Message: What is Truth?
I.
Introduction
a.
Our goal this year is to see you get more rooted in Christ as we
grow together
b.
One way we are doing this rooting is through sermons about
questions found in the Bible.
c.
Read John 18:28-38 – “Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the
Roman governor. By now it was
early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the
palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What
charges are you bringing against this man?”
“If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him
over to you.” Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”
“But we have no right to execute anyone,” the Jews objected. This happened so
that the words Jesus had spoken indicating the kind of death he was going to
die would be fulfilled. Pilate then went back inside the palace,
summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did
others talk to you about me?” “Am I a
Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you
over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants
would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is
from another place.” “You are
a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You are right in saying I am a
king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world,
to testify to the truth. Everyone
on the side of truth listens to me.” “What is truth?” Pilate asked. With this he
went out again to the Jews and said, “I find no basis for a charge against
him.”
a.
Pilate asked some great questions here, but we are going to focus
on only one of them
b.
Jesus has just said he came to the world to bring truth to it, and
Pilate’s response was, “What is truth?”
c.
When he said the question war e not sure if he even cared if there
was an answer, he didn’t know, maybe he felt like there was no such thing,
maybe he desired to know but didn’t think that Jesus knew
II.
Body
a.
What is truth? Aristotle said, “To say of what is that it is not,
or of what is not that it is, is false; while to say of what is that it is, and
of what is not that it is not, is true.”
b.
Truth is correspondence
a.
Truth is what corresponds. Truth
is telling the way things really are.
c.
Absolutism vs. Relativism
a.
Absolutism is the belief that there is truth that is for all people
at all times in all places. (i.e. Murder
is wrong) This is determined by a moral lawgiver. (God)
b.
Relativism is the belief that truth is relative to people. This is determined by culture or individuals.
(i.e. Marijuana is bad for people…or it is fine for people…it depends on your
state law or your personal belief)
i.
But it doesn’t make sense if you look at it closely. If I believe that all truth is absolute, that
means I am right, but then it would also say that I am wrong.
ii.
Why is it so popular?
a.
Gives a good excuse for bad behavior and then be able to do what
you want
b.
Avoids a fight or being called a bigot
c.
Gives a good way to get others to join you in doing whatever you
are doing, so you don’t feel so bad about doing it
d.
The Truth about Truth
a.
It is true of some things not all statements of truth are absolute:
“it’s too hot in here” vs. “it’s over 90 degrees”. One is a personal taste, I might feel it is
too hot, you might feel it is too cold.
The other is something that can be tested and judged as true or
false.
b.
We don’t need absolute evidence to show that something is true or
not. It is true that Hawaii is in the
Pacific Ocean, regardless if I have absolute evidence to prove it, or even if I
have never seen it myself.
c.
Truth is truth, whether we believe it or not.
d.
Believing a truth or stating a truth is like hitting a target,
falsehood misses the mark, it may be close but if it isn’t right in the middle
it is false not true
e.
Things can be false even if the person who says or believes them is
well intending. It is simply false
because it doesn’t correspond to how things really are.
f.
Truth is important and it matters that we know truth
i.
Famous last words: this is not as dangerous as it looks. He does it all the time, he knows what he is
doing. We’re not that close. I’m sober enough. We’ll be perfectly safe under here. No, this is how you connect the wires. If it wasn’t safe, they wouldn’t let us do
it. My point? There is an absolute
difference between truth and falsehood and it really does matter what we
believe.
III.
Conclusion
a.
What is truth?
a.
John 14:5-7 – “Thomas said to him,
“Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus
answered, “I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the
Father except through me. If
you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have
seen him.”
b.
Jesus claims he is truth.
Jesus is saying that with that he is also the only way to God, therefore
all other ways (religions that claim a different route to God) are false.
c.
That is okay to believe and that is okay to say…as long as it is
true.
b.
How many of you actually believe this to be true…that Jesus the
only way to God?
c.
So what should we do with that truth?
a.
Know the truth – Jesus
i.
Spend time with him to get to know him, study and learn about him
ii.
Don’t assume you know him because you attend church or know someone
who does
b.
Live the truth
i.
Act out what he says we should or shouldn’t be doing
c.
Share the truth
i.
Share Him with your actions, words, and love
