Ex. 20:16 – Cosmetics for the Tongue!
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Cosmetics for the Tongue!
Ten
Commandments - 9TEXT: Ex. 20:16
INTRODUCTION:
How beautiful is
your tongue? Please do not show me – PLEASE keep it in!A.
We never think of our tongue in
terms of attractivenessIt is not
something for which we would make an appointment with a tongue beautician.It is something that Max Factor, L'Oreal and Revlon have
ignored in cosmetics.One nice thing is that we do not
have to diet to get it back in shape; in fact, it always is.·
Yet, it is our tongue, more
than our income, our figure, our face, our wardrobe, our car, or our home ...
that makes all of the difference in the world.·
It is the tongue that can mend
a marriage or tear it apart.·
It is the tongue that can heal
a church or destroy it.·
It is the tongue that makes a
home a paradise or a howling desert.It is the tongue that makes the difference.
Psychologists have
estimated – and I feel sorry for the psychologist that has nothing to do but
estimate this – that we have 700 opportunities a week to speak. Some of us
speak 800 times, but there are about 700 opportunities for the average person!
We construct 12,000 sentences every week, using 50,000 words. We actually author
a 150-page volume, by our tongue, every single week. What a money saver, I
could replace my library of in no time, just publish things that I create with
my tongue! Though I seriously doubt there would be any best sellers.B.
In most Western counties, we cherish
our freedom of speechFor the most part
expressing our views – right or wrong – saying what we think about anyone or
any subject – true of false – and to whom we please. That is wonderful, BUT it is interesting that you never hear about
that in Scripture. In fact, what you find in Scripture is the regulation of how
we use our speech.Of the Ten
Commandments in the book of Exodus,
two of them deal with the regulation of our speech. One is the 3rd
commandment, in 20:7, which says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”In other words, we
are to respect, to honour, and to protect God's character and reputation – not
using His name in a meaningless or frivolous way – especially, as a profanity.II.
The CommandThe command that
we are going to look at today, talks about protecting the reputation of other
people. So please turn in your Bible to Exodus,
chapter 20, and look at verse 16.“Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour.”The word "witness"
is the Hebrew word "ʿed,"
which could be translated, "a witness or recorder”. In other words,
"Don't give false, dishonest evidence to be witnessed or recorded against
your neighbour."Now, specifically,
this command is referring to the courtroom setting. If someone was to take the
witness stand, they were not to give false evidence – or false testimony
against their neighbour. They were to tell the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. That is the specific interpretation of this command.To make a principle of this, we would say, "Don't be
dishonest; tell the truth with your tongue."III.
The Command ViolatedOne commentator calls
or categorizes nine lies of the tongue.He says, "The tongue has nine lies."
I think you could
fit any dishonesty under one of the nine categories that are lies of the
tongue. Let me give to you – “A tongue's
nine lies”A.
Number one is the lie of MALICE.1.
This is the lie to get revenge.
It is a lie that I give in order to get back at someone or something.2.
When I distort the truth; tell
an untruth I am dishonest so that I can somehow swing back trying to get
retaliation. This is the lie of malice.B.
Number two is the lie of FEAR.1.
This is a lie to escape
punishment. We learned this at a very early age – did we not? We learned how to
lie in order to avoid punishment.a.
We do this at university/college
too. We tell the professor three good reasons why the term paper is not
finished – BUT all three are lies.b.
We tell the police officer,
when he stops us, why we were the wrong person. In fact, we could not have been
going 100kph in an 80kph zone, and we give him various reasons why.2.
We do not like punishment, so
sometimes we will tell a lie to get away from it.C.
Number three is the lie for PROFIT.1.
When it is time to pay taxes,
there will be people who will lie. They will deliberately write incorrect
figures on that little sheet of paper that we send to the Revenue Service, in
order to make a profit.I recently read of a woman who won a major marathon, back in 1980
To
observers at the finish line, Cuban born Rosie Ruiz must have seemed like the
fittest athlete ever to run the 84th Boston Marathon. On this day,
April 21, in 1980, the 26-year-old New Yorker finished first among the
marathon’s women runners in near-record time — just over two and a half hours.
Even more impressive: When officials crowned her the winner, she was barely
sweating. Her hair was still perfectly styled, and her face was hardly flushed
after the 26-mile race. Officials were dubious, however, partly because of her
unsweaty nonchalance and partly because no one — neither competitors nor
spectators — could remember having seen her during the first 25 miles. When
witnesses came forward a few days later to say they’d seen her run onto the
course from the sidelines just a mile from the finish line.Officials
started checking into this woman's history and discovered that her practice for
the marathon included a couple of miles on her exercise bicycle and maybe, a
short jog once or twice a week. So, they got suspicious. By the time they
finished their investigation, they had come up with enough witnesses to put the
pieces together.This
woman had started the marathon with everyone else. She had then, however, taken
a shortcut – she had hopped on a bus and ridden to a point that was only a
couple of miles from the finish line. She had gotten off the bus, somehow
gotten back on the track, and had won. Ruiz made winning a marathon look easy.
And it was, using her signature strategy: Don’t run the whole thing. For a
week, she was the winner. She probably could not run around the block twice,
but she won that marathon.More
deception was revealed when New York Marathon officials looked into Ruiz’s
24th-place finish in that race and discovered that she had used a similar
strategy to qualify for the Boston Marathon — by taking the subway instead of
running most of the course.Ruiz
never faced criminal consequences for faking her race finishes; she later ran
afoul of the law for unrelated reasons. In 1982, she was charged with stealing
$60,000 from the realty company she worked for, and in 1983 she was arrested
for selling two kilos of cocaine to an undercover detective. This woman was
lying for profit.2.
