I
hate going to court. There are many
things that I love about being a pastor, but going to court to testify on
behalf of a church member is not one of them.
I have done it many times, and I’m sure I will do it many more. When you’re subpoenaed, you have no
choice. Now, I’ve never been called as a
witness to a crime, but I have been required to go to court as a character
witness, either in custody cases or in cases where a defendant is hoping to
have their pastor speak positively about their character. When you take the stand, you’re supposed to
tell “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.” You used to have to place your left hand on a
Bible, to remind you of divine authority over you, but you don’t have to do
that anymore. You do still have to raise
your right hand. Ever wonder where that
practice comes from?
According
to NW Sidebar: The Voice of Washington’s
Lawyers and Legal Community, the practice comes from seventeenth-century
London. Convicts were branded with a
mark on the thumb of their right hand.
Since the brand fit the crime (“M” for murder, “T” for theft, etc.), the
poor soul bore a permanent criminal record on his body. Raising the right hand in court was a way of
making the judge aware of any prior convictions. NW
Sidebar says, “This indelible ‘criminal record’ was thus a sort of
pre-cursor to the ‘character evidence’ of today.” [i]
Of
course in an ideal world, people shouldn’t have to prove their authenticity by
a show of hands. However, the truth is
that the truth is hard to come by. According
to a recent Barna report, “One-third of all adults (34%) believe that moral
truth is absolute and unaffected by the circumstances. Slightly less than half of the born again
adults (46%) believe in absolute moral truth.[ii] With that few people actually believing in
real truth, one must wonder why the rest of the population would think it
important to tell the truth at all. And,
of the rest who still believe that there is such a thing as Truth with a
capital T, how many actually stick to it, when they are pressed?
In
the fourth chapter of the book of Acts, we
read about Peter and John on trial. They’ve
been arrested for the crime of healing a lame man in Jesus’ name.[iii] The event created such a stir that a crowd
gathered, providing the perfect preaching opportunity for Peter.[iv] It also provided the perfect excuse for the Sadducees,
who did not believe in the afterlife at all, to lay hands on the apostles. They spent the night in jail before they
could have their trial before the high priest.
This gave Peter another opportunity to share his faith, saying to the
high priestly family, “He is the stone
which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. And there is salvation in no
one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men
by which we must be saved.”[v]
What would you do, if you were brought on
trial for your faith? You’ve heard it
asked before—if you were put on trial for being a Christian, would there be
enough evidence to convict you? I wonder,
would you put up a defense? Like Peter
had on the night of Jesus’ arrest, would you say you never knew Him?[vi] Standing up for the truth is hard, especially
when there are negative consequences if you do so. Yet this time, determined never to deny Jesus
again, Peter used the opportunity. He
never backed down from the truth, and presented the Gospel to people who never
might have heard it, had he not been arrested.
In fact, two thousand people came to Christ because of the testimonies
Peter gives in these chapters. This
brings the total Christian population up to five thousand.
Finally,
the rulers decided to threaten Peter and John, and let them go—but they command
them to stop speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus. Yet, the apostles remained steady, saying, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to
give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we
cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”[vii]
Sometimes the truth gets put on trial in
your life. Like Peter and John, you
might get backed into a corner where it seems like lying your way out is the
best and easiest solution. Will you
stand up for the truth, even in times like that?
There’s a story about a drunk husband
who went up the stairs quietly so he wouldn’t wake his sleeping wife.
He looked in the bathroom mirror and
bandaged the bumps and bruises he'd received in a fight earlier that night. He
then proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he'd pulled one
over on his wife.
When morning came, he opened his eyes and there stood his wife.
"You were drunk last night weren't you!"
"No, honey."
"Well, if you weren't, then who put all the band-aids
on the bathroom mirror?" [viii]
The
truth is that the truth is always the best way—because your lies will find you
out. Once you start a lie, it takes more
and more lies to cover up the earlier ones.
Telling the truth is much easier, and it’s much more pleasing to God. Yet, we don’t lie simply to get ourselves out
of trouble, or to keep from losing.
Another reason why we lie is to gain something—whether that’s money,
prestige, position, or whatever.
