Title: NO SPIN ZONE LIVING, PLEASE.
Focus: God calls his people to live truthfully. Loving and living the truth belong to the conversion life of Christians.
Function: To encourage the people to live as authentic Christians by adhering to and loving the truth.
Text: Ephesians 4:17-32
Heidelberg Catechism: L.D. 43
Bill O’Reilley is a nightly news commentator for Fox News Cable Channel. His show—decried by many and welcomed by many more—is the most watched TV news show in the nation. I think that the popularity of Mr. O’Reilley’s show centers on O’Reilley’s insistence that truth must be spoken. He calls his show the “No Spin Zone.” If you mess with the truth, you mess with O’Reilley. And that’s a frightening thing for many of his guests. You see, Mr. O’Reilley is not known for his humility and meekness. He is known for his bluntness and standing up for the truth.
Today, God’s Word reminds us in the ninth commandment that we may not bear false witness or testimony against our neighbor. God calls us to speak the truth.
Now if you enter Mr. O’Reilley’s “no spin zone” as a guest, you will be held accountable to speak the truth for no more than 5 minutes. Then the interview is over and you are on your own. The “no spin zone” with O’Reilly, then, lasts no more than 5 minutes. But with God, truth matters every moment of every day and night. O’Reilley insists on a no spin zone moment. God, however, insists on no spin zone living—24-7 all my life.
Hear, then, the Word of the Lord: God calls you and me to live truthfully. Why? Because loving and living the truth belong to the conversion life of Christians.
THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP
When I was a child, I loved visiting my grandfather in the countryside. He lived on a small farm that was a wonderful place to roam around and play. Grandpa had a dilapidated barn, stacked with hay on the attic. Every morning it was my job to look for fresh eggs, for grandpa’s chickens loved to nest in the hay. In one corner of that barn my grandfather kept his tools: shovels, spades, pitchforks, machetes to cut sugar beets with, sharp hoes and knives.
All his tools were in tip-top shape: no rust on them, well-oiled, and ready for use anytime. I liked playing with his tools, but I knew well NOT to mess with them. Chasing the chickens was one thing, but messing with grandpa’s tools was another thing. I knew better than that.
The devil, too, has a workshop. I want you to take note of one of his favorite tools: it’s his paintbrush of “anti-truth.” Now it does not come to us as a surprise that the devil should have such a paintbrush, after all, the Bible tells us that the devil is the “father of all lies.” The devil can’t stand the truth. Neither can the devil stand the people of the Truth—Christians. That’s why the devil is eager to have us use his paintbrush of “anti-truth.” He loves it when we mess with his paintbrush.
Perhaps you wonder what you can do with the paintbrush of “anti-truth.” Well, a quick search in your dictionary and vocabulary will open your eyes: with the paintbrush of “anti-truth” you and I can obfuscate, obscure, and obliterate the truth; we can dither, hem and haw, fluctuate, equivocate and fabricate the truth. With the devil’s paintbrush we can blur, muddle, garble, befog, distort, becloud, scramble, twist, spin, waffle, and shun the truth. We must leave that hellish paintbrush well alone. That’s why God says: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
THE TRUTH ABOUT THE 9TH
Let’s make a few observations about the ninth commandment: (1) It takes us beyond the courtroom: “What a tangled web we weave; we all practice to deceive,” is the headline for a NewYork Times article (June 7, 1996) that states that; “ninety-one percent confess that they regularly don’t tell the truth. Twenty percent admit that they can’t get through a day without conscious, premeditated while lies.” (Dr. Laura)
(1)You see? The ninth commandment is not just for defendants and convicted criminals in the courtroom. It’s for all of us. For by virtue of our human, sinful nature, we are prone to fiddle with the truth. The Catechism makes clear that the ninth commandment echoes in, as well as beyond, the walls of the courtroom: “What is God’s will for you in the ninth commandment?” “God’s will is that I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone without a hearing or without a just cause. Rather, in court and everywhere else….” Clearly, the ninth commandment applies also to us here in church.
(2) The ninth commandment is comprehensive in scope. Since at the heart of the ninth commandment is God’s concern for truth, the ninth commandment also covers anything that colors or obscures or hinders the truth: twisting someone words, or gossiping and listening to gossip (giving ear to malicious talk) is a “no-no” with God. Slander and making quick but uninformed judgment calls or pronouncements without a hearing, are also not worthy of God’s people.
