God Protects Our Reputation
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“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16).
Grace and peace to you from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Perhaps the most ridiculous proverb in
our culture is this one: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will
never hurt me.” What a dirty, rotten lie! Words can hurt us… to the core
of our being. That’s why bullying is such a big issue. Child psychologists say
it takes ten positive remarks to compensate for one negative remark—and I think
that remains true for us as adults, too. Words can hurt. Their scars may be
invisible to the naked eye, but they can last forever.
The Eighth Commandment has to do with
the power of words—particularly, as it applies to one’s reputation. How does
one endure being falsely accused? Remember Richard Jewell, the security guard
who was falsely accused of the bombing in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics? Or
how about the young men from Duke University who were unjustly accused of sexual
assault? Not only did their names get dragged through the mud, but their entire
lacrosse team suffered as the program was canceled in the rush to judgment.
One of the most irreparable injuries
is the loss of one’s reputation. That’s why God give us the Eighth Commandment.
The Fifth Commandment protects life. The Sixth Commandment protects marriage. The
Seventh Commandment protects property. But the Eighth Commandment protects
something arguably just as valuable—one’s reputation. Proverbs 22:1 says: “A
good name is more desirable than great riches, to be esteemed is better than
silver or gold.”
What is a reputation? You can’t see,
feel, hear, taste, or smell it, but it’s just as real. Everyone has one. And
most people care a lot about it. Businesses will spend millions of dollars to
create a good reputation. Politicians caught in compromising situations go into
damage control to maintain theirs.
Your reputation is about you. It is
what others think and say of you. A good reputation makes you welcome, trusted,
and acceptable; a bad reputation does just the opposite. A reputation impacts
how you will get along with other people. False witness, gossiping, and lying
destroy the fabric of society. Without trust and sincerity there can be no
human community.
As with any other broken commandment,
the Old Testament penalties for this one were severe. Jewish law was careful
about prejudiced witnesses. No relative, friend, enemy, heir, or person of
disreputable occupation was allowed to give testimony. Two witnesses were
required to convict a person of any crime (Deuteronomy 19:15). A false witness
received the same punishment the accused would have received if convicted. If
the punishment was stoning, the accusers were the ones compelled to push the
convicted person over the cliff and throw the first stone. No one took lightly
accusing one another of wrongdoing. Why? Because one’s reputation is his or her
most important legacy. You can leave behind children. You can found an
organization or establish a business. You can make a lot of money and pass on a
huge inheritance. But your real value to the world is who you are, your
character, your example, your influence.
This commandment protects something
more valuable than property or even life itself. It protects your value as a
creation of God. It protects all that you are and want to be. And it is so
vulnerable. How do you protect yourself from a false accusation? How do you
undo your gossip against others? A reputation built up over years can be
destroyed in seconds by a false accusation. It can never truly be restored. Confidence
and trust are lost.
St. James warns us, “How great a
forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire” (3:5-6). The
tongue can ruin marriages and devastate children. It can destroy careers or
start wars between nations. It can lead to suicide. And, it can cause extensive
damage to the Church, the body of Christ.
Gossip is, perhaps, the most
pernicious sin in the Church. It can be a cancer in the congregation. Think
about this: When you gossip about another member of this congregation, you are
attacking someone who is a member of the same body to which you are joined. It
would be like your hand deciding to cut off your own foot. It would be like
setting fire to your neighbor’s house when you both live in the same apartment
building.
There’s a saying that “nothing ever
happens in a small town, but what you hear makes up for it.” And we laugh at
that. But dear friends, sometimes it’s not all that funny. And sadly, I think
we could apply that saying to churches, too. Though it is seldom done
maliciously, gossip, idle talk, and rumors have a way of inserting themselves
into the church. And they can cause much damage to the relationships we have
with one another, and ultimately to the Church’s mission.
