Dear Friends,
J.I. Packer said that “a half-truth masquerading as a whole truth is an untruth.”
He’s right. One of the reasons why, if you’re being sworn in as a witness at a trial, you have to promise to tell, not simply the truth, but the whole truth and nothing but the truth is because a half-truth masquerading as a whole truth is an untruth.
And in a day where MY truth has become a substitute for THE truth, we need to be on guard against the epidemic of truth decay in our culture.
It’s common in political discourse or in media coverage of current events for half-truths to be vigorously defended and represented as THE truth. There is a reason why in a court of law, we have two parties laying out their case. Presumably, hearing from both the prosecution and the defense can help ensure that jurors are hearing more than half-truths.
Half-truths are an issue when it comes to theological discourse.
Here’s a simple example. God is love. True? Yes. The whole truth? No.
In Exodus 34, when God speaks to Moses on Mt. Sinai, He gives Moses a description of Himself.
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
(Exodus 34:6–7)
God’s description of Himself here, as He reveals Himself to Moses, offers a portrait of a deity who is both inviting a fearsome. He is someone who invites us to draw near and in whose presence men tremble and cover their mouths.
And even here, God’s self-description doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, we have to learn to live with the reality that we will never know God the way God knows God. There is a day coming when we will see Him, not through a glass, dimly, but face to face. A day when we will see Him as He is. But even on that day, Kevin DeYoung reminds us, “our knowledge of God is never exhaustive and never perfect. We know only in part. Our God is incomprehensible.”
Incomprehensible is not the same as unknowable. God has, in His word, revealed everything that is needed for us to know Him. His revelation of His nature and character in the Bible is not complete because a complete understanding of who God is will always be beyond our ability to comprehend. But His revelation of Himself to us through His word is both sufficient and wholly accurate. And as we seek to know and understand all that God has chosen to reveal about Himself in the Bible, the picture He gives us is what is necessary for us to know.
Here's why this matters.
We have an excess of idolatry in our day. Millions of professing Christians pledge their devotion and allegiance to a half-truth god, thinking in the process that they are worshipping and following the God of the Bible.
I believe it’s a majority of professing Christians who don’t actually love the God of scripture, but who worship a half-truth god. Some do so out of ignorance. Some worship a half-truth god because the God who reveals Himself clearly in scripture offends their sensibilities. He’s not who they think God should be. And so, most professing Christians end up worshipping and idol, a half-truth god who fits their image of who they think God should be. He is an edited and abridged deity, not the I Am. Not the God who is.
You often hear people saying things like “my God would never…” or “I can’t believe in a God who…” And let’s be honest. A God who tells His people to completely annihilate the Canaanites? That ought to make anyone uncomfortable. No doubt. But that’s the God who reveals Himself to us in the Bible. A God who pours out bowls of wrath on the earth? Who will come again and who will execute justice and exact vengeance against His enemies by punishing them for all eternity?
It’s understandable that people might look for an alternative.
But we don’t have that option. God is not a creature we can adjust or modify to fit our preferences. He is the Potter and we are the clay, not the other way around.
This is the lesson Job learned. Having endured great pain and suffering, and left with questions about God’s power or His goodness, Job brings his list of grievances to God thinking he is entitled to some answers. And after God has heard him out, His response to Job is essentially “just who do you think you are.”
“The LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?” (Job 38:1–2)
And by the time God is done, Job’s response is “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:3,5–6)
“It can be a bit overwhelming,” Paul David Tripp says, “to think that in God’s world there is no end to knowing. You and I will never know enough; we will never be able to say, “I know everything.” This is why we must understand what is important to know and what is not. You and I have a limited amount of time and limited mental capacity, so what we commit ourselves to know is significant and life-shaping.
“If God is the Creator of everything that exists, if he is the Lord and Ruler of all that happens, and if he holds his created world together by his powerful hand, then there is nothing more important than to know him.”
Of course he’s right. There is nothing more important in this life than to know the God who is. To pursue that knowledge with diligence and humility. And we should expect, along the way, that we will learn some things about God that will be confusing or may even seem troubling. When that happens, instead of reducing the God who is to a more palatable half-truth deity, we must prostrate ourselves before the One who has pulled back the royal curtain and invited us to know and love and worship Him. The God who is.
Our spring Women’s Bible Study starts next week! If you haven’t signed up yet for either the Monday night or Tuesday morning group, now’s the time. All the details and registration are on our website. Click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=b795d573e4&e=fbb0a4052b) for info.
And this Saturday night is NxtGen Night! All 20 somethings are invited to the Gurney’s for food and fun and fellowship.
Our Redeemer Men’s Institute reconvenes next Thursday, February 6 to talk about what part we play in our sanctification.
Next weekend, we have a New Members Classes happening. If you’d like to learn more about Redeemer and what it means to be a member at our church, you’re welcome to join us. Click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=78b67b18ad&e=fbb0a4052b) for more info or to sign up.
Before the Eagles and Chiefs kick off in this year’s Super Bowl, we have some super events of our own happening!
First, our Saturday Night Super Bowling Event is for anyone who loves watching the pins fall!
Mark your calendars now and click here (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=edfd8aac21&e=fbb0a4052b) to sign up to join the fun.
Then, the next day right after church, we’ll all bring a crock pot of soup or stew or chili and share a meal together in our annual Soup-er Bowl Sunday pot luck. You can start looking through your recipe files now to decide which soup you want to bring.
I know it’s still three weeks away, but now is the time to register for our upcoming Redeemer Couples Date Night event!
You may remember that last spring, we had a very special evening for couples – a date night event at Redeemer. We turned our worship center into a fine dining establishment for an evening. We served a dinner that included Filet Mignon. Our students were our servers. It was a fun night for couples.
Well, we’re doing it again!
Friday night, February 21 at 6:00 pm. A date night for the two of you.
A night to reconnect as a couple, to be encouraged, and to have some fun.
$40 per couple includes dinner.
Childcare is available for children through 5th grade (When you register, indicate the name, age, and number of kids who need childcare. If you use our childcare, you will need to bring a packed dinner for them).
We have a limited number of seat available. We can only host 40 couples. So don’t wait to sign up. Decide now to do something special with your spouse on the Friday after Valentines Day. You can register by clicking here. (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=07e38769f5&e=fbb0a4052b)
Here’s our New City Catechism questions for this week.
Q. What Else Did God Create?
A. God created all things by his powerful Word, and all his creation was very good; everything flourished under his loving rule.
Here’s a link (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=573a473b22&e=fbb0a4052b) to a video where Kent Hughes talks about this week’s question and answer.
(https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=1d3cc5d3ff&e=fbb0a4052b)
Once again, here’s the link (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=a6af950e60&e=fbb0a4052b) to the song for families based on last week’s and this week’s questions and answers
(https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=bf1fc9af4b&e=fbb0a4052b)
And again this week, here’s a link (https://redeemerlr.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=df57aea0670b59c32464d5bab&id=473e950fcc&e=fbb0a4052b) that will take you to a Spotify playlist of the songs we’ll be singing together this Sunday!
Throughout redemptive history, God’s people have cried out to Him in times of trails and adversity. His constant encouragement has been for us to fix our eyes on Him in the storm. He will keep us in perfect peace as our minds are stayed upon Him. This Sunday, Pastor Cole Perkins will take us to Isaiah 33 to show us how a fresh vision of our Redeemer and our redemption can calm a soul that is in distress.
See you in church.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Pastor Bob
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