WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:18.820 In his book titled Post Truth, Evan Davis, the journalist BBC correspondent, he calls the current state of political discourse here in the United States peak BS. 00:00:18.820 --> 00:00:27.420 ! He says that boundaries of true and false, sense and nonsense, opinion and reality have been erased. 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:37.420 He speaks about our cultural moment as being unique in that regard. And lots of people agree the book has been quite popular. 00:00:37.420 --> 00:00:48.420 I don't know whether it's really that much worse in terms of the content, as long as there have been politicians they have manipulated and lied and deceived. 00:00:48.420 --> 00:00:56.420 And you could say that the art of politics in many ways is the ability to do that in a persuasive way to get people to do things. 00:00:56.420 --> 00:01:05.420 However, it is true, I think it's unmistakably true to say that there has been a shift in the way that those lies have been expressed. 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:12.420 We do live at a time when the nature of the way things are communicated has changed radically. 00:01:12.420 --> 00:01:15.420 An article I read last month said this, 00:01:15.420 --> 00:01:24.420 Straight lies have given way to sinuous spin and open dishonesty disappears behind news speak and double think. 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:36.420 Open, straight up lies have given way to sinuous spin and open dishonesty disappears behind news speak and double think. 00:01:36.420 --> 00:01:43.420 Lying has been at the heart of human interaction all the way back to the Garden of Eden. 00:01:43.420 --> 00:01:55.420 And the messing around with the truth that we see worked out in our culture today has actually been pushed around philosophy departments in universities for decades. 00:01:55.420 --> 00:02:10.420 It's just that we're struggling to adapt to a world where lies aren't immediately obvious and where social media can take that communication and spread it faster and further than ever before. 00:02:10.419 --> 00:02:17.419 A lie can circle the globe before a truth gets out of bed in the morning. 00:02:17.419 --> 00:02:26.419 Well, it's in this world, in this culture, that the question of truth Jesus turns our thoughts to this evening. 00:02:26.419 --> 00:02:29.419 And we might not be in the murky world of politics or journalism. 00:02:29.419 --> 00:02:30.419 We might. 00:02:30.419 --> 00:02:35.419 And if you are, that's great because we need people of integrity in those places. 00:02:35.419 --> 00:02:52.419 But we do have a huge number, perhaps an unprecedented number of outlets for words, for messages, for statements, for communication of all different kinds, whether it's spoken or written. 00:02:52.419 --> 00:02:58.419 We have more opportunities than we've ever had, therefore, to play with the truth. 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:03.419 So, what Jesus has to say in this passage in Matthew 5 really matters. 00:03:03.419 --> 00:03:17.419 Now, by way of recap, we've kind of been ambling through the Sermon on the Mount for a while now, exploring the character of the good life, the life of human flourishing that marks those who belong to the kingdom of heaven. 00:03:17.419 --> 00:03:25.419 Those who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ have been transformed and operate under a new ethic in the world. 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:29.419 And it is the way of flourishing, Jesus says. 00:03:29.419 --> 00:03:33.419 And we've seen that Jesus has come as God's promised King. 00:03:33.419 --> 00:03:37.419 He has fulfilled the shadows and the types of the Old Testament. 00:03:37.419 --> 00:03:49.419 And in this sermon, he lays out what it looks like for people who have come to him in faith, who have been united to him, to live as citizens of the kingdom that he's brought. 00:03:49.419 --> 00:03:59.419 And we saw that when he took up the question of the law of God, which was so central to what it meant to be a faithful Israelite, what it meant to belong to God's people under the Old Covenant, 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:07.419 when he takes up that question and applies it to its significance in the life of the kingdom, he says he hasn't come to abolish it. 00:04:07.419 --> 00:04:11.419 He has not come to abolish the law, but he has come to fulfill it. 00:04:11.419 --> 00:04:20.419 And the examples that we get in the sermon from chapter 5, verses 21 to 48, he shows what this means. 