Truth Freedom

 

   So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him,

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,

and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 8:31-32

 

A lie is a lie. We can call it a misunderstanding or a “little white lie” or a half truth or anything we want – but usually it’s just a lie.

Tonight I asked someone a simple question about something disrespectful that had been said in a meeting I attended and was assured that I had misunderstood what was said.  If that was the case then many others in the same room had the same “misunderstanding” as well. Our discussion ended with my agreeing to call it a misunderstanding because I didn’t know how to say, “You’re lying.”

I know there are times in the Bible when people lied and it protected innocent life. The most memorable to me is the Hebrew midwives who had been ordered by Pharaoh to kill the Hebrew baby boys at birth.  Exodus 1:17 says, “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.”  When they were confronted by the Pharaoh for allowing this they lied and said that the Hebrew women were so vigorous that they had their babies before the midwives could arrive to help. Exodus 1:20-21 give us God’s response. “So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.  And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.”

Obviously God blessed these midwives for their loyalty to Him in rescuing the Hebrew babies from the plot of an evil Pharaoh. God’s people multiplied because of this lie.

But most of the time when we tell or hear lies it is out of self-interest. We are looking for people to think more highly of us that they ought – or others want us to think more highly of themselves than we ought. This isn’t even close to the “protecting innocent life” argument of the midwives – perhaps we want to look innocent but the truth is that we rarely are.

So, what is a Christian to do when confronted with something they have done wrong – even if the consequences won’t be pretty?  Will we – do we – trust God enough to believe that what His Word says is true — that the truth will set us free? Is it more important to us that other people think well of us- or is it more important to show God we are truly His disciples by abiding in His Word?

Acts 5 gives us the account of a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. They sold some land in the early days of the church. They had agreed to give the money to the church but made a plan to keep a portion of it for themselves. Peter confronts Ananias about it pointing out that the land was theirs to do with as they pleased and so the money was theirs. They could have kept and given as much as they chose to but they wanted it to look like they were giving it all or maybe they just wanted the money.  Peter said, “You have not lied to men but to God.”

God took the sin so seriously that he took Ananias’ life on the spot. Sapphira, his wife, came in 3 hours later and told the same lie, just as she had agreed with her husband to do. She also immediately fell to her death. God did not tolerate their sin.

They lied to deceive men but God sees all and knows all that the heart does. When we say to a brother or sister, “You must have misunderstood me,” when they and we know exactly what had been said we may deceive the friend but God has been lied to, too.  Why is it so hard for us to just say “I’m so sorry – that was a stupid thing to say”?

God has given us clear instruction about lying in Colossians 3:9-10. He said through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, “Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator.”

Hebrews 6:18 tells us that it is impossible for God to lie. We are created in that image. Though it is not impossible for us to lie it is true that if we know Jesus Christ as Savior we are new people. We can overcome this sin of lying though not perfectly. When we fail – and we will fail – better to be more like God and tell the truth than to add a lie about lying (or any other sin) to our list of sins.

 We might be gullible enough to believe each other but God will know the truth. Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” but John 8 reminds us that “the Truth will set us free.”