Pentecost Sunday, Cycle C

"Truth—Again?"

May 23, 2010

The Rev. Dr. David M. Wendel

Saint Luke's Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs

Lessons: Acts 2:1-21; Romans 8:14-17; St. John 14:8-17

Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever: This is the Spirit of Truth.

And I imagine some of you might be thinking, "Truth, again?" It seems Pr. Dave is always banging the drum about "Truth". Didn't we just hear a sermon about "truth"? Well, as I remember it, I think I last preached a sermon specifically about "truth" mid-year 2009. And yet it wouldn't surprise me to find some think that's altogether too much. Because for some folks today, speaking about truth as God's objective, eternal Truth, makes their skin crawl. Some folks in our world today, and it seems in the Church today, would just as soon silence any pastor who speaks too much about truth. And maybe some are trying to silence what God in His Holy Word says about truth. I've shared this in Bible Study before, but I remember well when our son, Christopher was just four years old or so, back in my first parish in New Mexico. He had a little stuffed boy doll that he brought to me, and said, "Look, dad." And in one hand he was holding the doll, and in the other was the doll's felt mouth that he had pulled off. I asked, "why did you do that?" To which he answered, "I didn't want to hear him talking any more." It was a little disturbing, and weird. No, the doll's name wasn't "Chucky"—you know, from the horror movie, but still, to a four year old, when you tire of hearing your doll talking to you, you just pull the doll's mouth off. And isn't that how people relate to God's honest truth. If you think the pastor is preaching too much about God's truth, you leave the congregation and try to find one that isn't so set on "truth". And if you believe the Scriptures speak too much about Truth, while you can't really pull God's mouth off, it's just as effective keeping your Bible closed. That's one way to silence God—dismiss or ignore the Holy Scriptures. Because as soon as you open the Bible, as soon as you actually read and study God's Word, you find God talking about—you guess it, "truth".

Our Gospel lesson for this Pentecost Sunday, tells us about the coming of the Holy Spirit, which Jesus tells us is the Spirit of truth. In the midst of all that Pentecost was and is—in the midst of the varied languages, in the midst of the tongues as of fire; in the midst of the rush of the mighty wind and the power and the awe-some-ness of that experience; in the midst of all that— today, Jesus speaks again, and He affirms that this Spirit who was being given, would be your Advocate to be with you forever—and this Spirit would be the Spirit of truth." Again, with the "truth"?

Yes, again with the truth. Especially today. Especially given what's happened in our denomination, and the possibility of our voting, this evening to leave that denomination. The Spirit, the Spirit who came, and who comes—this Spirit whom we celebrate today, Jesus says, is the Spirit of truth. And we would do well today, to ask, with Pontius Pilate—the question he asked as Jesus was being tried on Good Friday, "truth? What is truth?"

That is the hue and cry of contemporary man and woman, growing out of the belief and attitude that claims there is no truth, ultimately. At least, in many minds today, there is no objective, authoritative truth that stands alone, forever, against all falsehood, all deception, all confusion, all challengers. In our society, in our world, in our churches, there is a feeling, a belief, that we can no longer talk about, or grasp "truth", because there is no such thing as "truth". At least, no such thing as truth which all can agree on as true. The common retort today, is, "Well, that may be true for you, but not for me!" And with that comment, people dismiss truth—people relativize truth, as being something dependent upon the individual, as something personal, as something that each of us has to decide, for ourselves. Bring up the question of "truth", today, and many will respond, "Truth? What is truth? Only I can decide what is true, for me—and only you can decide what is true for you—so don't try to impose your truth, on me."

This uncertainty about truth, however, didn't begin with us—nor did it begin in recent years. In fact, it got its start, many scholars believe, with rationalism, and the growth of the Enlightenment. It grew out of the notion that truth is not static or unchanging, so that it's also not universal. Modern man was always seeking new truths, so that lifting up, or advocating objective truth that has been and is to be true for all people, was seen as ignorant, closed-minded, antiquated. The opinion was that modern men and women should be more open and enlightened—that Christians should stop talking about biblical truth, but instead, should see their truth as just one facet of truth, not greater than or more authoritative than the truths to be found, say, in other world religions, or anti-religions for that matter, atheism, or Marxism. And surely there are some of us here, now, who are thinking, "You know, there's something about that I agree with...because, well, it just doesn't seem right for Christians to claim that we have the truth, and no one else does. How do we know, for sure, that what the Bible teaches is true—and what others teach is false?" We shouldn't be surprised that even we Christians have trouble accepting truth, as something unassailable and unchanging—because we are children of the Enlightenment, and of rationalism! We have been taught, and many are still teaching that there is no such thing as "Truth"! In the book we are studying on Monday nights, "Principles of Lutheran Theology", Carl Braaten points out that this is a movement from a theocentric worldview, to an anthropomorphic worldview. A god-centered to a man-centered worldview. In the past, truth was what God revealed to be truth—truth was centered on what God declared. Now, truth is determined by man, without much concern for God. And there's the rub.

