Honoring The Truth

  • April 3, 2019
  • /
  • John Tillman

Psalm 5.9
Not a word from their mouth can be trusted;
   their heart is filled with malice.
Their throat is an open grave;
   with their tongues they tell lies.

Reflection: Honoring The Truth
By John Tillman

A common theme taken up by many psalmists, including David’s pleas from today’s reading, is being slandered by one’s enemies.

The Scriptures, and Christ himself, see clearly that not every accusation is motivated by a desire for truth or justice. But in our culture, many have stooped to the level of conspiracy theorists when defending the leaders they love. Some communities have chosen to shame accusers, rather than listen to them and investigate. This is harmful to the cause of truth because it discourages anyone, anywhere from reporting anything.

Yesterday we examined a scripture telling us that those who withhold information about wrong-doing, bear part of the responsibility. If we, because of shaming and blaming victims who report abuse, suppress the truth from coming out, we also bear part of this blame.

How can we honor the call for testimony, while dealing with the reality of potential slander and false accusations? How can we give proper scrutiny to testimony without discouraging truth-tellers from coming forward? There are no easy answers. Here are three principles we can apply.

Be guided by reputation, but not blinded by it. While it is true that a good reputation is valuable (Proverbs 22.1, 1 Timothy 3.7) and can save someone from a false accusation, we cannot allow a good reputation to blind us to potential wrongdoing, prevent us from due diligence, or cause us to treat those bringing accusations in an unloving manner.

Follow the example of Jesus. Peter counseled persecuted church leaders to follow Christ’s example. Christ, “did not retaliate…made no threats,” and “entrusted himself to him who judges justly.” With Christ’s example before us it is inexcusable for believers to allow accusers (even false accusers) to be threatened or to seek retaliation against them. We must pray for and pursue the truth and trust that even if earthly justice fails, God’s justice, provided through Christ, never will.

Remember that it could be true. Even though today’s psalm from David is the cry of an innocent man who was slandered, eventually there came a day when accusations against David were true. Nathan’s words, “you are the man” stand as a prophetic example for every Christian. We all need to be prepared to speak this way to well-loved leaders when needed.

Seeking the truth is not only a spiritual quest. It is sometimes a civic one. Or a legal one. As followers of Christ, the Truth, we should ask, seek, and knock, not giving up until the truth is revealed.

Prayer: The Request for Presence
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling… — Psalm 43.3

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 6 (Listen – 4:17) 
Psalm 5-6 (Listen – 2:45)

Thank You!
Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to those who donate to our ministry, keeping The Park Forum ad-free and enabling us to continue to produce fresh content. Every year our donors help us produce over 100,000 words of free devotionals. Follow this link to support our readers.

Read more about You Are The Man — Embracing Prophetic Responsibility
Everyone challenges those they oppose to change. Followers of Christ are called to challenge the communities and individuals we are closest to.

You Are The Man — Embracing Prophetic Responsibility

Read more about In the Face of Mockery and Shame
We, as a culture, demand to shame others. We seem to think it is our right. The mob justice of destruction and vengeance through shame is the only system of justice our culture trusts.

In the Face of Mockery and Shame

The Commission of Truth

  • April 2, 2019
  • /
  • John Tillman

Leviticus 5.1
If anyone sins because they do not speak up when they hear a public charge to testify regarding something they have seen or learned about, they will be held responsible.

Matthew 25.45
Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.

Reflection: The Commission of Truth
By John Tillman

The first verse in Leviticus chapter five, identifies a unique kind of sin—the sin of not testifying to the truth when it is called for.

The implication in the text is a legal one. When authorities were investigating an event, they would call for those who had knowledge of the event to come forward with information. Those who neglect this duty are partly responsible for the crime because they are not standing up for the truth.

We are called to be a testifying people, testifying not only to the truth of the gospel, but to the truth about our workplaces, our houses of worship, our houses of government, and our schools.

When leaders or organizations are under investigation, or are being accused of wrongdoing, it is common for other similar stories to come to light.

But the tendency in our culture is to only support truth-tellers when they are telling a truth that is comfortable for us to hear. We defend quickly those who accuse our political enemies of wrongdoing, but are suspicious of those accusing people or institutions we support.

What if instead of considering those voices as opportunistic attention seekers, we saw them as people answering the biblical call of Leviticus 5.1 to testify?

In response to investigations of political and religious wrongdoing, Ed Stetzer has often spoken to the Christian community reminding us that, “Facts are our friends.” He is correct, but facts are more than our friends—they are our responsibility. And not only are facts our responsibility, truth is our identity.

