Truth and Duty Are Always Wedded
The sermon emphasizes the importance of living by every word of God, seeing new truth, and accepting its attendant duties.
Phillips Brooks emphasizes the inseparable connection between truth and duty in God's word. He highlights that every revelation from God not only imparts new truth but also assigns a corresponding duty, stressing that our understanding of truth should directly impact the way we live. Brooks encourages believers to embrace both truth and duty, continually seeking new revelations from God and faithfully fulfilling the responsibilities that come with them, even if it means sacrificing worldly pleasures or comforts.
Text
"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work"
(John 4:34).
And the world of God includes two notions, one of revelation and one of commandment. Whenever God speaks by any of His voices, it is first to tell us some truth which we did not know before, and second to bid us do something which we have not been doing. Every word of God includes these two. Truth and duty are always wedded. There is no truth which has not its corresponding duty. And there is no duty which has not its corresponding truth. We are always separating them. We are always trying to learn truths, as if there were no duties belonging to them, as if the knowing of them would make no difference in the way we lived. That is the reason why our hold on the truths we learn is so weak.
He who takes any new word of God completely gets both a new truth and a new duty He, then, who lives by every word of God, is a man who is continually seeing new truth and accepting the duties that arise out of it. And it is for this, for the pleasure of seeing truth and doing its attendant duty, that he is willing to give up the pleasures of sense, and even, if need be, to give up the bodily life to which the pleasures of sense belong.
Sermon Outline
- I. Truth and Duty Are Always Wedded
- A. Every word of God includes both truth and commandment
- B. Truth and duty are inseparable
- II. Separating Truth and Duty
- A. We often try to learn truths without considering the duties they imply
- B. This weakens our hold on the truths we learn
- III. Living by Every Word of God
- A. Those who live by every word of God see new truth and accept its attendant duties
- B. This leads to a life of obedience and sacrifice
Key Quotes
“My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work” — Phillips Brooks
“Truth and duty are always wedded” — Phillips Brooks
“He who takes any new word of God completely gets both a new truth and a new duty” — Phillips Brooks
Application Points
- We should strive to see the duties that arise out of the truths we learn.
- Living by every word of God leads to a life of obedience and sacrifice.
- The pleasure of seeing truth and doing its attendant duty motivates us to live by every word of God.