00:04:20.419 --> 00:04:29.419 What we've got here is another aspect of what it means for the law of God to be fulfilled in Jesus and to be worked out in the lives of his people. 00:04:29.420 --> 00:04:31.420 One scholar says this, 00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:40.420 Jesus takes up a command from the Jewish tradition and without overturning it, shows the true intent and practical reality of the commandment, 00:04:40.420 --> 00:04:45.420 all the while driving home the point with urgency in light of his own coming. 00:04:45.420 --> 00:04:52.420 Jesus has made it clear, said it each time really that we've been in the passage here, 00:04:52.420 --> 00:04:56.420 that there is to be no gap between the outer and the inner self. 00:04:56.420 --> 00:05:03.420 The person that we meet with, the person that you meet when you meet me, and the person that presents to you, 00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:07.420 is to be the same person externally as internally. 00:05:07.420 --> 00:05:10.420 Heart and life are to measure up. 00:05:10.420 --> 00:05:12.420 There must be consistency there. 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:20.420 The follower of Christ is not to be a divided person, saying one thing, doing another, expressing themselves in one way, 00:05:20.420 --> 00:05:22.420 but having a heart that's going in another direction. 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:32.420 The Sermon on the Mount is a call to a wholehearted, whole person, whole life devotion to Jesus. 00:05:32.420 --> 00:05:36.420 And can I say, if you're visiting, if you're not a Christian and you're looking into the Christian faith, 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:40.420 this is what you should expect to see in the life of Christians. 00:05:40.420 --> 00:05:44.420 Somebody who is committed to Jesus and there is a consistency. 00:05:44.420 --> 00:05:50.420 Their whole life is ordered around this man, this person who stands at the center of history, 00:05:50.420 --> 00:05:55.420 who has redeemed a people from their sin, not because of their goodness or their moral striving, 00:05:55.420 --> 00:05:57.420 but because of his grace. 00:05:57.420 --> 00:06:00.420 His finished work on the cross on Good Friday. 00:06:00.420 --> 00:06:02.420 His resurrection on Easter Sunday morning. 00:06:02.420 --> 00:06:05.420 Those events transform people. 00:06:05.420 --> 00:06:11.420 If you were to put your faith in Jesus Christ because of those things, you will be transformed. 00:06:11.420 --> 00:06:15.420 Wholehearted, whole person, whole life devotion. 00:06:15.420 --> 00:06:17.420 That is what it means to be a Christian. 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:22.420 We're not one person on a Sunday and a different person the rest of the week. 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:28.420 And a big part of how that will be worked out, according to Jesus in this section in the sermon, 00:06:28.420 --> 00:06:33.420 is our relationship to truth. 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:37.420 Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, that's what he's called us to do. 00:06:37.420 --> 00:06:46.420 Those whose righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, their lives will be marked by honesty. 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:48.420 And that's the one point. 00:06:48.420 --> 00:06:50.420 This is a one point sermon this evening. 00:06:50.420 --> 00:06:51.420 Here it is. 00:06:51.420 --> 00:06:55.420 Kingdom people are honest people. 00:06:55.420 --> 00:07:02.420 Again, you have heard it said, verse 33, that it was said to those of old, 00:07:02.420 --> 00:07:07.420 you shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn. 00:07:07.420 --> 00:07:12.420 But I say to you, do not take an oath at all. 00:07:12.420 --> 00:07:13.420 What's going on here? 00:07:13.420 --> 00:07:20.420 Well, so, Jesus here in this point doesn't directly quote the Old Testament law, but he brings together several texts. 00:07:20.420 --> 00:07:28.420 Leviticus 19, verse 12, and Deuteronomy 23, verses 21 to 23. 00:07:28.420 --> 00:07:29.420 Now, what is going on there? 