05-17-09 In Preparation For The Truth

We are studying the New Testament book of 1^st Peter,

but you wouldn’t know it from what we will do in the next few minutes

because before we can move ahead with our study

we need to spend a little time preparing ourselves

for what Peter is saying to us.

If you have been with us in recent weeks

as we’ve moved through the first chapter

you will remember what Peter is doing for us in this section of his letter.

After investing the first half of the chapter

into preparing us mentally for what we can expect

as we live out our union with Christ both here on this planet

and then in His presence in the endless eternity to come,

Peter then turns his attention

to offering us three essential tools we will need

for successful living here and now.

He began his letter by telling us

that we now reside as aliens in this world.

Who we are,

who we have become at the spirit level

as a result of the transforming work God accomplished within us when we came to Him

has made us aliens to this world system in which we live.

And Peter told us honestly

that our alien status

would result in our at times being distressed by various trials.

And to help us cope with those various trials successfully

he offers us three strong weapons of protection and defense

against the forces that seek to destroy us.

The first is a clear call to personal moral integrity -

an unshakable commitment to live our lives

within the protective moral framework given to us by our God.

Compromising our moral integrity

is just plain stupid

because it always brings with it

increased stress

and devastating consequences in our relationships.

Now, we’ll come back to this again in just a few minutes,

but for now I’ll just remind us

that Peter wants us to know

that every time we are deceived into believing

that we must step outside of God’s moral boundaries in order to meet some need in our life

we will in the end find that the need is not truly met

and the consequences to our emotional, physical, psychological, and mental well-being are devastating.

The second survival tool offered to us by Peter

came in the form of his call to us that we fervently love one another from the heart.

His comments are clearly closed circuit

to those of us within the family of God,

and he wants us to know

that survival and effective living in this world

requires a foundation of strong, healthy, growing love relationships.

There must be some people near us

where we have allowed them past our external facade,

those who, because they know us honestly, can reflect to us honestly

the kindness, and compassion, and grace, and love of our God for us.

I was in a conversation with a good friend of mine just recently

in which I asked him how he felt God felt about a struggle going on in his life.

He responded by saying, “I don’t know...I can’t see Him.”

Then I said, “Ya, but you can see me,

and hear me,

and I will always do the best I can

to relate to you the same way I believe your God is relating to you.”

That is a big part of what we’re here for.

We need those friendships at all times throughout our lives,

but we need them especially when we’re going through turmoil.

We need them because there are some things in life

we simply can’t get through

without someone who cares walking next to us,

standing with us.

And we also need them

because there are some truths about the love and the grace and the kindness of our God

that we simply cannot tell ourselves.

And we need to hear those truths from the voice and the attitudes of another human being.

And then we came to our third weapon for successful warfare

given to us by Peter at the end of chapter one

and the first few verses of chapter two.

It is one we just touched on last week

and will spend two more weeks on before we leave it.

It is what Peter calls the living and abiding word of God.

And as we started to look last week at this third protection for hard times

we heard Peter telling us

that our rebirth into the family of God

is infinitely more real, more true, more certain than our physical birth

because our physical birth is the result of what he calls a “perishable seed”.

In other words, it will die, it will cease to be.

But our spirits have been reborn through an imperishable seed,

through something that is as eternal and unchangeable as God Himself -

the living and abiding word of God.

And as we have started working through what Peter is saying here

we’ve seen that Peter is urgently attempting to reshape our understanding

of the true nature of the words God has spoken to us.

He wants us to recognize

that those words are unlike any words ever uttered by any human being

not simply because God spoke them,

but because His words are always an extension of Himself.

We use words on a trial and error basis

in our attempts to communicate both our ideas and our feelings to those around us.

Sometimes what we say

communicates well what we’re thinking and feeling

and sometimes it does not.

But with every word we speak

there are always two huge variables.

The first is that often what we want to say

is not what we actually end up communicating.

The words we choose

or the tone of voice we use

simply fails to accomplish what we want.

When that happens,

if we are aware that it happened,

we simply try again,

beginning with something like,

“No, that wasn’t what I meant...”, or “Let me say it another way...”.

And the other problem we run into

is that as our situation changes

often our ideas and feelings change as well

and what we said a month ago

or a year ago

is not longer true

because it’s no longer what we now think or feel.

But what Peter wants us to understand

is that it is never ever that way with our God.

What He spoke to us 2000 years ago

is as certain and true and reliable today

as it was when He first spoke it.

OK, that’s where we’ve been so far,

and we’re going to take this several more steps in the weeks ahead.

But before we do

I need to spend some time

placing this whole discussion

into a proper cultural framework

or we run the risk of totally losing the power of what’s being said.

