God Gives Us the Commandments

Introduction
This is a series I'm preaching to help my church get ready for Vacation Bible School June 26-29.  The lessons are good for all of us--not just kids.  Today we will look at the lesson for Day 2 – God Gives the Commandments.  Our theme is: MY LOVING GOD GIVES DIRECTION.

Exodus 19:18-19
¹⁸ All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. ¹⁹ As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. ²⁰ The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.

Exodus 20:1-21
¹ Then God gave the people all these instructions:

² “I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
³ “You must not have any other god but me.

⁴ “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. ⁵ You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. ⁶ But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

⁷ “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

⁸ “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ You have six days each week for your ordinary work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

¹² “Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You must not murder.

¹⁴ “You must not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You must not steal.

¹⁶ “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

¹⁹ And they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or we will die!”

²⁰ “Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

²¹ As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

Our God is an Awesome God
This is an awesome and frightening scene.  It's a big contrast from the image of God we see portrayed in Jesus in the New Testament.  Jesus is kind and patient and merciful and full of compassion and mercy.  The image of God at Mount Sanai reminds us to never forget that our God is an awesome God and He is serious about sin.  He means business when He commands us to obey His commands.  

In verse 20, Moses tells why God appeared in this way on Mount Sanai.  He said, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

There were 2 teachers in my school when I was in the 5th grade.  Everyone said you wanted to have Mrs. Sanders because she was nice and Mrs. Garland was really mean.  I had Mrs. Sanders for 5 of my periods, but Mrs. Sanders and Mrs. Garland switched for one period.  I went to Mrs. Garlands class for math and her class came to Mrs. Sanders for English.  I thought, "Oh no!  Mrs. Garland is going to be so mean!"  Well, for the first week of school, Mrs. Garland was very stern.  She made it clear that she would not put up with any foolishness in her class and we all knew we better not get out of line. On the other hand, Mrs. Sanders was so friendly and pleasant that everyone took advantage of her.  She was nice that no one paid any attention to her.  Everyone talked and cut up and caused all kinds of disruptions in her class.  I felt sorry for Mrs. Sanders and her class was not that good.  Mrs. Garland, who everyone said was so mean, was actually quite nice and everyone learned and enjoyed her class.  Everything was orderly and pleasant and no one acted up.  Mrs. Garland was never mean, but if anyone tested her, the consequences were swift and final.  So no one broke her rules.

I guess sometimes you've got to put forth a mean face to scare people straight and make sure they know you mean business and the rules are the rules and you better follow them.  That's what God is showing us in this passage from Exodus.  God is love, but He is also holy and His power awesome and frightening.  He is serious when He gives these commandments. You better follow them.

God’s Rules are for Our Good
Sometimes, people don’t like rules.  Why should someone be able to tell me what I can/can’t do? Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do with my body.  It’s my body!  Don’t tell me how to spend my money.  It’s my money!  Don’t tell me how to live my life.  It’s my life!  (Actually, according to the Bible, it’s not your body.  It’s not your money.  It’s not your life.  But that's another sermon for another day.)

It's a good thing we don’t hear the same kinds of arguments made by many people above about traffic lights.  No one is arguing they should be exempt from stopping at red lights.  Without those lights, millions of people would die!  Rules are for our own good.

If you want to get a drivers license, you have to study and learn the rules of the road.  The rules ae for our safety.  It's the same with God Commandments.  The fact that God gives us rules shows He cares. 

He understands our weakness and our confusions.  He knows sin has clouded our judgment.  He wants us to be safe.  He wants us to holy so we can have a good relationship with Him.  So He gives us rules.  The 10 Commandments are the most basic rules of God. 

Do you know them?  If you’re a Christian you should know the Lord’s rules.  I challenge you to memorize them.  Here's a paraphrase of the 10 commandments that I've used to help many people memorize them.

The Ten Commandments

1.     Do not worship any god except the Lord.

2.     Do not make idols of any kind.

3.     Do not misuse God’s name.

4.     Remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.

Commandments 1 - 4 are about our relationship with God.  These come first in the list because your relationship with God must be right first or your relationship with people will remain messed up.  A lot of people who don't believe in God still try to encourage good behavior with people.  It always falls short because the question behind everything is "Why should I behave well with people if there's no God?"  You see, if there's no Higher Power, then we're just animals and it's survival of the fittest.  Atheist have yet to come up with reasonable foundational values for why people should behave well in the absence of God.  If there's no God, who makes the rules?  People.  And the most influenceial, strongest, powerful people are the ones who make the rules, which are relative and can be changed to suit one group over another.  But since Christians believe there is a God, there are reasons we follow the rules--chief among them is because God is sovereign and has the authority to require certain behavior from His people.  

