False Witness

Sermon Text

Exodus 20:16 ESV

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Introduction

A recent television series on HBO based on a real life tragedy was given high praise. The name of the series is Chernobyl.

The series is based on the real life tragedy of the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in 1986. It is still considered one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of the world. One of the nuclear reactors exploded leaving untold damage and killing many people, both initially from the explosion itself and than later from the exposure to the radiation.

Chernobyl tells the stories of the scientists, engineers, and operators, who worked to try and contain the disaster and stop something even worse from happening.

The most notable element in this Chernobyl story is the ability of lies to cause so much pain and destruction.

There literally were lies before the explosion, during the explosion, and after the explosion, and all of those lies cost people their livelihood, their health and strength, and ultimately for many their LIVES.

Pre-explosion, there were lies told around the safeness of of the RBMK-1000 reactors, the one that exploded. The reactor was CATASTROPHICALLY unsafe and some scientist raised concerns about their lack of safety but were ultimately dismissed because of the major inconvenience and costs of addressing those safety concerns.

In the midst of the explosion, there were lies told about the actual scale of the explosion and the damage caused by it. The local townspeople initially return back to attending to their business not even being aware of the tragedy that was unfolding right before their very eyes.

However shortly after the explosion many people in the town began to feel sick and that feeling followed with violent coughing and vomiting. A day and a half after the initial blast the order was given to evacuate the town…They said initially the evacuation would be three days. No one would ever go back to live in that town.

It took another day and half before the Soviet government even acknowledged that the explosion took place. In fact, the Swedish government was the first to raise concern, after they detected abnormal levels of radiation at their power plant over 600 miles away from the Chernobyl explosion. The Soviets denied it until they were pushed in a corner and unable to deny it any longer.

Lie after lie after lie…and each lie I’m sure was told in order to make the situation better, to stop bleeding of this widening gash of a problem…but ever lie from the safety protocols, to the nature of the explosion, to the reach of the radiation, to the impact of the explosion on its citizens only made things worse.

The TV Series presents this climatic speech by one of the scientists that in some ways captures the whole catastrophe and the destructive nature of lies.

“What is the cost of lies? It's not that we'll mistake them for the truth. The real danger is that if we hear enough lies, then we no longer recognize the truth at all. What can we do then? What else is left but to abandon even the hope of truth and content ourselves instead with stories? In these stories, it doesn't matter who the heroes are. All we want to know is: Who is to blame?”

Here is what we know about lies…they don’t make things better, they only end up harming the people that they intending to protect, and each one requires another one to keep it from being exposed until ultimately you no longer even able to recognize the truth.

This is not an easy command to dive into because it is such a convicting command.

Some social scientists have said that people on average tell two to three lies in a 10 minute conversation!

Others have pointed out that we are lied to as many as 200 times a day! And that was the number they came up with before social media! In other words, WHO KNOWS HOW MUCH WE ARE LIED TO NOW!

This is not an easy command to dive into because it is such a common sin. However, it is precisely because of its commonness that we should dive deeper into understanding the nature of the command, the importance of the command, and how to become the kind of people that better embody the command.

The Nature of the Command

Exodus 20:16 ESV

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Let’s first notice the fact that although most of us including myself through the years have summarized this command as “Do Not Lie”, that is not exactly what it says.

It says “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

It’s helpful for us if we spend just a little time unpacking that. I mean after all we hear in the ten commandments (or as we’ve been sometimes calling them the ten):

English Standard Version Chapter 20

13 “You shall not murder.

14 “You shall not commit adultery.

15 “You shall not steal.

But instead of “you shall not lie”, we hear “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

There is a lot for us to ponder here.

First, the command is setting a scene for us.

The immediate context and application for this commandment is the courtroom.

Back in those days, the art of the investigation was a little fuzzy.

There was no fancy equipment to uncover blood that had been previously cleaned up. There were no fingerprint machines. There was no DNA examination. Investigations were primitive and personal.

Obviously, the witness was one of the most important elements in legal cases but in the OT period they were at a whole other level of importance.

