News & Notes

“Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37b).

Our culture has no end of opinions about truth. The Enlightenment Era said Truth could be found all around us and within us, and that through reflection and meditation we could acquire it. The Industrial Revolution brought the firm belief that science and careful study could establish Truth from empirical data, and that there is no limit to how much Truth the human mind can acquire. Modernism told us to be skeptical of all the past Truth claims, that Truth is a social construct, and that mankind has the ability to shape Truth ourselves. Post-modernism took it a step further in saying that every person can shape Truth individually, that Truth is relative, and that Truth is whatever you decide it to be.

Pontius Pilate’s view of Truth came out of his culture as well. He had learned the lessons of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and Julius. He had probably come the same conclusion as many of his day – that if there is such a thing as Truth, it is unknowable, and a smart man simply focuses on the here and now. He reflected this cynical and jaded view of Truth when he responded to Jesus with a flippant, “What is truth?”

The irony was that it was standing right in front of him. Jesus had challenged Pilate with the question that still haunts every jaded and cynical Truth-seeker and Truth-ignorer in the world today – What do you do with Jesus? Where do you stand, his side of the line, or the other? Because Jesus draws a line in the sand here. “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” There are two sides here. There’s Truth – the absolute Truth from the One who is True – and there’s everything else. And if it’s not Truth, what is it?

We have to wrestle with this question too. In big and small ways, every day, we’re confronted with lies. Lies about how the world works, about how we are to behave in society, about our jobs, our marriages, our families, our possessions, our time, our reason for being, and everything in between. The lies come from the TV and newspapers, the internet and social media, books, movies, and radio, even our friends and, yes, even sometimes Christians. How do we confront those lies?

“Everyone on the side of Truth listens to me.”

Reflect

• Identify some of the lies that have confronted you in the last few days. Think about the things you’ve heard, read, or seen that have made their mark on you. How did you react to when you were confronted with them?
• Consider again the various approaches to Truth laid out in the first paragraph of the devotion. Why do you suppose those things have appealed to people? Do you find yourself attracted to any of them?
• Jesus has drawn a line in the sand – Truth on his side, everything else on the other. What can you do today to make sure you’re standing on and standing up for his side of the line?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Who do you say Jesus is?

Jesus had a lot to say about truth. He used the phrase “I tell you the truth” more than seventy times throughout the Gospels. He stated that the very reason he was born was to testify to the truth. He pointed people to the truth of God’s Word, and he drew a line in the sand, declaring that on his side is truth, and anything else is falsehood.

But perhaps the boldest of all his claims about truth was this – that he claimed to be the Truth. That there is no separation between the Truth and who he is. That he is the absolute embodiment of absolute Truth. And he went on to make the claim that because he is the embodiment of Truth, no one gets to God except by him.

There are a lot of people in the world claiming to have the truth. There are a lot of religions out there claiming to have the way to God. For the most part, our culture is all about being tolerant and accepting of all religious viewpoints… that is, except for Jesus. Sure, many people give lip service to Jesus, claiming that he’s all about peace and love and kindness and acceptance, and that he was a great teacher. But if anyone points out that Jesus said he’s also the only Truth and the only way to God, suddenly he isn’t so well appreciated.

This should be no surprise. After all, when Jesus made his claims, it made people angry enough that they put him to death. When a religious leader stands up and says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” that’s when people start getting upset. And after 2,000 years he’s still intimidating people. Because he proved his right to claim that he is the Truth by his resurrection.

So who do you say he is? When his disciples were asked that question, they answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus said that that’s the Truth on which he would build his entire Church. He is the Truth on which we build, and he is the one who brings us to God.

Reflect

• Jesus asked his disciples who the people said he was, and who they said he was. He asks us the same question: Who do you say he is?
• It’s been said that all of human history rises and falls on the question of who Jesus is. More importantly, every person’s life rises or falls on the question of who Jesus is. How has your answer to that question changed your life?
• If Jesus is everything he claims to be, then nothing can be more important than to know his Truth, and to lead others to it. What is one thing you can change about how you live that will help you lead others to the Truth?

“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” (John 18:37a).

If I had asked you, “Why did Jesus come into the world?” what would you have answered? Maybe you would have said, “To redeem the world” or “to bring salvation” or “to die and rise again” or “to do the will of the Father.” All of these would have been correct. Maybe you’ve read this passage enough, though, that you would have said, “To testify to the truth.”

If you’re a follower of Jesus, then it stands to reason that you would want to know what is most important to him. If I told you, “This is the most important thing about Jesus. You need to know this. This was the reason he was born,” my hope is that your response would be, “Okay, tell me! I want to know!”

