Let Go of Untruths

(Begins with clip from Frozen where Hans tell the Leaders that Elsa has killed Ana)

A couple of weeks we got a glimpse into Han’s character when we watched him reveal his duplicity to Ana, his fiancé.  It appears that he wooed her simply to become Prince and then kill the queen to assume the throne of Arendelle.  And I asked the question “What isn’t this man capable of?”  And now we know.  Now he takes his bad behaviour to a whole new level and the lies he tells culminate in a death sentence for the queen.   And we know that what he did was wrong, we know that because he is a liar that he can’t be trusted and should be punished. 

One of the things we teach our children is to not lie.  When God set down his law in the 10 Commandments which forbid things that would tear society apart he commanded us to not break our marriage vows, not to kill people and not to take things that don’t belong to us.  And we understand those things. 

We don’t have to look very far into our society to see what happens when people fail to heed those commandments. The prophet Hosea made this statement about the actions of Israel almost three thousand years ago that seems to apply to our society today,  Hosea 8:7 ^NKJV "They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind.”   But that is a message for another day. 

And while we see the dangers of people cheating on their spouses, killing people and stealing, lying seems so petty in comparison.  After all, to quote the infamous Dr. House “Everybody lies”.  And it was Will Rogers who said ‘The income tax has made liars out of more Americans than golf.”

But if we go back to the scripture that was read earlier we read the words of Jesus in regards to lying when he said Matthew 5:33-37 Jesus said “You have also heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not break your vows; you must carry out the vows you make to the LORD.’ But I say, do not make any vows! . . . Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’”

What is Jesus saying?  He is telling us that his followers should be people of integrity.  The concept of vows go clear back to the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 23:21 “When you make a vow to the LORD your God, be prompt in fulfilling whatever you promised him. For the LORD your God demands that you promptly fulfill all your vows, or you will be guilty of sin.

The Jewish teachers had always insisted on the paramount importance of a person’s word. It is in the Talmud, the collected wisdom of the Rabbis that we read “One who gives his word and changes it is as bad as an idolater” 

As a matter of fact the Rabbinical school of Shammai even forbade normal polite courtesies, like complimenting a bride on her looks when she was in fact plain.  And so to allow people that courtesy the Rabbis decreed that “All brides are beautiful on their wedding day.”

Two things brought vow swearing to a head during the time of Christ, the first was making vows about frivolous things, and we do that today don’t we, “Honest, I swear, that truck almost hit me”  The second problem was even worse and that was evasive swearing.  People had decided that some vows were binding and others weren’t.  So if you made an vow on God’s name it was binding, but if you swore by heaven, or earth or Jerusalem then it was less binding.  The thought being that if God’s name was used then he became a partner with you in the statement. 

Just a little pet peeve here, I think that some people, believers included, use the name of God much too lightly and I don’t just mean cussing.  But I mean when we use God as an exclamation in mark our conversation.  Keep it simple, the only time you should use the word God is when you are talking about Him or to Him.  By the way that was free.

Have you ever sat down and listened to someone seriously trying to explain the difference between lies, white lies and fibbing?  When I first went to Bible College, as a new believer, I had that conversation with someone who had grown up in the church and they told me “No really, a fib isn’t really lying, it’s more like a white lie.”  

Jesus recognized that an unredeemed society needed to have something to govern them other than their innate honesty.  Order cannot be maintained without some kind of legal machinery to insure that promises would be kept.

Christ didn’t come to destroy or change law for society, instead he came to fulfil it through the Christian.  Not only should the Christian always keep their word they shouldn’t have to swear an vow to make sure they keep it.  The thought shouldn’t be going through their minds, “Did I actually promise to do that? Or did I just say I would?”  It doesn’t matter if you promised or not if you said you would do it then you need to do it.  Christ told us in Matthew 5:37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one. Does that mean that Christians are never to take oaths?  If that was the case then how do we explain Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:23 Now I call upon God as my witness that I am telling the truth. and again in Galatians 1:20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.

There are times that you will have to take an oath, if you are on a witness stand in a court of law you swear to tell the truth, if you join the armed forces or a police department you swear to serve.  I realize that sometimes they will let you get away with saying I affirm instead of swear, but really isn’t that just semantics?

