Truth

We believe that God in God's self , in God's nature , is truth , and we would say that God is love , and love is the ground of ultimate reality . That's what we would say . That would be truth .

And , as we know , as the story goes , Tom Cruise , this young , smart lawyer , just gets a thread and keeps pulling on it and he's trying to provoke Jack Nicholson's character . Jack Nicholson's character is on the stand and finally , you know , this little snot-nosed lawyer says to this decorated war veteran you know I'm entitled to the truth .

So Nicholson says you can't handle the truth . And then what follows is really phenomenal . You know , we usually stop listening and you can't handle the truth .

But then what Nicholson does effectively I mean , he's supposed to be the villain in the story , but what he does do , and maybe I have a soft part of my heart for this , being an ex-military guy he begins to describe what is necessary to keep people safe , and a lot of that we don't even want to know nowadays in America on why our gas is cheap and why

this and why that and the other thing , and that we've got families pulled apart because we've got men and women now forward deployed and they're going places and doing things that they can either confirm or deny , you know . But that's where the comparison sort of ends between Nicholson and Jesus .

He's trying to let them know that , you know , the gift is the spirit and the spirit will lead you in the truth . In other words , we know that growing up in the ability to tell and to handle and to hear truth is a journey , is a journey right ?

And when we look societally at this , you know , in our society , in global societies , we usually kill people who tell the truth about the way that we are as nations and the way we are as economic systems , et cetera . We don't want too much truth , because truth actually is disruptive to the status quo , the status quo we like .

I mean , there's scientific truth and all those sorts of things , and you know nowadays , you know , any opinion will do as a way to sort of unseat anything that's even scientific truth nowadays , and we use the word feeling right , to sort of disembowel anything that might look like truth .

But Jesus is basically saying is that there is a reality about God and about the nature of life that you can't hear , you can't handle , you can't sort of get your head around all at this time . And so you know I mean , think about it for just a second the reality of Jesus is a bit too much for most of us , right ?

And so the fact that to grow up spiritually means you're going to have to die to some things not physically right , but you're going to have to die to some things , not physically right , but you're going to have to die to some things it is , you know , a part of spirituality , modern day spirituality , that people don't want to hear , and that is nevertheless the

truth . I mean , Jesus demonstrates this vividly in his own life , right , and then nature tells us this truth right .

And nature tells us this truth right Is that you know the leaves fall , you know , in autumn , and they end up mulching themselves with their dead leaves and then over a period of time , then that tree comes back to life never was really dead , but comes back to life in new and vivid ways and so we have a connection to the natural world and the spiritual sort

of revelation that Jesus showed us . That is truth for us , and truth for us as people who believe is that God is real and able and good and generous . We take that truth in by faith . We take that truth in by the community of faith .

We take that truth in by the word of God , which we believe is many things poetry , metaphor , you know , archaeology , lots of different kinds of things . So truth would be about an hour conversation ,

you know , just by itself . But what Jesus I think is pointing to his who is the nature , what is the nature of God , and can you embrace all of that now ?

Also , Jesus has been with these folks for three years and so he's sort of got a sense of their learning habits right and their ability sort of to comprehend a lot of the stuff that he's wanting to talk to them about , but don't miss the big point .

The big point is is that when it comes to this spiritual truth , we need a guide , and so Jesus says you can depend on the spirit of truth to be your guide . So truth is also an aspect of who God is . God is true , Right , so God is all truth . You know , God is not just wisdom and all those sorts of things .

We believe that God , in God's self , in God's nature , is truth , and we would say that God is love , and love is ultimately right , the ground of ultimate reality . That's what we would say , and so that would be truth would say , and so that would be truth .

I think we have what we have given to us by our birthright , this discerning , contemplative thing . Within that the spirit does dwell within us , and yet I don't know that we listened to spirit just by ourselves , but that it is in with community .

And so we would say that that is accumulated wisdom , and we would say it points to a truth about the nature of spirit . And , of course , matthew , mark , luke and John tell that story out , right , jesus just doesn't stay in the wilderness all by himself , thinking beautiful thoughts , all by himself , right , he comes and he lives .

One of the truths that we point to , excuse me , one of the truths that we point to can be summed up in the cross . The cross has a horizontal axis and a vertical axis .

Not only is it the instrument of shame and sort of heinous death that the Roman Empire used , but we believe it also points to a reality about the nature of life with God that it is both vertical and horizontal at the same time .

So , yeah , you can go on a mountain and think great thoughts about God , and that's great , but yet it has to be lived out here on the horizontal plane that God and God's fullness can be known Right . So you know , I love when people tell me yeah , man , I'm all for the , for the Jesus thing .

It's just that Jesus's friends I don't want to be involved with , right , and like , I totally get that . And they say that this , I don't want to go to church and I don't want to be involved . I get that .

The truth of the matter is is you just can't think your way into the kingdom of heaven , right , I mean , jesus comes as spirit , as God , into flesh to live among us . We call that the incarnation . We would say that is the living out of a truth , right , that this has to be lived out right On the ground .

You know , I like to say in fingernail , dirty places with people . And so who was it ? That wonderful woman , dorothy Day , who said you only love God as much as you sort of love the person you hate the most ? Right , and so that's a truth about the nature of God . And so there's lots of prickly truths about God . You know where your treasure is .

