Midweek Lenten Service – March 25, 2009

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Midweek Lenten Service – March 25, 2009}

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John 18:33-38 - Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “Is this your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?” “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?” Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place.” “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.” “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.

The Romans prided themselves on their eloquence. They thought of themselves as the greatest speakers the world had ever seen. Any man among them who hoped for success and fame studied the art of public speaking. How ironic then, that since the days of their empire’s power, the most famous thing ever said by any Roman is only three words long! The orations of Cicero and Caesar are long forgotten, but the words of Pontius Pilate live on. “What is truth?”

On the surface it’s a stupid question, isn’t it? Truth is what’s true, what’s real. The sun rises in the east and sets in the west; that’s truth. Two plus two equals four; that’s truth. Truth is just plain objective fact. You can accept it or not, but that is not going to change it. You can close your eyes to it, as Pilate did, but that won’t make it go away.

We Christians are on the side of truth, as Jesus put it. And we want to be counted as those who stand up for the truth of God’s Word. The trouble comes, however, when we realize that there are an awful lot of truths in God’s Book, and they aren’t always that easy for us to stand up for. Perhaps as I read the text you found yourself shaking your head at Pilate’s words. But how often don’t we, even without thinking about it, begin to adopt his philosophy? When we do, that is when we must pray:

Forgive Us When We Abandon Your Truths!

1. We sometimes think they don’t fit into our lives.
2. Father, fit our lives to your eternal truths.

There are times when people feel that the things God has to say just don’t really fit into their lives. Pontius Pilate found himself in such a situation on the morning of that Friday so long ago. Consider how things looked from Pilate’s perspective. There were so many debates among the Jews. The Pharisees disagreed with the Sadducees and this rabbi disagreed with that rabbi. Every moment of every day could have been taken up with trying to decide between all the different opinions in the religion-soaked land of Israel. He hardly had the time or the inclination to get mixed up in a Jewish religious debate.

No, it was Pilate’s job to do something more important than to worry about Jewish religious disagreements. He had to govern this rebellious province. The Jews were the unhappiest members of the Roman Empire. In the past, governing them had been difficult, and on more than one occasion things had gotten out of hand for Pilate. And Pilate knew the empire wanted order, and any governor who could not guarantee it would soon be looking for another job.

But then one day, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, walked into all of this. If this man really thought he was a king, then Pilate would have to deal with it, of course. But a short interrogation proved that there was no political rebellion in this man’s mind. Therefore, he was of no concern, and Pilate felt free to dismiss him as yet another blathering prophet in a land filled with religious blatherers.

“My kingdom is not of this world,” Jesus said. “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” But Pontius Pilate had no time to side with anyone’s “truth.” There were so many truly important matters he had to attend to, and this King of truth was merely a distraction. Truth! Who had the time for that? “What is truth?” he asked and dismissed the whole discussion from his mind. There was no time for something as inconvenient as truth.

In a similar way, we sometimes find it inconvenient to try to fit God’s truths into our lives. After all, we say, our lives are filled with so many other important matters. We’ve got to work and make a living, or go to school, and keep up the house. It’s a nonstop struggle just to keep our heads above water. So we tell ourselves it’s impossible to make time for daily family devotions when everyone in the family seems to be going in 20 different directions. We say it’s too difficult to set aside time for reading the Bible when we have to rush from spot to spot and hardly have time to do everything that has to be done each day. Daily prayer is a fine idea; but when are you going to find the time? And that is to say nothing about the “me time” we think we need. And before you know it, all these eternal truths become meaningless and useless.

And then come those times when, as with Pilate, God’s truths get in the way of what we feel is important. The truths of his commandments are often like that, aren’t they? Forbidding the things we feel we need to do or want to do, and commanding the things we feel we don’t have time to do or just don’t want to get involved in? Even the truth of his gospel can intrude when the needs of our souls don’t seem all that important next to the needs of the moment. Salvation in Christ, heaven itself, all that is fine and dandy, but what good is it to me when the bills are piling up or the homework is piling up or you’re out of work and can’t find a job.

