Little White Lies ...

The concept of degrees of evil is one created by our common sense, and reinforced by our judicial system.  We expect “the punishment to fit the crime”.  Excessive jail sentences, or death penalties imposed for trivial misdemeanors make no sense to us; and cry out that the injustice must be reformed.  Yet our God only lists one “punishment” for sin, more precisely only one “wage” earned by the sinner, and that is death.  To our human sensibilities “punishing” someone for telling a little white lie, or engaging in idle gossip, hardly seems fair, if death is all they earn when so embracing these “minor” evils.  How could the damage caused by sin be so great it must be met with death?  For many, this seeming injustice is enough to cause non-believers to reject the idea of a loving God.  The situation only worsens when people who call themselves “Christian” further the idea of a vengeful God who lives to “punish” evil doers in the name of justice, often coupled tightly with intolerance.  Peter understands this cognitive dissonance, he understands on a personal level how much the weight words carry.  He knows firsthand what seemingly little white lies can do to the soul of one who tells them.  So in his first letter to the churches in Asia Minor, he continues his admonition.

In verse one, he writes … “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, [verse 2] As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: [verse 3] If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”  Laying aside all malice and all guile top the list of advice for Peter.  So often, even within the church, our arrogance leads to division, division to resentment, and resentment to malice.  We allow doctrinal disputes, and scriptural interpretation to become such a rigid topic for us, that we learn to despise other believers who refuse to share our particular views.  The malice takes flight in our speech.  Our motives are less hidden as we “talk down” those illiterates who refuse the knowledge we so graciously impart.  If we are unable to win a debate based on logic and fact, we, like Satan before us, introduce guile into the equation.  One third of a perfect heavenly angelic host did not abandon intelligence in their choice to follow Satan.  They fell to self-deception as they preferred to believe a lie that might indulge self, at the cost of the truth that happiness could only be found in loving others.  Lucifer introduced guile and lies into a society who had never known anything but truth.

His technique of mixing truth and distorting truth only slightly was so effective, he used it against Eve in the garden and she fell as well.  For beings who have only known truth, deception is harder to beware against.  So founded in the root of evil; self-love gives birth to deception and guile to advance its cause.  Peter then extends the diagnosis for where the cancer of idle words will spread next.  Hypocrisies, envies, and evil speaking leave the tongue and enter the world.  To cover our own ill motives, based in the self-love or arrogance of our own opinions, we must cover our sin and speak righteously while doing evil.  We state our righteousness, but love only self.  We state our purity of motive, but do nothing for anyone other than self, and those who will return our good deeds.  We become hypocrites to protect a false image of righteousness, because the cancer of self-love has already ruined our hearts.  We envy those who seem to have more than we do.  We begin to want for ourselves, what we perceive they have.  We want more love for ourselves, more admiration of others, more respect, more things.  And again we allow evil speaking of others who we envy and disdain to leave our tongues and enter the world.

The poison our mouths and minds are capable of creating and spewing into the world can have untold effects.  One third of the angels bear personal witness of this.  They were not compelled to join Satan, they were convinced to join him.  He had no pure truth in his logic, but mixed with distortion, and appealing to desires for power, for love, for fulfillment, he handily mastered the art of the lie.  Satan bids us to tell people what they want to hear, rather than what is plainly true.  Satan bids us to think of our own tastes and opinions as matters of fact, rather than matters of perception.  Satan bids us to speak unkindly about those who “deserve it” and those who plainly “have it coming”.  Satan is particularly effective in recruiting Christians to condemn those caught in public sins, particularly those who hold office in the church, or respect in the congregation.  After all, they should really “know better”.  Thus if caught in sin, they certainly “deserve” to be spoken evil of, and have their public sins discussed in a public forum.  Satan bids us to use our understanding of scriptures to condemn others who will not accept the “truths” we have to offer.  In all of his efforts, one result emerges – the cessation of love for others, and the embrace of love for self.

