07 LOVERS OF TRUTH IN A POLITICALLY CORRECT WORLD
Lovers of Truth in a Politically Correct World
Baptist General Conference Annual Meeting
July 1 & 2, 1993
Des Moines, Iowa
I. Why being truth-driven is so crucial
Our concern with truth is an inevitable expression of our concern with God. If God exists then he is the measure of all things, and what he thinks about all things is the measure of what we should think. Not to care about truth is not to care about God. To love God passionately is to love truth passionately. Being God-centered in life means being truth-driven in ministry. What is not true is not of God. What is false is anti-God. Indifference to the truth is indifference to the mind of God. Pretense is rebellion against reality and what makes reality is God. Our concern with truth is simply an echo of our concern with God.
II. Why is Truth Under Siege?
Why is it disappearing as the driving passion of Evangelicalism?
1. Pressure from an emerging world civilization that is unique in its thoroughgoing secularism
What has changed is that now the whole society has become avant-garde. It is the whole of society that is now engaged in this massive experiment to do what no other major civilization has done–to rebuild itself deliberately and self-consciously without religious foundations. And the bottom line of his endeavor is that truth in any absolute sense has gone. (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or:Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, p. 86.)
2. Pressure to welcome this secularism because we value its accompaniments
We cannot without inconsistency employ the printing-press, the railroad, the telegraph [we would say computers, jets and fax machines] in the propagation of our gospel, and at the same time denounce as evil those activities of the human mind that produced these things. (J. Gresham Machen, "Christianity and Culture," p. 159.)
3. Pressure from modern urbanization
The modern workplace not only diminishes accountability but also undercuts the cogency of religious belief and morality. Cities create their own psychological environments by bringing together in close proximity a wide range of worldviews, cultural and ethnic differences, and personal values. The kind of pluralism that is necessary to eliminate antagonisms among the competing views has the effect of reducing the values of each inhabitant to the lowest common denominator. City life requires the kind of friendliness that allows us to cohabit with the mass ethic. It is typically assumed that this sort of friendliness must be divested of moral and religious judgment, since it is difficult for our society to see how judgments about truth and morals can escape the charge of social bigotry. And so we settle for the kind of friendliness within which all absolutes perish either for lack of interest or because of the demands of the social etiquette. (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, p. 75.)
4. Pressure from religious pluralism and radical multiculturalism
It is to the faith of Jesus Christ that we are called. The change of preposition from in to of is significant. It is a faith that is shown in one's trust in God, in surrender to God's purposes, in giving oneself. Such a response of faith I have witnessed among my friends of other faiths. I cannot believe they are far from the kingdom of heaven, what is more, as Dr. Starkey writes '. . . people will not be judged for correct doctrinal beliefs but for their faith. Those who will enter the kingdom on the day of judgment are those who in faith respond to God's love by loving others.' (John Parry [Other Faiths Secretary of the World Church and Mission Department of the United Reformed Church in London], "Exploring the Ways of God with Peoples of Faith," in International Review of Missions, Vol. lxxiv, No. 296, October, 1985, p. 512.)
5. Pressure from market driven mass media
If polls show that the people are tired of hearing about Bosnia it is pulled from the news. The criterion of reporting is not true worth and significance but market appeal. More and more taste takes the place of truth.
The demand to titillate and excite means that significant issues are dealt with more and more in soundbites and emotional responses designed to make an impression not impart truth.
Under the pressures of modernity we have rejected "content for style, truth and meaning for impressions, beliefs for games, ethical rules for social role-playing." (Os Guinness, The American Hour, 1992)
In this new world, the statues are made of celluloid, not of stone; here the achievements are those of personality, seldom of character; here the clicking of the cameras and the lights of the television crew are the tip-off that a Big Event is under way, even if it is only a brief shot of Zsa Zsa Gabor leaving the courtroom after having been convicted for slapping a policeman." (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, p. 50.)
