Small Groups— Big Lie
As the title of this article states, our subject deals with lies told at church. But first, some of the backstory; and for that we go all the way back to the book of Genesis.
There we learn that the Lover and the Liar were both present during man’s first days on earth.
When man first saw the morning dew, there shone from the face of God that day expressions of pleasure and favor! Man! Bearer of the divine image! Partner with God in earthly government! And one-day friend with God in heavenly joy!
How God loved man!
Also on the scene was one who didn't, that one that Jesus called “the Father of lies.” C.S. Lewis said of this malevolent being: “The devil has from the beginning tried to mislead humanity with lies.”
Why does he do that? Jesus told us why. Satan is not only a liar, but he is also a murderer. He deceives in order to destroy.
So there he is: Lucifer, the liar—this verbally facile being who knows what it is to ooze charm and to exude concern, yet can turn that smile off in a nanosecond and just as suddenly bare his teeth in seething hatred.
Thus, the battle began.
The battle for men’s souls is fought in the greatest of all wars—the war between the truth and the lie. If we choose the truth, we will experience the freedom that is truth’s reward. But if we choose a lie, we will experience the constrictions of an ever-tightening death grip.
It has been said that one of the most deceiving lies a liar tells is that he doesn’t tell lies. The very nature of lying is not to be aware of how frequently we resort to it. Oliver Wendall Holmes said, “Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all.”
Let’s face it, we live in a world of liars. Politicians lie, the media lies, the FBI lies, the CIA lies. Everywhere we turn we are confronted by lies!
It would be easy for us to point a bony finger of accusation at everybody else, but we must also ask ourselves, do we lie?
Grrrr! How we bristle at that thought!
Should someone cast doubt about something we said, we will raise our self to full height, take a step forward, increase our volume, and quickly react, “Are you calling me a liar?”
Freeze that picture, though ludicrous as it is.
Now imagine Heaven downloading a documentary of your life. Do you want to see it?
How many of your lies are in that documentary? Enough to sober you up? Enough to realize that you’ve relied on a lie more than a few times in your life?
Nevertheless, you've given yourself a pass much too easily. I’m not a liar! Not me!
This issue about lying is much too important for us to dismiss, much too important for us to shuffle it away. We need to examine it!
The Legacy of Lying
If we fast forward history, we’ll learn from Scripture what happens to liars. Revelation 21:8 says, “But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death” (ASV).
Whoa! Where did that first and last sin come from? The abominable, the sorcerers, the murderers, the idolaters we can understand—but the fearful, and the liars? How did they get into this group?
They got there because those with fear, not faith, turned the kaleidoscope whenever they didn’t like what they saw in Scripture. What they seemed not to realize is that to reject God’s revelation on a matter is to head toward destruction—and perhaps, eventually, toward plunging into a darkness where light can’t be seen—not, that is, until the leaping flames of hell enable tortured sight.
The descent into darkness doesn’t happen all at once. The lie we accept one day leads to another lie another day. One sin begets another, then another, until that sin becomes a habit. And then when propelled further, this habit will become a character; and that character—once sin has run its course and the toehold has become a stronghold—will become a destiny.
It is only when the day is spent that we finally see the ironclad habit, the corrupted character, and that damnable destiny we have unwittingly embraced. But by that time, it is too late.
Samuel Johnson once observed, “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”
Now, as we continue this examination, let’s do a fast rewind to the beginning of history to see what we might learn there.
In reviewing what occurred in the garden, it must impress us that Satan’s weapon of choice was the lie. Think about that! The full arsenal of evil was at the Devil’s disposal—and yet out of all that, he chose the lie? This would certainly suggest that to lightly regard what Personified Evil highly regards makes us an even bigger target.
So don’t minimize this issue. Don’t overlook it. Don’t fall for the lie that on this issue you’re ok.
Do you really think you are? Well, let’s see.
Consider what happened immediately after Adam and Eve sinned. Remember? They hid!
Any significance in that? Oh, yes, a lot of significance! Let's track it down.
Genesis tells the story of how God had to go looking for this now corrupted couple, repeatedly asking, “Where are you? Where are you?”
Stop there and consider: What if God hadn’t done that? What if he let each of them go their own way and said nothing? Would that have been love? It would not!
Hold on to that thought, because I want you to see how it relates to the church today.
The Lethal Lie Today
Ok, now we’re back to real time to ask: Is this decision to hide true of you? Adam hid. Eve hid. Are you in hiding? Are you one of those not wanting to join a fellowship where God's question—where are you? —is asked. And if asked, are you not wanting to answer? Why is that?
You know why. It’s because there may be some parts of your inner life you don’t want disclosed. So rather than risk that, you make another decision: Don’t join a group like this!
You mull the matter over, wondering: Doesn’t the church have different types of groups? So you check the website. Yes, they do! You’re in luck!
Hey, hey, heh! I’ll just take my little ole religious self and join one of these other groups. Pickleball anyone?