We could think of any type of
profit we want, and that is a category of reasons we lie.D.
Number four is lying by way of SILENCE.1.
Lev. 5:1, broadens this – “And if a soul sin,
and hear the voice of swearing, and is
a witness, whether he hath seen or known
of it; if he do not utter it,
then he shall bear his iniquity.”a.
To “hear the voice of swearing” this is
not of profane swearing (see vs. 4),
as in taking the name of God in vain, but either of false swearing, or perjury,
as when a man hears another swear to a thing which he knows is false; or else
of adjuration, i.e. an earnest urge or request to speak the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth by either the voice of a magistrate or of a
neighbour adjuring another, calling upon him with an oath to bear testimony in
such a case.b.
What it is saying is if you
have evidence towards someone's character and you remain silent, you are
considered, by Scripture, a liar.2.
Let us apply that.a.
If someone says something on
the job about Jesus Christ that is not true, and you remain silent, you are a
false witness for Christ.b.
If someone says something about
someone that you know that is not true and you remain silent, you are a false
witness.c.
Because of your silence, you
have become a liar. This is an interesting category.E.
Number five is the lie of BOASTING.1.
This is lying to impress. One
form of it is name dropping, "Oh yes, so-and-so is a good friend of
mine."2.
You probably run into that at
work all of the time – name-dropping for a promotion.a.
You really do not know the
person well, but falsely give that impression.b.
The closest you come to knowing
them is through their neighbour who baby-sat that person's uncle's cousin, or
something like that.c.
You are dropping that name to
impress.F.
Number six is the lie of EXAGGERATION.1.
This is the lie that creeps
into the marriage and the home when you say something to your spouse like,
"You never do this," or "You always do that."2.
That is exaggeration! He/she
probably did it once. Then, there is the classic, "I have absolutely
nothing to wear."3.
How did that get in there? Excuse
me!That is the lie of exaggeration.
G.
Number seven is the lie of INSINCERITY.1.
We might say, "If you need
help, just call me and I'll help you," all
the while thinking, "Boy, I hope they don't call."2.
We might say, "I'll pray for you," and then
forget to do it.3.
The lie of insincerity can
pervade the body like nothing else. We come to church with our little masks on
and are so insincere with each other – afraid that someone might see what we
are really like— liars who are insincere.H.
Number eight is the lie TO SELF.1.
These are the little
conversations that you might have with yourself.2.
You talk yourself out of doing
something that is right. You talk yourself into doing something that is wrong.
You lie to self.I.
Number nine is the lie to God.
This is the worst.If you have children under the age of 12 you are very aware that
they are old enough to know how to deceive, but usually they are not quite old
enough to be clever at it.Take
the Dad reading in the sitting room and in his peripheral vision caught he
catches a movement. He kind of ignores it for a while, until he notices that it
was one of his young sons. He had his hand behind his back and he was watching his
Dad with his eyes wide open. He was slowly moving through the living room. The
Dad looked up at him and at that point in time—he thought, "I don't have a
very intelligent son!"He
said, "Son." The lad responded, "SIR?
SIR?"Dad
said to his boy, "Come over here."Of
course, he came over and Dad discovered what was behind his back.Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever realized that we also sometimes go
to God with our hands behind our backs?1.
Ananias, with Sapphira tried to
do that in Acts 5 when they lied about a parcel of land they sold and held back
money from its sale they promised give to God.2.
How ridiculous it is to go to
the Lord in prayer or in worship with our hands firmly clasping something
behind our back that we are not about to let go of. When we do so we are lying
to God.3.
According to Psalm 66:18, in fact, if we come to God
in prayer and regard iniquity in our heart, what does God do? He does not
listen! Why? Because He is like the father who has a son that obviously
has something to hide—God is waiting for the prayer of repentance. Until then,
quit trying to lie to God.These are the nine categories of lies of the tongue,
if we tried to specifically apply the command of not bearing false witness.In other words, do not lie: do not lie to yourself –
do not lie to others – do not lie to God.IV. Four Facts About Uncontrolled Tongues
Now, this command
– “Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbour” – means more than lying.Interestingly
enough, in Leviticus, chapter 19, verse
16, the command is expanded to include slander. Literally, “a scandal-monger.”When you add to
that all of the passages of Scripture that talk about the tongue, the use of
the tongue, and the regulation of speech, there are tremendous principles
concerning how we are to speak, when we are to speak, and the way we are to
speak. This command covers a very broad spectrum concerning the regulation of
speech.Why is there so
much Scripture about our speech? I am going to give four reasons why.I will give four facts about a lying tongue
that are so important that Scripture spells it out for us so we cannot miss it.A.
First – A lying tongue is AN
INDICATION OF HYPOCRISY1.
Look at the book of James 1:26 – “If any man among you seem to be religious, and
bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is
vain.”2.
It is as if James gets real
close to the microphone, leans in, lowers his voice, and says, "There is a
man among you that seems to be “…religious, and yet does not bridle his
tongue ... this man's religion is worthless.”3.
If we have a lying tongue, our
religion is absolutely worthless. If we cannot tell the truth, it is an
indication that we are living hypocritical lives.B.
Secondly – A lying tongue is A
DESTROYER OF FRIENDSHIP1. Turn to Proverbs, chapter 17.
A lying tongue destroys friendship like nothing else. Verse 9 says, “He that covereth a
transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.”2.
In other words, the person who
uncovers the "dirt" and repeats it, or the person who casts doubt on
the reputation or the character of another, that individual, by their tongue,
has the power of separating intimate friends.a.
These are friends you would never imagine being split
up; you could never imagine
an offense between them.b.
But there is a powerful tool
that can split them up – it is called the tongue.c.
