The Power of a Lie

Introduction

            What do you get when you mix international fame, millions of dollars, pride, peer pressure, drugs, the drive to be a winner and The Power of a Lie? You get the life of professional cyclist Lance Armstrong. Until recently, Armstrong’s life story has been one of competition that earned him the vaunted Tour de France yellow jersey and title seven consecutive times from 1999-2005, the 1993 World Championship and a bronze medal in the 2000 Olympics just to name a few. His story is a story of perseverance as a cancer survivor that inspired him to begin the Livestrong Foundation for cancer research that has raised more than $470 million for cancer research since its founding. Armstrong’s story includes a loving wife and children as well as countless friends, fans and followers. However, this week we learned from Armstrong himself that all this was possible as the result of a lie! In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong confessed that he cheated in order to win. Armstrong confessed to taking performance enhancing drugs or using other medical means that were banned. As a result, Armstrong has been banned for life from competitive cycling, lost all his endorsement contracts, been strip of all his titles, trophies and medals and removed from his position as the founder of Livestrong.

            I’m not really a fan of the sport of cycling so I don’t really care one way or another. Also, I’ve lived through cheating by countless sports figures. Whether it’s baseball icon Pete Rose betting on baseball while managing a team or NFL players being suspended annually for taking banned performance enhancing drugs, cheating has been part of sports for as long as I can remember. What intrigued me most about Armstrong’s confession was why he lied and the realization that so many people were hurt by his lie. There were really two powerful forces at work that fed Armstrong’s dishonesty. The first was the significant benefits winning provided—fame, fortune, and influence. Second was the fear of losing all the benefits. Mixing the two together puts “power” in the lies. Think about The Power of a Lie in Armstrong’s case; every title, trophy or medal he won by cheating means someone else who didn’t cheat didn’t win. That means all the things that came with those wins should have been awarded to someone else who would have influenced other people in other ways. Of course we have no way of knowing how things would have changed if Armstrong had not cheated. Some would say that at least some good came out of all this through the efforts of the Livestrong Foundation. While I don’t disagree with that sentiment at one level, let’s acknowledge The Power of a Lie in that rationalization. Here’s what I mean: As I mentioned before, Livestrong has raised nearly a half a billion dollars for cancer research and, it is argued, must be considered as the shining spot in Armstrong’s dark lie. However, what if one of the other racers had won and that person founded an enterprise that actually developed the cure for cancer—how many lives could have been saved? This is, of course, hypothetical but The Power of a Lie tries to diminish the destructive nature of a lie by emphasizing its redemptive attributes. Don’t be deceived! A lie is a lie not matter how pretty it looks, sounds or smells. One of the most interesting things Armstrong said was that the lie was so pervasive that it eventually became his life. I thought about this since I saw Armstrong’s confession and it got me to thinking about something the prophet Jeremiah said and so I wanted to look at that for this week’s lesson.

Subject Text

Jeremiah 17:9-10

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰ “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”

Context

            Jeremiah is writing to the people of Judah (southern kingdom) imploring them to turn from their sin, repent and return to God. Jeremiah was terribly unpopular with family (12:6), friends (20:10), the kings who ruled Judah during his ministry (36:23) and especially the priests and prophets who were sinful and corrupt liars (20:1, 2; 28:1-17). The people rejected God and pursued the worship of foreign gods and idols they have made for themselves (2:13). Jeremiah desperately tries to warn the people that their sin will lead to their destruction but the priests and prophets continuously lie to the people and tell them that nothing bad is going to happen to them (14:14-16). Jeremiah is referred to as the “weeping prophet” because he is overcome with emotion at the coming destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah was a witness to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and exile of Judah in 586 BC. He knows the truth and doesn’t understand how the people can’t see it as well. Instead, he is thrown in prison (37), he was dropped into a cistern (38) and he was eventually taken to Egypt against his will (43). He was heartbroken by the people as they refused to believe the truth that their actions and attitudes would lead to their destruction. Even Jeremiah was perplexed by The Power of a Lie so he cried out to God and received an answer in our subject text.

Text Analysis

            Jeremiah’s reference to the deceitfulness of the heart in v. 9 illustrates that sin’s origin is at the deepest level of humanity. Israel’s sin of idolatry is at the heart of their impending destruction. They have deceived themselves into thinking they could worship idols without consequences. “The people’s hearts have not remained one with the heart of God; they have fallen out of covenant relationship with their God and consequently, right relationship with other people as well.”[1]

            Jeremiah insists that humanity’s affliction of a deceptive heart is incurable. By referring to the heart in this respect, “Sin is described as a chronic affliction from which on cannot expect to recover or be healed. Though this does not carry all the theology of original sin, it is certainly a complimentary concept.”[2] The root word for “deceitful” in the Hebrew is first found in Gen 3:15 in the word that is translated “heel” where it is described that Satan would attack Eve’s messianic offspring. Once Satan, the “father of lies” (John 8:44), began his assault on God’s creation and the created order by “deceiving” Adam and Eve, sin that originated with a lie perpetuated with lies upon lies. Consequently, deceit compounded over the centuries and leads Jeremiah to wonder who could possibly understand the human heart; “a heart morally insidious beyond compare, sick beyond hope of recovery, and therefore located far beyond the limits of human comprehension.”[3] As a result, God told his chosen people: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh (Eze 36:26).” This is terribly important considering that, “It is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Rom 10:9).” This is why it is imperative that we turn to God in order to address the deceitfulness of the heart.