You see, when we walked into this gym this morning

we didn’t leave our cultural setting at the door.

We brought it right on in with us.

It is the filter through which we receive all information,

all communication.

And unless we recognize and actively reject the lies imbedded in our cultural setting

those lies can and will strip us of the power contained in the truths our God seeks to offer us.

Let me see if I can explain what I’m trying to say here.

We now live in a culture

that absolutely rejects the concept of absolute truth

and it certainly rejects the belief

in a clear, understandable communication given to us

by a rational, personal Creator God

to whom we all owe submission and allegiance.

Our society will accept any person’s right

to have any type of religious experience or belief system they prefer,

so long as we do not attempt to impose our religious beliefs on others,

just as all members of society

are encouraged to choose any life-style,

or sexual preference,

or personal value system they prefer

so long as their choices do not infringe upon the rights of others

to do the same.

Acceptance and tolerance

are the only truly universal “moral” values in our modern society.

And there is one other fascinating piece of our modern culture

that I need to point out

before we go and farther.

And I have to tell you

this one is remarkable beyond belief.

In our modern society today

there is an absolute separation between truth and reason.

Truth is determined on the basis of feelings and experiences,

not on the basis of reason and logic.

Reason and logic can bring a person into the discovery of facts,

but truth is altogether different.

If I have a religious experience of some kind

in which I feel as though God has revealed something to me,

or in which I have discovered some truth about life,

you have no right to attempt to test the validity of what I have discovered

by examining it through logic, facts, reason.

And I certainly have no right

to attempt to test it on the basis of the written Word of God.

To do so would be to suggest

that my source of “truth”

is somehow superior to your source of truth,

and such a judgmental stance would simply not be permitted.

So, where does that leave us?

It leaves us with a culture in which there is no such thing as universal truth

and a culture in which personal truth is determined on the basis of feelings and experiences

that do not need to be tested through reason or logic or facts or any kind of Divine revelation.

If you come in here this morning

and somehow feel or experience what you believe to be God

then it has been, from our culture’s perspective, a valid religious experience.

You certainly are not expected to test the validity of that religious experience

through any external standard.

If it’s real to you it’s real.

It took me a long time to catch on to this cultural mentality

because it was not what I was raised with and not what I brought into my walk with the King,

and until I finally caught onto what was happening

I sometimes came away from conversations with other Christians

totally confused and frustrated.

I have frequently found myself in conversations

in which the person I’m talking with

will share with me something that “God” has shown them.

But when I point out to them

that what they have just said

is directly contrary to the truth God has written out for us in His Word

they would become very irritated with me,

not because I had caused them to doubt the truth of what they believed God had told them,

but because I would have the nerve

to suggest to them that my source of Divine revelation

was in some way more valid than theirs.

In fact for them the direct personal revelation of God

was far more powerful and significant and reliable

than words written on a page by some man who lived 2000 years ago.

So why do I bring all of this up

at this point in our study of Peter’s letter?

I bring it up

because what we are looking at right now in 1^st Peter

goes absolutely contrary

to the most deeply held values of the culture in which we live.

Our society has taught us

to keep our religion isolated from the rest of our life experiences.

In practical terms,

our culture encourages us to come here on Sunday mornings

and deeply enjoy the sense of God’s presences with us,

and His love for us.

But because this is religion,

it is by its very nature personal,

nontransferable,

and completely separate from reason and logic.

Simply stated, there is no such thing as absolute truth in our society today,

and certainly no absolute truth through any religion.

All religions are to be respected,

none of them are to be viewed as the absolute source for absolute truth,

and especially not Christianity.

Now, set that next to what we see Peter telling us at the end of this 1^st chapter

and you’ll see my concern.

Peter talks with us about what he calls the living and abiding word of God,

telling us that the word of God abides forever.

He’s not talking about some feel-good religious high,

he’s talking about absolute truth

communicated to us by a real, living, Creator God

who has taken that absolute truth

and put it into words that our ears can hear and or minds can relate to logically.

And Peter’s whole point in this section of his letter

is that what God has spoken to us

is the only absolutely reliable,

certain foundation in life.

It is infinitely more certain and trustworthy

than any so-called scientific knowledge we may be given,

or spiritual experience we may have had,

or intense emotional feelings within us,

or any other authoritative voice we may encounter.

It is true for all people,

all times,

all situations,

all cultures.

It is the great anchor for our minds, our souls, our spirits.

It is, in fact, the exact opposite of everything our culture is cramming down our throats -

it is clear, direct, understandable, universal communication from a living God to us, His creation.

