Ethics

There is only one way that evil can overcome a Christian, and that is if the Christian returns evil for evil. If someone insults you and snarls at you, you are not overcome. You are overcome if you begin to snarl right back. Then the unpleasant person has become your role model. You are copying evil and evil is overcoming you.

If someone hates you and you hate him back, then evil is getting the victory. If someone strikes you and you strike back, then you have become like the evil one.

The Bible says, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). If someone reviles you, you are to smile back and say, “God bless you.” The person will not know how to react to that, and you have overcome him. You have won. That person has not changed you, but you have gone on the offensive with the most powerful weapon in the world–love! If someone strikes you on the cheek, Jesus said you should turn the other cheek (see Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29). And that will leave your adversary totally confused! And then on top of that you should say, “I love you.”

If someone forces you to go one mile, go two miles. If someone takes your coat, give him your shirt as well (see Matthew 5:40-41). Do so graciously, cheerfully, even assertively. God has given you the spiritual weapons to discern who your enemies are and then to conquer them by making them your friends. (Of course, as long as there are vicious criminals and international tyrants in the world, there must be a system of restraint through local or international police. In Romans 13, police and legitimate armies are considered by the apostle Paul as “ministers of God” to bring vengeance on lawbreakers.)

The ninth commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). Two or three witnesses were needed in ancient Hebrew law to establish a claim under civil law or a crime under criminal law. A false witness could lie under oath during judicial proceedings in order to establish guilt in a criminal case, or fault in a civil case. Since judgment based on false testimony could destroy the life or property of innocent human beings and discredit a country’s system of justice, the penalty for perjury was very severe.

But the commandment against bearing false witness has a much broader application. Outside the context of the courts, it is termed slander. It is possible to bear false witness or slander by spreading rumors. For example, a well-known gospel singer was picked up in Los Angeles because of his careless driving. A search of his care revealed some white powder, and he was booked on a drug charge. It turned out that the white powder was a diet mix, and so the singer was discharged from his arrest and confinement.

It was too late to stop the false rumors that this man was involved in drug dealing. These rumors hurt the man’s career and reputation. Those who spread them were guilty of bearing false witness.

Frequently people say untrue things about others. Marriages are broken up because of false rumors that someone has spread. Reputations of honest and honorable people are damaged. I can think of several times when rumors have started about me. Christian people not only believe falsehoods but also pass these stories on without even stopping to investigate. Starting lies about someone or spreading them is bearing false witness, a terrible offense in the sight of God.

A Christian might not be involved in drug addiction, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, or homosexuality, but a Christian may be big on slander and backbiting. I can think of no practice–other than deep-seated hatred and lack of forgiveness–that will so quickly cut off the blessing and power of God in a Christian’s life.

Lying is a deliberate attempt to deceive by use of any form of untruth. By words, gestures, circumstances, or silence an attempt may be made to convince another that there is a reality different from what we know to be true. The book of James tells us, “Let your ‘Yes,’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No,’ lest you fall into judgment” (James 5:12). Our word should be our bond. A person who feigns illness to avoid work is lying.

A person who has his secretary say he is out, when he is in, is lying and forcing her to lie too. A person who fails to declare his income accurately on his tax return is lying. A person who falsifies his achievements or age is lying. A person who covers up or exaggerates facts is lying. A person who misrepresents merchandise is lying. A person who bears false witness against another breaks the ninth commandment by lying, and one who does so in court is guilty of the crime of perjury.

A woman came to evangelist Billy Sunday on one occasion and asked, “Reverend Sunday, how can I stop exaggerating?” He looked at her and said, “Call it lying.” It is the same way with the “little white lies.” There is no such thing as “a little white lie.” Lies are lies.

Yet lying is a part of society. We train our children to lie. For example, suppose you go to someone’s house for dinner, and they give you a delicious meal. If you say, “That was delicious,” you have told the truth and everything is fine. But what if you go to someone’s house and they serve you something that is absolutely terrible, and you say, “That was the most delicious meal I have ever had”? You are lying. You may have done it for a good reason–a white lie–but you still lied. Honestly praise something, or be silent; but do not lie! The Bible tells us that by “speaking the truth in love, (we) may grow up in all things into Him who is the head–Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).