The tongue repeats an offense;
a sin, "Did you know this about so-and-so? You know, I heard this … I
heard that … ". Close friends begin to wonder and soon, it separates
intimate friends.Let me give an illustration of the power of the tongue in
influencing people.This
is almost too funny to believe. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has
a habit, every April Fool's Day, of coming up with outlandish little schemes to
fool its British listeners. You would think that the listeners would learn to
expect it, but every year BBC somehow pulls something off.During
an interview on BBC Radio 2, on the morning of April 1, 1976, the British
astronomer Patrick Moore He had
Britain jumping up and down. He announced that an extraordinary
astronomical event was about to occur at exactly 9:47 am—the planet Pluto would
pass directly behind Jupiter, in relation to the Earth. This rare alignment
would mean that the combined gravitational force of the two planets would exert
a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth's own gravity and
making people weigh less – i.e. it would make
everybody feel lighter. Moore called this the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational
Effect.Moore
told listeners that they could experience the phenomenon by jumping in the air
at the precise moment the alignment occurred. If they did so, he promised, they
would experience a strange floating sensation.At
9:47, Moore declared, "Jump now!" By 9:48 a.m., the BBC switchboard lit
up with dozens of people calling in to report that the experiment had worked! Delighted callers were saying they had
experienced a floating sensation when they jumped at exactly 9:47.A Dutch woman from Utrecht said that she and her
husband had floated around the room together. Another caller claimed she had
been seated around a table with eleven friends and that all of them, including
the table, had begun to ascend.But not everyone was happy. One angry caller
complained he had risen from the ground so rapidly that he hit his head on the
ceiling, and he wanted compensation.Incredible!
Now I know there are some people who are trying to make news, but I promise that
there are people who probably jumped and felt like they went just a little
higher than they had ever gone before in their lives.That is the power of influence;
the power of the tongue to affect feelings and attitudes. That is why it is so
tremendous in light of friendship. Your tongue can influence the thoughts and
the attitudes of someone toward a very close friend that they never thought
they would ever question.C.
The third fact about
uncontrolled tongues deals with the church body.A lying tongue is AN OBSTRUCTION TO UNITY.
1.
In Colossians 3:9, Paul says, in no uncertain words, “Lie not one to
another…”2.
What a church the church of Colossae
must have been. He writes and one of the first things off his pen is,
"Would you people quit lying to each other." Then, in the rest of the
chapter, he urges them toward unity.3.
The principle is this; the
foundation for unity is honesty not only in a marriage relationship, or in
personal relationships, but also in a church of Jesus Christ.D.
Fourthly, a lying tongue is AN
INVITATION FOR GOD'S WRATH.1.
Turn >> Proverbs, chapter 6. I
want you to note the strength of the words that Solomon wrote in vs. 16-19.“These six
things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17]
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18] An
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to
mischief, 19] A false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren.”2.
Our LORD hates it! God
hates a lying tongue;
God hates a false
witness who utters lies. And note that right on the heels of that we are told
that God hates one who
spreads strife among brothers.3.
Psalm 101:5 says, “Whoso privily slandereth his
neighbour, him will I cut off…”[eradicate, i.e. destroy completely]
4.
WE NEVER realized God took it
so seriously—did we?V.
The Command AppliedLet us apply this
command to not bear false witness from Ex.
20:16.Let me give some “Cosmetics for the
tongue”These cosmetics for the tongue are simple words. —They
are not profound, but I want them to ring through your mind when you are
tempted to open your mouth.700 times this
week, you are going to have this opportunity. You are going to phrase 12,000
sentences this week. You are, in fact, going to write a book this week with the
words you utter. May that book include these characteristics.A.
First, there is the cosmetic of
TRUTH.1.
David writes in Ps. 141:3, “Set a watch [guard], O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” [be
a watcher over my mouth to stop me from speaking evil].2.
David is asking God to,
"Post a sentinel right by the corners of my mouth, so that it will watch
carefully anything that comes out."3.
In Ephesians 4:15, we discover what those two sentinels are. “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things…”Note this because it clears up some of the fuzziness.
a.
The FIRST is, “…speaking the truth…”b.
The SECOND is, “…in love…”Now he is NOT saying, "Don't confront. Don't challenge."
I
wonder what would have happened if, in Paul's day, YOU were with the Consumer
Protection Commission or the Better
Business Bureau of Ireland. A company writes you and says, "Hey, we've
heard some wonderful things about Alexander the coppersmith and we'd like to
include him on our board. Would you recommend him?"What
would you say?You
might remember that Paul wrote that in 2
Timothy 4:14 that he was speaking the truth when he said, “Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil”Let us say that a church is considering someone for the position of Pastor.
This
church writes to this man’s former church and says, "We'd like some
references. This guy seems like he's a sound and strong leader and seemingly is
just what we need in our church. His name is Diotrephes. What do you
think?"What
would you write? John wrote, in 3 John 9, “Diotrephes
loveth to have preeminence among them.”4.
That is the truth! BUT however,
when you speak the truth, you are to cloak it with what? “IN love.”a.
There is a lot of talk these
days about “talking in love” when confronting people.b.
BUT there is very little
confrontation—there is very little talk about
holding people accountable to the truths of Scripture.1)
However, we DO NOT love people
that we do not hold accountable to what the Bible teaches.2)
So we speak the truth and yet,
we speak it in love.B.
The second cosmetic for the
tongue is KINDNESS.1.
Kindness is speaking with soft
answers. Let me give some thoughts on this.2.
A soft answer DEFENDS without
lashing back.3.
A soft answer may DISAGREE, but
it disagrees without criticizing.4.
