The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
TRUTHFULNESS
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
TRUTHFULNESS
Lesson Plan:
1. Reverent Speech (Matt. 5:33-36; James 5:12)
2. Simple Speech (Matt. 5:37; James 5:12)
3. Restrained Speech (James 3:1-4)
4. Kindly Speech (James 3:5-8)
5. Consistent Speech (James 3:9-12)
6. Truthful Speech (Eph. 4:25)
Lesson Setting:
Time: The Sermon on the Mount was spoken in the summer of 28 A.D. The Epistle of James, the earthly brother of Christ, to the Christian Jews that had been scattered from Jerusalem, was probably written somewhere between 45-49 A.D. Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians was written during his first imprisonment, 62 A.D.
Place: The Sermon on the Mount was spoken on one of the hills west of the Sea of Galilee. James was with the church in Jerusalem. Paul wrote from Rome.
Inductive Study of the Lesson:
a. Read the passages selected from Matthew and James; also Ephesians 4:25
b. With Matthew 5:33 compare Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; Numbers 30:2; Deuteronomy 23:21; Matthew 23:16-22
c. As indicating allowable emphasis in speech, read Luke 1:73; Acts 2:30; Hebrews 3:11, 18; 4:3; 6:12-18; 7:20, 21. Read also Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20; Jeremiah 4:2; 12:16; Psalms 63:11
d. With "the wheel (course) of nature," James 3:6 (compare Ecclesiastes 12:6)
e. With James 3:7 compare Genesis 1:26, 28
f. With the trees named in James 3:12 compare Judges 9:7-15. With the last of the verse compare 2 Kings 2:19-22. See also Matthew 7:16-18
The Tongue (a Bad Master but a Fine Servant)
Introduction: Why did James say, "If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man" (Jas. 3:2)? – Because, through "out of the heart are the issues of life" speech is the main and almost the only avenue by which the heart, the inner life, expresses itself. "Speak, that I may see thee," said Socrates. Speech is the chief characteristic by which man is distinguished from brutes. Speech is the organ of civilization; wherever education is conducted, commerce carried on, society managed, politics promoted, and religion propagated. Hatred and love alike manifest themselves by speech. No one can be perfect in affairs of speech until he has become perfect in his soul.
Illustration: The philosopher Xanthus ordered his servant AEsop to prepare his best banquet for a certain important occasion. The feast consisted of only the tongues of many animals, cooked in many fashions. When the indignant philosopher summoned his steward, AEsop defended himself by showing how the tongue is the best, being the organ that teaches and comforts and cheers and advises and promises and inspires. "Well," said Xanthus, "if that is the case, make haste and prepare another feast; and give us this time the very worst you have." The steward obeyed, but the second time he again prepared tongues. "Why is this?" asked the angry Xanthus. "Master," said the wise steward, "the tongue is the worst as well as the best. By it comes treason and lying and slander. It is the organ of anger and every passion. It cheats and scolds and wheedles. It is frivolous and boastful and sensual. All evil is in the tongue."
AEsop was right, and therefore this is an important lesson, since it brings before us six of the leading sins of the tongue, with their corresponding excellencies. Emphasize the excellencies thus: Reverent Speech (Matt. 5:33-36; James 5:12) ... The evils of profanity; Simple Speech (Matt. 5:37; James 5:12) ... The evils of exaggeration; Restrained Speech (James 3:5-8) ... The evils of passion; Kindly Speech (Jas. 3:1-4) ... The evils of slander; Consistent Speech (James 3:9-12) ... The evils of flippancy; Truthful Speech (Eph. 4:25) ... The evils of lying.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:33-36
1. Reverent Speech
What is profanity? – Careless, irreverent speech about sacred persons or holy concerns.
What does the Old Testament say about swearing? – It forbids taking the name of God "in vain," that is, carelessly, irreverently upon ones lips; it commands that when one vows, be sure and perform what has been solemnly promised to the Lord. (See Inductive Study b. above)
How did the Jews of Christ's time interpret these commands? – They avoided swearing by the divine name, but used equivalents, making casuistical distinctions between different formulas in swearing. The Talmud discusses the question whether 'Yes and No' are oaths, and decides they are, if repeated twice. The Jews of Christ's time were like many today, of whom it can be said are fearfully profane. Many curse and swear when in a passion. Regretfully, many today use the very same sort of oaths that are mentioned and condemned by our Lord. The forms of cursing and swearing are almost infinite.
