John 14:1-7 says "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going." 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." So, what is the definition of truth? Pastor Lorne checked his concordance and found the following definitions of truth:
- What is opposed to falsehood
- Fidelity, sincerity and punctuality in keeping promises
- In reference to God, is joined with mercy or kindness
- Truth is putting forth the true doctrine of the gospel
- Truth is opposed to hypocrisy, dissimulation or formality
Pastor Lorne said when his granddaughter phones and they’re not home, she leaves a message on their answering machine. She says “I’m really serious” and they know what she really means is “I’m telling the truth”.
So, truthfulness is something really important for us as Christians to shine and reflect Christ.
When Thomas asked, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life”. Jesus reassured him He was the Truth and what He said was right. No gray or extra colors. Whatever Jesus said, you can ‘take it to the bank’. And we want to show the world Jesus is true by our lives.
John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” When you talk about Jesus and being a mirror, truth is very important. In the olden days, deals worth lots of big money was shaken on. A man’s handshake was worth a lot. Now a lawyer needs to write it up and every area must be covered because people have drifted away from the truth.
It’s very important that people can trust us because we’re followers of Christ and our word can be trusted.
In John 18:37, Pilate is talking to Jesus: “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." It’s something believable and right.
To continue into the V38, "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.” Pastor Lorne says today, truth is whatever they believe is right. But in scripture, Jesus said He is the truth. You can trust Him. Jesus is total truth. To Mirror Him to the world, we need to be that way as well
Pastor Lorne can imagine why Pilate asks the question, because he’s a Jew and the Jews say Jesus is an imposter. In our situations, we wonder, what is true? But, go back to scripture and see what is true. If you have the same situation, then it’s true. If it’s not, then it can be questioned.Prov 23:23 says, “Buy the truth and do not sell it; get wisdom, discipline and understanding.” This is written by a man who probably was the wisest man who ever lived. Great decisions, great kingdom, prayed for wisdom—get the whole truth. Truth will stay with you all of your life.
John 8:31-32 says, To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." There’s, an agriculture based TV show, (McLeod’s Daughters) and these ladies get into situations where they tell a lie or take something that doesn’t belong to them. And then the whole show is them trying to make excuses or cover up their deed and then near the end, the truth comes out. Pastor Lorne thinks the writers of this show are trying to show that it’s better to tell the truth than to make excuses, lose sleep, etc because you’re trying to cover something up and yet in the end it comes out anyway.
When you’re truthful, the truth sets you free. It’s a wonderful thing to be set free.
We’ve been talking about being a witness for Christ and one of the things about Him was that He was truthful. He said He’d send a comforter to lead us to truth – His Holy Spirit.
Pastor Lorne wants to leave us a challenge - show the world the truthfulness of Christ. Don’t live with a secret behind closed doors. Live an open life. You can depend on that handshake of Jesus. He wants you and I to have that truth and show that truth in our lives. Live a life that mirrors His truth and grace around us. It’s possible by believing in His Holy Spirit.
