What Is Truth?Sample

You’ve Heard It Said …

Exercising our discernment is super valuable. In fact, King Solomon, one of the wisest people to walk the earth, describes seeking discernment and understanding as the wisest thing a person can do. So, let’s get super practical today and examine some “cultural truths” in light of the truth. 

Jesus (the Truth) was constantly flipping cultural ideas upside down. The Sermon on the Mount is, in large part, a collection of Jesus’ corrections of our misconceptions about what it looks like to live truly as people under God. For example, Matthew records Jesus speaking:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you …” Matthew 5:43-44 NIV 

You’ve heard it said … but I say. Where do we need to be applying these words, this test, to our lives today?

Maybe you’ve heard it said that we should do whatever makes us happy. Sounds pretty good, right? Like God cares about me so I should do whatever makes me happy. But here’s the thing, Jesus never said “do what makes you happy”; He commands us to be holy like He is holy. He honestly prepares us by saying that in this world, we will experience trouble, but we can take heart because He has overcome the world. Our story has a happy ending, but if Jesus always did what made Him happy, He would never have subjected Himself to a torturous death on the cross and we would be without hope. So, the truth is that we aren’t called to fulfill our own sense of happiness, we are called to pursue an identity of holiness.

Here’s another one. You’ve probably heard it said that you need to look out for number one; that you should do whatever it takes to put yourself ahead. Again, you may be tempted to buy into this mentality. After all, God helps those who help themselves, right? Actually, Jesus and His closest followers continually challenge us with the exact opposite idea. Peter says:

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 1 Peter 5:6 NLT

And Paul writes:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:3-4 NIV

So the truth is that life is not about us and putting ourselves ahead; living truly looks like trusting God and treating others with genuine humility.  

Based on these examples, we see that when our understanding of truth is firmly grounded in the person of Jesus, we can hold up any cultural ideas to the light of who He is and confidently embrace what lines up and reject what does not. Knowing the Truth, knowing Jesus, sets us free to live with a special assurance in a world that’s still asking Pilate’s age-old question: What is truth?