God's Top Ten

IX - “Thou shall not bear false witness.”

    “Thou shalt not bear false witness”…but, it is also simply “Thou shalt not lie.” Why did God say, Thou shalt not lie? Because you know when you lie, you cannot lie to yourself. We lie to others…We lie about others…We lie about ourselves, but we can’t lie to ourselves… Because we know the truth!

    I want to begin by stating four famous quotes. I am sure that you have heard before, and I want you to think about what they all have in common:

"Read My Lips, No New Taxes.” – George H Bush

“I did not inhale.” - Bill Clinton.

"The American people have a right to know that their president is not a crook. And I am not a crook." - Richard Nixon

"I will be devoting the rest of my life to finding the real killer of my wife Nicole and Ronald Goldman." - O. J. Simpson

All four of them are some of the more famous violations of the ninth commandment.

   The Bible tells us, "There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers." (Proverbs 6:16 –19)

    It is interesting that when we read this, (a top seven list of the things God hates) that five of the things on that list have to do with lying.

    And our never changing God carried that thought over into the New Testament when He led Paul to write in Ephesians 4:20–25 the implications of living as children of light. Listen to how much of this passage is devoted to truth and to avoiding deceit:

    "You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were
taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body."

    God hates a false witness because He hates injustice. The wording of this commandment focuses particularly on a court of Law, but it isn’t restricted to the courts. The Bigger issue in this commandment is truthfulness.

    Dr. Scott Peck became well-known for his book, The Road Less Traveled. His second book was called, “People of the Lie,” and it detailed how, at the very core of evil, there is always lying. People lie to others in order to accomplish their plans. People lie to themselves in order to rationalize their behavior. It is no coincidence that Jesus calls Satan, “a liar and the father of all lies.” Yet, by contrast, Jesus said, “I AM THE TRUTH.”.. and the Holy Spirit is called the “Spirit of Truth.”

    Do you remember the old Lay’s Potato Chip commercial: “You can’t eat just one?” Lies are like that. Once you’ve told that first lie, it’s really hard to tell just that one. Because once you start lying, you pretty much have to keep it up by telling other lies.
    I read a story this week about a woman who introduced her 35-yr-old daughter as being only 24. The girl asked why she’d done it and the mother said, “Well, I realized that I’ve been lying about my age for so long, it suddenly dawned on me that I’d have to lie about your age, too!”  Sir Walter Scott got it right when he said, “O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.”

    James Emery White, in a book called “You Can Experience an Authentic Life” cites these statistics: 91% of all Americans confessed that they regularly lied. People no longer seem to care about lying. We accept it. It doesn’t bother us. We don’t seem to get upset anymore when someone exaggerates, falsifies, fabricates, or mis-represents the truth. We live in a day when we’ve been bombarded with erased tapes, tampered evidence, illicit cover-ups, padded resumes, and exaggerated ads, to the point that we’ve pretty much given up on truth. The study found that in the past, people thought lying was wrong. Now, almost half of all Americans say it isn’t.

    Superman claimed that he did his Superhero-thing for the sake of “Truth, Justice and the American Way.” The question is, are truth and justice still a part of the American Way?  And more to the point, are truth and justice hallmarks of how we as Christians interact with others?

    As Christians, we are to be truth-seekers and truth-speakers. When we falsely accuse someone of something, we have taken from them something that cannot be returned. Ask anyone who has ever been accused of dishonest business practices if they’ve ever lived down the false charge? Not to mention the false accusations of child abuse routinely leveled at parents in the midst of heated custody hearings.

    And it’s not just false testimony about someone’s character that robs them of their reputation. Anytime we gossip about someone, even if it what we say is true, we are violating at the very least the spirit of the 9th commandment, if not the letter. Gossip is simply the vice of confessing someone else’s sins. James 4:11 says, "Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against or judges his brother or sister, speaks against the law and judges it." One of the biggest problems we have is that we are usually quick to tell what we have heard, even if we don’t know the facts!

    Let’s all remember this, if they will talk to you about someone else, you just bet that they are talking to someone else about you! Remember, one of the things God hates is someone who stirs up dissension among brothers and sisters.

