What is Truth?

John 18:28-37

     The Sanhedrin has decided that this blasphemous man must die.  The problem is that they did not have the legal authority to enact capital punishment under Roman rule.  Therefore they brought Jesus before Pilate, the Roman governor.  Pilate takes Jesus away from the Jews and into the Praetorium.  From here a back and forth sparring occurs between Pilate, the Jews, and Jesus which ends with an open question saturated with irony; “What is truth?”

     We live in a Post Modern culture which denies any existence of absolute truth. Nevertheless, though we deny its existence that does not mean the truth is not starring us right in the face.  Take Pilate for example, he was caught between two worlds, the Jews and Jesus, the worldly and the divine.  You can almost sense the tension of Pilate’s predicament as he goes back and forth between the two worlds trying to discern the truth.  One has the outer showings of religious fervor, but he cannot help to question their corrupt motives.  On the other hand, what he sees standing before him does not look like a king or a real threat for that matter.  However, the problem with Pilate is that his criterion for truth was focused on self-preservation.   We know this for two reasons.  First, he eventually sides with the Jews and delivers Jesus to be crucified because he was afraid of an uprising that could threaten his status as a Roman governor.  Second, he had the truth staring him right in the face and he chose to walk away.  He knew Jesus was an innocent man, but the cost was too great to free him.

      Isn’t self-preservation the root of our rejection of truth?  You can hear it in the saying “You believe what you believe, and I will believe what I believe.”  That is another way of saying, “I want to be my own God.  Your truth may dispose of my kingdom.”  Post Modernism rejects the idea of absolute truth because it rejects Christ.   Those who embrace this world view are lost and are not hearing the voice of our Savior.  May this not be said of Christ’s people today!

     Father, please continue to make us a people who hear the voice of our Lord and proclaim His truth everywhere we set our feet.

The Gospel Will Prevail

John 17:6-19

The time has come for Christ to depart and return to the immediate fellowship of the Father.  His disciples will be left to proclaim and defend the gospel to the ends of the earth.  They will be hated and despised just as their master was (17:6, 14).  They will be tempted to abandon the faith and succumb to the intentions of the world; deny Christ and live.  Once the Shepherd is gone, will the sheep totally scatter and the gospel be lost forever?  The answer is a resolute no!  Why? Jesus’s prayer reveals three things that give us hope that the gospel will never be lost.

First, the Father chose a people for His Son.  In verse 6-10, we see that the Father gave the disciples to the Son out of the world.  Before he creation of the world (Ephesians 1:4), their names were written in the Lamb’s book of Life (Rev 17:8).  They belonged to God (John 6:37) and were given to the Son so that they could glorify the Son in the world (John 17:10).  This truth is not for the disciples only, but for every believer in Christ (Romans 9; Ephesians 1; Rev 13:8).

Second, the disciples have received the gospel.  In verses 8 and 11, Jesus tells the Father that his disciples have received the words in which you gave me and that I come from You.  In short, the disciples believed the gospel, that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah for the world. They realized that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that no one comes to the Father except through the Son (John 14:6).  This same truth the disciples took with them everywhere they went, making disciples, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew 22:18-19).  It is the same message you were given when you became a son of daughter of God, and it is the same message you are preaching to the ends of the earth.

Finally, Christ prays for their unity in the gospel.  In verse eleven Christ asked the Father to keep the disciples unified just like the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are unified.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live in complete harmony with one another.  Their love for each other is unbridled.  Their commitment for each other is firmly loyal.  This is how the disciples were to live and breathe and have their being.  This is how the church is to testify to the world that Christ is the Savior of sinners.

Take heart Christian, no matter how dire things may appear, or how lost the world may seem to be, the gospel will always go forth.

Father we pray that your purposes will be competed and that those whom you are calling will hear your voice.  We pray that the church will testify of the beauty and magnificence of the gospel.