Northside Church - Sydney
Roadblocks Week 4: TRUTH – Aren't there a lot of truths?
You're listening to another great message from Northside Community Church. Hey guys, we're in a great series. I mean, how about Sam's Message last week on Hill? That was one of the best explanations of that very difficult doctrine I've ever heard. And so it's a great series. And it applies to your friends and some of your family because you know people who see these topics as definite roadblocks in their consideration of the Christian faith. And so tonight it's truth, the fact that we Christians believe in absolute truth. We believe that we serve one who said, "I am the way the truth." We do serve one who said, "I'm the way the truth." And the life our reading tonight is from John chapter 18, very appropriate one week from Easter. Here's Jesus and he's before Pilate. And some of you probably one step ahead, you know the famous verse we're going to identify tonight. But we pick it up at verse 28 of John chapter 18, listen to this, early in the morning Jesus was taken to Chaiaphas' house to the Governor's Palace. The Jewish authorities did not go inside the palace for they wanted to keep themselves richly clean in order to be able to eat the Passover meal. So Pilate went outside to them and asked, "What do you accuse this man of?" Their answer was, "We would not have brought him to you if he'd not committed a crime." And Pilate said to them, "Then ye yourselves take him and try and accord him to your own law." And they replied, "We're not allowed to put anyone to death." That's kind of a sinister comment, isn't it? Like, they kind of knowing what the outcome is going to be already. This happened in order to make the words of Jesus come true, the words he used to indicate the kind of death he would die. Pilate went back into the palace and called Jesus. "Are you the king of the Jews?" he asked. Jesus answered, "Does this question come from you or have others told you about me?" And Pilate replied, "Do you think I'm a Jew? It was your own people and the chief priests who handed you over to me. What have you done?" Jesus said, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities." No, my kingdom does not belong here. So Pilate asked him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I'm a king. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me." And then this famous quote, "And what is truth?" Pilate asked. And then Pilate went back outside of the people and said to them, "I cannot find any reason to condemn him." So we're going to impact this intriguing encounter between Jesus and Pilate in these coming moments. Would you join me in a word of prayer? Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You. We praise You for the opportunity we have tonight in the setting of freedom to celebrate the truth with no fear of persecution, with no fear of antagonism. May we always treasure the freedom we have in this land, may we never abuse it, may we never do anything but honor it and maximize it for the purposes of your kingdom and for our own self-actualization in you. And so will please be with us in these remaining moments of the service tonight. Give us clarity and an openness of heart and mind and may our ears be wide open as we look at this powerful theme of what it means to be people of the truth, people who worship the one who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life," through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen. Guys, I want you to think for a bit about moments of freedom in your life. It might have been your own personal example of freedom or something you've observed. I mean, think of the moments when you've felt a tremendous sense of freedom. I'll give you an example, like when you first drove a car on your own, you know, you had all the lessons and you haven't got dad or mum or somebody sitting next to you saying, "Oh, don't do that." Well, what's this? Hey, what are you doing? No, what's the lane change? You're just there on your own, just you. Some of you know, I'm a bit of a car buff, I love cars always have the opportunity to drive some exotic cars, thanks to some Northside members over the years. If you have one, you'd like me to -- I'm coming up the Northside Stig. If you'd like me to road test your vehicle, I'd be very happy to. And I remember my first car, which my dad helped me buy from a next door neighbour, who was a wrecker, was an FJ Holden, very, very common in my era to have an FJ Holden. And so my first night, I remember I was living in Perth and I had to go to the Kent Street High School in South Perth, I was doing some night classes there. And it was almost like a sort of a formal occasion. My mum and dad stood on the veranda of our house in Apple Cross and they kind of waved goodbyes. I went down the street, you know, first drive in the FJ Holden, having just got my licence. Well, sadly, I was back in one and a half hours with that car on the back of a tow truck. Can you believe that? Because what had happened was, as I was turning right into the high school there in Kent Street, it was a wet night. Remember that? Very wet night. And I remember not hearing a sound because the road was slippery, but just seeing in my rear vision mirror a guy hurtling toward me. And he wack me in the rear so hard that it pushed my knee when I pushed the gear stick, which was a column shift, pushed in the neutral car, started to go across the intersection. My head somehow became wedged in the big steering wheelies to have in those days. And it was pretty good. And the whole back of the car had to be taken