Commandment #9 - Bearing False Witness

Here is the sermon transcript from today's sermon on the 9th commandment:

Exodus 20:16 – Truth-telling in a World of Lies
July 26, 2009

One of the most famous movie dialogues with regard to our subject this morning comes from the early 1990s movie “A Few Good Men”.

The scene is the courtroom where Lt. Kaffee (Tom Cruise) is questioning Colonel Nathan Jessup (Jack Nicholson) concerning a murder incident that took place on his marine base where a young private Santiago was killed by two other marines.

In the midst of the heated exchange between Lt. Kaffee and Col. Jessup, Kaffee shouts, “I want the truth”…

To which Col. Jessup responds in classic Jack Nicholson fashion… “You can’t handle the truth!”

Truth and truth-telling in particular has become an elusive creature within our post-modern era—certainly in courtrooms, but even more so within the context of the various dimensions of human relationships.

Its elusive nature is reflected in teenage TV shows that flood the Disney channel and movies in theatres where “bearing false witness” is just the way life is done.

It can also be detected in the smallest of human beings—“Carter, did you hit your sister?”—“No” or “It was an accident”

It would seem that lying and bearing false witness and deceiving is built into our fallen human nature—

All of this began with the “father of lies”, Satan, in the Garden of Eden when he deceived Eve bearing false witness about God and His love and Word, thereby precipitating the eventual fall of the human race through the deliberate sin of Adam.

From there, Adam sought to blame Eve (which was really blaming God b/c God gave Eve to Adam), and then Eve sought to blame the serpent…all participating in a form of “bearing false witness” trying to “save face” and participate in some form of “self-preservation”

What happened in the Garden of Eden in the fall has bent our human nature toward a profound tendency of self-preservation and keeping up appearances before others as more important than the “truth”—

In fact this “self-preservation” is a form of idolatry because it becomes the thing that we worship and the altar upon which we sacrifice truth instead of worshiping the one who is the Truth—that is Jesus

Ever since the fall, we have been prone to outright lies, cover ups, deception, hypocrisy, “white” lies, gossip, slander, exaggerations, embellishments, flattery, half-truths, or plagiarism…

This is something that we are all guilty of at times and the consequences and repercussions of these violations differ depending upon the context and the relationship that has been damaged because of the violation…though they are all violations of this commandment

Michael Horton quotes an essay by Paul Gray about this very subject providing a good summary of the mixed bag this commandment brings to the table of our relationships in society as a whole:

“The injunction against bearing false witness, branded in stone and brought down by Moses from the mountaintop, has always provoked ambivalent, conflicting emotions. On the one hand, nearly everybody condemns lying. On the other, nearly everyone does it every day.”

With that being said, let us hear afresh this morning through the prophet Moses, God’s instruction and mandate for His people to be truthful in all there dealings within the context of human relationships as He declares, “you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

The overall biblical principle that this commandment speaks to is the principle of “truth-telling” with respect to the many and varied contexts of human relationships in which we find ourselves.

With respect to the Israelite people, God gave further instructions on the application of this commandment within their community of faith…

Here are some of those instructions from the OT…

Exodus 23:1-3
You shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness. You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. You shall not show partiality to a poor man in a dispute.

Leviticus 5:1
If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or know of the matter—if he does not tell it, he bears guilt.

The NAC says that this verse indicates that a false testimony includes the refusal to divulge pertinent information, thus creating a false impression of what the facts really are.

Leviticus 11:11, 16-17
You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

You shall not go about as a talebearer (slanderer) among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord. You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.

This verse indicates that slander, that is (AW Pink) “a lie invented and circulated with malicious intentions”, is a form of bearing false witness.

On the other hand, to refuse to rebuke a fellow brother or sister who is sinning while acting as if everything is ok, is also a form of bearing false witness—this is the form of bearing false witness that the Corinthian church was guilty of in 1 Corinthians 5.

Loving our neighbor is the biblical command for us in both situations—not slandering our brother or sister, but also rebuking our brother or sister at the right time in the right place with the right movitation.

Deuteronomy 19:18-19
And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil among you.

It is true that most of these OT contexts refer to a courtroom type setting; however, the larger principle of truth-telling in all circumstances is clearly seen, particularly in the Leviticus texts.

The implications of this commandment go beyond just our words, though they are certainly and most definitely included, but to any manner in which we communicate—our actions, through telephone, email, facebook, myspace…in any of these ways, there is potential to bear false witness.

