If Knowledge is a Tool, What are We Building?

Let’s Review

• In the New Testament gospels, Jesus presents love as the ultimate end of a moral life. Mark 12:30-31

• Christians often are obsessed with “absolute truth”.

• There is the world as it really exists out there (what we call reality), and then there is the world as someone, or something experiences it (umwelt).

• Does the Bible give us access to “absolute truth”.

• The Bible is contextually human.

• The Bible is interpreted by humans.

• The Bible is not God.

• Three Different Kinds of Truth

• Fact Truth – derived by logic and science.

• Meaning Truth – sharing of human experience (includes religion and faith)

• Wisdom Truth – navigating life well with the goal of love.

The Need to be Right

• Is the life of faith about being right? Is it important to make sure others get it right? Or is this about loving people no matter what?

• For most people, the need to be right outweighs the need to be loving.

• In the Bible there seems to be no tension between truth and love because the highest form of truth is wisdom, and the highest form of wisdom is love.

• Jesus is about the way we live our lives and not just the facts in our heads.

• It is a vision for life that utilizes facts, meaning and wisdom in service to love.

The Need to Know More

· There is often the belief that the world will be made right when we get all the facts straight.

Truth is a Tool

· Facts are to develop the progress of character (2 Peter 1:5-8)

· Fact truth and even meaning truth (or faith truth) stops short of the goal of building a better life (wisdom truth).

Love is a National Treasure

· Knowledge is a tool to get to the treasure.

· The Christian faith is often built around privileging our intellect rather than character.

o Everything is in service to love (1 Corinthians 13)

o Knowledge knows its place as a tool for love (1 Corinthians 8:1-3)

Knowledge is a Motivator not a Manipulator

· When we use our opinions and knowledge as a manipulator then we are not motivated by love.

The Bible is often an Idol

• The Bible is straight up difficult.

• Difficult to understand: Ezekiel 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iziuvkci4yM&feature=emb_logo

• Difficult to apply properly: Deuteronomy 25:11-12

• Absolute truth has become an idol in the American church.

• The use of the Bible is instrumental in this development.

• When the Bible is held up as the Word of God then it becomes imperative to use every syllable of it.

• Ironically, the Bible itself only calls Jesus the Word (John 1:1)

When the Bible is Bad for You

• You can “prove” anything from the Bible if you want.

• When the Bible becomes a faithful and trusted guide to lead you to Jesus then it can be used to build love.