THE fib
I
need your help. How many of you have ever
been contacted by the people from the
Gallop Poll, the Harris Poll, or some
other national poll? Have you ever been
asked to participate as a Neilson family
for the Neilson television ratings?
Neither have I. CBS News also regularly
conducts public opinion polls. An opinion
poll some time back by these people caught
my attention. It was called "The
Great Scruples Challenge." A random
sample of 825 adults were interviewed by
telephone and were asked: "What would
you do in these situations and what do you
think others would do in the same
situations?"
·
Tape a CD for a friend?
·
Not report a co-worker who
falsely claims disability?
·
Misrepresent child’s age
to get cheap movie tickets?
·
Pretend to be ill and call
in sick to work?
·
Take "free" money
from an ATM?
·
Take hotel towels?
·
Make a false insurance
claim?
Well,
you were just "polled." How did
you answer? How did you see others? In
spite of the evil that surrounds us, the
average American considers himself an
ethical person. For instance, only 14% of
the respondents said that they would
pretend to be ill and call in sick to
work.
Then too, only 11% of the people
said that they would steal a hotel towel.
On the other hand, most people are
rather cynical about what they think other
people would do.
Overall, 6 out of 10 predicted that
most people would do the unethical thing
in each of the scenarios presented.
How
honest are you? Would , do you lie? During
one of pre-marital counseling classes, I
deal with the issue of “core values.”
If you are in my marriage class,
you may remember the study on this
particular subject. Anyway, I quiz the
pre-marital couples on five separate core
values from matters of faith to domestic
values. One of the areas covers lying. I
find it interesting that the vast majority
of the respondents give good answers to
the other four areas. Yet, over half of
them admit to the fact that they would lie
if the circumstances warranted a lie.
Now,
mind you, these are good people. Most of
them would claim to be Christians.
Nonetheless, they freely admit that they
would and do lie.
Not big lies, little white lies,
fibs.
I
am reminded of a fellow in the Old
Testament.
He wasn’t a pathological liar,
but he did tell a lie.
Not a whopper, just a half-truth.
His name was Abraham. Notice Genesis 12:11-13, “As
he was about to enter Egypt, he said to
his wife Sarai, ‘I know what a beautiful
woman you are.
When the Egyptians see you, they
will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then
they will kill me but will let you live.
Say you are my sister, so that I
will be treated well for your sake and my
life will be spared because of you.”
The Egyptians were
polytheistic, cruel, and immoral. Polygamy
and sexual promiscuity were common. He
knew that if he openly acknowledged Sarai
to be his wife, he would probably be
killed and she would be taken by the
Egyptians into who-knows-what
circumstances of moral degradation. If he
said she was one of his servants, his own
life might be spared; but she herself
would probably be taken and defiled in
perhaps even greater ways. The best
solution would be to call her his sister.
Actually, he reasoned, this was really
true, because she was his half-sister
(Genesis 20:12).
If
Sarai were recognized as his sister, both
she and Abram would be treated with
respect and his life would not be
endangered. It is true that this might
mean she would be approached by the
Egyptians for sexual purposes, but that
would be true also if Abram were killed
for her sake; so this seemed the best of a
bad bargain.
So
they agreed to lie. Like the person who
tries to deceive the boss by calling in
sick when he or she is only “sick of
working,” so it was that Abraham sought
to mislead; to deceive.
That is the error here.
His half-truth was a whole lie!
I
would like for you to notice with me now
some of the sad results of Abraham’s
“fib.”
1.
HE GRIEVED GOD
·
All sin is an offense
against the Lord – yours, mine,
Abraham’s. David, after he had sinned
with Bathsheba, said, “Against
you and you only have I sinned and done
that which is evil in your sight.”
·
If you ever get to the place
where you think God takes sin lightly,
look back at the Cross.
2.
HIS FAITH SEEMED TO HAVE BEEN WEAK
IN THIS AREA
·
Do you have some area of
“weakness” in your life?
Well, as strange as it sounds,
lying may well have been Abraham’s
weakness -- really.
In Genesis 20 we find the brother
telling the same lie again.
Verse 2 says, “And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She [is] my sister....”
Can you believe it?
Some people never learn.
