. If you are afraid what you believe will not
withstand the investigation, then it is essential that you question your
beliefs. Paul was unable to preach the gospel in Thessalonica because they
were afraid to have what they believed investigated by the truth. They
were willing to do anything to keep from looking at the truth.
Acts 17:5-8
But the Jews were jealous;
so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob
and started a riot in the city. They rushed to Jason's house in
search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd. But when
they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other brothers before
the city officials, shouting: "These men who have caused trouble all over
the world have now come here, and Jason has welcomed them into his house.
They are all defying Caesar's decrees, saying that there is another king,
one called Jesus." When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials
were thrown into turmoil. (NIV)
Those in Berea took a very noble approach
to what Paul was saying.
Acts 17:11-13
Now the Bereans were
of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message
with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what
Paul said was true. Many of the Jews believed, as did also a number
of prominent Greek women and many Greek men. When the Jews in Thessalonica
learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, they went there
too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up. (NIV)
I saw a sign in an airport somewhere
while on vacation, which said, "Your fears will dissolve as the truth is
revealed." I had actually made a few notes for this sermon before
I went on vacation and for that reason the sign caught my attention. So,
I was determined to try and remember it since I didn’t have a pen on me
at the time. I forget what the sign was advertising, but I find a real
truism in this statement. If you are afraid to examine what you believe,
you must realize that your fears will dissolve as you discover the truth.
If we get worked up emotionally and refuse to examine what we believe,
we may never know the truth.
We must pursue freedom from our fears through
truth. A pursuit of the truth God has revealed through Christ is the only
thing that can set us free.
Jesus tells us that we will know the truth
and it will set us free provided we seek to continue in his teaching. If
we seek to hold to Jesus’ teaching we will be able to discern spiritual
truth from error. Continuing in God’s word is the only basis for discovering
the freedom truth offers. His teaching is absolute.
Importance of Absolutes
Truth is usually stated in absolute
terms. To say that 1 + 1 = 2 is absolute. There will never be a
time when that equation is false. If we deny the absolute truth that 1
+ 1 = 2, we destroy all the mathematical tables we have learned. This includes
the subtraction, multiplication and division tables. These tables are built
upon the absolute truth that 1 + 1 = 2. Accepting this simple equation
as absolute gives us a point of reference from which we can work to solve
the most complex mathematical problem.
Absolutes give us fixed points of reference.
The pointer on a compass points to absolute north. It doesn’t matter where
you are on the planet, you can always know where north is simply by looking
at the compass or even at the stars. North is a fixed position on the planet.
If you know where north is, you can figure out where east, west and south
are. If we know where north is we can figure out where we are. To deny
north as an absolute fixed position on the planet would confuse us to where
we really were at any given moment. We would lose all sense of direction.
The beauty of absolutes is that no matter
how confused we become we can return to the known absolute to regain our
sense of direction.
There is a prevalent misconception about
absolutes. We are beginning to believe that they are unimportant.
Some believe accepting anything as absolute closes the mind to discovery.
Some believe that absolutes encumber our lifestyles. However, denying absolutes
is what actually closes our minds to discovering what is true.
The Bereans accepted God's Word as truth and
they used it to measure what Paul was teaching. The Bible has God as its
author, freedom from sin as its goal and truth without any mixture of error
for its subject and its truths are absolutes.
The church of our Lord is to be the pillar
and ground for the truth.
1 Timothy 3:14-16
Although I hope to come to
you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed,
you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household,
which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the
truth. (NIV)
False Absolutes Will Misguide
What we accept as absolute truth must
be true. Freedom to discover truth begins with true absolutes.
It is possible to accept something as absolutely true, when in reality
it is false. When this happens we will be unable to discover truth. Some
don’t want to recognize absolutes. They may say that there are no absolutes.
In reality what they are saying establishes an absolute, although it is
a false absolute. To say that there are no absolutes is a false absolute
statement, for it denies the very premise it affirms.
Too often religion leads us to create
man made creeds with false absolutes. When these creeds are formulated
they are used to measure our world. Too often we will not accept any new
information as true if it cannot be harmonized with our creed. These creeds
are based upon man’s limited vision, but they are used to decipher all
the information we gather.
