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| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > Being in Christ, put off falsehood and put on honesty | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Hymn 79 Psalm 116:1,6 Psalm 119:10-12 Hymn 1 Psalm 81:1-3 Scripture readings: Zechariah 8:1-17, Ephesians 4 Catechism lesson and text: Lord's Day 43 and Ephesians 4:25 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
When I was a missionary at the beginning of my ministry, one of the challenges we faced was dealing with deception. It seemed like a lot of the people in the community where we were working were always lying. Many would lie when it was to their advantage, others would lie whether there was an advantage or not. Some would lie even if they didn’t have to – it was just they were so used to lying that lying was their everyday practice. I knew already then that some of that had to do with addictions. People with addictions lie all the time to cover their tracks. People who live with people with addictions learn to lie all the time to cover for the people they love. Lying becomes a way of life.
When I became a pastor in an instituted congregation, I thought I’d see a marked difference on this. Generally speaking there was. But sadly, I can recall many people and situations when I was being lied to. In the church, with people who called themselves Christians, I can remember many times when someone was trying to deceive me. In some instances, it had to do with addictions, just like on the mission field. In some instances, again people would lie even when there was no obvious advantage to doing so.
So I don’t think any apology is needed if we focus all our attention on lying this afternoon. When dealing with the Ninth Commandment it can be helpful to come back to its basic meaning. Not bearing false witness begins with not lying. Not bearing false witness means loving the truth and speaking and confessing it honestly. We’ll see this through what God says in Ephesians 4:25. So I preach to you God’s Word: Being in Christ, put off falsehood and put on honesty. We’ll see:
- The background to this command
- The negative aspect of this command
- The positive aspect of this command
- The reason for this command
The first liar in the Bible was Satan. Satan is described by Christ in John 8 as being “a liar and the father of lies.” When he lied to Adam and Eve and they believed him rather than God, they plunged themselves into a world of deception. Now we have the situation that we just sang about in Psalm 116: all human beings are liars. That truth comes back in the New Testament in Romans 1:29 where Paul says that in the natural state of sin, people are full of deceit. We live in a world plagued by human beings who lie and we’re not immune to the problem.
Contrasted with lying human beings is God. In the Old Testament, God is repeatedly identified as the ultimate truthful Being. Isaiah 65:16 says he is the God of truth. In 1 Samuel 15:29, it says that the “Glory of Israel [God] will not lie.” So it’s not surprising when we’re told that God hates dishonesty. Proverbs 6:16 says, “There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him…” Number two on that list is “a lying tongue.” And number seven on the list of things God hates: “a false witness who breathes out lies.” So two of the seven have to do with the Ninth Commandment. Truth is a big deal to God.
When our Lord Jesus came to this earth, he came as a fuller and more powerful revelation of who God is. And one of the first things we learn about him is that he came “full of grace and truth.” John 1:17 says, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Later in John 14:6, Jesus said those famous words, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…” Because he is God in our human flesh, he is the embodiment of the truth. Everything he says is true. Every word from Christ can be trusted.
That brings us to the vital point in the background to the Holy Spirit’s command in Ephesians 4:25. That has to do with the believer’s relationship to Christ. That relationship was established by God’s grace, through what Christ did in his life and death. Now believers collectively are Christ’s body and individually members of him. We’re united to him. Christ is our head and we are parts of his body. The head is supposed to govern the body. Where the head wants the body to go, the body should go. What the head wants the body to do, the body should do. So when we look at our head, when we look at Christ, we see truth embodied. That’s where we need to go. When we look at our head, when we look at Christ, we see no lies being told, but only what’s true. That’s what we need to do as his body then. If you’re united to Christ, you have to reflect what he’s like. That’s something you can’t do in your own strength. But as you rely on the Holy Spirit, you can and will begin to do it in this life already and then you’ll do it perfectly in glory.
As we live here on this side of glory, let’s look at the different aspects of this command as it appears in Ephesians 4:25. Before we get into the negative aspect of it, we should take note of the illustration Paul is using. He’s describing the life of a Christian, someone who is united to Jesus Christ by true faith. This is the person who has been saved by grace. Now the life that comes out of that can be illustrated with clothing. There’s old dirty clothing that needs to be taken off. That old dirty clothing represents your old way of life before Christ, your old self. It’s not appropriate for you to wear that grungy and torn stuff as a Christian. But you’re not meant to be left naked. No, there’s beautiful new clothing to put on as a Christian. That beautiful new clothing is a symbol for the new way of life in Christ, your new self. This is what’s appropriate for you if you’re a Christian who has a living relationship with Jesus.
The “therefore” at the beginning of verse 25 tells us how this is a further way of applying what Paul was just saying about putting off the old self and putting on the new self. And then in our ESV translation it says, “having put away falsehood.” The original Greek can be translated like that – it’s a possibility. But given the previous verses speaking of this process of putting off and putting on, the NIV translation is better here: “…each of you must put off falsehood…” The command here is two-fold. It has both a negative and a positive aspect. So the first part of the verse is also a command.
