The Cost of Truth

            Does truth have a price tag? Sometimes the Truth offends. Recorded In Acts 7 is a story of one of the first Christian martyrs. I encourage you to read in for yourself right now beginning with Acts 6:8 through to the end of Acts 7.

The story begins, “Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8). It is clear Stephen had a following of people who greatly appreciated his ministry. This created jealousy among the high-ranking religious leaders of his day. They dragged him in before the Council to be tried and most of Acts 7 is his defense statement. His defense gives a overview of the ancient Israelite people, from the calling of Abraham up to the present. God’s people were on a journey, not unlike each God follower’s call and journey we are on as individuals today.

Stephen’s hearers seemed to track with his message until he spoke truth about Jesus as the true Messiah. Stephen boldly pointed out where his hearers were mistaken in their beliefs, and they became indignant. He reminded them of how their ancestors persecuted prophets who spoke of Messiah, and then Stephen spoke these words, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.  Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become;  you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it” (Acts 7:51-53).  The “Righteous One” referred to is Jesus, who is the only Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).

            The narrative goes on, “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him.  But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;  and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”  But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse.  When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him ….” (Acts 7:54-58).

            Declaring the truth sometimes has a cost to our personal preferences, comforts, and  livelihood. Even Jesus, as the very embodiment of Truth, gave up his life on earth to accomplish God’s higher purposes. Is Truth worth the cost? Ask Jesus. I think his answer is an obvious, yes.

            Truth is truth whether people believe it or not. Stephen’s hearers were okay believing the truth of their Jewish heritage, but when he declared them “stiff-necked,” their Belief turned to disbelief, which turned to anger, rage, and bitterness. In truth, Stephen’s hearers were murderers, and they proved it once again, by murdering Stephen. Their denial of truth set them up to act wickedly. In God’s eyes they were bringing condemnation upon themselves. Stephen  lost his life, but by knowing Jesus, he entered into eternal glory. Without repentance, it cost Stephen’s murderers much more dearly; eternal damnation in hell. Even if they believed they were doing the world a favor by getting rid of Stephen, God’s reality (truth) was just the opposite.

            As religious leaders, Stephen’s adversaries were leading people away from God, not towards him. Because Stephen bore witness to the Truth, regardless of the outcome, his leadership was authentic and authoritative. Truth always wins. Wisdom never shrinks back from the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.   

            The culture we live in seems to have lost its respect for truth. Although this is a display of darkness, as Christ followers we much shine the light of truth everywhere we go and with everyone we meet. The Truth of the Word is our standard, and if we do not lift the standard high, who will?

            May the Lord keep us from being “stiff-necked” in our worldly wisdom. May our hunger for truth keep us searching for more satisfying measures of truth.  May we be proclaimers of truth. May we value the truth enough to point out when someone is being untruthful (like Stephen did, even at the cost of his own life). The cost of  rebellion, denial, or silence is far greater than any imagined price tag on Truth.

 by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Be at Peace with Hebrews 12:14-15

“Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.  See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled” (Hebrews 12:14-15; NIV).

While recently studying these two verses of the Bible, I was challenged by new insights, some of which I share here.

Looking at the context from the beginning of this chapter, the sanctification of our souls is a much more dominent theme than I noticed in the past.  Faith is defined in the previous chapter eleven.  This chapter twelve lays out specifics of how faith is lived out.  

First, Jesus is the “founder” AND “perfector” of our faith (see Hebrews 12:2, ESV).  The Passion Translation expresses it as, “Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection” (TPT), i.e. completion.  There is a beginning and completing to faith in Christ.  Believing in Jesus at a conversion experience begins a process of completing faith’s work the remainder of our lives.  

Secondly, verses 4 - 11 speak of growing as children grow in their Father’s (parents’) care.  Growth involves change and stretching of what is, into what it needs to become.  The growth process requires discipline.  A commitment to this kind of change brings about joy and peace.  

Now to verses 14 - 15 quoted above.  Sanctification is explicitly mentioned  “without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).  Without completion of faith in Jesus through the sanctification process (change and growth through discipline toward holiness) we have no faith at all.  This ongoing change is to be pursued, intentionally sought, and not merely expected to happen on its own.  Moreover, this process is intrinsically linked back to our conversion to faith in Christ, and forward to establishing the conditions for our inner peace.   

The phrase “pursue peace with all men” is obviously an exhortation to relate to people on friendly terms whenever possible.  But a deeper meaning struck me as I did a word study on the use of the word “peace” in the Bible.    

