Bearing Witness to the Truth of Christ

Opening Prayer: 

Jesus Christ, you are the truth of the universe. Because you are truth, your truth is personal as well as propositional; your truth is universal as well as contextual; your truth is ultimate as well as present. Help us to bear witness to this truth in the world today. Amen.

Reflection:

Truth and the Person of Christ

As disciples of Christ we are called to be people of truth. We must live the truth. To live the truth is to be the face of Jesus, through whom the glory of the gospel is revealed to blinded minds. People will see truth in the faces of those who live their lives bearing witness to Jesus, in faithfulness and love. We must proclaim the truth. Spoken proclamation of the truth of the gospel remains paramount in our mission. This cannot be separated from living out the truth. Works and words must go together.

Truth and the Challenge of Pluralism

Cultural and religious plurality is a fact and Christians in Asia, for example, have lived with it for centuries. Different religions each affirm that theirs is the way of truth. Most will seek to respect competing truth claims of other faiths and live alongside them. However postmodern, relativist pluralism is different. Its ideology allows for no absolute or universal truth. While tolerating truth claims, it views them as no more than cultural constructs. (This position is logically self-destroying for it affirms as a single absolute truth that there is no single absolute truth.) Such pluralism asserts ‘tolerance’ as an ultimate value, but it can take oppressive forms in countries where secularism or aggressive atheism govern the public arena.

Closing Prayer: 

We pray for church leaders, pastors and evangelists to preach and teach the fullness of the biblical gospel, in all its scope and truth. We must present your gospel as your Father’s plan for the whole universe in you. People may come to you to meet a personal need, but they stay with you when they find you to be the truth. We seek your help to identify and equip those defending biblical truth in the intellectual and public arenas. We pray that Church leaders and pastors will equip all believers with the courage and the tools to relate this wondrous truth in everyday public conversation. Amen.

Ask God to pour out his Spirit to stir us with a vision of the gospel for every person and family.