If truth is a worldview, a concept, an understanding created, developed, and promulgated by different persons and groups of persons, then indeed, truth would be subjective, and would depend for its veracity upon those who will believe it, espouse it and trust in it. If truth is something that depends upon us, then who is to say that our truth is more true than anyone else's truth? That's the difficulty with "truth"—as a human construct. But truth, as Jesus reveals it; truth, as God manifests it, in and through Jesus Christ; truth, as it is given, bestowed, taught, by the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth—that—ought never be open to discussion! Because, when we begin to discuss, to question, to doubt, Spirit-revealed Truth—then—well, then we get ourselves into an awful mess!

And we need only look at contemporary Protestant Christianity to see what such a mess looks like. At our consultation meeting with our bishop week before last, most of us couldn't keep from shaking our heads, wondering how our denomination has gotten itself into such a mess, as we find ourselves in a church body that is not just tilting and shifting, but seems to be sinking. Could it be because we have departed from God's Truth? Could it be because we, together with other mainline denominations have been steadily moving away from the Spirit of Truth, and discussing, devising, and adopting, our own versions of truth—which then leads to confusion, disunity, and ultimately chaos? And not just with regard to sexuality— the mess started really, with a loss of clarity, confidence and zeal for the Gospel! Robert Benne, one of our Lutheran professors at Roanoke College in Virginia, writes that it started when we "adopted the ideas and practices of elite, liberal culture.as we (gave in) to the enormous pressures for accommodation with culture." He states, "the virus has been deeply driven into the fabric of the church. It has turned our church into a chaotic cacophony of voices, none of them particularly authoritative. We have become a model of interest group liberalism. The only theology honored is one that exalts a Gospel without Law.the theological and moral traditions we have held in the past to be authoritative, are now reduced to the same level as the many voices we have invited into the conversation. Now," writes Benne, "there is little orthodoxy left to overthrow."

In some ways, it has come to pass that in mainline Christianity, if not in the body of Christ as a whole, that we have, in the words of St. Paul in Romans 1:25, "exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature, rather than the creator." When such spurning of the truth of God becomes an every-day life-experience, an experience not resisted by the church, but in some places, encouraged by the church—it conditions people to kneel before their own self-created idols, whether it's sports, power-politics, drugs, alcohol, an obsession with sex, or an obsession with our own image and youthful looks. And when this happens, it's no wonder that Christians no longer open themselves to the Spirit of Truth—but wish to silence it. It's no wonder that, even Christians, have forgotten that the Spirit of Pentecost; the Holy Spirit that was given to the Church, and wants to be received by Christians, always and everywhere, is the Spirit of Truth. So that, what we have now is not just the world which cannot, or will not receive the Spirit of Truth, because it neither sees him or knows him—now, in some ways, it is even some Christians who cannot, or will not receive the Spirit because we neither see him, or know him. So that, this Pentecost Sunday, it is incumbent upon us to ask Jesus, "What is Truth, anyway?" And then, it is incumbent upon us to hear His answer. And how does Jesus, finally answer this question?

Jesus, definitively, firmly, and clearly says, "I am the truth".he says, "I am the way, and the TRUTH and the life." He says, "You want to know what truth is?" He prays, in John 17, for his followers, asking, "Father, sanctify them in the truth—THY WORD IS TRUTH!" That's what the truth is—it is the Word of God—the Word of God, incarnate in Jesus, who is the Truth, embodied; and the Truth is the Word of God, recorded for us, in Holy Scripture. There is no other truth that is trustworthy, and consistent, and true, than Jesus, the Word, and the Word of God that is, revealed in Holy Scripture. Apart from God's Word, one may say there is no objective "truth". But God makes it crystal clear, that "truth", for now and for all time, is revealed in His Word—and His word, is the Word made flesh—Jesus; His Word, is the testimony of Scripture—that testifies to Jesus, who is the Logos, the mind, the will, of God— which is why Jesus can say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.the words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own, but the Father who dwells in me speaks through me."

When Pilate, and we, and our world ask, "What is truth," this is Jesus' answer— God's Word is Truth. He says, "I am the Word, incarnate—I am, the Truth—the Truth, that the Spirit of Truth, has revealed, and is revealing, right now, right here, in your hearing, that you might hear the Truth, and the Truth might, indeed, set you free—that the Truth might set free—all those, who will receive the Truth—all those who will receive, the Son, who is the Truth. The world, Jesus says, will not receive the Truth— because it neither sees the Spirit of truth, nor knows him. But you have received the Truth, because you have received the Spirit of Truth—you know him, because He abides with you, and will be in you.Jesus says, "forever"! And we say, "Come, Holy Spirit!" We say, "Come, Spirit of Truth!" We pray, may the Spirit of Truth, be with us, and in us—forever. May we as individuals, and as a congregation, abide in the Truth, and may we live in the Truth, forever.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.