    Perjury and gossip are covered by the 9th commandment and so is good old fashioned lying. There are many different ways to tell a lie. Next week I will post the seventeen kinds of lies…

God's Top Ten

VIII - "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15).

Why do people steal? 

    According to God's Word and His law, there are only two right ways by which you can come into possession of anything. The first is by a free gift—or an inher-itance—from another person, or from God Himself. The second is by honest labor, which earns something as a legitimate return. The wrong way is theft—the taking from another that which belongs to him.

What do people steal?

    Things; Money; Time; Even false advertising is stealing. -  The consumer is led to expect that a certain "pill," for instance, will cause him to lose weight, gain weight, increase energy, restore his thinning hair, or whatever the case may be. And, in most cases, this statement is a direct, willful lie without any doubt. Such a practice is, in effect, stealing from the people who pay money to achieve the promised result. In many cases, the victims of these gigantic frauds are not only robbed of money, they are robbed of health, happiness and peace of mind.

What about cheating? What does cheating steal?  

How about tarnished wealth? - wealth that is tarnished by an unnecessarily high death rate in some plants or factories is ill-gotten gain. Or, how about insider trading, or money laundering?

    The principle behind the eighth commandment is broken again and again in the relations of capital and labor. James was inspired to warn the dishonest employer: "Indeed the wages of the laborers… which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries… have reached the ears of the Lord…" (James 5:4) It is also equally true that many an employee robs his employer! He does this by taking his wage and yet withholding his full share of honest labor. And that is stealing! Or just plain laziness.

    American laborers, spend an undue proportion of their working time on "tea breaks," "coffee breaks" or "cigarette breaks" and are causing many of our industries to be badly beaten in the worldwide trade war now going on. This lack of productivity is affecting the destiny of the American people! The eighth commandment of Almighty God has a message for both capital and labor. To capital: "A fair day's wage for a fair day's work." To labor: "A fair day's work for a fair day's wage." But just stealing from a fellow human being is not the only principle involved in the eighth commandment. God owns far more property than any man. “The silver is mine and the gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty.” (Haggai 2:8).

What about stealing from God?

    In Malachi 3, speaking to modern-day Jacob or Israel, God declares: "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings" (v. 8). "You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of hosts, and see if
I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it" (vv. 9–10).

    Here is a bold challenge from Almighty God! God says He will bless you if you begin tithing—as He commands—through faith in Him and in His Word. It has been said by many people “I can’t afford to tithe.” And, it has also been said that “You can’t afford not to tithe.”   If you won’t or don’t tithe with what you have now, you won’t tithe with more either!

    Andy Stanley has said that there is only one financial formula that works for everyone… “Give; Save; and Live.”  That is: Give 10% … Save 10%... and Live on the rest. (If any one of the three is missing, your finances are out of whack!)  Most people, he says, are “consumers”…they consume all that they have!  Their only financial plan is the “Live” part!  They assume that all they get is theirs to consume! To begin with, and this may be a goal for you, start with 2% or 5%...but start now! 

    Matthew 6:24 says – “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. (Take note of the words “serve” – “hate and love” - “devoted and despise”…What is Jesus talking about? “God and Money!”

    Let’s think about these words, comparing God and money: Think about it this way; I can “serve, love, and devote” myself – my time – my thoughts – to money and all that I can get and do with it; Or, I can “serve, love, devote” myself – my time – my thoughts to God, who provides all that I get and what I can do with it, but I can’t do both!

    In Verses 25-32 – Jesus talks about “worry” and the things we worry about; Then in verse 32 He says “your heavenly Father KNOWS that you need these things.” The problem is that we act as if God has no idea what we need. In fact, when we consume all that we have seeking after all these things, we are denying God even exists! We are denying God the opportunity to do anything in our lives.

    His Word tells us what we must do, and how we must live - “But, seek Ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you.” We must learn to trust God and take Him at His Word!

    The definite positive application of the eighth commandment is stated in the New Testament letter to the Ephesians. "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need" (Ephesians 4:28). One of the most positive blessings we can receive is the ability to help others and bless others with that which God has blessed us. We can only do that if we control our finances and not let our finances control us and have the proper attitude toward God and Money.

