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What to Expect on Sunday |
We are at the Ninth Commandment in our series on the Ten Commandments. Before looking at the Ninth Commandment, however, I want to reassert the proper perspective in looking at the Ten Commandments, doing so with an illustration I read from Philip Yancey. Writing in Christianity Today, Yancey tells of a time when he needed surgery on his foot. During his rehabilitation from the surgery, Yancey, like most of us, began pushing the envelope about what he should or should not be doing. During one visit to the doctor, Yancey approached the subject of playing golf just one time with some friends in an annual, once a year get together. Yancey was hoping the doctor would give his ok because the doctor was himself a golfer also. The doctor’s response caught Yancey’s attention. The doctor didn’t say, "Absolutely not!" What he said was, "It would make me very unhappy if you played golf within the next two months." Reflecting on that doctor visit, Yancey writes this: As we talked, I began to appreciate my doctor’s odd choice of words. If he had issued an edict—"No golf!"—I might have stubbornly rebelled. He left me with the free choice and expressed the consequences in a most personal way: Disobedience would grieve him, for his job was to restore my health. The role of a doctor may be the most revealing image in thinking about God and sin. What a doctor does for me physically—guide me toward health—God does for me spiritually. I am learning to view sins not as an arbitrary list of rules drawn up by a cranky Judge, but rather as a list of dangers that must be avoided at all costs—for our own sakes. That is the perspective to bring to the Ten Commandments. With that in mind, let’s look at the Ninth Commandment: "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." (Exodus 20:16) The Ninth Commandment is another one with which our society is not doing well. Oh, there is a general sense that lying is not a good thing, but there is too much evidence revealing we may not really believe that. Duke University recently did an extensive study of 70,000 college and high school students. In that study, 70% of the students admitted to cheating in their school work. That represents a 14% increase since 1993. Even more revealing, that represents a 44% increase since 1963. Technology may be partly to blame. That same study revealed that internet plagiarism had quadrupled in the past six years. A separate poll of 25,000 high school students found almost half agreeing with this statement: "A person has to lie or cheat sometimes to succeed." Our society is not doing well on the Ninth Commandment. There are some other famous, or infamous, examples. Some of you will remember the name George O’Leary. In 2001, George O’Leary was the successful head football coach at Georgia Tech University. However, he was leaving Georgia Tech for the job of his dreams, head football coach at the University of Notre Dame. With a name like O’Leary, that would be your dream job! However, five days after his selection to be the new football coach at Notre Dame, O’Leary was forced to resign when it came to light that he had lied on his resume. O’Leary’s lies included his reported master’s degree from New York University where, in actuality, he had only attended but never graduated. Another lie was his statement on his resume that he had lettered in football three years at the University of New Hampshire when, in fact, he never got into a game. It seems silly, doesn’t it? By the time of his hiring at Notre Dame those factors had nothing to do with his selection to be the football coach. It was his success at Georgia Tech—and other places along the way—that led to his being hired. Perhaps, perhaps those lies got him hired somewhere initially, but I doubt it. The qualities that make him a good football coach would’ve gotten him hired and successful along the way. His lies cost him his dream job. Or perhaps you’ve heard of Joseph Ellis. Ellis was a respected and well-liked professor at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. He is also an author, mostly of books and articles on American history. In 2001, Ellis won the Pulitzer Prize for history with his work, Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation. In all his years of lecturing and speaking as a popular professor and author, Ellis would frequently illustrate a point with a story about his years of military service in Vietnam as a platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division. Shortly after receiving the Pulitzer Prize, however, it was discovered that his stories were untrue. Ellis never served in Vietnam. He was in the military during Vietnam, but he never served overseas. Most of the time of his service was spent as an instructor at West Point. Ellis’ lies resulted in his suspension from teaching for a year and cost him much in esteem from his students and colleagues. To all of this, God says, "Do not lie." The Ninth Commandment began as instruction toward courtroom testimony. "Do not give false testimony against your neighbor." Foundational to this commandment is its importance to a fair and just judicial system. At the heart of justice is telling the truth. And it is alarming to see the increase in examples of perjury within our judicial system. We cannot have justice in our society, in our lives, if there is lying. Foundational to the Ninth Commandment is a just and fair judicial system. However, the Ninth Commandment quickly became expanded to include truth telling in all areas of life—in commerce, in relationships—beginning with what we say about others, but also including what we say about ourselves. If lying becomes the norm, order is lost and chaos reigns. Are you familiar with the riddle about the island of truth tellers and liars? A prince arrives at an island where the princess is being held in a castle dungeon. The island is inhabited by two strange tribes—the Truth Tellers and the Liars. The