Now if Satan’s stooge were on hand, his face, no doubt, would light up with anticipation, thinking “We’ve got a new work in progress here! Maybe, just maybe after a few fun outings, he’ll be ready to step right up and give his ‘testimony.’”
Priceless!
Let me coach him a little bit. Clear your throat, straighten your posture, look straight at the camera. All set? All rightee! Now be real friendly-like when you announce to one and all:
“I just love my church group. I’ve met some real cool guys there! So, for some good fun and great laughs, consider joining one of our groups. We’ve got hiking groups and biking groups, craft groups, all sorts of groups! Listen, life doesn’t have to be boring. Join a church group today!”
“Well done! Well done!” says Satan's stooge. “You’ve just done your part to siphon more church members away from biblical fellowship.”
Now I ask you, why would the church sponsor all these options to biblical fellowship? If these affinity groups transitioned into fellowship groups, that would be fine. But usually they don't. They are church-sanctioned substitutes. Can you imagine Scripture saying anything like this?
“Announcement, announcement everybody! If you want to play on Peter’s team, be sure to sign up in the outer court right after service. And if you want to cheer the guys on, check with Andrew.”
Pulling back from this imagined scenario, please focus on the current choice you’ve made. What’s going on?
There’s no mystery, right? For you, hiding is preferred, so you hide. You like play better than pray.
In reflecting further on your choice, be aware that lying is possible without words. Sometimes we simply do a lie.
We see an example of this in the Book of Acts when, soon after the birth of the church, Peter charged onto the scene to confront Ananias, saying, why have you lied to the Holy Spirit?
Lied? There’s no indication of that! Read the passage yourself, check all the verses; there's no quotation in there supporting this charge.
That's right. Ananias didn't verbalize a lie, he just let the impression remain that he had given all his money to the church just like Barnabas did.
Did he? No, he stashed a tidy sum away. Ananias did a lie; he didn’t just tell one.
John, the apostle of love, dealt with this issue more broadly and directly when he wrote, “If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”
This deadly duality of talking way beyond where we are living lines up perfectly with Satan’s plan, as does our decision not to disclose where we really are to fellow believers.
Talk about a lie! What about the lie of misrepresenting the nature of God’s church?
Churches that pay no attention to how God defines fellowship in Scripture’s “one another" statements are perpetuating a lie week after week.
So are they, are we, feeling convicted by that?
How easy it is for us to blame other people, those wicked Pharisees, for example, who chose tradition over truth. “How could they?”
Why, just the thought of it triggers our head-shaking-side-to-side response. But even though the pharisees no longer exist, their way of thinking still does. In fact, long after New Testament days we see evidence of it.
When men like John Wesley and George Whitfield came on the scene—men whose message and giftings excelled all others, the churches of England refused to welcome them. They weren't allowed to preach in their pulpits. They weren't allowed to share God's truth with their people. And that’s why they had to take their message to the streets. Tradition won. Truth lost.
The same was true for the greatest theologian America ever produced, he who led the greatest revival America ever had, Jonathan Edwards.
In Edward’s day, there were a number of churches that held what was called “the half-way covenant.” These churches allowed people to join without accepting Jesus as their Lord. They also allowed unsaved people to participate in communion as long as they weren’t guilty of any scandalous sins recently. Some of these unsaved members were even permitted to become pastors!
Now, the man who led these New England churches was Samuel Stoddard, Jonathan Edwards’ grandfather.
Preaching his now-famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” in Samuel Stoddard’s old church, Edwards called for a wholehearted commitment to God, and to his true church. None of this halfway stuff!
That began the great revival. From Edenfield, Massachusetts it spread throughout the Northeast, and lasted for almost two years!
We could wish this was the end of the story. It wasn’t.
Soon after the revival, the church actually fired Jonathan Edwards! This man who had impeccable character and amazing giftings, this man who would later become president of what is now Princeton University was humiliated, dismissed outright, having nowhere else to go, rejected! Why?
The church let him go because they didn’t want to let go of halfway covenant thinking. And, sad to say, this same story has new chapters today.
What a horrible thought to think we have had our own part in redesigning God’s church, our own part in accommodating those who want to hide, our own part accommodating those who have their version of a halfway covenant.
This must stop. And in attempting to stop it, just know that the key to putting away our penchant for lying is not learning the commandments against it, or being moved by God’s hatred of it, or training the flesh how to avoid it. The key is getting into our new nature.
Ephesians 4:24 informs us we now have a new nature created in true righteousness and holiness and, therefore, on that basis the next verse declares, “put away lying ....” Piggybacking this thought, Colossians 3:9 says because we have put off the old nature, we should cease lying to one another. Frequently! Strategically! Selfishly!
We did this because lying didn’t alarm us. But it should have. The notion that lies occur outside the margins of life and therefore are inconsequential is fundamentally wrong.
Truth activates God; lies activate Satan. Truth sets us free. Lies sets us up—for diabolical defeat. Truth seeks out sin; lying hides it.
Listen, we’re putting the welcome mat out for Satan and slamming the door against Christ if we model a church where God’s question, “Where are you?” is ignored, and our hiding is way too easy.
