As a student pastor, I have been asked that question many times in one form or another. It always baffles me a bit, because the Bible very plainly states in the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 that we should not lie... or "bear false testimony..." In many other places in the Bible, we see that the effects of lying are always negative, and usually to keep us from having to bear the blame for our own actions. After Cain killed Able in Genesis 4, he lied to God in an attempt to cover up his own evil actions. Proverbs 26:28 and many other Scriptures talk about the damaging and sinful nature of lying. Yet, lying is a struggle for many believers in their daily life.
Lying obviously hurts people in a temporary sense, but lying also points people away from the truth of the Bible in the long term. This is the devil's scheme. He wants us to be so preoccupied with our immediate wants and desires that we forget about living in a way that points others towards God. John 8:44 is a direct response to some prideful religious leaders of His day,
"Jesus told them, 'If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can't you understand what I am saying? It's because you can't even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil thing he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.'"
Jesus also says in John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." We see very plainly throughout Scripture that the devil loves to twist, distort, and cloud the truth. Why? Because he does not want us to follow the real truth, the saving message of the cross.
When we as followers of Christ lie, even in little things, we are pointing people away from the truth. Maybe it is what we deem to be a "small" lie, but think for a minute about the distrust that can occur from finding out that someone you trust has lied to you... even once. Keep in mind that our task as followers of Christ is to take the Gospel message, the message of truth and hope, to the world around us. It should be our goal as individuals to point people to Jesus in a clear way. This is a pretty hard to do when we do not reflect God's character each day. No one is perfect, but lying is something that all of us can control with His help.
Let us take this one step further. Church leaders, James 3 makes it very clear that those of us called into the service of ministry (whether as a pastor, or a deacon/elder/etc.) are held to a higher standard before God in regard to how we lead. The passage then goes on to talk specifically about how hard it is to tame the tongue, and what a huge effect our words can have on people. If that passage does not shake you to your foundation as a leader, I question how effective your leadership can really be? None of us can lead effectively on our own. Only God can point us in the right direction each day. Our hearts can be deceived and is wicked at its core, as described in Jeremiah 17:5. When we try to lead on our own, we are going to fail.
In my 20+ years of church service, I have worked with church staff members that regularly lied to others. Sometimes, it was in the context of a meeting or a phone call. But more often than not, these lies were told in an outright manner to the church people in their care or through some form of deception. Let's be clear, according to the Bible, deception is the same as lying. Jeremiah 17:9 talks about how corrupt and deceitful our hearts truly are, which is why we need the Lord's guidance each day. Covering up mistakes, failing to take responsibility for our failures or our failure to lead properly are often reasons church leaders choose to lie rather than tell the truth.
You see, our congregants put a lot of faith and trust in us to lead in the right way. They look to us for advice, for teaching them how to study the Bible, to pray, and look to us as an example of how to live. Obviously, none of us are perfect. However, it can be easy to believe that the ways God has blessed our church is somehow based on our own greatness. We can easily begin to substitute our own thoughts and ideas for the church and tell people that it is a vision from God, when it was clearly our own idea.
Sadly, there are many churches today going astray due to pride, arrogance, and failure to listen to the Lord by their leaders. It is our duty as brothers and sisters in Christ to hold one another accountable each day. We must develop a church culture that fosters honesty, truthfulness, and loving respect for one another. We should not be known for shooting our own wounded in the church. Instead, it should be a place of forgiveness and healing for those who fall into sin, including that of lying. Obviously, there are consequences to our actions when we sin, and those serve a purpose in our spiritual growth. But, if we love one another through all the mess, how much more will the world around us see the love of Christ in us?
You see, sin affects us all. No, we should not lie... but we also should not gossip, cheat, steal, and many more things that the Bible teaches us about. How we deal with sin, and forgiveness in the church will speak volumes to the world. And honestly, our world needs to loudly hear about the love of Jesus.
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