00:07:29.420 --> 00:07:32.420 Those are both texts that concern the law of God. 00:07:32.420 --> 00:07:39.420 What is going on there is they're legislating for the making of oaths and vows. 00:07:39.420 --> 00:07:45.420 Because they're interpreting the third commandment, do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:51.420 They are interpreting that commandment with regards to making promises and making vows. 00:07:51.420 --> 00:07:57.420 And the law was designed not just to uphold and protect the dignity and the holiness of God's name. 00:07:57.420 --> 00:08:01.420 Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 00:08:01.420 --> 00:08:05.420 That law is not simply to protect the dignity and holiness of God's name. 00:08:05.420 --> 00:08:08.420 Although, think of how the Bible speaks about the name of God. 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:13.420 God's name is said to communicate His character. 00:08:13.420 --> 00:08:16.420 It is tied to His being. 00:08:16.420 --> 00:08:24.420 The name, Lord, when you see it in the Bible in capital letters, is the word Yahweh, the God of the covenant. 00:08:24.420 --> 00:08:32.420 That name revealed that God was the eternally self-existent one, unlike any other. 00:08:32.420 --> 00:08:34.420 God is not like us. 00:08:34.420 --> 00:08:39.420 That is why, when we pray the Lord's Prayer, His name is to be hallowed. 00:08:39.419 --> 00:08:47.419 To pray, hallowed be your name, is to pray that the name of God would be revered, would be lifted up, 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:52.419 because it is the expression of the being and the character of God. 00:08:52.419 --> 00:09:04.419 When we take God's name on our lips, we are speaking of and in prayer with supreme and glorious majesty. 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:09.419 So, we do it with reverence. 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:19.419 The Christian will never take the name of God as an expletive or as an exasperation. 00:09:19.419 --> 00:09:23.419 It's everywhere in our culture. 00:09:23.419 --> 00:09:29.419 The culture goes more and more away from God, more and more atheistic in many, many ways, and yet, 00:09:29.419 --> 00:09:35.419 the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the name of God is taken as a swear word and an expletive more than ever. 00:09:35.419 --> 00:09:43.419 It is the one thing, when I'm around friends who aren't Christians, it is the one thing that just grates more than anything. 00:09:43.419 --> 00:09:46.419 They can say all kinds of things, and that's what happens. 00:09:46.419 --> 00:09:49.419 You can't expect non-Christians to behave like Christians. 00:09:49.419 --> 00:09:54.419 While their language can be as filthy as you like, the one thing that really gets my back up is this. 00:09:54.419 --> 00:09:58.419 And I'll say, don't do that. 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:05.419 We should never want to cheapen God's majesty in this way. 00:10:05.419 --> 00:10:15.419 But as much as the law sought to protect the dignity of the divine name, it was also intended to ensure that it isn't used in vain. 00:10:15.419 --> 00:10:23.419 That is, making a promise, invoking the name of God in an empty or meaningless way. 00:10:23.419 --> 00:10:31.419 Using God's name, as it were, to gain people's trust in what you're promising to do, even when you know you're not going to do it or back it up. 00:10:31.419 --> 00:10:37.419 So, this law was supposed to restrain lying. 00:10:37.419 --> 00:10:46.419 Now, with this in mind, the Pharisees had developed an elaborate system of oaths whereby they would not invoke the Lord's name, but they would swear by other things. 00:10:46.419 --> 00:10:49.419 That's why we had that reading from Matthew 23. 00:10:49.419 --> 00:10:56.419 What they've done there is that if they swore by the temple, they weren't bound by the oath. 00:10:56.419 --> 00:11:00.419 But if they swore by the gold in the temple, they were bound. 00:11:00.419 --> 00:11:03.419 If you swear by the altar, you're not bound by that oath. 00:11:03.419 --> 00:11:07.419 But if you swear by the gift on the altar, you are bound. 00:11:07.419 --> 00:11:10.419 It's easy to see how ludicrous it had got. 00:11:10.419 --> 00:11:22.419 A law that was designed to prevent sinful people from lying had been manipulated into a system that actually enabled people to lie. 00:11:22.419 --> 00:11:25.419 We see something similar today. 00:11:25.419 --> 00:11:27.419 From children in the playground. 00:11:27.419 --> 00:11:31.419 Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. 00:11:31.419 --> 00:11:35.419 To something you hear people say, I swear on my mother's life. 00:11:35.419 --> 00:11:37.419 Dot, dot, dot, whatever. 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:40.419 No, honestly, I swear on my mother's life. 