Some years ago the most famous liar in America was an actor on TV. His name was Joe Isuzu. He was part of an advertising campaign put on to sell Isuzu cars and trucks. Joe looks straight into the camera and says, “Isuzu's only cost $9. They get 94 miles to the gallon and if you buy one today, you'll get a free house.” Then superimposed on the screen come the white block letters, “He's lying.” Joe continues, “Isuzu’s go 300 mph. They seat the same number of people as the astrodome and they're roomy enough to carry the state of Texas.” Once again the words, “He's lying” appear on the screen.
The advertising executive who put the ad campaign together explained, “Young people today are cynical. They've been so lied to that they're amused by the shocking, simple truth of the liar commercials.” The ad agency simply recognized the truth about American culture. Even back then, with so many politicians and spin doctors on their payrolls, with the biased media ignoring the truth because it doesn’t fit their progressive narrative, with revisionist historians deliberately changing the facts of history, not to mention exaggeration, half-truths, white lies, and plain old dishonesty that is part of our everyday lives, Americans expect to be lied to. (By the way, Isuzu sales went up 21% after the ad campaign.)
God’s design for mankind is to build a culture based upon truthfulness, not lies. When he revealed to us ten fundamental moral pillars upon which a society needs to be built he gave us the 9th Commandment which reads, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This episode examines this prohibition against lying and why society needs Christians to stand for truth.
Once upon a time in a faraway land a church was born and what a church it turned out to be. Of course, there was the usual singing and preaching and collecting of the offering. But there was much more going on in this church; there was serious praying, sharing of the gospel, and sacrificial giving.
But as the church grew, more and more needy people joined so that the Sunday morning offerings weren't sufficient to meet the needs of the poor and homeless. So, they had a meeting to discuss what they could do. One person suggested bingo. Another suggested a chariot wash but then someone stood up and said, “I have a summer cottage down by the seashore and I'll sell it and give the proceeds to the needy.” Everyone started cheering and clapping. Another stood up and said, “I have a piece of property on Main Street across from Jacob's fish market. I'll sell it and give the proceeds to the needy.” Again, another round of cheering and clapping resounded. And so began one of the most exciting eras of the church. Whenever there was a need that could not be met by a Sunday morning offering, one who had been blessed would sell something and bring the proceeds to the church leaders. And God blessed the church.
But one day a very strange thing happened. Several needy people had joined the church community and as usual someone volunteered to sell a piece of land and give the proceeds to the church. But when the man handed the money bag over to the pastor, instead of words of thanks the pastor had words of rebuke. The onlookers got very quiet as the pastor said, “Why have you done this grievous thing? You have not lied to men or just to me but to God. And as soon as he finished his sentence the man collapsed on the floor, dead. The onlookers gasped. The pastor calmly turned to some young men and asked them to take the dead man's body out for burial. While they were doing that, the pastor explained to the onlookers that the man had sold his property for the needy but instead of giving the full amount to the church he kept a portion for himself. However, he gave everyone in the church the impression that they, too, like everyone else, had given the full amount to the church
Just then the dead man's wife arrived not knowing what had happened to her husband. Again, the onlookers got very quiet. The pastor looked her straight in the eye. He held out the money bag he received from her husband and he asked her, “Is this the full price for the piece of land that you and your husband sold? The onlookers held their breath. Their hearts pounded. Their palms got sweaty. In their minds they were screaming, “Don't say ‘yes.’ Don't lie. Please tell the truth.” But the wife looked back at the pastor calmly and said, “Yes Pastor. That bag is the full price for the land we sold to give it to the poor.” The pastor shook his head sadly and said, “So you too are lying not just to men but to God. The footsteps you hear at the door are those of the men who have just returned from burying your lying husband and now they're coming for you.” Right then she collapsed and died at his feet. In case you're wondering, it was a long time before anyone in that church ever lied again!
As many of you have realized this basic story, though a little embellished, is true. The liars were named Ananias and Sapphira. The pastor was Peter. And God took their life for lying. They were not punished for holding back part of the property; that was entirely up to Ananias and Sophia. The punishment was for lying. If this story strikes you and me as a bit harsh it might be because we don't understand biblically the significance of lying in God’s eyes. Consider Proverbs 6.
There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, A LYING TONGUE, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, A FALSE WITNESS WHO BREATHES OUT LIES, and one who sows discord among brothers (vs 16-19).