·
When we yield certain
territory of our character over to the
devil, it is hard to gain that same
territory back again for righteousness.
Think of people who use foul
language.
After they do it a few times, it
usually becomes habitual.
The same goes for lying, stealing,
gambling or any other evil.
Be careful of what you give to the
devil, he might not want to give it back.
·
Simple point: before
something becomes a habit in our lives, we
have to do it the first time. After the
first time, we do it again, and again
until eventually a habit – whether good
or bad – is formed. As I like to say,
mind the beginnings and the ends will take
care of themselves.
·
Song of Solomon 2:15 warns
that it is the little foxes, the little
untended things, that spoil the vines.
Someone else observed, “little slips
sinks great ships.”
·
Abraham had a problem with
the little sins, not the great big ones.
Nonetheless, tremendous harm was done due
to his failures.
3.
HIS NEPHEW LOT MAY WELL HAVE BEEN
AWARE OF THE LIE
·
Sin always seems to have a
witness.
Remember the one who saw Moses
murder the Egyptian?
·
Who knows what part
Abraham’s compromise played in Lot’s
subsequent compromises in Sodom?
Monkey see, monkey do.
4.
DUE TO ABRAHAM’S SIN, PHARAOH AND
HIS WHOLE HOUSEHOLD WAS AFFLICTED WITH
GREAT PLAGUES
·
Genesis 12:17-19, “But the LORD inflicted
serious diseases on Pharaoh and his
household because of Abram's wife Sarai.
So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have
you done to me?" he said. "Why
didn't you tell me she was your wife? Why
did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so
that I took her to be my wife? Now then,
here is your wife. Take her and go!”
·
Sin casts a wide net.
Other people always seem to get
hurt in the process. Genesis 20 also notes
that King Abimelech almost died due to
Abraham’s second failure.
In a similar vein, David’s fling
with Bathsheba resulted in the death of
the child born of that evil relationship
as well as the death of her husband Urriah.
.
·
A rock tossed into a lake
makes many ripples.
So it is that a sin tossed into the
lives of a family, a church, a workplace
can cause many ripples too. Had Abraham
known the painful consequences of his sin,
he might have done things differently.
But he didn’t know until it was
too late.
The damage had already been done.
5.
Abraham lost his testimony
His compromise
destroyed his testimony.
Look
at Jimmy Swaggart. Who believes him?
Trusts him? His deception proved to be his
ruin.
6. the unrighteous rebuked the righteous
Pharaoh
rebuked Abram and told him to leave Egypt.
Get out of here!
The Egyptians had come to despise
Abram and Sarai. Even Abram's own servants
must have been disgusted.
In
regard to the brother’s second lie, the
Bible in Genesis 20:9-10 notes, “Then
Abimelech called Abraham in and said,
‘What have you done to us? How have I
wronged you that you have brought such
great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You
have done things to me that should not be
done.’ And Abimelech asked Abraham, ‘What was your reason for
doing this?’”
What
a powerful rebuke!
Isn’t it something when the world
has to reprove the saint for his or her
failures?
The world notices when our walk
does not match our talk.
In 2 Samuel 12:14 (King James
Version) we read, “Howbeit,
because by this deed thou hast given great
occasion to the enemies of the LORD to
blaspheme....”
David’s sin of immorality even
sickened the wicked!
7. ABRAHAM PROVIDED A
TERRIBLE EXAMPLE FOR HIS SON.
·
Although Isaac had not been
born at this time, it is interesting that
the young man later commits the very same
sin himself.
I can’t help but wonder if the
lad had not heard of his father’s
failure and felt somewhat justified
therefore in repeating it?
·
It is so common for the sins
of a parent to be acted out again and
again in the lives of their children. Why not? The
parents are the child’s first and most
important teachers.
Mom and dad teaches the kid to
talk, to walk, to not put his or her
elbows on the table.
The child learns many other
important lessons as well simply by
observing and following the example of
those over him.
2 Chronicles 22:3 notes, “He
also walked in the ways of the house of
Ahab: for his mother was his counselor to
do wickedly.”
Isn’t that a tragic verse?
Well Abraham was Isaac’s mentor
when it came to lying.
8.
ABRAHAM’S SIN IS STILL CAUSING
DEATH AND TROUBLE IN THE
