September 3, 2017“Why not lie?”Pastor Chris Myers-Tegeder
(joke): A pastor got up on a Sunday and told the congregation he would be preaching on Mark chapter 17 the following Sunday and asked that everyone read it ahead of time. The following Sunday he got up and asked, how many of you read Mark 17 this week like I asked you to? Every hand in the room went up. He shook his head and said “Mark only has 16 chapters. I will now begin my sermon on lying.” I have used that joke before. Some of you may remember it. But today I really am going to share my sermon on lying. Because that is the commandment we are on, you shall not lie. Commandment number 9. Lying is something we all probably agree we should not do. Lying is also something we probably have all done at some point. And I think this is because we think that this sin really doesn’t hurt people that much. I mean come on, it’s not murder. Right? So I want to take time this morning to look at both of the scripture passages for today, the responsive reading we already had from James and this reading from Proverbs 12. And I want us to consider the power of the tongue, the damage it can do, and the good it can do. Let’s look at Proverbs 12 beginning at verse 17:
Scripture: Proverbs 12:17-25
17An honest witness tells the truth,
but a false witness tells lies.
18The words of the reckless pierce like swords,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
19Truthful lips endure forever,
but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
20Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil,
but those who promote peace have joy.
21No harm overtakes the righteous,
but the wicked have their fill of trouble.
22TheLorddetests lying lips,
but he delightsin people who are trustworthy.
23The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves,
but a fool’s heart blurts out folly.
24Diligent hands will rule,
but laziness ends in forced labor.
25Anxiety weighs down the heart,
but a kind word cheers it up.
So when was the last time we had a sermon from the book of Proverbs? It doesn’t happen very often. In fact the common lectionary, which is the list of scriptures that a lot of denominations follow and we sometimes use, only includes seven passages from the book of Proverbs. That means that over the course of a three-year cycle you would only preach from Proverbs seven times. Proverbs has 31 chapters. We hardly scratch the surface of Proverbs. And yet there is a lot of wisdom found in this book. And the passage here about the words we speak are wise and true. The passage begins in verse 17 with this: “An honest witness tells the truth,but a false witness tells lies.” Now, doesn’t this seem like an obvious statement? An honest witness tells the truth, but a false witness tells lies? Duh right? This statement almost doesn’t seem necessary. Of course a false witness tells lies. But if we look at the original command, commandment number nine in the book of Exodus, the wording is “You shall not give false testimonyagainst your neighbor.”
This command does not actually mention lying. It is specifically about giving false witness, or false testimony against someone else. And in ancient Israel giving false witness could have dire consequences. You see, in that time in the Ancient Near East there were no security cameras, no DNA testing, and no fingerprinting. The only way to get a reliable conviction on someone who had committed a crime was with witnesses. In the case of the death penalty, there had to be multiple witnesses. So giving false witness, or false testimony, was especially damaging because of how it could affect the other person. So the command was specifically about bearing false witness about someone else. So along come the writers of the Proverbs and here they specify that giving false witness is indeed lying. So it is not just giving a false witness about someone else that is a sin, but lying in general is wrong. Now I know we all grew up being told that you don’t tell a lie. Right? But what is the gravity of bearing false witness really? We have all told a lie at some point. We even rationalize that sometimes it is better to lie and not hurt someone’s feelings. It doesn’t seem like that big of a sin. So why is this in the Ten Commandments and why is it so important for us?
Well, as has been the case with all of the Ten Commandments that we have looked at, it is not about following a rule. At the end of the day it is about how we treat God and treat one another. It is about our relationships. Relationships with God and with each other. And words, the words we speak, can have a huge effect on our relationships, with both God and each other. In this proverb the power of our words is noted. In verse 18 it says “The words of the reckless pierce like swords.” Like swords. I think this is a pretty good description. How many of you have experienced pain because someone said something untrue about you? It is pain like a sword isn’t it? It can go deep. It hurts on the inside.
For young people this is especially painful. With social media enabling any lie to be posted and spread, lies about teens online have actually been linked to their suicides. Lies really hurt don’t they! I think one of the reasons that people generally think that lying is not that serious is because so much of the damage it does is unseen. It is not like stealing or murder where the damage is obvious. Lying has invisible but very real consequences. The first we have already mentioned. It causes people pain. And this is not what we are called to do as Christians. In 1 Thessalonians 5 Paul writes to the church “encourage one another and build each other up.” Bearing false witness about one another does not build others up. It tears them down either by hurting them or hurting their reputation.
Aside from the pain we can cause each other, what is another reason to avoid lying? In verse 22 of this Proverb it says “TheLorddetests lying lips, but he delightsin people who are trustworthy.” Ah the issue of trust. Lying breaks down trust. If you know someone tends to lie you probably don’t trust them in two ways. You don’t trust what they say to be true and you also won’t trust them with sensitive information. Lying breaks down trust in relationships. Again, the Ten Commandments are all about our relationships with God and each other and relationships are weakened when there is no trust. Does trust matter to you? Yes? It matters to me. So let me ask you this question; what if God lied? What if God gave us all the prophecy of the Old Testament and then Jesus never came? What would that mean for us? No salvation right??? It matters that we can trust God. We would have no hope if God had lied. We can trust God because God said what he was going to do over and over again and then he did it. We have a God of truth and so we can trust God. And God expects us to treat each other the same way.