People take little children to visit a relative and, by telling them to say certain things that they do not mean, teach them to lie. People go to church and sing hymns to God they do not mean. We sing a song called “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” One stanza reads, “let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also.” This song was written by a man facing excommunication and possible death for his faith. Yet how many communicants in the church he founded–or in any other–are willing to make such a commitment? So we sing lies to God.

We must begin to be truthful to God and to one another. There is no way that the Holy Spirit can operate in someone’s life if there is a lack of truth. The Spirit of God is the spirit of truth. Jesus Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). It is a dreadful condemnation on us as evangelicals that the term evangelistically speaking means the exaggeration of attendance figures. We only honor God when we exhibit truth and integrity in everything we do.

In both of these instances a person has to make up his mind to quit. I do not believe in gradually tapering off of cigarettes, narcotics, or alcohol. You need to make a total break. That means you should get rid of anything you have that might tempt you.

You must confess that you have been doing something you consider wrong, and that you have been defiling the temple of God. You must tell God that you want and need His forgiveness and deliverance. You must renounce your habit and cast the spirit of alcohol, the spirit of narcotics, or the spirit of nicotine from your body. Command it to leave you and resolve that, with God’s help, you will never again smoke another cigarette, another joint of marijuana, or whatever it may be that you are giving up, again.

After that, do not consort with those who helped to get you into trouble or who would soon have you back where you used to be. It may be hard to do that, but it is necessary. Instead, you should try to find some others, preferably Christians, who have given up the same habit themselves, to support you during the first days of quitting. Alcoholics Anonymous is one such group that is very helpful.

It takes about thirty days to establish a habit. You have to get into the habit of not smoking or not drinking. It will take about the same length of time for your body to clean out the poisons and the chemical dependency. After that time period, the craving should be over, and in the case of cigarettes, you may discover that the smell of cigarettes and cigarette butts will actually become repugnant to you.

The Bible says that “wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling” (Proverbs 20:1). The Bible also says, “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk” (Habakkuk 2:15).

Is drinking alcohol wrong? I do not drink alcoholic beverages for one major reason: My conduct might cause someone else, who is weak, to stumble. The apostle Paul established a rule of conduct that I think is very good. He said he would not eat meat or drink wine or do anything else which would cause a weaker brother to stumble (see Romans 14:14-21).

In a country where there are millions of problem drinkers, and millions of others who use alcohol to excess, Christians just cannot stand by and say, “I can drink alcoholic beverages because the Bible does not say not to.” My conduct should be governed by the law of love. If I love my brother, I will not cause him to stumble and be offended. I personally refrain from drinking alcohol for that reason.

There is another reason for not drinking. The believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is hard to think that we could pour liquor into the temple of God without defiling it. Liquor destroys blood vessels and brain cells. Long-term consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause cirrhosis of the liver, lead to delirium tremens, and make for habitual alcoholism.

It is also very difficult to think that anyone could worship God with his mind befogged by drinking. Even one ounce of liquor can begin to bring on intoxication. Two or three ounces can make a person legally drunk. Half of all the traffic deaths in the Europe are caused by people who have had at least one drink prior to driving.

To take our money, our lives, and our bodies, all of which belong to Jesus, and subject them to a state of intoxication can hardly be said to glorify the Lord or be an act of faith.

Some would raise the issue of what Jesus did when He changed water into wine. In ancient Israel there was almost no alcoholism, and there is little problem with it in Israel today. But in Jesus’ day, wine was used at meals and in ceremonial functions or for special parties. As a national matter, wine was not a problem for them. Their wine was probably a low-alcohol-content grape derivative, and it was more of a refreshing beverage than it was an intoxicant. Jesus lived in a society in which alcoholism was not the problem that it is in our day. So, for Him, in the context of that culture, wine was all right. But for us in England today, alcohol is not all right.