As children of God, and followers of Jesus who called himself, “the Truth,” we are acting according to our nature and our calling when we help facts come to light and when we stand up for truth and for truth-tellers.

Whenever the call for truth goes out, may we join Jesus in answering it.
Whenever the light of truth shines, may we never join in trying to cover up or deny what is revealed.

“There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.” Luke 12.2-3

*Tomorrow we will look at how this command relates to scripture’s realistic expectation of false accusations.

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
I will walk in the presence of the Lord in the land of the living. — Psalm 116.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 5 (Listen – 3:35) 
Psalm 3-4 (Listen – 1:56)

Thank You!
Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to those who donate to our ministry, keeping The Park Forum ad-free and enabling us to continue to produce fresh content. Every year our donors help us produce over 100,000 words of free devotionals. Follow this link to support our readers.

Read more about The Worst Churches in the Bible
There are many strange and unfamiliar images in Revelation that we have no context for and do not easily understand. But one that has a very familiar ring is the description of scandal-filled churches.

The Worst Churches in the Bible :: Readers’ Choice

Read more about Degrading Each Other
“You have done it unto me.” As the #MeToo movement sweeps around the world, Jesus stands with the victims, claiming their pain as his own, identifying with their feelings of powerlessness, of isolation, and of being silenced for so long.

Degrading Each Other

Blessed is the One :: A Guided Prayer

  • April 1, 2019
  • /
  • John Tillman

Psalm 1.1
Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked

Reflection: Blessed is the One :: A Guided Prayer
By John Tillman

As we enter our annual reading of the Psalms, we begin in prayer. Using Psalm 1 as a framework for understanding the working of the gospel in our lives.

Blessed is the One:
May we be among those who bless your name, Lord.
May we walk with you through the cheering crowds
Guiding a humble donkey that carries our king,
And also through the narrow streets of suffering, 
Carrying our cross, stepping in your bloody footprints of sacrifice.

Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord

Lord, guide our walk, day to day 
Shape our steps, words, and actions
Differentiate our gait of faith from that of the world.
May our steps follow your grace.
May our words tell of your love.
May our actions emulate your servanthood and sacrifice.

Watch over our way, Lord, but we know that we stumble…

The Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction…
They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand

We are not blameless. We are not righteous.
When we honestly and humbly look in our hearts we find wickedness there.
Burn up our chaff with your breath
Separate us from sin so that we will not be separated from your presence.

Blessed is the one
    whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

We aspire, Lord, to fulfill this psalmist’s prayer.
We aspire to delight in your law.
We aspire to meditate day and night.

But we rely, Lord, not on our striving, but on Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the Blessed One, who delights in your law.
Jesus is the Blessed One, whose leaf does not wither.
We are merely grafted in branches, partaking of his righteousness.
Our fruit, our flourishing, and our faith are drawn up from his roots.
It is he who makes us prosper, and spreads the seed of his gospel over the earth.

Prayer: The Request for Presence
Give me the joy of your saving help again and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.  —  Psalm 51.13

Today’s Readings
Leviticus 4 (Listen – 5:17) 
Psalm 1-2 (Listen – 2:05)

Thank You!
Thank you for reading and a huge thank you to those who donate to our ministry, keeping The Park Forum ad-free and enabling us to continue to produce fresh content. Every year our donors help us produce over 100,000 words of free devotionals. Follow this link to support our readers.

Read more In Praise of Christ’s Righteousness
Praise God we cannot be saved by the righteousness of humans. Imagine our difficulty finding one trustworthy enough.

In Praise of Christ’s Righteousness

Read more about Steeped In Sin
We are radioactive with sin. It vibrates out of us in ways that damage and harm us and anyone we come near.

Steeped In Sin

The Church’s Primary Role

  • November 15, 2018
  • /
  • Park Forum

Psalm 150.6
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

From John:
Usually when we say the church shouldn’t “be political,” what we mean is that it shouldn’t disagree with my politics. Politics is a poor substitute for the gospel. We must continually remind ourselves which one we must serve.

Reflection: The Church’s Primary Role
The Park Forum

It is easy to forget, in the deluge of political conversations that have consumed the past few months, that although the church’s role in this world necessarily involves politics, it is not itself political.

The book of Psalms spans every possible human emotion, reflects on geopolitics, laments evil, and cries out for godly leadership on earth—yet it concludes with three psalms dedicated entirely to praise.

