Sermon: What Is Truth?

 John 15:26-27, 16:4b-15
What Is Truth?
James Sledge                                                                                     May 23, 2021

Adam Kossowski,  

Veni Sancti Spiritus, mosaic ca. 1965

from Art in the Christian Tradition, 

a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library

 When I was a small child, I used to watch a black and white television show entitled the Adventures of Superman. As you might imagine, the special effects were pretty awful, but in the early 1960s we didn’t know any better. The show opened with the image of a pistol firing and an announcer’s overly dramatic voice saying, “Faster that a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound…” The announcer continued, giving a thumbnail sketch of Superman and his alter ego, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent. Then the intro concluded with Superman standing before a waving American flag as we heard that he “fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice, and the American way.”

The Adventures of Superman was created at the height of the Cold War when anti-communist fervor was high. Truth, justice, and the American way contrasted with the Soviet Union where the media were state controlled and a mouthpiece for government propaganda. Many Americans were proud of the fact that our news outlets were independent from the government, and the national media were largely viewed as impartial and reliable.

Things have really changed. Justice has always been an elusive if noble goal, but truth was once seen as clear and obvious. Now we have anti-vaxxers who insist that shots are dangerous with horrific side effects despite no scientific data to support such views. We have climate deniers who scoff at the nearly universal scientific consensus on human caused climate change. And we have the so-called “Big Lie” which claims, again without any evidence, that the recent presidential election was stolen.

 Not that playing fast and loose with the truth is actually new. The phrase, “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with the facts,” dates back at least to the 1950s. And the Presbyterian Church’s “Brief Statement of Faith,” written in the 1980s, says this of the human creature. “But we rebel against God; we hide from our Creator. Ignoring God’s commandments, we violate the image of God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our care.”

Accept lies as truth… If this statement is correct, then all of us at times prefer lies to the truth. Maybe we don’t deny certain scientific facts. Perhaps we would never insist that two plus two equals five. But none of us has a pure and objective view of things, and sometimes we simply see things as we want them to be.

The gospel of John seems to be especially concerned with truth. The word occurs twenty-five times in John compared to a single occurrence in Matthew’s gospel. In John, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” When Jesus is on trial before Pilate he says, “For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” And the final appearance of the word in John’s gospel is Pilate’s response to Jesus, the unanswered question, “What is truth?”

What is truth? That seems a fairly important question for understanding John’s gospel, for understanding our scripture reading this morning where Jesus says, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” And I’m reasonably certain that Jesus isn’t talking about the two plus two equals four sort of truth.

I think Jesus is talking about the true shape of reality, what it is that makes for a good, full, meaningful, abundant life, what it means to be fully human. For instance, I once saw a bumper sticker that said, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” Is that true? A lot of us live like we think it might be. We want more and more and more. We hope that more will satisfy us, make us happy, content. But then there is always another more to need or want.

In just a few minutes, we will ordain and install deacons and elders to serve as leaders in this congregation. Whenever we ordain and install elders, deacons, or pastors, our denomination requires them to answer the constitutional questions that you will hear later in this service. The first of those questions reads, “Do you trust in the Lord Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?”

Lord of all and Head of the Church… If Jesus is Lord of all, Lord of my life, then it is he who defines what makes for a good and full life. If Jesus is Head of the Church, it is he who defines what makes for a good and faithful congregation. It is Jesus who defines the truth.

Twice in our scripture Jesus speaks of the Spirit of truth. This Spirit is the continuing presence of Jesus with the Church. This Spirit testifies on Jesus’ behalf, points us to the truth of Jesus, reminds us of the truth of Jesus, and empowers us to trust in the truth of Jesus in a world that says self-denial, suffering for the sake of others, and seeking to serve rather than be served is not true.

When we ordain and install elders and deacons, they vow that Jesus’ view of life is the true one, and that they will be guided by that truth. And as a congregation, you will vow to encourage and pray for them as they seek this truth, and to be guided by their leadership, their efforts to help FCPC live into the truth of Jesus.

They will need your prayers and encouragement, for the world is filled with “truths” that are at odds with the truth of Jesus. But most of all, they will need the Spirit of truth that Jesus promises to the Church. They will need the Spirit to ground them in the truth, to let them hear Jesus speaking through the scriptures and discern the genuine truth of what Jesus wants as opposed to the false truth of what we like and want.

When we ordain and install elders and deacons, a prayer is said over them. In the prayer of ordination and installation from our Book of Common Worship, it says this. “Give them a spirit of truthfulness that they may show the compassion of Christ in the actions of daily living and rightly govern your people… Pour out your Spirit of power and truth upon the whole church, that we may be for you a holy people baptized to serve you in the world. Sustain your church in ministry. Ground us in the gospel, secure our hope in Christ, strengthen our service to the outcast, and increase our love for one another.”

All I can add to that is Amen. May it be so.