The Cost of Truth

Nov03
by Michael King on November 3, 2012 at 1:51 pm
Posted In: theology
Cost of truth

All Who Live Godly In Christ Jesus Shall Suffer Persecution

Christianity is a religion that is based upon the truth of God as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.  Moreover, our heavenly Father desires that we worship Him correctly.

Jesus says,

“God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

John 4:24

To that end we have also been given a comforter to dwell in us that helps us know God’s truth. As it is written,

“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

John 15:26

And finally, Jesus said He is,

 “The Way, the Truth, and the Life…”

 John 14:16

 We all realize that truth is important both to God and therefore to ourselves as believers.  Truth is not optional but essential.

What I wish to speak about today is the “cost” of truth.  Christianity is full of paradoxes that seem at odds with one another.  For instance,

“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.

 Mark 8:35

Just like in order to gain our lives we must first lose our lives it is also correct that although truth is freely given it costs us everything. What do I mean when I say this?

Here is a fundamental truth:

“If you truly wish to know God, accepting Him for what and who He really is, then that same truth which sets you free also separates you from those who do not wish to accept it.”

For example, salvation separates you from those who do not wish to accept Jesus as their personal Lord and savior.  Holy Spirit baptism separates you from those who do not believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues is for today.  Believing God is ‘one’ separates you from those who believe that God is somehow three in one.  Each time you accept “truth”, you come closer to knowing who and what God really is, moving you further away from the unbelieving majority.

Being near God, often means separation from the world

Each time you step into further truth in God it will cost you a little bit or perhaps a lot in terms of relationships, acceptance, and comfort in this world.  Perhaps speaking in tongues will make your friends mock you as a “tongue talkin’ holy roller” or perhaps believing that God is “one” will make your church ask you to leave their fellowship much like Jesus was forced out of the synagogue when He declared the acceptable day of the Lord.  Maybe it will be your job or your family’s acceptance, or even your very life depending on where you live in the world.  The point is that accepting truth, while it does commend you spiritually to God, costs us a great deal in the natural world.

The cost of truth is persecution

Brethren, we do a great disservice to those whom we lead when we do not tell them that all who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.  Persecution for believing and following the truth is supposed to be the norm of Christianity and not the exception.  Many times we do not call attention to the “cost of truth” because we ourselves are fearful of paying it.  The cost of truth is unacceptable to us and so we prefer to teach and preach a belief system that creates minimal waves in our circle of friends, family, churches, and communities.  Our measure of truth becomes how well we fit into the world around us and not how close we know, believe and practice the word of God.

There is also a cost of not having the truth and it is equally as expensive.  Spiritually, the price we pay for denying the truth is to live a joyless Christian life devoid of the life and power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is easily grieved and so if you do not accept Him on His terms He leaves and you are left with the impossible task of living a Christian life without Him.

Do we really want to pay the price?

So many of us read about and desire such power as we see in the book of Acts but do we actually want to pay the price that the apostles did in order to have it?  Paul knew and preached the truth in power and demonstration of the Holy Spirit and he details the price he paid,

“Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received  forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;  In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.”

2 Corinthians 11:23-27

The Cost Of Truth

And in the gospel according to Luke, Jesus further reveals the cost of truth:

“If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.”

Luke 14: 26,27

Forsaking all is the price of the power of the book of Acts.   Bearing our own cross is the cost of accepting and living the way, the truth, and the life in Jesus Christ. In earthly terms the price of living the truth is very high but in the heavenly view it is a real bargain.

Should we dare preach such high standards today in our churches?  Yes, I say, definitely yes.  No longer should we allow ourselves to preach a Christianity of conformity that seeks to cause as little discomfort as possible to our members and those around us.  We should speak the truth in love and as led by the Holy Spirit, without fear.

Become servants of the Most High

I do not preach confrontation for confrontations sake, for that is merely contention.  I advocate that we become servants of the Most High and that following His Holy Spirit will inevitably bring us into situations where we will have to stand for truth when others wish to continue to preserve the status quo.  This is the cost of truth and we must determine before hand to gladly pay it.

Finally, to live a Christian life is not complicated for we are promised the comforter that has been given us will lead and guide us into all truth.  All that is required to know the truth is a willingness to pay the price to live it.  What cost are you willing to pay and how far are you willing to go to stand with God?  The path is laid plain before us by the author and finisher of our faith.  Again, as Jesus said,

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

 John 14:16

 And also in 1 John we read,

            “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

1 John 3:2

In Christ Alone by Travis Cottrel

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The Bridge

Nov03
by Michael King on November 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Posted In: testimonies
Bridge Out

Go Forward

 
Some time ago in my life, I decided to not look at natural circumstances but listen to the Holy Spirit. I wanted desperately to know the mind and heart of God. Since that time I’ve had many experiences that show when God asks us to do something, no matter what circumstances seem like, there is a way forward. Let me tell you one such story. It is a true story that happened in 1993. I was in the state of Kentucky in the southern part of the USA.

