FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
Palm/Passion Sunday
April 4, 2004
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (#9)
Scripture: Exodus 20:16; Mark 14:53-72
(The theme of this sermon is taken from a sermon entitled “The Pittsburgh Sewer System,” preached by Dr. Robert Cleveland Holland, Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1975.)
Before we pray and read from the scripture, in case you haven’t heard, Georgia Tech is going to the NCAA finals. As a North Carolina graduate, I can say that with some sense of celebration, living here in Atlanta, Georgia with so many of you related to that great university.
It made me think of a story the other day about a college coach like Tech’s Paul Hewitt who was trying to recruit a high school senior who was a basketball star. The coach asked the student, “Are you a good shooter”? The student said “I am. I scored 72 points in a game just about a month ago.” The coach was impressed. He said, “Can you dunk”? The student said “Yes I can. I won the state dunking contest about six weeks ago. “Are you fast?” said the coach. The student said “Oh yes. I can run the 100 yard dash in less than 10 seconds.” “How about your academics?” asked the coach. The student said “I’ve made straight A’s ever since elementary school.” The coach was overwhelmed and replied “Do you have any weaknesses”? The boy looked at him and said “Well coach, sometimes I do lie a little.”
The truth is - Georgia Tech is going to the NCAA basketball collegiate finals and we congratulate them and wish them the best on Monday night against the University of Connecticut. With all of that said, our sermon today is focused on telling the truth as we read and remember the 9th commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
When Shirley Franklin became Mayor of our city, she promised to clean up the Atlanta sewer system. Politicians who preceded her didn’t want to touch it, but she knew that something had to be done. And just four months ago, with the help of the Governor and the State Legislature and the support of citizens across this entire region, it was announced that $500 million would be provided through loans over the next decade to see that project through to completion (“Perdue Offers Sewer Money,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, December 24, 2004, by Ty Tagami and Jim Tharpe). To be sure, we still have a long way to go, but suffice it to say, we are moving in the right direction.
However, there is another mess which we need to address, an equally difficult challenge that demands our attention. I am speaking now about another Atlanta sewer system which allows for gossip, slander, lying, rumors, deceit and deception. And although it won’t cost billions to fix it, the reality is that we need to do something about it, beginning with ourselves.
So I pray that our sermon today will lead us in the right direction as we reflect upon the 9th commandment: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
I.
On this Palm/Passion Sunday, we remember Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, as the crowds lined the streets and laid palm branches at His feet, shouting Hosanna! Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! (Matthew 21:9) What a grand and glorious parade!
But behind the scenes of celebration, the sewer system of that city was already pumping away, spreading rumors about Jesus as He threw the moneychangers out of the temple and began to preach and teach about the kingdom of God.
Matthew tells us that some of the religious leaders were Indignant…and challenged Jesus, saying “By what authority are you doing these things?” (Matthew 21:15, 23). Mark reports that those same officials tried to entrap Him with questions about paying taxes to Caesar and the interpretation of the scriptures (Mark 12:13-34).
And as the rumors leaked from that sewer system and spread across the city of Jerusalem, it wasn’t long before His adversaries had Jesus arrested, brought to trial, and in blatant defiance of the 9th commandment, they solicited people to bear false witness against Him (Mark 14:53-58).
In our day, when witnesses are sworn in, the court recorder asks if they will promise “to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” But on that day long ago, the courtroom was full of nothing but lies. In our day, a defendant is “presumed innocent until proven guilty.” But on that day long ago, this prophet and preacher, healer and teacher from Nazareth was presumed guilty without a chance of being set free.
II.
