Is There a Universal Standard of Truth in the Universe?
First Scripture Reading: John 14.15-24
Second Scripture Reading: John 18.28-38
Introduction: Not long ago, Ron Taylor shared with me an article from the New York Times, citing a survey taken a few years ago among 230 young adults about their views on ethics that is, about what is right and wrong, or moral standards. When these young people were asked questions about right and wrong, two-thirds could not even answer the question, or changed the subject to issues that weren’t moral at all! One answered, “I don’t really deal with right and wrong that often.” The article’s author, David Brooks comes to this conclusion: (With the possible exception of murder and rape), “There is virtually no sense of any overarching value system or obligation to society or to others.” And, “Rejecting blind deference to authority, many of the young people have gone off to the other extreme: ‘I would do what I thought made me happy or how I felt. I have no other way of knowing what to do but how I internally feel.’” Or, in other words, if it feels good to me, it must be right!
I. The NYT article poses the problem in a very clear way: Is there or is there not any “overarching” or Universal standard of value system of Truth in our Universe? Or is it just a matter of personal preference? What is the answer?
A. To begin with, there is a simple answer in the area of Mathematics, and it is yes. 2+2=4 in any culture, language or religion in our Universe. Mathematical Truth in our Universe is Universal.
B. And, there is also universally accepted Truth in the area of Physical Laws. The Law of gravity works on and in all cultures, languages and religions in our Universe. Universal Truth in Physical Laws also works universally in our Universe.
C. However, in the area of Morality and the Truth about what is Right and Wrong, it is a whole different ball game! And, although moral relativism is often laid at the doorstep of post-modernism, there is no better example of this relativism of moral truth than in the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus during Jesus’ trial before the Roman Governor.
Pilate is clearly in a bind here. He had a riot on his hands in the capital city of Jerusalem. If word got back to Rome, it would jeopardize his political career. His wife had warned him not to have anything to do with the judgment of Jesus. He himself found no guilt in Jesus (repeated three times in the Gospel of John!), but he had to calm down the mob outside the governor’s palace. So, he asked if Jesus was the king of the Jews, and Jesus wanted to know where he got that idea. Pilate said he had no idea of what that meant because he wasn’t a Jew. So then, he come to the key question: “What have you done?” Jesus answers, “I came to testify to the truth, (not just any old truth, nor my own personal version of the truth, but the truth)! And so Pilate shows himself as a post-modernist way before his time (!), saying, “What is truth?” And that was the end of the conversation!
We already know what truth was for Pilate, the same as for those young people in the survey! Whatever serves them personally. It doesn’t matter that Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, or that he knew that the motive of the Jews was jealousy. Even though Pilate knew that it was true that Jesus was innocent, and that it was true that the motivation of the Jews was jealousy, the “truth” for him was that Jesus was guilty and he was willing to hand him over to the Jews. The critical issue (truth) for Pilate was his own political survival! And, he caved into the demands of the Jewish mob.”
II. In contrast to this, when Jesus speaks of the truth, in John 14, our first Scripture reading, we find that there is indeed a universal standard of truth which includes morality, the obedience of Jesus’ Commandments! Let me read again John 14.15-17, 21 and 23-24. Notice, that these words bear the authority of not only Jesus the Son, but the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, and God, the Father, and Creator of this Universe! For the believer, you cannot find in such a small space a summary of Universal Moral Truth, its authority and motivation than in this small package!
A. How do we learn of this Universal Moral Standard, the Commandments of Jesus? It all begins with a loving relationship with Jesus. He who loves me will obey my commands. And these commandments (or teachings) are not mine, but belong (Present tense – they still belong!) to the Father who sent me.
B. We need to remember that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, that he came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. To fulfill it, he goes on in the Sermon on the Mount to say, that the actual observance of the law includes the motives behind why we obey the law. It is not just the letter of the Law, but the Spirit of the Law. That is where love comes in. God’s Law still stands! What is different is the reason why we spontaneously desire to obey it! If we obey the commands of Jesus out of blind obedience to authority, we miss the message completely. If you love me, you will obey my Commandments. We obey the Law because we are constrained by love to obey. As simple as that.
C. Now that brings into play that most abused four-letter word in the English language: Love. What is love? Most of us would rush to I Cor. 13.4-7: “Love is patient, kind, never jealous nor envious, boastful nor proud; not haughty, selfish nor rude. Love does not demand its own way, but always hopes and believes the best.” Now that is a definition of Love that even non-believers can embrace. Even people who defend so-called “alternate life styles” can accept, this, as long as their same-sex unions are loving, patient, kind, etc. according to I Cor. 13.
D. However, there is a second step in defining Love, beyond I Cor. 13, for the believer, and it comes from Jesus Himself: “If you love me you will keep my commandments.
