June 2005

Proverbs 6:16-19
We’ve come to the end of our list of the seven things that God hates – one who sows discord among brethren. This one is interesting because what we might consider discord and what God considers discord may not be the same thing.

Some people today think that Christians should never judge anyone else’s beliefs, and they should put aside anything that might cause disunity, even if that means disregarding Scripture. For instance, there is a church in our area that has told its teachers and leaders that they are not to mention the word “sin”. They are afraid of pushing people away if they dare say anything so negative.

But if we do not tell the world they are sinners, then they do not need a Savior, and if they do not need a Savior, then we don’t have Christianity at all. We might as well meet as a social club and forget spiritual things.

Other people think that doctrine is a dirty word. They want to blur all denominational lines and bring everyone together under one big banner of unity. But what if the doctrine that is different between us is a matter of eternal significance? What if the teaching of a particular church is that I must work for my salvation, when that goes against the clear teaching of the Bible?

That kind of disunity or discord is not what God hates.

I believe what God is talking about here is when someone comes into a setting where Christians are getting along, worshipping the Lord, trying to obey His Word, and they purposely do things to cause a problem. They gossip about someone they don’t like or they go around complaining about something or someone behind their back rather than go to the person and resolve the issue. One thing leads to another and then more people complain and more people become disgruntled, and before you know it whole families leave churches over silly issues, and discord abounds.

I’ve been in several churches over the years and have seen this happen. In one case, the music director had a beef with the pastor, and decided to stir up trouble by stabbing him in the back for something he did without congregational approval. This music leader started the ball rolling, and it was all downhill from there until there was a nasty church split over the littlest thing. It had nothing to do with the man’s teaching or any other Bible issue. People left because of a copy machine!

That kind of thing does not bring God praise. It degrades His name and shows the world a Christianity that cannot live in harmony because people focus on their own demands and selfish pursuits rather than on the Lord.

That is sowing discord among brethren.

Proverbs 6:16-19
Number six on the list of the things God hates is not much different than number two. A false witness who speaks lies and a lying tongue sound pretty alike to me. But a false witness goes beyond what a simple lie can do.

For instance – when I was asked to lie for my boss all those years ago (see previous post), that lie would not have been life-threatening. It would not have resulted in anyone being seriously hurt or punished for something they did not do. It was still wrong, but it wasn’t hurtfully wrong.

A false witness, on the other hand, hurts people. To testify against another person making untrue statements can do great harm. False witnesses have sent innocent people to prison. False witnesses have led to needless executions. False witnesses helped send Jesus to the cross.

The gospels tell us that the Jewish leaders tried to find witnesses against Jesus. There had to be two that agreed to convict a man, and none of them did. At last they found two to corroborate, though their testimony was hardly something worth condemning a man. Jesus’ admission to being the Christ is what sent them into a fury, demanding his death.

But that doesn’t negate the part those false witnesses had to play. How many people over the years have died for crimes they didn’t commit, all because someone was willing to lie against them?

It has happened all throughout history, and Scripture warns us it will happen again. There is nothing new under the sun, including this.

All the more reason to be careful how we speak. A false witness doesn’t have to be sitting in a courtroom. Lying about your friend or parent or sibling can happen every day in any home.

Something to think about…

Proverbs 6:16-19
Have you ever considered evil? What would you call evil in this day and age? Murder? Rape? Incest? Pornography? Extortion? Gambling? Homosexuality? Stealing? Drunkenness? Lying? Unbelief?

Some of these things may not sound so bad to you, depending on your belief system. Society determines what is good and evil, right? So if a society says that pornography is okay but child pornography is not, then selling sex to adults must be acceptable. If the society legalizes gambling, then it can’t be all bad. Or if sodomy is stricken from the law books and no longer considered wrong, then society should accept that. Right?

We could debate the issue of right and wrong, and one society will deem something acceptable while another won’t. And who determines what is right for everyone? If missionaries to some secluded tribe discover that cannibalism is an accepted practice, are they somehow misguided to want to teach those people that cannibalism is wrong?

When the United States was founded, everything I listed above would have been considered evil by most people. Over two hundred years later and the feet of the people of this land are swift to run to do many of the things once considered wrong.

Why is that? If society has changed, does that mean those things are no longer evil?

I Corinthians 6:9-11 says, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

There is still a standard that supersedes all others, a final word on good and evil. Everyone has broken that standard at one point or another. And though each one of us has the propensity toward evil, God through Christ Jesus can wash us clean. Then we will go from committing the sins God hates, to being bathed in His love, with feet that are swift in running to good.

Proverbs 6:16-19
Have you ever imagined what goes on inside the mind of a killer? Or a kidnapper? A burglar? A rapist? Do you ever wonder what makes them commit such evil? What wounded them to the point that they now wound others?

