What is Truth?

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. (John 18:38) Jesus Christ was concerned about the truth. “I tell you the truth,”  Jesus said, “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matt. 5:18). And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42). And so forth. For over a hundred times Jesus punctuated his aphorisms with this phrase, I tell you the truth. .  .
You should be concerned about the truth.
The pursuit of truth is older even than our Lord’s bodily presence on this earth. Besides the Old Testament dialogues about truth (e.g., Proverbs, et al.), secular philosophers were also discussing truth 1000s of years before Christ the man walked the earth. For example, the Greek philosopher Plato (a contemporary of Daniel) was discussing truth 500 years before Christ was born. In a long, long, time ago, in a place far, far away, Plato was discussing things like truth, politics, justice, and beauty. To Plato the pursuit of truth was the beginning and ending of all things. Plato was convinced, for instance, that if people knew the truth they would obey the truth. Plato argued that if people knew the right thing to do they would do it. In other words, immorality was nothing more than ignorance. Were is so, students!  Were it so!
Of course, we who live on the backside of Auschwitz, The Great Leap Forward, and September 11, 2001, know that that is absurd. People are quite capable of knowing the truth and acting immorally. In fact they do it all the time. Sometimes really smart people can make very bad choices.

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. (John 18:38) Jesus Christ was concerned about the truth. “I tell you the truth,”  Jesus said, “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.” (Matt. 5:18). And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42). And so forth. For over a hundred times Jesus punctuated his aphorisms with this phrase, I tell you the truth. .  . You should be concerned about the truth. The pursuit of truth is older even than our Lord’s bodily presence on this earth. Besides the Old Testament dialogues about truth (e.g., Proverbs, et al.), secular philosophers were also discussing truth 1000s of years before Christ the man walked the earth. For example, the Greek philosopher Plato (a contemporary of Daniel) was discussing truth 500 years before Christ was born. In a long, long, time ago, in a place far, far away, Plato was discussing things like truth, politics, justice, and beauty. To Plato the pursuit of truth was the beginning and ending of all things. Plato was convinced, for instance, that if people knew the truth they would obey the truth. Plato argued that if people knew the right thing to do they would do it. In other words, immorality was nothing more than ignorance. Were is so, students!  Were it so! Of course, we who live on the backside of Auschwitz, The Great Leap Forward, and September 11, 2001, know that that is absurd. People are quite capable of knowing the truth and acting immorally. In fact they do it all the time. Sometimes really smart people can make very bad choices.

We all know that “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10b-12) Everyone sins. Smart people also make bad choices. Indeed. We have to be more than smart. We have to be redeemed! And redemption is not dependent upon what we know; it is dependent upon whom we know.

While I was a graduate student at Harvard I lived outside Harvard Yard. New to the area, while I was traveling to class one day, I found myself hopelessly lost. Seeing some august, famous professors traveling at deliberate speed toward their destination I was sure that they knew the way to the Promised Land (i.e., Danforth Hall gate at the Yard). The truth was, I doubted for a few moments?in fact as I foollowed these capable, sagacious professors I remembered a better way. But, no, what did I know! These were the world’s smartest men? But I was very late to my history class! They were more lost than I!

Young people, let me make myself very clear.  We are not on a search for the truth.  This is not an inquiry into the cosmos.  No, there is only one Truth and His name is Jesus Christ.  And we know His name and we know Him personally.  Hallelujah!

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