Well, this is it – the truth. And while that may seem a little vague and generalized, the implications are enormous. See, if testifying to the truth is the whole purpose and reason of Jesus’ life on earth, and if Jesus is, as he said, truly God, with all authority in heaven and on earth, then it means that there is nothing more important for us than to know the truth. And furthermore, if we are, as Paul writes, to be imitators of Jesus, then our lives also ought to testify to the truth.

So what is the truth to which Jesus testifies? Well, there’s the truth that we are all sinners. The truth that our sins separate us from God, and make us deserving of damnation. The truth that Jesus came to save sinners, and the truth that he is the only salvation for sinners. The truth that life as his follower is not easy, but that he has won the victory on our behalf. The truth that we are now his servants, remade in him to reflect him and to point to him.

And so much more. But you get the idea. We, as his followers, want to make truth – all truth, but especially the truth about who we are before God, who Jesus is, and what he has done for us – the core and the focus of our lives. Be imitators of Jesus, and let truth be the reason you were born.

Reflect

• Nothing was more important to Jesus than the truth, and nothing is more important to him than that his followers know the truth. Is knowing the truth the most important thing in my life? Does the way I prioritize my time reflect the importance of knowing the truth?
• The purpose of Jesus life was to testify to the truth, and we are to be imitators of him. Does my life testify to the truth? Do I allow falsehoods and half-truths to have a place in my life? How am I dealing with those?
• The greatest of all truths to which Jesus’ life testifies is that he is the Savior, and that through him we have freedom from sin, death, and the devil. How can I show the people in my life that this is true?

“I tell you the truth…” (Matthew 5:26; Matthew 6:2; Matthew 6:5; Matthew 6:16; Matthew 8:10; Matthew 10:15; Matthew 10:42; Matthew 11:11; Matthew 16:28; Matthew 18:3; Matthew 18:13; Matthew 18:18; Matthew 18:19; Matthew 19:23; Matthew 19:28; Matthew 21:21; Matthew 21:31; Matthew 23:36; Matthew 24:2; Matthew 24:34; Matthew 24:47; Matthew 25:12; Matthew 25:40; Matthew 25:45; Matthew 26:13; Matthew 26:21; Matthew 26:34; Mark 3:28; Mark 8:12; Mark 9:1; Mark 9:41; Mark 10:15; Mark 10:29; Mark 11:23; Mark 12:43; Mark 13:30; Mark 14:18; Mark 14:25; Mark 14:30; Luke 4:24; Luke 12:37; Luke 18:17; Luke 18:29; Luke 21:32; John 1:51; John 3:3; John 3:5; John 3:11; John 5:19; John 5:24; John 5:25; John 6:26; John 6:32; John 6:47; John 6:53; John 8:34; John 8:51; John 8:58; John 10:1; John 10:7; John 12:24; John 13:16; John 13:20; John 13:21; John 13:38; John 14:12; John 16:20; John 16:23; John 21:18)

That long list of references is the nearly seventy times that Jesus is quoted as having said, “I tell you the truth…” or, in the newest version of the NIV, “Very truly I tell you.” In Greek, the word is “Amen,” which is familiar to anyone who has prayed before (and even those who haven’t). The fact that Jesus said it so many times means that not only was he concerned with the truth, but he wanted to communicate that what he had to say was the truth.

Do you believe Jesus when he says he is telling the truth?

No doubt every Christian would say, “Of course I do!” But if we examine our attitudes and actions, we’d have to confess that we don’t always act like we do. There are many voices in the world telling us, “I tell you the truth…” and then telling us everything but. Yet, our sinful nature likes those false truths and follows their urgings.

This is why we need to pay attention to the truth from Jesus. See, Jesus didn’t just claim to be telling the truth – he backed it up. He backed it up with references to the Scriptures that clearly pointed to him. He backed it up with miracles that demonstrated he was from God. He backed it up with authoritative preaching and teaching that cut through every argument. He backed it up with the biggest miracle of all – predicting his own death and resurrection, and then seeing it through. That’s proof positive that when he said, “I tell you the truth…” he was, in fact, telling the truth.

And the most important truth he told us is that God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Reflect

• Do I believe Jesus when he says that he is telling me the truth? How do my attitudes and actions bear out what I believe?
• What are some “worldly truth statements” I’ve been tempted to believe, or to put into practice in my life recently? How have they affected my relationship with my Lord? With others?
• Jesus resurrection proves that everything he said is true. But some things Jesus said are challenging. What statements of Jesus am I having trouble understanding or accepting?
• Jesus told us that “God so loved the world.” I’m part of the world. How does this truth affect the things I’ve just reflected on? How is it going to affect my day?