Because of the importance of the content, this one is rather lengthy, but please read to the end…

God's Top Ten - VII - Thou shall not commit adultery.

It’s the Difference That Makes the Difference

Matthew 5:27- “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Vs 31-32;  “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”

    Adultery, what a nasty word. It’s no wonder people don’t call it that, they refer to it as an affair, a fling, an extramarital relationship, anything but adultery. In Exodus 20:14 God gave the people of Israel the Ten Commandments and number seven said, "You shall not commit adultery."  The old testament laws were laid down for a nation to keep it from deteriorating into moral decay and rotting away from the inside.

The concepts that Christ goes on to deal with here were meant to hold the moral fabric of marriage and family together.

    The sin of adultery was considered so serious under Jewish law that the consequence was death. It’s laid down in the book of Leviticus 20:10 (NIV) "’If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death. And while this seems to put an end to the thought of possible reconciliation it certainly cut down on repeat offenders!

    But again, Christ says that the Christian is to go beyond the limits of the law. The law says no adultery, Jesus says no lust! Listen to his words in Matthew 5:28 (NIV) “But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman “lustfully” has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

    What is the sin of lust? Lust in Greek is an impulsive, passionate desire. That desire can be appropriate in marriage. And we can certainly also have a deep
passion toward God. “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” (Psalm 42:1-2)

    But lust as a sin is a longing for sexual satisfaction outside of marriage. It seeks to fulfill its desires without considering love. As Christians we are to be people who love one another. Society teaches that lust and love are similar. But lust bypasses love and moves directly to passion. It eliminates relationships and turns the other person into an object or thing. They become a body to conquer. Lust is temporary and never has any lasting satisfaction.

    Now, Matthew 5:29-30 says “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” Now let’s not confuse this teaching with Islamic law that actu-
ally uses this type of action as a punishment for sin. Jesus isn’t saying this is punishment instead he is saying it is prevention. How would you put this into words today? Don’t look! Turn away! Don’t linger! And it bears repeating this doesn’t just apply to the men, dirty dogs that they are, but also to the ladies. Listen, God recognizes our sexual needs and desires, after all he created them. But, again, we are talking about lust and not love.

    Now, according to God’s Word, there are two ways to control our thought process, the first is to say - "I will not think about that." So, everyone close your eyes. Come on humor me, close your eyes. Now, whatever you do, do not think about pink elephants, don’t think about big pink elephants at all. Ok, just tell yourself that you’re not going to even picture a pink elephant in your mind…. Get the picture? That never works!

    The second way of course is to fill your mind with good thoughts. How many people have read the book or watched the movie Peter Pan? Can you remember how to fly? Peter Pan told John that "You just think lovely wonderful thoughts and they lift you high in the air."  Need a more spiritual quote, then how about this Philippians 4:8 (NIV) “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.” You fill your minds with things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praise worthy and I can almost guarantee you won’t have problems with lust.

    Now, as if Christ hasn’t stirred up enough of a hornet’s nest, listen to his next statement in Matthew 5:31 (NIV) "It has been said, ’Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’… What Christ is quoting here is the only Old Testament regulation concerning divorce. This ties in with the last statement that Christ made in that it also deals with the family. The Jewish law recognized that the
marriage was both sacred and binding. The Rabbis said, "The very altar sheds tears when a man divorces the wife of his youth" and the Prophet Malachi
wrote in Malachi 2:16 (NIV) "I hate divorce," says the LORD God of Israel. Now that’s fine in theory but it didn’t work well in practice. One of the major problems of the time was that women weren’t viewed as people nearly as much as they were as things. So, when a man didn’t want his wife anymore he simply showed her the door. Well you can well imagine the effect that this would have on society and so the law brought about a proper procedure to deal with the situation and again it was a law for unredeemed people; You just give her a certificate of divorce!

