Are You Investigating the Truth?

Written by Andrew Smellie on December 6, 2009 – 12:00 pm -

“If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, ‘Let us go and worship other gods’ (gods you have not known), then you must inquire, probe, and investigate it thoroughly.  And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town.   Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.  Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.   It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt.” – Deuteronomy 13:12-16

“Investigate” – (def-verb): to search out and examine the particulars of in an attempt to learn the facts about something hidden, unique, or complex, esp. in an attempt to find a motive, cause, or culprit

In a world of misinformation and half-truths, it may be disheartening to realize that this type of dereliction can even occur in the church of God.  While God’s Word is perfect, His people are not.  As the Scriptures state, “Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.” (Proverbs 12:19).  As the old adage goes, “There’s what people hear…there’s what people believe…and then there’s the truth.” Confusion exists because the fiction that is told could initially sound more plausible or understandable than the truth!  Ultimately, the truth will persevere, but it may be hidden or masked by deceitful communicators, even within the religious establishment.  To avoid being naïve, we must be noble enough to “probe, inquire and investigate” this truth so we can expose deceitful motives and attain accurate information.  While we should all be grateful that we are not under the Old Testament standard to “put to the sword” physically because of our sin, we are called by Jesus to admonish other disciples to repent by using the “sword of (Jesus’) mouth” – the Word of God! (Revelation 2:16)  When applied to a religious fellowship, if the leadership of the church does not want to repent, then we must preserve the truth by obeying Jesus’ call of pouring “new wine into new wineskins” (Matthew 9:16-17) – starting new churches to protect the lives of those who are trying to live righteously from being “ruined.” As disciples of Jesus it is our responsibility to “discern what is best” in our “life and doctrine,” so we can live a life that glorifies our Lord! (1 Timothy 4:16, Philippians 1:9-11)

It is interesting to notice that although Jesus communicated blatant truths to his disciples, they were too dull to understand what he meant and too afraid to ask (Mark 9:31-32).  I am sure that if we were to walk with Jesus during this time we might occasionally fall into the same trap!  Unlike the other apostles, Peter had the occasional boldness and curiosity to ask tough questions of Jesus instead of giving into fear (Matthew 15:1-20).  Jesus often said things that offended the religious establishment at the time, yet instead of asking why Jesus said what he did, His disciples were more concerned about how those true statements affected the religious establishment’s feelings!  While Jesus may have rebuked them for their dullness, he always took the time to answer their questions with a thorough explanation.  Likewise, as disciples of Jesus we must also be willing to investigate and determine the facts behind reports of error and controversy in order to ascertain the truth.
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