J. John in his book entitled Ten observes, “Even at the simplest level, lying poses problems. Telling lies often gets us in more hot water than if we had told the truth.
Lies have an extraordinary habit of growing. As Martin Luther said centuries ago, ‘Lies are like a snowball—as they roll, the bigger they get.’ To cover up a little lie we tell another and then another. Of course the more lies we tell, the greater is the danger that the whole web of deceit may start to unravel.”
Lying is not of God. Lying is a sin. This morning I want to return to my series of messages on the Ninth Commandment. (This is the third of three messages on the topic.)
Exodus 20:16 says, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” Other translations put this:
- New Century Version, “You must not tell lies about your neighbor.”
- The Jewish Bible, “Do not give false evidence against your neighbor.”
- The Living Bible, “You must not lie.”
Proverbs 4:24 (New Century Version) adds, “Don’t use your mouth to tell lies; don’t ever say things that are not true.”
I NOW WANT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT SEVEN DIFFERENT TYPES OF LIES. I covered one type last week. I simply called it telling a FALSEHOOD. Of the seven, this is the most common type of lie.
The next lie that I want to cover is SLANDER. While every kind of lie is bad, this one though rises just a little higher on the bad meter.
By definition, slander is a lie that is invented and distributed with malicious intent. Another definition: To speak critically of another person with the intent to hurt or defame. To slander in the Word of God also means to accuse maliciously.
The Bible adds an interesting twist here. Proverbs 10:18 simply says in the words of the wise Solomon, “… whoever spreads slander is a fool”. The word fool speaks of one who is silly, stupid. That is the same word that is used in Psalm 14:1 to describe a person who does not believe in God. He or she is a fool.
Notice Titus 2:3. Here the Apostle Paul writes, “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good.” I want to point something out here that I think is rather significant. The Greek word for “slanderer” as found in this passage is diabolos, (dee-ab’-o-los). The word is found 38 times in the New Testament. Thirty-five of those times the word is translated “devil.” On three occasions it is translated “false accuser”, or “slanderer.” The point being, those who spread falsehoods against others and who seek to destroy the reputations of others are diabolos, (dee-ab’-o-los) – devilish! The truth of this is seen in that one of the names of the evil one is Accuser of the Brothers. As such, he accuses God, accuses God’s people, and he accuses you before God, before others, and he even accuses you to you!
In Matthew 15:17-19, Jesus notes, “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man ‘unclean’. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.” Jesus here lists slander among the many evils that comes out of a wicked heart. In fact he puts it in the same company as “evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, and false testimony.”
I have here a biblical example of slander. No doubt, most of you remember the story of Daniel and the lion’s den. Now I want you to recall what got Daniel in trouble in the first place. No doubt, the first thing that comes to mind is the fact that Daniel prayed in direct obedience to the king’s orders. While it is true that the brother continued to pray, nevertheless, the king really wasn’t all that upset over Daniel’s personal spiritual disciplines. The thing that got the brother in hot water was a band of men who slandered Daniel before the king.
Daniel 6:14 says that the king was “greatly distressed;” and that “he was determined to rescue Daniel and made every effort until sundown to save him.” Finally, the king was forced by law to sentence Daniel to the den of lions. You know the rest of the story. However, I do want to pick up the account in Daniel 6:24, “At the king’s command, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their wives and children. And before they reached the floor of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.” I want to draw your attention back to the phrase, “The men who had falsely accused Daniel….” In the ancient Hebrew, the term “falsely accused” literally means that they “devoured” Daniel. They “ate the morsels of.…” “They chewed him up and spit him out.”
Jesus suffered from slander as did Joseph of the Old Testament, Nehemiah, David and the Apostle Paul. The people of Scripture were not strangers to this evil. Years ago a man in Florida had slanderous charges made against his character. He had no alternative but to take the matter to court. The case received much publicity. The trial extended over a period of weeks. The slandered man fought to clear his name, not just for himself but for his family.
Finally, the court cleared the man completely. He received a large sum of money for the damage that had been inflicted against him.