What rule did Christ lay down? – He forbade all swearing, whether the oath was performed or not, and whether it contained the name of Deity or not. He gave four examples of the folly of substitutionary oaths ...
v 34 ... "heaven," which should be sacred to us as the central home of God; "the earth," which is God's footstool, wherein He manifests Himself in lower, material ways, to be sure, but still manifests Himself; "Jerusalem," the holy city, consecrated by so many wonderful disclosures of the great King; the "head," because if this common oath means anything, it is a reference to one of God's most marvelous creations, a domain where man is absolutely powerless.
Does Christ forbid judicial oaths, attestations in courts of law? – No, since our Lord testified upon oath before the high priest. Paul especially calls God to witness twice, in his Epistle to the Romans. In refuting false accusations he solemnly asserted to the Galatians, "Before God, I lie not." Christ, however, would no doubt condemn rattling through the form of oath as some careless clerks administer it in some courts of law today, and certainly He would be pleased if laws against perjury were enforced.
What does Christ's rule, "Swear not at all" (v 34) forbid? – (a) All perjury. (b) All careless and trifling use of God's name and Christ's. Profanity has been called 'the great American sin,' since it is so common throughout the country. It is the most inexcusable of all sins. The excuse, "I mean nothing by it," admits the very essence of the sin. Swearing is 'meaning nothing' by the most sacred names that can be taken on our lips! It leads to 'meaning nothing' by them in our hearts. (c) The rule also forbids substitutionary swearing. Most of the seemingly meaningless terms thus used have origins that would shock us. For example: "Gee!" is a contraction for "Jesus;" "Gracious!" is short for "Gracious God;" "Jimminy!" is "Gemini," the heathen twin gods, Castor and Pollux. Even the most ridiculous 'play-swear' words that have been devised are used merely as evident substitutions for holy words, indicating that the speaker would like to use those words if he dared. (d) Finally, the rule forbids all irreverent use of the Bible, hymns, sacred things, great truths of life and destiny; all joking and punning upon them connecting funny stories with them. The essence of all this is profanity, i.e., a careless use of what should be treated with the greatest reverence.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:37; James 5:12
2. Simple Speech
What did Christ command, as a correction of the evils of profanity? – Simplicity in speech: "Let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay" (Matthew, R.V.). Let your affirmative discourse be a simple yea, and your negative nay ... "Let your yea be (merely) yea, and your nay (merely) nay" (James 5:12).
What does this mean? – It does not forbid specially solemn and emphatic statements, God Himself had at times recognized this necessity (see Inductive Study c. above). Moreover, Christ frequently strengthened His utterances with "Verily I say unto you;' and "Origen remarks that Christ's 'Verily' was an oath" (Plummer). But Christ's injunction does forbid exaggeration in statement, bragging and bombast, while at the same time requiring a firm and manly utterance that squares with the fact. The terms 'yea' and 'nay' are the heaviest-charged words in the human language. The spoken 'yea' is the marriage of the will to the good; and the spoken 'nay' is the veto-power of the will, putting the stamp of condemnation upon the evil. We must give an unhesitating 'yea' to the cause of the good in the world, i.e., our allegiance to the cause of the good must be one of absolute loyalty and complete self-surrender; and we must give an uncompromising and unchangeable 'nay' to the solicitation of the cause of evil in the world, i.e., our opposition to evil in allits forms must be unqualified, deep-seated, fearless and manifest. This is what it means to be a 'yea-man' and a 'nay-man.'
Illustration: Note our common use of words such as 'awful,' 'dreadful,' 'terrible,' and 'perfectly splendid,' the use of which speedily leaves us with no emphasis in our speech because it is so absurdly and untruthfully emphatic. The 'best hot dog in the world,' the 'coldest drink in the world,' etc.; statements that quickly leave no further emphasis in our speech.
Illustration: The grand and tender passages in the English Bible are for the most part those couched almost entirely in words of one syllable, i.e., the 23rd Psalm (David's lament over Saul and Jonathan), and the Gospel according to John, are instances. One of the most inspiring sentences uttered in human language, is "And God said, Let there be light; and there was light." But every word is a single syllable. Words are like sunbeams: the more they are condensed the deeper they burn.