away. This panel bit of guy said, "I've got the answer." He said, "The backs are right off." He said, "But I've got another FJ Holden. We can weld the back of that." Very illegal today. But apparently quite legal in Perth in those days. So I had a two-part FJ Holden for a couple of years, which was pretty scary. But what about the time that you went on holidays for the first time? Was that a sense of real freedom for you? Or maybe when you moved out of home, got into your first flat or whatever? You know, just those moments of freedom. Wow. It's a great feeling. Historically, I can remember many moments of freedom in my lifetime to that come to mind particularly, the first one would have to be on November the 9th, 1989, when the Berlin Wall was broken down. And some of you weren't even born. I know that. But can you imagine a situation where a major world city for 28 years had a wall straight through the center of it, straight through the center of it? And it separated the East German Communist area from the Western Democratic area of Berlin. For 28 years. And largely thanks to the efforts of President Ronald Reagan at the time who made that famous declaration to President Gorbachev, Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall. And on that day, November the 9th, 1989, they took the picks and the jackhammers and the sledges to that wall and people started to move across between the two sections. It was the beginning of the reunification of Germany, an amazing moment. I had a friend who had escaped from East Germany, one of the very few who had successfully made an escape. Her name was Nicole. And she told me that growing up as a girl, their side of the wall would be pretty much in darkness, the Communist way of life, but we were told in those days as being the ultimate answer to all of man's problems was anything but that. And she said we could see the glow of the lights from West Berlin and we could hear the laughter, we could hear the singing on Saturday nights, we could hear the parties. And that life was very different to what we were experiencing. And then of course, another day was February the 11th, 1990, when after 27 years, Nelson Mandela walked free and all of the international media gathered. And if you were around in those days, you'll know that that was on every newscast, billions of people watched that as the great man walked free after 27 years and went on to become one of the finest statesmen of our era. Guys, freedom is a treasured human value. And the desire for freedom is basic, it's a basic craving within every, within the heart and soul of every person of sound mind. However, there's a big however, one of the main objections, one of the main roadblocks when people look at Christianity is the belief that it severely restricts one's freedom. Would you agree? One of the big objections that some of your friends have, many of my friends have. People say, "Oh, there's too many thou shalt not, too many commandments, too many laws." And of course, some people can look back on a, on a childhood when they grew up particularly, or maybe in a particular school system where they were beaten up with guilt and humiliated because they couldn't keep all the, all the laws, they were subjected to punishment and so on. So this aspect, a real, a real turn off to them. And look, sometimes we've got to be honest, look, sometimes the church has contributed to this, to this perception, with its excessive emphasis on, on legalism and condemnation. And how are we doing, Michael? Are we okay? A few little puffs. Everybody relaxed? Okay? I'm okay. I mean, if you're, if you can put your hand up if it's getting too much for you and we'll do something about it, you know, we spend a lot of time telling the society what we're against, but we probably don't tell our world, or don't spend nearly enough time telling our world what we're for, we're for families, we're for vision, we're for justice. Ultimately, we're for social transformation, that's not the prerogative of the federal government. That's what the, the Church of Jesus Christ is all about. Now the reality is this Christianity does involve commandments. It does. Christianity does involve commandments. Oh, can we go a little bit further loop before, because it's, it's pretty hard if I have to keep, but will you stand by, like, perhaps right there, be good. Okay, you go back and see that, I'll let you know. If we can persist a little bit, Michael, because it's much better if I can have the freedom with this hand. The reality is, yeah, you know, at all times, look, Christianity does involve, look, it does involve commandments, and Christians do have strong convictions which revolve around the notion of absolute truth. We really do. In fact, Christians believe in truth, and the life of a disciple is essentially about responding to that truth. It's about being committed to that truth, and it's not just about rules and regulations. As much as it's about a relationship, a relationship with the one who said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Now, of course, this is controversial. It's even offensive to many, because in today's postmodern Western society, the big question is what is truth as Kirsty pointed out in a beautiful introduction to my message. I was getting very nervous, because she looked like she was stealing my thunder there at one stage. I mean, this is where Pilate, Pilate was way ahead of his time, long before it was fashionable and cool to be postmodern. He was postmodern. Yeah. What is truth? Hey, maybe we'll go with that, is this getting too much, maybe we'll go with that? Okay, and if I drop the Bible or the microphone, depending on which comes first, you'll understand, this is where Pilate was way ahead of his time. Look at verse 38 of chapter 18, "What is truth?" Guys, that's the question. That is the question of the modern era. What is truth? Because oh, look at this, guys, how innovative is this? Look at this, will you? Can we? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Look, let's... Graham Agnew plays love songs for you, all right, we could make that a CD, hey. You know, gosh, for sure. Guys, a handful, Luke, come on, that was, I mean, that's, I mean, that's just, Michael, you'd be proud of that when you made it, that happened at one of your venues. Guys his pilot, look, he's way ahead of his time because look, today there are no absolutes, no fixed points on the moral compass anymore. That's the way it is. A person's truth is whatever is true for them. That's how it is. And the moral code of many people is, if it sounds good, try it. If it looks good, take it. If it feels good, do it. And that's about where their moral boundaries begin and end. Such a person believes they are in control of their own destiny. Their answer will only to themselves. That is life in postmodern Australia and postmodern Western world, particularly among the people who many of you, the age group, who many of you represent tonight. It's reflected in so many of our social problems, binge drinking being one of them. In an extreme way, that's how it was with Pontius Pilate, answerable only to himself. I mean, he was in control. He was Rome's number one man in the region. What he said went, very powerful man, and all of a sudden Jesus enters the scene. All of a sudden Jesus Christ enters the world of this man who thought he was in control. And from that moment, Pilate's control of the situation starts to rapidly disappear. And there's incredible tension in the air, you can feel it as you read this passage. You get a sense of Pilate's increasing uneasiness. Verse 31, you take him and you try him according to your own law, you try to get rid of him. Are you the king of the Jews? Verse 33, Jesus reply, does this question come from you or have others told you about me? This is a sort of a prison that Pilate has not encountered ever before. And verse 36, my kingdom is not of this world. And then the real tension comes in chapter 19, the next chapter over from where we were reading chapter 19, verse 8 and following. Listen to this, when Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid. Here's the man in control, and all of a sudden he's terrified. He went back into the palace and he asked Jesus, where did he come from? Jesus did not answer, this is powerful, so much tension. Pilate said to him, you will not speak to me, remember I have the authority to set you free and also the authority to have you crucified, try that one on. Jesus answered, you have authority over me only because it was given to you by God. So the man who handed me over to you is guilty of a worse sin. When Pilate heard this, he tried to find a way to set Jesus free, but the crowd shouted back, if you set him free, that means you are not the emperor's friend. Anyone who claims to be a king is a rebel against the emperor. Oh, get a sense of the tension, guys. What was Pilate's problem with Jesus? How is he so unnerved? Very simple. It became very clear Jesus was in charge of this little encounter. Jesus was the one who claimed to be a king. Jesus claimed to have absolute moral authority, verse 37. I was born and came into the world for this one purpose, to speak about the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth listens to me. I believe Pilate was under conviction. His only way to deal with it in the end was to wash his hands of it, the symbolic rinsing of his hands. I'm going to have nothing to do with this, didn't work. As one who had lived a very self-centred, hedonistic, pleasure-filled life, he was now in the presence of moral purity, and he couldn't handle it, and very few people can, if you haven't got Jesus batting for you in that setting. A smart man like Pilate should have known, should have known, freedom is never without its restrictions. I mean, he should have known that. That's a truism of life. Freedom is never without its restrictions. Look at Australia. It's one of the freest countries in the world, democracy reigns here, but look at our laws. Look at our property laws. Look at our criminal laws. Look at our road laws. Look at our parking laws. They were trying to park at the airport lately. I had this incredible experience at the airport just recently. I was there to pick up Bev, and I did a very naughty thing. I parked in a little section of roadway next to the fence opposite Krispy Kreme. You know the area? Just waiting a little while, her plane was due at any moment, and I was listening to Phil Collins. I had it up probably a little bit louder than what I should have, just some phenomenal drumming there, and kind of a little crowd started together, and they're looking directly at me, and I don't know what, there's about three or four people, and they're munching on their Krispy Kreme donuts, and looking my way, and it was so, like, it was obvious there was, like, was it the music, or what was it? And then between the tracks, I hear this doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, and there's a federal police officer in a vehicle next to me, just about to get out, and I don't know what, strangle it or something, because he'd been there apparently for during the whole track of the last