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:44.419 Now, when the child doesn't follow through on their promise, and you turn up with a needle and say, 00:11:44.419 --> 00:11:48.419 Could you come over here? Sorry, you promised that I could. 00:11:48.419 --> 00:11:50.419 They'll say, Oh, I had my fingers crossed. 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:52.419 It doesn't count. 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:55.419 Or when you arrive at your friend's parents' house with your kitchen knife, 00:11:55.419 --> 00:11:59.419 ready to carry out your friend's personally imposed sanctions. 00:11:59.419 --> 00:12:01.419 They've broken their word. 00:12:01.419 --> 00:12:04.419 You say, Well, sorry, I've got to take your mum's life. 00:12:04.419 --> 00:12:06.419 I didn't mean it. 00:12:06.419 --> 00:12:08.419 Promises. 00:12:08.419 --> 00:12:09.419 Oaths. 00:12:09.419 --> 00:12:13.419 They have lost their currency in this day. 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:15.419 Businesses and employers know this. 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:19.419 That's why lawyers earn so much money drafting documents that cover for this. 00:12:19.419 --> 00:12:21.419 People don't keep their word. 00:12:21.419 --> 00:12:23.419 It used to be that your word was enough. 00:12:23.419 --> 00:12:29.419 I never thought I'd get so old that I'd sound like my dad. 00:12:29.419 --> 00:12:34.419 It used to be that a handshake was sufficient. 00:12:34.419 --> 00:12:35.419 Not anymore. 00:12:35.419 --> 00:12:39.419 A person's word is rarely trustworthy, apparently. 00:12:39.419 --> 00:12:42.419 So, Jesus says there's a way around this. 00:12:42.419 --> 00:12:44.419 Verse 34. 00:12:44.419 --> 00:12:46.419 Do not take an oath at all. 00:12:46.419 --> 00:12:53.419 Just because the law allowed it doesn't mean it required it. 00:12:53.419 --> 00:12:55.419 He says, So, just don't bother. 00:12:55.419 --> 00:12:58.419 Kingdom people are honest people. 00:12:58.419 --> 00:13:03.419 Now, some elements of the Christian tradition have taken this as a blanket ban on any kind of oath. 00:13:03.419 --> 00:13:06.419 So, they don't sign mortgages. 00:13:06.419 --> 00:13:07.419 They don't join the forces. 00:13:07.419 --> 00:13:09.419 They don't swear in a court of law. 00:13:09.419 --> 00:13:14.419 That's a matter for your conscience, but that's not what Jesus has in mind here. 00:13:14.419 --> 00:13:17.419 He is simply ruling out misleading oaths. 00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:21.419 He's weeding out dishonesty. 00:13:21.419 --> 00:13:24.419 And he cuts to the heart of Wyatt's folly to swear by anything. 00:13:24.419 --> 00:13:26.419 Look at verse 34 again. 00:13:26.419 --> 00:13:37.419 Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it's the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. 00:13:37.419 --> 00:13:44.419 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 00:13:44.419 --> 00:13:52.419 Because of who God is, whatever you swear by, you can't avoid him. 00:13:52.419 --> 00:13:54.419 Heaven is God's throne. 00:13:54.419 --> 00:13:56.419 The earth is his footstool. 00:13:56.419 --> 00:14:02.419 Jerusalem is his city, and he numbers the hairs of our heads and even decides what color those hairs will be. 00:14:02.419 --> 00:14:05.419 God is the God of the whole earth. 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:07.419 So, no promise can ever be made. 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:12.419 No word can ever be spoken without it being made in his presence. 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:20.419 Don't think you can miss him, or you can work some clever thing up with a bit of a linguistic workaround, 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:22.419 well, I can swear by this, but not this. 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:25.419 God knows, and he sees, and he hears all things. 00:14:25.419 --> 00:14:27.419 That's what Jesus is saying. 00:14:27.419 --> 00:14:29.419 Don't make oaths at all. 00:14:29.419 --> 00:14:37.419 Remember who you're dealing with, Jesus says, when you invoke the name of God, and he is the God of truth. 00:14:37.419 --> 00:14:47.419 Interestingly, in contrast, verse 37, can you see, to literally look at the footnote, footnote number seven, literally it is the evil one. 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:49.419 Do you see that? 00:14:49.419 --> 00:14:53.419 Let what you say simply be yes or no, no oaths. 00:14:53.419 --> 00:14:59.419 Anything more than this comes from the evil one, who is the father of lies. 00:14:59.419 --> 00:15:04.419 It's like Jesus has this as a, by the way. 00:15:04.419 --> 00:15:10.419 When you're dishonest, by the way, you're speaking the language of the devil. 00:15:10.419 --> 00:15:11.419 He says, no. 00:15:11.419 --> 00:15:16.419 Rather, the citizen of the kingdom will seek to be like God, the God of all truth. 00:15:16.419 --> 00:15:20.419 So, 37, just simply yes or no. 00:15:20.419 --> 00:15:21.419 Yes or no. 00:15:21.419 --> 00:15:24.419 Let your yes be yes, let your no be no. 00:15:24.419 --> 00:15:27.419 The instruction is simple. 00:15:27.419 --> 00:15:32.419 Say what you mean, and mean what you say. 00:15:32.419 --> 00:15:43.419 Now, I know some of you will instinctively jump to the hard cases, and you think to yourself, well, what about if you live in a country where Christianity is illegal, 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:50.419 and the police come and they call at your door when you're meeting and they ask, are you housing Christians in here? 00:15:50.419 --> 00:15:53.419 They might say, call it the Rahab ethic, if you will. 00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:55.419 Well, you know, well, what about that? 00:15:55.419 --> 00:16:00.419 You want to ask the questions of hard ethical casuistry. 00:16:00.419 --> 00:16:02.419 There is a place for those conversations. 00:16:02.419 --> 00:16:03.419 Of course there is. 00:16:03.419 --> 00:16:05.419 But that's not Jesus' concern here. 00:16:05.419 --> 00:16:09.419 He's saying simply, kingdom people are honest people. 00:16:09.419 --> 00:16:15.419 In the way that we deal with one another, in the way that we deal with those around us, we are honest people. 00:16:15.419 --> 00:16:22.419 There is to be a reliability, a consistency, an integrity about your speech. 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:27.419 Christians should be known for their truthfulness. 00:16:27.419 --> 00:16:37.419 Now, what this means is that lots of things that are common in our culture are out of bounds for the Christian. 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:40.419 There will be others, but here are seven. 00:16:40.419 --> 00:16:43.419 Let me go through these quickly. 00:16:43.419 --> 00:16:44.419 Oaths. 00:16:44.419 --> 00:16:45.419 Number one, oaths. 00:16:45.419 --> 00:16:49.419 Christians should never say, I swear, about regular things. 00:16:49.419 --> 00:16:52.419 I swear, dot, dot, dot. 00:16:52.419 --> 00:16:56.419 You don't use oaths like that, and it shouldn't be necessary. 00:16:56.419 --> 00:17:02.419 When somebody says something to you and they say, I will do this, or I did this, or whatever, 00:17:02.419 --> 00:17:07.420 and you're tempted not to believe them, they will invoke this oath. 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:14.420 But you only think that because you think that there's something that's incredible about what they're saying. 00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:19.420 You should be someone who keeps their word and be known for doing so. 00:17:19.420 --> 00:17:23.420 No one needs to pronounce an oath if they are the kind of person who does that. 00:17:23.420 --> 00:17:30.420 In fact, when I hear someone say, I swear, usually means that I'm going to be suspicious. 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:36.420 Added to this is that we are to stand by the oaths and the vows that we have made, like our marriage vows. 00:17:36.420 --> 00:17:42.420 When you give your word, honesty and integrity demand that you don't go back on it. 00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:45.420 Oaths. 00:17:45.420 --> 00:17:47.420 Number two, barefaced lies. 00:17:47.420 --> 00:17:51.420 Now, you'll say, of course I'm not going to say that. 00:17:51.420 --> 00:17:54.420 Of course I'm not going to tell barefaced lies. 00:17:54.420 --> 00:18:00.420 And if I asked you now whether or not you're an honest person, I hope at least most of us would say, yes, I am an honest person. 00:18:00.420 --> 00:18:09.420 But most of us, if we're honest, say things to people that we straight up know are lies. 00:18:09.420 --> 00:18:12.420 I came across two different academic studies on this issue. 00:18:12.420 --> 00:18:15.420 One from 2002 at the University of Massachusetts. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:19.420 And it found that 60% of people lied in a 10-minute conversation. 00:18:19.420 --> 00:18:23.420 Six out of ten people in a 10-minute conversation are telling lies. 00:18:23.420 --> 00:18:29.420 Another study found out that untruths made up 20% of all 10-minute conversations. 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:33.420 You say, ah, that's nonsense. 