The fear of the unknown will dissolve
as we are enlightened by truth. There was a time when everyone
believed the world was flat. Believing the world was flat prevented the
discovery of the New World for ages. Everyone believed that if you sailed
far enough out to sea you would drop off the edge of the earth. Accepting
that false standard closed everyone’s mind to discovery. They were afraid
they would drop off the edge of the earth. Their fears dissolved as they
discovered the real truth.
The Thessalonians were judging Paul’s teaching
by false absolutes. These false absolutes closed their minds to understanding
what was true. Those in Berea on the other hand were willing to examine
what they believed to be true.
If our teaching promotes false absolutes,
we will be plunged into darkness. It would be like exchanging darkness
for light. Luke writes, "As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue,
and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining
and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. "This
Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ," he said. Some of the Jews
were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing
Greeks and not a few prominent women. But the Jews were jealous; so
they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob
and started a riot in the city."
Getting mad and jealous because of what
is spoken is a sure sign that we need to examine what we believe. Ignorance
is the only thing that motivates anger and jealousy. Do you
see the darkness, which results from refusing to see the truth? If
we fail to have the right attitude toward learning, our ignorance will
leave our minds blinded to the truth.
False absolutes will close the doors of opportunity,
which God has opened for us. From the opening of Acts 16 through Acts 17
we see God opening doors of opportunity for the apostles. They are where
they are because God has led them to the place where they are standing.
However we see the Jews refusing to walk through the door of opportunity
God has provided.
There must be a willingness to press on to
the high calling of God before we recognize the truth. When we become blinded
by our own self-chosen ignorance we will be unable to decipher what is
true.
Matthew 15:1-14
Then some Pharisees and teachers
of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, "Why do your disciples
break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they
eat!" Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake
of your tradition? For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone
who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that
if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise
have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' he is not to 'honor his
father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your
tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
"'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from
me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'"
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes
into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his
mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'" Then the disciples came to him
and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard
this?" He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted
will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a
blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." (NIV)
The Pharisees were not bothered by those
passages of Scripture they did not understand, they were bothered by what
they did understand. The trouble with God's people is that they
tend to become religious. What I mean by this is that we often substitute
religion for the real the thing. Religion often leads us to practice a
few religious practices, while leaving us unconverted to God's way of thinking.
When religion finds scriptures that upset it, it sets out to develop a
teaching that gets around what is plainly taught. When this happens we
substitute religion for godliness. It happens when religion is made up
of man made rules, which deprive God's truth from having its way in our
lives.
"Both in history and in life it is a phenomenon
by no means rare to meet with comparatively unlettered people who seem
to have struck profound spiritual depths, while there are many highly educated
people of whom one feels that they are performing clever antics with their
minds to cover a gaping hollowness that lies within." (-Herbert Butterfield"
quoted in Servant, Jan/Feb 1995)
The Pharisees substituted religion for
conversion. When they were uncomfortable with their responsibilities
to their fathers and mothers, the synagogue leaders made up religious rules
to eliminate their duty to their parents. It was easier to become religious
than godly. Too often becoming religiously busy is substituted
for the real thing.
Paul met the hollow antics of the Jews in
Thessalonica head-on but it did little good.
Mere Religion Can Deflect Truth
There was a certain energetic young preacher
who had a thriving country church. He was always prodding his people to
do greater things for God. He spent much time in preparation of his sermons.
There was a deacon in his congregation who did little and seemed to care
less. It caused the young preacher much concern. On several occasions,
in his sermons, the preacher would tell him exactly what he thought. The
old deacon never caught the point. The old deacon always thought he was
referring to someone else. One Sunday, the preacher made it plainer as
to whom he was talking. Following the service the deacon said, "Preacher,
you sure told them today."
The next sermon was still more pointed than
ever. Again the deacon said, "Preacher, you sure told them today."
The next Sunday it rained so hard that no
one was at the church except this one deacon. The preacher thought that
he would now know about whom he was talking. The sermon went straight to
the deacon who was the only one in the congregation. Following the service,
the deacon walked up to the preacher and said, "Preacher, you sure told
them if they had been here."