And so when we follow commands 1 through 4, we are now ready for rules 5 through 10 that deal with human relationships.

5.     Honor your father and mother.

6.     Do not murder.

7.     Do not commit adultery.

8.     Do not steal.

9.     Do not testify falsely.

10.  Do not covet.

God Law Shows We’re Broken | God’s Love Saves Us
Now one thing these commandments show us is where we fall short.  Every time we sin, we tear our heart apart.  Have you ever broken any of these commandments?  Of course you have.  We all have.  

At some point or another, we’ve all told a lie.  Maybe we've said, “No Honey!  Those jeans don’t make your butt look big,” when you know darn well they do make her butt look fat.  

If you’ve only ever stolen a paper clip, then you’ve broken the 8^th commandment--do not steal.  And who among us has never, ever wanted something our neighbor had:  “Man, I sure wish I had ‘a car like theirs’ or ‘a house like that’ or a ‘a new cell phone’ or something.

You may never have murdered someone but Jesus said in Matthew 5:21, “If you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”

You may never have committed adultery but Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, “Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

So you see, we’ve all fallen short of God’s glorious standards and broken His Commandments.  And every time we sin, our hearts are torn apart.  But the amazing thing is, even though we’ve sinned, God doesn’t stop loving us!  In Jesus Christ, we see that God’s love and grace are greater than all our sins!

God loves us so much, He sent Jesus, His son.  Jesus never sinned.  He never broke the Commandments—not even in His heart.  Jesus paid for our sin on the cross and rose again.  Because of Jesus, we can be forgiven! 

Conclusion
If you want to be forgiven and make a fresh start, it’s time to repent of your sin and turn to Jesus.  Jesus welcomes anyone who sincerely decides to turn away from sin and follow Him as Lord.  And for all that decide to follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps them live in love. 

And when we follow Jesus, He gives us a brand new heart.  Do you want a new heart, one that can love God and love your neighbor, a heart that knows you are loved and can feel God’s love and people’s love for you?  Why don’t you decide to follow Jesus today?

Pray:
Loving God, thank You fo the direction You give us in Your Ten Commandments. We are sorry fo the times we sin against You and break Your rules. Thank you for forgiving us!  We would be completely lost without Jesus, who leads us to You.  Please help us to remember the Commandments, and give us power through the Holy Spirit to obey.  In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

The Greatest Commandment

Matthew 22:34-40

Introduction

The Ten Commandments are the overarching, guiding principles God gave us to live a godly life and live in peace and harmony with others.  They also show us how we fall short and desperately need God’s grace and forgiveness.  In addition to the ten general commandments, there were 613 laws in the Old Testament that Jews were to follow.  (If you’re interested, you can read a list of them at  http://www.jewfaq.org/613.htm.  How would you like to try and memorize 613 laws instead of just ten commandments?)

As you can imagine, people wanted to know what the most important commandment was.  You might want to know too.  Well, someone asked Jesus about the greatest commandment and he gave a simple answer.  Let’s look at his answer. 

Matthew 22:34-40

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?”

³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” 

In addition to the 613 laws of the Old Testament, were the admonishments of all the Old Testament prophets and the teachings of countless rabbis.  Jesus said all the laws and the prophets are based on these two simple commandments—“Love God and love you neighbor.”  And really, if you follow these rules, you will fulfill every law and commandment listed in the Bible.  

St. Augustine, one of the early leaders of the church, once said: “Love, and do what you will.”[i]  The point is that if you love, you will do only good—to God and to others.  If you truly love God, you would not do anything to disrespect God, injure God, or harm your relationship with Him.  If you love people, again you will do only good for them.  Augustine said a bad person can do all sorts of things we associate with good—they can prophecy, they can go to church, they can take communion, they can even be called “Christians”—but, he says: “…to have love and be a bad person is impossible. Love is the unique gift, the fountain that is yours alone. The Spirit of God exhorts you to drink from it, and in so doing to drink from himself.” [i]

Love God with All…

Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind…”  In other words:  Love God with all everything you’ve got.  Most of us want to pick and choose what we devote to the Lord.  “I will come to church on Sunday—I will give God my time—but don’t ask me to do a service project in the community.”  Can you imagine what good could be done in our communities if Christians would rise up and truly Love God with all their community service?