E. When we think about it that is exactly the same way the original Ten Commandments were established. In Exodus 19, the LORD instructed Moses to tell the People of Israel, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. Now, if you obey me fully, and keep my Covenant, then out of all the nations you will be my treasured possession.” In response to that, the people, spontaneously, out of gratitude all replied, “We will do everything the LORD has said!” So, the Ten Commandments begin, not with the First Commandment, but with these words: “I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Ex. 20.2). And then people responded spontaneously out of gratitude to their Liberator.
F. We believers live in a Renewed Covenant relationship with this same God of the Universe. The New Covenant, established in the Upper Room during the Last Supper, and executed on the Cross. Jesus said, “This Cup is the New Covenant at the cost of my blood…” His love for us cost him his life poured out on the Cross. If you lose and forsake that first love, you may be able to go through the motions of being a church member, but sooner or later, it will get old and boring and monotonous, and like the Church in Ephesus, in need of some radical change.
G. And, from these words of Jesus, and the experience with Pilate, we should not be surprised that not everyone accepts this moral standard. He himself warns us that some indeed cannot accept it, simply because they are not even aware of the influence of God’s Holy Spirit of Truth in their lives! Let me read those words again:
“If you love me you will obey my command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Counselor to be with you for ever – the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot
accept him because it neither sees him nor knows Him. But you know him and he lives
with you and will be in you.” John 14.15-17
III. How, then should we behave, if we believe that Truth is Universal, especially when it comes to moral values? Perhaps the best way to try to answer that question is to give two examples of how this may work out.
A. The first example is from a TV sitcom that aired on TV about ten years ago, called “Murphy Brown”. How many of you remember that? It had to do with a young career woman, named Murphy Brown, played by Candice Bergen. In the sitcom, she was a modern woman who embraced some very Avant-guard ideas about alternative life styles and family values. Early in the show, Murphy Brown denied there was any normative definition of the family. All that mattered was “Commitment, love and caring.” Sounds like I Cor. 13, doesn’t it.
B. The amazing thing is that personally, Candice Bergen embraced some very conservative family values for her own family. In an interview with TV Guide, in the fall of 1992, she is quoted as saying the following:
“As far as my family values go, my child and my family have always been my top priority….I don’t see the point of having a child if you’re not going to spend as much time as you can with that child.”
And at one time in a conversation with her producer she is quoted as saying: “I said [to my producer] we do have to be careful that we don’t send out the message …. to young women especially, that we’re encouraging them to be single mothers.”
And, she ended the interview with these words: “I myself….believe the ideal is that you have a two-parent family. I’m the last person to think fathers are obsolete!”
C. Wow! But that is not the end of the story. When Dan Quail and some others criticized the Murphy Brown sitcom and Candice Bergen, they were saying something completely different! They were saying that there did indeed exist objective transcendent family value standards to which all people were responsible. That was enough for Candice Bergen to accuse Dan Quail of being (in her words), “arrogant”, “aggressive” and “offensive”.
D. It all has to do with the nature of truth. Is truth merely a personal matter, or is it universal? As long as you are merely expressing your own personal feelings about truth and values, you are free to say whatever you like, but if you maintain the existence of a morality that is objective and universal, you have committed a transgression against the reigning American mentality of moral individualism! As a personal Mom in the privacy of her own home, Candice Bergen agreed fully with Dan Quail! But as a part of the overriding American Culture, they are at the opposite ends of the argument! - And that, brothers and sisters, is where we believers find ourselves in American Culture.
E. Sometimes, confrontation like that of Dan Quail is appropriate and even necessary, especially in personal conversations with friends. But, that is something each individual believer must weigh in his or her own heart.
F. Let me close with one other example, and I do this with fear and trembling, for it involves another missionary story, and I know you have heard a lot (maybe too many) of missionary stories from me. But here goes, just the same.
G. Once when I was travelling alone between preaching points in the western Amazon, I stopped at a roadside restaurant for supper, and behind me at a table sat two truck drivers, who I could hear talking, but could not see. I didn’t pay much attention to them, until a third person joined them at the table. The two immediately offered the newcomer a beer to drink with his supper. He politely declined. But they insisted, and even got angry with him and raised their voices as he insisted as politely as he could. Finally, he said words to this effect: “Last week I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ and in honor to him I have decided to quit my drinking.” You could have heard a pin drop, and the rest of the meal was completed in silence!
H. For that anonymous traveler, going on the wagon was a response of love and honor to the One who had given his life for him. It was a perfect witness to the truth, “if you love me you will keep my commandments.” No coercion, no arm-twisting, no elders looking over his shoulder, just the joyful, spontaneous and grateful response to the love of God in Christ. In this case there was no confrontation, just a simple witness to the truth – and when we think about it, that is just what Jesus told Pilate he came here for, “…for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18.37.
I. And, as we sing our final hymn this morning, sing that last verse like you mean it, “Love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my all.”, including my joyful, spontaneous and grateful obedience to His commandments – which are as universal and eternal as is the Father to whom they belong.