Truth Tellers always tell the truth. The Liars always lie. As the prince makes his way towards the castle, he comes to a fork in the road. One way, the north road, leads to the castle. The other way, the south road, leads to a dragon. A local tribesman is standing nearby. Not knowing what tribe the man is from—whether his is a Truth Teller or a Liar, what question can the prince ask in order to know which road to take? That’s the riddle, but the point is this: Think about the chaos of life in such a society! Imagine what life would be like if lying becomes rampant and acceptable at some level. And…I suppose I’d better give you the question to ask because otherwise you won’t hear a word I say in the rest of the sermon! The question to ask is, Which road would an island native who is not a member of your tribe tell me is the road to the castle? Both a Truth Teller and a Liar would answer, "the south road," and the prince would thereby know to take the north road. Trust me on this. You can think about it later…after this morning’s worship! Again, the point is life in a society where lying becomes acceptable would be chaos. The issues of the Ninth Commandment are complicated, not just for the chaos it can create, but for the situational ethics involved. It’s difficult to live with an absolute policy of telling the truth. For example, "Honey, does this outfit make me look fat?" There’s a mine field question for you. Or a family member, a child in your family after participating poorly in some activity asks, "How’d I do?" Such situations may call for withholding absolute truth in order to avoid hurting someone. After stumbling last week across the expanded explanation of the Ten Commandments found in The Larger Catechism, I was interested to see what it says about the Ninth Commandment. It’s quite a litany. It includes such transgressions as: -undue silence in a just cause -gossip (of course), or, backbiting -enjoying or grieving at deserved credit of any -and, relevant to the situational concern expressed earlier, speaking the truth unseasonably, or maliciously to a wrong end The paradox is we can use the "truth" towards a wrong end. So, it is troublesome to prescribe an absolute policy regarding following the Ninth Commandment. It certainly requires honest evaluation, being truthful with ourselves as to how we are, or are not, using the truth. Obedience to the Ninth Commandment does not involve "speaking the truth unseasonably, or maliciously to a wrong end." Be careful, however, of the slippery slope we spoke about last week of Step A leading to a series of violations eventually resulting in a serious violation at Step Z. Withholding the truth here, at Step A, so as to not hurt someone needlessly, leading to a Step B padding of a resume in order to get that job, eventually finding ourselves at Step Z, committing perjury, or speaking hurtful and damaging lies about someone else. As with all the commandments, God desires the best of life for us through His protection and provision in our obeying the Ninth Commandment. God wants to protect us from injustice of false testimony and provide for us, instead, justice. True not only for our judicial system, but in the everyday interactions between people. God wants to provide us with good character and protect us from a bad reputation. Continual lying will result in one being disconnected from meaningful relationships in his or her relationships. God wants to provide for us honesty in relationships and protect us from dishonesty. As in the prohibition against stealing, God wants to protect us from a guilty conscience and provide us with a clear conscience. I ran across the story of a man named Jack Genot who, like Joseph Ellis, embellished his military service. For years, Genot was the face of military heroics in the small town of Marengo, Illinois, as he told stories of his service in the Korean War. Supporting his stories were medals he wore on his uniform—a Bronze Star, a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts. Genot and his medaled uniform was a popular presence in parades. It all turned out to be a fabrication. Members of an area veterans association began to notice contradictions in Genot’s story and further investigation revealed the truth—Genot was never in the Marines, serving in the Army instead, and had never served in Korea. For a while, Genot denied the accusations, but eventually came clean in an interview with a local newspaper. In telling the truth to the reporter, Genot, who was an alderman in the community, said he could no longer stand the deception. "You can’t imagine what I’m going through," he said. "I really didn’t know how to shake this demon. But I went to bed with it every night, and I looked at it in the mirror every morning. I don’t want to meet my Maker with this on my heart." God wants to protect us from such things and provide for us a clean conscience. And God wants to protect us from having to remember what we said. I’m not sure what a countering provision for this would be, but God wants to protect us from having to remember what we said. You see, when you lie you better remember what you said so you can keep your story straight. Lies begin to get revealed when discrepancies and contradictions begin to surface in someone’s story. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember what you said. In order to have an orderly, just society—not just in the judicial system, but in relationships between people—adherence to God’s commandment about truth telling must occur. God wants us to enjoy His provision of integrity, character and good reputation found in obeying His Ninth Commandment. And God wants us to have a clear conscience, free of worry that our lies will catch up with us—costing us jobs or friendships—and free of worry that the words of our lies stay consistent. Let us consider, through a moment of silent reflection, our obedience to God’s command, "you shall not lie." |
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