We too easily forget our own need of forgiveness, and general unworthiness of the love Christ has shown to us.  We too easily forget our own ignorance in the ways and truth of Christ when we began our spiritual journey and how far Christ has molded our own minds and ways of thinking from when we first began our walk with Him.  We think ourselves “mature” in our spirituality, but Peter reminds us, our goal was never maturity and independence, but rather the childlike trust of a baby who knows nearly nothing, but the love of its parent.  As newborn babies who crave milk, and cry when they are denied it.  So too, should we crave the WORD of God.  Peter was again not talking specifically about scripture.  Keep in the mind the New Testament about Christ had not even been fully written or assembled yet.  He was talking about craving Christ on a personal level.  He was talking about discovering the Christ foretold in the ancient texts of the Old Testament.  He was talking about realizing that in our infancy is our perfection.  It is not our depth of Biblical study and analysis, but our depth of reflecting the love of Christ that leads us away from words that would do another harm – whether they “deserve” it or not.

Peter was forgiven for the words and lies he spoke in his own denial of association with Christ.  Peter did not “deserve” his forgiveness.  He arguably spoke those lies at a time when Christ needed his love the most.  He abandoned his savior to save his own life.  He left alone the savior of the world, to keep from mere association with Him.  Peter knew the devastating power of a little white lie; for he had told three of them.  Peter told those who asked, what he thought they wanted to hear.  Peter’s lies would not “hurt” anyone, but would rather prevent a murder (likely his own).  For those who ask if it is better to lie or by speaking the truth risk death – ask Peter was it worth it.  Peter deserved the condemnation of Christ.  Peter’s sins were recorded in the New Testament and ALL the disciples knew of his failures.  They could have ridiculed him out of the ministry, except that Christ forgave Peter, and the others knew what tasting the graciousness of Christ’s forgiveness was all about.

Peter knew that the words that leave our tongues reflect the state of love that Christ puts within us.  If our words do harm, if they are callous, if they reflect a disregard for the heart of another – they DO NOT COME from Christ.  It is the territory of the Holy Spirit to convict us of sin.  He needs no help from those who are still steeped in it.  It is NOT an act of love to call someone’s attention to the pain their own sin causes them and everyone else.   That is the opposite of love.  Pain is self-evident.  When it is not, the Holy Spirit is there to open our eyes to it.  Words of condemnation to those who are guilty put only nails in the coffin of sin; they do nothing to free the sinner from its power.  But words of unconditional love that would look to a Savior to be made free from our chains of self-bondage – those words have the power to heal.  The mission of Christ was to heal, and to redeem, not to punish.  The heart of our God is not bent on inflicting punishment, but instead to free us from the punishment we already inflict on ourselves.

There are no little white lies.  There are only lies and deception.  The corruption of truth is never a good thing, it leads always and only to destruction.  There is no evil speech, or speech laced with hate, malice, guile, hypocrisy, or envy that will ever do anyone good.  That kind of speech only has the power to destroy.  Those who engage in it become tools of the destroyer; and liars about the character of our God.  Peter would rather that the reading audience of believers spread across Asia Minor take a different path.  That instead of spending time speaking about the demise of others, and evil deeds they do, that we seek Christ, that we seek the WORD of God.  He would rather we abandon the malice that springs from pride, even in spiritual things, and instead embrace the childlike trust and love of a little baby who whether they know it or not, are completely helpless and fully dependent.

Peter then gives an example of how Christ might be found in the words of the Old Testament, and how the believers might see that Jesus is the continuation of scripture, not its end as he writes in verse 4 … “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, [verse 5] Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”  The temple of old, was built of stone by Solomon, and the sacrifices offered there were of pure white lambs.  Peter now tells his audience, “they” are the stones of the new church.  No longer must believers emigrate to Jerusalem to find the presence of God in a temple of stone.  Jesus can be found right where they are.  It is no longer the exclusive province of the tribe of Levy, but instead ANYONE who would choose to believe in Christ that becomes a part of a holy priesthood.  It is no longer the blood of innocent lambs, but the love of the Lamb within them, that gives rise to spiritual sacrifices.  We sacrifice the love of self, for the of love others.  We sacrifice our own needs, for those in need.  In so doing, we are members and witnesses of the holy priesthood of those who love like Christ loves.

