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Loving the Truth

Mark Dunagan
12/31/17 - Sunday Morning

Loving the Truth

Centuries ago God told Jeremiah to take a scroll and record on it everything that He had revealed through Jeremiah, which included the warning of impending judgments upon Israel, Judah and the surrounding nations (Jeremiah 36:2). The purpose behind recording all this information on to one scroll was the hope that when the people of Judah would hear of all the calamity that God was bringing their way because of their sins, that they would turn from their evil ways and God would then forgive them and disaster would be averted (36:3). The scroll was then read publicly in the Temple (36:6). Two government officials then heard a private reading (36:15-16) and immediately brought the existence of the scroll to the attention of the king. As the scroll was read in the king’s presence, after reading about three or four columns, the king suddenly grabbed the scroll, cut it up with a knife and threw it into the fire (36:23).  

Attitude or Aptitude

One common objection I often hear when I seek to impress upon people the importance of picking up the Bible and just reading it for yourself, is the excuse that such would be a fruitless task, because the Bible must be really confusing. Or when I try to stress to people the need to just follow the Bible, I often encounter the attitude, “Well, follow whose interpretation of the Bible?” It seems that there are many people, who have already believed, without reading anything in the Bible, that understanding the Bible is either impossible or only possible for the experts. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches the exact opposite.

Jeremiah 36

What was the problem in the chapter we noted at the beginning of the lesson? Did the king dice up the word of God and throw it into the fire because he could not understand it? Was he upset because it was too complicated? No. He clearly understood what the text said (Jeremiah 36:29). In fact, everyone in the chapter understood what the text meant (36:16). When I find men and women rejecting the word of God in the Bible, I do not find an inability to understand the text to be the problem. So the issue is not a lack of aptitude, being clever and smart enough. The problem is always a bad attitude towards truth. For example:

• Pharaoh clearly understood the command directed to him from God (Exodus 5:1-2).
• King Ahab disliked a prophet, not because the man was too complicated to understand, but because the prophet did not and would not rubber stamp Ahab’s preconceived ideas and sinful ways (1 Kings 22:8).
• The many religious individuals who Jesus pictured as ending up lost at the final judgment (Matthew 7:22), did not end up lost because of an intellectual inability to correctly interpret Scripture. Rather, the cause of their lost condition was lawlessness. Lawlessness is an attitude problem when it comes to submitting to God’s law. It is the opposite of the attitude that Jesus commended in Matthew 7:21, which consists of hearing the word of God and then doing it.
• In 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12, people are lost, not because of a lack of ability to understand the text of Scripture, but rather because they did not love the truth and took pleasure in unrighteousness.
• Many of the Israelites who came out of Egyptian bondage later failed to enter the Promised Land. What tripped them up was not a lack of clarity of the biblical text, but rather, they failed because they were disobedient to God’s commands (Hebrews 3:18).

In Modern Times

“Differing heremeneutical perspectives, or fundamental attitudes regarding the authority of Scripture, often have played a contentious role in various divisions among religious groups. In the context of ‘Restoration history’, frequently the argument is framed from the perspective that ‘religious divisions and separations come from basic differences in attitude toward the nature of God’s revelation rather than from any differing interpretations or understandings of the word itself. The Disciples Historian Winfred E. Garrison (1874-1969), Dean of the Disciples Divinity House at the University of Chicago, argued a half-century ago that ‘differences in attitude toward the Bible underlie almost all the points that are at issue between thoroughgoing conservatives and liberals of whatever degree of liberalism” (Non-Institutional: Who We Are/Steve Wolfgang, Pursuing the Pattern, Jim Deason, General Editor. p. 16).

The Danger of Prosperity

“There was a time when Churches of Christ were widely known as a people of the Book. All who knew us knew that we hungered above all for the word of God. They knew that we immersed ourselves in its truths and sacrificed dearly to share the gospel with those who had never heard. These were our most fundamental commitments. We knew it, and others knew it” (The Worldly Church: A Call for Biblical Renewal, Allen, Hughes and Weed, pp 1-2, 6-7).

“Historians and others who study social movements have long recognized that significant changes occur in the doctrinal beliefs and practices of religious groups as their social status rises. As one study of the evangelical movement observed, advanced education, and the adoption of worldly perspectives which often accompany such achievements, may carry the seeds of the movements own decline” (Pursuing the Pattern, p. 19).

What the writer is saying, is that as members of a group experience more economic prosperity and increase their levels of secular education and social standing, there is the danger of wanting to fit in and find acceptance with the world (Romans 12:1-2). We fall into the trap that ensnared the Israelites when they wanted a king like all the other nations (1 Samuel 8:5).

Specific Dangers

• When I first read the Bible, I suddenly realized that it did not mention a single denomination. In addition, the practices, doctrines, organizational structure and much of the terminology of both Catholicism and the Protestant denominational world were completely absent from Scripture. Yet there was a church in Scripture, a church that Jesus said He would build (Matthew 16:18). Do your children see the church of Christ as simply another denomination in their thinking? Are they under the impression that the denominations are saved or are they in need of saving? Can my children spot deviations from the Bible pattern? Can they detect false doctrine?
• Are we being distinctive in our teaching and preaching? Can someone attend our assemblies, week in and week out and hear nothing different than they would hear in a denomination? Are they hearing about the true church? The correct plan of salvation? Are the errors of the world and the religious world being exposed (2 Timothy 4:2-3).
• Is the world making alarming inroads among us? Is the world influencing what we do and think far more than any influence we are having upon the world? Do we use the same kind of speech, watch the same kind of entertainment, and are we beset with the same habitual sins just like everyone else? Are our lives, priorities, goals, personal morality, thought like, and private life any different from the lost people of the world? (1 Peter 2:12). “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. And there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are fitting, but rather giving of thanks” (Ephesians 5:3-4).
• Have we adopted a spiritual of doctrinal compromise and fellowshipping of those in blatant religious error? Are we more interested in consensus than loyalty to truth?  2 John 9-11; Galatians 1:6-9; 2:4-5.

Every new generation needs to be dedicated to seeking the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16), and doing the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21) above every other consideration. If we are going to claim to be Christians, then we need to love Jesus above all else. Is that still my goal in life?

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.net
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net