When at last the verdict was rendered in his behalf, the man committed suicide. He had endured the pain of the trial for his family’s sake. But in the process, the smear against his name drained from him all desire to go on living.
Is it any wonder that Shakespeare wrote: “Who steals my purse steals trash; ’tis something, nothing; ’twas mine, ’tis his, and has been slave to thousands; But he that filches (steals) from me my good name robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.” (Wm. Shakespeare, Othello, Act III)
Henry J. Kuiper in his book entitled Sermons on the Ten Commandments wrote, “Is one’s good name less sacred than his property? You would not think of entering your neighbor’s house and smashing his furniture or carrying it away. Yet his name and reputation are treated as free for anyone to snatch and steal. Slander is stabbing at character. It is better to be the victim and to suffer from an evil, false report, than to be the guilty one. Better far to go to prison like Joseph in Egypt than to play the role of Potiphar’s wife.”
The famous pastor and author Dr. G. Campbell Morgan in his book on the Ten Commandments noted, “Perhaps no form of injury done by man to man is more despicable than this. The highwayman robs of material things that have been gained, and may be replaced. The assassin ends the life by swift or sudden stroke, often with little pain; but the slanderer who invents a lie, and uses it, forms a weapon which takes away a reputation and all the chances are against its ever being regained ; and thus oftentimes causes untold and prolonged suffering to the innocent, while, in the majority of cases, he himself goes undiscovered and unpunished.”
Sad to say, an untruth about another person is the most damaging lie that can be told. Yet this is the kind of untruth an otherwise good person is tempted to tell.
THE NEXT LIE IS NOT ALL THAT UNLIKE SLANDER. I AM SPEAKING OF GOSSIP OR TALE-BEARING. Before I go down this road, I want to share a personal observation. I have been a pastor for quite a few years. I have led small congregations as well as large ones. I have pastored in the north and in the south. I said all of that to say this, I don’t think I have ever pastored a people that is any less prone to gossip than you. I mean that. I told Marilyn last week what I was going to chare here, and she totally agreed with me. I want you to receive that as a well deserved and sincere compliment from your pastor and wife.
Nonetheless, I still feel as if I must offer some instruction here. I think each of us – myself included – need to be reminded of the evils as well as the dangers of gossip.
Four preachers were sitting on a park bench, taking a short breather from their heavy schedules. “You know, the Bible says that confession is good for the soul. I think it would be good is each of us became accountable to the others and just share some of the stuff that we are dealing with in our personal lives. They all nodded in agreement.
One of the brothers immediately volunteered: “Well, I would like to share with you the fact that I drink to excess.”
There was a quiet gasp from the other three. Then another spoke up. “Since you were so honest, I’d like to say that my big problem is gambling. I know it’s bad, but I can’t quit. I’ve even been tempted to take money from the collection plate.”
Another gasp was heard, and the third clergyman spoke. “I’m really troubled, brothers,
because I’m finding myself attracted to another man’s wife.”
More gasps. But the fourth man remained silent. He just sat there with a sly little grin on his face. After a few minutes the others finally coaxed him to open up. “The fact is,” he said, and then his voice tailed off…. “I just don’t know how to tell you about my problem.” The others offered, “It’s all right, brother. Your secret is safe with us.”
“Well, it’s this way, you see. I’m an incurable gossip and I can hardly wait to get to a telephone!”
In a particular church they had a lady who was known to be the town gossip. She was always sticking her nose into other people’s business. One day she accused a new member of the church of being an alcoholic because she had seen his truck in the parking lot in front of a bar. The new member said that he had simply parked there. The gossip said that if his truck was parked in front of the bar, she knew he that he was up to no good.
The new member, being a quiet sort, simply and silently walked away from the accusation. He didn’t try to talk her out of anything. He did, however, get a bit of revenge when later that evening he quietly parked his truck in front of the gossip’s house, walked home, and left it there all night.
