Today's Scripture Reading (February 19, 2024): John 18
I admit Pilate's question haunts me. What is truth?
But more than that, how or where can I find it or understand it? Are all truths
equal? These are a few of the questions surrounding the concept of truth. Can I
suggest in this place that there are levels to truth? And we need to embrace
all of it.
Is
truth some unchanging law? Yes, that is the Jesus part of it. Honestly, I think the church slips up
here. Truth is truth. I can't change that Jesus is King, that sin
is sin, that Heaven and Hell both really exist, that we are more than the sum
of our parts, and our lives have eternal consequences. All these things exist at what I call the
Jesus-level of truth. But sometimes, I also admit that we don't understand all
of this truth. As a result, sometimes it might seem that the truth changes not
because there is any change at this Jesus level of truth but because our
understanding of truth changes.
But
there is a second level, and that is cultural truth. Cultural truth does change. And cultural
truth is something we battle as we minister to the various cultures surrounding
us in our society. We have noticed it in
our churches. In this era of preaching
Jesus, we must relate to the prevailing cultural truth.
One
example comes to us from the mission field. A church that I am aware of is
attempting to minister in India. This
church became aware that many homeless families were in the area where they
were ministering. So, they thought that they should build some homes for
them. In planning to build these homes,
they met with a local doctor who had dedicated her life to working among the
lepers in India, and they said they were wondering if it would be a good idea
to build houses for these people. Asking the question before proceeding with a
project is always a good idea.
The
doctor said, "Well, that will be interesting," and rolled her eyes.
The team caught the rolling of the doctor's eyes. So, one of the team members
asked, "Is this not a good idea?"
The
doctor replied, "Let me tell you a story about ten houses. Another
American ministry team had a similar idea and came and built ten houses. After the project was completed, they gave
the houses to some homeless families. Everyone
was excited and celebrated the generosity of this American Church. The Mission team went home feeling good about
their accomplishments, and the celebration continued at home. But the team had missed a couple of critical
points. The first was that the town where
they had built the houses placed an extraordinarily high value on
hospitality. What that meant was that they
celebrated any gift that was given to them, even if it was the most stupid gift
ever.
The
second truth these missionaries missed was that it was a Hindu village, and the
local God was believed to curse any house whose windows didn't face in a
particular direction. The result was
that none of the ten houses had ever been lived in because the local people
experiencing homelessness gladly chose being homeless over being cursed. The team had missed a cultural truth, which hurt
their ability to share the eternal truth they had come to give to the local
population.
Paul
understood this at Mars Hill. Even
though he thought the effort and work that went into the graven images were
nonsense, he praised them for it (Paul celebrated the cultural truth) so that
he could tell them about the identity of the unknown God they celebrated
(giving them the unchanging Jesus truth).
A
third level of truth is physical truth.
Missionaries learn to speak the language of the people they are trying
to reach. They pour themselves into the
gestures and the dress.
Baptist
missionary Hudson Taylor made a huge deal over what his ministry partners should
wear. He insisted that his ministry teams dress like the local people. Some
didn't want to dress that way; they preferred to wear suits and ties and bring
culture into China, but Taylor knew their dress could be a barrier.
The
late Pastor, Dr. Mark Beeson, tells the story of ministering at a camp. Every year, Beeson ministered at this camp, and
every year, he took one night and blessed the leaders. Beeson brought them up
onto the platform with the worship team playing loud music, placed a hand on
them, brought them close, and whispered words of affirmation, encouragement,
and blessing into their right ear. And then he prayed for them. One year, one
of the leaders who had been there during previous years asked if he could speak
to Dr. Beeson. Mark met with this volunteer, and this leader said, you know how
on Thursday night during the service, you bring us up, lay hands on us, and
speak to us? Mark replied yes. This young leader looked at Mark and said, "Is
there any way you could speak to my left ear because I'm deaf in my right ear,
and I have never gotten to hear what it is that you say over me."
Thursday
night came, and Mark started to move down the line, speaking into the right
ears of the leaders. But then he got to
this young man, reversed himself, and spoke to his left. He affirmed him, encouraged him, and blessed
him. And at the end, he looked into this young man's eyes, brimming with tears,
and said, "Did you hear me?" And the leader nodded, and Mark hugged
before he moved on.
We
need to understand all three levels of truth if our message is going to be
heard by those around us. Some of it is unchanging, and some of it is not. But
all truth is essential. And that is something that I think even Pilate
understood.
Tomorrow's Scripture
Reading: John 19
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