Now as Tim Keller would say, in order to be truthful, the witness is not just responsible for speaking the truth, but doing the truth! What does he mean by that? He uses his own example to highlight it. I’m going to use one of my own

Take for example a case comes before the judge of a man assaulting another man. There was an altercation outside of a nightclub that got contentious and the plaintiff alleges that the defendant punched him. The defendant swears his innocence, and it just so happens that he is innocent.

The court calls three witnesses to the stand. One is a friend of the defendant but he wasn’t there. So he is nothing more than a character witness. He declares that he knows the defendant well and that he wouldn’t do that. Alright witness one. Thank you for your testimony.

The court then calls for the other two witnesses. These witnesses are for the plaintiff.

The first witness approaches the stand, takes a seat, and says “He did it, your honor. He punched my buddy in the face, and I saw the whole thing.”

The witness is lying, right! Nevertheless, he exits the stand and goes to take his seat.

The second witness approaches the stand, takes a seat, and says “your honor, everything was happening so fast, but what I can tell you was that HE WAS VERY ANGRY, VERY LOUD and HE WAS RIGHT IN THE PLAINTIFF’S FACE WITH HIS FIST CLINCHED.

Now, here is thing: EVERYTHING that he shared was factual.

THE DEFENDANT WAS VERY ANGRY

HE WAS VERY LOUD

HE WAS RIGHT IN THE PLAINTIFF’S FACE WITH HIS FIST CLINCHED.

Everything that he shared was factual, but was it TRUTHFUL!!!!????

No, it was not truthful.

Bearing true witness for your neighbor requires more than simply BEING FACTUAL. IT REQUIRES SAYING TRUTH and DOING TRUTH.

Being truthful doesn’t leave room for playing games with truth and technicalities. “Well, technically, I never said he punched him…NO, there is no room. SPEAK TRUTH and DO TRUTH

Leviticus 5 takes this a step further.

Leviticus 5:1 ESV

1 “If anyone sins in that he hears a public adjuration to testify, and though he is a witness, whether he has seen or come to know the matter, yet does not speak, he shall bear his iniquity;

It simply means that while “No Snitching” may be the code of the streets, it is not the code of Scripture.

To know the truth about a crime committed and refuse to share that truth, even if you are not specifically called on to give it is considered sin by the standard laid out in Leviticus 5:1.

Again it is not just enough to speak truth in order to be truthful. WE MUST PERFORM TRUTHFUL ACTS!

That is the nature of this command: Truthfulness is not just reciting a set of facts, it is a living a certain way...

The Importance of the Command

Another point to consider when thinking about this command is the fact that it introduces an object in the command: Do NOT Bear False Witness AGAINST YOUR NEIGHBOR!

Here we see the importance of the command. SOMEBODY’S LIFE hangs in the balance!

The command gives us picture of a court room where testimony is being shared for and against one another, but it also gives us a clear picture of a person that will be significantly impacted by our words.

As we mentioned earlier, while we understand the importance of the witness in our day and time, we have to understand the importance of the witness in this other day and time was at a completely and totally different level.

The tools for investigations were not very sophisticated (No DNA machines or anything like that)

And at the same time, many crimes CARRIED capital punishments with them!!!!! Acts of sexual immorality; cursing or striking one’s parents, idolatry, even keeping the SABBATH.

When you take these two truths into consideration, you realize that witnesses at times held in their hands the power of life and death for their neighbors.

Your commitment to the truth was often the difference in a person living and a person dying…It’s no reason that the Lord had very strict commands for witnesses in the law. Listen to what he says about witnesses in Deuteronomy 19

Deuteronomy 19:15–21 ESV

15 “A single witness shall not suffice against a person for any crime or for any wrong in connection with any offense that he has committed. Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established. 16 If a malicious witness arises to accuse a person of wrongdoing, 17 then both parties to the dispute shall appear before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days. 18 The judges shall inquire diligently, and if the witness is a false witness and has accused his brother falsely, 19 then you shall do to him as he had meant to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. 20 And the rest shall hear and fear, and shall never again commit any such evil among you. 21 Your eye shall not pity. It shall be life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

If it was proven that a witness was a malicious witness, that is to say a false witness, then that witness had to take whatever punishment the defendant was being threatened to receive for the crime.

This speaks to the severity of being a false witness.

This is a reminder that being a truthful person is important because there are other people on the other end of our dishonesty that are impacted.