The
Bible story continues with the wild growth of the church. After such demonstrations of divine power,
powerful preaching, and the stalwart examples of disciples who would not back
down when the truth was on trial, church growth was explosive—so much so that
the disciples wondered how they could financially afford to keep the new
believers (who were Pentecost pilgrims) in Jerusalem for some training in the
faith before sending them back home. So
they shared whatever they had. People like
Barnabas were selling property and other goods to raise the money to sustain
such a large crowd.[ix]
Following Barnabas’ example,
Ananias and Sapphira did the same thing, presenting the proceeds to the
disciples. Yet, they had something to
gain by their gift. They wanted
notoriety for giving the full price of the land to the church, yet they wanted
to keep some of it for themselves. Now,
don’t get the wrong idea—the money was theirs to do with whatever they
chose. God never demanded that they give
any of it—yet, if they were going to give it, the Lord would rather they were
honest about it. Pridefully and publicly
they declared that they were giving the full amount of the sale to the church. With two separate lies they stuck to their
story, and with two separate strikes of divine retribution they died for their
crime.[x] It’s not every day that God strikes someone
dead for lying, but it does give you pause, doesn’t it? Why did God do it? To set an example—one that I hope we’ll learn
from. It’s not okay to lie, either to
get out of trouble or to gain something.
A story is told that:
At the county fair a distinctively dressed
Quaker offered a horse for sale. A non-Quaker farmer asked its price, and since
Quakers had a reputation for fair dealing, he bought the horse without
hesitation. The farmer got the horse home, only to discover it was lazy and
ill-tempered, so he took it back to the fair the next day. There he confronted
the Quaker.
"Thou hast no complaint
against me," said the Quaker. "Had thou asked me about the horse, I
would have told thee truthfully the problems, but thou didst not
ask."
"That's okay,"
replied the farmer. "I don't want you to take the horse back. I want to
try to sell him to someone else. Can I borrow your coat and hat awhile?"[xi]
Sometimes people use deception to try to make themselves look
better than they are, so that they can gain something—or, in this case, to regain
something. Religious people are the
worst at that. I remember buying a vehicle
from a used car dealer who was also an ordained minister (now, there’s a
combination for you!). He had a big
Christian fish displayed on his sign as if to say, “Trust me!” But beware of snakes that smile too
wide. Watch out for people who say, “Trust
me,” because if they were really trustworthy they wouldn’t have to say it. We’ll just say that the car situation ended
badly for all involved—mainly because of the dishonesty of a man who dressed
like a Quaker so he could sell a bad horse.
Despite our efforts to be good, it’s easy for us to be
tempted to do the same thing, isn’t it?
What do you do when you want to sell a used car? Do you lie about its flaws so you can make
the sale? What do you do when there’s a
twelve-and-under discount for your child who just turned thirteen? What example do you set for them, when you
take that discount? What do you do when
truth is on trial? I pray you’ll be more
like Peter and John than Ananias and Sapphira.
I pray you’ll pass the test. The
human temptation is to lie, either to get ourselves out of trouble, or to gain
something for ourselves. It’s the way of
the world—the bedrock upon which our society is built—remember, only a third
Americans believe in absolute truth. Like
Peter and John, let’s say, “We must obey God rather than men.” Let’s tell the truth at all times. Let’s remain faithful to the truth rather
than giving in to the lie.
[i]Meredith,
Michael. NW Sidebar: The Voice of Washington’s Lawyers and Legal Community . “Why Do We Raise Our Right Hands When
Testifying Before the Court?” October
21, 2013. http://nwsidebar.wsba.org/2013/10/21/raise-right-hand-court/. April 25, 2015.
[ii]
Barna Group: Knowledge to Navigate a
Changing World. “Barna Studies the Research, Offers a
Year-in-Review Perspective.”
December 18, 2009.
[iii]
Acts 3:1-8
[iv]
Acts 3:11-26
[v]
Acts 4:11-12
[vi]
Matthew 26:74
[vii]
Acts 4:19b-20
[viii]
Original Source Unknown.
http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/t/truth.htm
[ix]
Acts 4:32-37
[x]
Acts 5:1-11
[xi]
Original Source Unknown.
http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/t/truth.htm
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