Christ explains in the last part of Matthew 5:37 Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.

Very simply if it is necessary to take an oath then it is because of the evil in mankind.  If there was no evil then there would be no lies and no need to take an oath.  We are warned in the Talmud, “This is the punishment of a liar: he is not believed, even when he speaks the truth.”  And so when the world believes the words of Dr. House, then there needs to be a way to assure truth.  And so vows were put into place to assure the truth in an untruthful world. 

So, if it is necessary to take a vow it is not a reflection on you but on this evil world. 

Christ is saying however that those who know you should know that you word is always good.  Is it?  Remember that your actions, the way you live your life, should not only be salt to preserve society but also needs to be a light to point people to Christ.

But we aren’t just here to fulfil the law; we are here to top it up, to go beyond what is required for society.  And so it shouldn’t just be expected that a Christ follower will not lie when they make a vow but that a Christ follower won’t lie, period.  And so those who follow Jesus must be known for their integrity and for being a person of their word.

Listen to what else the bible says concerning lying:  Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.

Here is a list of "Top 10 Liars’ Lies": 10. We’ll stay only five minutes. 9. This will be a short meeting. 8. I’ll respect you in the morning. 7. The cheque is in the mail. 6. I’m from the government, and I’m here to help. 5. This hurts me more than it hurts you. 4. Your money will be cheerfully refunded. 3. We service what we sell. 2. Your table will be ready in just a minute. 1. I’ll start my diet tomorrow.

But apparently the thought that everyone lies doesn’t make it right.  . So the first question is Where Do Lies Come From?  The original plan didn’t include lying, humanity was created to be in fellowship with God. And it was a lie that separated man from God.  The first lie didn’t come from God or even man it came from Satan.

Jesus was explaining our natural state when he told the crowd in John 8:44 For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.

And that goes back to the very beginning, we talked about this before, when God created man and woman and he told them “You can do anything you want you just can’t eat from that tree over there” and that set down the concept of free choice.  That allowed humanity the ability to choose to do what is right or to do what is wrong. 

And into the story comes Satan who begins his conversation with the first woman with a lie.  He asked Eve, Genesis 3:1 . . .One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”   You see what he did?  He took what was a gift, free will, and turned it into something burdensome.  From the one tree he expands it to all the trees of the garden.  And Eve responds with a half truth Genesis 3:2-3 “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”   The original command didn’t say anything about touching the tree.

And then Satan adds to the lies saying Genesis 3:4-5 “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

And you know the rest of the story, “Fruit salad for lunch.” 

And lies still come from the Father of Lies. 

Most people know that lying is wrong, regardless of what else they believe most people understand that it is not right to lie.  So why, Why Do People Lie?

There are actually several reasons why people lie: To Impress People That would never happen would it?  But that’s what it is when we drop names, you know imply that we know someone important when we are just barely acquainted with them.  Pastors do it when they stretch their statistics, like when people ask how many people attend Cornerstone and I say oh between five and six hundred, after all 300 is between 5 and 600.  You do it when you make your job out to be more then what it really is, and so the “Garbage Man” becomes a “Sanitation Engineer.” or when you kind of move your kids marks up when you’re bragging on them. “My Kid’s on the honour roll.”  Sure if the honour roll starts at 53. 

Someone said that the closest any of us will come to perfection is on our resumes.  A government study in the States came to the conclusion that 1 in 3 working Americans is hired with educational or career credentials that were altered in some way, that means lying they lied on their resumes. 

I read a story a while back that in 1993 the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ran a help-wanted ad for electricians with expertise at using Sontag connectors; it got 170 responses even though there is no such thing as a Sontag connector. The Authority ran the ad to find out how many applicants falsify resumes.

To Please People When you agree with strong personality people, even though you don’t agree with them. You’re lying.  Ever happen to you? You just go along with it and then afterwards you’re thinking “I don’t know why I did that, I don’t believe it.”  Sometimes we do that by our silence, instead of stepping up and saying no that’s wrong, and especially when it concerns someone else.  You know where I’m going here, someone slanders someone but to keep the peace you don’t step to the other persons defence.  Robert Louis Stevenson   “The cruelest lies are often told in silence. A man may have sat in a room for hours and not opened his mouth, and yet come out of that room a disloyal friend.”