Or we say, “I will pray for the church and for people, but don’t ask me to give 10% of my income to the church.”  Do you realize how much good goes undone throughout our nation because churches are in a financial stranglehold?  The tithe is not brought into the house of God and all our anemic churches can do is weakly limp around making the best of too little funding. I look at our own church and dream of the amazing things we could do in this community if every member of our church truly gave a tithe.  But instead, I look at the financial reports and realize that 9 out of 10 people sitting in this congregation each Sunday is cheating the church by not giving a proper tithe.

Or we say, “I will give God my money, but don’t ask me to witness—I don’t feel comfortable telling others what Jesus has done in my life.” 

Jesus didn’t say, love the Lord your God with one thing and not the other.  No, he said love the Lord your God with ALL—with everything in all areas of your life.  I’m so glad Jesus didn’t love us the way we love him.  Jesus gave us everything.  It was his complete, unconditional, sacrificial love that redeemed us on the cross.  And it calls for our complete, unconditional, sacrificial love for God in return.

            There are two more points I want to make this morning and then we will celebrate Holy Communion.  First of all… 

You can’t love God without loving your neighbor…

            1 John 4:20 says, “If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?”  God did not send Jesus to the world for just a few select people.  God love the whole world and sent Jesus to save the whole world—everyone.  And if God loves everyone, we—for the sake of our love for God—ought to love whomever He loves.  Do you love God?  Good.  This is how you show love for God:  by loving your neighbor.  (And your neighbor is not just the people who live in your neighborhood.  Your neighbor is every human being on the planet, because God love them all—including people who don’t speak your language, people who do bad things, people who live on the other side of the planet, people who practice a different religion.)  If you love God, then love your neighbor.  You can’t love God without loving your neighbor, and… 

You Can’t Love your neighbor without loving God…

            Have you ever tried loving people?  It’s exhausting!  People are rude.  They’re ungrateful.  They take advantage of you.  They disappoint you.  They’ll attack you.  They’ll “love” you when you have something they want and forget about you when you don’t.  And even the kindest, most patient, generous people in the world will soon burn themselves completely out trying to love people unconditionally the way God loves us.  And here’s why:  You can’t do it.  You only have a finite amount of love in you.  You’re cup only has so much love in it and once you pour it all out, you won’t have any more to give.

            That’s why you can’t love your neighbor without loving God.  You see, you need an eternal source of love.  When you Love God, you are plugged in to the well of Living Water that never runs dry.  It’s a love that can die on the cross on Friday and rise from the grave on Sunday.  Any human who wants to love people unconditionally has to be plugged into the God who is the eternal source of unconditional love.  You have to be filled with God’s love before you can love others properly.  And you’ve got to keep filling up or you won’t have any love worth sharing with your neighbors. 

Be Filled With His Love

            So today, I invite you to come to the well.  Jesus is here.  He wants to fill you with his love so you can go pour yourself out.  He wants you to love God with all that you have and all that you are so you can go love the world the way He does—the way He loves you.  And if you will live this great commandment—to love God and love your neighbor—you will fulfill everything written in the Scriptures.  But you can’t do it without God’s help.  So let us pray for God to fill us with His love as we share this Blessed Sacrament.

"Father, God in Heaven, come fill us with Your love this day.  Forgive us for the ways we have been selfish and even the ways we have tried to love others with our own inadequate means.  Help us instead to love You with all that we have and all that we are so that we can love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  I ask this in the name of Your precious son, Jesus.  Amen."

 

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[i] Augustine’s Love Sermon - https://www.christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/augustine/

The Tenth Commandment - Do not covet

Exodus 20:17

Introduction

            As I was leaving the worship service at my church last week, I told someone, “Man, my toes hurt!  It’s hard to preach the Ten Commandments!”  Every week during this series at my church, I’ve felt like I’m stepping on my own toes.  These commandments are challenging.  They tell us how to live a godly life together, but they also step on our toes as they draw our attention to the many ways we fall short.  They point out how desperately we need God’s grace and forgiveness.  So even as we recognize our sin, we enjoy God’s unconditional love more fully when we humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness.

            We have one more commandment to study.  But before we dive into this last one, let’s look at all ten together.  By now, I hope you’ve completed the challenge to memorize them.  If not, then keep working on it.  The Commandments are found in Exodus 20:1-17.             