Peace is not merely the absence of conflict.  It is not merely a feeling of self-satisfaction, contentment, security, or harmony with external worldly circumstances.  The Webster’s 1828 dictionary explains the definition of peace as, “ a state of quiet or tranquility; freedom from disturbance or agitation.”  The Bible uses the term “peace” most often as a way to describe our inner (heart) condition before Almighty God.  Authors in the Lexham Theological Wordbook point out, “In the biblical writings, peace is the wholeness that comes as a result of alignment with God’s creative and redemptive purposes. …  Peace occurs not only in interpersonal relationships, but also in ethnic and political relationships. Peace also carries a cosmic connotation, in which all aspects of creation, both human and non-human, should exist in harmony with each other. Peace is thus the ideal of creation that God’s redemptive activity seeks to restore. ….  The flourishing existence of creation described in Gen 1–2 shapes how peace is understood throughout the rest of the Bible. Peace involves well-being. ….   ultimately peace comes as a result of Jesus’ work and thus is a gift given by God. Ephesians describes Christ creating a new humanity by healing the divisions between Jews and Gentiles and making peace (eirēnē) between them (Eph 2:14–15)—and by being “our peace (eirēnē)” ”  (Lookadoo, J. (2014). Peace. D. Mangum, D. R. Brown, R. Klippenstein, & R. Hurst (Eds.), Lexham Theological Wordbook. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press).

God’s purposes and plans for peace are far greater than our personal experiences, however, our inner life is very important to God.  So important that he commands complete surrender of our ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving in exchange for his.  The Psalmist reflects, “Those who love Your law have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble” (Psalm 119:165).  God’s ways are superior to human ways.  We are wise to accept this truth, “How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding.  Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace” (Proverbs 3:13,17).  

Jesus himself had some things to say about peace. Jesus didn’t come into the world to chase away conflict (see Matthew 10:24).  He came to deliver us from enslavement to conflict.  First, the conflict that exists within our own soul, and the conflict that puts us at war (sometimes literally) with people around us.  Without Christ, conflict is inevitable within, but with and through Christ conflict is, was, and will be inihilated.  Since the first sin of mankind, conflict within, and conflict without (our environment), is built in the default nature of every human belng.  Putting our faith and trust in Jesus means we are yielding to his power to remove the grip of unrest in lost parts of our souls.  

At the root of conflict is bitterness.  Bitterness is created by the seeds of failed expectations, disappointments, regret, hurt, or offense.  Roots of bitterness are specifically mentioned in these verses in Hebrews as destructive anti-growth agents.  Bitter roots are weeds that will “defile” (reduce the productivity of the garden of our hearts).  Bitter roots can take the form of ill-willed thoughts, envy, jealousy, malice, slander, and the like.  The critical, condemning  thoughts and opinions turn into blame, resentment, hatred and even sometimes revenge.  Our tendency to want to rule our own fate causes our failure to trust God to work all circumstances for good.  God’s justice demands that only He can sit on the throne as Judge.  Our demands to think and act as Judge, create conflict.  The rebellion against God at the core of this conflict is why the “Prince of Peace,” Messiah Jesus, came to this earth (see Isaiah 9:6).         

This goes to the heart of the gospel message.  Luke records Jesus as saying, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).  Until recently, like most Christians,  I thought of “lost” souls coming to faith in Jesus in a conversion experience as the full extent of interpreting the meaning of this statement in Luke 19.  

However, God is challenging me with a deeper understanding.   The inner peace stolen by the enemy of our soul with the entry of sin into the world, is part of the loss that Jesus came to redeem.  Through the sanctification process, the seeking and saving of the losses in our lives continues.   Faith in Jesus makes us whole.  All the broken parts of our soul still touched by the losses, are being brought together into the  wholeness God intends for us from the beginning.  Sanctification is God’s divine plan.  Being made whole through holiness (set apart on the inside) yields the fruit of increasingly greater degrees of outwardly “holy” behavior.  Being completely at peace with that plan in our inner most being only begins at conversion.  

I grew up in the Christian Church thinking the “salvation of souls” refers merely to the conversion of souls.  However, the term “salvation” includes sanctification as well.  It includes Jesus completing the faith he has begun.  It includes the discipline of growing the faith into maturity.  It  includes the inner peace Hebrews calls “peacable fruit of righteousness”  (see Hebrews 12:11).

The “harvest” of souls includes all of the above.  Let’s be clear that believing in Jesus is not just a decision of the mind to repent (turn around) from one way of life to another.  It is a radical surrender to a process of heart transformation as well.  For a Christian seeking the sanctification of our soul is not an option.  A result of responding to God and allowing him to change our hearts from the inside out, will yield greater degrees of inner peace.  Inner peace can be a gauge for measuring our progress.  The more we surrender to God, the more peace we will have in our soul.  

Inner change is difficult, but we can be at peace with the uncertainty change brings, when we are trusting God through our faith in Jesus.  An inner peace and assurance of what Jesus has accomplished for us, AND what he continues to empower us to do, is foundational for facing  the challenges of life.  It’s all about his power, not ours.

In summary, I offer my translation of the Hebrews 12:14-15 verses quoted at the beginning.   “Pursue inner peace through reconciliation with God, for yourself, and seek this condition for every person you know.  Practice surrendering your heart to God for the purpose of a holy being,  until the day you see Jesus face to face.  Make sure you are living the fullest of God’s purposes for your life by rooting out any bitterness that remains--ie. admitting your critical judgments, surrendering all judgments to God, and releasing all demands for justice so your relationships (with God, others, and self) can be made whole.”

For help in ilving out more specifics of the sanctification journey, check out some of my other blog articles (ie. http://authoredhersh.blogspot.com/2018/02/ ).  Be blessed!  Be at peace.

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry