"Speak Your Truth" | The Bible Doesn't Say That | Trinity Sermons

Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of

Trinity Sermons. This week we're continuing our

sermon series called The Bible Doesn't Say That,

where we look at some of those things that sound

spiritual but aren't actually scriptural. Speak

your truth. But what is truth? And is there such

a thing as an absolute truth, or is it all just

based on our own personal perspectives and desires?

Someone actually asked Jesus, what is truth?

And so in today's sermon, Rob is going to share

with us how Jesus responds to this question and

why it matters to us. Today's reading is from

the Gospel of John, chapter 18, verses 36 to

John 18:36–38

38. Jesus said, My kingdom is not of this world.

If it were, my servants would fight to prevent

my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom

is from another place. 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

this world is to testify to the truth. Everyone

on the side of truth listens to me. What is truth,

retorted Pilate? The word of the Lord. We are

going to be carrying on a teaching series that

we began called The Bible Doesn't Say That. You

know, we've been doing this for eight weeks now.

We have one more week to go. And what we've been

doing is looking at some of those catchy, you

know, band -aid phrases that people always say

that seem so comforting and seem so nice. You

know, things like God helps those who help themselves

or just follow your heart or this too shall pass.

You know, we say all these things. It sounds

like they're from the Bible. But what we've learned,

in fact, is that the Bible doesn't say that.

doesn't say that. And today we're going to talk

about this phrase. It's one we've all heard and

maybe it's a phrase you yourself have spoken.

And the phrase is this, speak your truth. Or

sometimes it comes out as speak your own truth

or live your truth or something like that. It's

a very noble sounding statement. It sounds very

like, sounds like something you might actually

find in the Bible. But the truth is the origin

of this phrase isn't from the Bible, but I think

it's actually dates back to Oprah Winfrey. Oprah

Winfrey, that's right. In 2018, during the Golden

Globe Awards, Oprah Winfrey took to the stage

and made a speech. Now, mind you, this was during

the Me Too movement. And when she got up to the

stage, she said, what I know for sure is that

speaking your truth is the most powerful tool

we all have. Now, to be fair, Oprah was talking

about women. who had suffered abuse and were

courageously stepping forward to tell their stories.

And in that context, her words were actually

very bold and meaningful and much needed. But

that phrase, speak your truth, it didn't quite

stay in that lane. And over time, speaking your

truth actually became this cultural mantra that

says that actually each of us gets to define

what reality is and that no one has the right

to question what we feel is right and what we

believe is true. So for example, to speak your

truth often implies that truth is a personal

thing. It's not universal. And therefore, your

lived experience cannot be challenged by another

person because it's your truth. And if it's true

for you, you know, who are you to challenge that

truth? And therefore, even to disagree with someone

about what they deem to be the truth is seen

as disrespect because it is so personal. That

truth is so personally held by that person. So

disagreement is almost off the table. When you

hear people say it today, though, it may not

come out just as someone saying, you know, speak

your truth. It may come out more like this, that

that's true for you, but it's not true for me.

Or only you can decide what's right for you.

Or don't impose your beliefs on others. Or who

are you to say what is true for someone else?

So what started out as this courageous call for

honesty morphed into this really complex idea

of what constitutes truth. On the one hand, there

is something we might call absolute truth, right?

Which is this idea that truth is objective, it's

universal, it's exclusive to all people, all

times, and in all places. On the other hand,

there's this thing that's emerged, relative truth,

which is to say that truth is... actually shaped

by your personal experience, by your culture,

from your perspective. And in that view, what

is true for you may not be true for me. Absolute

truth says that this is what's real, whether

I like it or not, and whether I believe it or

not. But relative truth says this is what's real

to me based on how I feel or based on how I see

things. And the tension between these two ideas

is everywhere. And if you are a Christian person,

many of you are this morning, you will know this

very well. Because into the middle of this debate,

Jesus comes stepping in and he says stuff like

this. He says, I am the way, I am the truth and

the life. No one comes to the Father except through

me. Now we would say, Jesus, you can't say that.

That is so exclusive. That is so offensive. This

is the kind of thing that Jesus said. He made

these radical truth claims about himself. So

in this world that says, speak your truth, Jesus

comes along and says, I am the truth. And he

doesn't just refer to himself as the truth. He

actually also says that God's word is the truth.

He says, make them holy, God. He prays this prayer

by your truth. Oh, what's that truth? My truth,

your truth? No, your word, which is truth. The

Bible, the scriptures, Jesus referred to as the

truth. Not a truth, not one truth among many

truths, but the truth. And we might push back

and say, Jesus, listen, that might be your truth,

but it is not my truth. Or Jesus, that Bible,

that might be meaningful to you, but it doesn't

define what is true for everyone. This is really

complicated stuff, right? And again, if you're

a Christian, you need to wrestle with this topic

because the question is, how do we follow a savior

like Jesus who makes very bold claims about what

is true in a culture that insists that no one's

truth gets the final say? And even if you're

not a follower of Jesus, you're not a Christian,

we're glad you're here too. We're glad that you've

tuned in as well. But it is also important for

you to understand, this is what we're going to

look at today, that when Jesus talks about truth,

it is a very, very different kind of truth than

any other truth claim that you will come across

out there. And so that's what we're going to

look at today. Today, we're going to look at

that phrase, speak your truth, and we're just

going to kind of build it around three statements.

Why do people say this? Secondly, why is it problematic?

And thirdly, why is Christian truth different

than every other kind of truth? And I've given

you some little teaching notes if you want to

follow along today. Everyone who completes these

notes will get a prize at the end of the service.

You can decide whether that was a truth or a

lie. I'll let you figure that one out. Let's

start with this one though. Why do people say

to speak your own truth rather than participate?

Why would they say that and say we ought to push

back against any kind of totalizing truth that

is out there? Well, there's actually some really

valid reasons that we need to acknowledge, right?

The first is this, that history has shown us

many, many times that when people make truth

claims, it's actually about power. Many times,

truth and owning the truth and shouting the truth

is used to oppress other people. If someone claims

to have the truth, it might be that what they

really want to do is silence you. What they really

want to do is marginalize you. What they really

want to do is control people. Too often, I think,

when people say, this is true, what they're really

trying to do is get control over you. And here's

how that works. Because whoever gets to define

truth gets to define reality. And whoever defines

reality gets to shape what society looks like.

So truth can become this tool of oppression.

Remember, Galileo, for example, was condemned

by the Roman Catholic Church because he thought

that the earth went around the sun. And it contradicted

the church's truth of the day. And so he was

oppressed because of that. So even today, though,

people see religious beliefs, therefore, as violent

many times and oppressive. One modern thinker

puts it this way. Every claim to truth is a bid

for power. It's not about what's real. It's about

who gets to rule. It's like Natalie read in the

book of fabrications. Truth is but a weapon wielded

by the powerful to subdue the weak. That's what

many people say. And so they say that in order

to keep people safe, in order to keep people

free, and to make sure we're not oppressed, we

all should instead speak our own truth. But the

second reason why people say speak your own truth

is because claiming to know the real truth, or

there's some absolute truth, sounds very, very

arrogant. In today's culture, saying, for example,

I believe Christianity is true, is heard as saying,

I think Christians are smarter, or I think Christians

are more enlightened. Or I think that Christians

are more moral or better than everyone else,

right? If you claim that your view is right,

then now it's about superiority. It must be because

you think you're wiser or smarter than everyone

else. And sometimes, let's be honest, that is

exactly what we are doing when we want to win

an argument and prove our truth. Tim Keller puts

it this way, to say that one religion is true

and others are false seems arrogant. To many

modern people, they believe that truth, especially

religious truth, is a matter of perspective.

So, thirdly though, the third objection is that

truth claims seem intolerant. I mean, tolerance

used to mean that we could disagree about something,

have a good argument about it, and respect each

other while we're doing. But today... Tolerance

means we have to affirm all views as equally

valid. So if you say that someone is wrong, that's

not just a disagreement. That is an attack on

them. That is a personal judgment on them. It

could even be perceived as hate against you,

right? Because now you're questioning someone's

belief, and their belief is so deeply held as

personal that to reject their belief is to reject

them. So D .A. Carlson, he wrote this book called

The Intolerance of Tolerance, where he said that

the new tolerance insists that all opinions are

equally valid, and this leads to the strange

conclusion that disagreeing with someone is inherently

intolerant, no matter how graciously it's done.

Identity. and belief are so tightly connected

that to challenge someone's belief is to challenge

their identity. It's a personal attack. Take

a look at the reading that Libby read for us

this morning from John's Gospel, right? Jesus

says to Pilate, everyone on the side of truth

listens to me. Now again, this is another one

of Jesus's incredible truth claims about himself.

And Pilate responds by saying, what is truth?

You know, there's a few different ways you could

read that statement, right? Did Pilate say what

is truth and mean, oh, oh Jesus, this is very

interesting. I'd like to hear more about your

truth. What is this truth you're talking about?

Or is Pilate reacting much the same way that

our culture reacts by saying, okay, dismissive,

suspicious. Okay, Jesus, what is truth? Or come

on, what is truth? Pilate rejects Jesus's truth

claim. He almost laughs at it. And so do many

people today. Isn't it safer? Isn't it better,

therefore, to speak your own? Well, not really.