The Ten Commandments:

1.     Do not worship any God except the Lord.

2.     Do not make idols of any kind.

3.     Do not misuse the name of the Lord.

4.     Remember to observe the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.

5.     Honor your father and mother.

6.     Do not murder.

7.     Do not commit adultery

8.     Do not steal.

9.     Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

10.  Do not covet.

Today we will look at the Tenth Commandment as found in Exodus 20:17

“You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.” 

 

Farm Truck

            For years, Kelly and I have talked about one day getting an old truck.  (Everyone needs a truck now and then, right?)  We have especially needed one since we moved here to Dalton.  We don't have garbage service where I live.  Who wants to load up garbage cans into the back of a minivan to haul to the recycle center?  But that’s what I used to have to do—along with lumber for projects back at the house and even goats for Mullis Farm!  What we needed was an old truck.

            Well, we got that farm truck in an unexpected way about 2 years ago.  My girls and I were in an accident on the interstate coming home from a movie.  Thank the Lord, no one was hurt—that was a miracle considering our minivan was completely totaled.  We were blessed to have good car insurance and ended up coming out of the whole thing pretty well.  Thanks to folks down at North Georgia Toyota, we were able to buy a slightly newer, nicer Toyota Sienna than we had before—one that hadn’t been used to haul goats and garbage.  And, we had enough money left over—along with some tax return money—to buy an old farm truck so we wouldn’t have to put goats and garbage in the new van.

Our farm truck is a 1992 Chevy Silverado and it fits the bill for what we need.  It’s nothing fancy and the AC doesn’t work anymore, but it’s reliable and works great for hauling trash, lumber, goats, pigs, hay, and whatever else needs hauling.  Plus, it has enough seating inside that we can fit the whole family in it (even if they fuss a little about it).  It’s old enough that I don’t care if it gets scratched or dented or dirty.  But there’s one thing the truck doesn’t have that I wish it did—four-wheel-drive.  It get's stuck in the mud and snow real easy.  And even though the Lord blessed me with this truck, the Devil sometimes uses it as a tool to make me sin.

It started that first winter after we bought the truck.  We had several snow storms and Kelly is a nurse. She doesn’t get the day off when it snows.  She has to go in.  They even require nurses to sleep at the hospital when they get off shift if there’s any question of being able to get back for their next shift.  Now, we have plenty of friends who have 4-wheel-drives who have offered to pick Kelly up and take her to work when the snow is on the ground.  But, I still found myself wishing I had bought a truck with 4-wheel-drive.

So now, I find myself struggling with this Tenth Commandment.  One minute I will be driving down the road in "old blue," feeling thankful that the Lord: 1) protected me and my girls during that accident, 2) gave me a great truck that despite being so old, runs great.  Then, the next minute, the Devil draws my attention to another old truck driving on the road or parked on a curb for sale.  I start looking.  “Is it four-wheel-drive?  Man, I wish this truck was four-wheel-drive like that one.”

You Must Not Covet

            To covet:  to yearn to possess or have (something).  The sin of coveting is a particular struggle in America, because it is so engrained in our culture.  To a large degree, our economy relies on people who covet.  Right?  We are motivated to get ahead because we see things we want and we work hard to earn the money to get them.  In Dalton, we live in the "carpet capital of the world" because people all over the world covet nice houses with elegant flooring.  Their desires require someone to make elegant flooring.  So factories in our community manufacture elegant flooring—which provides jobs for thousands of people who also covet things like houses, cars, clothes, entertainment, etc.  And the cycle continues.

            However, coveting is a symptom of deeper spiritual problems.  First off, it is evidence that we are not thankful for what we have.  Most of us are already blessed with so much.  Almost half the world lives on less than $730/year while here in America we earn about $50,000/year.  And yet, how much time do we spend truly being thankful for what we already have?  Not nearly as much time as we spend longing for even more.

            Coveting may be a sign of an idolatrous heart.  Idolatry is when we look for fulfillment from created things in ways that only God can fulfill us.  We think “If I could just have that new house, that new job, that new relationship, that new body, that new phone, that four-wheel-drive truck…”  But these things are never enough.  We always want more.  That greed, that selfishness, that covetousness, is not good.  It turns us away from God.  It breaks our relationship with the source of True Fulfillment and seeks to replace Him with things that cannot satisfy.

 

Conclusion

            The Devil loves it when we covet, because he can use it against us.  He takes the desire in us and tricks us into thinking it must be satisfied.  And often, we are willing to commit other sins to achieve our desires.  Coveting gives birth to lies, stealing, cheating, extramarital affairs, murder, corruption, pain and hurt.  Ultimately, it is a sin that turns our hearts away from God.