Earl Wilson once said, “Gossip is when you hear something you like about someone you don’t.” Someone else observed: Gossip is repeating private information to someone who is neither part of the problem nor part of the solution.
It may be helpful to remember two things:
First, gossips are never trusted because they break confidences. We all know that the one who brings gossip also carries it.
Second, in a curious sort of justice, those who are gossips tend to be those who attract gossip about themselves. Matthew 7:1-2, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
Back in the mid-sixties the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Tallahassee, Florida wrote an excellent book on the Ten Commandments entitled, A Life Worth Living. He makes the following important observation in the book: “Why does a human being
allow himself to be a part of something that can be so destructive to another person?
There is within the human personality an insatiable desire to appear important to other people. It is in all of us. We want to appear important to our children, friends, business associates, and classmates.
This sense of importance can be sought in two ways. There is a high road, and also a low road. We take the high road when we enter into the struggle to make something of ourselves. We seek to lift ourselves to such stature that others will recognize our achievement.
Then there is the low road. We try to lift ourselves by lowering those around us. We develop a warped sense of relativity by convincing ourselves that, by pushing people down around us, we actually raise ourselves.
Here is another quirk of the human personality. We are quickest to point out the same weaknesses in others that exist in our own lives—if not in kind at least in degree. You can almost learn a person’s secrets by listening to the things he will say about someone else.”
Now would be a good time to share with you some questions that might help you determine whether or not something qualifies as gossip:
- First, simply ask yourself, does what you have to say sound like gossip? If it does, don’t say it. Ron Mehl was speaking to a lady on his staff. He said, “You know, I probably shouldn’t tell you this….” I guess I was hoping she’s respond, “Oh come on… go ahead! Let’s hear it! It probably not that big of a deal. Instead she looked at me and said, “Well then, I guess you’d better not. That set me back on my heels for a moment. I wasn’t expecting that response! I smiled, kept my lip buttoned, and walked away. I already respected that lady a great deal, and now I respected her even more. Proverbs 26:20 notes, “Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down…”
- Next, ask “If this was written down would I be able to sign it?” If we are not willing to put our name to a story, then we shouldn’t share it.
- Am I telling this to someone who can do something about the problem by helping the person or offering discipline or correction?
- Back to the video clip that we watched a moment ago. Ask yourself, how would we feel if the person concerned could hear us talking that way about him or her?
- Would Jesus pass this on if it were told of one of His disciples?
- Is this news approved for sharing?
- Am I breaking a confidence?
- Am I willing to say from whom I got this information so the information can be checked for accuracy?
- Am I praying for the person?
- Would I feel comfortable if someone were saying this about me?
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be” (James 3:9-10). Those words serve as a great reminder for us to choose our words wisely.
I want to now take you back to the Old Testament Jewish law. When non-Jewish people talk about how difficult it is to observe Jewish law, they usually mention the difficulty of observing Sabbath or keeping kosher or other similarly detailed ritual laws. Yet the laws that are most difficult to keep, which are most commonly violated even by observant Jews are the laws regarding improper speech. The ancient oral law of the Jews reports that the tongue is an instrument so dangerous that it must be kept hidden from view, behind two protective walls (the mouth and teeth) to prevent its misuse.
The rabbis referred to gossip as “the evil tongue.” According to the ancient Jewish oral law, “Anyone who speaks with the evil tongue, God says of him: He and I cannot live in the same world.” One legend describes the evil tongue as the source of all plagues. Another says that anyone who speaks it loses his place in heaven.
The evil tongue is described as being worse than the shedding of blood, sexual immorality, and idolatry—the three sins that Judaism holds that one ought to die rather than commit.
Leviticus 19:16 warns, “Thou shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer among thy people.” The term tale-bearing here relates to a word meaning trader or merchant. The idea is that a tale-bearer is like a merchant, but he or she deals in information instead of goods. The information spoken of here includes any statement that will embarrass, insult, or deceive a person, or cause a person emotional pain or distress.
