White Lies and Biblical Truth

Surrounding Your Soul With Sound Counselors With Jesus in Their Heart

Howdy,

With all the talk here recently about truth it seems like a good time of the year to think about where we are as a country, and as a church. Many of y’all have heard me tell the story that my parents had me convinced until I was about five years old that all the rigamoral and fireworks was being held in honor of my birthday. We’d go down to the waterfront in Charleston, West Virginia and hear the state symphony blast out the 1812 Overture while the national guard thundered their cannons and I’d start to thank people for coming once it was over. Most folks played along and thought is was cute, others just kind of stood there shocked and confused. I was probably a little bit of both when I finally realized it was the Fourth of July for America, not necessarily for me alone. Some people might say my mom and dad were lying to me. However, I think more about how cool it was, and what kind of honor it is to share a birthday with the greatest nation ever made in God’s blessed providence.

A little fun every now and then never hurt anyone.

These so-called white lies are defined by the google machine as untruths that don’t intend to harm. In other words it means that there is no malice involved. That brings up the question as what makes a difference between a fib that brings fun and a rib that brings pain. It’s probably one of those things that former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart would say that he knows it when he sees it. Most of the time though it probably has a lot more to do with the person saying it and the person receiving it. We can joke and josh with a friend, or at least guys can. In today’s prayer and worship help we are going to think through a little bit about what the Bible has to say about the question, and moreso why it is the truth matters a whole more when we mean it.

I had a fellow I used to visit with in Mississippi say to me that he told one story so that he could tell me another one. At about the same age I was when my parents were telling me about the real reason for 1776 my dad was involved in some meetings related to the merger that took place in the early 1980s between the PCUS (the old Southern church) and the UPCUSA (the old Northern church), which is now the PCUSA. The three of us and my youngest sister at the time had grown up PCUS in the Greenbrier Presbytery, and still were at the time. I can remember my dad coming home from these merger meetings frustrated and mad. Now, that’s not too surprising for a Glaser, we have a tendency to 1) Be involved in meetings, and 2) Be frustrated with them. It’s part of the reason why we make such good Presbyterians. Out of all the stuff my dad would say as I overheard him discussing this stuff with my mother is that, “If this goes through the PCUS won’t exist in fifteen years.” Well, he was right, but it wasn’t just numbers he was talking about. It was as much the death of an ethos as it was a statement of literality. You see, sometimes some people have a different idea of how to say things. Blunt honesty and double-handedness don’t necessarily jive with genteel seriousness and bless your heart. There’s a way to tell a fellow that he’s wrong without bumping him upside the face with it. The former in the first sentence tied into the later of the second coupled with a fear of telling the truth is a dangerous combination which moves you to just go along, and by the time you realize where you are it’s too late to do something about it.

Brother Ahab found himself in a similar straight when it came time for him and Jehoshaphat to get a handle on the Ramoth Gilead problem in 2 Chronicles 18. Ahab had never been the type who was willing to make hard decisions and with Mrs. Jezebel by his side he never needed to. It should be no surprise then that the counselors who came to witness all told him he was wonderful and that he should go ahead with leading the fighting, they of course turned out to be wrong, fatally so in the case of Mr. Ahab. There is something to be said then for asking advice from people willing to tell you no, and having the heart to then listen to them. However, if all we do is keep those around yearning to white lie to you all the time it only leads to trouble. The king of Judah says the only thing he knows to do, and that is to ask the Lord’s prophet, yet you likely know what Micaiah had to say and why Ahab didn’t want to hear it. “I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me” bellowed out the king of Israel. Jehoshaphat was aghast at Ahab’s defiance to hear good counsel. We sometimes react likewise to folks who find their heart speaking similarly to the only people willing to be honest. Good counselors can be hard to find, and they are even harder to locate if we don’t want them around.

This is central to the whole question of truth-telling. If we want to Ahab our way through life then don’t be surprised when the Syrians of Ramoth Gilead get you down. Part of the reason why Jesus Christ has brought you into His house of prayer and worship and made you by grace a member of His bride is so that your heart might be one which longs to hear honest-dealings about your walk and possible need for repentance. A lot of churches grow today because they don’t say anything, at least nothing that sounds like you might be the source of your own problems. Lots of preachers out there telling it like it is without speaking to anyone present. Paul’s call to Timothy to preach the word in-season and out is a word to remind the gospel proclaimers that the gospel is always relevant to the life of men and women, to sinners of all stripes, and we can’t live in a world where the Church is full of the white lie.

We must do all things in spirit and in truth.

In closing, as we think about the kind of life we want to lead and how we want to get there it all begins with a fairly simple answer, one that Jesus spoke to the rich young ruler in response to his inquiry, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”. It’s the challenge that Mark recounts for us in this way, “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, ‘One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.’” Are willing and able to hear this truth, or do we want to continue to rest in the white lie that we can have our Jesus-cake while living in our worldly way as well?

Let us not be as Herod, and be then almost persuaded. Let us be humble and hear.

Last word:

https://equip.sbts.edu/article/danger-preaching-biblical-truth-yet-missing-christ/

Blessings in Christ,

Rev. Benjamin Glaser

Pastor, Bethany ARP Church