This transcript has been automatically generated, and therefore may not be 100% accurate.

Turn it. Thank you so much. Well, good evening. If we've not met before, my name is Hugh. Thank you for being here this evening.

Now, over the last few weeks, we've been doing a thematic Bible teaching series called distinctives. We've been looking at things which make the christian message different from the world around us and other messages that we might hear. And we're thinking tonight about how Jesus brings certainty in a world where everything's relative. And the title comes from a book that was written in the year 2024 years ago. I can remember when it came out, and that makes me feel a little bit old, like, gosh, I remember when that came out, and that's 24 years ago.

But 24 years ago, I think truth was a little more relative. Ideas were discussed and debated. Truth was plural, and that was okay. Generally speaking. Ideas were held less dogmatically and perhaps with a little more humility.

But I think something's changed in the last ten years or so. You might blame social media. You might blame the kind of 24/7 soundbite news recording where everything just has to be limited to short soundbites. You might blame millennials. Perhaps that's just the world that we live in now.

But today, I think ideas and beliefs are increasingly polarised, and tribal people have never been more certain about some of the things they believe, or at least the things that they don't believe. Many people are absolutely certain of the truth while holding completely opposite views from their next door neighbours. It's weird, isn't it? We can be really certain of things we believe in, and yet we know there's people down the road, opposite the street in our family who believe completely opposite things to us. So how do I know what's true at all?

What is truth? How do I know what's true? And it's really hard because there are so many competing voices out there trying to tell us different versions of the truth. Is this image real or has it been photoshopped? Has it been AI generated?

How do I know if what I'm seeing in front of me is really real? How can I know it's true? Is this politician telling me the truth? What stats are they using? Who are they lobbying on behalf of?

I spoke to one member of our church family last week and said, the Lib Dem bar charts are back and I'm going to have to get my ruler out to cheque what size they are. How can I know the information I'm presented with is true? Can we trust experts? What even is an expert? Who gets to define what an expert is.

Is this influencer real? Are they really having a good time? Or do they really love this product? Or is this just a paid promotion? How do I know what I read on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok is real?

Am I being manipulated? Is this a bot? How do I know? How do I know what's true? And the birth of the Internet and the rise of social media.

The growth of new independent media has done at least two amazing things. On the one hand, the news has been democratised, if you like. No longer do we rely on a few outlets to tell us the news. But all sorts of ideas and opinions and reporting can be brought into the open, as it were, a marketplace of ideas. And notwithstanding the potential for truth and error and fake news to come into that, that's kind of a good thing.

And at the same time, despite the marketplace being opened up to all sorts of ideas, we're far more locked into our own bubbles and echo chambers than we might realise that. We choose who we follow. We choose which paper to read, which radio station to listen to, which influencer to follow. And far more than we realise is chosen for us by the algorithms, surveillance. Capitalism tracks our clicks.

And every purchase we make ready to offer us the next must have purchase. Russian bot farms amplify extreme political and cultural views to both enrage us and excite us. How do I know what's true? But think of that question in a broader sense. How do I know what's true?

I mean, how can I ever come to know anything at all? You see, for some, it's all about materialism. What's true are the things that I can see and touch, that matter is what matters. For others, it's about what you might call empiricism. Can I observe something?

Can I show something by experiment? Truth is found in the lab and the textbook. For others, it's all about that, rationalism. Can I prove by truth, by logic and reason. Truth has to make sense.

And we all like a framework, a framework with which to put our ideas and truth into. Truth is true if it fits inside my box, if I can make sense of it. But, you see, whether it's the echo chamber of ideas that we surround ourselves with, or, if you like, the self constrained logic box, where we can only determine what's true by our own rules that we create, what we really need is external truth, truth from the outside, whether it's our bubble or our box that we build around ourselves, we really need truth from the outside, truth that sees the whole picture truth that sees both sides of the argument, that sees the beginning and the end, that shines lights into the darkness. What we need is revelation. Truth from outside ourselves, truth that comes into the bubble and brings light, brings meaning, brings understanding.

You see, every other system of knowledge is about humans seeking and searching to discern truth from error, while clouded by all sorts of limitations and bias in our own thinking. But revelation is different. Revelation is knowledge from beyond ourselves, truth from outside the box, wisdom from above. And that's how John begins his gospel. Remember how John begins his gospel?

Flip back if you want to. John chapter one. In the beginning was the word. In the beginning was the word. This word, this idea, this wisdom, this true word from God.

In the beginning, there was something external to us, an external, eternal word. He was there. John goes on. He says, the true light that gives light to everyone was coming to the world. He's talking about light coming from outside into the world to shine into our darkness.

