A Kingdom of Truth and Witness
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Last time we talked about Jesus washing the feet of his Disciples and we discovered that the KOG is a Kingdom of Holiness and Humility. Tonight we fast forward to early the next morning as Jesus stands in front of Pilate for sentencing.
After the Roman general Pompey got involved in a dispute between rival ruling factions in Judea in 63 B.C., the territories that belonged to the Jews became part of the Roman Empire. Rome allowed the Jews and other conquered peoples to have a measure of self-rule, and in the case of the Jews, the Sanhedrin was the highest court. The Sanhedrin, made up of "the chief priests and the elders and the scribes" (Mark 14:53), could rule on religious matters, but it did not have the authority to carry out capital punishment.
Though the Romans allowed subjugated peoples to govern themselves in many areas, Roman law superseded local law. Rome dispatched governors to its territories to keep an eye on their populations and to serve as courts of appeal for Roman citizens. Only the Romans had the authority to pronounce and enact a capital sentence. That is why the Sanhedrin, after deciding Jesus was worthy of death (Mark 14:53–65), brought him to Pontius Pilate (15:1). Pilate was the Roman governor, or procurator, of Judea and actually served in that post longer than any other Roman appointee.
So Jesus finds himself in front of the Roman governor with his death looming in the background.Pilate asked him Are you the King of the Jews? Because treason and blasphemy would be enough to call for his execution. And Jesus’ response to this is quite amazing-
I have come in to the world to bear witness to the truth.
The Kingdom of God is built on truth...
A Peanuts cartoon pictured Lucy and Linus looking out the window at a steady downpour of rain. "Boy," said Lucy, "look at it rain. What if it floods the whole world?"
"It will never do that," Linus replied confidently. "In the ninth chapter of Genesis, God promised Noah that would never happen again, and the sign of the promise is the rainbow."
"You've taken a great load off my mind," said Lucy with a relieved smile.
"Sound theology," pontificated Linus, "has a way of doing that."
We live in a world or relativism when it comes to truth. Somehow our society has come to a place where if you hold to a truth, but do nothing force that truth on anyone you are a good, moral person. However, if you take that truth and hold other people to it you are a intolerant and prejudiced person. In other words, what matters is not the truth, but the application of it- and that simply makes no sense.
After all, there have to be moral guardrails and truths that hold our world together. There have to be absolutes along the way; or the world simply falls apart.
But instead we are asked to live out “our truth” not “the truth” and make no mistake, changing that one word changes EVERYTHING. Because when we remove the truth from our world, we remove Jesus.
Do you remember the conversation between Jesus and Thomas in John 14? In his declaration to Thomas he says “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me”
The truth- Greek word aletheia- carried an understanding of firmness or consistency. It meant the thing that would never change and never shift, no matter what happened around it.
Imagine these bricks are the pillars of our faith- love, grace, forgiveness, etc...
Those bricks can still shift and move. I would never build anything on those bricks, because whatever it is is sure to crumble at the first high wind, rushing water, or shift in terrain- no bricks needs something else. What they need is mortar. It;s the mortar that holds the pieces together, it is mortar that gives the foundation the strength to hold up against the battering of the elements.
The truth of Jesus, the truth of the Word of God is the mortar that holds it all together. And when that mortar becomes compromised the foundation begins to crumble.
I love the words of Paul in Colossians 1:15-18 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
In him all things hold together- the mortar of Jesus. There is no wonder so many churches, Christians, societies, and denominations are falling apart- because when the truth of Jesus is made into Jello the foundation is sure to crumble.
And here’s the thing, friends, there is nothing more accessible in this world than the truth of Jesus. Throughout the pandemic up to now we have dealt with lots of shortages- toilet paper; to go cups, cottage cheese, rice krispy treats- some of this stuff doesn’t even make sense! I wanted to work on my deck last year and I had to order lumber from 2 different Lowes because there was not enough lumber at either one to fill my whole order.