It may criticize the position,
the philosophy, the point of view, and the doctrine, BUT NEVER the person.I
love the story of the woman who was so irritated at Winston Churchill, the
Prime Minister of England that, after he spoke, she came rushing up to him and
said, "Mr. Churchill, if I were your wife, I'd put arsenic in your
tea."Churchill
thought for a moment, and then said, "Ma'am, if you were my wife, I'd
drink it."C.
A third cosmetic that may seem
odd, until I explain it—it is SILENCE.1.
Proverbs 26:20 says that silence eliminates
strife. Let’s look at that verse.2.
Silence not only eliminates strife,
but it enhances worship.David said, in Psalm 46:10a, “Be still and know that I am God…”
a.
This means literally, to stop striving—i.
e. be quiet!b.
Sometimes we are just yapping
so much that we lose sight of the fact that we are to worship God. He is in
control, so stop and be still
before Him–be quiet.The cosmetic of
silence is like the statement of the old sage who
said:"I
have often regretted my speech, BUT I have never regretted my silence."D.
A fourth cosmetic for the
tongue is GRACE – Colossians 4:61.
“Grace” – Words
seasoned with the flavour of saltLet me give some
seasoned words. I want you to write these down and practice them. These words
are not said often enough.a.
The first seasoned word is, "PLEASE."1)
When you say, "Please,"
you view someone as a person and not as an object or a means to your end.2)
That is why my wife and I began
very early to teach our children to say, "Please." We are not objects
to them—we are people. Say, "Please."b.
Another seasoned word is, "THANK-YOU."1)
For some husbands, it may have
been a long time since you have thanked your wife for cooking for you.a)
You ought to get in the habit
of saying, "Thank-you, Honey, that was delicious."b)
If you cannot say it was
delicious, then say, "Thank-you, Honey, that was an unusual recipe,"
or something complimentary.2)
One waitress was talking about
the fact that she hates working on Sunday. She sees Sunday is the worst day of
the week to work.a)
It is the day she gets the
smallest tips and the most complaints.b)
You would probably shock a
waitress this Sunday, if you looked at her and said, "Hey, thanks, you did
a terrific job."c)
Say, "Thank-you."c.
Let us try using these seasoned
words, "I APPRECIATE YOU."1)
The wheels of this ministry;
the flavour of your life; the joy in your heart is created so often by words of
appreciation; by someone coming to you and saying, "Hey, I want you to
know, I appreciate you."2)
We do not hear that often
enough. Practice saying, "I appreciate you."d.
There are also the seasoned
words, "I'M SORRY."1)
Now that is hard to say. It is
also hard to receive.a)
Sometimes you do not want to
hear it, so when someone says, "I'm sorry," to you, you
retort back, "You said it," or "You sure are,"
or something like that.b)
It is not only hard to say, it
is sometimes very difficult to receive.It needs to be in our vocabulary, however.
2)
Some of us have not discovered
the words, "I'm sorry. I am not infallible." We never say it. Say,
"I'm sorry," when it is needed.e.
Along that same line are the
seasoned words, "I FORGIVE
YOU."1)
There may be a marriage that
would be healed if those words were spoken.2)
There may be a relationship
between a son and a father, a daughter and a mother, or between close friends
that would be restored if those words were spoken. Simply say, "I
forgive you." These are words of grace.3)
I think the reason Paul said
these words are words of grace is because grace is the result of the Holy
Spirit working in your heart.a)
Apart from the Holy Spirit,
there is no grace.b)
Grace is a divine work in our
hearts.f.
Let me give one more.There are the seasoned words, "I'M
PRAYING FOR YOU."1)
Now, you must be sure to mean
it when you say, "I'm praying for you."2)
One of the greatest thrills for
me is when people in this congregation say, "Hey, I'm praying for
you."Keep it up! I am
praying for you too. We need to pray for each other. We need to uphold each
other. We are in a battle. The reinforcement and the strength comes from the
prayers that we offer on behalf of each other.CONCLUSION:
Moses wrote, “Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbour.”He is saying to
tell the truth.Leviticus expands it, so that you do not
slander.We turn it over
and look at the positive side and see that God is exhorting and regulating our speech
to be encouraging, uplifting—edifying, building each other up.We are to season our words with truth, with
kindness, with grace.There is a story of ancient Greece involving a young man.
The
man said something very harsh about someone else, only to discover later that
it was untrue. He went to his wise teacher and said, "Master, I have
spoken harsh words. What can I do to right the wrong?"His
teacher said, "I want you to find a sack and fill it with feathers. Then
tonight, after everyone has retired, go all around this village and put a
feather on each doorstep."The
young man was confused, but he did it. He collected feathers putting them in a
sack. Then, that night, as the sun sank, he went to each doorstep and placed a
feather on each one, not knowing what he was doing or why. When he finished, he
went home, went to bed, got up the next morning, and went back to his teacher.
He said, "Master, I've done what you've said. Now what do I do?"His teacher said, "Get your sack and go back and retrieve
every feather."The
young man said, "That's impossible. There is no way I can retrieve every
feather. The wind has come up during the night, people have been walking at all
hours, and animals have been moving about. It's impossible."The
teacher said, "That's exactly the point.Words
are very easy to speak, they are impossible to completely retrieve."
--
All God's best,
Bob Zemeski40 Captain's Hill
Leixlip, Co. Kildare W23 C8K1IrelandG. Campbell Morgan: " I never begin my work in the morning without thinking that perhaps He will interrupt my work and begin His own. – I am not looking for death, I am looking for Him. "1 Samuel 12:23,24
--
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Posted by: bzemeski <bzemeski@...>
Cosmetics for the Tongue!
Ten
Commandments - 9
TEXT: Ex. 20:16
INTRODUCTION:
How beautiful is
your tongue? Please do not show me – PLEASE keep it in!