Movies, TV dramas, human interest stories, and suspense novels can give us an inside glimpse into this seamier side of life. Method actors study their character’s motives until they can hear their thoughts inside their heads. In the process, maybe they understand a little of what drives the heart to devise such wicked schemes.

Of course, Scripture already gives us the answer. We are all born into sin. The Bible says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV) That’s true of your heart and mine, apart from the saving blood of Jesus Christ.

A heart that devises wicked schemes is a person who purposely plans to do evil. Like the school boy who decided to shoot his classmates, or the woman who drove her children into the lake so they would drown.

While these cases are extreme from the norms of society, Christians can fall into the trap of scheming to sin as well. Have you ever called a friend to complain about another person, knowing that you were going to shred that person with your words? Or what about planning that romantic date with a girlfriend that includes sleeping with her outside of marriage?

It isn’t just the serial killers and the kidnappers who devise wicked schemes. Any time our hearts make plans that break God’s laws, we risk displeasing Him. Better to set our hearts on obeying the Lord’s will and in the process, guard our hearts from all wickedness.

Proverbs 6:16-19
When I read this phrase, “hands that shed innocent blood”, listed among the seven things God hates, the first thing I think of is the slaughter of innocent, preborn children through abortion. Or nations who have committed genocide, as the Nazis did to the Jews during WWII. Then there are those who kidnap people and kill them for the sheer pleasure of killing. Or people who kill out of rage or selfishness, who simply have no respect for life.

So how on earth could this verse ever apply to me? I have never killed anyone. Yet as I pondered the thought, I remembered a man in Scripture who tried to claim his own innocence by washing his hands of blood all the while giving the order to kill an innocent man. He was a Roman governor named Pilate.

When Pilate stood before Jesus, washing his “innocent” hands, the Jewish people were crying out, “Let his blood be on us and on our children.”

But it was a Roman lash that scourged him. Roman thorns that bruised him. Roman soldiers whose hammers pounded the nails that broke through his tender flesh. Roman armies who guarded him.

Yet the Jewish leaders mocked him. Their voices slandered and abused him. Their words sentenced him. Their sins led to his cruel death.

If not for their demands, he might have gone free.

So whose hands were guilty of shedding Jesus’ innocent blood?

My hands drip with the blood of His innocence. My cries, my voice, my words, my deeds sent him to that cross. For I too am guilty. His blood was shed for me.

God hates the hands that shed innocent blood, while at the same time He is the only One who is able to wash them clean. It “pleased the Lord to bruise him (Christ)”, for our sake. We cannot wash our own hands, as Pilate did and declare ourselves innocent.

Only God can. That He is willing to do so is mind-boggling.

Proverbs 6:16-19
Have you ever been lied to? Ever trusted someone to do something or be somewhere or keep your confidence, only to find out they are not trustworthy?

Or maybe you’ve been the one doing the lying. Got caught in a situation where you shaded the truth just a little. Thought the person wouldn’t do what you wanted if you were honest or were afraid honesty would cause hard feelings, so you told a lie to cover your tracks, to protect your image, or to spare your friend pain.

It happens all the time. A few days back I shared with you my encounter with the sales rep office where they wanted me to lie. They were convinced that there was no difference between a “real” lie and a “little white” one. Is there a difference in God’s eyes?

Proverbs 12:22 says “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.”

But what if you’re in a life-threatening situation? Isn’t it all right to lie to save your skin? The Bible has examples where people did just that – David, Rahab, Abraham and Sarah, and probably many more. In some cases God appears silent on the subject; in others the consequences are obvious. Either way His Word is clear. He doesn’t approve.

In reality, the lies we are daily faced with or tempted to utter aren’t life-threatening. They are matters of convenience. Sometimes they are self-preserving, like the kind of lie we might utter if a girl asks a guy, “Do you like my new outfit?” If he hates it, but he wants to impress her, what does he say? Or if a friend asks, “Do you want to hang out?” and you really don’t, is it easier to lie and say “sure” and then not show up? Is breaking our word without a second thought a subtle form of the lie?

The problem with a lying tongue is that the more we do it, the easier it gets until we deceive even ourselves. But just one lie, once it is found out, shatters our credibility. People can’t or won’t trust us again. And trust once lost is a long time in being restored.

But more than that, lies offend God. Jesus once said of his disciple, Nathanael, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit.” Jesus, who can read the heart, knows if we are liars or not. And the truth is, there will be no liars in heaven. (Revelation 21:8)

So if the pattern of our lives is to lie without thinking, we better ask ourselves if we truly know the Lord. If we do, then we would do well to guard our tongue.