00:18:33.420 --> 00:18:34.420 That can't be right. 00:18:34.420 --> 00:18:36.420 But think about it. 00:18:36.420 --> 00:18:39.420 I didn't get your email. 00:18:39.420 --> 00:18:43.420 Tell them I'm on my way. 00:18:43.420 --> 00:18:46.420 Sorry, I can't make it. 00:18:46.420 --> 00:18:48.420 I've got a headache. 00:18:48.420 --> 00:18:51.420 Oh, I didn't see your missed call. 00:18:51.420 --> 00:18:54.420 We do it all the time. 00:18:54.420 --> 00:18:57.420 Straight up lies. 00:18:57.420 --> 00:18:58.420 Straight up lies. 00:18:58.420 --> 00:19:00.420 Number three, evasion. 00:19:00.420 --> 00:19:01.420 Evasion. 00:19:01.420 --> 00:19:04.420 When you're asked a question and you're deliberately unclear in the way you answer. 00:19:04.420 --> 00:19:06.420 Have you read the report I sent? 00:19:06.420 --> 00:19:08.420 I saw it this morning. 00:19:08.420 --> 00:19:11.420 Didn't answer the question. 00:19:11.420 --> 00:19:14.420 Would you like to come over for dinner? 00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:15.420 I'll check the diary. 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:16.420 Let me get back. 00:19:16.420 --> 00:19:18.420 You know there's nothing in your diary. 00:19:18.420 --> 00:19:20.420 You just don't want to go. 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:24.420 I have a friend who I've never heard tell a lie. 00:19:24.420 --> 00:19:28.420 And part of why that is that he doesn't care about social etiquette. 00:19:28.420 --> 00:19:31.420 Do you want to come to X? 00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:32.420 No. 00:19:32.420 --> 00:19:35.420 Is that it? 00:19:35.420 --> 00:19:38.420 He doesn't care that that would be a bit blunt. 00:19:38.420 --> 00:19:40.420 It's just the truth. 00:19:40.420 --> 00:19:46.420 I've even heard on one occasion, he was so honest, he said, somebody had asked him would 00:19:46.420 --> 00:19:50.420 he be interested in coming to something a couple of months out and he said, maybe, but 00:19:50.420 --> 00:19:53.420 if I get a better offer I'll do that instead. 00:19:53.420 --> 00:19:55.420 Absolutely no filter. 00:19:55.420 --> 00:19:57.420 Just said what was in his head. 00:19:57.420 --> 00:20:00.420 His word was good. 00:20:00.420 --> 00:20:05.420 His etiquette, maybe not so much, but his word was good. 00:20:05.420 --> 00:20:08.420 We evade things all the time. 00:20:08.420 --> 00:20:11.420 Next one, passive aggression. 00:20:11.420 --> 00:20:16.420 When people don't like another person's behavior, rather than address the issue with clarity 00:20:16.420 --> 00:20:21.420 and with openness and with truth, they present like everything's fine whilst trying to undermine 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:25.420 the person in a more manipulative way. 00:20:25.420 --> 00:20:28.420 Masking a criticism as a joke. 00:20:28.420 --> 00:20:32.420 Snide, critical comments delivered with a smile. 00:20:32.420 --> 00:20:35.420 Finding ways to make your point without making your point. 00:20:35.420 --> 00:20:39.420 It's just a really dishonest way to communicate. 00:20:39.420 --> 00:20:44.420 Kingdom people are honest people. 00:20:44.420 --> 00:20:47.420 Next, gossip. 00:20:47.420 --> 00:20:55.420 Spreading news about another person isn't technically lying, but it usually involves it, doesn't it? 00:20:55.420 --> 00:21:00.420 Even though we shouldn't do it in the first place, gossip is straight up out of bounds for Christians 00:21:00.420 --> 00:21:05.420 in any way, we often make the situation worse by accepting the things that people tell us 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:08.420 and passing them on regardless of whether they're true or not. 00:21:08.420 --> 00:21:12.420 So, we get caught up in the dishonesty. 00:21:12.420 --> 00:21:22.420 We spread or we retweet gossip because it's juicy without stopping to find out if there's any basis for what is being shared. 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:27.420 And so, we become implicated in the lies. 00:21:27.420 --> 00:21:29.420 And then, exaggeration. 00:21:29.420 --> 00:21:31.420 Number six. 00:21:31.420 --> 00:21:34.420 Stretching the truth to suit our aims. 00:21:34.420 --> 00:21:41.420 Exaggeration is simply lying about details to make the information more acceptable or interesting or shocking or manipulative. 00:21:41.420 --> 00:21:43.420 Don't exaggerate. 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:45.420 I've told you a million times. 00:21:45.420 --> 00:21:46.420 Don't exaggerate. 00:21:46.420 --> 00:21:48.420 That's a joke from like 1979. 