At this point, we are going to list a few ways in which we commonly violate this biblical principle of truth-telling, honesty, forthrightness, and trustworthiness—maybe without even realizing it…

The possibilities will most likely fall into one of two categories…not fixed categories, but they might give us ample room to examine our own hearts by the Holy Spirit…

Here are the two categories…
1) We can bear false witness about a neighbor to other neighbors (drawing them into our web of sinful activity), or
2) We can bear false witness about ourselves to our neighbor…(b/c who is my neighbor...everybody)

Both cases violate the biblical principle of loving our neighbor with regard to honesty, forthrightness, integrity, and truth-telling…

And, as we begin this list…let me say that it is potentially an endless list of possibilities of violating this principle because of the endless set of circumstances and situations we could find ourselves in…AND we are all probably guilty in more than one point…

So, buckle your seatbelt, change into your steel toed shoes…here we go…

1) Maliciously gossiping about someone—“circulating a false report—occurs also regardless if what is being said is true or false—masked as a “prayer request”
2) Misrepresenting ourselves to others—giving false impressions to other people—Facebook; Myspace—what’s your real age, young people?—
a. Resumes—George O’Leary—Notre Dame coach—didn’t actually play college football
3) Calling ourselves Christians—bear false witness to the world if we claim to be Christians, but live contrary to the way the Bible describes the Christian way of life
4) When we give a false impression of what the facts are in a situation instead of what the facts really are…
5) Telling little “white” lies—to ease a situation, to get out of a jam, to save face in an embarrassing situation, to avoid getting in trouble, to avoid—getting our kids to lie for us…”mommy’s not home right now”
a. What about kids’ meals at restaurants—these kids know how old they are—
6) Flattery and false praise—how often do we do this with our kids—have we allowed the self-esteem movement to keep us from being honest to our own kids?
a. American Idol – bad singers – their friends?
b. I read this lengthy quote this week..."The Bible actually has a very simple way of explaining what is at the heart of the self-esteem movement and its other not-so-funny effects. Proverbs 26:28 states, “A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.” No matter how sophisticated our theory, telling someone something that isn’t true just so they will feel better is flattery. This proverb makes plain that flattery is just a nice word for lying. No matter how noble our motivation, and despite its comic value, giving someone a false picture of themselves doesn’t help them, but only sets them up for ruin. Without bothering to speculate on our motivation, the Bible simply calls this “hatred” because of its effect. Love means speaking in a way that helps the other person to grow, that gives them the best shot at success, not ruin, shame, and embarrassment. As a counselor as well as a husband, father, friend, and neighbor I need to remember that sometimes speaking the truth in love isn’t easy and isn’t always welcomed by the hearer. But it is love...
c. "I think that maybe some of the contestants on American Idol would have been better served if a few trusted people in their lives had taken just a few minutes to kindly tell them, “You know, singing may not be the best use of your talents. Let me tell you what you are really good at . . ."

Does that mean, Michael, that when my wife asks me how her hair looks, I have to tell the truth?

Well, if your relationship with your husband or wife is not so that you can tell the truth about something like that…there are probably deeper issues that you need to talk about other than hair…

Having said that though, that does bring up a question…Is it ever right to lie…is there ever a situation where we must lie—because if we are honest all of these little “names” we have proposed are just fancy ways of lying

Think with me about Rahab, the harlot, in the OT…remember when the spies came from into the promised land…Joshua 2…did she lie…yes—was it still a sin?—there is a quandary for us to ponder……(battered wife or children)

Another question that arises—is it right to always be brutally honest with people?

One quote I read this week about this said… “There also seems to be an honesty threshold, a point beyond which a virtue turns mean and nasty. Constantly hearing the truth, the cold, hard, brutal unsparing truth, from spouses, relatives, friend and colleagues is not a pleasant prospect. ‘Human kind,’ as TS Elliot wrote, ‘cannot bear very much reality.” Truth telling makes it possible for people to coexist; a little lying makes such society tolerable.”

What do you think about that? I’m still pondering those statements…I’m certain that this type of “honesty” can very easily become overly critical…interesting thoughts anyway…

With regard to prohibiting the bearing of false witness, God is calling His people to be honest and to have integrity.

A few scriptures to give us direction and exhortation on this matter as we reflect on our own lives with respect to this commandment…

Let’s begin with James 3:1-12

James 3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

ESV Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.

ESV Ephesians 4:25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

ESV Ephesians 4:29 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.

Notice that none of these forbid the rebuking of a brother or sister in sin—but, it does give us direction and guidance in the attitude with we “speak the truth”—that it is always done in love.

ESV Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!

As this command pertains to “bearing false witness about ourselves to others”, we are called in scripture to…
1) Live lives that are “above reproach”—that does not mean perfection, but it does mean we own up to mistakes made, sins committed and take responsibility for actions in such a way that no one can point fingers and bring a charge against us—this is having integrity
2) Similarly, we are called to live lives that “abstain from all appearance” of evil—we have a responsibility not to compromise our testimony or to misrepresent Jesus and the name that we claim Christian

These scriptures and principles about truth-telling and truth-living do not mince any words—some, it will cause to shake in their shoes—some it will cause to want to crawl in a hole—

But, they should drive all of us to the cross of Jesus—the one who is the truth

They should drive all of us to our knees—in confession and repentance—in total dependence on the Holy Spirit by God’s enabling grace to walk with integrity and speak with honesty in all situations from this day forward