Illustration: The greatest sermon anyone can preach is on the simplicity which is in Christ. If we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness we shall get rid of the exaggerations and false conventionalities and trivialities of life, while at the same time our souls will be filled with a great peace and power. "Seek the center and you shall possess the sphere" (Abraham Lincoln).
Scripture Reading: James 3:1-5
3. Restrained Speech
In his famous chapter on right speaking what quality of speech does James place first? – He begins with a warning against setting one's self up as a teacher of others, urging his fellow Christians to remember that teachers are tried by severer standards than students, and ...
v 1 ... "receive the greater condemnation" if they fail in any way; and every man does fail (offend, stumble) "in many things," especially in this important matter of speech.
v 5 ... "The tongue is a little member:" but just as the little bit turns the big body of a horse; just as the little helm turns the big body of the ship, so the tongue directs the fortune of a man. How necessary, therefore, that we keep as firm a hold on our tongue as the driver keeps on the rein or the helmsman on the helm.
Illustration: A horseman is able to tame the wildest and ugliest horses by correctly using the bridle, showing them who is in control and yet treating them with the utmost gentleness. The modern helmsman controls a large ship by electricity and computers, turning them as he wills by a gentle touch.
How can you get and keep control of your tongue? – (a) Remind yourself often of the eternal consequences of speech. You cannot run after and regain a spoken word. Just as air-vibrations widen out forever, so spiritual results go on forever. In court one quickly realizes that every word he says is being taken down by a court clerk, and in that situation most of us would carefully speak every word. Christ tells us that for every idle word we speak we are to give an account on the Day of Judgment. (b) When your passions rise, and you feel a burning desire to say something sarcastic, keep absolute silence. To know when to speak, you must learn when not to speak. "Speak," shouted an angry man to his opponent; "speak, so that I may have something to answer!" (c) Take pride in your speech. It is a part of yourself, sent out into the world. See that it is the sort of representative that brings you honor. (d) Remember that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." The boiling of the hot wells and the out-rush of the geysers merely testify to the heat down deep in the earth's crust. Let Christ control your heart and you will have no trouble in the control of your tongue.
Scripture Reading: James 3:5-8
4. Kindly Speech
To what does James next compare the tongue? – To "a fire" (v 6), and a wild beast. Just as a great amount of wood is kindled by a very small flame, so the tongue, though small, may defile with its burning and its foul smoke "the whole body" and set "on fire the course" (wheel) of nature," the wheel which is set in motion at birth and runs on to the close of life. It is a figurative description of human life. The chariot-wheel, like life, runs rolling round. And though all kinds "of beasts, and birds, and serpents" have been tamed by man (and the conquests in this direction have been many and wonderful since the time of James), yet there is one wild, raging, venomous beast that no man can tame, the human tongue. No man, notice; but God can tame it, and God alone.
What are the fiery, poisonous uses of the tongue? – Sarcasm, which Dr. Harrison often called, "the natural language of the devil." No one was ever corrected by a sarcasm; crushed, perhaps, if the sarcasm was clever enough, but drawn nearer to God, never. Slander. Cruel innuendoes. Sneers. Insults. Formed to be the messenger of peace and love, the tongue has become the fomenter of jealousy, distrust, and ill-will, the lash of uncharitableness, and the weapon of hatred.
How can we train our tongues to kindly speech? – (a) By constant watchfulness. "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth." One family kept a 'slander book.' The book was kept carefully. At first there were many entries, but after a while there were none at all. Detraction stopped in that household. It would be a good thing for every person to keep such an account with his tongue. (b) By following Ephesians 4:25 in matters of speech. Here are six points (rules regarding the tongue), which many of us struggle to follow each day: I will not listen, or willingly inquire after any ill about another; If I do hear any ill of another, I will not quickly believe it; As soon as possible, I will personally communicate by speaking or writing to the person concerned; Till I have done this, I will not speak or write a syllable about it, to any other person whatsoever; After doing this, I will not mention it to any other person; and I will not make any exception to any of these rules, unless I think myself absolutely obligated through Christ to do so. (c) By getting into our hearts the loving spirit of Jesus. The bitter word about our neighbor is almost always preceded by the bitter thought about him. But if the mind be under the command of Jesus, then from loving thoughts will flow loving words, pure and gentle and kind. Love is the only remedy for slander. To feel what is great in the human character, to recognize with delight all high and generous and beautiful actions, to find a joy even in seeing the good qualities of your bitterest opponents, and to admire those qualities even in those whom you have the least sympathy – this is the only spirit which can heal the love of slander and of calumny.
