[This post is a Guest Post by Corey Grunewald. Corey does Video Production at Faith Lutheran Church, is pursuing a career in youth ministry, and also does some phenomenal hand-drawn design work.]
[These message notes are from the Truth or Dare series]
The message is from the conclusion of our 3-week series entitled Truth or Dare. This series focused on the importance of both knowing the truth of the gospel and daring to live it out in our daily lives. While the game truth or dare allows us to choose one or the other, our faith requires us to choose both.
The Truth Only...
When I think of what it would like like to live a life, that solely focused on the truth of the gospel, but never dared to live it out, I can’t wrap my mind around how that can be justified.
Imagine you are in a cave and are surrounded completely in the darkness; you can’t see anything. There is nothing that you can do to figure out how to get out or how to navigate your way out of the cave. Now imagine that you are in that same cave, but this time you have a flashlight. But you never turned it on. What good is your flashlight? How is it benefiting you in the dark, if you never flipped the switch.
“If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” -1 John 1:6-7
The light is no good if we don't use it. What good is the truth it we aren't using it?
The Dare Only...
I’ve known a lot of Christian people and I’ve also known a lot of non-christian people. When it comes down to it, it seems that even non-christians can do “Christian-like” things. Have you ever noticed that? Sometimes the people that do so much for others aren’t always Christians. As Christians, we can do really good and helpful things for other people, but if it has no connection to the truth, what's the good. What's the difference between a non-christian who feeds the hungry and a Christian who does the same.
“all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” -Isaiah 64:6 “purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.” -Hebrews 9:14
Even good things, done without recognizing the grace of God, who allows you to do them are sin. The difference between the good done for someone who is a Christian is that when Christians dare to live out their faith it should be done in light of the truth of the Gospel. The dare must be intimately connected to the truth, because without knowing the truth, they can never dare to live differently.
In Philippians 2:19-21, Paul writes about wanting to send Timothy to the church of Philippi. He describes Timothy as the only one who takes true interest in their welfare. The only one that looks to God’s interests over his. When we choose to live a life that only focuses on the dare, without recognizing the truth of the Gospel, we are doing that with our own interests in mind. These are the things God calls dead works and filthy rags.
Truth + Dare = John 3:21
The truth is that we cannot truly follow the truth, without getting a dare along with it. The truth dares us to live out our faith. The truth is that we cannot truly dare to live out our faith with also taking seriously the truth of the gospel. Knowing the truth requires living out the truth.
“whoever lives by the truth comes into the light...”-John 3:21