*** SHOW NOTES (not a transcript) ***

Lead:

Half-truths are dangerous, and this one in particular.

Intro:

There was a time a few eons ago when I was a fan of The Simpsons, and even though I haven’t watched in years, here’s a quote from Homer Simpson that I’m particularly amused by:

I didn’t lie. I was writing fiction with my mouth. ~ Homer Simpson

Yesterday I implored us to love each other like Jesus. Today in our With All Our Minds segment I’m going to share how love is often used as a half-truth in a way that we often don’t think about. I think if you are a pursuer of truth, we’ll want to make sure we have the whole Jesus and aren’t writing fiction with our mouths.

That said, today we’ve got a bit to read, so let’s get to it. And if you are newer to the program, I just want to give you a shout out. We keep things really conversational around here, so if there’s something you like or not, just shoot me a note. I’d love to chat.

Sponsor:

You! If you’re enriched by what we do, would you kindly share it with others or give us a review or rating on your favorite podcast app? Thank you!

Bible Segment:

Passage: John 7-8
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 112
Words: ~2406

With All Our Minds Segment:

This weekend I just get done talking about love. I actually listened to my own podcast a couple times, wondering if I’d emphasized one thing to the exclusion of another, an issue that’s been on my heart for years. And almost as if someone was saying yes, a couple of the geekier email lists I subscribed to dropped stuff into my inbox, and well, here we are today. I have to say, we don’t get to have half a Jesus.

Sarah Fisher of Hebrew Word Lessons, Justice/Judgement: It’s Not about Vengeance; It’s About Love!
Ian Paul: Does Jesus Accept Us as We Are - or Call Us to ‘Repent’?

Here’s a short set of thoughts:

Where does God’s love come from? His very nature. He can’t be anything but love. Fully love. There’s no way He could be more loving.
He is also a God of justice. We like justice. As Sara points out, in the OT, justice is the same word as judgment. Oooh, now He’s gettin’ in our business.
If God wasn’t perfectly just, perfectly righteous, He wouldn’t be perfectly loving. The most loving thing He can do is be a just judge. Anything less would mean He’s sometimes arbitrary. He’d be treating some people differently than others.
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Revelation 22:12–13, ESV
So if we love a Jesus of love, but we do not accept Him as judge, what are we doing? We want justice when it comes to murderers and child rapists and dudes who do awful things to women. But we want grace when it comes to us. Worse, it’s easy to see other people’s shortcomings, but God tells us that we all have sinned and fallen short and have broken relationship with Him and others.
Half-truths
- Biblically, Jesus calls us to repentance. “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Mk 1:15, ESV This means to change direction. Remember, the Enemy and his demon followers believe Jesus is who He says He is.
- We’re not to judge. No, we’re warned to not be guilty of judgmentalism. We’re not told to check our brains at the door. On the contrary, we are called to bring Jesus’ light into the darkness. With discernment. And a humility that gets the log out of our own eye first. But this doesn’t mean that God doesn’t judge.
- Just because we forgive someone over and over again doesn’t mean they aren’t accountable to God.

The Bottom Line

If we went to court and the judge was unfair, took bribes, was unduly influenced by someone with money, we’d be rightfully outraged. Why? We want to trust.

In short, anything less than perfect judgement and justice wouldn’t be worthy of worship. But perfect, righteous judgment and justice? TOTALLY worthy of our honor, respect, and worship.

And isn’t that a God worth our love?

As my pastor Josh White likes to say, “We’re not bigger failures that God already knows we are.” We know that we don’t measure up to a completely perfect judge.

And isn’t that what makes His forgiveness, His pursuing us with His love even when we were flipping Him the bird, His grace, all the more amazing?

When people say that God is love, listen closely. That’s true. But it’s only a half truth. What they usually hide is that they don’t really want perfect justice…they just want justice for other people when what they want for themselves is grace.

And we are not loving them if we only give them half a Jesus.

There's no virtue in giving offense. But there's a difference between avoidable and unavoidable offense; we need to just tell the truth. ~ J. Budziszewski, professor, author

Wisdom Segment:

Passage: Psalm 83
Translation: ESV (English Standard Version)
Verses: 18
Words: ~295

Love you!

-R

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Sources and resources:

#886: John 7-8 | Half a Jesus