    Do you remember Deuteronomy 24:1 (NIV) “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her”?… The big debate with the Jews was what was meant by the term "Indecent" the most conservative teachers said that it meant adultery, or he discovered that she wasn’t a virgin when they married. Others said that it meant that she made her husband unhap-
py in some ways. It could be that she couldn’t have children, that she was disobedient, that she was a nag, or burnt the dinner or, that he had found someone that he preferred over her.

    It was this second more liberal view that was held by the majority of the Jews at the time, at least the majority of the men. And so if the wife displeased her husband then he gave her a writ of divorce that said Let this be from me your writ of divorce and letter of dismissal and deed of liberation, (you can get them at any Wal-Mart.) so that you may marry whatever man you wish. This actually was the law for society, and it remains so today. If you cannot live with your spouse and whether you are a Christian or not, you don’t simply desert them, you go through the necessary actions and paper work and make it official. That is there to protect the institution of marriage, to provide a waiting period so to speak, to make it a little more difficult then simply walking away.

    As Christians we need to keep the law, but we are also required to go beyond it, to fulfill it.  So, Christ states in Matthew 5:32 (NIV) “But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.” And with those words Jesus opened up the biggest cans of worms in church history.

(I would mention that all of this is addressed to men because under Jewish law women had absolutely no right to divorce, however today this stands for both men and women.)

    What this says is that the only acceptable reason for two Christians to divorce, and remember this is for two believers, is for “marital unfaithfulness”, and this then, permits remarriage. Now I know that not everybody agrees… but, bear with me, these are the words of Jesus not mine.

    I realize that Matthew is the only place in the New Testament which includes the adultery option. Some maintain that is because it wasn’t a part of the original text, but that becomes the cop out you use any time you disagree with Bible. Others maintain that Christ was talking about the year of betrothal that the Jews observed. Others and I guess I’m in this camp, believe that the reason neither Mark or Luke mention it is because in Jewish society divorce wasn’t an option in the case of adultery, it was required. (Remember the story of Mary and Joseph?) During the “betrothal year, it was mandatory. When adultery happened the marriage vows were considered to be nullified and that was that. The other thing we need to remember is that adultery was a capital offense under Jewish law, you didn’t become a divorcee if your spouse cheated, you became a widower! There was less paper work that way.

     In Matthew 5 and 19, Christ tells us that divorce and remarriage are permissible on the grounds of immorality, a broad word that includes the concepts of adultery, the practice of homosexuality, or other perverted relationships, and abuse. That does not mean one MUST divorce a spouse guilty of such offenses, but rather that one MAY do so…

O.K. Here is a brief summary of my perspective on divorce and remarriage… (They are worthy of discussion.)

(1) Divorce and remarriage can be proper if there is a breach of faithfulness through immoral practice, such as adultery. Even in these situations, divorce is not always the answer - but may be appropriate in some cases.

(2) Divorce and remarriage can also be proper if one is deserted. In almost every case it is for someone else…which is adultery.

(3) If a spouse finds living with his/her spouse is intolerable (due to things like abuse, illegal activity, etc. divorce may be appropriate. (Why, because he/she has broken the marriage covenant!)

(4) I also believe that divorce that happens before a person accepts Christ is covered by His forgiveness. Neither Divorce nor adultery are the unforgivable sin! See John 8:1-11 -

“At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Again, he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.  Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

(5) Lack of happiness or incompatibility are not grounds for divorce. Marriage is a covenant of commitment “until death”; There is no “shoulda, coulda, woulda,” in marriage…or dreaming of greener pastures. I happen to be one who believes you better know what you are getting into before you get into it!

(6) Are sinful thoughts as bad as sinful actions? No!....but, the earlier you check a sin, the better. We cannot help the thoughts that come into our minds; we can choose which ones to savor and entertain in our minds.

    The bottom line is this; The Bible says that when a man and woman marry they become one flesh…there is only two ways they can be separated…one is death, the other is divorce… And, both leave scars!  The scars of death heal well over time, and we come to realize that it is a part of life… However, the divorce requires radical surgery that leaves deep wounds and scars, some of which never heal. In fact, quite often, though people survive the operation, the scars never heal. This applies to the parents as well as the children of divorce. That’s why Jesus opened the can of worms and tells the Christians to go beyond the law…It’s the difference that makes the difference.