Greg concludes the Love Does series with a look at Paul’s statement that love rejoices in the truth in contrast with not delighting in wrongdoing. He then connects the contrast between truth and wrongdoing to demonstrate how right relatedness is truthful and how this is the way we live in love.
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Love Rejoices In the Truth
• Greg Boyd
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In this sermon, Greg Boyd discusses how love rejoices in truth. He first sets this in contrast with Paul’s previous claim that love does not delight in wrongdoing, which was the focus of last week’s sermon. The Greek word for wrongdoing, adikia, means “not righteousness.” This is more than a reference to good deeds versus evil deeds. It is a covenantal concept. It’s about being rightly related. We are rightly related to the degree that we reflect the love that is poured out for us by Christ on the cross. If we are a disciple of Jesus, this is the supreme goal, the bullseye, of life. Sin, by contrast, means that we are missing this bullseye. When we are not living in love, we are not doing what we are made to do.
In contrast to wrongdoing, love rejoices in the truth. It is more than something that we don’t do. It is something that we do in a proactive way. This implies two things. First, there is something untrue about wrongdoing. Second there is something rightly related about truth.
There is something deceptive about all wrongdoing. When we are living in a way that is not righteous and we are not rightly related in love, we are being deceived. Jesus said on the cross, “Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The root cause of how they treated Jesus was their deception about what is actually true.
This has implications about how we think about other people. We tend to jump to conclusions about those who do harm to others, those who do not live in love. But the reality is that they do not understand what they are doing. Therefore, we are called to show them the same compassion that Jesus had for his tormentors. God is the only one with the knowledge and wisdom to judge others, even when their actions are not righteous.
Truth in Greek is alethe, a combination of a (meaning “not”) and lethe (meaning “hidden”). Therefore, truth is about what is taken out of hiding, what is revealed or uncovered. It is the insight into something that we cannot find or see on our own. The ultimate truth in the history of the world is the love of the cross and the right relatedness that corresponds with it.
Truth is much more than a concept that is based in facts and arguments about those facts. We see this in Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church. He writes, “That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:21-24). Truth in the New Testament is associated with the person of Jesus. God is the embodiment of truth, the ultimate uncovering, the revelation, of what it means to be rightly related. As we see the truth of love as shown in the cross, we are able to rejoice in that truth because we are walking with Jesus.
There are two points of application we should remember. First, don’t participate in adikia, “not right relatedness.” Avoid it at all costs. Anything that causes you to miss this bullseye is not worth your time. Second, lock into the truth of Jesus, even in the hurricane that surrounds us. All that we need is found in him.
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The MuseCast: February 10
Focus Scripture:
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1 Corinthians 13:6
[Love] does not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth.