But there is no shortage in the truth of God’s word, it remains the most accessible book in the world.
"It’s a strange thing: the book has never been so accessible. According to Guinness Book of Records, L. Ron Hubbard’s writings of scientology have been translated into 65 languages; the Koran is supposed to be read in Arabic so it hasn’t been translated as much; the Book of Mormon is in about 100 languages. But 2,656 languages have all or some of the Bible. Some 65 million copies of the Bible are brought or distributed in the U.S. every year--nothing else is a close second. The average house has at least three. People cheer the Bible, buy the Bible, give the Bible, own the Bible-they just don’t actually read the Bible. According to George Gallup: One Third of those surveyed know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Fewer than half can name the first book of the Bible; 80 percent of born-again Christians believe the phrase Go helps those who help themselves is in the Bible (it’s Ben Franklin, if you’re curious). So I’m thinking a lot these days about how to help the people that God brings my way to know and love the book.
But don’t miss it- there is another way that people can see the truth of Jesus, and that is through us. A Kingdom of Witness.
Most of us have heard or read the old saying “Your life might be the only Bible a person ever reads” and just because a statement is old does not make it less truth.
Jesus came to point out- to bear witness to the Kingdom of God
But before Jesus came there was another- John the baptist. The witness before the Kingdom.
The truth of the matter is that when Jesus arrives on the scene in Matthew 3 many people only knew who he was because of John the Baptist. Without John’s witness Jesus would have seemed like any other dude in that moment.
It was John’s ministry that paved the way; set the scene for Jesus’ introduction. When Jesus arrived John could easily say- this is the one I have been telling you about.
The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of witness- witness to the truth. Can I just be blunt? The church does not need anymore people standing in pulpits merely preaching truth- we need brothers and sisters to bear witness to the truth; and bearing witness is a full body action.
Because at some point we will find ourselves in a situation that will require us to act.
A number of years ago, a young police officer was taking his final exam for the police academy when he came upon the following question:
"You are on patrol in the outer city when an explosion occurs in a gas main in a nearby street. On investigation you find that a large hole has been blown in the footpath and there is an overturned van nearby. Inside the van there is a strong smell of alcohol. Both occupants--a man and a woman--are injured. You recognize the woman as the wife of your Chief of Police, who is at present away in another country.
"A passing motorist stops to offer you assistance, and you realize that he is a man who is wanted for armed robbery. Suddenly a man runs out of a nearby house, shouting that his wife is expecting a baby and that the shock of the explosion has made the birth imminent. Another man is crying for help, having been blown in the adjacent canal by the explosion, and he cannot swim.
Describe in a few words what actions you would take."
The young man thought for a moment, picked up his pen and wrote,
"I would take off my uniform and mingle with the crowd."
Unfortunately, this is the story for so many Christians- they fade into the crowd, but that is not the story of Jesus.
Also, we must remember that John was the witness before Jesus; and today we are the witnesses after Jesus.
The last words that our Savior spoke on this Earth declared the next season of witness:
He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
This is what we are called to- to bear witness to the Kingdom of God. Because the message of Jesus must be carried to a lost and broken world- through you and i
The year was 1930, and it was the year of the Naval Conference in London. King George was to address the opening session. Radio was in its infancy, but through this media the king’s message was to be carried around the world. However, just before the king was to go on the air, a young engineer working for the Columbia Broadcasting Station--ironically--discovered a broken wire in the transmitter.
There was no time for repairs; the world was waiting to hear the message of the king. The young engineer thought of a quick solution: he took a piece of broken wire in one hand, and a piece of broken wire in the other hand, and for fifteen minutes, he took 250 volts of electricity through his body so that the king’s broadcast could be heard.
Like then, the world is waiting to hear the message of the King, and the one way for that message to go through is if we--who profess to be His disciples--will be a conduit, a radio transmitter that broadcasts the message of the king. My question to you this morning is this: Will you allow the King’s message of faith to be broadcast through you?