He goes even further. Verse 14. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. That eternal external word came to live with us. That's revelation.

Light, truth, a word coming from outside of us into our world, to live among us, to speak to us. You see, John doesn't begin his gospel with the birth of Jesus. Rather, he begins with the birth of the universe. And we're told, before the universe, before the universe was born, there was light, light shining in the darkness. There was the word, God's wisdom, God's truth and life, God father, son and spirit, living and loving in community.

This word is light. This word is life. This word is God's love.

One religious author and commentator called Elizabeth Oldfield puts it like this. She says, there's a logic of love in the universe. There's a logic of love in the universe. There's a truth, there's a word, there's a logic that guides this universe, and it's love. And we see in John chapter one that that love, that word is a person.

You see, when we read John chapter 14, flip back to John chapter 14, our reading there, and especially the most famous verse there, verse six, Jesus answers, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me. When we read that, it might feel a little bit uncomfortable. It certainly feels uncomfortable to the world around us. But why uncomfortable?

Because it feels so arrogant, so sure, so certain, so exclusive. You know, if I said to you, find your own truth, make your own destiny, enjoy life, I'd be celebrated. That virtue would be celebrated because it allows us to carry on in our own bubbles, living life according to our truths.

But I'm nevertheless making bold, assertive claims about the nature of truth and life, just as Jesus does here. So what should we make of Jesus claims here? The distinctive claims about truth, not only to know the truth, but that the he is the truth. He said, I am the truth, not just I know the truth. Come to me and ask me what the truth is.

I am the truth. And this isn't only a radical claim over other religions and cultures. Jesus says, I'm the only way to the father. But it's a totalizing truth claim, if you like. It covers all kinds of truths.

It covers the way we understand any kind of truth at all. You see, what he's saying here is that we know truth ultimately, not by logic or by reason, not by observation or by proof, not by popular opinion or expert testimony. Rather, we know the truth by knowing a person, by the revelation of Jesus, that eternal word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. And this truth is its personal truth, its relational truth, its embodied truth. This truth is in Jesus Christ.

Well, lets break down those three claims that he makes in that verse. And I think we see echoes of John chapter one here.

It says, I am the way and the truth and the life. I am the way. Jesus says that literally, he's the road. He's the one to follow. He is the journey of life.

And to life, you might think, well, where does this way lead? Where does this road go? Well, he tells us at the end of the verse, doesn't he? No one comes to the father except through me. He is the way to the father.

He's the way to God. It sounds arrogant, doesn't it? Who can claim to know the way to God, the way to life? Sometimes way in the Bible is used also as a way of talking about Christian living the way to live the best life.

Well, only someone who's been to the destination, only someone from outside of the journey who's taken a step back and can see the beginning and the end. Only someone like that can speak with clarity and certainty about the destination. Only truth from outside that's been revealed that has come in can ever shed any light on these big questions. And to be the way is also to be the light. John picks that up in chapter one lot.

To be the way is to be like a lighthouse, directing the path, showing the destination, shining on the path ahead. A light that helps people to believe, that shows them the truth. Jesus says, I'm the way to the father, and only someone who knows the father and sees the beginning and the end. Can possibly say that?

Then he says, I am the truth.

He is the truth. Not that. Just he knows what the truth is. He is the truth. And in John chapter one, he's called the word, the logos, the true word, the source of all reason and logic.

Divine wisdom embodied.

If I want to make sense of the world, if I want to understand who I am and what life is, and to start discerning what's really true in the world, then they need to come first to the source of truth, the one who brings God's wisdom, his divine revelation, and he brings this truth into a confused and confusing world.

That's the context of where Jesus first speaks these words, isn't it? His disciples are unsure. I'm not even sure if this point, they're really clear about who Jesus is and why he's come. And they're certainly confused about what Jesus is going to do next. Jesus knows their hearts are troubled.

They're unsure about what the future holds. He's talked about his death, but what does that mean? What's going to happen?

Where will they be left? You see this truth that Jesus embodied, it's not just a head knowledge. It's something to the heart. It's words by which Jesus comforts his disciples. These are words of peace and hope, words to guide people who are unsettled, who are unsure.

Jesus isn't saying, I'm the truth so that we can be really dogmatic about that, saying that because his disciples are worried, his friends are unsure. He says these words to bring comfort. Friends, if you look out at the world and you feel confused, unsure about what the future holds, these words are for you, not as a rallying cry. Jesus is the truth? No, but that you might know in your hearts when all the world around you feels like it's falling apart, when the future seems so uncertain, jesus says, no, I'm the way.

