NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
THE TRUTH
DR. JIM DIXON
JOHN 14:1-10
AUGUST 31, 1997
Has a barking dog ever kept you awake at night with chronic relentless barking? Perhaps it was your own dog. Perhaps a neighbor’s dog. Have you ever wondered why dogs bark? Have you ever wondered why they bark chronically? Are they being territorial? Are they sounding an alarm? Is it some kind of canine neuroses? What’s going on? Well, scientists and zoologists have, for decades, examined and researched dog barking behavior. They have reached the conclusion that it’s a mystery. They say most of the time when dogs bark chronically, it appears to be arbitrary and capricious with no rhyme or reason.
This is reported on in the recent issue a week ago of U.S. News and World Report. The cover story is called “Great Science Mysteries.” Dog barking is one of the more mundane mysteries of science, but this article discusses all the great mysteries of science—the size, the age of the universe; why people sleep, why people age. It discusses all those things that science is trying to discover, truths that are yet unknown. Science is in a quest for truth and scientists acknowledge there is much they do not yet know.
Now, Jesus Christ came into our world, and He said, “Ego eimi he aletheia,” “I am the Truth.” But, of course, He was not speaking of scientific truth. Now, I think certainly scientific truth also has its source in Christ because Christ is co-creator with the Father. The Bible tells us that “He didst found the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the works of His hands and all things were made by Him and for Him and through Him, and in Him all things are held together.”
Certainly, the exalted Christ knows why dogs bark and the exalted Christ knows the age and size of the universe. But, you see, He didn’t become incarnate, He wasn’t born in Bethlehem in order to explain scientific truth to us. He didn’t come into this world to reveal scientific truth but rather two other types of truth and these comprise our two teachings this morning.
First of all, Jesus Christ came to reveal theological truth. Now, theology has to do, of course, with the study of God. It has to do with the study of God’s nature and God’s attributes. It has to do with the study of God’s dealings with humanity. It has to do with sin and salvation and the means of salvation, and the final judgement and heaven and hell. All of these things are matters of theology. You might be sitting there and thinking, “Well, you know, I’m a Christian but I don’t have any interest in theology” but you do have an interest in theology because we are theological beings. God has made us in such a way that we want to know Him. People ask theological questions and people draw theological conclusions. I f you say that Jesus Christ is Lord, you have made a theological statement. If you say you are a sinner who needs to be forgiven by God, you have made a theological statement.
Now, I know that most of you have heard of the Apostles Creed. Many of you have recited the Apostles Creed. The Apostles Creed states “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, crucified, died and buried. He descended into hell. The third day, He rose again from the dead and is seated to the right hand of the throne of God the Father Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”
Those are the words of the Apostles Creed. Those words have been said by Christians for centuries, for 1900 years, from approximately 100 AD. In fact, many believe that the Apostles Creed was written by the apostles themselves although that cannot be proven. But, you see, the Apostles Creed is a theological declaration. it is a doctrinal proclamation. It concerns dogma. It concerns theological truth, and it is important for Christians in every generation to affirm theological truth. Where do we find theological truth? What is our source?
Well, Jesus said, “Ego eimi he aletheia,” “I am the Truth.” He’s referring first of all to theological truth. If you want to know about God, Jesus Christ is how you can know God because He is One with the Father and shares one nature with the Father. If you want to know about salvation, Jesus Christ is the means of salvation. If you want to know about heaven or hell or if you want to know about any theological issue, Jesus Christ spoke to these things. Jesus Christ said, John 18:37, “For this I was born and for this I came into the world that I might bear witness to the truth.” Where is that witness? Where is the witness that Christ was born? Is it not the Bible? Is it not the New Testament which is His testament. It is the testament of Jesus Christ.
You see, Jesus commissioned the writing of the New Testament. Jesus said to John, “Write what you see and hear in a book.” Jesus said to all the apostles, “I will send you another comforter, even the spirit of truth. He will bring to your remembrance all, everything, that I have spoken to you.” Thus, we have the word of God. Jesus said, “My word is truth.” When we say that Jesus Christ is The Truth, we cannot separate that statement from His word.
Now, a week ago, Newsweek Magazine, August 25 issue, put a picture of the Virgin Mary on the cover and the cover story is entitled “The Meaning of Mary.” Apparently, 4,340,429 petitions have been sent to the Vatican from 157 nations, more than 100,000 petitions every month, and this has been going on for years—all making the same request—that there be a new doctrine, a new dogma, a new theology concerning Mary by papal decree.