6. Pressure from a pragmatic exploitation of moral and religious language and meaning without root in truth
J. Gresham Machen warned us 70 years ago that truth is imperiled not merely by the use of language to make false statements, but, even more insidiously, by the holding on to true statements only because they are useful not because they are true.
It makes very little difference how much or how little of the creeds of the Church the Modernist preacher affirms, or how much or how little of the Biblical teaching from which the creeds are derived. He might affirm every jot and tittle of the Westminster Confession, for example, and yet be separated by a great gulf from the Reformed Faith. It is not that part is denied and the rest affirmed; but all is denied, because all is affirmed merely as useful or symbolic and not as true. (J. Gresham Machen, What is Faith?, [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1991, orig. 1925], p. 34.)
One example is the promotion of homosexuality. Gregory King, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign Fund, the nation's largest homosexual advocacy group, said, "I personally think that most lesbian and gay Americans support traditional family and American values," which he defined as "tolerance, concern, support, and a sense of community" (Christianity Today, Nov. 9, 1992, [36/13] p. 21).
Another example is President Bush in January, 1992, who said to National Religious Broadcasters in defense of the Gulf war: "I want to thank you for helping America, as Christ ordained, to be a light unto the world."
Another example was Bill Clinton at the democratic convention: "Scripture says: 'Our eyes have not seen, nor our ears heard nor our minds imagined what we can build.'"
7. Pressure from an atmosphere of evasion and imprecision
J. Gresham Machen alerts us to the hostilities of modernism toward precise definitions and clear statements about what is affirmed and what is denied. Truth disappears in an atmosphere of vagueness. The fog of ambiguity conceals that orthodoxy has become a language shell and the truth is gone.
This temper of mind is hostile to precise definitions. Indeed nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms… Men discourse very eloquently today upon such subjects as God, religion, Christianity, atonement, redemption, faith; but are greatly incensed when they are asked to tell in simple language what they mean by these terms. (J. Greshem Machen, What is Faith?, pp. 13-14.)
8. Pressure from pity and victimization in wounded groups
Two examples here are homosexuality and divorce.
Virtually every other segment of society is telling the homosexual it is okay to engage in homosexual behavior. Is it really our role to focus solely on acceptance of the person without recognizing the sinfulness of the behavior?
That was the church's mistake on divorce; now we have twice- and thrice-divorced leaders of churches, lay persons confused on the biblical grounds for or against divorce, and a record on marriage and family not significantly different from that of nonbelievers.
I think many of us who were pushing for greater acceptance of the divorced now wonder, in retrospect, if we went too far. We suspect we should have been more biblically directed about restoring divorced person to spiritual leadership roles, and less eager to find them loopholes to remarry with the church's full blessing. I can see us having the same regrets regarding homosexuality in about 20 years. (Anonymous author, "Don't Lie to Homosexuals," in the Speaking Out column of Christianity Today, May 17, 1993, p. 17.)
9. Pressure from hypersensitivity and the fear of being slandered as a bigot
The mildest assertion of Christian truth today sounds like a thunderclap because the well-polished civility of our religious talk has kept us from hearing much of this kind of thing. A person who enters a room by leaning on an infirm door may get a reputation for violence, John Kenneth Galbraith has said, but the condition of the door did have something to do with his precipitous entry. So it is here. (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, p. 10.)
One example is a leaflet handed out at the University of Minnesota the week before the March for Jesus in Minneapolis on June 12, which stated:
Say no to bigotry and hatred, defend reproductive freedom and queer rights. A group of so-called religious right wing bigots are marching in a "March for Jesus," on Loring Park in Minneapolis on June 12th . . . to advance their anti-queer, anti-woman political agenda.
Truth claims are often nullified as political manipulation.
10. Pressure to be market driven churches and the accompanying worldliness
The stream of historic orthodoxy that once watered the evangelical soul is now dammed by a worldliness that many fail to recognize as worldliness because of the cultural innocence with which it presents itself . . . The older orthodoxy was driven by a passion for truth, and that was why it could express itself only in theological terms. The newer evangelicalism is not driven by the same passion for truth, and that is why it is often empty of theological interest. . . We now have less biblical fidelity, less interest in truth, less seriousness, less depth, and less capacity to speak the Word of God to our own generation in a way that offers an alternative to what it already thinks. (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, pp. 11-12.)