The psalmist not only calls the Church to worship, but rebukes every earthly system of power and authority that will ultimately prove insufficient to deliver what humankind needs most. N.T. Wright, as he concludes his book Simply Jesus, reflects on how the church can maintain its focus on God’s calling and sovereignty amidst shifting political powers:

We must give full weight to the difficult but important biblical vision of God’s sovereignty over the nations and his determination to shape their fortunes to serve his higher purposes. This belief is so important for any vision of what it means to speak of Jesus’ kingship in the present time that we must spell it out slightly more fully before drawing the threads together.

First… God wants the world to be ordered, not chaotic. He intends to bring that order to the world through the work, the thought, the planning, and the wisdom of human beings….

Second, even when the rulers are wild or wicked, God can bend their imaginings to serve his purpose…. Third, then, God will in the end call the nations to account….

Yes, God can and does work in all sorts of ways outside the church. There are many movements of thought and energy totally beyond the life of the church in which wise Christians can discern and celebrate God’s sovereign and gracious presence….

But we do not, because of that, lose sight of one of the church’s primary roles: to bear witness to the sovereign rule of Jesus, holding the world to account. And when I say “bear witness,” I mean it in the strong sense I spoke of earlier. Like a witness in a law court, we are not just telling about our private experiences. We are declaring things that, by their declaration, will change the way things are going.

Prayer: The Greeting
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; my God, I put my trust in you; let me not be humiliated, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
Let none who look to you be put to shame.  — Psalm 25.1-2

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Amos 4 (Listen – 2:21)
Psalm 148-150 (Listen – 3:04)

Additional Reading
Read More about The Compelling Gospel of Billy Graham
The true gospel stands apart from political maneuvering and manipulation. We each may attempt to change it to suit ourselves, yet it is in fact working to change us.

Read More about Political Promises
May we not trade our role as ambassadors of a heavenly kingdom for an inferior role as a political party’s “yes-men.” May we speak up for the downtrodden and helpless no matter which party is against them.

Support our Work
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Trust and Self-Giving Love

  • November 14, 2018
  • /
  • Park Forum

Psalm 146.3-4
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

From John:
Today we take a look back at another post from two years ago that is still sharply relevant to us today. Whether we gloat or lament over a political outcome, we are confessing where our trust truly lies.

Reflection: Trust and Self-Giving Love
The Park Forum

There are two significant benefits to following a devotional reading plan. The first could be called an asynchronous benefit: scheduled reading leads us to places in Scripture we would otherwise not align with daily life (minor prophets, anyone?) and we are exposed to the full light and life of God’s word.

The synchronous benefit of reading Scripture along a pre-determined plan is that we see how often this sacred word collides with daily life. At The Park Forum we read a variant of the historic M’Cheyne Reading Plan—expanding the 19th-century preacher’s one year plan over two years. And today we come to a passage which could not be more timely.

Civilizations throughout history have looked to their leaders to save them—and though modernism has secularized this pursuit, it has not managed to mitigate it. Today the political right celebrates while the left laments—both confess their all-consuming trust in the leaders of our world.

In Simply Jesus N.T. Wright reflects:

We treat political leaders as heroes and demigods; they carry our dreams, our fantasies of how things should be. When we find out that they are only human after all, we turn on them, blaming them for the intractable problems that they, like their predecessors, haven’t been able to solve.

Wright then asks the question all too often glossed over in Scripture: “Why did people think that Jesus might be any different?” How is it that Christ offers a better solution?

Could it be that the paradoxical call of servant leadership, demonstrated through the moral character Jesus outlines in the Sermon on the Mount, offer a better way—a way in which God can be seen, known, and restore the brokenness of our world? Wright concludes:

When God wants to change the world… he sends the meek, the mourners, those who are hungry and thirsty for God’s justice, the peacemakers, and so on. Just as God’s whole style—his chosen way of operating—reflects his generous love, sharing his rule with his human creatures, so the way in which those humans then have to behave if they are to be agents of Jesus’ lordship reflects in its turn the same sense of vulnerable gentle, but powerful self-giving love.

Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Send forth your strength, O God; establish, O God, what you have wrought for us.  — Psalm 68.28

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Amos 3 (Listen – 2:11)
Psalm 146-147 (Listen – 3:09)

Additional Reading
Read More from N.T. Wright on Political Allegiance
It is impossible for genuine faith not to influence a person’s politics. Paul explains that Christian faith does not result in a doubling down on political ideology as a means toward “peace and security,” but in radical commitment to Christ.

Read More about Beginning of Righteousness
Spiritual maturity grows the immature curiosity of, “what would Jesus do?” to, “how will Christ live through what I chose to do?” This question presupposes freedom in Christ and demands intimacy to answer.

Support our Work
Each month over 22,000 Park Forum email devotionals are read around the world. Support our readers with a monthly or a one time donation.