LIE Not – September 2018

by Prof. Dr. Soundararaj Chelliah (President)

September 01, 2018

in Message of the Month

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This entry is part [part not set] of 5 in the series Monthly Promise

Monthly Promise

Colossians 3:9: “Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old self with its evil practices”

Greetings in the precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the good Lord be with you throughout this month, providing good health, peace and joy in your family.

Last week a couple came to me for counseling. While listening to the girl alone she was fabricating everything, but later I found out that she was one of the best liars. Lie is a common hidden sin our families. Just to escape, parents lie to their children, to their spouse. It is a common feature in society and the greatest thing is people believe lies and not truth!

Do not lie (pseudomai from pseudo = to cheat, defraud, falsify) means to communicate what is false, with the evident purpose of misleading. The Greek term and the English equivalent ‘to lie’ involve more than simply telling what is not true, for this could occur without an intent to deceive or mislead. It means to tell a falsehood, attempt to deceive by lying, to speak falsely or deceitfully. Pseúdomai therefore involves not only the communication of a falsehood but also the intent to deceive.

A picturesque translation of Colossians 3:9-10 is “Stop lying to one another, having stripped off and away from yourselves and for your own advantage the old, antiquated, outworn, decrepit, useless man [that person you were before you were saved] with his evil practices, and having clothed yourselves with the new man [the person you are after you are saved] who is constantly being renewed, with a resulting advanced and perfect experiential knowledge which is according to the image of the One who created him”

Spurgeon comments: ‘No lies. Such communications are filthy. But you put these things away through your union with Christ in his risen life. Therefore, abhor them. Avoid the very appearance of them, and cry for grace to be kept from them, for you have been “renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”’

Matthew Henry adds that lying “is contrary both to the law of truth and the law of love, it is both unjust and unkind, and naturally tends to destroy all faith and friendship among mankind. Lying makes us like the devil (who is the father of lies – see John 8:44), and is a prime part of the devil’s image upon our souls; and therefore we are cautioned against this sin by this general reason: Seeing you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man.”

In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan (cp Jn 8:44) filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. (Acts 5:3, 4)” The sin was in professing to give all, while only giving some. No one had asked Ananias and his wife Sapphira to sell the property. After it was sold, they were not obligated to give all. But they pretended a total dedication, while actually they held some back and in so doing they lied to the body of Christ.

Rather than allowing the Holy Spirit to fill him, Ananias had allowed Satan to control his heart. Ananias’ sin was lying. He sought to deceive the Christians by trying to gain a reputation for greater generosity than he deserved. By deceiving the church, Ananias was also trying to deceive the Holy Spirit who indwelt the church. In attempting to deceive the Holy Spirit, he was trying to deceive God.

Ananias and his wife Sapphira were guilty of the lie of hypocrisy in the church, faking their spirituality in an attempt to impress others. And it cost them dearly! God is “very hard” on religious hypocrites! (Mt 23:13, 14, 15, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29) (Read Acts 5)

A radical change in your nature occurs when you become a Christian which should result in an equally radical change in your relationship to sin and its practices. It is understanding the nature of this radical change that God works in us that enables us to actually live a life that will be marked by increasing holiness instead of just a religious veneer placed over the same wretched sinner. We don’t want to put wings on a caterpillar, but rather we want the complete metamorphosis that transforms the caterpillar into a butterfly.

Entire truthfulness is an essential Christian characteristic, for Christ is “the Truth.” In the light of His words and deeds it is certain that nothing untruthful, not even the most “pious” of “frauds,” can possibly be holy. The uniform emphasis on truthfulness in the precepts of Scripture is the more significant of the origin of Scripture when we remember the proverbial Oriental laxity about truth.

Lying destroys trust, destroys families and destroys relationships. It violates truth and love. A lie misleads causing distrust; the cross restores broken relationships. The profound change at our new birth changed the nature of the Christian’s life. This is more than some surface change; it is a radical change of orientation to life. Conversion should change our relationships with people. People should learn to trust us better because we know Christ.

So let us take this warning seriously and avoid even small lies. If your spouse lies, it means your spouse doesn’t have confidence in you! Allow your spouse to tell the truth. Listen to your spouse, do not get angry, but try to solve any problem in love with the help of the Holy Spirit. Practice never to lie to anybody. The under lying fact in divorce is a bundle of invented lies.

May the Holy Spirit help and guide to speak the truth alone. Christ is TRUTH and He lives in us.

Prayer: I humbly come to Your presence Lord, remembering all the lies I have spoken. But now I realize my sin. Make me a new person so that I may speak only the truth, whatever the result may be. Be with me always. Amen.

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