Dear Weekly Readers!
God’s Peace!
I first of all want to thank you
for all the prayers you said for our recent preaching trip to Kenya,
Africa. The trip was very blessed, and
the Christians there asked me to give greetings to all! So be greeted from them, and please remember
them and us and in your prayers! I hope
to be able to publish the Weekly Diner each week again!
May God Bless your week! John R.
The Truth will make
you free:
IPROMISE TO TELL THE TRUTH,the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God." These words are spoken by witnesses in a court of law with one hand placed on the Bible. Unfortunately many still lie even after this oath. Some high-ranking individuals in politics and business who are caught and found guilty are punished by the law. The early church already faced the same evil, soon after Pentecost. But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles' feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? (Acts 5:1-3) Ananias and Sapphira were found guilty of lying. They thought they were lying to Apostle Peter and the believers in Jerusalem but Peter says …thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
(Acts 5:4)
Truth
is one of the attributes of God! Jesus says, God
is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24) Jesus also says of Himself, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6) When
we lie, we offend God and someday
each of us will give an account of
ourselves before God
(Romans
14:12).
We
don't know much about this couple whose names were Ananias and Sapphira. We are
told that Satan had filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Ghost. Even as
believers, Satan tries to make us stumble, for there is no truth in him. Satan
is the father of lies! Jesus says in John
8:44: Ye are
of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will
do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he
speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
These
words were spoken to the Jews which believed on Him (John 8:31). Peter gives
this warning to the Christians of his day, and to us today: Be sober, be vigilant; because your
adversary the devil, as a
roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8) Paul
tells us Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light (2 Corinthians
11:14).
What
was the sin of Ananias and Sapphira? Were they greedy? Were they stingy? Their
sin was lying to God and God's people by trying to make themselves appear more
generous than they really were. We all know that certain actions are considered
good and bring the praise of men which our flesh seeks.
Why
was their punishment so harsh? Who of us today would be alive if we were
punished by
death for every untruth uttered because we wanted to appear better than we
really are? Lying and hypocrisy can destroy the church by preventing the Holy Spirit
from working. It also destroys our testimony about Christ.
An
example had to be set for the early church that it must be founded on the truth.
This lie was not from fear of consequences or even an overwhelming temptation. There
was no command that they had to sell their land and give everything. It was a
deliberate act of hypocrisy in which they agreed to do something that would
appear like something it was not.
The
church is made up of sinners. We daily sin in thought and deed because we are
sinners in need of a Savior. Jeremiah already tells us, The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately
wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
When
we recognize our sin, we can rejoice that the Gospel about God's great mercy
toward us through the blood of Christ can cleanse and renew us. But the warning
is given to us to be children of truth. John writes, I have not written unto you because ye know not
the truth, but because ye know
it, and that no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:21) Paul
writes to the Roman Christians, What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace
may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
(Romans 6:1-2) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ. (John 1:17)
For
Apostle John,
grace and truth go hand in hand.
God's boundless grace does not wipe out
the attribute of
truth. We live in a highly competitive world and are tempted to
not tell the whole truth so we can gain the
upper hand in our situation. The gains
we make from lying
are not worth much, compared to the blessings
received from telling the truth. When we
tell the truth we are
never trapped in a lie. We don't need a good memory if we tell
the truth. If you have a habit of stretching the truth, being
untruthful in little things or have deceived someone, confess it to that person
and to God and put it away
in the precious name and blood of Jesus Christ. It may be
humbling, but it is the first step to restoring integrity
in your life.
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free. (John 8:32)
Pastor
Elmer Yliniemi
Wolf Lake, Minnesota