The current Pope, Pope John Paul II who has many virtues, is undeniably immersed in Marian devotion which borders on Mariolatry, and he is expected to honor these petitions by papal declaration before the dawn of the millennium. There will be, in the Catholic church, a new theology, new doctrine, new dogma concerning Mary. Mary will be decreed co-redeemer, mediator of all the graces, an advocate for the people of God. This is what all the petitions requested, that Mary would be proclaimed co-redeemer with Christ and mediator of all graces, an advocate of all the people of Christ—redeemer, mediator, advocate.
Newsweek Magazine has rightly stated that if the Pope decrees this, it will contradict the explicit words of scripture which clearly say, in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, that “There is one God and one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ.” Newsweek Magazine suggests that if the Catholic church does this, the Holy Trinity will, in effect, become a holy quartet. Perhaps that is an exaggeration, but it does cause us to ask the question, “How do we determine theological truth?” I mean how do we determine what is true theologically? Is it just up for grabs? Is it based on the number of petitions that beseech the Vatican? Is it based on papal decree? Is it based on the desire of feminists to have a feminine presence in the godhead? What do we base theological truth on?
Jesus said, “Ego eimi he aletheia,” “I am the Truth,” and He said, “My word is truth.” If you’re a Christian, if you believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, you’ve been called to affirm the truth of His word and to take His word to every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have been called, if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, to take His truth, His theological truth to this nation.
It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to meet some resistance and you’re going to meet resistance from two primary sources. First of all, you’re going to meet the resistance of modernism. Modernism, of course, is not really modern. Modernism is not really new. Modernism is based on the Greek philosophers, based on the teachings of Aristotle and Socrates. It was Aristotle and Socrates who taught that truth can only be determined by a combination of sensory observation and inductive and deductive reasoning. Apart from sensory observation, combined with inductive and deductive reasoning, there is no truth.
Of course, the thinking of the Greek philosophers greatly influenced the European enlightenment, and it is really the basis or the foundation of the scientific method today. As you go out into the world with the theological truth of Jesus Christ… As you go out into the world, and you say that Christ died for our sins, and we need to accept Christ as Lord and Savior… As you go out into the world and you invite people to believe in Jesus Christ, you’re going to meet modernists. You’re going to meet people who won’t believe anything is true unless they can prove it by the scientific method. You can’t test tube theology because theology, by definition, deals with God and God, by definition, is supernatural and you cannot subject the supernatural to the scientific method. That is why most modernists today are either agnostics or they’re atheists.
You’re going to meet them as you go into the world, and I’m sure you already have met many of them. You need to be prepared to defend the Christian faith rationally, from reason, through an apologia. But you also need to understand many of these people simply will not take a step of faith because they are modernists, but modernism is really not the primary obstacle you will face as you go into our culture and into our nation because there are very few true modernists in America.
The truth is that over 90% of the American people believe in some kind of higher power. They are willing to embrace, at least theoretically, the realm of the supernatural. There are very few true modernists out there in our culture. What you’re going to face that’s far more serious—the far greater obstacle—are the post¬ modernists. This is so important to understand post-modernism. I f you would minister in this culture and nation… If you would be light in the darkness and salt in the corruption, you must understand post¬ modernism. Post-modernism does not reject theological truth. It just denies that there is any absolute or ultimate theological truth. Post-modernism reinterprets theological truth in its own terms or accepts theological truths on their terms.
There are two characteristics of post-modernism. This is really important, and I hope you’ll listen, and I hope you’ll think this through because I know this requires some concentration. There are two characteristics of post-modernism in our culture. First of a11, theological multiculturalism. We live in a nation now where multiculturalism is very much in vogue.
Our daughter Heather just graduated from Colorado State University. Barb and I and Drew, our son, went to her graduation. We also went to her departmental graduation, and we heard from various professors in her department of study, maybe six or seven professors. Then the head of the department stood up and she spoke to us. She did a great job, and she was very creative and very articulate. When she was finished, she said to us, “As you go, I would just like to say in the words of the Apache Indian nation, may the eagle watch over you.”
Well, I would just have soon that she said, “God bless” or even “Have a nice day” but, you see, she was engaged in politically correct multiculturalism. First of all, multiculturalism, to some extent, I think we all believe in. In America there is a melting pot of peoples of various races, various ethnicities, various cultures and sub-cultures. To some extent, we properly celebrate our diversities. That’s why we have everything from fondue to barbecue. We celebrate the diversity of our backgrounds and the diversity of our cultures. I think multiculturalism, to an extent, is very good although I think if it’s overemphasized it can divide the nation rather than unite it.