And it is then that while we may not use the words of Pilate, his thought is there. What is the use of this “truth” to me? It’s not useful where I really need help. It’s all nice and wonderful, but what is it going to do for me today? Then, after a while, even coming to church seems like a waste of our time because it doesn’t seem to accomplish anything that we need to have happen in our earthly lives. Truth? What is truth?

There is a name for this way of looking at our lives. It’s called sin, and it is deadly. Our focus narrows so much that we can’t even see that there are more important things than simply the affairs of this earthly life. That’s why we need to pray, “Father, fit our lives to your eternal truths.”

But let us look at these matters from God’s perspective, a spiritual perspective. Yes, there is a lot to do in this life, and it is important that we perform our duties in this world. You have to pay the bills and do the homework and keep up the house and plan for the future and all the rest. No one is denying that. But widen your view. You’ll only be here for a short time. All eternity lies before you after that, and that is the truth on which your Creator and Savior wants you to focus your greatest attention.

Pilate had no idea how matters of eternal importance were intruding upon his little world of self-importance that day. There, in his courtroom, was being played out the centuries-old battle between the hatred of the devil and the passionate, saving love of God. And no less than the Son of God, the promised Savior of the world, was inviting this man to come to the side of God’s truth, to rise above the common affairs of the world around him and see the salvation of the Lord. Think how close Pilate was to it. The divine hand was there, reaching out to him, and Pilate casually knocked it away and went on with his everyday affairs.

Can any of us actually imagine that our everyday concerns should trump God’s eternal concerns for us and for others? Remember the words of Christ: “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). You could spend all your time and energy on the things of this world and achieve the greatest success. But on the day of your death, what good will it all have been? You’ll get a big funeral, probably, and your survivors will be able to afford a really nice gravestone for you. What is the good of that if you have missed out on the joys of heaven?

Remember the parable of the rich fool. He was really focused on his business affairs in the world. After a particularly bountiful harvest, he had to make plans on where to put all the grain. He wanted to tear down his old barns and build bigger barns. With the success of this venture, he’d be set for life. Do you remember what God said to him? “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” (Luke 12:20).

And particularly remember the saving truth that Jesus came to proclaim and to bring. The old truth was that the wages of sin was death for us. But the new truth is that the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord. The new truth is that there is no condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ. The supremely important truth is that “God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The truth is that he died to buy us back from sin and from what Peter called “the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18). We often think of that phrase as referring to the idolatrous religions of our far-off ancestors. But there is more to it. We have been saved from living life only for this world. We have been given the truth that our journey through this world is just that, a journey, and our true destination is the one that Jesus Christ gave his life to win for us.

The truth is what the New Testament tells us: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Things are different for us now. Our life itself is now “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). All of these passages seek to impress one truth upon our minds: We are now caught up in something greater than this life. We have been saved from our sins by the life, death, and resurrection of God’s only Son. This is an eternal truth, and we pray that the Lord will fit our lives around it.

The truth is that our treasures are not stored here on earth but in heaven. Yes, we still must deal with the things of this world, but not as ends in themselves. All that we do now—whether we eat or drink or whatever we do— we do for the glory of God and his truth. We are now to present ourselves as living sacrifices to him, doing all we can to spread the glory of the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, especially to those who do not yet know him.

In the light of that saving truth, pray for God to make the importance of his truths the foundation on which we build our lives. Pray that we never allow into our minds the foolish notion that the truths of God’s commandments don’t apply to us. Pray that we never think that the truths of his saving gospel are not the most important things in all the world. Pray that we might value God’s truth as our greatest treasure.

“What is truth?” Pilate asked. And then he didn’t stay around for an answer. Turning his back on the words that could have saved his soul, Pilate got on with the “more important” work of the day. So we pray…

Lord God, heavenly Father, keep us from falling into Pilate’s error, and when we do, forgive us. Let us fervently seek out your truths in your Holy Word, and let us subordinate everything in our lives to your eternal truth. As your dear Son prayed for us, so now we pray for ourselves: Sanctify us through the truth; your Word is truth. (John 17:17) Amen.