ummmm....yea.

You should read this. Seriously. It's long, but it's worth the time. God is speaking truth through this man. Funny how that happens - I haven't read John Piper in months, and decide to today - and God knocks my socks off with this passage.

Speak Truth with Your Neighbor


Here's a sample of some great parts of it to wet your whistle if you don't have time to read it all right now:

"Ephesians 4:25

Therefore, putting away falsehood, let every one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

we must not play fast and loose with this issue as though it were a matter of indifference to God whether we tell the truth or not. There is some kind of connection between the practice of lying and the condition of the heart that makes Biblical writers certain that those who practice lying in their ordinary lives are outside the scope of salvation. So we do well to ponder this matter together.

You recall that Ephesians 4:25 is a specific, practical instance of verse 22. Verse 22 says, "Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts (i.e., desires)." Then verse 25 uses the same word for "put off" and says specifically, "Therefore, putting off falsehood, let every one speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another."

So it is clear that falsehood is a specific characteristic of the "old nature" referred to in verse 22. Put off the old nature, specifically, put off falsehood. Why is this helpful? It is helpful because it shows us where lying comes from.

Verse 22 says that the old nature—the pre-conversion nature—is corrupted because of desires, and the thing that makes these desires bad is that they come from deceit. There is nothing wrong with desire in and of itself. What's bad is when desire goes after the wrong things. And the reason desire goes after the wrong things is because our hearts are deceived about what is truly desirable.

But now we have seen that lying is one of the characteristics of this old nature. In other words when Paul says that the old nature is corrupt he means (among other things) that the old nature is a liar. And this means then that the corruption of lying comes from the desires of deceit. Very simply this means that the reason we lie is because we have desires that we shouldn't have, and the reason we have them is because we are deceived about what is truly desirable.

To pick up the lesson from verses l8 and l9, our hardness of heart against God leads to darkness of understanding and darkness leads to ignorance of what is truly valuable and desirable in life, and ignorance lays us open to all the deceits of Satan who Jesus says is the Father of lies (John 8:44).

Let's be specific and make ourselves aware of some of the deceitful desires that tempt us to lie. I think all the desires that lead people to lie can be summed up these two: fear and greed.

if the body is eating with a fork, and the eye lies to the hand about where the mouth is, why, the hand may stab the eye. In other words, when you deceive a fellow believer it's like deceiving yourself. When you mislead a believer it means that the truth of God concerning the body of Christ hasn't renewed the spirit of your mind.

When the truth concerning the reality of the body of Christ and your part in it really hits home and you believe it, the spirit of your mind will be transformed about how you act toward other believers. When the truth of the body of Christ renews the spirit of your mind, you will no more intentionally lie to a brother or sister in Christ than you will intentionally close your own eyes while trying to adjust the blade on a live buzz saw.

Let's end with this summary and application: With the possible exception of very extreme life-threatening situations, lying is part of the corrupt old nature. It is caused by desires that come from the deceit of Satan about what is truly desirable. And therefore it should be stripped off with the old nature in ALL our relationships."

-John Piper