We don’t realize the power we possess
in words. Sometimes our words can’t do much good for people, but they can
always do much damage. There is nothing harmless about bearing false witness,
about slander, gossip, betrayal, or lying. Do you realize that the mess our
world is in today can all be traced back to the telling and believing of one
lie? To one bit gossip? The bearing of false witness?
Remember in the garden? Satan saying
to Eve—if she ate of the forbidden fruit—“You won’t die.” “You’ll become just
like God.” “God is holding out on you.” The devil’s lies and the subsequent
actions of Eve and Adam opened the floodgates of evil into our world. And the suffering, the struggle, and the pain
that we see all around us every day can all be traced back to those lies as God
brought the consequences of their sin to bear.
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees: “You are
of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
lies, he speaks out of his own character, he is a liar and the father of lies”
(John 8:44).
When we break the Eighth Commandment
in any way, shape, or form, we line ourselves up with the devil and we declare
him to be our father instead of God. And that’s serious business. Lying goes to
the heart of you who are and who you want to be. It has nothing to do with what
you can get away with, but how you want to live. Whose child are you? God’s or
Satan’s?
In his explanation to the Eighth
Commandment, Martin Luther writes: “We should fear and love God so that we do
not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his
reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the
kindest way.”
As with all the commandments, there is
a negative side and a positive—the sin we must avoid and the good we must do. We
must defend our neighbor, speak well of him, and explain his actions and
motives in the kindest way. We must not communicate in ways that do not
uphold our neighbor’s name and reputation. We should not spread bad reports
about our neighbor—even if they are true.
A woman once complained to King
Frederick the Great of Prussia about her neighbor. The king said, “That is none
of my business.”
The woman answered, “But, my lord, he
speaks evil of you.”
“Then it is none of your
business,” the king answered.
If we are aware of something negative
about our neighbor, but have no authority to act up upon it, we should remain
silent. Mind your own business. But if it is your business, follow Christ’s
words in Matthew 18:15: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his
fault, between you and him alone.” Here we have an excellent teaching for
governing the tongue. Do not too quickly spread evil against your neighbor and
slander him. Instead, admonish him privately, that he may amend his life. Likewise,
if someone reports to you what this or that person has done, teach him, too, to
go and admonish that person personally, if he has seen the deed himself. But if
he has not seen it, then let him hold his tongue.
Far from making our neighbor’s sin against us
public knowledge, Christ instructs us to deal with him privately. Our goal is
to win our brother, not to point out his shortcomings. Our goal is to build up
the body of Christ, not to tear it down. If someone sins against you, go to him
or her personally, privately. To be certain, this is not easy, and it will
create a few uncomfortable moments for both of you. But if you don’t feel it’s
important enough to deal with personally, if you don’t feel your case is strong
enough to present yourself, then perhaps that it is a good indication that the
manner should best be left alone.
It should not be your pastor’s job to
run around the congregation putting out fires between members. He is not a
fireman. Neither are the elders. If someone hurts you, if someone offends you,
the strategy that Jesus gives you to deal with it is not to run out and tell
someone else about it—not even your pastor. Go and tell the offender you’ve
been hurt. Work it out “just between the two of you.” By the way, a phrase that
is handy in those times is this: “I forgive you.”
This approach is especially helpful in
regard to the pastoral office. A pastor’s integrity is the capital on which he
does the Lord’s business. If people get mad at the pastor and instead of coming
to him and working things out they decide to bad-mouth him… that hurts the
entire ministry in that church. And the price they pay personally is that they
can no longer hear the Word of God from their pastor, because their hearts
become hard to anything he has to say about God.
In no way am I saying I (your pastor)
won’t do dumb things or that my (his) way is always the right way or that
you’ll never get upset with me (him)—or I (he) at you. But if that happens—if
you get upset at me (him), whether it’s my (his) fault or yours—we (you) have
to work it out, or you will starve spiritually. You will not be able to hear
the Word from me (him). All you’ll see is the flawed vessel, not the pure
contents of the Word of God. And chances are, the conflict will end up causing
collateral damage in the church as others are dragged into the fray.
