The Architecture of Truth: Reclaiming the Gospel from the World’s Untruths

By Rodger Woodworth

Today we are battered with a never-ending barrage of competing truths. Social media overwhelms us with topics on how to live our best lives but eventually we discover just how conflicting these truths really are. With this constant stream of incompatible assertions, it is difficult to find footing in the architecture of truth. It almost seems that objective truth has been put on trial. Untruths are being promoted by politicians' quest for power and populism's drive for attention. The idea that there are many different truths seems appropriate for today's pluralistic world but when we can define our own truth, truth is derived from the one with the loudest voice.
The apostle Paul addresses these issues in his letter to Titus, exhorting him to "teach them to know the truth" because false teachers were "turning whole families away from the truth . . . and they do it only for money." In his effort to refute error and unmask falsehood, Paul gives one of the most condensed and yet comprehensive summaries of the gospel in Titus 3:1-8. In this passage the apostle constructs the architecture of truth that teaches us to live a life different than the world of untruths around us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: Aug 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666779042

Rodger Woodworth

Rodger Woodworth was the founding pastor of two interracial churches, an adjunct seminary professor, and was the director of Cross Cultural Ministries for the Coalition for Christian Outreach. He has a Doctorate of Ministry in complex urban settings, served on the board of directors for several Pittsburgh ministries, and is the author of Kingdom Holiness: Holy Living in a Challenging Culture and Playing Favorites: Overcoming Our Prejudices to Bridge the Cultural Divide.

Book preview

The Architecture of Truth

Reclaiming the Gospel from the World’s Untruths

Rodger Woodworth

The Architecture of Truth

Reclaiming the Gospel from the World’s Untruths

Copyright ©

2023

Rodger Woodworth. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

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paperback isbn: 978-1-6667-7902-8

hardcover isbn: 978-1-6667-7903-5

ebook isbn: 978-1-6667-7904-2

06/09/23

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©

1996

,

2004

,

2015

by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois

60188

. All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Introduction: Objective Truth on Trial

Chapter 1: Our Addiction to Untruths

Chapter 2: The Source of Our Rescue

Chapter 3: The Basis for Our Rescue

Chapter 4: The Gift of New Life

Chapter 5: Promise of an Unmatched Inheritance

Chapter 6: Devotion to Doing Good

Conclusion: Good News for Good Works

Small Group Discussion Questions

Bibliography

"Rodger Woodworth’s The Architecture of Truth is a solid resource for any church planter, pastor or disciple who wants to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to bear on twenty-first-century America and its enthrallment with the debilitating notion of ‘personal truth.’"

—Tom Ricks, national director, E.P.C. Church Planting

This is a timely book. For many years now, the West has been attempting to construct a post-truth society but has only done so with deleterious results. Rodger Woodworth has given the world a much-needed blessing with a gospel-centered book that fetters truth to the person and work of Christ. Unlike a philosophical treatise, the book is both clear and eminently readable. Each illustration insightfully illuminates its point in a way that anyone can understand and relate.

—Joe Felix Kim, church planter, Hope Philly E.P.C.

"The Architecture of Truth, details and helps readers to see the historical and cultural decline in a desire for truth. This will be extremely helpful for church leaders to develop a framework on how to keep teaching and preaching the truth of the gospel."

—Michael Davis, assistant stated clerk and chief collaborative officer, E.P.C.

Titus has been one of those books of the Bible that has often been glossed over. Rodger Woodworth has shown me that I was wrong to take Paul’s precious letter for granted and has masterfully guided us to ‘reclaim that gospel from the untruth’s of our world.’ This gospel message is a timely and much-needed gift of new life for the church today. Take a moment and read these important words.

—Shawn Robinson, senior pastor, Clayton Community Church

In this present work, Rodger Woodworth turns his attention to the gospel and calls us to remember who we are! In a culture flailing about for a sense of identity, he shows us that we don’t have to go shopping for that identity, for in Christ, by God’s grace, we are gifted a new identity. This little book will be useful for training new believers even as it finds use as a tool for building the faith of seasoned leaders in the church.

—Steve Burton, pastor, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church

Rodger Woodworth pens a timely response of truth in a time and season where truth is corrupted, compromised, and used as a coercive opiate for manipulation. Woodworth challenges, confronts, and inspires us all to examine our truth in the light of the ‘Christ’ who is truth as we seek to reflect the redemptive word of Christ in our world. Woodworth weaves together a host of parables and illustrations to gently point us towards Christ who is indeed the ‘Architect of Truth.’

—A. Jerome Danage Sr., senior pastor, Providence United Church of Christ

I want to dedicate this book to our son Brandon and our daughter Brooke

who from a very early age showed Wende and me the way of Christ

through their love and service to others.

Introduction

Objective Truth on Trial

In her acceptance speech for a lifetime achievement award at the 2018 Golden Globes, Oprah Winfrey said, Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. Your truth; those words are so entrenched in our vocabulary today that we are unaware of the effect they have had on our world. The prevalence of your truth can destroy a family when a parent suddenly decides their truth is calling them to a new lover, a new family, or maybe even a new gender. According to author Brett McCracken it’s a philosophy that can destroy entire societies, because invariably one person’s truth will go to battle with another person’s truth, and devoid of reason, only power decides the victor.¹ The problem with the autonomy of your truth is that it leaves us as our own sovereign, to discover and direct our future through self-made projects. Life becomes an exhaustive and depressing rat race of contending for the truth.

Today we are battered with a never-ending barrage of competing truths. Social media overwhelms us with topics on how to live our best lives but eventually we discover just how conflicting these various truths really are. It’s as if we are all given a slate of clay and we get to choose what to mold it into. However . . . there is no right or wrong way to mold the clay. Rather there are endless ways, all equally absurd, all equally meaningless.² With this constant stream of incompatible assertions it is difficult to find footing in the architecture of truth. According to one author, truth is hard to find because it is not black or white. She writes, The best way to see truth is a rainbow of grays. Truth is facts that is corrupted by perspective.³ In other words we must be open to the idea that we may all be right so we have to piece together everyone’s perspective to get the truth. It is no wonder our world is overridden with anxiety and cynicism.

It almost seems that objective truth has been put on trial. Untruths are being promoted by politician’s quest for power and populism’s drive for attention, with very little accountability. According to author Scott Galloway, Falsehood spreads six times faster than the truth on Twitter.⁴ The idea that there are many different truths seems appropriate for today’s pluralistic world but when we can define our own truth, truth is derived from the one with the loudest voice.

So the question is, how do we define truth? Roger Nygard on his DVD, The Nature of Existence, asked the question:

Can you define