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*The Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth*
/Ephesians 4:25/
If you were to visit the prestigious Harvard University, you would find in the famous Harvard Yard a statue and on the pedestal an inscription: /"John Harvard, Founder, 1638."/
This icon is known as the "statue of the three lies."
First of all, the artist commissioned to sculpture it could not find a clear picture of John Harvard after which to model his work, so he just chose a picture of a respectable-looking gentleman from the proper era.
Second, John Harvard was not the founder of Harvard University.
He was simply a substantial contributor to the college in its early days.
Third, the date on the statue's base represents not the date of John Harvard's death, as might be supposed, but the year he donated his library and half his fortune to the college.
The irony lies in that on the side of the statue is the Harvard emblem emblazoned with the school's motto: /Veritas - truth./
A preacher was walking down the street when he came upon a group of about a dozen boys, all of them between 10 and 12 years of age.
The group surrounded a dog.
Concerned that the boys might be hurting the dog, he went over and asked “What are you doing with that dog?”
One of the boys replied, “This dog is just an old neighborhood stray.
We all want him, but only one of us can take him home.
So we’ve decided that whichever one of us can tell the biggest lie will get to keep the dog.”
Of course, the preacher was taken aback.
“You boys shouldn’t be having a contest telling lies!” he exclaimed.
He then launched into a ten minute sermon against lying, beginning, “Don’t you boys know it’s a sin to lie,” and ending with, “Why, when I was your age, I never told a lie.”
There was dead silence for about a minute.
Just as the preacher was beginning to think he’d gotten through to them, the smallest boy gave a deep sigh and said, “All right, guys, give him the dog.”
Paul has just been telling us that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, our lives should be different than they were before.
He compared the changes that occur in our lives to the act of taking off a set of filthy clothes, and putting on clean, fresh ones.
And he begins to list several things that serve as examples of what we should put off.
He begins his list of things we need to change, areas of our lives where the remnants of the old self are to be discarded and the righteousness of Christ is to be put on, with truth and falsehood.
This is critical to everything else he has to say on the subject.
If you were called upon to give testimony in a court of law you would promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
But Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:25, /“Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.”/
The words for “put off” or “laying aside” in some versions, literally means to stop doing something we have been accustomed to doing.
You’ve been telling things that weren’t exactly the truth?
Paul says.
Then stop it!
What Paul meant specifically is that when we speak to one another, we should always tell the truth, that speaking lies and falsehood to one another is not fitting for a believer.
After all, Satan is the father of lies, and we as believers should have nothing to do with the kingdom of darkness.
But it is also true that this principle has a much broader application than just the kinds of things we say to one another.
I think it can also be applied to three major areas of our lives: speaking the truth about others, speaking the truth about ourselves, and speaking the truth about God.
Let’s look at each of those in turn.
*1.
It means that we should always tell the truth about ourselves.*
This is so important for us to grasp.
For too long we have been telling ourselves things about ourselves which are not true.
For example, we may have the opinion of ourselves that we are pretty good people, and we may even convince ourselves that God is lucky to have us on His team.
But the Bible says, /“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”/
(1 John 1:8-10).
We must speak the truth about our own personal sin and deal with it in a timely and Biblical manner.
On the other hand, we make a mistake, and we say to ourselves, “Oh, you’re so stupid!”
We may make remarks such as “I’m so dumb!” or “I’m such an idiot.”
I’m pulling these out of my own experience with myself.
You may have other things that you say about yourself which simply are not true.
Paul says that we are to put off falsehood, and I firmly believe that would include speaking any falsehood of any kind, including falsehood about ourselves.
We just simply need to come to the place where we know who we are in Christ, and that we believe what God says about us.
It doesn’t have anything to do with something you have done.
It makes no difference what your past looks like.
It has everything to do with what God says about you.
When we come to terms with who we are in Christ, and what God says about us, the more our behavior begins to look like this new person we have been created to be in Christ.
Because you are in Christ, every one of the following statements is true of you.
Just from right here in the book of Ephesians, we find these wonderful truths about ourselves:
Ephesians 1:3—We are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Ephesians 1:4—We are holy, blameless and covered with God’s love
Ephesians 1:5-6—We are adopted as God’s children
Ephesians 1:7—We are forgiven and our sins are taken away
Ephesians 1:10-11—We will be brought under Christ’s leadership
Ephesians 1:13—We are marked as belonging to God by the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 2:6—We have been raised up to sit with Christ in glory.
Ephesians 2:10—We are God’s work of art!
Ephesians 2:13—We have been brought near to God, so that we have direct access to
God.
Ephesians 3:6—We share in the promise in Christ
Ephesians 3:12—We can come with freedom and confidence into God’s presence
Ephesians 3:29-30—We are members of Christ’s body, the Church
Pretty amazing, isn’t it?
But listen, folks—that is just the beginning!
There are so many more things that the Bible says are true of every one of us who name the Name of Christ.
Here’s just a few of them:
*We are loved*—How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!
And that is what we are! (1 Jn 3:1).
*We are children of God*—Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—(John 1:12)
*We are joint heirs with Jesus, sharing His inheritance with Him* Romans 8:17
*We are a **temple** of **God**.
His spirit and his life live in us* 1 Corinthians 6:19
*We are members of Christ's body.* 1 Corinthians 12:27
*We are redeemed and forgiven* Colossians 1:14
*We are complete in Jesus Christ* Colossians 2:10
*We are free from condemnatio*n Romans 8:1
*We are new creations because we are in Christ*—Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
(2 Corinthians 5:17)
I am established, anointed, and sealed by God 2Corinthians 1:21
*We do not have a spirit of fear, but of love, power, and a sound min*d 2Timothy 1:7
*We are God's co-worker*s 2Corinthians 6:1
*I have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by God by which I share His nature* 2 Peter 1:4
*We can always know the presence of God because He never leaves us* Hebrews 13:5
*I can ask God for wisdom and He will give me what I need* James 1:5
And that’s just a little bit of what God says about us.
Is God a liar?
No! So is what God says truth? Yes! Simply choose to believe what God says about you.
Dr.
Neil Anderson, in his book /Victory over the Darkness/ has written "The more you reaffirm who you are in Christ, the more your behavior will begin to reflect your true identity!"
I think that is why Paul, through the Holy Spirit, is telling us as believers that we are to put off the old ways, and put on the new man which is in Christ.
Don't go by your circumstances or your feelings.
Don't even go by your own intelligence and what you think you've figured out.
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