For Revenge  Someone has done something to you and so you tell a lie about them, or you spread a story that you know is untrue.  Just to get back at them.  Why do you think Jesus was murdered?  The Religious leaders of the day felt threatened by him and so they had him charged falsely with blasphemy and treason.  They lied about him.

To Make A Profit  This one is a Two’fer kind of a two for one deal, when you misrepresent something to sell it you’re not only lying you’re also stealing.  Ever have someone offer to give you a receipt for less then you paid for a car to reduce the tax you’d pay on it?  Ever have someone offer to give you a larger receipt for something so you can claim it on your expense account.  Two commandments for the price of one. Lying and stealing.

To Escape Punishment “I didn’t know I was speeding officer, my speedometer must be broken.”  “I didn’t know this was a no parking zone.”  “My assignment’s not done because the dog ate it, or more up to date the computer ate it.”  “I wasn’t in class yesterday because I was sick.”  Love the story about the four college guys who were on their way to an exam but it was a gorgeous day so they kind of got waylaid and so at the next class they told the teacher they tried to make it but had a flat tire.  The teacher seemed to accept that and said they could rewrite the test.  He put one in each corner of the room with a copy of the test, and said “now to start there is an extra question, without speaking to the others or looking around, what tire was it?”

For Convenience You write a sick note for your kid at school, they’re not sick but it’s easier than trying to explain. You have your secretary tell callers you’re not in when what you mean is you don’t want to be disturbed, you call in sick to work, but you’re still well enough to go shopping, or play a round of golf. What about when you say you’ll serve on a committee, go to a meeting or attend a party when you have no intention of doing it but it’s easier to say yes and not show up then to try to think up an excuse.  (video on lying)

It was Walter Scott who wrote: “O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive!” more to the point might be the addition made by J.R. Pope who wrote “But when we’ve practiced quite a while, How vastly we improve our style.”

You see lying can become a pattern that is very hard to break.   Lying has two cousins as well, one is distortion the other is exaggeration.  It’s easy to distort the truth.  It’s often done in character assassination, how simple it is to subtly let something slip like, When someone says “Boy her career has really taken off” all you have to say is “Yeah, but how do you think she got where she is?” don’t have to say anything else.

And then there are those who boast or stretch the truth like a contorted piece of Silly Putty that’s called exaggeration, you ever see the bumper sticker that says “The older I get the better I was”?  When we aren’t speaking the truth then we are speaking a lie, or as one Yiddish proverb says, “A half truth is a whole lie” Sometimes it’s not even intentional, it was said of one person, “He doesn’t exaggerate, he just remembers big.” It’s still lying.

So What Is the Cost of Lying?  Well first of all it colours people’s perception of the person who lies.  If we go back to the Talmud we are told “This is the punishment of a liar: he is not believed, even when he speaks the truth.”

Which is what Friedrich Nietzsche meant when he wrote “I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you.”

But it goes deeper than that, because not only is the liar no longer believed but because he knows he’s a liar he presumes everyone else is and that colours how he sees the world.  Like Dr. House he presumes that everyone lies. 

But to not be believed and to have our world view distorted is only temporal.  There are eternal consequences as well, remember earlier we read from Proverbs 6:16-19 There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.

Not only does God not like liars but listen to the end result of people who constantly lie, Revelation 21:8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” If it’s true that we are known by the company we keep, then liars are aren’t very well thought of in the scriptures.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a buzzer in our soul?  You know so when you lied you got a little jolt.  Actually if you’re a Christian, you have that buzzer it’s called the Holy Spirit, and you’ve felt that jolt.  And when it happens you have one of two choices, you can catch yourself, and correct yourself or you can let it go.  And if you let it go, then that’s called sin.

And you cannot continue in sin and maintain a healthy relationship with God. In John 8:32  Jesus said And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  The converse is true as well, if it’s the truth that sets you free, you will be enslaved by lies.  God’s very being and nature was and is truth.  To substitute a lie for the truth is like embracing a false god at that point in time. 

So, today, will you choose to let go of untruth and embrace the truth that will set you free?