A.
We never think of our tongue in
terms of attractiveness
It is not
something for which we would make an appointment with a tongue beautician.
It is something that Max Factor, L'Oreal and Revlon have
ignored in cosmetics.
One nice thing is that we do not
have to diet to get it back in shape; in fact, it always is.
·
Yet, it is our tongue, more
than our income, our figure, our face, our wardrobe, our car, or our home ...
that makes all of the difference in the world.
·
It is the tongue that can mend
a marriage or tear it apart.
·
It is the tongue that can heal
a church or destroy it.
·
It is the tongue that makes a
home a paradise or a howling desert.
It is the tongue that makes the difference.
Psychologists have
estimated – and I feel sorry for the psychologist that has nothing to do but
estimate this – that we have 700 opportunities a week to speak. Some of us
speak 800 times, but there are about 700 opportunities for the average person!
We construct 12,000 sentences every week, using 50,000 words. We actually author
a 150-page volume, by our tongue, every single week. What a money saver, I
could replace my library of in no time, just publish things that I create with
my tongue! Though I seriously doubt there would be any best sellers.
B.
In most Western counties, we cherish
our freedom of speech
For the most part
expressing our views – right or wrong – saying what we think about anyone or
any subject – true of false – and to whom we please. That is wonderful, BUT it is interesting that you never hear about
that in Scripture. In fact, what you find in Scripture is the regulation of how
we use our speech.
Of the Ten
Commandments in the book of Exodus,
two of them deal with the regulation of our speech. One is the 3rd
commandment, in 20:7, which says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;
for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.”
In other words, we
are to respect, to honour, and to protect God's character and reputation – not
using His name in a meaningless or frivolous way – especially, as a profanity.
II.
The Command
The command that
we are going to look at today, talks about protecting the reputation of other
people. So please turn in your Bible to Exodus,
chapter 20, and look at verse 16.
“Thou shalt not bear false witness
against thy neighbour.”
The word "witness"
is the Hebrew word "ʿed,"
which could be translated, "a witness or recorder”. In other words,
"Don't give false, dishonest evidence to be witnessed or recorded against
your neighbour."
Now, specifically,
this command is referring to the courtroom setting. If someone was to take the
witness stand, they were not to give false evidence – or false testimony
against their neighbour. They were to tell the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth. That is the specific interpretation of this command.
To make a principle of this, we would say, "Don't be
dishonest; tell the truth with your tongue."
III.
The Command Violated
One commentator calls
or categorizes nine lies of the tongue.
He says, "The tongue has nine lies."
I think you could
fit any dishonesty under one of the nine categories that are lies of the
tongue. Let me give to you – “A tongue's
nine lies”
A.
Number one is the lie of MALICE.
1.
This is the lie to get revenge.
It is a lie that I give in order to get back at someone or something.
2.
When I distort the truth; tell
an untruth I am dishonest so that I can somehow swing back trying to get
retaliation. This is the lie of malice.
B.
Number two is the lie of FEAR.
1.
This is a lie to escape
punishment. We learned this at a very early age – did we not? We learned how to
lie in order to avoid punishment.
a.
We do this at university/college
too. We tell the professor three good reasons why the term paper is not
finished – BUT all three are lies.
b.
We tell the police officer,
when he stops us, why we were the wrong person. In fact, we could not have been
going 100kph in an 80kph zone, and we give him various reasons why.
2.
We do not like punishment, so
sometimes we will tell a lie to get away from it.
C.
Number three is the lie for PROFIT.
1.
When it is time to pay taxes,
there will be people who will lie. They will deliberately write incorrect
figures on that little sheet of paper that we send to the Revenue Service, in
order to make a profit.
I recently read of a woman who won a major marathon, back in 1980
To
observers at the finish line, Cuban born Rosie Ruiz must have seemed like the
fittest athlete ever to run the 84th Boston Marathon. On this day,
April 21, in 1980, the 26-year-old New Yorker finished first among the
marathon’s women runners in near-record time — just over two and a half hours.
Even more impressive: When officials crowned her the winner, she was barely
sweating. Her hair was still perfectly styled, and her face was hardly flushed
after the 26-mile race. Officials were dubious, however, partly because of her
unsweaty nonchalance and partly because no one — neither competitors nor
spectators — could remember having seen her during the first 25 miles. When
witnesses came forward a few days later to say they’d seen her run onto the
course from the sidelines just a mile from the finish line.
Officials
started checking into this woman's history and discovered that her practice for
the marathon included a couple of miles on her exercise bicycle and maybe, a
short jog once or twice a week. So, they got suspicious. By the time they
finished their investigation, they had come up with enough witnesses to put the
pieces together.
This
woman had started the marathon with everyone else. She had then, however, taken
a shortcut – she had hopped on a bus and ridden to a point that was only a
couple of miles from the finish line. She had gotten off the bus, somehow
gotten back on the track, and had won. Ruiz made winning a marathon look easy.
And it was, using her signature strategy: Don’t run the whole thing. For a
week, she was the winner. She probably could not run around the block twice,
but she won that marathon.
More
deception was revealed when New York Marathon officials looked into Ruiz’s
24th-place finish in that race and discovered that she had used a similar
strategy to qualify for the Boston Marathon — by taking the subway instead of
running most of the course.
Ruiz
never faced criminal consequences for faking her race finishes; she later ran
afoul of the law for unrelated reasons. In 1982, she was charged with stealing
$60,000 from the realty company she worked for, and in 1983 she was arrested
for selling two kilos of cocaine to an undercover detective. This woman was
lying for profit.
2.
We could think of any type of
profit we want, and that is a category of reasons we lie.
D.
Number four is lying by way of SILENCE.
1.
