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.
[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/
There
are other arguments people make to excuse not giving as much as the Bible
instructs, but all this misses a bigger point.
Jesus doesn’t want what you have. Jesus
wants you! Jesus doesn’t want just 10%
of your income or your time. Jesus wants
your whole heart. And if you surrender
your heart to Him, you will surrender everything else. You will stop asking questions like, “How
much time, money, obedience, do I have to give?” You will have an attitude that honors justice
and the love of God. You will ask, “How
much can I give? How much can I honestly justify
keeping for myself?” For where your
heart is, there your treasure will be also. (Mt. 6:21)
