Epiphany
3
Jan 22, 2023
Fr. Phil Eberhart
Telling
Truth in Love
In the 4th
chapter of Ephesians Paul gives instructions for the growth and maturity of the
believers in the Church. Among many
repeatable phrases is one that I want to center on this morning: Eph 4:15
15 Rather, speaking the
truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ,
Truthing
is a way it could be translated.
Speaking TRUTH is a verb!
Have you
noticed that we live in a culture that has manipulated at best, the truth for
its own purposes, and at worst is leading us into a moral morass of darkness
based on out and out lies.
“A man
can become a woman and vice versa.”
“Abortion
is women’s healthcare.”
I was
listening to Colorado Public Radio for their classical music this past week and
there is an ad that is running talking about the dirth of child pre-natal
services for the African-American community.
I had an
idea! Why don’t you turn the Planned
Parenthood “clinics” into pre-natal care clinics – so that they give ACTUAL
help to prospective parents, without killing preborn children. How about that? I would gladly help fund that with my tax
money!
Today is
Celebration of Life Sunday and there was a March for Life in Washington last
week, on Friday. It marked the 50th
Anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision by the Supreme Court and is Year ONE of
creating a new culture of LIFE across the US.
And we have our work cut out for us here in Colorado! We were the first to abort babies and in the
face of the upcoming threat to RvW, in the last legislative session, Colorado
passed one of the most aggressive pro-abortion bills in history, in which we
only narrowly avoided the “infanticide bill” that was recently passed in
California. Parents can kill their child
up to 28 days after birth now in California.
This is
madness – absolute lawlessness – and it is a crime against humanity. Let me be perfectly clear. If I’m going to preach about speaking the
truth, this had better be the first truth I speak to our culture! Let us turn the tide of insanity. We have to speak the truth to our culture
friends – not the “truth” they want to hear – that everything is relative (my
truth is my truth and your truth is your truth), but that there is one Truth
and that Truth is a PERSON!
That
TRUTH is GOD in JESUS CHRIST. The Way,
THE TRUTH and THE LIFE, was how Jesus himself put it when describing himself to
his disciples.
Our
culture is like a child that will no longer hear the truth. I want what I want and I want it NOW!! No tradition, no law, no constitution can
stand in my way to having my own way!
I want to
hold my hand over the candle! But
there’s pain when I do that – it’s the natural consequence of holding your hand
over a flame!
Pain is a
protective mechanism given us by GOD in creation to give us natural boundaries
for our behavior! Something is WRONG
HERE, pain tells us. DON’T DO THIS ANY
LONGER! But our culture’s solution is
not to agree with the pain to but drug it or, I have an idea, let’s sever the
nerve surgically! VIOLA, no more
pain! Hold your hand in the fire all you
want! We love you! We care about you and your well-being!
Now I
grew up in Burlington. It has feed lots
on both the north and the south sides of town now. I’ve been to Greeley, the home of Monfort
Cattle Co. Can anyone tell me what the
predominant smell is in Greeley or when the wind is right in Burlington? Two letters?!!
BS!
It’s
simple. Truth is simple. Truth is often
self-evident. Boys are boys, girls are
girls, there are self-evident differences.
It’s simple. When we cut our ship
away from the anchor of simple truth, we are subjected to the force of the
wind.
James
tells us that we will be “driven and tossed by the wind,” unable to receive
“truth” from the Lord, “unstable in all our ways.”
A perfect
description of our culture today.
But speaking
naked truth is often harsh and can be destructive. We hesitate to speak out because we will not
be heard. Truth is too hard to receive, too harsh, too stark. That’s why the formula Paul offers is one
which adds an essential ingredient:
LOVE.
In our
book, Metaxas is clear that you can’t have one without the other. Have you ever spun a coin on a table. If you’re successful at it the coin starts to
look like a sphere – it’s hard to distinguish either side from the other. Truth and love are joined like that. IN GOD.
“To
declare any truth in a way that steps away from God’s Love is to speak no truth
at all, as well as to step away from the One who IS TRUTH. But to claim that we are being loving when we
step away from the truth of God is not to love at all, but only to fool
ourselves into thinking we are being loving.” (Metaxas, P.89)
The
whole of the coin is at play – both sides:
Truth and Love. God Himself is
both! Jesus said He was both-
simultaneously. Anything less is
inadequate for the need of our times.
Paul
completes his thought on this in Ephesians 4:16…
15 Rather, speaking
the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ, 16 from
whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is
equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that
it builds itself up in love.
Paul goes
on to describe the world around him in graphic terms:
futility of their minds
darkened in their understanding
alienated from the life of God
hardness of heart
they’ve become callous
given themselves up to sensuality
greedy to practice every kind of impurity
Headlines
for today! The more we go on, the more
we remain the same! We get an even
fuller picture in Romans 1, as Paul describes his culture:
29 They
were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.
They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent,
haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous
decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only
do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Paul
calls us - Jesus calls us to speak truth
to this culture in love! The cost to
speak is going to be high today. We have
experienced the cost to speak out in our own church – as we were forced to walk
away from buildings and roots to begin something new. We were called names and accused of
abandoning ship. Our first Archbishop
Bob Duncan once said, “When the horse you are riding is dead, it may be time to
dismount!”
Friends,
God is love. His Son Jesus is THE
TRUTH. They cannot be divided or separated.
Truth in Love is what we are called to speak to our culture, just as Paul was
called to speak, just a Jesus spoke.
Because
we believe that the chief end of Mankind – Humankind is to Love God and to
Enjoy Him forever! And our motivation
while on this small planet is to Glorify Him in all we do and say. To that end we must stand and speak out, in
love, to all who will listen and those who won’t, about the truth of God and
His Word to us through Scripture. Not
beating people over the head with the 90# family bible, but opening it with
them, like a dinner invitation. Come and
dine.
There’s
something more that God has for you.
Come and See.
Let us
pray together again the collect at the beginning of the day:
Give
us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and
proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole
world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
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