Lev. 5:1, broadens this – “And if a soul sin,
and hear the voice of swearing, and is
a witness, whether he hath seen or known
of it; if he do not utter it,
then he shall bear his iniquity.”
a.
To “hear the voice of swearing” this is
not of profane swearing (see vs. 4),
as in taking the name of God in vain, but either of false swearing, or perjury,
as when a man hears another swear to a thing which he knows is false; or else
of adjuration, i.e. an earnest urge or request to speak the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth by either the voice of a magistrate or of a
neighbour adjuring another, calling upon him with an oath to bear testimony in
such a case.
b.
What it is saying is if you
have evidence towards someone's character and you remain silent, you are
considered, by Scripture, a liar.
2.
Let us apply that.
a.
If someone says something on
the job about Jesus Christ that is not true, and you remain silent, you are a
false witness for Christ.
b.
If someone says something about
someone that you know that is not true and you remain silent, you are a false
witness.
c.
Because of your silence, you
have become a liar. This is an interesting category.
E.
Number five is the lie of BOASTING.
1.
This is lying to impress. One
form of it is name dropping, "Oh yes, so-and-so is a good friend of
mine."
2.
You probably run into that at
work all of the time – name-dropping for a promotion.
a.
You really do not know the
person well, but falsely give that impression.
b.
The closest you come to knowing
them is through their neighbour who baby-sat that person's uncle's cousin, or
something like that.
c.
You are dropping that name to
impress.
F.
Number six is the lie of EXAGGERATION.
1.
This is the lie that creeps
into the marriage and the home when you say something to your spouse like,
"You never do this," or "You always do that."
2.
That is exaggeration! He/she
probably did it once. Then, there is the classic, "I have absolutely
nothing to wear."
3.
How did that get in there? Excuse
me!
That is the lie of exaggeration.
G.
Number seven is the lie of INSINCERITY.
1.
We might say, "If you need
help, just call me and I'll help you," all
the while thinking, "Boy, I hope they don't call."
2.
We might say, "I'll pray for you," and then
forget to do it.
3.
The lie of insincerity can
pervade the body like nothing else. We come to church with our little masks on
and are so insincere with each other – afraid that someone might see what we
are really like— liars who are insincere.
H.
Number eight is the lie TO SELF.
1.
These are the little
conversations that you might have with yourself.
2.
You talk yourself out of doing
something that is right. You talk yourself into doing something that is wrong.
You lie to self.
I.
Number nine is the lie to God.
This is the worst.
If you have children under the age of 12 you are very aware that
they are old enough to know how to deceive, but usually they are not quite old
enough to be clever at it.
Take
the Dad reading in the sitting room and in his peripheral vision caught he
catches a movement. He kind of ignores it for a while, until he notices that it
was one of his young sons. He had his hand behind his back and he was watching his
Dad with his eyes wide open. He was slowly moving through the living room. The
Dad looked up at him and at that point in time—he thought, "I don't have a
very intelligent son!"
He
said, "Son." The lad responded, "SIR?
SIR?"
Dad
said to his boy, "Come over here."
Of
course, he came over and Dad discovered what was behind his back.
Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever realized that we also sometimes go
to God with our hands behind our backs?
1.
Ananias, with Sapphira tried to
do that in Acts 5 when they lied about a parcel of land they sold and held back
money from its sale they promised give to God.
2.
How ridiculous it is to go to
the Lord in prayer or in worship with our hands firmly clasping something
behind our back that we are not about to let go of. When we do so we are lying
to God.
3.
According to Psalm 66:18, in fact, if we come to God
in prayer and regard iniquity in our heart, what does God do? He does not
listen! Why? Because He is like the father who has a son that obviously
has something to hide—God is waiting for the prayer of repentance. Until then,
quit trying to lie to God.
These are the nine categories of lies of the tongue,
if we tried to specifically apply the command of not bearing false witness.
In other words, do not lie: do not lie to yourself –
do not lie to others – do not lie to God.
IV. Four Facts About Uncontrolled Tongues
Now, this command
– “Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbour” – means more than lying.
Interestingly
enough, in Leviticus, chapter 19, verse
16, the command is expanded to include slander. Literally, “a scandal-monger.”
When you add to
that all of the passages of Scripture that talk about the tongue, the use of
the tongue, and the regulation of speech, there are tremendous principles
concerning how we are to speak, when we are to speak, and the way we are to
speak. This command covers a very broad spectrum concerning the regulation of
speech.
Why is there so
much Scripture about our speech? I am going to give four reasons why.
I will give four facts about a lying tongue
that are so important that Scripture spells it out for us so we cannot miss it.
A.
First – A lying tongue is AN
INDICATION OF HYPOCRISY
1.
Look at the book of James 1:26 – “If any man among you seem to be religious, and
bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is
vain.”
2.
It is as if James gets real
close to the microphone, leans in, lowers his voice, and says, "There is a
man among you that seems to be “…religious, and yet does not bridle his
tongue ... this man's religion is worthless.”
3.
If we have a lying tongue, our
religion is absolutely worthless. If we cannot tell the truth, it is an
indication that we are living hypocritical lives.
B.
Secondly – A lying tongue is A
DESTROYER OF FRIENDSHIP
1. Turn to Proverbs, chapter 17.
A lying tongue destroys friendship like nothing else. Verse 9 says, “He that covereth a
transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.”
2.
In other words, the person who
uncovers the "dirt" and repeats it, or the person who casts doubt on
the reputation or the character of another, that individual, by their tongue,
has the power of separating intimate friends.
a.
These are friends you would never imagine being split
up; you could never imagine
an offense between them.
b.
But there is a powerful tool
that can split them up – it is called the tongue.
c.
