Speak Well Of Your Neighbor

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, again, as we open up Your Word to study Your commandments, we ask that You would, through Your Word,

work to convict us of our sins so that we may rightly understand where we have fallen short,

that we may be forgiven in Christ and bear fruit in keeping with repentance.

We ask in Jesus' name, Amen.

We have noted as we work our way through the commandments, we're up to the 8th commandment, that you shall

not bear false witness against your neighbor.

As we continue to study this topic, we're going to continue to ask the question, or at least in this part, how do we fear and

love God in keeping the 8th commandment?

We fear and love God by not speaking about others in ways that harm them.

Harmful speech includes, we've already noted that telling lies about our neighbor in everyday life

or in the court of law is a way of harming our neighbor's reputation.

By betraying our neighbors or making public their private faults or secrets.

This is one of the ones we must pay attention to as far as what Scripture reveals.

Proverbs 11, verse 13 says this, Whoever

goes about slandering reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy in spirit

keeps a thing covered.

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've heard Christian people, men

and women, say, well, I know I'm talking about what's going on in private,

but I'm not slandering them because it's true.

I'm not slandering them because it's true.

This again goes back to Matthew 18 that when somebody sins against

us personally, privately, we go to them privately.

And as Christians then, we understand that the ultimate goal when confronting somebody

with their sins is their repentance and their being forgiven.

And when somebody has repented and has been absolved, it is not our job, it is not

part of the task to make public their sins.

That's not the job.

Now if they've broken the law and there's a crime that has taken place, then the idea is that we would encourage

them to turn themselves in and that justice may be taken care of.

But it's not our job to go and air other people's laundry in the community.

And unfortunately, human society being what it is, there is a

currency to gossip.

There's a currency that goes along with it where somebody

literally, they can build relationships based upon sizzling pieces of gossip

that they're able to share with other people.

And in an area like this, word travels really fast.

I remember years and years ago, my father, he lived in a small town named Grangeville,

Idaho.

And I went and visited him in Grangeville, Idaho.

I had just graduated the 8th grade.

Hadn't gone to high school yet.

And spent a few weeks with him in Idaho.

And talk about a small town.

I mean, really tiny place, less than a thousand people.

And there was this girl and this blonde girl who kind of liked me and I

thought she was kind of cute and whatever.

And we went on a walk.

We just went on a walk.

And the only thing to do in Grangeville, Idaho is like go down the main street.

So we walked the main street, went to the end of the street, came back and it was a fine conversation.

I mean, nothing happened.

But no joke.

Before I got back, my dad was waiting for me on his porch.

And why?

He was still in uniform because he was on duty.

He's all, I just got a phone call that you and this girl had been walking down the main

street together.

Yeah, what of it?

You know?

And he says, yeah, that's not wise.

So let's not have that happen again.

I don't want you alone with any of the girls from town.

Okay.

Nothing nefarious happened.

But what ended up happening is, is that, you know, I was walking down main street and somebody from town decided to call my dad and

there you go.

And so nothing terrible happened at all.

And you know, it was just one of those things.

But the thing that really sticks in my mind is how quickly word gets around.

And in rural areas, there is, you know, high propensity for that type of thing.

Everybody knows everybody else.

And unfortunately there's a trafficking in people's business and stuff.

As Christians, we do not do that.

We don't gossip about other people.

You don't pick up the phone and say, hey, did you hear what the latest about so -and -so?

How they did this, that, or the other thing?

And then the person on the other line says, no.

I had no idea.

And of course they're lying.

Of course, you know, of course they knew.

They suspected that this person was up to nefariousness of that nature.

And so no sooner did they hang up the phone, they pick up the phone and it becomes a gossip tree

rather than a prayer chain, right?

It becomes a gossip tree.

This is wicked and sinful.

And so the idea then is that when you are aware of somebody's private sins, in

love for them because sin is slavery, sin is condemning, sin

estranges us from God, our goal for our neighbor is for them to be reconciled to God and for them to not be

enslaved to sin.

So we don't discuss their private faults publicly with others.

Instead, in love, we may need to confront them.

We may need to have a conversation with them.

We may need to tell them about Christ, but we don't pick up the phone and make them the talk of the town.

That's something we don't do.