The Duke case in North Carolina last year, centering on false accusations convicting rash, foolish young men, comes to mind. Thankfully, the truth emerged over time. But the damage of the lies and public condemnation without a hearing will linger for a long time. The ninth commandment concerns a host of spin-off sins from the paintbrush of anti-truth. It’s wide in scope.
(3) The ninth commandment sets Christians apart from non-Christians. The apostle Paul makes this clear in his letter to the church in Ephesus. He points out that when the Spirit of Jesus Christ brings new birth and thus new life to us, we are a new creation. We are a new person, called to live the conversion life.
When a convict has served his term in prison, he enters society as a new man: he exchanges his prison clothes for civilian clothes. He leaves behind the prison life; and he starts a new life. That new life must be free from crime, free from activities that would get him back into prison.
So it is also with us who encounter Jesus Christ through faith. Through the scriptures, we have heard the voice of Jesus; through the presence and testimony of the Holy Spirit, we have received forgiveness in Christ and eternal life. Now we are called to live a new life. We put off the old clothes of sinful living and put on the new clothes of resurrection life, of living in obedience and love. It’s in this framework that the apostle Paul holds before us the fabric of daily Christian living. It’s the fabric of conversion life.
Listen to Paul: “So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more. You, however, did not come to know Christ that way.”
Then Paul follows through and makes clear that the conversion life involves a putting off and a putting on: “…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.”
The fabric of conversion life consists of a) sexual purity (5:3ff); b) kindness and love (4:32ff); c) wholesome speech and edifying attitudes toward our neighbor (4:29ff); d) honest work to support and sustain oneself and one’s neighbor; e) disciplined living, controlling one’s temper (4:26ff); and f) of speaking the truth (4:25) as Paul says: “…each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”
God calls his people to live truthfully; loving and living the truth belong to the conversion life of all Christians. Therefore, let there be “no spin zone living” among us!
How shall we go about living a “no spin zone” life? Consider the following:
(1) Be aware of the devil’s toolbox and his hellish paintbrush. Be aware that it is very easy to pick up that paintbrush to cover up the truth. Not only be aware of that paintbrush, but also contemplate God’s anger on truth-killing. Jesus embodies truth; he speaks truth, and we, who follow Jesus, must live the truth as well.
I would like to emphasize something to the children and young people: As a dad I noticed that our children wanted to grow up and have grown-up responsibilities and privileges, such as driving the family car, for example. That’s a very normal thing. Sometimes you get frustrated because you feel that your parents treat you like little kids.
Here’s a secret: always speak the truth to your parents and to others. You know why? Speaking the truth leads to trust. When your parents can trust you, they will also more quickly give you grown-up responsibilities and privileges. But when you lie or fib to them, (and most of the time, your parents discover your lies and half-truths) they will be slow to trust you. Truth and trust—they help build lives, relationships and community.
Speaking the truth may mean that, at times, we confess or admit to having done something wrong. In the end, however, you and I are always better off, confessing, admitting rather than covering up with lies. It is better to say “I am guilty, wrong, I am sorry,” than to live with a burdened conscience. Truthful living is far better and far more joyful than living a lie. Moms and Dads, it’s our task to model such things to our children. “No spin zone” living, please!
(2) The Catechism holds before us two more avenues that lead to ‘no spin zone” living: Love the truth and speak the truth in love. That is, “I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor’s good name.”
Do you ever get angry when you hear someone lie to you or to the public in general? Or do we get so used to lies in public that we become numb and apathetic to the truth? As a society it seems that we now expect politicians, for example, to lie or obscure or spin the truth. Can you imagine what political discourse would sound like if our politicians would all be truthful about their platforms and bills!
Can you imagine what politics would look like if Hillary Clinton would speak the truth while guarding and advancing her opponents’ good name or character, and vice-versa, of course. Can you imagine the news media’s confusion when they hear Governor Mitt Romney speak the truth about Mayor Rudie Guilliani’s view on abortion while still seeking to guard and advance the good name or character of Mayor Guilliani?
As I said earlier: the ninth commandment concerns truth and is for all of us. So, can you imagine, then, our neighbors’ reaction and confusion if you and I always obeyed the ninth commandment and lived a “no spin zone life” 24/7? Our neighbors would have to change their tune that says that the “church is full of hypocrites, who say one thing but do another.”
Let’s live real, authentic, truthful, Christian lives. As followers of Jesus, we can do no less than that! Loving and living the truth belong to the conversion life of Christians.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.