The command is to “put away falsehood.” Now Ephesians 4:25 doesn’t expand on what that all means. Falsehood is a really broad category involving all kinds of deception. But we could fill it out with the summary of biblical teaching that we have on this in Lord’s Day 43.
First, God doesn’t want us to give false testimony. One of the easiest ways to destroy someone else’s life is to make a false accusation against them. The precise wording of the Ninth Commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.” False accusations can be made in formal ways – going to the police and accusing someone of a crime they didn’t commit. Or going to the consistory and falsely accusing someone of a sin. But false accusations can also be made in various informal ways. Regardless of how it’s done, it doesn’t fit with being in Christ. It’s something that has to be put off. Get rid of it in your life and have nothing to do with it.
Next, according to Scripture, as part of putting off falsehood, God doesn’t want us to twist anyone’s words. Let me give an example of twisting words. Let’s say a friend invites you to go out for dinner. You reply, “Sorry, I already have other plans for dinner” – which is true, you do have other plans. But then your friend says, “So what you’re saying is you hate me.” Your friend has twisted your words and made you say something that you never said. This too is a form of deceit. It’s against the Ninth Commandment. We have to put it off, because this is something Christ would never do, therefore those in Christ can’t do it either.
Third, we’re to put off gossip and slander. We need to clearly define those terms. There’s a bit of overlap between them. Both involve speaking negatively about someone, speaking unkind or unflattering words. The main difference is that slander is always false. Gossip, on the other hand, could be true, even though it often isn’t. You see, sometimes people will think they’re keeping the Ninth Commandment in their speaking because they may be saying something negative, but they know or they believe it to be true. So if someone says, “Hey, that’s not nice, don’t talk that way about her,” they’ll come back with, “But it’s true!” It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. Both gossip and slander are behaviours to be put off for the Christian. Jesus never did it and neither should we. They don’t fit with who we are in him.
Finally, we’re to get rid of rash condemnations. Proverbs 18:17 says, “The one who states his case seems right, until the other comes and examines him.” Which is to say, it’s always foolish to jump to conclusions about other people. Sometimes it’s necessary for us to make a judgment in certain situations, but we have to be careful to hear every possible angle on it that we can. Proverbs 18:13 says, “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame.” I’ll always remember a story my New Testament professor told us in seminary. In a small Dutch congregation where he was a member, there was a poor old widow. For whatever reason, everyone knew that this poor widow was receiving help from the deacons. Then one day this poor widow was seen walking around the village with a brand new coat. It clearly wasn’t second-hand; it was new and it was nice. You can imagine what people said about her. They jumped to the conclusion that she was abusing the charity of the church. They condemned her rashly. Meanwhile, it turned out that she had received this coat as a generous gift from someone. Some kind-hearted person thought the poor widow needed a new coat. She was judged rashly for it – to the folly and shame of those who did it. We ought to ask ourselves, “Do I need to make a judgment about this?” Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes it’s none of your business and you can just leave it alone. But if you do, then there’s another question, “Do I have all the information I need to make a good judgment?” Otherwise, let’s put off rash condemnations as another one of the devil’s works. It doesn’t fit with our identity in Christ.
Now let’s go over to the positive aspect of this command. Our text says, “…let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour…” Our God is the God of truth. He wants his people to be like him. Our Lord Jesus said that he is the truth, so we’re to be known as honest people too.
It’s sounds really quite straightforward, doesn’t it? Speak the truth, be honest. Lord’s Day 43 refers to the courtroom setting. If we ever find ourselves in court called to be a witness in a case, we’ll swear to tell the truth and then we must. But there’s also “everywhere else.” Whether it’s in the home, or in school, at work, in the community – we’re always to be truth-tellers.
However, does that mean we always have to open our mouths and speak the truth? Proverbs 17:27 says, “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.” There’s a time for speaking and a time for keeping silent and the wise person knows the difference. Particularly, if the truth isn’t building up our neighbour or serving some other virtuous cause, it’s wiser to keep our mouths shut. This is also important to keep in mind when it comes to social media. It’s so easy to spout off about all kinds of things, get into all kinds of debates, but “whoever restrains his words has knowledge.” And Proverbs 10:19 says, “When words are many transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his words is prudent.”
And when it is time to open our mouths and speak the truth, there’s a certain way in which that should be done. Think of what Proverbs 15:1 says, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” When we’re speaking the truth, we need to choose our words carefully. Similarly, a few verses before our text, Paul says that believers are to be “speaking the truth in love.” We ought to check our hearts to make sure we’re not speaking the truth out of hatred or bitterness, but because we care about the person we’re speaking to. Then there’s verse 29, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Not everything that’s true is necessarily edifying. Not everything that’s true will “give grace to those who hear,” will benefit them in some way. Loved ones, when we speak, we have to speak the truth, but we’re called to do it in a godly and Christ-like way.
