How do you discern if you’ve been confronted with truth or not? Do you listen and engage?

Have you even faced something that was very true and yet you denied it?

Here are 4 true truth encounters:

Truth Encounter #1 – A Young Man
A young successful man is challenged in his religious beliefs by a church leader. The younger man being fairly confident in his theology only wants to confirm that he is on the right path. After only a few comments and some counter questions, the young man walks away sad and dejected. The young man is the proud, rich young ruler who confronted Jesus in Judea:

“Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16-30, Mark 10:17-31, Luke 18:18-30)

Truth Encounter #2 – Another Young Man
Another young man is confronted by antagonistic church leaders who claim he speaks blasphemous words against God and the known customs of their church. He boldly and directly counters their arguments and faces the consequences of their ire and wrath. This is the story of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, who was stoned to death by the Jewish leaders after he cited their stubborn history and blindness in rejecting Jesus:

“…your ancestors…even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.“ (Acts 7:52-53)

Truth Encounter #3 – A Good Teacher
A passionate and knowledgeable teacher was found to be lacking in full knowledge in a specific area of teaching by some visiting peer evangelists. He was privately called out and exposed to expanded new teaching. This was the eloquent Christian apologist, Apollos, who had not yet been exposed to or instructed about the baptism and power of Holy Spirit. He was trained up by Christians Priscilla and Aquila who were trained by Paul and subsequently expanded his impact in the early Christian church.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. (Acts 18:24-28)

Truth Encounter #4 – A Church Leader
A church leader was adamant about long-standing tenets of his faith involving food and worship practices. He experiences three separate occurrences of a dream sequence that is counter to all that he was taught to believe. This is the story of the confused Apostle Peter just prior to his meeting of Cornelius, the Gentile soldier recently converted to Christianity. This God-led introduction ushers in the new Christian teaching “that God shows no partiality” but is open to all the world’s people, both Jews and Gentiles:

“I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” (Acts 10:1-11:18)

Facing Truth
In 3 of the 4 Biblical scenarios above, a person is addressed by God/Jesus directly or indirectly via teachings or dreams to forge new thinking and direction. Only the rich young ruler fails to respond appropriately. While it cost Stephen his life, he was the tragic victim of evil opposition.

How about you? How entrenched are you in your belief systems and thinking patterns? Apart from a direct intercession from God, how do you respond when your ideas or beliefs are challenged or exposed as false or wrong? Do you wilt or get defensive? Do you deny and fight back? Do you turn and walk away?

Or do you fairly listen and peacefully engage?

21st Century Challenges
While most of us are safe from martyrdom opportunities, there are many areas of opposing viewpoints within the evangelical Christian Church. While there will always be variations on the specific implementation of church practices of communion, baptism, prayer and worship services, there are also still disagreements over other topics like angels and demons, heaven and hell, speaking in tongues, healing, and eschatology, to name just a few.

Today, a progressive culture is tugging at the Church to move leftwards on issues of gay rights, gender roles, even climate change and public policy on healthcare, immigration, education curriculum, and constitutional law.

Yes, there’s plenty of room for discussion and even heated debate. But as much as possible, all Truth-seekers should be informed on all perspectives. Keep it civil, discuss and disagree in love and respect.

You might be familiar with the popular saying among churches: 

“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” 

This actually comes from an otherwise undistinguished German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century, Rupertus Meldenius. The phrase occurs in a tract on Christian unity written in 1627 during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), a bloody time in European history in which religious tensions played a significant role.¹

Don’t Compromise Truth
For me and most evangelical Christians, the essentials are God as Creator, the deity of Christ, One God, the Trinity, salvation by grace (not works) through Christ alone, the resurrection of Christ, and the authority of Scripture (the Bible). Everything else is fair-game and debatable.

Yes, we should grant freedom (liberty) across broad opinions, even those that may be far afield. But it doesn’t mean we have to accept all notions and compromise on essential Christian doctrine.

Because there is Truth.

There’s always Truth. However, there are also differing levels of understanding and perspective. Jesus didn’t compromise Truth. He spoke Truth to the rich young ruler. It was all about what ruled the young man. Jesus also called the Pharisees a “brood of vipers” (Matthew 12:34). Jesus could be very pointed, but He always operated as One knowing that Truth existed and understanding that not everyone knew or understood that Truth.

Stephen told the hard truth as well to the religious leaders. It cost him his life. Apollos and Peter had to learn Truth after not understanding it at first. But they did learn and changed their perspective and behavior.

But Truth is Not Gray
I believe essentials and non-essentials actually matter. Again, Truth is Truth. It’s why studying the Bible is critical to learning about God, Jesus, His ways, Life, Purpose, and Truth. There is no gray. There’s only Truth. And thankfully God is patient with us as we willingly surrender ourselves to His Truth, not our own or the truth of any majority or the ones with the biggest megaphone.

Therefore, we should know the Bible and be able to support and defend our faith and opinions and be able to recognize compromised positions, even on secondary or so-called non-essential issues. Again, of course, with all challenges and discussions, do it in love with respect and charity.

Even so, our devotion and focus should stay on God and His Word rather than man and his ever-changing notions and whims.

How are you doing with real Truth in your life?
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But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. – 1 Peter 3:15

¹ Ligonier Ministries, Inc., Mark Ross, September 1, 2009