The ancients likewise believed that a person who listens to gossip is even worse than the person who tells it, because no harm could be done by gossip if no one listened to it. It has been said that gossip kills three individuals: the person who speaks it, the person who hears it, and the person about whom it is told.
Friday night Marilyn and I went to the Janesville Performing Arts theater to see Meredith Willson’s The Music Man. Our own Sage Green has a starring role in the production. My wife and I loved the show. Anyway, as you may recall, in the show Professor Harold Hill comes up with a method that he uses to teach his students how to play a musical instrument. He calls the technique “The Think Method.”
Well I have for you a think method for dealing with gossip. The method comes in the form of an acrostic for the word THINK. Ask yourself:
T—is it true?
H—will it help?
I—is it inspiring?
N—is it necessary?
K—is it kind?
As we make a commitment to telling the truth, it would be good to make a similar commitment to THINK before we speak.
Now I want to move rather rapidly through the remaining points:
THE NEXT TYPE OF LIE IS GIVING A FALSE IMPRESSION
I like this illustration. The story of the navigator and the ship’s captain reveals how we can sometimes lie by telling the truth. The captain had no regard for the navigator. One day when making entries in the ship’s log, he wrote, “the navigator took a drink today.” The navigator, when he read the words, said, “Did you have to put that in there?” The captain replied in his very self-righteous way, “Well, it is the truth.” The navigator was on duty during the next watch. His entry into the log read, “The captain was sober today.” When the captain read that, he was furious. He confronted the navigator with it, but the navigator simply said, “Well, it is the truth.”
The standard of law is, we are to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That standard is a great standard for the believer to observe as well.
Neale Donald Walsch in his book entitled Conversations with God (Book 2) makes the case that there are five levels of truth-telling:
- First, you tell the truth to yourself about yourself.
- Then you tell the truth to yourself about another.
- At the third level, you tell the truth about yourself to another.
- Then you tell your truth about another to that other.
- And finally, you tell the truth to everyone about everything.
When we purposefully leave a false impression, we are not telling the truth to anyone about anything.
Psalm 141:3 (New Century Version), “LORD, help me control my tongue; help me be careful about what I say.” The Living Bible puts it this way, “Help me, Lord, to keep my mouth shut and my lips sealed.”
THE FIFTH TYPE OF LIE IS OH SO EASY TO TELL. ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS NOTHING. I CALL THIS LIE THE DECEITFULNESS OF SILENCE. An old Latin phrase goes something like this: “Silence implies consent.”
Let me remind you of a time when this point was played out in Scripture. Mark 14:53-54 takes us to the account of the crucifixion of Jesus: “They took Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law came together. Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest. There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.” Peter sat there through all three of his denials of Christ. His lack of protest was indeed a part of the denial process. His silence was a part of his lie.
Perhaps you have heard of a man by the name of Martin Niemöller. Niemöller was a German pastor and theologian. During World War 2, the brother became disillusioned with Hitler and became the leader of a group of German clergymen opposed to the dictator. Niemöller was arrested and eventually spent a number of years confined in the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps. His crime was “not being enthusiastic enough about the Nazi movement.” Niemöller was released in 1945 by the Allies.
Following the war, the pastor penned a poem that described the dangers of silence and apathy in the face of evil. The text of the quotation is usually presented roughly as follows:
First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Again, his silence led his enemies to believe for quite some time that Niemöller was one with them. His silence betrayed the truth.
On a more personal level, have you ever heard the good name and reputation of one of your friends maligned? Have you ever heard an untruth about another person and for whatever reason, maybe fear, maybe you just didn’t want to get involved, what-ever, you simply chose to sit there and remain silent? Silence in such a situation is deceitful and wrong. It is implying that you give consent to a lie.
6. FLATTERY IS THE SIXTH FORM OF LIE.
William was said to be the ugliest, though the most lovable, man in Louisiana. On returning to the plantation after a short absence, his brother said: “Willie, I met in New Orleans a Mrs. Forrester who is a great admirer of yours. She said, though, that it wasn’t so much the brilliancy of your mental attainments as your marvelous physical and facial beauty which charmed and delighted her.”