So much for what we must not do. What
should we do to help maintain our neighbor’s good reputation? We honor God
according to the Eighth Commandment when we defend our neighbor against false
accusations. When we take his part, speak up for him, especially in his or her
absence.
We honor God according to the Eighth
Commandment when we refuse to listen to gossip. The ear can sin as well as the
tongue. Martin Luther put it this way: “The slanderer has the devil on the
tongue, and the listener has him in the ear.” Gossip would never spread if it
didn’t have an eager audience.
We honor God according to the Eighth
Commandment when we speak well of our neighbors. Point out their good traits. Praise
their good actions and qualities, rather than piling on the criticism.
We honor God according to the Eighth
Commandment when we explain everything in the kindest way. The old advice is to
“put the best construction on everything.” Take everything you hear in the best
possible way. Look at everything in the best possible light. Assign the best
motives to the actions of others. If you make the effort to do this, I
guarantee you will save yourself a lot of trouble and anguish. Usually, when
someone is grumpy with you, it is not because he has it in for you, but because
of something bad that happened to him at work or at home. Instead of taking
offense right away, it is good to be patient and try to understand where the
person is really coming from.
St. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians
13: “Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoice with the truth. Love
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres… Love covers
over a multitude of sins.”
How’s that for a scandal? The Church
is engaged in a “cover-up” business! It’s true! We are called to cover one
another’s sins. Actually, Christ has already covered them with His atoning
sacrificial death. When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will
forgive us sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
That’s a great thing about using the
liturgy. Corporate confession and absolution is the great leveler. Each week,
as we confess our sins together, we are confessing that we are really not any
better than our neighbor—we are all poor, miserable sinners who justly deserve
God’s temporal and eternal punishment. We have all violated God’s commandment
against false testimony. We have all sinned by what we have said to and about
others. We have all been eager to hear “bad news” and rumors about other people.
We have all failed to protect our neighbor’s reputation and explain things in
the kindest way.
But despite all of this, we also all
hear the same absolution, the same Word of forgiveness and grace covers each of
us. Our Lord Jesus Christ, by His innocent suffering and death, has atoned for
our many sins. St. Peter writes in his first epistle: “He committed no
sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not
revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued
entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly. He Himself bore our sins in His
body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His
wounds you have been healed”
(1 Peter 2:22-24).
That’s how God looks at us. He knows
you and me at our worst. He’s seen us when we did things nobody knows about,
not even our spouse or best friend. But as we heard last week, “He does not
deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities”
(Psalm 103:10). When God sees us—He sees His Son Jesus. Talk about putting the
best construction on things!
Jesus stands at our side to defend us.
He tells the accuser—Satan—all sins have been paid for by His death on the
cross in our place. He covers us with His perfect life so we can stand in God’s
presence holy and perfect. We are completely forgiven. The Father knows all
we’ve done and all we’ve failed to do. Yet, in grace, He adopts us as His own
children. He calls us “precious in My eyes, and honored” (Isaiah 43:4).
Our heavenly Father wants you to think
of those around us in the same way—to love them, forgive them, as He would—and,
as Luther emphasized, “defend [them], speak well of [them], and explain
everything in the kindest way.” This is how you protect your neighbor’s
reputation, and in so doing, build your own—as a Christian, a little Christ,
being the light and salt of the earth.
Through the cross of Christ, you see
your neighbor in a new light. God has cleared your name and his or her name as
well. You see your neighbor as one of those beloved children, like you, for
whom Christ also gave His perfect holy life into death. You see your fellow
Christian as one who, who like you, has also been washed in the blood of the
Lamb and clothed with His righteousness in Holy Baptism. You see your neighbor
as a fellow guest invited to the Lord’s Supper, one with whom you share a most
intimate fellowship—Christ’s very body and blood, given and shed for you for
the forgiveness of your sins. You trust and believe that you and your neighbor
are both covered in Jesus’ words of absolution: You are forgiven of all of your
sins.
In the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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