Truth is better than lies

0:00Thanks for tuning in to Mana, a short daily meditation to feed hungry souls with God's Word. These episodes were prepared by our day ministers for a radio broadcast called Voice of the Church, and are now republished by the Reform Perspective Foundation, a Canadian charity that applies biblical truth to the issues of our time, here's today serving. Dear listeners, it was Winston Churchill, that statesman and scholar who once said, men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. It is a true and sad fact of life. Lying is deeply entrenched, both in public as well as in private life. There are many who don't only lie on occasion, but whose life is a lie, and they and society are sure to be not better for it. Because lying is so common and truth is so rare, we should not be surprised that Paul,

1:06the apostle of truth, told the followers of Christ, don't only rid yourselves of such things as rage, malice, slander, and filthy language, but do not lie to each other. We read these words in Paul's letter to the Colossians in chapter 3. Do not lie but tell the truth. It is an old command of the Lord. It is the ninth word of God's covenant law, and it is binding on people today. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. For God is not pleased with the lies that are heard in every corner of the world. Lies can be heard even in the courts, where witnesses place their hands on the Bible, wearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help them God. Yet sometimes the same people are found committing perjury, lying through their teeth.

2:11An American social psychologist estimates that the average person tells about two hundred lies a day. Now that may be hard to believe, but you know it could just be true, especially if you are taken to account that people think they are not lying when they tell a little gossip, when they spread a little unsavory story, when they tell a half truth, which in reality is a whole lie. A father tells his child who answers the phone, tell him I am not home. A perfectly healthy worker calls his workplace, I can't come in today, I am just too sick. And another, who stops to see his girlfriend on the way home, says, I am sorry I am late honey, I was tied up at the office, and a list goes on and on. Some lies are plainly malicious, others prefer to call them harmless.

3:14Fishermen and golfers for example don't lie, they just stretch the truth. Players again are not a shave to tell big, bold lies. They take their cue from Adolf Hitler, who said, the magnitude of a lie always contains a certain factor of credibility, since the great masses of the people more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a little one. But now here was Paul, no rigid, legalist, but an apostle of Christ saying, since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, not on earthly things. That's Colossians 3, verse 1, and he went on to say, put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed,

4:17which is idolatry, because of these the wrath of God is coming, rid yourselves of all such things, and then he said, do not lie to each other. And he lying brings the vengeance of God down upon the lives of men. It does harm, it injures people. It always misrepresents your neighbor, and it misrepresents life, and the one who created it. It's like a terrible poison, it disrupts families, it sets people over against each other, and causes suspicion, it fuels hatred. It's telling that Paul addressed his words to a church, a household of God, a household of faith in Colossian. For life in a church is not always beautiful and true either.

5:19Their true life needs correction. That's why the churches that sponsor this broadcast hear the love God read every Sunday morning, and that's why they have that law proclaimed to them. It is because our hearts of themselves are desperately corrupt, as a prophet of old said. It is because even Christians need to die to sin day by day and live unto Christ. It is because it's possible to sing praises to God, and at the same time live a life in the shadows and darkness of lies. How prone we are to rationalize and to excuse our untruths. There's that person ahead of us on the social ladder, and we're determined to surpass him, even if we have to lie our way to get ahead of him. There's that test for which you didn't prepare all that much, so you bring your cheating,

6:25your lying paper in, and you rely on it. We have our pride, and so we brag, and we have to back it up with facts that really don't exist, so we exaggerate to build up our egos and to compensate for our weaknesses. And yet, for all man's ingenious, devious ways of covering up the truth, lying takes the heart out of life. Being with a lie can make life unbearable. King David knew it, and he confessed it after he'd lived a lie for a whole year. My tongue, he said, stuck to the roof of my mouth. But there is one who can change all that. There is a redeemer, a savior who died so that people might be rescued, rescued from a web of lies, a life of woe, a road that leads to hell and destruction.

7:30While lying is of the devil, whom the Bible says that he is the Father of lies, truth is of God, and of Christ, and of His Holy Spirit. And that Holy Spirit is able to change your nature so that you will do what that wise man said long ago. Why the truth and do not sell it? The Holy Spirit had come to the collotions when God's Word had preached to them. Through that preaching, Jesus Christ had been proclaimed, and many people had believed that Word, and so the embraced Jesus Christ. And that means, says Paul, that you died with Him, and that you were raised with Him. You believed that Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price, tasting death and hell on Calvary Scots. And that must mean that you died to that old, that sneaky, devious nature of yours.

8:34And you were raised with Christ to a new life, a life in which you are now dressed in truth. The devil doesn't dominate your life any longer. You're not directed by that devil, or the world of sin, or your own sinful human nature. You're directed from above, by Jesus Christ, your Lord and Savior. Did that mean they no longer had a fight on their hands? Fight against sin, and against lies, and greed, and corruption, and a host of other tales? No, it didn't mean that. Didn't mean that they had now reached perfection. It did mean, however, that their perfect Savior had reached them, so that as often as they were tempted to cheat and lie and to slander, they were to look up while bending down, to ask for forgiveness at the throne of God.

9:38Eveners look up to Christ for life. It is not an escape from life, but it is to find life. In Jesus Christ you can be truthful and not be ashamed. In Him that is by faith in Him. You can admit you've made mistakes, even very serious ones, and you can spend a lifetime buying truth as we read in Proverbs 23. The amazing thing is you don't have to pay for it. In fact, you can't. Not even if you had a pipeline of money at your command, for it has been paid for in full. Jesus Christ paid for it with His blood. Have you heard of Him? That's a blessed thing, but now you must believe in Him. And then you must cling to Him and set your heart on Him and His Word.

10:39That's what it means to buy the truth. In Colossians chapter 2, Paul had said, so then just as you received Christ Jesus, as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught. That's by faith. That's making Christ your aim. Oh yes, it means that you and I need to be humble. If Christ has made you His own, you can't be your own boss anymore. You can't do your own thing anymore, that thing of lies and of deceit. You can't serve God and live a lie at the same time. But you'll have a wonderful, powerful God on whom to depend. You'll have a whole new ward robe to put on. A ward robe says Paul of compassion, of kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, love,

11:47and truth. What the world needs is truth. What your family, your children need is truth. What society needs people who can be trusted. God wants to use people who are honest and whose word is rooted in truth. Christ wants parents who are in cheats and liars. He wants a happy family, a solid friendship, a stable government, a healthy church, a healthy church requires honest people. My way safety depends on mechanics who can be trusted. Business needs leaders who are not out to hoodwink the public. Don't lie to one another, said Paul, to God's people. But they in turn might tell the world, don't lie, because Christ is all in all.

12:48Witness them to Christ in truth and show the world where to find life. Truth, life, in a true living Savior who is the way, the truth, and the life. Thank you for listening and have a good day. For more information on this broadcast, visit our website at www.voiceofthechurch.org. The voice of the church was presented by the Canadian Reformed Churches in Elora, Fergus, Grand Valley, Guelph, and Orangeville. For a printed copy of today's message or for more information, please write us at the voice of the church, box 85449 Burlington, Ontario, postal code L7R4K5.