Speaking your truth sounds easy, sounds safe,

but actually it is quite problematic for, I'm

going to suggest, three reasons. First, to say

you speak your truth and I'll speak my truth

sounds nice until your truth collides with and

threatens my truth. So imagine two drivers and

they're both approaching the intersection. One

driver's truth is a yellow light means slow down.

Another driver's truth is a yellow light means

speed up. And there's a collision. Now, whose

truth wins, right? Or let's say you work in an

office and there's a shared kitchen. One person's

truth is if it's in the fridge, we can share

it. Another person's truth is, if you touch my

food, I'll kill you, right? Whose truth wins,

right? Imagine two kids on the playground. You

overhear them. They're grabbing the same soccer

ball. One says, give it to me. It's mine. And

the other says, no, you gave it to me. Now, whose

truth wins? Unfortunately... Whose truth wins

is usually the louder voice wins. The person

with the stronger fists, that's whose truth wins.

Or what often happens on the playground is somebody

will say, actually, let's call the teacher. We

need somebody higher, somebody smarter, somebody

wiser to come in and determine which of these

competing truth claims is actually the right

truth, to arbitrate between these two truths.

So you see, this is one of the problems with

your truth, my truth. What happens when those

truths come into conflict with each other? The

second problem with having a personal truth is

that your personal truth might actually be very

dangerous for you and for others. It might run

you aground in life. The reason I use that phrase

is I was thinking how last summer our family

went houseboating near Bob Cajun. And it was

beautiful, quiet waters, these beautiful bays.

All that. And when we left the marina, we were

given a GPS and we were given a big book of maps

with all the depths, the water depths throughout

these lakes. Because hidden underneath these

peaceful waters are rocks everywhere. Trust me.

And big ones. And you can't see them. And if

you're not careful, you will hit them. You will

do damage. And if you bust that propeller, they

charge you a lot of money. When we left the marina,

they did not say to us, just follow your truth,

just go with your gut, you know, go wherever

you want. It's really, everyone can choose their

own way. No, they said, follow the chart, right?

Trust the GPS. Stay in the channel, right? Being

out of touch with what's really going on, with

reality, doesn't make you free. It actually makes

you vulnerable. This is one of the biggest dangers

of my truth thinking. It sounds empowering, but

what if your truth is actually really misaligned

with reality? What if you're heading for the

rocks right now and you do not know? In your

parenting, in your marriage, in your finances,

in your spiritual life, right? My truth, it might

feel right, but if it's not lined up with reality,

it'll wreck you. And here's the third problem

with saying, oh, just speak your truth. I find

this one very interesting. If you say, no one

has the whole truth, don't trust them, then I

shouldn't trust you either. Because what you

just said was a claim about something you think

is true. You see, people who say there is no

absolute truth, they just made an absolute statement.

About truth. Right? You may have heard the story

about the blind men all touching the different

parts of the elephant. And, you know, one touches

the trunk and says, oh, it's a snake. And the

other touches the ear and says, oh, no, it's

a leaf or something. A fan. And one touches the

leg and says, oh, it's a tree. And one touches

the tail and says, you know, it's a, I don't

know, a rope. Each man is convinced he has the

truth. But of course, the parable goes. No one

sees the whole picture. And the moral of the

story is that there is not one religion or one

person who has the full truth. All paths lead

to the same God. Which at first, it sounds very

humble. It sounds very, very humble. But when

you think about it, it's actually incredibly

arrogant. Because the storyteller themselves

is claiming to have the truth. that nobody else

seems to have, right? Who knows it's actually

a whole elephant? Oh, the person telling the

story says, I know better than all these people,

right? The parable collapses under its own weight

because the claim that no one sees the whole

truth is itself a claim about truth. So you see,

even when we speak our truth, there's problems.