Colossians 3:5 says, “So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.”

Brothers and sisters, pray to the Lord to help you put to death a covetous heart.  Stop dreaming about the things you don't have.  Be thankful for what the Lord has graciously given you already.  Be filled with His goodness.  Be lost in His love.  Be overwhelmed by your blessings.

Invitation

            We all fall short.  We covet.  We steal.  We lie.  We break the 10 Commandments and they point out that we are sinners.  But the Good News is, through Christ, we can be forgiven and make a fresh start.  Jesus did not come to condemn you, but to save you.  Wouldn’t you like to be saved?  Wouldn’t you like to be forgiven and make a fresh start today?  Then humble yourself.  Bow your head and pray to the one who can save you from your sin and set you on the right path.

 

The Ninth Commandment

Exodus 20:16

Introduction

            We only have two more commandments to look at in this series on the Ten Commandments.  I want to start today by giving you a little background on the list I challenged you to memorize.  The list of the Ten Commandments I've used in this blog for the past 9 weeks is a paraphrase I developed back in 2003 as part of a Christian martial arts program I taught.  At the beginning of each class, students would bow in, have a moment for silent prayer, and we would recite the Ten Commandments.  Each student was required to memorize the commandments as part of our curriculum.  Usually, my martial arts students would have the commandments memorized within a month.  In this way, I have probably helped hundreds of students memorize the Ten Commandments—even if they didn’t stick with the Karate class for more than a couple months.
            The list I used is a paraphrase of the 10 Commandments found in Exodus 20:1-17.  I wanted my list to use simple language that was easy to understand and got straight to the point.  I struggled a bit with the Ninth Commandment and I didn’t really know why until this week when I studied it to prepare for this message. 
            Before we look at the 9^th commandment, let’s recite the whole list together.  There are some blanks to fill in.  Let’s see how you are coming on memorizing the Ten Commandments.

The Ten Commandments:

1.     Do not _______ any God except the Lord.
2.     Do not ____ _____ of any kind.
3.     Do not ______ the ____of the Lord.
4.     Remember to _______ the _______ ___ and keep it holy.
5.     Honor your ______ and _______.
6.     Do not ______.
7.     Do not commit ________
8.     Do not _____.
9.     Do not _______ _______against your neighbor.
10.  Do not _____.

Good!  Keep working on it until you have all 10 memorized.

Today we will look at the Ninth Commandment as found in Exodus 20:16

¹⁶ “You must not testify falsely against your neighbor.

As I said before, I struggled with how to word the ninth commandment in my list.  Here’s why.  I wanted to simplify the wording and just say, “You must not lie.”  But as I prayed about it, I felt the Lord was leading me to keep the words “testify falsely” instead of “lie.”  That phrasing is a little more awkward and complicated, but something told me it was there for a reason.

I know now why after studying for this message.  You see, the Ninth Commandment wasn’t originally concerned with ordinary, everyday types of lies.  The Ninth Commandment deals with the justice system of the community.  It’s about the court system.  That’s why it uses the term “testify.”  When a judge hears a legal case, he will call witnesses to testify.  Suppose someone has been accused of stealing.  The judge will ask if anyone saw the accused person steal or has any other information that will determine if the accused did or did not steal.  The integrity of the justice system depends on the honesty of the witnesses.  God wants His people to live in a just society.  For that to happen, the court system must be reliable.  For that to happen, witnesses must be honest. 

Justice is sometimes personified and depicted as a person holding a set of scales and wearing a blindfold.  The scales represent weighing the evidence.  The blindfold represents objectivity; i.e. it doesn’t matter if the person is a friend or an enemy, rich or poor, a citizen or a foreigner; justice is blind so everyone is treated fairly and impartially.  Therefore, witnesses must not twist the truth to sway justice one way or another.  

Institutional Lies

The language of the Ninth Commandment identifies it with the court system, but it applies to broader settings than that.  Remember, the Ten Commandments were written for the newly formed Israelite community after they left slavery in Egypt to teach them to live together as civilized people.  A civilized people must be able to trust their leaders to tell them the truth.

We have seen many instances throughout history where governments have lied to their people and led them astray.  Nazi Germany comes to mind as a particularly heinous example.  First, the government used propaganda to turn public opinion against the Jews--even convincing them that Jews were less than human and deserved whatever persecution and mistreatment the Germans dished out.  Near the end of WWII, as the Allies were closing in on Berlin, Hitler and his henchmen were still sending out propaganda saying they were winning the war even as their capital was crumbling around them.  They’re lies had turned into madness and a complete distortion of reality.