Peter continues in verse 6 … “Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. [verse 7] Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, [verse 8] And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.”  Christ is the cornerstone of our temple, of our church.  The cornerstone was the basis for the entire remainder of the building to rely upon.  So it is with our Christ.  Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of our faith.  The scriptures without Christ become useless.  The promise without the fulfillment loses all meaning.  Those who submit themselves to Christ are transformed into the obedience of truly loving others like He loves.  But those who refuse to submit to anything less than their own wisdom and knowledge, even when it was based in scriptures, refused to be made obedient.  Instead the cornerstone of our faith and transformation became a stumbling block to them.  It became even offensive to those who will not submit, that the very idea of submission should be the method by which perfection might come.  The disobedient would prefer to rely upon self.  Whether Pharisee, or Islamic Cleric, neither will accept that salvation is outside of the grasp of the will of man.  Both would rather rely upon their words, and their wisdom to find a path to paradise.

Peter continues in verse 9 … “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: [verse 10] Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.”  Peter, proud Jewish man that he was, now points out a fact that runs counter to 1600 years of Jewish bloodlines and traditions – the people of God are now found everywhere, from every blood line.  Those readers and believers in Asia Minor are now the “people” of God.  No longer is believing a matter of tracing our roots back to Abraham, it is simply found in a declaration for Christ, and a submission to His authority.  Those “foreigners” who had no ties to Jewish bloodlines, were now in the very family of Christ right beside the Jews who had accepted Jesus.  The believers of Christ were certainly peculiar.  They included all races.  They included women and men equally.  They included young and old, and bloodlines mattered for nothing. 

Peter reminds his readers that a holy nation, and a chosen generation of royal priests have a duty to speak truth.  But the truth they are to speak about is the love of Jesus Christ that transforms the heart, and frees us from the chains of self-love, to the freedom of loving only others.  Carrying the responsibility of “priests” in the new faith, the responsibility every single member, every single believer, will now carry – is designed to call to attention the IMPACT of the words they will speak.  People tend to listen to priests.  They seek the council of priests.  They wish to know what God may think or teach on a particular topic.  Peter reminds us that as priests we are to reflect the love that our cornerstone reflected.  When a listening ear bends in our direction, it is not meant to hear little white lies, and speech that could cause another harm.  Instead allow our transformation to so reform our hearts, that the words never even form in our minds, let alone in our mouth.  When we seek only to love others, we care about how our words will be heard.  We care about whether they carry the love in our hearts for those in so desperate a need.

There are none who “deserve” our hateful speech.  There are only those whose need of love from us might be greater than those who have already embraced His love, and are already on His path.  Those guilty souls who war against the love of God, should find no ally in us.  They should never receive hate from us in word or deed, but rather we return love to them, no matter how we are treated.  In offering only love to them, we deny them the fuel our hatred might have provided.  Those who stumble in sin, and are publicly discovered, should find public forgiveness and acceptance.  Our words should ever be to their healing, never to add to their pain, and the pain they might have caused.  When we love others more than we love ourselves, we come to realize that our “truths” are not more important than insuring another knows we love them.  We can afford to allow God to bring the less educated into His knowledge and truth and doctrinal understanding, on the timeline He decides.  It does not have to be now, and on the timeline we would seek to impose.  For those who submit to Christ, we must recognize it may well be us who needs the education, rather than those we deem less than ourselves.

The power of words cannot be understated.  What evil we accept as innocuous is the evil that would destroy us utterly.  What degree of sin we find “minor” has already led to the death of Christ Himself, and to a willingness to kill God by the perpetrators of evil.  The cancer of evil and self-love is absolute, and leads only to death.  But the redemption and power of the love of Christ is absolute as well.  To embrace His love, and allow it to transform us, is to find a new way of thinking, that results in a new way of speaking.

But Peter was not through with his counsel to the churches …