Rightly dividing the word of Truth (II) Balance (I) Love and Truth

There is a sense in which it is right to be balanced, and a sense in which it is not. How do you bring balance to “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength?” The church at Laodicea was rebuked for being lukewarm, and they were commanded to be zealous and to repent (Revelation 3:19). Zeal of course does have to be according to knowledge (Romans 10:2), it should not be fanatical. But coming to the place where we need balance, there are many truths Biblical truths, that have to be held in tension, in balance. And this morning I want to discuss love and truth in this context. God is love (1 John 4:8), but God is Truth too. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, is one of the non-negotiable essentials I was discussing the other day. And the proof that God is Truth comes in John 14:6 where Jesus says “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” And we need to hold love and truth in balance!

So how do we get this out of balance? Well the truth without love is harsh, condemnatory, judgemental and of course unloving. And we see this both inside and outside the church? I remember a conversation with a colleague who was harshly judging the whole of the evangelical church. I told him “The horse you ride, is every hand as high as those you are judging.” It is certainly true that there are those in the church who are harsh, condemning, judgemental and unloving, and this is wrong. But it is also wrong to tar everybody with the same brush! I know many in the Church who are very loving. And however loving we are, we can always improve by allowing God’s love to flow through us!

But we can get it wrong the other way too. Love without truth can lead to lawlessness. God is love, not love is god, that is idolatry! And when we get this out of balance, it can be very destructive. I want to use a perhaps unrealistic example to make the point. I work in recovery circles with alcoholics and others, and I have struggled myself. So I certainly have compassion on the struggles of an alcoholic. Perhaps his father before him, and his father before him, were alcoholics. I also understand that they may be biological components to his difficulties. I understand that there is a real a sense in which he may be unable to help himself. I mean Paul could claim “The things I don’t want to do, these are the very things I do, and the things I want to do, I don’t do them either” (Romans 7:19). But should I therefore affirm the alcoholic in his alcoholism, or cover for him in his destructive behaviour? I think not, we call this enabling, it gets love and truth out of balance!

Father, we need to talk about tough love. Love that may even appear to not be love, but nevertheless love that involves actions that have the best interest of the person at heart. In fact affirming him in his addiction, it is the very opposite of love! The Scripture put is this way "He who does not discipline his child, hates the child” (Proverbs 13:24). It is of course hyperbole. Father, I suspect that we are all out of balance at some level, either having too much of the wrong kind of love, or too much of the wrong kind of truth. Help us Lord, help me this morning. Thank you that when we fully surrender to You, You have promised to lead us into all truth and to love in Jesus Name Amen