So, and then the idea then is that, again, going back to what we talked about last week,

the two institutions that God has instituted, the government and the church, the church has been instituted, has

been established for the purpose of making disciples, baptizing, teaching, forgiving people of their sins.

And it's the government that has been given the task by God to punish evildoers.

So the idea then is that each institution has

means by which somebody who is dangerous, somebody who's committed a crime, can literally

have their reputation taken from them, but there's due process for it.

And you notice this about gossip.

There's no due process, none whatsoever.

In fact, one of the things that's fascinating about gossip is that the lies, like snowballs, seem to get bigger

as they roll down the hill.

And the person is considered guilty and they have no

way of defending themselves at all, none whatsoever.

Whereas when it comes to real charges, the person always has the ability to defend themselves,

always has the ability to present counter evidence.

And when it comes to the government, everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

When it comes to gossip, somebody is presumed guilty and nothing they say or do

will undo that.

It is wicked, it is evil, it is not Christian.

This is not how we operate.

Now, that being the case, we do not engage in covering up sins.

We have to make this distinction.

Covering up a sin would be you are aware that a crime has happened or that something terrible has

happened and you just sweep it under the rug.

That's not what Proverbs 11, 13 is saying at all.

The one that goes around slandering reveals secrets.

And I consider it to be the worst kind of slander when somebody takes a repented of

and absolved sin and decides to err it for the whole world

long after the fact.

That's just wicked.

Now, let's take a look at a prime example in Scripture of pure slander,

pure slander.

And I noted this in the summer when we went through this text.

There's this sort of a methodology to slander.

And it's important to make a distinction between data and narratives,

data and narratives.

Oftentimes, slander will have proper data points,

but what slanderers do is they are wonderful, skillful in the

most demonic sense at weaving a false narrative around those data points.

And so oftentimes, this is where we have to be very careful as Christians is that

when we hear data points that we do not assume the narrative

that interprets them and that you have to be willing to hear what the facts

are or what the real narrative around them is.

So this is the story.

If you remember back in the summer, we took a look at 1 Samuel 22.

1 Samuel 22, when David was told by Jonathan

that Saul had it out for him, that he needed to flee.

And so David is on the run because Jonathan has told him, my father intends to kill you and

he's really gonna follow through with it.

And so the first stop, David fled in such a hurry, he didn't have provisions,

he didn't have weapons.

First stop was the tabernacle of God, which was the portable temple that was

in Israel.

And Ahimelech is the high priest.

And we read, we remember then that David asked Ahimelech

for bread and if he had a sword.

And Ahimelech gave him the bread of the presence and

Ahimelech gave him the sword of Goliath.

Now it's important to note this, that when you read the narrative, David never once

told the truth to Ahimelech that Saul was trying to kill him and

that he was fleeing for his life.

In fact, David straight up lied to Ahimelech and basically made it look like they were heading

out to go fight the Philistines.

He didn't give him correct information.

So Ahimelech had no clue that David was on the run, none

whatsoever, he was not participating in any kind of

treasonous act whatsoever.

He was acting in good faith.

We know this because the narrative tells us.

But if you remember, Doeg the Edomite was there and saw

Ahimelech give provision to David and his men and saw Ahimelech give

the sword of Goliath to David.

So the fact is, yes, it's true, Ahimelech gave provision

and a weapon to David and his men.

This is most certainly true.

But watch how slander works in this situation.

Saul heard that David was discovered and the men who were with him, Saul

was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with a spear in his hand.

All of his servants were standing about him.

And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, here now people of Benjamin, will the son of Jesse give every one of

you fields and vineyards?

Will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that all of you have conspired against me?

No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse.

None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me

to lie and wait as this day.

And note the slander here.

Did Jonathan stir up David to lie and wait for the life of Saul?

No.

So already we can see that Saul is spinning a

slanderous and false narrative.

It is true that Jonathan warned David and David fled.

It is slanderous, breaking of the eighth commandment and false to say that Jonathan

stirred up David against Saul.

That's not true.

David does not desire harm for Saul at all.

And we know this because as we read through the story in the summer, we saw on two occasions, God gave Saul into

the hand of David and David wouldn't raise a finger against him, wouldn't harm him at all.

So we know this is a fact, but yet Saul here is slandering David and he's doing so with

a nugget of truth that Jonathan warned David.

So then answered Doeg the Edomite who stood by the servants of Saul, I saw

the son of Jesse coming to Nob to Ahimelech the son of Ahuthab.

And he inquired of Yahweh for him, gave him provisions, gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.

Is that true?

Straight up true.

Everything he said factually correct.

Ahimelech blessed them, gave them food and a sword.

Did Ahimelech do so because he was participating in treason against Saul?

No, not at all.

Verse 11, so the king sent to summon Ahimelech, the priest, the son of Ahuthab,

and all of his father's house, the priests who were at Nob and all of them came to the king.

Saul said, here now son of Ahuthab.

And he answered, here I am Lord, my Lord.

And Saul said to him, why have you conspired against me

and the son of Jesse in that you have given him bread and a sword and have inquired of God for him so that he has risen

against me to lie in wait as at this day?

That's called a loaded question.

Notice it assumes guilt, but what's the slander in it?

Yeah, okay, so he's accusing him of something that isn't true.

What is he accusing him of?

Yeah, so he's accusing him of conspiracy and treason.

Conspiracy and treason.

Is he guilty of this?

Notice, no due process here.

The charge is leveled.

The guilt is assumed.

And so what comes out of Ahimelech next is truth.

So Ahimelech answered the king, and who among all your servants is so faithful as David?

Who is the king's son -in -law, the captain over your bodyguard and honored in your house?

Is today the first time that I have inquired of God for him?

No.

Let not the king impute anything to his servant or to all of his house of my father, for your servant

has known nothing of all of this much or little.

True or false?

So you get a note.

Ahimelech totally believes, totally says the truth.

He hasn't lied.

He's spoken the truth.

The charges are false.

And so the king said, you shall surely die.

Ahimelech, you and all your father's house.

The king said to the guard who stood about him, turn and kill the priest of the Lord because their hand also

is with David.

And they knew that he fled and did not disclose it to me.

Lie, straight up lie.

So note, and this is generally how it works with slander and gossip.

The truth was spoken, but the truth did not do anything.

The lies were assumed and Ahimelech dies.

Eventually Doeg the Edomite follows through on the king's orders and kills Ahimelech and all of the priests

innocently.

Straight up innocent blood.

And so I always find it fascinating.

It is not an accident that slander and murder,

they are so close to each other.

You know, over and again, the person who slanders is a murderer

of people's reputations, but nobody ends up in prison for murdering somebody's

reputation.

Yeah, everybody else is like, no way, we're not killing the priest.

They feared God too much.

But Doeg's an Edomite, so he doesn't have the same fear of Yahweh that the rest of them did.

So there you see it.

And this is totally out of order for Christians.

Let me take a look at another text here then real quick.

Who was it that betrayed Christ?

Judas.

And if you remember last week, we noted the fact that it was Judas who made the big kerfuffle

regarding the woman who anointed Christ prior to his death with the nard.

Matthew 26, 14 then says one of the 12 whose name was Judas.

Ascariot, he went to the chief priest and he said, what will you give me if I deliver him over to you?

And see, that's the thing.

Slander is a betrayal.

Slander is ultimately a betrayal.

It's a betrayal against your friends, it's against your neighbors, against your brothers and sisters in Christ.

You have to see it as that.

Would the things you are speaking against your neighbor, slandering them, if they came to

light, would that destroy the relationship?

Would that person feel betrayed by you?

So what will you give me if I deliver him up?

And he said, 30 pieces of silver.

From that moment, he sought an opportunity to betray Christ.

And slander really is truly a betrayal.

James chapter four then talking about what is appropriate

as Christians.

You know, how are we to treat each other?

For the context, I'm gonna start at verse eight.

James chapter four.

Draw near to God, He will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners.

Purify your hearts, you double -minded.

Be wretched and mourn and weep.

Let your laughter turn to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will exalt you.

It's a good Lenten passage if you think about it.

Lent is about weeping over our sins, mourning, humbling

ourselves and asking God to forgive.

And this is a great point to say.

The person who does that hears the absolution and receives it rightly.

That you are forgiven in Christ.

And so because of this, do not speak evil against one

another, brothers, sisters.

Do not speak evil against one another.

The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil

against the law and judges the law.

I mean, consider the implications of what that says.

Scripture says, do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

And you say, yeah, but.

And then you go and you speak falsely against your neighbor.

You betray him and you gossip against him or her.

You slander them.

You're speaking against the law itself.

You're saying that law doesn't apply to me.

Although God's word says don't do that, I'm justified because in this circumstance,

it doesn't apply.

No way, no way.

Do not speak evil against one another.

The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks evil against the law, judges the law.

And if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge.

There's only one lawgiver and judge who's able to save and to destroy.

But who are you to judge your neighbor?

Sobering words.

Zechariah 8, 17.

I'll start in 14 for the context.

Thus says Yahweh, stavaoth, the Lord of armies, as I purposed to

bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says Yahweh,

stavaoth, so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem

and to the house of Judah.

Fear not.

These are the things that you shall do.

Speak the truth to one another.

Render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.

Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.

And love no false oath, for all of these things I hate, declares

Yahweh.

So note, there's wonderful contrast just in that paragraph.

The contrast between the fact that God, and we talked about this on Wednesday when we read

Lamentations 2, how God judged unrelentingly, just let everybody have it,

and He acted in His wrath.

But in this, He's contrasting that with Him purposing to do good,

and calling them to repent, to speak the truth to one another, to not devise evil in

your hearts against one another.

Love no false oath, all of these things I hate, declares Yahweh.

God hates those things.

And we noted earlier in the year, in the summer, that the Proverbs make it very clear, the

gossip itself is an abomination to God.

Let me hunt this down in the Proverbs real quick.

16, there are six things that Yahweh hates, seven that are an abomination to Him.

Haughty eyes, which is pride, a lying tongue, God

hates, that's an abomination, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make

haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one

who sows discord among brothers.

You gotta note, the word abomination here, I don't think it gets any stronger than that.

When you talk about homosexuality in the book of Leviticus, book of Leviticus says that

it is an abomination before God, the man lies with another man as he would lie with a woman.

It says it's an abomination.

That same word here is used of the gossip, of the slanderer, one who breathes

out lies and sows discord among brothers, which is exactly what the slanderer

does.

I mean, think, I've seen this so many times.

A slanderer, when they speak their lies, it doesn't create unity, it creates

discord.

It takes a group of people who are united and divides them.

And the division is caused by their lies, their slander, their gossip.

And now people are called to kind of muster, if you would, and draw lines against each other.

You're either with me or you're against me.

You're with our group or you're not with our group.

And what are we united around?

That person is a lousy, good -for -nothing so -and -so because, well, the gossip said

so.

And you either agree with that person or you don't.

And oftentimes, the divisions are hard -line divisions long

before the person even realizes they're being lied about.

Because isn't this how it always works?

When you hear gossip about somebody, you don't call that person up or meet with them because you're

concerned.

For them, you talk amongst each other and that person has no idea that these lies are being

spread until it is already a raging fire.

And what's being burnt to the ground is their reputation.

It's like we need smoke detectors, smoke detectors that can detect gossip so we can put the fire out quick before

somebody's reputation is burned down to the ground.

Always fascinating to me.

Slanderers oftentimes operate the way they do in order to make themselves look good, make

themselves look righteous, make themselves look holy, make themselves look pious.

But their piety is based upon how many dead bodies and dead reputations they've

burned to the ground.

They're like the last person standing and nobody sees it for what it is.

Another example in Scripture of overt slander.

We didn't read this this summer, but in 2 Samuel chapter 15, we

get the beginning portion of a story about the coup d 'etat

that one of David's sons concocted against his father.

And this is the fellow whose name is Absalom.

It ends tragically, by the way.

The coup d 'etat really picks up speed later in this text.

And David has to flee Jerusalem for his life.

But here's how it begins.

2 Samuel 15, verse one.

After this, Absalom got himself a chariot and horses and 50

men to run before him.

Absalom used to rise early and stand beside the way of the gate.

Now, a little bit of a note as to what this means.

The days before telephone, internet, mail, email, I mean, there's no postal service or anything like that.

So if you have a case that you need to be brought before the king,

you would come to Jerusalem.

And the place to find what's the next step, you would meet with the city

elders who position themselves at the city gate for the purpose of finding your next steps.

It's like, okay, I've got a case.

I need the king to hear it.

My neighbor did such and such, or they took this, that, or I need the king to hear this and make a decision.

As you remember, in a monarchy, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial

are all in one person.

They're not split up like they are in our republic.

So the king would not only make legislation, he'd be also responsible for making sure that it was followed.

He would also hear the cases then as judge.

And so all three of these branches are in the monarch.

And so you'd show up, let's say somebody moved the territory marker for your

property.

And so all of a sudden, you find that you're missing a few acres of land because they moved the marker stone, and which is

something that happened back then.

You would bring your case to the king and bring your evidence.

So, but you would have to travel to Jerusalem, go to the city elders who literally hung out at the city gates, which

makes sense.

You know, when you come into the city gates, what are you here for?

Oh, I'm here for this, that, or the other thing.

Okay, you go there.

I'm here to go to the market.

You just go that way.

What are you here for?

Oh, I need the king to hear this case.

Okay, come with me.

We'll take you over here.

That's how that worked.

You sort people out at the city gate.

This is where Absalom set himself up.

Absalom used to rise early, stand beside the way of the gate.

And when any man had a dispute to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and say,

from what city are you?

And when he would say, well, your servant is such and such a tribe in Israel, Absalom would say to him, well, see, your

claims are good and right.

But alas, there's no man designated by the king to hear you.

What?

King David isn't acting in the judicial part of his kingship?

He's straight up lying about his father.

See, my father, by saying this, he's basically saying my dad is a terrible king.

He cares nothing about you people.

And when you have real just causes that you need to have him rule on,

he's too busy for you.

He's got other things that he's doing.

So he's just a terrible, terrible king.

He cares nothing about you people.

That's what he's literally saying.

So Absalom would say, see, your claims are good and right, but alas, there's no man designated by the king to hear you.

And then Absalom would say, oh, if only there were a judge in the land, then every

man with a dispute or cause might come to me and I would give him justice.

And whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he would put out his hand and take hold of him and kiss him.

Thus Absalom did to all of Israel who came to the king for judgment.

So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

So these people would come to Jerusalem seeking justice and they would get none.

They would have Absalom tell them, if I were king, then you can bring these cases

and I would hear them and I would rule in your favor.

He was straight up slandering his dad.

And this is how he built a groundswell of support for him by

falsely creating the impression that his father cared nothing about justice in

Israel, but that he did.

And all of this was phase one of his big takeover, his coup d 'etat,

where he tried to have his father killed so that he can become king.

All begins with slander.

Furthermore, then, we understand this.

Because we fear and love God as forgiven sinners, we speak constructively

about others.

This then would include defending our neighbors when others are speaking badly of them.

This could cause something awkward to happen, but let's take a look at Proverbs

31, verses eight and nine.

Listen to this.

Open your mouth for the mute.

Open your mouth for the rights of all who are destitute.

Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and the

needy.

Sometimes the person who is mute is a person who's not in the room, who's having their

reputation destroyed mercilessly by a slander or a gossip.

What are you to do in that circumstance?

You raise your voice and you say, that's not true.

What you've said is false.

This may not go over well.

You may not be invited to that party or that group ever again.

It definitely has a way of doing that.

But we are to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves.

And sometimes they can't speak for themselves because they're unable to speak.

Sometimes they're not able to speak for themselves because they're not present to know what's going on.

So in the face of somebody flagrantly breaking the eighth commandment against a neighbor, a loved one, a brother or sister in

Christ, it doesn't matter if the person is a nefarious criminal.

If somebody's lying against them, you speak up.

You say, that person may be guilty of that thing and we all know that, but what you're saying is false.

What you're saying is absolutely false.

We already talked about how Jesus, the woman who anointed his feet, he spoke up

in the face of the lies that were being spoken against her by Judas.

He spoke up and defended her.

It's another example of it.

It's also important whenever possible to draw attention to our neighbor's good qualities and deeds.

I find it fascinating that this is the text that is recommended for this one, but I think it's a little bit of

an abuse of the text,.

But we'll take a look at it.

Take a look at Luke chapter seven.

Let's take a look at the whole story.

And the idea is speaking well of your neighbor's good qualities.

And I find it fascinating that you can find an example of this with this particular set of

circumstances.

Let me give you just a wee bit of the background here.

So in the time of Jesus, Israel is not autonomous.

It is not its own nation state.

It is part of the bigger Roman Empire and there are occupation soldiers

there, Roman centurions.

Generally, Jews and Roman centurions did not get along.

And you're gonna note that one of Jesus' disciples, one of the 12, was a

zealot.

Now, have you ever read the word zealot and go, what's that?

Does that mean that the guy was like really on fire for the Lord?

No, a zealot back in Jesus' day, the best way I

could put it, if you want a historical counterpart,

would be like an ISIS fighter, a terrorist, a

member of the Taliban, you know?

So when you read about the zealots, think of them like the Taliban or think of them like ISIS.

Let me explain.

The zealots, these were fellows who were so done with being occupied

by Rome that they would kill Roman centurions.

Now, these are the days before they had IEDs and explosives and things like this.

So what they would generally do, one of their tactics was, is they would set up a scenario in

Jerusalem, you know?

So they would start a fight there in Jerusalem.

Some guy would get into a bar fight with another guy and next thing you know, there's a mob of people and they're yelling and screaming and

stuff like this.

And occupation soldiers have double duty.

Not only are they soldiers, they're also policemen, which is one of the reasons why you don't want policemen and soldiers being the same thing.

That's a different story.

So their job is to keep the peace and not let things get out of hand because a mob action like that could

turn into, you know, grow and turn into an insurrection.

The Roman soldiers, they would respond.

And they would march out there with their spears and their swords and get, you know, go to the place where the stuff was

going.

And if while the kerfuffle was going on, the zealots could peel one of these guys or

a couple of them off, isolate them from the rest of the group.

It would only take two seconds to slit his throat and make it so that that guy would bleed

out.

And they were great at it.

And so the zealots, they were terrorists.

They were political terrorists trying to get rid of the Romans.

One of Jesus' disciples is that.

So you can get, knowing this then, occupation soldiers and Romans

and Israelis didn't really get along.

I mean, think of it this way.

In World War II, the United States, after the fall of Germany, we had troops that were on the

ground.

You know, we were responsible for, you know, a particular sector of Germany.

And there's a fascinating thing that happened.

After the war, Germans and Americans, they weren't really at each other's throats.

And a lot of guys, our soldiers, came home with German brides.

Weird thing, right?

That does not exist today.

How many U .S. soldiers do you know who go to Afghanistan or to Iraq, come home

with Afghani brides, Iraqi brides?

None.

It's against their religion.

Oh yeah.

That type of hostility then to Americans, that's the

hostility that Israelis have against the Romans in this day.

Just keep that in mind.

So this story then really stands out for many reasons.

But that being, you kind of get the cultural context then.

So Luke 7, 1.

After Jesus had finished all of this, all of his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

A centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was

highly valued by him.

And I want to see the Greek on this real quick.

Yep, slave.

It's probably better rendered slave.

So when the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews

asking him to come and heal his servant, which is kind of unheard of.

So here you got this occupation Roman centurion who has a slave, who's sick to

the point of death, and he has a good enough rapport with the city elders, with the Jewish elders,

that they go and speak on his behalf to Jesus.

And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly saying, he is worthy to have you do this

for him.

He loves our nation.

He's the one who built us our synagogue.

Now full stop here for a second.

Technically, this is an example of putting the best construction on things and speaking well.

And this is a stand out story for the reason that they're speaking well of an

occupation Roman soldier, which tells you that this fellow, although he was

an occupation soldier, learned that there's kind of two ways that you can govern.

You can govern by putting everybody under your boot, or you can govern by finding

ways to find common ground and working together and being peaceful.

Although he's a Roman centurion, out of his own pocket, he's helped pay to have

the synagogue built.

He is a guy who is doing civic good works.

And as a result of it has built the trust of the people there.

Now they overcooked the case a little bit here, because who of us can say that we are worthy to receive

from Jesus a miracle, a healing or anything?

None of us can.

So they overcooked it.

And this guy has a conscience.

He has a conscience.

So he's worthy to have you do this.

No, he's not.

He loves our nation.

Well, yeah, he does.

And he's the one who built our synagogue.

So notice we're speaking well of an enemy.

This is a good example of that.

So Jesus went with them.

And when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends saying to him, Lord, do

not trouble yourself.

I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.

Now the truth comes out.

Now the truth comes out.

None of us are, by the way.

None of us are worthy to have Jesus come under our roof.

So he says, therefore, I do not presume to come to you.

So notice he, at this point, is kind of guilt -ridden because he knows that they have said he's worthy.

He's not.

And so he doesn't want to act presumptuously and even show up face -to -face and ask Jesus himself.

So instead, you can kind of think of this as a written correspondence or a prayer

to Jesus through an intermediary.

Go and tell Jesus I'm not worthy.

I don't presume to have you come under my roof.

But watch what he says.

I don't presume to come to you, but say the word and let my servant be healed.

And this is a great deduction on his part.

He says, I, too, am a man set under authority.

Good way of thinking about authority.

Authority gives you permission to do things and not do things.

He says, with soldiers under me, I say to one, go, he goes.

I say to another, come, and he comes.

And to my servant, do this, and he does it.

So he understands that there's something to authority and he assumes that Jesus is a fellow who has authority.

And so Jesus, when he heard these things, he marveled at him, turning to the crowd that followed him, said, I tell you, not even

in Israel have I found such faith.

Faith, consider the source.

Faith in a pagan Roman soldier.

And so when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Very interesting, okay?

So here we have, that's, it's a little bit stretching the butter a wee bit thin, but you get the idea.

Put the best construction.

Speak as well as you can.

Speak well about others.

In 1 Samuel 19, yes, sir?

What disciple, do we know

his name?

I think it was the other Judas, wasn't it?

It was Judas Iscariot.

Simon.

Simon the Zealot.

Simon the Zealot, that's right.

It's Simon.

Simon.

Simon the Zealot.

Jesus really picked the cream of the crop for the disciples, you know.

Fisherman, terrorist, you know.

Okay, okay.

1 Samuel 19, here we have a great example of Jonathan speaking

the truth and speaking well of David in the face of his father's slander against

David.

1 Samuel 19, Saul spoke to Jonathan, his son, and to all his servants that they should kill

David.

Kill him!

Kill him!

Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David, and Jonathan told David, Saul, my father seeks to

kill you.

Therefore, be on your guard in the morning.

Stay in a secret place and hide yourself.

I'll go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are.

I will speak to my father about you, and if I learn anything, I'll tell you.

So Jonathan spoke well of David to Saul, his father, and said to him, let not the king sin against his

servant, David, because he has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have brought good to you.

For he took his life in his hand, he struck down the Philistine, and the Lord worked a great salvation for all of

Israel.

You saw it and rejoiced, so why then will you sin against innocent blood by killing David

without cause?

Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan.

Saul swore, as Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.

He then goes back on that later, right?

And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan reported to him all these things, and Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in the

presence as before.

And I would note here that this is a wonderful example because Jonathan is speaking well of David in the face of

his father claiming that he should die.

And Saul, I mean, he is the highest authority in the land.

So consider really the boldness and bravery of Jonathan to speak well of David

despite the fact that the king himself wants him dead.

Very fascinating, so speak well of your neighbor.

We should also seek to understand our neighbor's actions in the most positive light, and explain them in

the kindest possible way.

This is one of the reasons why I noted that slander oftentimes will get data points correct and

spin a false narrative around them.

So you gotta make sure that in a situation where you sit there and go, okay, well, that's the data point, that's the data point, and they're

saying this is the reason why we as Christians step back and we seek understanding.

So we go to our neighbor and we ask the question.

Okay, so I'm hearing that you did this, this, and this, but they're saying the reason you did this is this.

Well, what's going on?

Oh, yeah, I did this, this, and this, but I'm not doing it for this reason.

I did this, this, and this because of this reason over here.

Oh, ah, got it.

1 Peter 4, 8 says, above all, keep loving one another earnestly since love covers a

multitude of sins.

Indeed it does.

Ephesians 4, 15 says, speak the truth in love.

We are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.

And then you're gonna note 1 Corinthians 13.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all

things.

Kind of an important idea then.