The tongue repeats an offense;
a sin, "Did you know this about so-and-so? You know, I heard this … I
heard that … ". Close friends begin to wonder and soon, it separates
intimate friends.
Let me give an illustration of the power of the tongue in
influencing people.
This
is almost too funny to believe. The BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) has
a habit, every April Fool's Day, of coming up with outlandish little schemes to
fool its British listeners. You would think that the listeners would learn to
expect it, but every year BBC somehow pulls something off.
During
an interview on BBC Radio 2, on the morning of April 1, 1976, the British
astronomer Patrick Moore He had
Britain jumping up and down. He announced that an extraordinary
astronomical event was about to occur at exactly 9:47 am—the planet Pluto would
pass directly behind Jupiter, in relation to the Earth. This rare alignment
would mean that the combined gravitational force of the two planets would exert
a stronger tidal pull, temporarily counteracting the Earth's own gravity and
making people weigh less – i.e. it would make
everybody feel lighter. Moore called this the Jovian-Plutonian Gravitational
Effect.
Moore
told listeners that they could experience the phenomenon by jumping in the air
at the precise moment the alignment occurred. If they did so, he promised, they
would experience a strange floating sensation.
At
9:47, Moore declared, "Jump now!" By 9:48 a.m., the BBC switchboard lit
up with dozens of people calling in to report that the experiment had worked! Delighted callers were saying they had
experienced a floating sensation when they jumped at exactly 9:47.
A Dutch woman from Utrecht said that she and her
husband had floated around the room together. Another caller claimed she had
been seated around a table with eleven friends and that all of them, including
the table, had begun to ascend.
But not everyone was happy. One angry caller
complained he had risen from the ground so rapidly that he hit his head on the
ceiling, and he wanted compensation.
Incredible!
Now I know there are some people who are trying to make news, but I promise that
there are people who probably jumped and felt like they went just a little
higher than they had ever gone before in their lives.
That is the power of influence;
the power of the tongue to affect feelings and attitudes. That is why it is so
tremendous in light of friendship. Your tongue can influence the thoughts and
the attitudes of someone toward a very close friend that they never thought
they would ever question.
C.
The third fact about
uncontrolled tongues deals with the church body.
A lying tongue is AN OBSTRUCTION TO UNITY.
1.
In Colossians 3:9, Paul says, in no uncertain words, “Lie not one to
another…”
2.
What a church the church of Colossae
must have been. He writes and one of the first things off his pen is,
"Would you people quit lying to each other." Then, in the rest of the
chapter, he urges them toward unity.
3.
The principle is this; the
foundation for unity is honesty not only in a marriage relationship, or in
personal relationships, but also in a church of Jesus Christ.
D.
Fourthly, a lying tongue is AN
INVITATION FOR GOD'S WRATH.
1.
Turn >> Proverbs, chapter 6. I
want you to note the strength of the words that Solomon wrote in vs. 16-19.
“These six
things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: 17]
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18] An
heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to
mischief, 19] A false witness
that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among
brethren.”
2.
Our LORD hates it! God
hates a lying tongue;
God hates a false
witness who utters lies. And note that right on the heels of that we are told
that God hates one who
spreads strife among brothers.
3.
Psalm 101:5 says, “Whoso privily slandereth his
neighbour, him will I cut off…”
[eradicate, i.e. destroy completely]
4.
WE NEVER realized God took it
so seriously—did we?
V.
The Command Applied
Let us apply this
command to not bear false witness from Ex.
20:16.
Let me give some “Cosmetics for the
tongue”
These cosmetics for the tongue are simple words. —They
are not profound, but I want them to ring through your mind when you are
tempted to open your mouth.
700 times this
week, you are going to have this opportunity. You are going to phrase 12,000
sentences this week. You are, in fact, going to write a book this week with the
words you utter. May that book include these characteristics.
A.
First, there is the cosmetic of
TRUTH.
1.
David writes in Ps. 141:3, “Set a watch [guard], O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” [be
a watcher over my mouth to stop me from speaking evil].
2.
David is asking God to,
"Post a sentinel right by the corners of my mouth, so that it will watch
carefully anything that comes out."
3.
In Ephesians 4:15, we discover what those two sentinels are. “But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things…”
Note this because it clears up some of the fuzziness.
a.
The FIRST is, “…speaking the truth…”
b.
The SECOND is, “…in love…”
Now he is NOT saying, "Don't confront. Don't challenge."
I
wonder what would have happened if, in Paul's day, YOU were with the Consumer
Protection Commission or the Better
Business Bureau of Ireland. A company writes you and says, "Hey, we've
heard some wonderful things about Alexander the coppersmith and we'd like to
include him on our board. Would you recommend him?"
What
would you say?
You
might remember that Paul wrote that in 2
Timothy 4:14 that he was speaking the truth when he said, “Alexander
the coppersmith did me much evil”
Let us say that a church is considering someone for the position of Pastor.
This
church writes to this man’s former church and says, "We'd like some
references. This guy seems like he's a sound and strong leader and seemingly is
just what we need in our church. His name is Diotrephes. What do you
think?"
What
would you write? John wrote, in 3 John 9, “Diotrephes
loveth to have preeminence among them.”
4.
That is the truth! BUT however,
when you speak the truth, you are to cloak it with what? “IN love.”
a.
There is a lot of talk these
days about “talking in love” when confronting people.
b.
BUT there is very little
confrontation—there is very little talk about
holding people accountable to the truths of Scripture.
1)
However, we DO NOT love people
that we do not hold accountable to what the Bible teaches.
2)
So we speak the truth and yet,
we speak it in love.
B.
The second cosmetic for the
tongue is KINDNESS.
1.
Kindness is speaking with soft
answers. Let me give some thoughts on this.