I mentioned that God is a God of truth. What about truth? Do we really value truth in our culture? Does telling the truth even matter anymore? You know there is an organization that fact-checks news organizations, news media. They check the facts of what is said by news reporters and staff members, just reporters and staff members of the news organizations. They do NOT report on what is said by politicians. They don’t even go there. They just check the facts of what news organizations say is true. And they keep score cards for each organization. So for example, for NBC and MSNBC together, 45% of their claims were found to be mostly false, completely false, or outright lies which the fact checkers like to call “pants on fire.” 45%! CNN was at 22%, almost a quarter of what they put out there. These are respected news organizations. This is where we get our information. This is not general internet, these are organizations that are checked. And they are often not telling the truth. It makes me wonder if truth is valued anymore. Well, in terms of God the truth really matters to me. It is TRUE that God loves us and it is TRUE that Jesus Christ died and rose again. THAT truth, brothers and sisters, is very valuable truth and it does matter. Perhaps this is why God is sensitive to lying. Because truth matters to God.
So lying hurts people, it ruins trust, and it is a problem because truth matters to our God. I want to take this one step further. Before we look at what SHOULD be coming out of our mouths I want to ask you this. Is saying anything as long as it is true ok? If I know someone’s deepest darkest secret and I know for a fact it is true, is it ok from me to tell other people? Because it is true? No. We call that gossip. Why is gossip not ok? This goes back to the relationship thing. Gossip does not build others up. We are supposed to build each other up, not say things that will tear them down, even if they are true. Gossiping about someone else is every bit as damaging as giving false witness and telling lies about them. In fact this proverb addresses this as well. Verse 23 says “The prudent keep their knowledge to themselves,but a fool’s heart blurts out folly.”
Have you ever been around a child when they say something true but embarrassing? Children often lack the filters for what should come out of our mouths. Sadly, so do some adults. There was a little boy who asked his Dad “Dad, can we get a cat?” His dad answered, “your mom is allergic to cats, so no, we cannot get a cat.” They boy then replied “when mom dies can we get a cat?” I did my own share of these things as a child. I generally talked too much and often embarrassed my mom. I still remember one of the times she took me to the art museum. She was recovering from surgery and needed to sit down for a bit, so she sat down on a bench and asked me to go look at the title of a painting across the room from her. Now, you know how art museums are. The rooms are cavernous, the floors are marble and everything you say echoes. I walked across the big room, looked at the title of the painting, then turned my head and yelled across the room; “It says nude. What does nude mean?” At which point everyone in the gallery starts snickering and my mom starts begging me to come back across the room without saying anything else.
These moments can be funny, but it also highlights the fact that what comes out of our mouths really matters. Doesn’t it? And the question is, for Christians, what SHOULD come out of our mouths? We have been given mouths and voices by the God that created us. So how should we use them? I would like to propose two uses of our words; one, to build each other up in Christ and two, to praise the Lord. That is why you have a mouth. To build others up and praise the Lord. Along with the negative effects of lying this proverb we looked at this morning also paints a beautiful picture of the good our words can do. Verse 18 says “the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Your words can bring healing to one another. Then verse 25 says that a kind word cheers up the heart. Your words can encourage, bring joy, and heal. When we realize that our words can do that, why would we ever want to use our words for anything less? Our words can lift each other up, and then as I said before, our lips can be used to praise the Lord. Look at the invitation to worship in your bulletins from Psalm 119 this morning. What does it say? “May my lips over flow with praise…may my tongue sing of your Word.” That is what our mouths are meant to do. We should use our words to praise the God that has created us, loved us, that has sent Jesus to be our savior, and that has promised forgiveness for eternity. That is a mouthful and it is worth saying.
So we have two basic lessons here. We have to be mindful of what we say because of how much damage lies and gossip can do to each other. We also should remember to use our words for good, for building each other up and praising our God. But if you look at the responsive reading this morning from James chapter three, he points out something very important. Although we can use our words for harm or use our words for good, Christians cannot do both. We read it this morning. James writes “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.” Brothers and sisters, we cannot live out God’s intentions for us as Christians if we use our words to hurt others and fail to praise God. The call on our lives is to share the gospel, share the good news. We cannot do that if with the same mouths we lie and curse. The two just don’t go together. Any good that comes from your sharing Christ is undone as soon as you lie or gossip or tear someone down because you just revealed that God’s love is not flowing through you. We can’t have it both ways.
Now probably all of us have given in to lying at some point. We got angry at someone or wanted to put someone else down in order to prop ourselves up. Or we simply did not want to admit a wrong doing, so we lied about it. We are humans and we sin. And as Pastor Mike has pointed out, the Ten Commandments cannot be fully kept by any of us. This is why we need Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfills the law that we could not. So what do you do if you have already hurt someone with lies or gossip? Well, one you submit your life to Jesus Christ because it is only through Jesus that you can be forgiven. And two, seek reconciliation with the person you have hurt. The Bible, as a whole, the whole thing is a message of reconciliation. We are going to sin. We need salvation. And from Genesis to Revelation is God’s plan to reconcile us to God. So if that is the message of the whole Bible, then can it also be something we seek in our own lives?
Friends, please do not underestimate the power of the words you speak. You have the ability, with just your mouth, to build each other up and heal others, or break others down and inflict deep wounds, the seriousness of which you may never know. As Christians you have a clear message about what to do with your words thanks to God’s Word. I hope we will all take every opportunity to use our lips to build each other up, and every day to praise the Lord. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
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