Notice that only one of these seven is mentioned twice. A lie is more foul, more vulgar, more repugnant, more loathsome to God then we realize. For at the very core of God's being is truth. In fact, truth is so central to the core essence of who God is that Jesus said, “I am the truth” and Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth. One of the songs that we teach our kids is, “My God is so big so strong and so mighty there's nothing our God cannot do.” That's pretty good theology; it speaks of God's omnipotence. But actually, there is something God cannot do. God cannot lie. God cannot act in a way that is inconsistent with his nature. Falsehood, lies, exaggeration, spinning the truth, shading the truth, deception are entirely antithetical to all that God is. Behind the 9th Commandment is God's hatred for lies and falsehoods. Lewis Smedes in his book, Mere Morality writes:
The commandment against false witness is a specific example of God's total hatred of deception. In the courtroom, the wrong of lying is transparent; it can ruin a brother. But the Bible's horror at deceit extends to all human communication. All lies in the biblical view are the vomit of the devil. He spews deceit over the cosmos.
As clearly as Scripture tells us that God's righteous realm is that of truthfulness, honesty, and integrity Scripture tells us that Satan's unrighteous realm is that of deception, lies, and falsehood. In John 8 (41-44) we read Jesus’ rebuke to the Pharisees and scribes for suppressing the truth of his true identity. “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
We need to see the severity of lying against the backdrop of two kingdoms in conflict, the Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Light. The Apostle John portrayed the gospel as Jesus, the light, coming into the world (John 1:4-9). In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it….The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. But Jesus explained that light and darkness are in conflict (John 3:19-21).
“This is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
Paul describes fallen man’s hatred of the truth in one pithy word, suppression. Man suppresses the truth. Picture somebody holding down a spring. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth But they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie. It was a lie of Satan after all that got the whole human race into the trouble we're in when he said to Eve “You will not die if you eat of the fruit. You will be as gods.” When the progenitors of our race chose to follow Satan instead of God the lies and deceit that are Satan's native language became the native language of the human race as well.
Paul refers to this cosmic clash of kingdoms when he writes to the Christians at Colossae urging them to give joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the KINGDOM OF LIGHT. For he has rescued us from the DOMINION OF DARKNESS and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. Whereas Satan’s identity is to be the Father of Lies, Jesus said of himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). So, it stands to reason that Christ followers are those who join this battle for truth and light to prevail. Jesus gives his followers the same identify. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (Matt. 5:14-15).
A Christ-following liar is an oxymoron. To lie is treason in the Kingdom of Light. Complete integrity is non-negotiable. Bending the truth is betraying Jesus’ cause. Returning to Lewis Smedes’ words, “Falsehood is the demonic obscenity of the age of darkness. When you are less than truthful you take your stand with God's enemy the devil who is a liar to the core.”
Application of the Ninth Commandment
A. Set a personal standard of extreme integrity. Paul commands us, Having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor (Eph 4:25). We need to listen to our conscience when we start to speak an untruth (except when your wife returns from her hairdresser and asks how you like her hair and you don’t like it.) And we must train our children to highly value honesty. A big step in that direction is to recognize when the temptation to dishonesty or “stretch the truth” tends to strike. Here are some such conditions:
- to avoid punishment
- to avoid humiliation
- to avoid embarrassment
- when under peer pressure
- to save money or taxes
- when being asked to make promises you can’t keep
It is worth noting that Christian ethicists tell us that the Biblical demand for truthfulness does NOT trump all other considerations.
- Consider national security and German Christians hiding Jews from Nazis. Protecting human life is a higher moral value than truth-telling.
- The world of competition and fun, when the offense tries to deceive the defense into thinking they are going one direction but go the other.
- Fun with surprising each other.
B. Recognize rationalization. In a post-fall world, our culture helps us suppress the truth by our word choice. Our actions are:
- not sin but being human.
- not gluttony but a weight problem
- not covetousness but getting ahead
- not lust but being a red-blooded male
- not pride but self-actualization
- not selfishness but pursuing our dream
- not envy but desire for economic justice
C. Recognize that truthfulness is not the same as bluntness yet seeing through the culture’s spin. Proverbs 15:28 says, The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, and 15:2 says, The tongue of the wise makes knowledge pleasant. Calling a woman who has an abortion a murderer is not the way to win the abortion debate. Speaking the truth wisely is not the same as speaking the truth bluntly. Nevertheless, we must clearly recognize that political correctness in our culture reflects the suppression of truth that goes with the fall.
- We dare not call the unborn child a baby but only a fetus, nor abortion murder.
- We dare not call homosexual sin, perversion and an abomination to the Lord, or it is gay bashing.
- Referring to those who crossed the US border illegally using the legal term from US Law Code, illegal alien, must be replaced by undocumented immigrant.
- Casting off the old-fashioned term fornication, we simply speak of sex before marriage or living together.
- Women’s equality means that any mention of male/female differences is sexist.