There's problems. Our truths collide with other

people's problems, other people's truths. If

our truth is out of touch with reality, we're

going to get hurt. And even our belief that no

one has the whole truth is a radically arrogant

statement that claims you know better than everybody

else. So the whole thing seems really, really

hopeless. But what if there was a higher truth

out there? What if there was a truth greater

than your truth, greater than my truth, a truth

that could really steer us through life and avoid

the rocks and the pitfalls? But what if it was

a different kind of truth? What if it was a truth

that didn't oppress us? What if it was a truth

that wasn't arrogant? And what if it was a truth

that wasn't intolerant, but actually made room

for everybody? Well, guys, that is exactly what

Christian truth is. It is a truth claim that

is different from every other truth claim out

there. Yes, it is true that Jesus says, I am

the way and I am the truth and no one comes to

the Father through me. And that sounds like arrogance

and it sounds like a power grab and it sounds

like all our cultural fears of intolerance and

all that stuff. But the content of the truth,

that Jesus is talking about, it overturns every

one of those objections. Let me show you. First,

Christian truth does not oppress people. It actually

liberates us from oppression. Because Christianity

is not about gaining power. It's about losing

power. You know, Jesus once said that the rulers

of this world, yes, they lord power over each

other, but not so with you. Whoever wants to

be first among you must be a servant. You see,

so power in Christianity, it doesn't look like

conquest. It looks like a cross, right? Every

other truth is trying to like seize the power,

seize power and win, right? Jesus says, no, lay

down power. True victory comes through surrender.

True victory comes through love, through self

-sacrifice. Let's go back again to this reading

that we heard this morning. Everyone on the side

of truth listens to me. Gosh, when you yell that,

it sounds like an oppressive power grab. But

wait, what happens right after this? Jesus tells

us that he's the truth, but then immediately

he is beaten and he is mocked. And he is crucified

and he is killed and he is buried. Why? Because

Christian truth did not come to dominate you.

It came to die for you. The Christian confession

of Jesus as the unique Lord does not lead to

domination, but to servanthood. He cannot compel

anyone to believe because at the heart of our

faith is the one who is Christ. crucified. And

God, forgive the church when we get this wrong,

when we turn Jesus into some way to oppress and

control others. But you do not need to be afraid

of Jesus's very radical truth claim, because

it is not just another power play that's trying

to silence you or beat you down. Jesus himself

was silenced. Jesus himself was beaten down for

you. That is a very different truth. And you

can submit to that truth without worrying about

oppression. Secondly, that means believing Christian

truth doesn't make us... arrogant know -it -alls

that look down on people and think we're better

than others. It actually should prevent that

very thing from happening because the real truth

of Christianity, if you actually understand it,

is that it's only by grace that you are saved.

You were so lost and your life was so screwed

up that the only way you had a hope of being

saved was for the Son of God to die for you.

That's how bad things were. So any attempt to

be arrogant, that goes down the toilet. You know

better. You have no bragging rights whatsoever.

You can't look down on anyone. John Stott says,

the truth of the gospel is not a weapon for domination,

but it's a mirror to humble us. Its effect is

not to inflate our egos. It actually deflates

them. I'll say it again. Is Christianity exclusive?

Yes. Is it arrogant? Impossible. The cross leaves

no room for us to feel superior. It announces

that we were so lost that Jesus had to die for

us and so loved that he was willing to die for

us. And finally, not only does Christian truth

liberate us from oppression and prevent us from

arrogance, but it also leaves no room for intolerance.

You see, the problem with so many truth claims

is it says it's an us -them. It's me versus you.

It's my truth versus your truth. You're either

in or you're out. But on the cross, Jesus made

no such distinctions. He was willing to die for

the people who loved him and the people who hated

him. He died for the people who believed in him

and the people who did not believe in him. For

people who were his friends gathered around the

cross and the people who were his enemies crucifying

him on the cross. God demonstrates his love for

us in this, that while we were all still sinners,

Christ died for us. He actually prayed for his

enemies as they crucified him, which means this,

the exclusive truth of Christianity No one is

beyond the reach of his grace. The door is flung

wide open to everyone who calls on his name.

And maybe that's what you need to hear today

because you are certain you don't belong. You're

not holy enough. You're not churchy enough. Your

questions are too big. Maybe the church even

made you feel there was no room for you at some

point. But the truth is Jesus does not exclude

you. He embraces you. He doesn't shame you. He

restores you. He doesn't shut you out. He welcomes

you in because Christian truth is not a doctrine.

It's a person, and it's a person who died for

each and every one of us to bring us all back

home. So it is true. It is true Christianity

makes this very exclusive, absolute, and universal

truth claim. I am not denying that, and none

of us should. But don't be afraid of it. Don't

be afraid of the T word. Don't be afraid of that

truth. Because unlike every other truth, Christian

truth, it overturns the oppression with self

-giving. It replaces arrogance with humility.

And it transforms intolerance and exclusion with

a radical welcome. No, Christianity is not a

straight jacket. Christianity is the truth that

sets you free. So don't settle for your truth.

My truth. Someone's truth. Embrace God's truth.

Let Jesus' truth steer your houseboat through

the waters of life. And remember, his truth is

strong enough to guide you, gentle enough to

heal you, and deep enough to carry you through

anything. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thank you for

listening to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons.

This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville

in Mississauga, Ontario on June 22, 2025.