As we continue to experience The Word of the Lord together, let us pray. Brightness of all faithful souls, you take care of and feed the whole world, with literal food, and figuratively with nourishment for our souls. Feed us now with knowledge, so that we might grow in our relationship with you. If these words are not Your Word, may they be forgotten and come to naught, but if they be Thy Word, may they adhere to our hearts, forever transforming us from glory into glory, into the creatures you would have us be, thou who art our rock and our redeemer, Amen.

Today, I am reading from a different translation of the Bible, The Message. Hear now The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in Psalm 85. Listen.

The Grass withers, The flower falls, but The Word of the Lord endures forever…Thanks be to God.

And now hear The Word of the Lord as it comes to us in the gospel of John. Listen for God’s word for you today. John 8.31-32.

The Word of the Lord…Thanks be to God.

We are half way there. We looked at Great End #1, The Proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of Humankind. We looked at Great Ends #2 and 3 together. #2, The Shelter, Nurture and Spiritual Fellowship for the Children of God, and #3, the Maintance of Divine Worship. Next week, #5, The Promotion of Social Righteousness, and then #6, The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World.

Great End #4, The Preservation of the Truth. To understand what this great end calls the church to, we need to answer three questions. (1) What is the Truth? (2)What does it mean that the church is called to preserve the truth? And (3) what is the importance of doing so? Most of this can be answered in the question, what is the truth, so let’s start there.

The common misconception that Christians have, and this misconception hurts, is the idea that because we know the truth, we are better than those who don’t. Many Christians take the attitude that they are better than other people because the other people are not Christian, and they do not know the truth. To know the truth, they think, makes one at least smarter than someone who does not know the truth, right. I had that misconception, when I learned the truth about Santa Claus, you know, that his cholesterol was exceedingly high. All I was accomplishing was being annoying, not some sort of mission where friends began to believe what I said. Being right is not the point of the preservation of the Truth.

I find it interesting that in John’s gospel, Jesus calls himself “The Truth.” It is in John 14.6. I had a friend who often called himself “The Kid.” There is something about Jesus who calls himself The Truth and who also says, you will know The Truth, and The Truth will free you.

When we mention as Great End #4, the preservation of The Truth, we don’t mean that we have to stick up for all things that are true. We don’t have to stick up for the fact that yellow and blue make green, or that Jordan used to travel with the ball every time he got it, and got more & more chances to prove that theory every time he came out of retirement, or even serious things, like whether or not women should be ordained, like we fought over 30 years ago, or like whether or not abortion is morally right, or homosexuality, or whatever we discuss that separates the church or people unfortunately use to separate the Christians from the non-Christians, as many people do. Those who agree with me can be considered Christians, those who don’t need to be prayed for because they are going to hell. That is the exact opposite of the truth that we are to preserve. All of those are worthy discussions, but none are what we are to separate over, or preserve at all costs. The truth that we are to preserve is the reality of God and the relationship we can touch into through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The truth that we are to preserve is the reality of God and the relationship we can touch into through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. God is real. That is the truth. Jesus is knowable, and God desires to have a relationship with us. That is the truth, and it will most assuredly free us.

So, what does that mean for the church? We realize that God is real, that is what we base our faith on, that is why we are here. We know that God is, the world is not so sure. The world is not convinced. The world, other than Christmas time, seems content with ignoring the truth. The world believes in the power of fame, we believe in the reality of God. The world believes in the influence of success, we believe in the reality of God. The world believes that money can bring happiness, we believe in the reality of God. The world believes that being beautiful on the outside is extremely important, more important than being beautiful on the inside, we believe in the reality of God. The world believes that on its own power it can be good, we believe in the reality of God. The world does not know what to believe, or how to believe in the right things. We are the cure for that problem. We are the carriers of the tradition that says the truth can be known, and not just here in our heads, but here in this world, in the same way we can know the person sitting next to us right now, and here {in our hearts}. God creates us all, and continues to create in the world. God creates each of us with a God-shaped vacuum in our lives, one that only God can fill. We who believe in the reality of God show the world what it means to fill our God-shaped vacuum with God, not with money, success, power, fame, sexual conquests, or whatever. We show the world how much better it is to live the lives the creator intended.

The importance of showing the world the truth is then obvious. If the world is to see the truth, they need to see us living in the reality that God exists. We are to preserve the truth by showing how the truth effects our lives to a world that doesn’t really know the truth.

Therefore, our call is simply understood, and a complex joy to carry out. We are to know the truth, literally know, like we know a friend, The Truth. As we live in the reality of God, we will preserve the truth for the world to see. Amen.