I'm the truth. I'm the life. These are words to his friends to bring comfort. Third thing he says, I'm the life. You see, truth isn't just something for our brains, it's something for us to live out.

Jesus says in John, chapter eight, the truth will set you free. To live in the truth or to live in the light is a picture of living God's way, a holy and wise life. And that way of living that life, both now and for eternity, is only found in Jesus Christ. And that's probably the area where we hit, where we will hear most other competing voices, most other counter truth claims your best life is. Well, what you know, the things that you're told, what your best life is.

Your best life is the house, it's the car, it's the job promotion, it's the perfect relationship, it's the beach body for the perfect holiday. It's all the gadgets you could ever want. It's the perfect social life, it's the best food, your best life is. It's all those things the world tries to sell us.

Jesus says, your best life is me. I'm the way, I'm the truth. I'm the life everyone else wants to sell you. The best life. But Jesus comes to give you his life.

The only life that's really real, the only life that carries into eternity, the only life that really makes sense to the world because it's life from above. It's life from outside the box. It's life that's seen the beginning and the end. It's life that really knows what's true.

But if truth is a person, how can I really know it or know him? You see, in my media echo chamber, I'll get to know everything about people like me and the way they think. I'll get to know about their hopes, their dreams, their fears. And if I step outside for a little bit, I might begin to have a little bit more empathy for the hopes of others.

In my knowledge bunker, if you like, I can examine the world within its boundaries. I can do maths and physics, geology and philosophy. I can even do a bit of theology. And within those bounds, I can learn lots about the world in which we live.

But what if Elizabeth Oldfield is right where she says, there's a logic of love in the universe, that that guiding principle is not a mathematical logic but a relational logic. How do we work that out? And what if Jesus is right when he says, I am the way, the truth and the life? How do we find and follow him? Well, listen for a moment what Elizabeth Oldfield says in full.

Timothy, can we get that picture up, please?

Here's the full quote from a recent kind of interview she did. It says this. The way you pay attention changes what you are able to see. Ritualised, communal, emotional, embodied forms of practise, literally make it easier for you to see what is really there. I think God is really there.

I think there is a logic of love in the universe that wants to meet us.

I guess what she's saying is, if you want to know philosophical truth, then study philosophy. If you want formal proofs and logic, do some maths. If you want to know about forces and matter, then do physics. But what if you want to know truth? Truth from beyond the box, truth from beyond your little bubble, truth from the.

Beyond the box that we see as the world today. What about truth from beyond? Truth from above? Revelation? How do we get to know that?

And she says this. Well, if the logic of the universe is love, if real truth is embodied, then try church.

Try church. That's what she's saying, that little bit there, where she talks about ritualised, communal, emotional, embodied forms of practise. She's talking about church, she's talking about doing life together, doing community, doing. She calls it ritualised, we call it doing church services together.

You see, she said, if you're only paying attention to matter and forces and maths, you'll only see a very narrow logic in the world. But if you try church, if you immerse yourself in a community, a community of love, then you start to see that truth that's at the very heart of the universe.

You start to see and experience that logic of love. Does that make sense? If at the heart of the universe, if the real truth is community, father, son and Holy Spirit is love is a logic, a word that speaks not just maths, but speaks love, if you want to see that and experience that, then immerse yourself in that type of community. If you want to see the big picture at the heart of the universe, then live in that type of community. Now, you see, I can't tell you who to vote for.

I can't tell you whether to believe the news that you're here. I can't even promise you that. When you open up your bible, you will find immediate answers to every question that you've got. But what I can promise you, because it's Jesus, promise that in him you will find a truth more real and more true than anything you know. You'll find in him a way to live that is intellectually and emotionally satisfying.

And you'll find life as it's always been meant to live, a freedom and a fullness that is both energising and liberating. And here's the crazy thing. If you want to know Jesus, if you want to experience this life, then come and hang out with his people. Try church. Live out this truth which is unlike any other personal, relational, embodied in Jesus.

When we were setting up for tonight, we recognised that a lot of people were going to be away tonight. We thought, oh, let's do it small. I was so pleased. It's much bigger than I thought. It was going to be tonight, so thank you for being here.

But that's what the writers said. They said, don't give up meeting together. Keep at it, even when it's hard, even when it's sunny outside and the sports on. Just keep coming and doing church. Why?

Because as we do church, we are enjoying and experiencing something that's at the very heart of the universe. That logic of love, that loving community. One day we will enjoy that without any barriers, without any uncertainties. One day we'll see Jesus face to face, and we will enjoy that life together forever. But for now, let's keep knowing him, enjoying him, sharing him with one another, that we might know the real truth at the heart of the universe.

Amen.