Similarly, we recognize the sinful desire to suppress the truth in unrighteousness in the historical revisionism of those in our culture who ignore or distort the facts of history. Take for example a book called The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George. As this book tells it, the pilgrims left Europe “to seek their fortune in the new world.” That would have come as news to the pilgrims whose leader, William Bradford, wrote in his diary that the voyage was motivated by “a great hope for advancing the Kingdom of Christ.” When it comes to Thanksgiving itself, this author states flat out, “This was not a day of thanksgiving—but of pure celebration.” That's odd since William Bradford, who was there, wrote in his diary, “The Lord sent such seasonable showers that through his blessing there was a fruitful and liberal harvest for which mercy they set apart a day of Thanksgiving. “
D. Accept our calling to stand for truth in the culture in which we swim. As we’ve seen, enlisting in Jesus’ cause is to engage in a cosmic battle between the righteous Kingdom of light and the evil Kingdom of Darkness. Paul referred to this cosmic battle over ideas. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ (1 Cor 10:4-5). Sometimes, it is mistakenly argued that Jesus did not concern himself with the cultural issues of his day but just with the gospel. Such a view is tragically mistaken for two reasons.
1. The gospel IS the good news of the arrival of the Kingdom of Light, not just Jesus giving out tickets to heaven.
2. Jesus continually confronted the culture-shapers of his day about cultural issues. Here are just a few examples”
- At the very beginning of his ministry, Jesus confronted the elders of his hometown synagogue over their racism towards gentiles (Luke 4:25-29).
- When attacked for having dinner with Levi and tax collectors he confronted the superficial self-righteousness of the cultural leaders, the Pharisees, which permeated the culture (Luke 5:29-31).
- After healing a man with a withered hand in a synagogue, Jesus became angry when criticized by the cultural leaders, the scribes and Pharisees. They were shaping Jewish culture to value ritualistic legalism over compassion for a man with a withered hand who could be healed (Luke 6:6-11).
- Jesus broke the cultural mold when Martha attacked her sister Mary for not living up to the stereotypical role of women, serving the men, when he affirmed Mary’s desire to sit at the feet of Jesus. This was an expression that was used for a disciple listening to the teaching of a master (Luke 10:38-42).
- Jesus directly confronted Simon the Pharisee one of the cultural leaders of Israel over one of the most foundational lies the Pharisees were promoting in the culture—God favors outward, self-righteousness, when, in fact, God favors brokenness over one’s sin (Luke 7:36-48).
- In John 9 as Jesus and his disciples walked past a blind man his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” They were reflecting the awful cultural lie taught by the scribes and Pharisees that added to the misery of the blind, the lame, the lepers and all who experienced physical brokenness—that their condition was due sin, theirs or their parents—contributing isolation and shame to the suffering such outcasts experienced. The Pharisees articulated this exact view at the end of the story (John 9:34) after the healed man tried to convince them that Jesus was from God. “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out of the synagogue.” Jesus refuted this causation link between such physical suffering and in individual’s sin in the answer to his disciples, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
Jesus regularly confronted the lies that formed the foundation of Israel’s culture and has assigned his followers the same mission. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others.”
In our cultural moment, as darkness from Satan’s kingdom is ever seeking to spread over the earth the choice to remain silent or to speak out is ours. But:
- if we don’t speak the truth in the culture that marriage between one woman and one man is foundational for society, providing the home children need, who will?
- If we don’t speak the truth that there are only two genders indicated by one’s biology, who will?
- If we don’t speak the truth that economic justice is NOT equal outcomes but equal justice under the law, who will?
- If we don’t speak the truth that it is the Lord who gives the ability to gain wealth and challenge the wealthy to be stewards of their wealth for their maker, who will?
- If we don’t speak the truth that gender affirming care is an evil attempt by transgender ideologues that mutilates the bodies of children, who will?
- If we don’t speak the truth that a human embryo is like no other collection of cells in a human body, making it a human being, who will?
- If we don’t speak the truth that sex outside of marriage is so destructive to the human soul that it was punishable by death in the OT, who will?
- If we don’t oppose anti-Semitism, recognizing the truth that Palestine was given to Abraham and his descendants by God, if we don’t proclaim the historic truth that in WWI the British took legal possession of it by defeating the Ottoman Empire and legally gave the land to newly constituted Israel, i.e. if we don’t confront the lie that Israel unlawfully occupies Palestine because it stole Arab land, standing up against anti-Semitism, who will?
The true light which gives light to everyone has come into the world. Only we can shed that life-giving light into the world around us.
For Further Prayerful Thought.
- What is the strongest motivation you can think of for not lying or shading the truth?
- In examining the conditions which open the door to the temptation to bend the truth, which of the ones listed stand out most to you? (to avoid punishment, humiliation, embarrassment, to fit in, to save money, or when asked to make a promise you can’t in good faith make?). What others would you add?
- How would you answer someone who argues that Christians should stop trying to influence their culture but stick to the gospel?
- Of the examples given of he need to speak into today’s culture, which one or two most stood out? Which others would you add?
