Life Group Leaders’ Notes
Series: Living God’s Way
Key Text: Exodus 20:16
Britain’s Prince Harry has written a new memoir called ‘Spare’ which will likely rank among the bestselling memoirs of all time. One of the reasons for this is that he spills the dirt, as they say, on Britain’s royal family. He makes many accusations that may or may not be true since, as the late Queen said, ‘recollections may vary.’ Consequently, and unsurprisingly, his negative words have caused great hurt and division and may have damaged family relationships beyond repair.
Words matter and they have great power to build or destroy, whether they come from the lips of a prince or from our own mouths. For we too each have to choose whether we will speak in a way that builds up or tears down. The Bible has a great deal to say about guarding our mouths and telling the truth (Proverbs 18:21; Proverbs 13:3; Proverbs 21:23).
As we continue our series on the Ten Commandments, we come to the ninth commandment which focusses on how we speak. We read in Exodus 20:16 that God commands that ‘you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.’ This is often shortened to, ‘You shall not lie.’ While this is true, it does not give the full picture of what this commandment is saying. For it covers a wider application of not speaking falsely about anyone.
Not speaking falsely means that you must not give a false account. You must not lie about another person, you must not speak in such a way that you that gives an incorrect and damaging picture of another person, you must not gossip about another person, you must tell the truth (Exodus 23:1-3). The Bible contains several warnings against false witnesses who lie and spread false reports. Speaking in an untrue way against someone is a big deal.
1. God Hates Lying And False Testimony (John 8:44; Revelation 10:12; Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 6:16-19)
2. Lying And False Testimony Are Very Destructive (Psalm 101:7; Psalm 24:2-3; Exodus 16:2-3)
3. Lying And False Testimony Will Be Judged By God (1 Kings 21; Acts 5; Proverbs 19:9; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:14-15; Colossians 3:9-10; Matthew 18:15-16; 1 Timothy 5:19; Ephesians 4:25,29; 1 Peter 3:10; Psalm 19:14)
Apply
1) God Hates Lying And False Testimony
God is a holy God. He is a God of truth and justice. It is impossible for Him to lie. There is nothing devious, dark or underhanded about Him. Satan, however, is the complete opposite (John 8:44; Revelation 10:12 AMP). Lying therefore is a work of the Devil. So, if you lie or speak falsely about someone you are actually doing the Devil’s work. When you unjustly accuse someone and damage their good name, you have become a spokesman or woman for the kingdom of darkness. Some religious people may think that to badmouth someone really isn’t so important when compared with other sins. But you would be very wrong. For God is not indifferent to any of this. In fact, He hates it (Proverbs 12:22; Proverbs 6:16-19 MSG). So if you have lied or gossiped about anyone or listened to negative talk behind people’s back, you need to understand just how displeasing this is to the Lord.
2) Lying And False Testimony Are Very Destructive
- It’s destructive to individuals: starting with you personally. For lying and false testimony will erode your conscience since the more you do it the less you will worry about it. Lying and false testimony will ruin your character since you will become a more unfaithful person who doesn’t care about doing right. Not least lying and false testimony will block your relationship with God (Psalm 101:7; Psalm 24:2-3). Not only is false speech damaging to the person who gossips, it also poisons those who listen to it which is why you should distance yourself from those who are full of accusation and criticism. And it is destructive to the one on the receiving end of the negative words. Sadly, significant numbers of people have suffered depression or taken their lives because they could not take any more verbal assaults.
- It’s destructive to leaders: The kingdom of darkness does not want any kind of authority so that there can be disorder and chaos. Criticism and negative speech is one of the most commonly used weapons in Satan’s armoury against leaders. So many leaders, both political and spiritual, have suffered because of non-stop criticism (e.g. Margaret Thatcher). Moses, one of the greatest figures of history who led Israel from the slavery of Egypt, conquered the plagues of Egypt, but had a very tough job trying to overcome the plague of constant gossip against him (Exodus 16:2-3). Even Moses’s family, in particular his brother and sister, were criticising him. They knew that Moses was called and anointed by God, but they also felt that they were qualified to criticise him. That became very destructive.
- It’s destructive to churches: A church remains strong when there is faithful speech towards the pastors, leaders and members. But it is weakened when a culture of criticism comes in. Sir Fred Catherwood wrote: ‘gossip is the curse of most churches.’ Gossip about other people is aimed to reduce their reputation and raise our own. When Pastor Billy Richards started this church, he insisted from the beginning that one of the values would be to have no gossip. All these years later let’s continue to be a church that always aims for the highest standards of speech and has zero tolerance for dishonouring words.
- It’s destructive to communities and nations: So many people throughout history have suffered violence and death because of people telling lies (e.g. Emmett Till; the division of India/Pakistan; 14th century European Jews during the Black death; Hitler’s Holocaust; the whisper campaign towards the Arab’s before Israel’s War of Independence). Words matter, truth matters. Christians of all people should know just how important it is not to bear false witness. For it was because of false witnesses that the case was made to crucify Jesus. He who was the way, the truth and the life, was put to death on the basis of lies….lies that so called religious people were happy to spread.
3. Lying And False Testimony Will Be Judged By God
We see different examples of this in the Bible (1 Kings 21; Acts 5; Proverbs 19:9; Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:14-15). All in pretty serious stuff showing us why we should be careful to obey the ninth commandment, for sooner or later God will judge those who lie and bear false witness. So if you are guilty of breaking this commandment you must:
- Repent: Stop lying. Stop gossiping about people and painting them in a bad light. Apologise to the Lord and where possible to the people you have damaged. Turn your back on this sinful way of speaking (Colossians 3:9-10).
- Resolve any issues in a godly way: If you have a problem with someone don’t talk about them, go and talk to them with a good attitude (Matthew 18:15-16) If you have a problem with a leader, then go to the leadership group responsible for the spiritual oversight of the church (1 Timothy 5:19).
- Decide to speak positively not negatively: (Ephesians 4:25,29). If we live and speak this way, for sure we will have a blessed life (1 Peter 3:10; Psalm 19:14).