Literally lives can be impacted, harmed, or even destroyed based on our refusal to live in the truth. To speak and do truth.

Now as we think about, this court scene that the commandment takes us to…let’s remember that every single commandment we’ve studied thus far is always farther reaching than what we initially see.

It is no different with this command.

Matthew 5:33–37 ESV

33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ 34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.

Many of the religious folks that Jesus would have been speaking to were used to ranking their need to speak truth based on the location that they were speaking.

Maybe the courtroom required a greater deal of honesty than the city gates. Maybe the house of God required a greater commitment to truth than my own house.

I’ll take an oath by heaven which means I really mean business, but if I just trust me well…maybe you need to trust me, but maybe you don’t have to.

Jesus is destroying that notion by saying this…every place you go is God’s territory, every thing you would be compelled to swear by is God’s possession.

In other words, the concept of speaking truth and doing truth is not just for the courtrooms because God is not confined to the courtrooms and we will ultimately give an account to God for the words that we speak.

The call to speak and do truth is for all of life since we are always before God. We are always in His courtroom.

When you understand that truth is not just what we say but it is what we do and the call to live in that truth is not just in a courtroom or more sacred place. It will transform how you think about living a truthful life.

It is more than just being technically factual in serious places. It is about being the kind of witness and living the kind of life that will give your neighbor life rather than death.

Also, if the concept of speaking truth and doing truth extends outside of the courtroom, it only makes sense that the way in which it impacts our neighbors extend outside of the courtroom as well...

Just like in the courtroom we have the ability to harm our neighbors with our lack of truth, we also carry the ability to harm them outside of it.

Maybe there is a life possibly hanging in the balance like there was with the lies told against Emmett Till, the 14 year old African American boy who was kidnapped, butchered, and killed while visiting his kin folk in Mississippi in 1955? Why was he so savagely brutalized and killed? Because he had allegedly harassed, a white woman, a woman who admitted just 4 years ago at the age of 83, that she embellished most of the story.

Maybe there is multiple lives hanging in the balance of those lies. Maybe like in Chernobyl.

Maybe there is an entire nation hanging in the balance like our own because there is sooooo much disinformation circling around us on all sides that now we no longer TRUST ANYTHING. NOT EVEN THE BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT WE WORSHIP WITH ON SUNDAY MORNINGS

Or maybe there is a relationship in your own life hanging in the balance that has been severed because of lies. And remember not just statements of fact but maybe truths that have been withheld.

Maybe you’ve spoken truth but haven’t done truth because you said things in a way that no one would ever receive it.

Maybe you’re spoken truth but haven’t done truth because you’ve been silent and haven’t said some things that needed to be said in order for you to be fully present in the relationship...

And as a result lives are damaged, some of your relationships are no longer real, even relationships with your children, relationships with your spouse.

No remember I’m not saying there isn’t a proper way to share that truth. We must speak and do truth, but living a deceptive life, while it may help us cope in the moment, does nothing to actually breath life into these dying relationships with our neighbors, our family, our loved ones.

So how do we do it?

We diagnose why we are not living in truth

There are many reasons why we don’t speak and do truth...

Achan

Joshua 7:20–21 ESV

20 And Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I did: 21 when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath.”

Covetousness - We lie so we keep. We lie so we can take. We lie because we crave other things...

Why do you lie on your resume? Why do you lie on your taxes? Why do you lie on your job about the amount of overtime hours you work?

Ananias

Acts 4:34–5:11 ESV

34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2 and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” 5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6 The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. 7 After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 And Peter said to her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much.” And she said, “Yes, for so much.” 9 But Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

Identity - How many lies have you told to make yourself look better? How many lies have we lived through social media because we were so worried about what people would think if they knew who we really were…the insecurity leads us to live a dishonest life.

Peter

Fear of my life

Make no mistake about it Saints…all of this is from Satan…in fact Satan himself is defined as the father of lies…the great deceiver...

Remember that the fall of man started with a LIE...

English Standard Version Chapter 3

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

What is the ultimate lie we tell ourselves?

This is the lie that we tell ourselves. This is the lie that he tell us. We don’t need him

That’s why we live

John 14:6 (ESV)

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.