Johnny Cash and 'What Is Truth?'

Tonight I came across a fascinating little hour on Netflix about when Johnny Cash went and played at the Nixon White House in 1970.  Johnny Cash was a man of his time and was likely very conservative in temperament, but he'd been through enough experiences to help him see that there were many people out there who were suffering, and that the 'silent majority' was not nearly as noble as they wanted to think themselves to be.  So while he was there he sang a little song that I am ashamed that I had never heard before called 'What Is Truth?' 

It's not a loud and angry anthem that protesters rallied around like 'Blowin' in the Wind' and so this is why it's mostly forgotten.  But it very carefully challenges those who think themselves righteous to consider why there are genuine protests, and that unless one truly lives the truth, then we shouldn't be surprised when everything goes off the rails. 

I'd still like to consider myself conservative.  I don't think that many of the 'liberal' or progressive answers will fix the problem.  But I do believe that conservatism needs to be challenged.  If, as our current president claims, we need to be 'making America great again', what does that mean?  Does it mean that we simply toss around our power and authority?  Or does it mean that we seek to be good and righteous?  If America is truly to be great, it ought to be able to stand up to pointed criticisms of what it has become...it ought to live up to the promises of its divine origins (if indeed that is what it is) by seeking to be a blessing to all people, not just the few. 

Johnny Cash wasn't the first to ask the question 'what is truth?' of course.  Pontius Pilate asked this question of Jesus when our Lord came to be a witness to the truth.  And as one who lived truth, he lived as a blessing to others, to preach good news to the poor, to live up the downcast.  Can we say that our country's conservative element has any concern to do this?  I don't think so. 

Preaching and Truth

It's Sunday night, another day of preaching and church fellowship in the books.  Today I preached about how Jesus is not who people expected he would be (from Luke 5:27-6:5) and then tonight I did a meditation on the importance of joyful praise from Psalm 111.  I don't know that either sermon was great, but both seemed to get a good response...probably because both of them were absolutely true. 

One thing I have really tried seeking in recent years when it comes to preaching is truth.  If it's not true, and if it means that I have to fudge things in order to have something to say, then I won't preach.  I have sat through too many sermons in my life that were not true.  Sermons that said that I had to interpret a Scripture in a particular way that took it wholly out of its context, or sermons that were more interested in damning others rather than looking at our own problems, or sermons that had nothing to do with reality but sought out a life that God never promised.  There's too much preaching both inside and outside of Churches of Christ...TV preachers, personality-driven preachers, 'faithful brotherhood' preachers, dull and lifeless and scared preachers.  I have heard enough of them to know what I never want to be. 

This isn't to say that I always get things right.  I misinterpret Scriptures, because I am not perfect in my knowledge.  I misunderstand the nature of God, because he is God and I am not.  And I mistakenly think I know what is in the hearts of others, when instead they alone must stand before God just as I alone must stand before God, and we both only have Jesus as our advocate. 

But truth is something that must be pursued, even if people don't want to hear it.  Our job as preachers is the incredibly difficult job of ensuring that hard truths will be at least considered, even if not easily acceptable.  I'd like to think that our little church here trusts me well enough to know that even if they don't like what I say, they will at least hear me out and consider whether or not this is the will of God.  If that's what I've been able to do, this is enough.  They know that I love God and love Scripture and love them enough to try to make sense of it all.  Again, I will fail in this at times, but I am grateful that the church lets me at least take a shot at this. 

This week I go back to the task of preparing more sermons for the next time I preach.  We have a guest speaker on Sunday and then a devotional on Sunday night, so the next time in the pulpit is two weeks away.  But truth will be truth, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to pursue it. 

The risk of preaching

Today I preached a sermon about the risk of following Jesus, and how Jesus then takes a risk to save us.  Luke 5:12-26 shows a man who crossed quarantine boundaries from Leviticus 13 and another man and his friends who crossed social boundaries to make his way to Jesus when the path was blocked.  Jesus then touches and heals the leper, and he forgives then heals the cripple, even as the Pharisees are aghast that he would do such a thing. 

It was a good sermon, I think.  But one thing that I struggled with is that I have the order backwards...ultimately, God is the one who takes the first risk, and then we respond.  The sermon made it as if we are a people who risk everything to come to God, and then he follows.

Sometimes preaching has a way to obscure some truths as it enlightens others.  The process of communication means that something vital is being said, but the fallible nature of humanity means that something is lost in the process.  Often times the good of the truth is more important (and even more obvious) than that which is wrong, but somewhere, I am certain, people will misunderstand things.  Even in the best of times, with the best of sermons, I have people who come up to me to thank me for saying something that I did not say. 

This is why preaching must in the end be Spirit-based.  As preachers and teachers we necessarily screw things up at times, because we are still people who on our own are filled with sin.  Only by the grace of God do we end up at all good, and even then we obscure truth along the way.