August 26, 2013
“…Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered. “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
“Pilate said to Him, “What is truth…”
John 18:37, 38
After questioning Jesus, Pilate went out to the Jews and announced that he found no fault in Jesus, no guilt, innocent of the accusations against Him…Charges brought forth from the chief priests, from the soldiers, from His nation… Three times Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea, denounced the guilt of Jesus, only to crumble at the demands of the angry blood-thirsty crowd…Pilate ordered the inscription on His cross… “JESUS THE NAZARENE, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” The atoning blood of Jesus Christ would spill out onto the world, the redeeming blood poured out for mankind, for His accusers, for each one of us…
Jesus stood before Pilate, “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice…”
And Pilate asked, “What is truth?”
The TRUTH stood before Pilate.
The TRUTH Quest…
VERITAS
This question has been asked by every generation of thinking mankind. The question accompanies other related thoughts…What is the truth of this existence…What is the purpose of this existence…What is this existence? Pontius Pilate was in authority over the course of events that would rock eternity…He asked the question of Jesus, “What is truth?” Jesus stood before him as “THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE…” (John 14:6)
Yet Pilate did not see, did not hear, and did not understand…
The TRUTH stood before him.
In ancient times, the quest for truth was innate within the intellectual cultures. Truth, (aletheia, Gr.) used objectively, is “the reality lying at the basis of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter. (Vine’s) The pursuit of the knowledge of truth was a highly valued quest and the virtue of truthfulness was considered a highly esteemed accomplishment. The Greek goddess of truth was Aletheia, and in Roman mythology, VERITAS, (truth), was the goddess of truth; her image appearing as a young virgin dressed in white.
Today, as the quest for truth continues into contemporary civilizations, many of the great institutions of higher education still utilize the word “Truth or VERITAS” in their mottos.
Prestigious schools such as Harvard, Yale, John Hopkins University, and Howard University are just a few of the long list claiming the Quest for Truth to be part of their educational and cultural objectives. Interestingly, The Quest for Truth, VERITAS, was most often founded in a conviction that the search for Truth was in direct correlation to spiritual Truth. The official motto of Harvard University, adopted in 1692, was “VERITAS, Christo ET Ecclesiae”, or in English, “Truth…for Christ and the church.” The belief was at the time, that all truth is relevant to Christ and His people and that all of reality and all of creation is filtered by the Truth of Jesus Christ. At some point, Harvard’s shield changed to bear only the word “VERITAS”. Sadly, much of the contemporary culture has relinquished this authentic quest, to replace it with an agenda driven pursuit…asking the same question that Pilate asked, “What is truth?” However, our culture answers, “Truth is relative,” propelling mankind spiraling into the cycle of futile quests…
Although THE TRUTH stands before us in Christo, Christ.
Futile Quests
Our world has always been enamored with the performance factor. The idea of earning or performing has historically attached itself to man’s existence and to his meaning, purpose and salvation. The futility of such a thought process…that human kind must earn, perform, achieve, accomplish, succeed, actualize, deliver, obtain, perfect, (I’m exhausted…) The futility is overwhelming and despairing. I know about this personally…
As a teenager, I found myself attempting to earn, perform, achieve, accomplish, succeed, actualize, etc. I attempted to be studious, to appear intelligent to impress my debate coach, and the judges…I wanted to be popular so that I could be cheerleader, then was determined to be the best…I felt like I had to wear the right clothes, preferably those purchased in a store, not the beautiful hand-made dresses from mother’s loving efforts…I yearned for the expensive stereo equipment in order to be considered “cool”, yet we could not afford it, and I did without. I was in continual turmoil striving to please my parents; as an only child, I felt great self-imposed pressure to achieve. And the message that I thought I heard in church lined up with my thought process. Be good, achieve, accomplish, obey, succeed, attain, perfect…For God is Almighty, Majestic, and perfect! And I thought that I had to follow in those footsteps. Needless to say, hopelessness and futility were my best friends. Does this sound familiar?
Two of my friends extended an invitation to me for a weekend James Robison Revival in Waco and my parents allowed me to attend. What I heard that evening changed my life forever. When he gave the invitation to come and to experience the love and the forgiveness and the grace and the mercy of Jesus Christ, I remember feeling compelled to stand up and to almost run down the long aisle to the front, to the platform. I remember not being conscious of those around me…It was a message of Hope, of Joy, of Acceptance, of Great Relief to me…
Jesus stood before me in the message that evening…relieving my burden of futility…On that evening, I embarked on a life journey toward TRUTH.