Scripture Reading: James 3:9-12
5. Consistent Speech
What is the most unnatural feature of human speech? – Inconsistency. Nature, as James points out, is always consistent. Springs do not send out from the same opening both ...
v 11 ... "bitter," unhealthy water like that of Marah and "sweet," healing water like that of Bethesda. Fig trees cannot yield olives; grape vines cannot bear figs.
v 12 ... "Salt water" cannot be mixed with fresh for our consumption. But the same tongue will bless God and curse God's image in our brother men. No wonder James says that this unnatural thing ...
v 10 ... "ought not so to be."
Is this evil of inconsistent speech made manifest in other ways? – Yes, such as alternations between religious services and religious prosecutions, between writing pious books and publishing exasperating articles. What about Christians belonging to the same congregation who sometime backbite one another? Has your tongue ever been guilty of this? What about believers whose spiritual opinions differ from yours? Have you ever 'denounced' them through your tongue? After singing glorious and marvelous hymns in church, have you ever passed on gossip? Have you ever prayed, "Thy kingdom come," and then spoke as if the kingdom of God were farthest from your thoughts? Have you ever been in a meeting of Christians where lofty desires for consecration were expressed, only to demonstrate disbelief by the use of your tongue?
How can we gain consistency of speech? – If we would bless God, we must first learn to bless man. "Out of the heart are the issues of life," and consistent speech is one of the most important of these issues. If we are the "double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8), we shall be inconsistent in speech as well as in all other ways. But if your heart is fixed on God, sincerely yielded in obedience to His Holy Spirit's guidance, He will always put consistent and beautiful words into your mouth.
Illustration: It was once pleaded on behalf of a man who had been criticized and condemned as unsatisfactory, that he was 'a good man, all but his temper.' All but his temper? No doubt thought of by the man as a reasonable reply. Is temper any part of your life? Is it part of any your religious activities?
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 4:25
6. Truthful Speech
What is the fundamental excellence of speech? – Sincerity, truth-telling. When a man speaks truth, it is usually safe to assume that he possesses other virtues as well. Slander, exaggeration, boasting, inconsistency of speech ... are forms of lying. Engraved on the signet ring of the Sultan Akbar, "None ever lost his way upon a straight road." Such a road is absolute sincerity. Paul gives the reason why we should always speak truth – That the world is a vast neighborhood:
v 25 ... "we are members one of another." Society is based upon honesty. Our money and checks depend upon the honesty of nations and banks and individuals. No business success is possible until the tradesman has established confidence in his honesty. The liar, the hypocrite is a traitor to humanity and a foe to all progress.
Illustration: General John H. Littlefield, who studied law under Abraham Lincoln, tells how, on hearing a would-be client's statement, if he decided that the man was in the wrong, Lincoln would say, "You'll have to get some other fellow to win this case for you. I couldn't do it. All the time, while standing talking to that jury, I'd be thinking, 'Lincoln, you're a liar;' and I believe I should forget myself and say it out loud."
Illustration: Benjamin Harrison, one of our most honored Presidents, wrote at the age of eighteen an essay on honesty in which occur these words: "If a man lives a strictly honest life he will be led by unseen hands to the goal he strives to gain; and even if he should make no goal of recognition in his life, fate will bless him with a happiness that is greater than all riches."
How can we become absolutely truthful? – Truth is simple, requiring neither art nor study. The root of honesty is an honest intention. Be honest first with yourself. Though others may tell you lies, never lie to yourself. Never think it necessary to tell an untruth for the sake of politeness or policy. Of all things in this world truth is the one thing which is best capable of taking care of itself. "No matter why or where the one opening for an allowable lie be made in the reservoir of public confidence, the final emptying of that reservoir is merely a question of time" (Henry Clay Trumbull, A Lie Never Justifiable). Finally, remember that Christ is Truth, piercing through all falsehoods, and hearing our every word – judging them by His eternal standards of right.
Illustration: A mother had left her little son and daughter in a room with a dish of cakes. The boy was going to take one, when his sister stopped him. "Mother didn't count them," he said. "But God did," answered the little girl.
