During the trial of the British Army for the Boston Massacre, John Adams acting as the defense lawyer stated:

    “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

Much to my great disappointment I am discovering more and more that those given the mantle to preach the gospel and write about the Truth are unwilling to do so because the Truth at times makes parishioners and readers uncomfortable. I don’t know why I am surprised or disappointed with this discovery because it was no different for the early church.

    “Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.’ And some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas. But the Jews who were not persuaded, becoming envious, took some of the evil men from the marketplace, and gathering a mob, set all the city in an uproar and attacked the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king—Jesus.’ And they troubled the crowd and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. So when they had taken security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.” (Acts 17:1-9)

What was it that made the Jews so upset with Paul’s words? Was anything Paul said untrue? Did Paul ever preach a false gospel? So what happened?

People got saved; they stopped following religion and started following Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. When people leave your organization, whether it is a church or a pro-family/life movement, those people who follow the truth take their wallets with them. When people are exposed as frauds, those people make false accusations.

I am currently working on an essay about how the pro-life movement is being duped. The last couple of weeks have taught me much about trying to reveal the Truth. The Truth is always received well when it reveals the hypocrisy and lies of our enemies. For conservatives it is the liberals; for many Republicans it is the Democrats; for the pro-life movement it is the pro-choice movement.

However, when you turn the Light of Truth upon “our side” well now that is quite another thing! If you start knocking down my monuments then that makes me uncomfortable and I’m not going to receive that; well not all people respond that way.

    “Then the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men.” (Acts 17:10-12)

Some people, even if the Truth makes them uncomfortable, will receive the Truth. Why? It’s because they are fair-minded. The Greek adjective transliterated “fair-minded” is eugenes and it means “of noble character.” It takes moral courage to face the Truth not only of yourself but also about your beliefs. In this postmodern, moral relativistic world even those “defenders of the truth” become uncomfortable with the Truth if it clashes with their motives and means.

And it is not enough for these people to run the Truth-seekers off; no, they want to completely shut us down:

    “But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came there also and stirred up the crowds.” (Acts 17:13)

If you haven’t realized it by now, when I capitalize the word Truth I am representing aletheia truth. Jesus said this type of Truth sets us free:

    “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)

I’ve always concentrated on the word Truth in that verse but this morning the Holy Spirit revealed something new to me; what does “know” mean? There are many usages in the English language for the word know; how was Jesus using this word? The Greek verb ginosko used here means “to come to know; to recognize; to understand.”

Therein lies the problem and is the root of many peoples’ discomfort with the Truth. The world and its desires have blinded or shielded their eyes from recognizing the Truth. It was true of me; I still battle with it.

Too many pulpits, papers, and pundits avoid Truth-telling because it will cost them financially. So many times I have heard objections to those of us trying to reveal the Truth because they think it is just our opinion or that it is not a practical or pragmatic approach to dealing with say the abortion issue. Scripture tells us we do not have the luxury of practicality or pragmatism when it comes to accepting the Truth:

    “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)

When my essay is published in the next day or two; many of the recipients I send it to, and it could include some of you, are not going to be very receptive to it. Let this devotional be a warning to you to prepare your hearts to receive this Truth. I stand confident that I will be sharing the Truth because I have yet to see one person who disagrees with what is being revealed dispute the facts. That should be your first clue that you are not receiving the Truth in a spiritually pure manner. Read again John Adams’ quote:

    “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

Keep President Adams’ brilliant words in mind as we go forward.

Many are the preacher across America who is trying to preach the Truth and he is run out of the church for it. It is not the fault of the preacher for being afraid to speak the truth when his livelihood is at stake. The fault belongs primarily to the flock that stubbornly refuses to be lead by their shepherd. Shame on them!

If your pastor is a man who fears God and not man and unapologetically preaches the Truth without stutter or stammer, then thank and encourage him for his boldness. If your pastor is squishy about this, then encourage and strengthen him and go face down those in the flock who grumble about hearing the Truth. This is not to be!

But please remember two things.

First, do it love.

Second, you have to go to church to be able to be that person for your pastor.

So my pray for all of you this weekend is that you ask the Holy Spirit to remove any worldliness from your eyes and your heart so as to receive the Truth with all readiness.

Have a blessed weekend and please remember to go to church on Sunday.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2010 David Jeffers

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