The Truth About Lies
Practicing the Way series · What you believe, you will become
What is truth?
I was planning to preach on Sabbath this past Sunday. Then I watched the news, and I changed my mind. Or maybe God did.
It's hard not to notice the evil in the world right now: war, injustice, corruption, the abuse of the vulnerable. The Epstein files aren't just in the headlines anymore; they've become part of our collective consciousness. And we learned, again, that politicians don't always keep their promises. (Big surprise.)
Here's the rule in the Kingdom of God: if you abuse the vulnerable, it doesn't matter whether you carry a Bible or a party card, Republican or Democrat, prince or president. The ends never justify the means.
On top of that, I can't trust what I hear anymore. In the age of AI, I can't even trust what I see. We are the most informed generation in history and maybe the most confused. More data, less discernment.
The man who sentenced Jesus asked the most important question in human history:
"You are a king, then!" said Pilate. Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." "What is truth?" retorted Pilate. (John 18:37–38, NIV)
Truth was standing three feet away from Pilate, and he walked out of the room. That's our terror too. We keep walking out. But there is a North Star, and we can come back to it.
The burrito incident
Evil is easy to spot out there: war, corruption, award-show performances, people wearing Crocs to church. And I'm pretty good at pointing fingers from the sidelines. But something disturbed me to my core this week.
I was at home with a carne asada burrito roughly the size of a newborn, plus chips. Toto, my poodle–Italian greyhound, let out a dramatic bark. I turned to check on him. In that split second, Kora, my Belgian Malinois, swooped in and ran off with my whole burrito. I chased her around the house. By the time I caught her, she had inhaled it. When I got back to the table, Toto was finishing off the Lord's chips.
Write this down, because it's on the test: distract, then steal.
Rage filled my heart. I said words that are not in the NIV. In that moment I realized how unlike Christ I actually was. And it wasn't just the burrito. It was the whole week: the lust, the jockeying for position, the greed, the anger. In me.
The Holy Spirit showed me I should be more concerned with the evil inside me than with the evil out there. Jesus said it first:
"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? … You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:3–5, NIV)
Not a splinter. A Home Depot plank. The enemy comes after us two ways: through the flesh and through the mind. If he can't get us in the body, he'll get us in what we believe.
Believers who couldn't hear
In John 8, Jesus isn't talking to skeptics. He's talking to people who believed him. Church people. People like me.
"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31–32, NIV)
Their first response? "We are Abraham's descendants and have never been slaves of anyone." Egypt, Babylon, and Rome would like a word. The first thing out of their mouths was a lie about themselves.
Then Jesus goes deeper. They have "no room for my word" (v. 37). They aren't empty; they're full of the wrong voice:
"You belong to your father, the devil… He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies." (John 8:44, NIV)
Notice that the murderer and the liar travel together. The lie comes first; the murder follows. Earlier in the same chapter Jesus says, "I am the light of the world" (v. 12). Two fathers are speaking: the father of lies and the Light of the World.
The chapter ends with Jesus saying, "Before Abraham was born, I am!" That's the burning-bush name of God. And they picked up stones to kill him. These serious, devoted, religious people went from believing to stoning in 28 verses. They had the Law in their hands and the Light standing in front of them, and they chose the system over the Savior. Religion became the vehicle for evil.
What if they had put down the stones and chosen discipleship over knowledge? That's the invitation still: relationship, not religion.
It works both ways
Now let's come at this from the opposite angle: the prosperity gospel. Its favorite passage is in red letters:
"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them… And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them." (Mark 11:22–25, NIV)
We've turned this into The Secret with a cross necklace. Name it, claim it, blab it, grab it, here's your Lexus. But look at the frame: it starts with faith in God and ends with forgive. And it sits right next to the fig tree, a story about bearing fruit. Jesus is describing disciples whose hearts look like his.
Still, there's a real spiritual principle here: perceive it, believe it, declare it, and it comes to pass.
Now slow down, because it works in both directions. If what we perceive is a lie from the enemy, and we accept it, believe it, and get comfortable with it, we manifest the lie. We manifest death. James lays out the devil's manifestation process:
"Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights." (James 1:14–17, NIV)
Two fathers again: lies and lights. It started in the garden: "Did God really say…?" and "You will not certainly die" (Genesis 3:1, 4). Perceive, believe, declare. Wrong father.
The garden. The temple. Your newsfeed. Your mirror. Same liar, same lie. Whatever lie you believe, you will live.
Practicing the way of truth: catch it, check it, change it
Catch it. "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Remember the drama bark: distract, then steal. The burrito he's after is your peace, your marriage, your kids.
Check it. "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right… think about such things" (Philippians 4:8). Check it before you share it, post it, repeat it, or rehearse it in your head at 2 a.m.
Change it. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us" (1 John 1:8–9). Confession is how the lie loses its grip. Then declare the truth out loud, and "be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).
Try this this week: Write down one lie you've been believing. Next to it, write what Jesus says. Say it out loud every morning.
Truth has a name
Pilate asked the wrong question. It was never what is truth. It's who.
"I am the way and the truth and the life." (John 14:6, NIV)
Truth is not a what. Truth is a Who. In a world where you can't trust what you hear or see, you can trust his voice and his face. He isn't fake. So don't walk out of the room like Pilate. Stay.
"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free… So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (John 8:32, 36, NIV)
Leave the lie. Take the Truth.
This message is part of our Practicing the Way series. Join us Sundays at 10 AM in Claremont. Bring a friend, and maybe guard your burrito.