So kind of connections and applications as we finish up our look then at the Eighth

Commandment.

The question is, what are some of the ways in which people's reputations are destroyed in our society?

I would just say take a look at the news channels and look at the political rhetoric back and forth.

It's not even, there's no attempts anymore at all in any kind of civil discourse.

And when you read American history, people of different political parties were able to actually sit down

and negotiate and compromise and work out a solution that was for the best of the country.

And currently the way things are set up in our society, it's a winner -take -all approach.

And the winner usually wins by destroying the opposition.

And I would say this, when it comes to political discourse and political things,

sometimes the truth or what's best is not to ideologically

be one way or another, but to hear the points of view of everybody and to

understand where somebody is coming from.

And I hate to say this, left and right, neither of them are interested in listening to the others.

And there are valid concerns and there is over -the -top rhetoric on both sides.

And the solution is not to destroy the other, the opposition, the right thing to

do is to understand where they're coming from and find the best solution for our country.

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 4 .15 to speak the truth in love.

What does that mean then?

It means to speak truthfully to others for their wellbeing, to build others up toward the mature fullness of

life that we have in Christ.

It includes gently admonishing or encouraging people to repent of their sins and sometimes firmly,

right?

Pointing out the dangers of false teaching and false teachers.

And we know a great example then of somebody who had to be confronted with their

sin was David.

David had committed the sin of adultery and then followed it up with murder

and covered it up.

God sent Nathan the prophet and confronted him straight up with his sin, right to his face,

firmly held his ground.

But even in the midst of that, Nathan was not, you know, didn't pull out his

lightsaber and lop David's head off.

Instead, he starts off with an interesting little proverb about a man who owned a little lamb.

Very fascinating.

And what did it result in?

David's repentance and he received an absolution from Nathan that day.

And we have Psalm 51.

No sooner does Nathan leave that David pulls out parchment and pen and Psalm

51 is penned for us.

So we always got to keep that in mind.

Ultimately as Christians, our goal for people is their repentance and their forgiveness.

And then last in this idea then is that we've noted this before and continue to have to

bring it up that when it comes to the Eighth Commandment, the Eighth Commandment at times

has to give way to the commandment regarding you shall not murder.

Let me explain from a text.

Exodus 1.

Exodus 1.

And we note in the book of Exodus that it begins with the

fact that a new king of Egypt has arisen, a new pharaoh who doesn't know Joseph.

The people of Israel are put into slavery in Egypt and forced into hard

labor.

And then the pharaoh, concerned of how much the

Israelis, the Hebrews are multiplying, comes up with a

solution that is that all the male Hebrew boys are to be put to death.

And we read this story, Exodus 1 .15.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of them whose name was Shipra and the other Pua, by the way, it's

a big honor to have your name mentioned in scripture, especially even for women.

He says, when you serve as a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you

shall kill him.

If it is a daughter, she shall live.

So they are ordered specifically by the king of Egypt to kill male babies.

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the male children live.

So we know the truth of the matter.

They allowed the male children to live in defiance of the order of the king.

So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, why have you done this and let the male children live?

And then what comes out next, they are totally lying through their teeth.

The midwives said to Pharaoh, well, Hebrew women, they're not like Egyptian women, they're vigorous.

And they give birth before the midwife comes to them.

Yeah, you don't understand these Hebrew women, man, I tell you, they're busy doing their work and all of a sudden they go, oh!

And the next thing you know, the baby's right out and we weren't able to kill him.

They straight up lied.

Straight up lied to the face of Pharaoh.

So you're gonna note that in this case, in order to save a life, they had to not

tell the truth.

This is a rare exception in scripture that shows up.

And again, I keep pointing back, if you lived in Nazi -occupied Europe and you

were hiding Jews to keep them from going to the gas chambers, then if an SS

knocks on your door and asks, do you have any Jews in here, are you hiding any Jews?

The answer is no, we're not hiding any Jews.

See, that's, and this is where we get this.

So we understand then that because we live in a sinful fallen creation,

there are times when in order to save the life of our neighbor, that we will trust

that even though we haven't spoken the truth to the authorities in order to save their lives,

that even that is forgiven by Christ.

So Shipra and Pua are held up as an example of this for us.

We will end our study on the Eighth Commandment there.