When leaders bear false witness, it erodes the bedrock on which society is founded.  We see the effects of this in our own nation.  Back in the 50s and 60s, most people trusted the government.  According to the Pew Research Center^[1], public trust in the government was 74% under Lyndon Johnson in 1964.  But over the years as numerous scandals, lies, and coverups have come to light about leaders in various segments, the faith of the American people in their government has eroded.  In February of 2014, it was just 24%.  This is the effect falsehood has on society.

The Church is no exception either.  The year I was born, 1974, between 66-68% of Americans said they had great confidence in the Church.  Over the years, that number has gradually dropped to a low of 42% in 2015.^[2]  As a 13 or 14 year old kid, I used to sometimes watch Jimmy Swaggart on the TV in the morning as I got ready for school.  Now this was unusual for me.  I wasn’t a very devoted Christian at that age, but something about Jimmy Swaggart grabbed my attention and I would watch.  I remember very vividly the footage of him crying and admitting he had “sinned against You, my Lord.”  It soon came out that he had been with a prostitute.  Such scandals make it hard for the public to trust the Church is telling the Truth.

But it’s not just the scandals of televangelists or catholic priests that damage the influence of the church.  Every Christian is an ambassador for Christ.  You are an ambassador for Christ.  The reality is, there are people who look up to you as an example of what it means to be a Christian that will never look at me.  I may be a pastor, but you are the person they know and value.  Does your life and your actions tell the truth about Christ or bear a false witness?

We can bare false witness in two ways as ordinary Christians.  First off, we could act in ungodly ways that do not set a good example for others.  But perhaps there is an even more sinister way we bear false witness with our actions.  It is when we pretend to be better than we are.  You see, no man is perfect.  We all have many, many flaws.  Just because we follow Jesus does not mean we do not make mistakes or have bad habits.  And yet, sometimes there is tremendous pressure within Christian social circles hide our flaws and weaknesses.  Looking around the church, one might think everyone is happy all the time.  All you see is smiling faces and most people keep their struggles and failings hidden.  We present ourselves as perfect (or nearly perfect).  But the reality is, the church is full of broken, fallen people.  We don’t have to be perfect; God accepts us as we are and just wants us to be honest about the good the bad and the ugly of our lives.  Anything less is to bear false witness and it erodes faith in the Church and hinders our own healing. 

Jesus and Lying

Ephesians 4:25 says, “So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.”  We need to tell the truth--in both big and small things, and in our actions.  Christians should be known as the most honest people on the planet.

The people who lived in Jesus’ day struggled to know who they could trust.  The custom arose of using vows to guarantee a person was telling the truth.  So a person might say, “I swear upon my mother’s grave,” as a way of proving they spoke the truth.  In Matthew 5:34 and 37, Jesus said, “But I say, do not make any vows! Do not say, ‘By heaven!’ because heaven is God’s throne...”  “Just say a simple, ‘Yes, I will,’ or ‘No, I won’t.’ Anything beyond this is from the evil one.”

In his blog called “9 Sins the Church is OK With,” Frank Powell writes, “Here’s what Jesus is saying. You should live with such high integrity that your word doesn’t need attachments to make it legitimate... So, typical phrases like, “I promise,” “I swear,” and “I put it on my mom’s grave” shouldn’t be necessary.”^[3]   

Conclusion

Christians should be the most honest people on the planet.  And yet the honest truth is, we have all been a false witness at some point in word or deed.  James 2:10 says, “10 For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.”  And one day, we will all stand before the Great Judge who will determine our fate.  The Ten Commandments testify against us that we have broken God's Law in many ways.

 Romans 6:23 says “The consequences of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  Although we deserve death for our sin, God offers a pardon to all who trust in Christ’s death and resurrection.  For his death paid the penalty for our sin and his resurrection won the victory over death.  Like him, we too can be raised to new life--one free of sin and death--where we live at peace with God.

Would you like to take hold of this new life Jesus offers?  Then, pray to Jesus today and ask for forgiveness, ask him to save you, and decide to follow him from now on.

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^[1] http://www.people-press.org/2014/11/13/public-trust-in-government/

^[2] http://www.gallup.com/poll/183674/confidence-religion-new-low-not-among-catholics.aspx

^[3] http://www.faithit.com/9-sins-the-church-is-okay-with/