2.
A soft answer DEFENDS without
lashing back.
3.
A soft answer may DISAGREE, but
it disagrees without criticizing.
4.
It may criticize the position,
the philosophy, the point of view, and the doctrine, BUT NEVER the person.
I
love the story of the woman who was so irritated at Winston Churchill, the
Prime Minister of England that, after he spoke, she came rushing up to him and
said, "Mr. Churchill, if I were your wife, I'd put arsenic in your
tea."
Churchill
thought for a moment, and then said, "Ma'am, if you were my wife, I'd
drink it."
C.
A third cosmetic that may seem
odd, until I explain it—it is SILENCE.
1.
Proverbs 26:20 says that silence eliminates
strife. Let’s look at that verse.
2.
Silence not only eliminates strife,
but it enhances worship.
David said, in Psalm 46:10a, “Be still and know that I am God…”
a.
This means literally, to stop striving—i.
e. be quiet!
b.
Sometimes we are just yapping
so much that we lose sight of the fact that we are to worship God. He is in
control, so stop and be still
before Him–be quiet.
The cosmetic of
silence is like the statement of the old sage who
said:
"I
have often regretted my speech, BUT I have never regretted my silence."
D.
A fourth cosmetic for the
tongue is GRACE – Colossians 4:6
1.
“Grace” – Words
seasoned with the flavour of salt
Let me give some
seasoned words. I want you to write these down and practice them. These words
are not said often enough.
a.
The first seasoned word is, "PLEASE."
1)
When you say, "Please,"
you view someone as a person and not as an object or a means to your end.
2)
That is why my wife and I began
very early to teach our children to say, "Please." We are not objects
to them—we are people. Say, "Please."
b.
Another seasoned word is, "THANK-YOU."
1)
For some husbands, it may have
been a long time since you have thanked your wife for cooking for you.
a)
You ought to get in the habit
of saying, "Thank-you, Honey, that was delicious."
b)
If you cannot say it was
delicious, then say, "Thank-you, Honey, that was an unusual recipe,"
or something complimentary.
2)
One waitress was talking about
the fact that she hates working on Sunday. She sees Sunday is the worst day of
the week to work.
a)
It is the day she gets the
smallest tips and the most complaints.
b)
You would probably shock a
waitress this Sunday, if you looked at her and said, "Hey, thanks, you did
a terrific job."
c)
Say, "Thank-you."
c.
Let us try using these seasoned
words, "I APPRECIATE YOU."
1)
The wheels of this ministry;
the flavour of your life; the joy in your heart is created so often by words of
appreciation; by someone coming to you and saying, "Hey, I want you to
know, I appreciate you."
2)
We do not hear that often
enough. Practice saying, "I appreciate you."
d.
There are also the seasoned
words, "I'M SORRY."
1)
Now that is hard to say. It is
also hard to receive.
a)
Sometimes you do not want to
hear it, so when someone says, "I'm sorry," to you, you
retort back, "You said it," or "You sure are,"
or something like that.
b)
It is not only hard to say, it
is sometimes very difficult to receive.
It needs to be in our vocabulary, however.
2)
Some of us have not discovered
the words, "I'm sorry. I am not infallible." We never say it. Say,
"I'm sorry," when it is needed.
e.
Along that same line are the
seasoned words, "I FORGIVE
YOU."
1)
There may be a marriage that
would be healed if those words were spoken.
2)
There may be a relationship
between a son and a father, a daughter and a mother, or between close friends
that would be restored if those words were spoken. Simply say, "I
forgive you." These are words of grace.
3)
I think the reason Paul said
these words are words of grace is because grace is the result of the Holy
Spirit working in your heart.
a)
Apart from the Holy Spirit,
there is no grace.
b)
Grace is a divine work in our
hearts.
f.
Let me give one more.
There are the seasoned words, "I'M
PRAYING FOR YOU."
PRAYING FOR YOU."
1)
Now, you must be sure to mean
it when you say, "I'm praying for you."
2)
One of the greatest thrills for
me is when people in this congregation say, "Hey, I'm praying for
you."
Keep it up! I am
praying for you too. We need to pray for each other. We need to uphold each
other. We are in a battle. The reinforcement and the strength comes from the
prayers that we offer on behalf of each other.
CONCLUSION:
Moses wrote, “Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbour.”
He is saying to
tell the truth.
Leviticus expands it, so that you do not
slander.
We turn it over
and look at the positive side and see that God is exhorting and regulating our speech
to be encouraging, uplifting—edifying, building each other up.
We are to season our words with truth, with
kindness, with grace.
There is a story of ancient Greece involving a young man.
The
man said something very harsh about someone else, only to discover later that
it was untrue. He went to his wise teacher and said, "Master, I have
spoken harsh words. What can I do to right the wrong?"
His
teacher said, "I want you to find a sack and fill it with feathers. Then
tonight, after everyone has retired, go all around this village and put a
feather on each doorstep."
The
young man was confused, but he did it. He collected feathers putting them in a
sack. Then, that night, as the sun sank, he went to each doorstep and placed a
feather on each one, not knowing what he was doing or why. When he finished, he
went home, went to bed, got up the next morning, and went back to his teacher.
He said, "Master, I've done what you've said. Now what do I do?"
His teacher said, "Get your sack and go back and retrieve
every feather."
The
young man said, "That's impossible. There is no way I can retrieve every
feather. The wind has come up during the night, people have been walking at all
hours, and animals have been moving about. It's impossible."
The
teacher said, "That's exactly the point.
Words
are very easy to speak, they are impossible to completely retrieve."
--
Bob Zemeski
Leixlip, Co. Kildare W23 C8K1
1 Samuel 12:23,24
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