Hold on to Truth
I am sure many of you reading this could think back to when you were a child and remember an adult figure in your life who have emphasized the importance of never telling a lie. Maybe you heard the saying,
“The Truth will always set you free!”
Or how about this one?
“The truth will always come to light.”
It gets engrained in our heads since the moment we can utter our first words that we should speak be truth. But I find it ironic in the world of media, we receive tons of information all at one time that if we are not careful can formulate false narratives.
Let’s take out the daily news channels and think about all the social media platforms we have today. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok. I mean if we are being honest with ourselves, many of us in this room getsinformation off at least one of these platforms. It is estimated that our brain takes in 100,000 words a day. To put that into perspective the book, Hobbit, by J.R.R Tolkien, is 95,356 words. So, in a day we are taking in more than that entire book worth of information, and we must figure out what to do with that information. So today I want to ask, as a Christians, do you know what your truth is in the world? If we believe that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, can you honestly do a self-evaluation and say you hold on to that truth regardless of any outside stimulus? Well truth is, we should…
I want you to point to a very pivotal story in the Bible that gives us the best example of holding on to our truth. It takes place in the book of John18:33-40.
To help give context to this story, Jesus has been caught by the Roman soldiers and brought forth for trial in front of Pontius Pilate. As I am sure many of you know Pontius Pilate is ruler or governor of Judea at the time the decision was made for Jesus to be crucified. So, the religious rulers saw Jesus as a threat and are trying to accuse Jesus of stirring up rebellion against the Roman empire. In this moment everyone is waiting for Pontius Pilate to give the green light to send Jesus to his death. So, we are reading a dialogue between Jesus and Pontius Pilate during that trial. And this is where we pick up is verse 33.
33 Then Pilate went back into his headquarters and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the king of the Jews?” he asked him.
34 Jesus replied, “Is this your own question, or did others tell you about me?”
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their leading priests brought you to me for trial. Why? What have you done?”
36 Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not an earthly kingdom. If it were, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of this world.”
37 Pilate said, “So you are a king?” Jesus responded, “You say I am a king. Actually, I was born and came into the world to testify to the truth. All who love the truth recognize that what I say is true.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.
39 But you have a custom of asking me to release one prisoner each year at Passover. Would you like me to release this ‘King of the Jews’?”
40 But they shouted back, “No! Not this man. We want Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)
So there it is, Jesus who is completely incent. Someone who didn’t deserve death and never sinned, was traded for a criminal for crucifixion. He held on to his truth because of his love for us. And as a result, he fulfilled the promise God gave to humanity, of paying the price that we ourselves would have never been able to pay.
You see, Pilot’s truth was about power in the physical world he saw around him. He wanted to make sure that Jesus was not being a threat to his earthly kingdom. However, Jesus was trying to show not only Pilot but the rest of the world that our truth should be with God. That the creator of the universe loves us so deeply and wants to be in relationship with us, so greatly that he sent his son in the flesh to be the sacrificial lamb for us. Jesus stood by that truth and knew that in order for that to happen, he would have to face and defeat gruesome death. It did not matter what the pharisees or Sadducees thought of him. He didn’t allow worldly trends deter her. He didn’t even crumble when one of the most powerful men on the planet gave him an opportunity for an out.
So, for those of reading this and call yourself a believer in Jesus Christ, I want to pose some questions to you all.
What is your truth?
Are you willing to stand by that truth no matter the circumstance?
The world we live in can be so difficult to navigate through but if we say we believe in the one true God, there’s a boldness that we should carry. If we call ourselves believers and hold this book called the Bible as our truth, is our duty to stand firm.
No matter the criticism we might face. No matter what the world has identified as the ways they want us to be living. No matter the consequence, we should stand firm in our truth of the gospel. Why? Because of what Jesus stood in front of Pilate and proclaimed. That he was sent down here on Earth to save the spiritual kingdom. That fact that he died so you and I could be in relationship with the one truth creator of this world we live in.
