Jesus Poured Out Truth

What Did Jesus Do?

For the law was given through Moses;
grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 1.17

St. Paul wrote in Philippians 2.7 how Christ “emptied” himself (RSV). While we may understand that this had to do with the Son setting aside his rightful place with the Father, in order that he should take on human form and become one of us, I believe we need to also acknowledge that Jesus came to give of himself to the high pitch of devotion. Holding nothing back, the Lord poured himself out completely for the sake of lost sinners.

What did Jesus pour out that we received? Well, John speaks of “grace upon grace” (John 1.16), but also points out that Christ came full of grace and truth. I certainly don't wish to downplay at all the incredible gift of grace; after all, our salvation comes by way of grace through faith (Ephesians 2.8). But the gift of grace can do little for us if we don't also receive the truth. Without grasping the truth, particularly the truth about ourselves as fallen sinners with no hope whatsoever other than the mercy of God, we would not recognize that grace, and grace alone, is what we need.

It's like this, if we say that we have no sin, or at least no sin so great as to need the services of a Savior and the free, though undeserved, grace of God, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (See 1John 1.5-10). If the truth is not in us we are, to put it crudely, full of stuff that stinks. The truth, you see, is absolutely essential. And, tragically, truth is perhaps the scarcest commodity in the world.

Now, before anyone wishes to argue with me about the scarcity of truth, hear me out. As an economics major, albeit 36 years ago now, I recall that one measure of the scarcity of a commodity is its price. The harder it is to find something in this world, the more valuable, the more costly, it becomes. Consider this, If diamonds were as plentiful as the grains of sand on the shore, diamonds would not be considered precious gems, their value would plummet. Now, let us think about the cost of truth.

It cost the Father his Son for us to receive the truth. The only good and pure man to ever live had to die cruelly on the cross to pay the price for truth to be revealed to us. The Lord had to endure rejection, savage scourging, a slow agonizing death, and three days in the tomb, so that the truth be known. No one else would ever be willing to pay such a cost. No one else ever could. And, even if the world were to offer all its wealth, it would not be enough to purchase truth.

The Son was born to die, and he well knew this even before he emptied himself and came down to assume the form of an obedient servant. And at the end of his life, when he was on trial before Pilate, Jesus, when directly asked to give an account for himself, said,

“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come
into the world—to bear witness to the truth.”
John 18.37

Pilate, confronted, face to face as it were, with the Truth, was incapable of recognizing it/him (See John 18.38). Pilate wasn't the first, and he wasn't the last. The world is filled with deceit, and the deceived, which continues to make truth the most precious of commodities to possess. And it is nothing other than the truth in which the Church must trade.

When we analyze the myriad of programs and services one can find in a church, the only one that really matters is the proclamation of the truth. If a church isn't absolutely committed to pouring out the truth, it has missed its mission. If the Church isn't pouring out the truth, it isn't really the Church at all.

Jesus poured out truth, and so should we.

S.D.G.

Jim
www.jimwilkenministries.org
Marion, NC
PS 37.4