Our world is filled with seekers of the TRUTH, many who are captives of futility…
There are those who adhere to traditions of man…bound to performance, requirements, works, and service, in order to be deemed worthy…who are totally dependent on their own personal performance. Others are asked or required by their religions to sacrifice their lives in destruction of those with differing opinions, thus, hoping to appease their god….
Yet others are called by their god to live in peace and harmony with their environment, and through their good works, hoping to obtain enlightenment. The question I ask is, “How much enlightenment is enough?” Others seek good karma while trying over and over to rid themselves of the bad karma…trying to get it right. And the list of futility goes on for seekers of TRUTH…seeking an everlasting, eternal, promise and assurance…And the most common, futility is the one who seeks and trusts in the SELF-governing, total dependency on SELF…with self-confidence, self esteem, self-worth, self-advancement, self-realization, self-assurance, self-satisfaction, self-determination, self-sufficiency, self-preservation…and the list goes on. Exhausting…I have been there.
And then there was the precious man at the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, who for thirty-eight years had been sick and kept coming to the pool Bethesda for healing, depending on someone to move him into the healing waters; yet with each of his trips and efforts, there came futile disappointment, until the Living Christ stood before him.
How beautiful to think about and know that Christ seekers follow after a God who knows each weakness, who knows each sin, who knows each thought and intention, and yet came down from His throne in Heaven to be with human kind and to become flesh, and to stop the futile attempts at perfection, knowing that it is an impossible task for human kind. No matter, how many times man tries or woman or child tries, tens, or hundreds, or thousands, we cannot rid ourselves of the inherent sin we were born into through Adam. Even if one believes that man is inherently good, how do we explain the depravity mankind falls into when left to his own accord? No, Jesus, as God, took on flesh and came to end the futility once and for all. He came to say “It is finished.”
And God knowing full well, man’s need for a Savior, made a plan for time and for eternity, in His mercy and grace; in His Holiness and Righteousness. Salvation and afterlife is not based on futile performances, or sacrifices, or empty prayers or chants, or pilgrimages, or missionary work, or church attendance, or knowledge, or good intentions, or good or random acts of kindness. It is based on nothing of ourselves, but on the living Savior who came down to man…who lived with man, who walked with man, who cried and prayed, who laughed and ate with man, who loved and healed man,…And then who took the heaping lump of our sin on His body, in His soul to the point of God turning His face from His Son, because the sin was so deprave that the Father could not look upon it. All the futility died the day Christ went to the cross and then as He rose again!
Oh my, what love! Christ followers are the ones who serve a living God! A loving God whose very name gives Hope instead of futility! Who gives promise of life, and joy, and abundance! Who does not sit on a shelf with a lifeless expression. Rather, He seeks to personally escort His children into, through, and beyond this world into His eternal Kingdom! Who lived and died so that He could have relationship personally with His people. Because He is Love; not futility!
I often think back to the revival I attended as a teenager. What if my friends had not invited me? What if I had not responded to the message that I heard? What if I had not received the Jesus Christ before me in the message that evening? Perhaps there would have been other opportunities…But my life would have continued in the desperation, in the striving, in the hopelessness, in the self-driven futility…until I responded to the Living Christ, to the TRUTH.
Human kind continues to ask, “What is truth?” “What is the purpose of this life?”
Many people are asking…desperate, hurting people…hungry, thirsty people… lonely, lost people…May we feel compelled to tell others about the TRUTH…invite them to hear…pray for them to receive… As the Truth Quests—VERITAS continue, may we each seek and find according to The Living God’s promises.
“You will find me when you seek and search for me with all you heart.”
Jeremiah 29:12
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock…”
Revelation 3:20
Daughters, the TRUTH stands before us. I am so thankful that over 350 Austin area churches are embarking on a program called Explore God which invites and provides honest open dialogue for seekers of The TRUTH, beginning September 8.
Please visit:
May we pray for God to move throughout the land…to open eyes, hearts, and minds to
The TRUTH…VERATAS.
…Jesus stands before us…
Abundant joy,
