Honesty is the best policy. This is the old adage that many people have valued for many years. In our employment we are expected to be honest. To be dishonest would be an offense that could lead to punishment including dismissal from that work. How many of us want to deal with dishonest people in commerce? None of us do. We recognize that honesty plays a large role in dependability, faithfulness, and love. Lying in every instance is a sin, and, because of that, we must avoid lying at any time.
Occasionally, there are members of the Lord’s church that lie to one another. This takes varying forms. Some brethren will overtly lie. This can be premeditated or compulsive. The intent is what makes it such. This would be the case if a brother or sister seeks to defraud another. This, in most cases, would be very infrequent. Lying is condemned in such a clear fashion it seems almost elementary regardless of one's maturity in Christ. However, the events of Acts 5:1-11, in particular verse 4, tells us that Ananias (and Saphira) conceived in their hearts to lie and did without regard to the fact that they were not just lying to men but to God.
At other times, there are members who may tell partial truths to avoid conflict or to not hurt someone's feelings. The church is the family of God, and we remind ourselves often of this by referring to each other as brothers and sisters. Then why do we tell each other half truths? Why can we not find the courage to tell each other the truth about what it is we are thinking? Conflict can be a good thing if we can agree to open up the Scriptures and find God’s answer to whatever disagreement or misunderstanding that we have. Part of maturing in the Lord is finding that sometimes what we have been taught or accepted as truth was nothing more than an opinion or tradition of man. Regardless of what the cause of disagreement or hurts, we need to be mature enough to talk to each other about such. David wrote, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity” (Psalm 133:1).
If one has sinned against you, the Lord has provided the proper procedure for handling it. I encourage each of you to read how the offending brother is to be approached (Matthew 18:15-20). Our motivation in confrontation is to win our brother. We need to know how to work things out as much as we can. Sometimes we are going to disagree, but that is no reason to be disagreeable, and certainly not a reason to lie to one another. If you are offended by another brother, talk to that brother, not the elders.
When I was younger and less mature in the Lord, I had a short time in my life that was characterized by job movement. I anxiously took a job and after a short time I realized that I could no longer work there. I moved to another sector in which I had never worked and did not like it, because of the lack of support staff I had, so I went to another job where I stayed for a good amount of time. This is pretty normal in today's job market. Unfortunately, individuals will try to apply the same logic to our brotherhood. If we do not like what the Bible says about something, we will search and try to find a “church” that teaches what we want to hear. There are many “church shoppers” at all times of the year.
The true church of Christ is composed of those who are faithful in all things. We are described in the original Greek text as the ekklesia- the called out ones. We are called out of the world to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6:4). Part of that newness is putting away the actions of the old man. We will no longer lie, and especially not to the brethren. It is written, “lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings” Colossians 3:9.
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
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