The primary concern with post-modernism has to do with theological multiculturalism. Theological multiculturalism states that every culture’s theology is sanctified, every culture’s truth is sanctified, every culture’s doctrine and dogma is sanctified, set apart, should not be infringed upon, should not be violated. Every culture’s truth must be protected. According to theological multiculturalism, people do not have the right to take the truth of their particular culture and impose it on the truth of some other culture. That’s arrogance and that’s bigoted according to theological multiculturalism.
For instance, the Apache Indian nation said “May the eagle watch over you” because theologically they were tribal animists. They believed that animals and objects were indwelt by spirits or deities and that these animals and objects, having been indwelt by spirits or deities, had the power to influence the course of events in this world, had the ability to influence the course of events in your life and mine. That was their theology, that was their truth. According to theological multiculturalists, it should be sanctified, and no one has the right to go to them and say “No, that’s wrong.” This is part of post-modernism. Everyone has their own truth. Respect everyone else’s truth.
Now, obviously the Bible has commissioned us… If you believe in Jesus Christ, the Bible has commissioned you to take the truth of Christ to all cultures. This is not politically correct. If you look at the book of Acts and you look in the 17th chapter, you see where the Apostle Paul journeyed to the city of Athens, the center of culture in the Greek world. Paul was a Jew, but he was a Jew now among the Greeks. He went to the city of Athens. He went up on the acropolis. He saw the Parthenon, dedicated to the goddess Diana. He saw other structures dedicated to other deities.
He then walked across to the hill of the Areopagus, and he spoke. He said, “People of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious, for as I walked along observing the objects of your worship, I saw one altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What, therefore, you worship as unknown, this I declare to you. The God who made the universe and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by men nor is He served by human hands as though He has need of anything since He gives to all people life and breath and everything. For He didst make from one person all the nations of people to dwell upon the face of the earth, having determined their allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation that they might feel after Him and find Him, for He is not far from each and every one of us, for in Him we live and move and have our being as even your own poets have said, we are indeed God’s offspring. Being then, God’s offspring, we ought not to suppose that the deity is like gold or silver or stone, mere representations of the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now God commands all people everywhere to repent and He has fixed a day upon which He will judge the world in righteousness through one man. Of this He has given evidence to all people by raising that man from the dead.”
Well now, obviously, the Apostle Paul was not politically correct by our modern standards. He was not a theological multiculturalist. He was not a post-modernist. He took the truth of Christ to the Greek people. He violated the sanctity of their cultural truths because he came with the truth of Jesus Christ. We’ve been called to do the same. “Go ye into all the world,” Jesus said. Of course our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and this is far more important, was not a post-modernist. He was not a theological multiculturalist. He came to the Jewish subculture, and He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” He has sent us forth in His name.
You know, by background, I’m English. My mother’s family, English. My father’s family, English. If you traced my heritage backward in time, eventually you would probably come to some people who were druids and therefore animists but thank God the truth of Jesus Christ came to my people.
Maybe your background is Nordic and at one time your people worshipped Oden and they were immersed in Norse mythology but thank God at one point in time, and it was around the year 1000 AD, the truth of Jesus Christ came to the Nordic people. And, you see, it doesn’t matter. You might be Asian. You might be African American. You might be Latino. It doesn’t matter. Whatever your culture or sub-culture, whatever truth your people came from, at some point in time, Christ, the message of Christ, was brought. This is the call of Christ upon His people no matter what the cost. You’re not called to be popular, just to be faithful to the one who said, “I am the Truth.”
If you want to know what post-modernism is characterized by, in addition to theological multiculturalism, it is also characterized by theological syncretism. This is really very different. Theological syncretism tries to synchronize all the theologies of the world. This is also part of post-modernism but it’s different from theological multiculturalism. Theological syncretists seek to synchronize all the truths from all the cultures into one truth. They try to combine Christianity with Buddhism, with Hinduism. They throw a little Islam in there, maybe a little Judaism. They just try to combine it all into one mix. Theological syncretism, religious pluralism.
Of course, this was the grave mistake, biblically, of Ahab, the King of Israel in the 9th century before Christ, who married the Phoenician Princess, Jezebel, and tried to blend the worship of Yahweh with the worship of other gods, other deities alleged. He tried to have a blended religion and the judgement of God came upon Him because he had corrupted the truth of God. This was the grave error of Solomon himself, King of Israel, who corrupted his wisdom. As recorded in I Kings, chapter 11, he built shrines and altars and structures to heathen gods and deities on the Mount of Olives. He tried to combine the worship of varying religions into one worship system and the Mount of Olives began to be called the Mount of Corruption. God will not stand to have His truth corrupted.