11. Pressure from church growth pragmatism
Example: Seminaries and mega-churches
If faculty have not actually served on the staff of a church within the last five years, it is almost impossible for them to have an understanding of the direction of the church, small, medium or large. Speaking at a weekend conference, filling a pulpit as a guest or interim, or teaching a Sunday school class in a number of churches does not get to the heart of the ministry. It would be better for the seminaries to raise their salary several thousand dollars and insist on faculty becoming involved in the life of one church. . . .
Instead of taking a sabbatical to go overseas and do research on some insignificant event that happened in church history 400 years ago, it would be far more worthwhile to the church if the professor would do some research on what we can expect in the coming decade. Isn't it interesting that most of the people writing today about the church of tomorrow are not seminary professors, but someone on the cutting edge? (Carolyn Weese, Standing on the Banks of Tomorrow: A Study of Ministry Needs of the Local Church in the 21st Century [in response to seven seminaries and 97 churches].)
Example: Seminars and evangelical leaders
In fact some nationally recognized leaders conduct seminars around the country asserting, 'If you want to hire someone who knows theology, then look for a seminary graduate. But if you need someone who can actually do ministry, don't hire a seminary grad. Look for someone from within the church.'
Unfortunately, this naive and overly simplistic belief is growing in acceptance. And sadly for the church, a shallow and doctrinally vulnerable membership could characterize its constituency a few generations down the road. (John Cionca, in Heart and Mind, Spring 1993, pp. 8-9.)
12. Pressure from the professionalizing of the pastorate into managers and therapists.
Many of those whose task it is to broker the truth of God to the people of God in the churches have now redefined the pastoral task such that theology has become an embarrassing encumbrance or a matter of which they have little knowledge . . . I look at the way in which the pastorate has become professionalized, how the central function of the pastor has changed from that of truth broker to manager of the small enterprises we call churches. To the extent that this tendency has taken root, I have concluded that it is producing a new generation of pastoral disablers. (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, pp. 6, 13.)
As the nostrums of the therapeutic age supplant confession, and as preaching is psychologized, the meaning of Christian faith becomes privatized. At a single stroke, confession is eviscerated and reflection reduced mainly to thought about one's self . . . Thus it is that the pastor seeks to embody what modernity admires and to redefine what pastoral ministry now means in light of this culture's two most admired types, the manager and the psychologist. (David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology, p. 101.)
13. Pressure to wallow in easily available pornography which clips the wings for soaring with God in Truth
With the advent of the videocassette recorder and the pervasive availability of pornographic material, ethical resistance is apparently crumbling among evangelicals. A recent survey of clergy, who as a group ranked significantly more conservative than laity in matters of sexual ethics, indicated that 20 percent of the respondents view pornographic matter at least once a month ("The War within Continues," Leadership, [Winter 1988]: 24, in David Wells, No Place for Truth, Or: Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology,p. 82.)
14. Pressure from the god of this world, the father of lies
2Co_4:3-4
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Joh_8:43-45
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word. You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature; for he is a liar, and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
1Jn_5:19
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
15. Pressure from the depraved human mind which measures truth by its desires, not by God
2Ti_3:8
And just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected as regards the faith.
2Ti_4:2-4
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths.
III. Why Truth is Crucial
And should it be the driving passion and commitment of the church?
1. God is the Truth
Rom_3:3-4 a (God the Father)
What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar.
Rom_15:8 (God the Father)
For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers.
Joh_14:6 (God the Son) Cf. Rev_19:11
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.
Eph_4:20-21 (God the Son)
But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.
Mat_22:15-16 (God the Son)
Then the Pharisees went and counseled together how they might trap Him in what He said. And they sent their disciples to Him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that You are truthful and teach the way of God in truth, and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any."