It still happens, you know – good people who are hurt and sometimes destroyed by rumors, deception, slander and deceit. At a gathering of business executives in Columbus, Ohio, the Chairman of the Board of a bank from Cincinnati was asked to speak about ethics in the marketplace, and this is what he said:
“In three weeks, I can destroy anyone in Cincinnati. I don’t have to do it directly; I can merely say ‘Have you heard this?’ or I can say ‘I understand he isn’t what he used to be.’ Or I can imply some change has come over him, or that there’s a shady deal somewhere, or I can say ‘Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!’ Then I can begin to drop other rumors here and there, and the tale grows with the telling. And in three weeks, the reputation of the most prominent citizen in Cincinnati can be destroyed.” (From a sermon “The Pittsburgh Sewer System,” by Dr. Robert Cleveland Holland, March 9, 1975, The Shadyside Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA)
Someone has said, “There are sewers in our cities not often drained, rarely cleaned out, seldom opened to the light, but they are sewers still, of the mind and of the mouth.” (Ibid)
And sad to say, it can happen in churches as well. One of my mentors and closest friends, the late Robert Cleveland Holland, once told the story about a small New York State village called Fillmore, nearby to where Dr. Holland was a student pastor in the 1940’s. He said:
“Something happened in Fillmore so ugly that it almost prompted me to choose another vocation. There was a Baptist church in that village which somehow or other had become the stage on which the people of that little town played out all their petty animosities and meanness. Every meeting of the Board of Deacons was a heated debate; every parish event became a battleground; every time two or more church members met and put their heads together, there was a conspiracy. Then they started spreading false rumors – a malicious story about their pastor… who was finally forced to resign. And he was innocent – I know that personally.
Well, there were 231 members of the Fillmore Baptist Church, and on the Sunday when that crucified minister preached his last sermon, he gave it the title: “231 Reasons Why God Can Do Nothing In Fillmore.” (Ibid)
You see, in a city or a tiny village, in a small business or a large corporation, in a school or a church, within a circle of friends or in the midst of a family, when the sewer system lets loose, breaking the 9th commandment can be ever so harmful and even deadly: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Which is exactly what happened to Jesus at that mock trial long ago in Jerusalem. When He was asked point blank, “Are you the Christ, the son of the blessed?” in Mark’s gospel He answered “I am…” Then all hell broke loose when they condemned Him as deserving death and began to beat and to spit on Him” (Mark 14:61-65). And on each of the days in the coming week, we are going to re-tell and re-enact how the story unfolded and finally turned out.
III.
So what can we do about it – about the sewer system that dumps slander and rumors, gossip and deception, deceit and lies into the mainstream of our everyday life? We know it starts at an early age, as cookies disappear from the cookie jar and children say, “It wasn’t me. I’m not to blame.”
And on into adolescence, as teenagers struggle to tell the truth about where they’ve been on a Saturday night, about the dent in the front bumper, the report card that was mysteriously misplaced or the cigarettes found in the coat pocket: “They’re not mine – I took them away from a friend who’s trying to kick the habit.”
And on into adulthood, as we slip into those little white lies that make life more convenient and less painful: “I’m sorry to be late. My alarm clock didn’t go off” (when it really did). “No, we can’t make it on Saturday night. We have a previous engagement” (When we really don’t).
The problem becomes far more serious when we lose touch with the truth and create false images wherein what we say is not in sync with what we do, or when we conceal something we know deep down in our hearts ought to be revealed, or when we manipulate a situation or someone else to achieve our own ends, or as we hesitate to come out into the open and hide the truth from a family member or friend. So what can we do about the sewer system?
Mark Twain’s solution was plain and simple. He said “Always tell the truth – it will confound your enemies and astound your friends.” But as Christians in the church, our ultimate hope and our greatest source of help in keeping the 9th commandment and becoming honest and authentic human beings, is found in Jesus Christ Himself, who said You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (John 8:32).
Jesus knew and He wants us to know today, that people do not bear false witness, lie or exaggerate because they are bad, but rather because they – because we are afraid. We are afraid that if we reveal ourselves, we will risk rejection. We’re afraid that if we come out into the open, people will not like what they see or hear about us. We’re afraid that if we tell the truth, we might lose the account or fail to make the deal.
And when we are willing to face those fears and to get real with God and with others, then these are the words we need to hear: My perfect love casts out all fear (I John 4:18).
You see, God sent His Son Jesus into this world to love us, to forgive us, to save us from sin and to set us free to become the people of integrity that He has called all of us to be.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor says the 9th commandment. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free said Jesus. Which means that we have already received the courage and the conviction, the guidance and the wisdom we need to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help us God.
So let us keep the 9th commandment as we seek to control our tongues, to fulfill our promises and to glorify God in all that we say and everything we do!
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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