Theological syncretism, the belief that you combine the truths of all cultures and the truth of all religions, I mean that’s ludicrous. If you have any desire for rational symmetry, then there’s no way you can be a theological syncretist because the teachings of the various religions of the world are diametrically opposed to each other. You cannot make them one. And, you see, Jesus Christ and the cross of Christ, that’s the center of Christian truth and the cross of Christ is unique. Only Jesus Christ died in substitutionary atonement. Only Jesus Christ died for you, paying the penalty for your sin and mine. Only Jesus Christ offers imputed righteousness. Only Jesus Christ rules from the dead and it’s Jesus Christ who’s coming again. You cannot combine this with any other religion in the world. All the religions of the world teach that you are saved by your good works, by your good karma, or at least by some measure of good works so that your good works exceed your bad. But in the teachings of Jesus and the truth of Christ, we are saved only by His righteousness, not ours. By His sacrifice, not ours. We are saved by grace through faith.
So, this is the message that we’ve been called to take to the world. We will meet modernists. We will meet post-modernists, but we’ve been called to pay the price. Christ said, “You will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” Before He left this world, He said to His people, “You are the light of the world.” He warned us “not to hide the light under a bushel basket but to put the light on a lampstand that it might give light to all who are in the house.” “So let your light shine amongst people,” He said.
Well, when Jesus said, “I am the Truth,” He was referring not only to theological truth, but He was referring to moral truth. I know our time is about up. I do want to make a couple of comments about
moral truth. Last night shortly after midnight, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a tragic automobile accident in Paris, France. She was alleged to have been in a car which was being pursued by photographers from newspapers or tabloids. They had a relentless desire to invade her life and expose her life to a world that was longing to know more and more about her. She was trying to run away.
On the news last night, they interviewed a professor at the University of Colorado, a professor from the Department of Journalism there and he was enraged. He was enraged at the tabloids because of their invasion into the lives of the rich and famous and their relentless pursuit of information there and their lack of journalistic ethics, enraged at the tabloids. He said that their reporters and their photographers were scum. He was enraged at other newspapers, more mainline, more mainstream newspapers because, he said, they are being influenced by the tabloids and they’re beginning to resort to some of the same kinds of techniques. But most of all, this professor at the University of Colorado said he was enraged with people, enraged with the people of America, enraged with the people of Europe, because it’s people who are buying the tabloids… It’s people who are making these tabloids successful.
He pointed out that people seem to have an insatiable thirst for stories relating to money, sex and power. This has made the tabloids prosper and it has made other newspapers begin to resort to the same thing because of their motive of profit. He said, “You know, it’s all a sign that there’s a lack of morality in this world” and he said “there is a lack of morality in this nation. How else can you explain the fact that The National Enquirer is the most successful newspaper in America?”
Certainly there’s truth to what that CU professor said. We’re in a moral crisis and there’s a war being waged for moral truth in this nation. When you look at institutions like Harvard University, you see why we are experiencing moral corruption. Harvard University has three official mottoes. The oldest motto of Harvard is “Christo et ecclesia” which refers to Christ in the church. The second oldest official motto of Harvard is “En Christo glorium,” which has to do with the glory of Christ. The third and most recently established official motto of Harvard is simply the Latin word “Veritas,” truth.
Harvard University never uses the first two mottoes even though they are still official. Harvard University today only uses the third motto, “Veritas,” and they put it on all of their literature. Truth. But, you see, they have separated truth from Christ. They have separated truth from Christ, and you can’t do that because He is the Truth.
It’s no coincidence that two weeks ago, administrators at Harvard began to complain about what they consider to be the lack of morality in their student body. This is happening in campuses a 11 over America and it’s happening in the population at large. Judeo¬ Christian values are being passed down in a sea of moral relativism. People are trying to determine moral truth by consensus and so for our nation, moral truth is constantly changing because popular consensus is constantly changing. So premarital sex was once wrong. It’s now right. Homosexuality was once wrong. It’s now right because moral values are being determined by consensus or perhaps for some by conscience, but the Bible tells us even if your conscience cannot be trusted.
In the book of 1 Timothy, in chapter 4, the Apostle Paul tells us that there’s going to be a crisis of conscience in the last days. He says, “People will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons through the pretension of liars whose consciences are seared,” cauterized, numb. “People will begin to call good, evil, and evil, good.”
In such a time we live but, you know, if you belong to Christ… If you believe in Christ as the Lord of your life and your Savior from sin… If you stand with Christ, you stand for the truth no matter what the cost. You’re not going to be politically correct. Don’t even try. Do try to be loving but stand for the truth, theological truth and moral truth, and live by the truth. Live in obedience to Christ no matter what the cost. You see, Christ is looking for a special people who will be faithful unto death, who will serve Him until He comes, and He wants you to be part of that faithful people. Let’s close with a word of prayer.