The Jews were great at deflecting the
truth. That is, they would deflect what was meant for them by refocusing
attention elsewhere. Sometimes people try to make us feel guilty when they
are the ones guilty. But it is means to deflect attention away from self.
When Paul preached the truth in Thessalonica the Jews understood the impact
of what was said. The truth hurt them and they became jealousy insane.
Instead of examining what was said honestly they deflected what was said
by stirring up some bad fellows to bring bogus charges against those who
believed. This took the pressure off of them, so they thought.
Satan knows that it is easier to buy
into religion than it is to be converted to Jesus Christ. He knows
our tendency to take the way of least resistance. When we buy into religion
we can spend our time defending religious practices while deflecting truth,
which applies to our lives. Often, it is easier to defend a set of doctrines
than it is to live by them.
Religion seeks superficial ways to measure
our lives, which leaves our lives void of truth. We may want measure
ourselves by how we dress when we come to church. We may want to measure
our lives by our faithful attendance to each service. We may want to measure
our lives by how much work we do around the church building. We may want
to measure our lives by how much money we give to the church. If we are
not careful we will begin to measure ourselves by ourselves and become
blinded to the truth.
Religion may make us think that we should
be recognized by others for all we are doing. It may make us think we shouldn’t
be questioned about anything we do because of all the work we do around
the church.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a
clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries
and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have
not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender
my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. (NIV)
Satan seeks to get us to buy into religion.
He knows it will blind us to the truth and to the possibilities of any
real conversion offers. Substituting religion for conversion will cause
us to see everybody's problems but our own. In fact religion has a way
of only seeing what is wrong with others, while refusing to take a good
look at self. Religion will lead us to believe the only really important
thing happening in our lives takes place around the church building. It
may even cause us to project our own personal problems on the church. The
church may become nothing more than a scapegoat for all our problems.
Religion blinds us to the truth when
we expect the church to solve our personal problems without any personal
effort on our part. We may want the church to provide a system
for forgiveness without having to changing the way we live. We may want
redemption without allowing God to sanctify our lives through the truth
by salvaging our lives from sinful practices. Religion may cause us to
think we come to church to shake our problems off so we can return home
and pick up where we left off.
Often our behavior imposes certain consequences
upon us that demand we be responsible with those consequences. Religion
may convince us that we don't have to face the consequences of our own
actions. After all there is abortion, adoption, and many
other government provisions to deal with the consequences our actions cause.The
church and our society have become weak because both refuse to live up
to the responsibility our behavioral consequences impose.
Too often we never develop the spiritual
muscle we need to deal with the consequences of our behavior because we
are unwilling to face the truth about self. As individuals we often
seek to shift those consequential responsibilities our behavior imposes
upon society at large and upon the church. We want them to be responsible
for the solutions as we seek to deviate from the truth. This leaves us
too weak to find any real purpose in living for God.
Religion will leave us seeing no importance
of solving our own personal problems while we practice religious traditions.
Religious practices will focus us on the unimportant while leaving us unconverted
to the truth.
Conclusion:
Mere religion will blind us to the absolute
truth of God's word. Today we need individuals with real courage
and enthusiasm to face their problems head on through a serious search
of God's Word. They must make sure as they search God's Word they do not
become blinded by impotent religious substitutes.
It is scary to face the consequences
our actions impose upon us. However, only God's truth will alleviate
our fears and enable us to live up to our responsibilities. Freedom will
only be discovered by seeking to live up to the responsibility truth imposes
upon us.
We can become like religious folks who
allow their anger to blind them to the truth.
Or, we can be like the Bereans, who
enthusiastically discovered freedom as they sought the truth and lived
up to their responsibilities.
Freedom is something that only you can
discover for yourself. You can only discover it through seeking
the truth that makes you free as it teaches you to live up to your responsibilities.
John 14:6-7
Jesus answered, "I am the way
and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you
do know him and have seen him." (NIV)
The Bereans were nobler because they
searched for the truth. It is still a mark of nobility when we confront
our problems with the truth.
Remember only Jesus offers absolute freedom.
Some of us need to return to what we know to be true so we can reorient
our lives to discover the freedom Jesus offers.
