Sermon Text: John 18: 33-38a
33 Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
34 “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
37 “You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
38 “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.
Morning Message:
What is truth? I am a black and white person. By that I mean that I mostly see things as one way or the other. I am not saying that I am always right in my thinking, but at least in my mind, the way I see things, I am either right or wrong, so I guess given that choice I would say that I am right. As a pastor I have learned to work with the in-between, gray areas that others seem to find comfort in. I have found that I can only go so far in my faith when it comes to appeasing other people and thought processes without feeling like I am compromising what is true and right. I am not a fan of telling people what they want to hear when it goes against what I know is right. That doesn’t make me the most popular person, or I guess, pastor. If you come and talk to me, I think that you will find that I am a good listener; I have learned to be, and I care deeply about what you may be going through, and, by the way, what you say to me stays with me, but don’t come expecting anything from me except the truth. I will carefully wrap it in love and compassion. But, it will never deviate from what I believe.
So, what is truth? I have found that the best way to find the true meaning of a word is to simply look in the dictionary. Truth: 1. The true or actual state of a matter. 2. A verified or indisputable fact. In today’s society I find that people want to have the truth their way. As a matter of fact, that’s how most people want everything in life. We are a Burger King society (Have it your way.). If you read the definition, you must see that there is no room to adjust the truth in your favor and have it still remain the truth. The buzz word that people want to use today is subjective. I want you to listen closely to the definition of this word so that you can hear the hypocrisy of this thinking. Subjective: Of or belonging to the thinking subject, (person) rather than to the object or thought, (truth). In other words, whether something is true or not depends on how each person feels about it. This is the same attitude that you hear from Pilate in today’s text. He is basically saying that truth can be whatever he decides it is. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we live in a perverse world that makes up the rules as they go along and changes the meaning of words and facts to appease their sinful guilt. Think about how the very definitions of words have been changed or added to, making sin sound acceptable.
There is absolute truth. Where is truth? It is all around us. Most times it lies in our common sense. If you stick your finger into a live electric socket, you will, at the very least get shocked. If someone were to tell you, go ahead, I don’t think that it will hurt you, would you, do it? If you were standing on the edge of a cliff and someone said go ahead and jump, I think that you will be okay, would you jump? Not unless that someone is God. Where is truth? Absolute truth is found in God’s word. You cannot follow Jesus and believe that anything in God’s word is false. Doubting God’s word is a trick; a lie straight from the mouth of the Devil. Did God really say? I know that God said, “But you will not die if you touch the fruit.” People try to change God’s word because it shines a light on their sins. They take it out of context to try and justify their actions. The truth is in this book, and no matter how hard the devil or this world tries, the truth will always be here: the absolute, unchangeable truth. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will remain.”
Finally, who is truth? Jesus is completely honest with Pilate, but he can’t see it. “Are you the king of the Jews?” Jesus never denies this but gets right to the heart of the matter. He wants to know what Pilate believes. More to the point, he wants Pilate to think about what he believes. I try to challenge you like this every week. I put the truth of the gospel in front of you so that you can consider what you believe and compare it to the truth. Jesus tells Pilate that he is a king, but his kingdom is not of this world. Jesus came into this world to testify to the truth, but only those on the side of truth listens to him. Jesus spends his entire ministry on earth telling people exactly who he is. He said, “I am the way.” The way to what?; the way back to God. Mankind was lost in their sins; Jesus came to give you a way back. “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by me.” Why is he the truth? Because many throughout history have come and claimed that they had the answer; that they could save mankind, but only Jesus, the Son of the living God, could truly keep that promise. The world will tell you that there must be other ways to God, but that’s a lie from the pit of hell. Only God himself, in the flesh, could save us. He is the essence of life itself. Listen: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. Take that in; Jesus can give eternal life because he created and is life. Please think about that. It will completely change how you view your Savior. What is, who is, where is truth? It’s all wrapped up in Jesus. In Revelation John tells us that he is the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the first born of the dead, the ruler of the kings of earth. He is king of kings, Lord of lords, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning, and the end, the Almighty. All who rejected Him will see him coming in the clouds, and yes Pilate, you will then know what truth is.
In Christ’s Love and Peace
Pastor Bob
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