Joh_15:26; Joh_16:13 (God the Spirit)
When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness of Me . . . 16:13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth
2. Not loving the truth is eternally ruinous
2Th_2:8-13
And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
1Co_13:6
[Love] does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
3. The truth is essential for salvation
Jam_5:19-20
My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth, and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.
2Th_2:13
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
4. Paul's premium on truth above good motives
Paul made much of the truth of his message and the need to get it exactly right, even if the messenger was not exactly right.
For example, in Philippians he was tolerant of those who with bad motives preached to make his imprisonment worse–because they were saying the objective truth about Christ (Php_1:15-18).
But in Galatians he was not tolerant but pronounced a curse on his opponents–because they were getting the message objectively wrong. They were telling gentiles that works of the flesh would complete God's saving action in their lives which had begun by faith and the Spirit (Gal_1:8).
It may seem like a triviality since both the Judaizers and Paul would have agreed on dozens of precious things including the necessity of faith for salvation. But it was not trivial.
5. Paul's custom in the book of Acts of reasoning and persuading from the truth of Scripture
Thessalonica (17:2-4)
And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures . . . And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas.
Corinth (18:4-11)
And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. And when they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his garments and said to them, "Your blood be upon your own heads! I am clean. From now on I shall go to the Gentiles." And he departed from there and went to the house of a certain man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next to the synagogue . . . And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Ephesus (19:8-10)
And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus [from the fifth hour to the tenth]. And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Rome (28:23-24)
And when they had set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. And some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.
6. Christian living is based on knowledge of the truth
Rom_6:1-3
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or DO YOU NOT KNOW that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Rom_6:15-16
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under Law but under grace? May it never be! DO YOU NOT KNOW that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?
1Co_5:6
Your boasting is not good. DO YOU NOT KNOW that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough?
1Co_6:2
Or DO YOU NOT KNOW that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? DO YOU NOT KNOW that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life?
1Co_6:15-19
DO YOU NOT KNOW that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! Or DO YOU NOT KNOW that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For He says, "The two will become one flesh." . . . Or DO YOU NOT KNOW that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
Jam_4:4
You adulteresses, DO YOU NOT KNOW that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Joh_8:31-32
Jesus therefore was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Joh_17:17
Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth.
Gal_2:13
And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not [walking] straightforward [orthopodousin] about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews"?
Rom_1:18 ff
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness . . . Professing to be wise, they became fools . . . God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,
7. Paul's truth-driven ministry style
2Co_13:8
We can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.
2Co_4:2
We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
2Co_6:6
[We commend ourselves in every way . . .] in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left.
8. The body of christ is built with truth in love
Eph_4:11-15
And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ.
Col_1:28
And we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ.
IV. Who is responsible for the Truth?
1. The church in the world, God's pillar of truth
1Ti_3:15
I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
2. The elders who handle and teach and stand guard by the truth
2Ti_2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.
1Ti_3:2 (Cf. 1Ti_5:17)
An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach . . .
Tit_1:9
[The overseer must . . .] hold fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.
Act_20:20-31
I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly and from house to house . . . I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God. Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be on the alert.
V. How to Find and Hold the Truth
1. Stay centered on God who is the sum and criterion of all truth
"[Truth is] the consistency and agreement of our ideas with the ideas of God" (Jonathan Edwards, "The Mind").
2. Give yourself to diligent pursuit of more and more truth
Pro_2:2-22 Make your ear attentive to wisdom,
Incline your heart to understanding;
3 For if you cry for discernment,
Lift your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will discern the fear of the Lord,
And discover the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
3. Pray for yourself the way Paul prayed for the church
Col_1:9
For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
Php_1:9
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment.
4. Labor to think the Biblical author's structure of thought after them
Php_1:6-30 a I am confident of this very thing,
6b that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
7a For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all,
7b because I have you in my heart,
7c since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.
