Treasuring the Truth

…they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)

Truth is an important thing. When I was a child, the worst thing you could do in our house was to tell a lie. The discipline was much worse for telling a lie than for anything else. Often the discipline for some other infraction would be forgiven if you told the truth about what you had done.

I’m thankful to my parents for putting this emphasis on the truth, because truth is vastly important. Ultimately, it comes down to this: do you delight in and treasure the truth, or do you reject it and treasure a lie?

And we’re not talking about “a truth” in any kind of subjective way. This verse speaks of “the truth” and refusing to love it results in damnation. This is important people!

So what is “the truth”? I would suggest it is not a what, but a who. Jesus said,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

If you love the truth, i.e. Jesus, then you will be saved. If you refuse to love Jesus, then you will not be saved. It is that simple.

There are three places we can find and experience the truth (Jesus).

Creation

The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1 that men

…by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:16-20)

Creation itself reveals the truth to us. It proclaims the glory of God all around us every day of our lives. We call this “general revelation”. It isn’t specific. You wouldn’t get the name “Jesus” by looking at creation, but you would get the truth that there is a God who is great and glorious, and who made you, and who you ought to thank and honor.

 The Church

“the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

The second place the truth (Jesus) can be found is in the church. I don’t mean in a building, during an event on Sunday morning, though he is not absent in that time and place. But what I mean is that Jesus can, or at least should, be plainly seen in the life of the church. As Gods people live in obedience to the truth of the gospel, they will display that truth in their relationships to each other.

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

And being people of the truth, we will not only live it out with each other, but it will be on our lips as we speak to each other and to the world, and it will be on display in our relationships toward the world.

This is a sobering question: Can an unsaved person see Jesus in your life together with other Christians?

The Bible

For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. (John 17:8)

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

Jesus clearly states that the bible itself is truth. It is the very words of God (who never lies), testifying about Jesus (who is the truth). The bible is the clearest, and most easily studied, expression of the truth God has given us. For this reason, we call it “specific revelation”. The bible is very specific about Jesus. He is both the author and the subject of the bible. It is all about him.

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, (John 5:39)

If you are looking for the truth, you’ll find him in the words of God recorded for us in the pages of the bible.

Remember our original verse:

…they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10-12)

We are to love the truth. To believe the truth. To take pleasure in the truth.

That means we are to love, believe, and enjoy creation. We can delight in what God has made, because he has revealed something of himself to us in his creation. Take pleasure in the sunrise, in the breeze off the ocean, in the blueness of the sky, because they are telling you true things about Jesus.

We are to love, believe, and enjoy the church, the people of God. We can find joy in our relationships with other Christians, and in our love and care for each other, because we see something of the truth of Jesus there.

And we are to love, believe, and enjoy the bible. It reveals Jesus to us most specifically. It is clear, helpful, and full of truth. We can delight in it, they way the psalmist describes in Psalm 119, the way Jesus obviously did as he committed portions of it to memory and it was constantly on his lips as he spoke and interacted with all people. Read it daily, think on it, speak of it with others, let it wash over you and renew your mind in the truth.

And our love for, belief in, and pleasure in creation, the church, and the bible, serve one purpose, to stir up our love, belief, and pleasure in Christ. Don’t treasure these things for themselves, but treasure them because they show you Jesus.

Treasuring anything other than the truth, in the person of Jesus, results in condemnation. Treasuring the truth in all it’s forms because it points to the author of truth, Jesus, results in salvation.

Who, or what, is your treasure?


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