00:21:48.420 --> 00:21:50.420 It's terrible. 00:21:50.420 --> 00:21:55.420 The second cousin of this is hyperbole, where you overstate things. 00:21:55.420 --> 00:22:00.420 So, everything is either the best it's ever been or the worst it's ever been. 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:02.420 It's just not true. 00:22:02.420 --> 00:22:04.420 That was the best ever. 00:22:04.420 --> 00:22:05.420 No, it wasn't. 00:22:05.420 --> 00:22:08.420 It was quite good. 00:22:08.420 --> 00:22:16.420 What happens there is when you exaggerate like that, when everything is hyperbole, your words lose their effectiveness. 00:22:16.420 --> 00:22:23.420 If everything is awesome, how do you express your pleasure at something that really takes your breath away? 00:22:23.420 --> 00:22:33.420 When you describe a burger as awesome, what superlatives are left for the Grand Canyon? 00:22:33.420 --> 00:22:35.420 Exaggeration. 00:22:35.420 --> 00:22:36.420 Exaggeration. 00:22:36.420 --> 00:22:39.420 And then, flattery. 00:22:39.420 --> 00:22:48.420 Flattery is the act of telling someone something good about themselves in order that you will benefit in some way. 00:22:48.420 --> 00:22:50.420 Your goal isn't simply to compliment the person. 00:22:50.420 --> 00:22:56.420 You said what you said in order to put them into your debt, in order to manipulate them for your own gain, 00:22:56.420 --> 00:22:59.420 in order that they would think well of you or like you. 00:22:59.420 --> 00:23:02.420 Flattery is about you, not the person that you compliment. 00:23:02.420 --> 00:23:03.420 It might be effective. 00:23:03.420 --> 00:23:10.420 It might get you everywhere or whatever, but it's ultimately dishonest and has no place in Christ's kingdom. 00:23:10.420 --> 00:23:13.420 Don't be a flatterer. 00:23:13.420 --> 00:23:18.420 See, when you go down the list, you realize that these are all very common traits in everyday speech. 00:23:18.420 --> 00:23:25.420 These are the currency that our culture uses to buy influence, and it seems, for the most part, that we're okay with it. 00:23:25.420 --> 00:23:29.420 We've become really comfortable with dishonesty. 00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:37.420 Do you remember Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary with Trump right at the beginning, Donald Trump in 2017? 00:23:37.420 --> 00:23:43.420 And he told the world that Trump's inauguration crowd was bigger than it was. 00:23:43.420 --> 00:23:44.420 He exaggerated. 00:23:44.420 --> 00:23:46.420 He told a big old pork pie. 00:23:46.420 --> 00:23:51.420 I saw him last year or a while ago on a U.S. talk show, and he was asked about this. 00:23:51.420 --> 00:23:56.420 And he was smirking and smiling, and everybody was smiling and laughing about it. 00:23:56.420 --> 00:24:02.420 He told the whole world a massive lie, and it's just a bit of banter on a talk show. 00:24:02.420 --> 00:24:11.420 You remember Lance Armstrong, the cyclist, who finally admitted to the fact that for the majority of his success, 00:24:11.420 --> 00:24:14.420 he'd been spinning this massive lie about not being on drugs. 00:24:14.420 --> 00:24:16.420 I've listened to some interviews. 00:24:16.420 --> 00:24:19.420 I find him a fascinating person, and I've listened to some interviews with him recently. 00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:24.420 So, all these years after, he finished racing a long time ago, all these years after, 00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:27.420 and it's just talked about as if it was all totally fine. 00:24:27.420 --> 00:24:36.420 He misled all these people, from sponsors to fans to everybody else, this big old lie. 00:24:36.420 --> 00:24:40.420 And, you know, it's just what it was. 00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:43.420 And we're like, yeah, it's okay. 00:24:43.420 --> 00:24:49.420 Years ago when I worked in business, if you got a deal through by not being straight with someone, 00:24:49.420 --> 00:24:51.420 it was seen as good business. 00:24:51.420 --> 00:24:56.420 And if an exaggeration of your productivity or your figures meant that you beat someone else to promotion, 00:24:56.420 --> 00:25:00.420 that was celebrated as a competitive edge. 00:25:00.420 --> 00:25:02.420 It's just part of what you needed to do to get ahead. 00:25:02.420 --> 00:25:04.420 It's part of the game. 00:25:04.420 --> 00:25:07.420 Dishonesty is baked into the system. 00:25:07.420 --> 00:25:10.420 Those are the rules of the game. 00:25:10.420 --> 00:25:16.420 And we have a load of euphemisms for lying that soften the blow, bending the truth. 