8 For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus.
5. Practice thinking by means of writing
Take a troubling issue (social, personal, textual) and write out questions about it. Then think, think, think–drawing on your Biblical reservoir for criteria of truthfulness in answering the questions. Write down the answers and insights and questions as they come. One written insight will lead to more questions and more questions will lead to more insights. The upshot will be increasing depth and confidence that you have seen truth and not just piggybacked on another author.
6. Read God-besotted books, and Scripture-saturated books, and some of the best statements of the other side than yours
What I have suggested in the previous paragraphs seems to me to be an absolute minimum of time for study, which even the busiest pastors should be able to manage…: every day at least one hour; every week one morning, afternoon or evening; every month a full day; every year a week…It is nearly 600 hours in the course of a year. (John Stott, Between Two Worlds, p. 204.)
What a slow reader can do
One 15-minute slot for reading six days a week:
250 words a minute x 15 minutes a day
3,750 words a day x 6 days in a week
22,500 words a week x 52 weeks in a year
1,170,000 words in a year, divided by 450 words per page in No Place for Truth
= 2,600 pages per year; divided by 300 pages in No Place for Truth
= 8.6 books a year
Two 15-minute slots a day = 17 books a year
Three 15 minute slots a day = 26 books a year
If you read 500 words a minute instead of 250 that would be 16 books a year (at 15 minutes a day) or 34 books a year (at 30 minutes a day) or 52 books a year (at 45 minutes a day).
But beware of replacing reading for thinking.
7. Never forget that the truth of God is sweeter than honey and brings great reward
Psa_19:7-14 The law of the Lord is perfect,
restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the
9 The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true;
they are righteous altogether.
10 They are more desirable than gold,
yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey
and the drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them Thy servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.
Psa_119:97
Oh, how I love thy law!
It is my meditation all the day
VI. How to present the truth
1. With the fire of devotion–with Love for the Truth
The Dogma is the Drama, Dorothy Sayers said, and the reason we are weak in showing this to people in our preaching and teaching and writing is that we have not seen and felt the greatness of the glory of God and all his teachings as we should. Preaching doctrine should not be and need not be confusing or boring.
Machen says:
[Boring preaching] should be avoided. But it should be avoided not by the abandonment of doctrinal preaching, but by our making doctrinal preaching real preaching. The preacher should present to his congregation the doctrine that the Holy Scripture contains; but he should fire the presentation of that doctrine with the devotion of the heart, and he should show how it can be made fruitful for Christian life. (J. Gresham Machen, "Christian Scholarship and the Building Up of the Church," in What is Christianity, p. 139.)
2. Do not shrink back from necessary controversy
J. Gresham Machen, June 17, 1932 in London:
Men tell us that our preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close our Bible and desert its teachings. The New Testament is a polemic book almost from beginning to end.
Some years ago I was in a company of teachers of the Bible in the colleges and other educational institutions of America. One of the most eminent theological professors in the country made an address. In it he admitted that there are unfortunate controversies about doctrine in the Epistles of Paul; but, said he in effect, the real essence of Paul's teaching is found in the hymn to Christian love in the thirteenth chapter or I Corinthians; and we can avoid controversy today, if we will only devote the chief attention to that inspiring hymn.
In reply, I am bound to say that the example was singularly ill-chosen. That hymn to Christian love is in the midst of a great polemic passage; it would never have been written if Paul had been opposed to controversy with error in the Church. It was because his soul was stirred within him by a wrong use of the spiritual gifts that the was able to write that glorious hymn. So it is always in the Church. Every really great Christian utterance, it may almost be said, is born in controversy. It is when men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to the really great heights in the celebration of truth. (J. Gresham Machen, "Christian Scholarship and the Defense of the New Testament," in What is Christianity, pp. 132-133.; See on this same point in What is Faith, pp. 41-42; Christianity and Liberalism, p. 17.)
3. Loving the people whose ideas you oppose–with tears as well as indignation
4. Seeking the anointing of the Holy Spirit on all your ministry
5. Asking for all the spiritual gifts and power that God may be pleased to use to confirm the truth (Heb_2:3-4; Act_14:3)
6. Relating everything to God
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