There also is your heart . Ouch , right , I mean , we got to think about that . You know , I heard a guy one time get up in the pulpit . I was sitting way in the back and he was preaching a sermon about prayer and everybody he was a good preacher and everybody was sort of on the edge of their seat listening to the guy .

And then he just sort of stopped and said if the church and if the world depended on your prayers , where would the church and the world be ? And I saw like a room of 200 people collectively slink down in their chairs , right .

So there is that thing that we are simultaneously hungry for to a degree , and terribly afraid of at the same time , because what we don't want about truth is we don't want to be revealed . We don't want our foibles , our failures , our frailties to be revealed , and truth is a revealer , right . We don't want that aspect of truth .

But also , truth sets us free , right ? I mean I think I read that somewhere in the Bible , right ? And so we're sort of snagged , we're sort of living on a fence about all this sort of thing . I heard another guy say you know , god , we love you , but we are afraid to love you too much .

We're afraid to love you too much means is that there's some part of us we want to and feel like we need to preserve and even keep from God , right , rather than the truth of the matter is , is that you've never been more yourself

? Is that you've never been more yourself than you are living a faithful life with God ? Right ? And so we are this . You know what's that wonderful joke about ? What's the difference between a big pickup truck and a Ferrari , right ? Sports car capacity , right ? So we have a limited capacity for truth because we want it , we say we want it .

We're not sure we want it , we're afraid of it . Mostly , we don't want anybody to weaponize it against us Certainly not . And yet life with God , right , life with Jesus , life with his words , life with his example , right , is like a level , you know carpenter's tool , like a level for our lives , right .

And so one of the you know , let's get to the end part of this , one of the great indicators for us as we're walking along with God in our life is our ability now to hear and to handle truth , even unflattering truth , about ourselves .

You can go to Harvard and study leadership and they will tell you that people who have a lot of fragility cannot lead effectively because they lack the ability to interrogate their own actions and motivations . They can't see their own triggers and vulnerabilities . Therefore , their companies and the work that they do sort of prematurely plateaus .

So here we are now with the 2,000-year-old wisdom from Jesus and cutting-edge leadership studies from Harvard Kennedy School now singing the same song . So there's something about us that we need to grow up Now .

The good news is , as Jesus promised in this text in John 16 , the Spirit will guide you into all truth , and that's what we would call spiritual maturity is can I get to the place where I acknowledge that I am both sinner and saint ? Can I get to the place where I can acknowledge I am fearfully and wonderfully made and I'm at the same time frail ?

Can I get to the place where I realize that , for all of my distinctions and achievements , I am loved and valued just as much as the drunk in the gutter in God's eyes ? I mean that's an amazingly freeing place to be finally to get to eyes . I mean that's an amazingly freeing place to be finally to get to . Is that I don't have to gin up any worth ?

That's a truth that I'm already worth everything in God's eyes , and so is my neighbor .

not point ultimately that we're good people . This podcast , I hope , points to the fact that we have an aid in the Holy Spirit and , just like Jesus is saying so , I think if we want to grow up I mean , I've said this countless times St Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 13 . If we want to grow up right , maybe we ought to start with prayer .

Lord , I realize the ways in which my behavior seem to be at oddsges that I hold and the lack of forgiveness you know I . You know I hold up . You know I see how I live at odds with who you invite me to be Lord , and so I see that now , lord , and I ask you to help me to grow up right in the full stature of Christ .

We're supposed to be growing up in the full stature of Christ , not some arbitrary measurement , right , but Christ as we know him in Matthew , mark , luke and John .

So to bring these stories into our lives and then try to live them , try to square up to them as much as we can , realizing that nobody's perfect , that we all fall short , but to begin to intentionally bring those stories , bring the grace of the Holy Spirit into our lives , to say welcome . I think that's where it is .

You know , one of the things I love about the AA community is that they say you know , look , I realize I have no power right over this thing , right , and so I know I need help . And yet Christians , you know , years after years , Sunday after Sunday , sit down and act like this is a self-help society

. And so what we do is we do a discredit to the spirit , we do all the fake church smile and we do sort of the performance of what I call religious entertainment and all that sort of stuff , and it's just not worth anything . What's worth anything , and everything is to say , is to confess the ways in which we fall short .

And what if we can't see those ways ? That's a good question too . It might be even to say Lord , help me to see the ways if I can't see them . You talked about ego . Sometimes ego has blinders and we just can't see , we don't want to see or we're too fragile to be able to see .

A lot of us have had a lot of trouble , a lot of up and downs , a lot of family of origin issues , all kinds of trauma in our lives , and so to begin to pull back that sort of stuff , we feel very vulnerable , we feel very fragile , and so that becomes an impediment to a real , deep and abiding relationship with Christ .

And so the truth is is that it's going to take time , it's a process , right , but we can get started today , if we want to , by simply saying Lord , here I am , I'm made in your image . I know that , and yet I want to know you more and I want to make more room in my heart for your truth .

So you know that may be one of the most dangerous prayers that we could ever pray , you know , is to say Lord , I think I'm ready now to integrate you know all that . I am right as a , as an opportunity to worship you .