Before we move on to our last point, I just want to briefly address a question that people sometimes ask about speaking the truth. Do we always have to speak the truth even if speaking the truth will result in someone getting hurt or even killed? The classic example is what happened during the Second World War with Christians hiding Jews in their homes. If the Nazis come knocking and ask if any Jews are in your house, do you tell them the truth? Some Christians said you must always tell the truth and trust God that everything will be okay. Other Christians said, no, because this commandment is ultimately about protecting your neighbour and the truth has to be subservient to that. Perhaps this issue sounds rather hypothetical to us today, but one never knows whether we might face similar dilemmas in the future. So it’s worth considering.
On Sunday January 24, 1943, Rev. Benne Holwerda was preaching on Lord’s Day 43 in Amersfoort, in the Netherlands. This was during the Nazi occupation. Preachers always had to be careful what they said during their sermons because Nazi spies often came to church to monitor what was being preached or prayed. If you said the wrong thing, you could be arrested and sent to a concentration camp. Lord’s Day 43 and the Ninth Commandment were hot topics for discussion in Amersfoort and all over the Netherlands. Holwerda had to say something. He didn’t talk about the Nazis coming to your door, at least not directly. He did explain that the Ninth Commandment isn’t first of all about honesty, but about justice. He went on to say that the meaning of the Ninth Commandment has to do with love for your neighbour and protecting his rights. It’s not about speaking the truth, no matter the consequences. My neighbour has a right to be protected from harm – I’m obliged to do that. The person seeking to harm my neighbour has no right to the truth in service of his evil desire. When it comes to ourselves and protecting ourselves, that’s something different he says. But when it comes to our neighbour, justice and mercy are more important than brute honesty. The person who upholds justice for his neighbour and shows mercy to him is doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD. So that’s how Rev. Benne Holwerda explained it to his congregation in 1943 and I think his position on that is biblical. So no one should understand Ephesians 4:25 to mean “Speak the truth, no matter what the consequences for your neighbour.” Justice and mercy are always more important.
Now we get to the reason for this two-fold command in Ephesians 4:25. It says, “for [or because] we are members one of another.” It’s important to recognize at this point that when Paul said, “let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour,” he was actually quoting from Zechariah 8:16. We need to ask why he would refer to that passage. In Zechariah 8, God was speaking about a better time ahead for his people. God’s people had been in exile in Babylon. They’d come back to the Promised Land, but things were still grim. God gave them encouragement through the prophet Zechariah. He told them that he would restore them as a people. In preparation for that, they were commanded to be honest with one another.
Well, just like God’s people were being restored in Zechariah 8, Christians are being restored in Ephesians 4. And as part of that, we too are told to speak the truth with one another. The fundamental reason for it here is community. The people of God are a covenant community. By “covenant community,” I mean that we have a special relationship with God through Jesus Christ and in that relationship there’s not only me, but there are also others. Together we’re in covenant with God and we’re connected to each other in a community. What we do as individuals, therefore, affects others, affects the community.
Lying, dishonesty, and deceit break down communities because they break down trust. Where there’s no trust, there can be no real community. For a community to function in a healthy way, all the members of that community have to be committed to integrity and honesty. I appreciate what John Stott wrote about this in his commentary, “…a lie is a stab into the very vitals of the body of Christ. For fellowship is built on trust, and trust is built on truth. So falsehood undermines fellowship, while truth strengthens it.”
God didn’t want the Ephesian church to break down because of falsehood. He doesn’t want our church to break down because of falsehood either. Instead, he wants us to flourish and grow stronger together. And the only way we can do that is by living out our union with Christ and being committed to truthfulness.
Now this reason applies specifically to putting on honesty in the context of our church community. But that doesn’t mean that we’re then free to be less than honest with unbelievers. In fact, while we’re not spiritually in fellowship with unbelievers, we do share our civic community with them. Also with unbelievers then, we’re members of one another in that civic sense. And just like churches break down with dishonesty, so does society, so does our city. Loved ones, God’s Word teaches us to pursue what serves for the welfare of our society, as well as our church community. So no matter who we’re dealing with, since we’re in Christ, we’re called to put on honesty and put off falsehood.
We live in a world plagued by lies and deceit. Over the last while I’ve read a couple of biographies illustrating that. One was about Charles Lindbergh, the famous American who was the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. During his lifetime he deceived everyone into thinking he was a decent family man, committed to his wife Anne. Long after he died, it came out that he had three mistresses in Germany and several illegitimate children. If we’re in Christ, that kind of thing can’t be part of our biography. If we’re in Christ, we have to take off the lies, and put on what becomes us: truth and honesty. AMEN.
PRAYER
O God of truth,
Thank you for your word of truth to us this afternoon. Thank you for the Ninth Commandment and the teaching on it in Ephesians 4:25. Please help us with your Holy Spirit to live in union with Christ our Lord. Let his life be reflected in ours. In particular, we ask for more grace so we can put away all forms of falsehood in our lives. O God, please teach us more and more to love the truth and speak and confess it honestly. We pray that by this means, we can build up one another, and we can also build up our church community and society as well. Father, we pray for your forgiveness for every time that we have twisted words, for our gossip and slander, for our rash condemnations and false accusations. We ask you to please forgive us because of what Christ did for us on the cross. And please renew us with your Spirit so we can learn not to do these things which displease you, but instead pursue godliness and holiness with the way we speak.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
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