00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:18.420 I might have told a white lie. 00:25:18.420 --> 00:25:20.420 Oh, a little fib there. 00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:24.420 A recent addition we have is, alternative facts. 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:27.420 What on earth is that if it isn't lying? 00:25:27.420 --> 00:25:33.420 Now, we may lament the current cultural issues around truth. 00:25:33.420 --> 00:25:38.420 We may find blatant dishonesty, the political classes hard to stomach. 00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:43.420 But let's not forget how we are implicated in the problem ourselves. 00:25:43.420 --> 00:25:50.420 Let's admit that lots of our verbal and lots of our online communication is dishonest in some of these ways. 00:25:50.420 --> 00:25:54.420 And let's resolve to root it out. 00:25:54.420 --> 00:25:57.420 Kingdom people are honest people. 00:25:57.420 --> 00:26:02.420 Let's refuse to play the games that our culture plays, instead to be distinctive. 00:26:02.420 --> 00:26:05.420 We stand out when we don't play those games. 00:26:05.420 --> 00:26:10.420 And we honor Christ by speaking the language of our Heavenly Father, who is always truthful. 00:26:10.420 --> 00:26:15.420 And the opposite is, to do the alternative is to speak the language of the devil. 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:18.420 And we do this through the power of His Holy Spirit. 00:26:18.420 --> 00:26:20.420 He enables us to do this. 00:26:20.420 --> 00:26:22.420 Why is that? 00:26:22.420 --> 00:26:25.420 Because the Spirit is the Spirit of truth. 00:26:25.420 --> 00:26:33.420 And we do it because we know that we're secure in the knowledge that we are in His presence and we belong to Him. 00:26:33.420 --> 00:26:35.420 You see, that's the key. 00:26:35.420 --> 00:26:36.420 That's actually the key. 00:26:36.420 --> 00:26:38.420 Why do we lie? 00:26:38.420 --> 00:26:44.420 Mostly because we want to appear better or more accomplished or more impressive than we really are, 00:26:44.420 --> 00:26:48.420 so that people will think well of us. 00:26:48.420 --> 00:26:52.420 At root, we mess with the truth in order to gain approval. 00:26:52.420 --> 00:27:02.420 But the gospel of Jesus Christ frees us from such a tyranny. 00:27:02.420 --> 00:27:12.420 The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that God knows the truth, the whole ugly truth about us, but accepts us through the finished work of His Son. 00:27:12.420 --> 00:27:16.420 We're accepted by the King of glory. 00:27:16.420 --> 00:27:21.420 We don't need the praise and acceptance of others. 00:27:21.420 --> 00:27:32.420 When we turn from our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ, we are received as sons and heirs of Almighty God. 00:27:32.420 --> 00:27:42.420 And Almighty God, in that moment, we come to know Him as our Heavenly Father, the Sovereign Lord of all the earth, the One who breathed the cosmos into existence. 00:27:42.420 --> 00:27:47.420 When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we can call Him Father, and He brings us in. 00:27:47.420 --> 00:27:50.420 He welcomes us. 00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:53.420 That is a place of ultimate security. 00:27:53.420 --> 00:27:55.420 So, we don't need to put on a mask. 00:27:55.420 --> 00:27:58.420 We don't need to create a false persona. 00:27:58.420 --> 00:28:06.420 Of all people, kingdom people are supposed to be honest people because we take the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the man of truth, 00:28:06.420 --> 00:28:17.420 but also because we don't need to, to tell lies and to adopt a persona that isn't true of us, because we've been accepted. 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:21.420 We don't need to hide behind lies and deceit. 00:28:21.420 --> 00:28:26.420 When the King accepts you, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. 00:28:26.420 --> 00:28:29.420 It really doesn't. 00:28:29.420 --> 00:28:37.420 When the God of all truth sent His Son to die and rise so that you could be accepted into the heavenly family, 00:28:37.420 --> 00:28:46.420 when He promised you that He would never leave you nor forsake you, that is a promise that liberates. 00:28:46.420 --> 00:28:54.420 And in Christ, the liberty is the liberty to be a truth teller. 00:28:54.420 --> 00:28:58.420 And you can be a truth teller without fear because of that security. 00:28:58.420 --> 00:29:00.420 What a freedom. 00:29:00.420 --> 00:29:02.420 Let's pray together.