BEARING FALSE WITNESS

#292                                                             BEARING FALSE WITNESS

Scripture  Exodus 20:16; John 8:32 NIV                                                                                 Orig. 7/24/1966; 3/1976

                                                                                                                                                                             Rewr. 8/17/1989

Passage:  

Exodus 20:16     You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

John 8:32             “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Purpose: Continuing a series on the Ten Commandments, here calling attention to the ninth and its urgings as to the importance of truthfulness  in all things.

Keywords:           Falsehood                           Truth                     Witness

Timeline/Series:               Ten Commandments

Introduction

                If one is writing on stone tablets, brevity and conciseness are essential.   It is necessary to say the very most in the very fewest possible words.  We must remember, then, that the value of these words springs not from their mass, but from their measure.

                John, the gospel writer, will not be content until the full measure of this meaning is stated.  He determines to define and personalize both truth and falsehood.

                “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. . . .  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  John 1:14,17.

                Satan was called “a liar and the father of lies.”  John 8:44

                Pilate wanted to know if Jesus was a king:  “You say that I am a king.  For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37f).  “Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”

                “Jesus said to him, (Thomas) ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’”  John 14:6.

                There is His most earnest expectation for us:  “I will pray the Father, and He will give you . . . the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”  John 14:16f

                John 8:32 “If you continue in my word, you are . . . my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

                I shall seek to go in two directions this morning: (1)To define what “being a false witness” means,” and, (2)understanding religious experience as the fullest expression of truth.

I.             Bearing False Witness is the Passing of Any Judgment that is not Factually True. 

                We live in an age of compromised values.  Integrity and truthfulness are often sacrificed for personal advantage.  People in “high” and “low” places speak in the lingo of the Saturday matinee, “with forked tongue.”  What emerges is a bland mixture of truth, half-truth, and no-truth-at-all:  The fairest flower is poisoned; the tallest sequoia has root rot; the finest furrows of our fertile fields are awash with weeds.

                A man was asked: “What in your lifetime has given you the greatest satisfaction?”  He answered without hesitation:  “A child that went down the road singing, after asking me the way.”

                How willing are you this morning to perceive of yourself as the witness in question?  Anonymous:  “There is no fit search after truth which does not, first of all, begin to live the truth it knows.”

                To begin at the beginning is to define false witness as the giving of false evidence in a court of law.  This was at the heart of the Old Testament meaning: Perjury is a crime; it is false testimony; it is withholding truth.  The law court is a device, ordained of God, through which justice is mediated.  Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers.  For there is no power of God:  The powers that be are ordained of God.”  For the which there is judge, jury, witness, plaintiff, defender, accused: One lie irreparably breaks down the system.

                Out of the law court, the false witness is the peddler of malicious gossip.  Do not ask if true or false, it is gossip either way.  Claim not to be condemning sin.  That being the case, to the sinner you must go.  Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man/woman that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”  Doubt not that the one receiving such trash is as guilty as the purveyor.  We take garbage to a proper receptacle. So the gossip, with his load of filth, seeks out the willing ear.  If such people gravitate toward you, find out why.

                One who wishes to slander another can do so also by inference.  This is the realm of the half-truth.  When the real juicy stuff is in decline, this will do very well.  Proverbs 11:9, “An hypocrite with his mouth destroyeth his neighbor.”  Proverbs 12:18, “Gossip can be as sharp as a sword. But the tongue of the wise heals.” NEB. 

                Someone has  noted, “Beware of half-truths.  You may get hold of the wrong half.”  Shakespeare writes of Julius Caesar’s death at the hand of Brutus, but he thought justly.  Mark Antony delivers the funeral oration intent  on declaring his feelings to the populace.  Speaking then that “Brutus is an honorable man,” until the people begin to doubt.  After planting this doubt, Shakespeare has Antony to say, “Mischief, thou art afoot.  Take thou what course thou wilt.” 

                Likewise in need of consideration is standing in defense when it is in our power to do so.  In defense of a friend when their character is assailed:  Mainly, nothing counteracts slander at its roots like upbeat, positive reply.  Job 42:10 “The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends.”  John 13:34 “that ye love one another.”  Romans 12:20 “If thine enemy hunger, feed  him.”

II.            The Second Consideration from this Passage is a Valid Declaration of Religious Experience.  “Thou shalt bear false witness.”

                We are, in fact, to communicate the truth of relationship.  There are people in the local church and out, who deny Jesus is Lord.  Those out are the object of some  ministry of prayer or concern.  Those within are a contradiction of gospel declaration.  Mark 16:16 “He that believeth not shall be damned.”  These are the words of Jesus.  To what degree do we believe them?  Are we willing to live by them?

                Laws in natural world, fire, water, storm, are deadly.  Even the liberal media warn of dangers of drugs.

                Whether we take Jesus’ words (above) to be temporal or eternal, we are to live in the context of truth, reality.

                We, occasionally, need to reconsider our own spiritual experience.  In light of all the New Testament says about repentance, are we up-to-date?  Can we recall the time when, by actual expression of faith, Christ became Lord of my life?  “Ye must be born again.”  Let me rephrase an earlier statement. “There is no fit search after Jesus (truth), which does not, first of all, begin to live the Jesus (truth) it knows.”  Go, and live that experience, or be what you are, a false witness.

Conclusion

                Martin Luther had theological values we would not want.  He thought the earth stationary. (Eclipse.)  He thought demons caused thunderstorms.  National Geographic [has a] picture of black wall stain where he threw his ink pot at the devil.  But it was he, standing before Emperor Charles, surrounded by the royal court, knowing that he was bringing the combined wrath of empire and church down on his own head who declared his witness.  “. . . My conscience is captive to the word of God . . . .  Here I stand!  I can do no other!  God help me!”