“Edmund,” cried William earnestly, “that is a wicked lie, but tell it to me again!”
Sad to say, flattery, is indeed a wicked lie. Therefore the Bible warns us again and again about the flatterer.
- Beware of the wayward woman who flatters.
- Beware of the enemy who flatters.
- Beware of the unbeliever who flatters.
So what is flattery?
- Whenever we say anything to another person which we believe not to be true, simply for the sake of pleasing him or her or to play up to the person’s vanity, that is flattery.
- Flattery is pretending to say what we mean, when we do not mean what we say.
- Flattery is insincere praise.
- Flattery is the art of telling another person exactly what he thinks of himself.
The problem is, not only does the flatterer not tell the truth, but in time the person is sure to be found out. When he or she is found out, his or her insincere compliments become offensive and insulting. Therefore righteous Job says, “I won’t play favorites or try to flatter anyone” Job 32:21 (New Living Translation). Proverbs 26:28 likewise warns, “A lying tongue hates its victims, and flattering words cause ruin.”
7. THE FINAL LIE THAT I WANT TO HIGHLIGHT IS, TWISTING ANOTHER’S WORDS.
I will draw an example from one of the most famous stories in all of Scripture – the account of Adam and Eve. Satan tempted and deceived Eve by twisting the very words of Almighty God.
Notice these two passages from the book of Genesis: Genesis 2:16-17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.’” Genesis 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’”
Did you notice the difference between what God said and how the devil twisted it? Jesus likewise had His words twisted against Him by His enemies one time after another. Today our best example would probably be the word twisting that goes on in the political arena. It eventually gets to the place where one does not know who or what to believe.
The Psalmist David therefore pleaded to be free from lying. Notice Psalm 120:2, “Save me, O LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues” In truth, when one deceives, he or she is the one who is the most deceived!
The Apostle Paul adds in Ephesians 4:25, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.”
I WANT TO CLOSE WITH A LIST OF REASONS WHY PEOPLE LIE:
- Often children get into the habit of lying in order to keep out of trouble. They want to keep their parent or parents from finding out that they have done something that is wrong.
- As adults, we lie so as to avoid responsibility. We blame it (whatever it is) on someone else, something else, anything else. As I pointed out last week, one of the most common untruths told today is, “It wasn’t me.”
- Another reason for lying is to protect one’s image. Why do so many people lie about their age or weight? Vanity and self-esteem play a part in this picture.
- People lie so as to gain some sort of advantage. Think job applications or resumes.
- People lie to save face. (Sorry, I’m late. The traffic was brutal.)
- People lie to get out of a commitment. (I’m sorry, I will not be able to attend this evening’s dinner. I wasn’t able to get a babysitter.)
- We lie to ourselves. (I can’t be gaining weight; my clothes must be shrinking.)
- People lie in order to gain power over other people. This can be done either through manipulation or flattery. Have you ever had a child compliment you when you knew he or she was really wanting something from you? The compliment was an means to an end.
- Laying can become habit. Just to be honest, some folks are simply pathological liars. There is no getting around it.
- Satan puts it in our hearts to lie. John 8:44 says of the evil one, “…there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies”
Back to the book Ten by J. John, “We protest. Lies are mostly harmless. But are they? The little white lie we told to shift the blame off us for the faulty product shifted it onto someone else instead; in getting ourselves off the hook, we put others on it. Adjusting our work record to make us look good makes someone else look worse. Someone, somewhere foots the bill for our creativity on our expense sheet. Lies have price tags on them that someone has to pay.”
So we are back to the Ninth Commandment – “you shall not lie.” In other words, no lies; ever. When you reject lying and instead wrap yourself in truth, you identify with the God of truth. God who is the Author of truth. God who wills truth, maintains it, vindicates it and will finally glorify it in ultimate triumph. Psalm 117:2 (New Century Version) declares, “… the LORD loves us very much, and his truth is ever-lasting. Praise the LORD!” Praise the Lord indeed!