One day I set out for a drive early in the morning.  As was my habit, I would have no plan but would simply ask the Holy Spirit which way I should go. I was trying to learn how to hear the voice of God by asking Him to speak to me and then following exactly what He said. That day, the Holy Spirit directed me to drive down a certain country road and as I drove down this road I came upon a sign that said “Bridge Out”. 

I heard God’s voice say…

Naturally, I stopped my small 4-wheel drive vehicle and began to turn around, however, just as I was about to change direction I heard God’s voice say, “Go forward.” I thought to myself, “Go forward? Why should I go forward? The bridge is out!”  The voice of God said once again, “Go forward.” I said to God, “OK, if you want me to go forward, I will go forward.”

I drove perhaps one half of a mile and came upon a bridge that was under construction. As I drove to the beginning of the new bridge I could see that indeed the bridge was only half-finished and abruptly ended in the middle of a ravine. Stopping my vehicle, I  looked around and thought to myself, “Now what?” As I wondered why God had led me to that place, again the voice said to me, “Go forward.” I replied, “What? Go forward? Go forward onto a half-finished bridge? Why Father? Is this really you God?” God simply stated again, “Go forward.”

Going forward slowly…

I put my vehicle in gear and slowly drove up onto the unfinished bridge. The further I went, the less I believed I was actually hearing from Him. Now I sat in the middle of the unfinished bridge and clearly seeing where the construction stopped. Halfway across the ravine, there simply was no bridge. I also clearly saw where the construction started again on the opposite side. I also saw there was at least a 25-foot drop to the bottom. 

At that point, I was seriously doubting myself. I doubted my ability to hear the voice of God. After all, I was being told to drive across a ravine on an unfinished bridge! I sat for about a half an hour wondering why God had brought me there. Considering what to do, I heard the voice of God say, “Go forward.”  Now I truly began to feel fearful. I felt tightness in my stomach and panic began to well up in my chest. I wondered…was I listening to God or was it all just my own mind? Or worse yet…was I listening to a demon that wanted to kill me?

Father, the bridge is out

I could clearly see that the bridge dropped off in the middle of the ravine and that if I obeyed the voice I was hearing I would surely die. Yet the voice I heard was the same voice that I always heard when God talked to me. I now doubted if I had ever heard God’s voice because of what I was being asked to do. It was a crisis a faith…

I had devoted a lot of my life to listening to what I thought was God’s voice and now that same voice was asking me to do something that would lead to certain death. I sat for a very long time in my small vehicle and wondered what I should do. It seemed like my mind was a battlefield as I struggled with my thoughts. Finally, I heard the voice say, “Get out of the truck” and so I did.

I slowly walked towards the edge of the unfinished bridge that hung over the ravine. It was at least 25 feet down to the bottom. Every step I took towards the edge seemed to only confirm what I knew to be true, there was no way forward. My mind told me I had somehow gone mad and wasn’t listening to the Holy Spirit. As I neared the end of the bridge, I looked over into the ravine and suddenly saw something that greatly surprised me. Literally, you could not see it until you came to the very edge of the unfinished bridge. 

Seeing what God saw the whole time

I saw a big mound of dirt pushed up from the bottom of the ravine to just below the lip of the concrete upon which I stood. Had I not gotten out of the truck and taken a look I would never have seen it! It was very steep and there was about a foot drop off from the end of the bridge to the mound of dirt, but it looked like I could make it. I climbed back into my vehicle and put it in low gear and 4 wheel drive. Slowly I drove towards the edge of the unfinished bridge. I crept over the edge, down the pile of dirt, across the dry creek bed, and up the other side of the ravine. I did not slip or tip, but climbed up and onto the normal pavement, continuing on my way.

An important lesson

This was a very important lesson for me. I’ve thought about every time God is calling me to do something that seems impossible.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not yet seen. Many times it takes great courage and faith on our part to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. The walk of faith, especially when it contradicts our natural senses, is not easy. However, the fact is that we are all called to lead a Spirit-led life. If we truly desire to grow into the fullness and the stature of Christ, we will, figuratively speaking, be called to “drive over ravines on bridges that are not there” at some point.

It is step by step in God

Our personal journeys are step by step. God will not show us more than the next step forward. This is where trust comes in…a trust not based upon what we know but upon who we know. If you desire to follow Jesus you will come to your own impossible bridge someday. Just know that even though everything you see may seem to say otherwise, God has surely made a way forward.

God Of The Impossible by Everfound

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