We all function at some level of trust, we all trust people to some degree, and we assume that they tell the truth.  This commandment here in Exodus 20:16 sets a fairly low standard in that it says in legal proceedings we must tell the truth.  I’m sure we could all keep that commandment but leave it to Jesus to take the simple and make it complicated.  He took the command of not committing perjury and made it a prohibition against lying.

There should be no degrees of honesty, all our speech should be truth. (Matthew 5:33-35)

• We should not need an oath to validate our speech. (Matthew 5:37)
  • Matthew 23:16-22 – shows how convoluted the “swearing system” of Jesus’ day was
  • We should not need to make oaths because the stakes are too high. (Matthew 5:33)
    • Ecclesiastes 5:5 – Don’t make an oath rather than not fulfill it.
    • Hebrews 6:16 – Mechanics of oaths brings a witness in, do you want to bring God in to witness your falsehood?
    • We can not swear by what we do not own. (Matthew 5:34-36)  Jesus here is quoting from Isaiah 66:1 – Informs us that we have no ownership of anything to make an oath.
  • James 5:12 – James reminds us to not make oaths, but simply let your yes be yes and your no be no.  In other words, don’t swear and live so you don’t have to, be people of integrity.
• How do we lie? or The Art of Lying…
  • It sounds like a simple question, but really it’s complex.  If we know the truth but don’t say it is that a lie?  Psalm 55:21, states that flattery is lying.  Proverbs 6:12-13, tells us that we can lie without even using words.
  • One of the most frequent places we lie is when asked for a reference, after thinking about a lazy employee one employer wrote, “You will be lucky if you can get him to work for you.”
  • We need to not think of all the ways we can not lie, and discern how we can best tell the truth.

How to have truthful, redemptive speech…

• Become familiar with the truth. (Philippians 4:8)
  • Many times people that have been lying there whole life have a hard time coming to tell the truth because in many ways they don’t know it.
  • Have you ever lied to yourself, to the point where you came to believe it?  If so ask the creator to speak truth to your inmost being.  (Psalm 51:6)
• Practice living the truth. (Eph 4:15, 25)
  • Once we love the truth, and then become familiar with it, the only logical next step is to live by it.  When you decide to do this, it makes Christianity a great adventure – especially if you’ve not been totally honest in the past.  For a primer in this watch Liar, Liar with Jim Carey.
  • If you start telling the truth then you’ll find  you want to start living the truth.  You’ll start doing the things that you can tell the truth about.  You won’t want to do things you’d be ashamed to say, you won’t want to go places you shouldn’t, because you know you’ll tell the truth!
• Speak the right words at the right moment. (Proverbs 25:11-12)
  • Sometimes we have the right word, but we say it at the wrong time.
  • We need to be wise in selecting the teachable moments of those around us.

Truth is so valued, it is so liberating, this is why Jesus says, “The truth will set you free – the truth is redeeming!”  If you’ve ever lived in a lie you know how true that is, how lies hold you in bondage, but truth sets you free in your relationships.  Even with God, are you honest to God this morning?

• Who we steal from and how we steal?
  • Proverbs 6:11, “Differing weights are an abomination to the Lord, and false scales are not good.” – God hates a dishonest scale, and probably a dishonest time clock, or dishonest time sheet.
  • Luther talks about our negligence as stealing: “When a manservant or maid-servant does not serve faithfully in the house, and does damage, or allows it to be done when it could be prevented, or otherwise ruins and neglects the goods entrusted to him, from indolence idleness, or malice, to the spite and vexation of master and mistress, and in whatever way this can be done purposely (for I do not speak of what happens from oversight and against one’s will), you can in a year abscond thirty, forty florins, which if another had taken secretly or carried away, he would be hanged with the rope. But here you [while conscious of such a great theft] may even bid defiance and become insolent, and no one dare call you a thief.”
  • Deuteronomy 27:17, “‘Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary marker.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’”– It’s wrong to misrepresent what we own and defraud our neighbors, I wonder if this is a relevant principle to the issue of copyright?  Have we moved the markers of what we own over the work of another?
  • Luke 20:25, “He said to them, ‘Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’” – Here we see that we have a divine mandate to pay our tax, and that to Christ it’s not a game to see who saves the most.
  • We’ve relativized stealing if it’s someone we know it’s bad, if it’s the government it’s good, if it’s a big evil corporation it’s good, etc.
  • An online abbreviated version of the Freakanomics study I mentioned is available by clicking here.
• Who we’re ahead of?
  • Are we just doing enough to be better than our neighbor, are we doing better than most of the church?  Are you beating your spouse in righteousness?  Even if you’re ahead on the leader board of righteousness here at BGCC you’re still losing.
  • The point is that we can’t just be better than our neighbor.  Hebrews 4:15 – Jesus the great High Priest is understanding but perfect.  He won in righteousness and now offers his to us.
  • We think it’s a competition of goodness and forget it’s a gift of grace.

Stealing is a symptom of a heart that is misaligned towards possessions.  (Psalm 73)

• Possessions aren’t worth hoarding. (Luke 12:13-21)
  • The problem that this man had who asked Jesus to judge between him and his brother is that the family possessions were worth more to him than the family!
  • Jesus is saying, possession won’t carry you either in this world or in the next.  There is something more important and that’s the love of God and the love of people.
  • I think part of our desire for more is that we forget how nice what we have really is!
• Possessions aren’t worth serving. (Matthew 6:19-21)
  • The only other place in the gospels this word “store” is used is in the parable we just read in Luke.
  • When we hoard possessions then the possessions end up possessing us.  We have to serve our wealth and…
    • Protect it from thieves
    • Protect it from attrition
  • According to home security providers, Americans spend roughly $10 billion dollars annually on home security!
• Possessions are blessings when we let them be. (Deuteronomy 8:18)
  • We forget hard work is a blessing!  Modeling hard work is important.
    • Deuteronomy 8:18, If we recognize the source then they are great gifts, otherwise we think it is our strength and smarts that got it and our strength and smarts that must preserve it.
    • Colossians 3:23, work hard cheerfully for the Lord
  • If we recognize the source is stable and not to be doubted.
    • Otherwise we hoard the fresh living water and it becomes stale.
    • When we allow the gifts to flow through us then we continually receive fresh blessing.
    • Luther quotes Proverbs 19:17 when he writes: “Solomon also teaches Prov. 19, 17: He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will He pay him again. Here, then you have a rich Lord, who is certainly sufficient for you, and who will not suffer you to come short in anything or to want; thus you can with a joyful conscience enjoy a hundred times more than you could scrape together with unfaithfulness and wrong.”

The Ockenga Institute has produced a series titled “Dimensions of The Faith.” This series is based on their graduate level courses, modified for home study, and completely free!  There are several courses available through this program and they cover everything from the Bible study and history, to church history, to modern missions.  To access these courses you must create a free profile and then start listening to the lectures.  If you are extra studious tests are available as is a certificate of completion. There are options for small group study, although this is designed primarily to be used by individuals.  If you are looking for a deeper way to study and increase your understanding of Christianity I recommend these courses as an excellent resource.