Hello

 

John tells us that Jesus talked about truth a lot.

 

When Jesus was speaking to Pilate:

Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37)

Hear that!  The reason Jesus was born, and came into the world, was to testify to the truth.  And everyone who belongs to the truth listens to his voice.

 

When Jesus was speaking to the woman at the well:

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24).  (For more about what Jesus may have meant by “worship him in spirit and in truth”, see the article “What did Jesus say about worship?” – Link below.)

 

When Jesus was speaking to his followers:

“If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.“  (John 14:5-6)

 

When Jesus was speaking to religious leaders who opposed him:

“If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.” (John 8:39-40)

“You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.  Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?” (John 8:44-46)

 

When Jesus was speaking about the Spirit of Truth:

^“This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.” (John 14:17)

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.” (John 15:26)

^“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16:13)

 

When Jesus was praying to his father, for his followers:

^“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.  As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.  And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.” (John 17:17-19)

The Greek word translated “sanctify” in our Bibles can mean to separate, consecrate, cleanse, purify or regard as holy.  Overall, it may be that Jesus is asking his father to purify and set apart his followers in truth.  What does “in truth” mean in this context?  Jesus is asking his father to set us apart from others, or to be different from others.  One way in which we will be different from others is that we will be truthful.

 

What does it mean for a follower of Jesus to “belong to the truth” today?

Today, truth seems to be less important in our communities.  Increasingly we see our political leaders (even some who claim to be Christians) putting their desire to be in office ahead of their responsibility to be truthful.  It is a very sad fact that we no longer expect our politicians to be truthful and, unfortunately, this is spilling over into our Christian lives.  Christian brothers and sisters are increasingly seeing their own political faction as right and other factions as wrong.  They say that the other faction’s leaders tell lies, without acknowledging that their own leaders are no different.  Some, who claim to be followers of Jesus, are even prepared to spread false information in order to get their faction into office.

Jesus said, “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.” (John 18:37).  Surely, it is more important to belong to the truth than to belong to any political faction.

Of course, in these days of fake news and propaganda, we often cannot be sure whether something we read is the truth or not.  That’s OK.  Very often, the truth is that we do not know what the truth is, and we need to accept that.  So, perhaps it is best not to share something online if we don’t know whether it’s true or not.  We may want it to be true – but that doesn’t make it true.

 

May our loving Father bless us, keep us safe, and enable us to belong to his truth as we serve him in this difficult world.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

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“What did Jesus say about worship?”

“I’m a Don’t-Knowist.”

“What did Jesus say about loving others?”

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