We should never ever fear bringing our best reasoning processes and logic to bear on what we read,

but at those points where our reason or logic or emotions or experiences

seem to contradict what God has spoken,

we know at those points

that our reasoning processes are flawed,

or our emotions are lying to us,

or that we are misinterpreting our experiences.

Every single day of my life

there are things that happen,

events that take place,

or suffering I encounter,

or fears that barge into my life

that have imbedded within them

the message that I’m all alone,

or that my God does not hold me in the palm of His hand,

or that I have become separated from Him and His love.

But with all of them

I know that when those messages come into my mind and emotions

I’m being lied do.

How do I know?

HEB 13:5 ... He Himself has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,"

JOH 10:27-29 "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they shall never perish; and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.”

ROM 8:35, 38-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What our God seeks to give us through His written communication to us

is a clear, certain, utterly reliable measure of all things,

a means by which we can recognize both truth and lies no matter where they come from,

a sure and certain foundation for life.

And our culture wars against this great gift of God

with a viciousness and a relentlessness that we must be prepared for.

And to help you better understand

the nature of this battle

I want to use one of the foundation principles of my own teaching as an example.

In my attempts to help us better understand

the true nature of the moral commandments of God

I have at times attempted to restate those commandments

in the form of 5 principles

that have helped me better relate to what I see God saying to us.

The first of those five principles is this: In God's economy, building love relationships with one another is always more important than our rights, our things, or our ideas.

Now, I know that many of you have found that principle

to be of great value to you

in your own efforts to understand what our God says and why.

But recently I have become increasingly aware

that our current cultural setting

has the potential of taking that principle

and twisting it in a way that can be highly destructive.

If we are not careful

it can actually redefine “love”

into something that is exactly opposite of the truth.

You see, our culture strongly supports the concept

that our belief systems

should always be set aside for the sake of tolerance and unity.

The truth is

that loving another person...truly loving them

means that I always relate to them within the moral framework given to us by our God.

Only that moral framework

has the ability to guide me into a true love relationship with another person,

and any time I step outside of that moral framework

or support someone else in their choosing to live outside of it

it will corrupt or weaken my friendship with them.

Let me state it differently.

To sacrifice my own moral integrity

or to support someone else in their immorality

for the sake of trying to preserve the relationship

will in the end corrupt the very relationship I’m trying to preserve.

To make the building of love relationships

more important than our rights, our things, or our ideas

does not mean that we set aside our own moral integrity

for the sake of trying to preserve the relationship.

Only through moral integrity as revealed to us by our God

can we ever build the kind of love relationships

that will meet those deep love needs within us.

Does that mean that we then run around the world

rejecting and condemning all those who are not living within God’s moral framework?

NEVER!!!!

But it does mean

that we openly establish and maintain

the highest moral standards both within our own homes,

and also where ever else God has given us a measure of authority over others.

Certainly it means that we love each person we meet

right where they are, just as they are.

But we never lower our moral standard

for the sake of attempting to maintain the relationship.

And if they refuse to relate to us

unless we support them in their immorality

we respond to them by saying in our own words,

“I love you far too much

to support you in choices that will only complicate your life and bring you pain.”

I have been working with people for a very long time now

and I’ve had to do it with this PREACHER thing hung around my neck.

In recent years I’ve been given access

to a number of young people

who are in every way products of our profoundly valueless society.

They don’t even think in terms of moral right or wrong.

The whole concept is foreign to them.

And whenever I interact with them

they know two things with certainty.

First, they know that I really care about them,

I love them just as they are, right where they are.

And second, they know that I will never compromise my own moral integrity

in order to preserve my friendship with them.

And right here is the amazing thing -

they don’t want me to.

And if I ever did

it would destroy their respect for me

and in a very real sense rob them of the only light many of them have

pointing them out of the sewage of their own existence.

And right here is Satan’s great slight-of-hand,

his great lie to the people of God in this culture.

He tells us that loving another person means setting aside our moral values for the sake of the relationship,

but exactly the opposite is true.

For when we compromise our moral values

for the sake of the relationship

we also rob the other person

of the only window they will ever have

through which they can see the life they truly long for -

not a life built upon their cultural right to live any way the want,

but a life built upon the security and freedom

that can only be found within the protective moral framework given to us by our God.

PHI 2:15 ...that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world...

All of which is to say

that when we return to our study of Peter next week

and we hear him talking with us about the living and abiding word of God,

don’t let our culture rob you

of the power of what he’s saying.

There really is TRUTH - absolute truth in our world,

there really is a sure and certain foundation for life,

and it comes to us through the mouth of our Creator.