On Truth Telling

“I tell you the truth,” is a happy translation for the word “amen.”  “Truly, truly,” is pretty good too.

Doesn’t it always sound nice to hear Jesus start a statement by, “I tell you the truth…”  He rightly identified himself as the way, the TRUTH and the life.

As you know, truth has taken a beating.  People are not even sure there is such a thing as truth.  They think that truth is simply a cultural construct that is determined by people’s point of view.  Our culture is driven by a statement that is impossibly contradictory, “There is no such thing as truth.” 

Our entire faith is dependent both on the existence of truth and that God is the embodiment of it.  Every truth grows out of the nature of God.

Satan lies.  He is the father of lies.  Scripture identifies “Liar-ish” as his native tongue.

As a servant of the Truth, you must strive to tell the truth.  Always.

Of course, this is hard to do.  And the harder you try, the bigger bugaboo you will find truth telling to be.  But as a forgiven, restored servant, strive you must.

You must win a reputation for truth telling beyond your preaching… for the sake of your preaching.  People who fib about one thing will fib about another thing.  People must be able to trust what you say, always.

Beware the encroachment of falsehood in the following areas.

Watch Church Statistics and Reports

Falsehood creeps in when pastors talk with other pastors and with congregational leaders about how things are going.  We are tempted to inflate the figures just a bit.  If we have an average attendance of 330, we will be tempted to say it is just shy of 400.  If we have 12 in a new member class, we will be tempted to say it is 15.  If offerings are up 2.3%, we will be tempted to say it is about 5%.  Force yourself to avoid exaggeration and statistic inflation.  When rounding, get in the habit of rounding down.  Brutal and thorough honesty in this area, which is so tough to pull off, will keep truth telling at the center of your radar.  I have often said the quickest way to get a pastor to lie is to ask for the average worship attendance number.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

If you get an idea for a sermon illustration or for a new program or for a powerful quote, make sure that you credit the source.  Or at least do not try to pass it off as your own work.  Giving false impressions of what you have done is lying.  If the story you are telling is not something you experienced first hand or is not something that you thought of, make sure that you do not make it sound like it was.

Don’t Make Excuses

When you are wrong about something or could not complete something, do not make excuses for it.  Admit it.  Correct it.  But don’t make excuses.  Excuse making tends to bend the truth and reconstruct the past.  That’s lying.

Don’t Lie to Spare People’s Feelings

Lies often pop up because someone doesn’t want to hurt another’s feelings.  Instead of telling the truth, we deceive the person with the supposed goal of being nice to that person?!?  Remember, Scripture enjoins us to speak the truth in love.  There is no notion of speaking a lie in love.  Lying to a person with the supposed goal of “sparing feelings” is like throwing a life vest with an anchor attached to a drowning person.

Silence is Golden

One of the best ways to stay on track with the truth is to keep quiet.  Instead of telling someone you like her hat when you don’t, keep your mouth shut.  Instead of making an excuse for why you cannot join a member’s social event when the truth is you just need some down time, simply thank them for the invitation and then kindly decline it—no explanation is required.  Instead of making something up about a situation with one member when asked by another member, demure by saying that you are not at liberty to comment about it—because you are not.

Remember the Home Front

Be vigilant as a truth teller at home.  This includes doing what you say you will do and being where you say you will be.  Be forthright with your wife about all things except those things that are confidential, and then be silent.  Never deceive your children in order to get them to behave or eat or sleep.  Never.

A good reputation is a great treasure.  Reputations are won, not given.  Make sure that you win a reputation for being a truth teller.  Jesus had that reputation.  As his under-shepherd, you must too.

This is a significant work.  You will notice that the harder you work at this the more you will see you need to work at this.