song, telling me to get out of this area, but I couldn't hear him with the sound up, so look, if you passed at that point and wonder what I was doing there, I'm really sorry for setting such a bad example. I was not good, I should have succumbed to the temptation, got a Krispy Kreme, had over and done with, and, you know, just kind of parked over there, so I should have done. Because why are there so many laws in a country where there's supposed to be such freedom, is to protect the freedoms of everybody, you know, is to get some order into the place. That's the reason, to protect everybody's rights and freedoms. That's what constitutes an enlightened, civilized society. No freedom is ever without its restrictions, and look, here's the thing. From a Christian perspective, freedom is not the absence of restrictions. It's about finding and applying the right restrictions. Now, those of you in connection groups, that's going to be at the heart of this week's study, and you're going to have a lot of fun, I'm sure, unpacking that and speaking into that, that's the centerpiece of this week's study. Okay, it's powerful thought. Look, the best way to, I think, illustrate this is in the context of marriage. Okay, I mean, would you agree with me? That's one of the most binding relationships. Okay, if it's entered into properly, that is a binding relationship. Are there restrictions? Yes. You go from being available to being committed to one. You go from what do I want to do to what should we be doing. You go from how do I want to spend my money to how should we be best investing now and for the future, our money? I mean, in a healthy marriage, this is not restrictive. This is very liberating. Why? Because you're with the person you want to be with. Your life is being enriched by that relationship. You've found and you are applying the right restrictions. I've been married 40 years this year. My wife Bed was on the platform this morning talking about grandparenting. I never thought I'd be talking about grandparenting, but that's where I am. 40 years. Has my life been enriched by that lovely lady? Absolutely. Am I a better person today because of that 40-year relationship? Absolutely. Has it been in many ways? Having to think about the other and setting up some boundaries and being a little bit richer? Absolutely. But what that person, what that lady has contributed to my life through her support, through her affirmations, through her encouragement, through her love has been incredible. I suppose the people say, "Oh, I gave up a lot to get married. I gave up a promising career and all the girls were so disappointed with them. I knew I was no longer available. I gave up so much." Well, gosh, I know that scene, but guys, that's not a healthy marriage. You gain so much in that restrictive relationship, but which leads to you being fulfilled. And so that leads me to say this. True freedom. And that's what we all want, isn't it? I mean, that's what any thinking person wants. True freedom. True freedom is not so much about doing what I want when I want. True freedom is about becoming the person God intends me to be. Now, that sounds a bit boring. If that sounds a bit too idealistic, let me introduce you to someone, and I've met many of them over the years, let me introduce you to someone who's exercised their freedom without restrictions. Chances are they've already fallen into addiction of some kind or other. Chances are they've already found life to be pretty shallow. Chances are they're talking to me as a pastor or to a counselor because they're looking for something beyond the superficial. I've seen it so many times. People are just trying to, overall, the restrictions have just gone for a train wreck. Whereas, let me introduce you to someone, and there are stacks of them here tonight. Let me introduce you to someone who's finding satisfaction in service, who's finding meaning in mission, who's finding self-esteem in surrender, who's finding fulfillment in faith. Some of them have lived the alternative lifestyle. Some of the people I'm talking about tonight, they've lived the alternative, that selfless, self-centered way, but they've made the switch. We've heard some of their stories over the years. They've made the switch, and now they're discovering freedom as never before. They, like countless millions of people around the world, have discovered the power and the reality of John 8, 31, and 32. Look at this. Jesus said to those who believed in Him, and it's a question of belief. I've got to accept this. If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Yes, it's a paradox and a parent contradiction. The surrender and obedience can lead to freedom and liberation. It's a paradox, but guys, all I can say is that's what's on offer tonight. That's what's on offer tonight, and every time the gospel is presented, it requires faith, it requires trust, and you're never too sure exactly how it's going to work out. In that sense, it's kind of a bit like marriage. In the end, it's finding and applying the right restrictions, the restrictions that lead to life. Life in all its fullness. Do you know that tonight? Has God spoken to you tonight about the difference between between restrictions, healthy restrictions, and freedom without restraints? There's a huge difference. Jesus Christ said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the life." Those who believe in him are ushered into freedom like never before. It does involve restrictions, but they're the right restrictions. When applied by the power of His Holy Spirit, they lead to life like nowhere.