            God responds to Jeremiah in v. 10 where the personal pronoun “I” is added for emphasis so the text should read “I, and only I,” search the hearts and minds of humanity to determine what is true and consequently “reward” according to that truth. This “assurance that God understands the heart created in the NT [New Testament] community the Greek coinage, ‘the One who knows the heart’ (Acts 1:24; 15:8).”[4] Of course, “reward” doesn’t necessarily mean something to be prized. “Reward,” in this case, is possibly better translated as “give to.” Especially in the case of the wicked who will not be “rewarded” for their evil conduct but instead receive just punishment.

The Hebrew word bhn translated in the NIV as “examine” is also, and perhaps more appropriately, translated “test” in other translations. “In most instances when bhn involves religious testing, however, it is Yahweh himself who does the testing…In a fashion analogous to evaluating a spoken word, Yahweh tests his people so as to probe their character…This testing process is not simply evaluative, but also formative. Apparently, testing has the potential to purify and cleanse (Zech 13:9). At times, such testing is burdensome for those being tested (Job 7:18), and all too often the resulting evaluation is unfortunately unfavorable (Jer 6:27). However, a completed test and lessons learned are, in retrospect, praiseworthy (Ps 66:10).”[5]

One of the disadvantages to English translations of the Bible is that the English often fails to capture some of the harmonic elements conveyed in the original language of the text. This particular text includes such a harmonic element that is lost in English translations. The Hebrew word kilya is usually translated in the NIV as “inmost being” or “heart” and in our subject text as “mind” but the literal translation is “kidneys” and it always appears in the plural. “The kidneys are viewed as the seat of human joy/grief (Ps 73:21; Prov 23:16)…Several passages view the kidneys as the seat of one’s moral character. As the Creator of this moral/ethical center (Ps 139:13), God examines it to discover ones true attitudes and motives.”[6] Obviously this isn’t a lesson in anatomy so I’ll get to the point I want to make about the harmony created in translating the word as kidneys. “The kidneys of various animals were included in the burnt sacrifices to the Lord in conjunction with fellowship (Lev 3:4, 10, 15; 9:19), sin (Exod 29:13; Lev 4:9; 8:16; 9:10), guilt (7:4), and wave (Exod 29:22; Lev 8:25) offerings.”[7] You can see how this is an important harmonic element when the kidneys are offered to God in sacrifice. The theological significance may not be immediately obvious but what if we were to offer our “inmost being” our “hearts” our “minds” and, yes, even our “kidneys” as a sacrifice to God. Would this change the way we live our lives? Would this impact our character? Isn’t this precisely what Paul has instructed us to do when he writes: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship (Rom 12:1).”

In these passages, we begin to see why the disease of deception is so pervasive within humanity and why it appears to be an incurable flaw—we desperately want fame and fortune without sacrifice; rejecting the mandate and avoiding the struggle to be holy. We want God’s blessings; we want to be comfortable; we want our lives to work; we want heaven on earth so we’ll do what we have to in order to achieve those things even if it means lying, cheating and stealing to do so.

Application

            Back to the story of Lance Armstrong for a moment. When asked why he cheated in the first place, he didn’t really have a clear answer but said that he didn’t do anything that other racers were not doing or did not have the opportunity to do. When asked why he continued to lie about cheating even after accusations swirled from every corner of the cycling world, Armstrong said the lie had become his life and he failed to see a way out. I have read countless people condemn Armstrong for not having come forward sooner and for damaging the cycling industry and many lives along the way. I’m not necessarily an Armstrong fan or hater, but I find it curious that people are so righteously indignant with Armstrong as though they themselves have never been dishonest. I’ve used Armstrong’s story as an illustration of an affliction that affects all of humanity, including me. Deception and dishonesty has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Lies were a way of survival for me growing up in the house of an alcoholic father. Honesty was not really part of our family dynamic. And like Armstrong, I wasn’t doing anything that everyone else wasn’t doing or didn’t have the opportunity to do. Eventually, lies and deception were often part of my life into my adulthood for a variety of reasons.

“Many times we lie because we are unwilling to face the consequences of the truth. Most lies are pitiful efforts to protect our pride. We lie because we fear being ashamed or embarrassed. Our fragile reputations and even more fragile egos must be protected at all costs. And so, pitifully and too cheaply, we sell out the truth.

Sometimes we lie because we have already done wrong. We have slipped into the darkness rather than remaining in the light, and we do not wish our deeds to be exposed (John 3:19-20). So our lies are cover-ups for our sins and often only delay and worsen the day of their exposure.

At times we lie because we believe it is justified to accomplish our urgent goals. This happens every day in politics and commerce. We have grown accustomed to it. But sometimes it happens in Christian activism and church life as well. We want to win ‘by any means necessary.’

Sometimes we construct ingenious rationalizations for our deceptiveness or draw fine-grained distinctions that don’t really hold water. We might manage to avoid articulating a falsehood while still allowing another person to believe something untrue. This is not honesty, and we dare not take false comfort in the distinction.”[8]

Before I can quickly condemn Armstrong for his lies and deceit, I will at least acknowledge that he was courageous to confess his egregious deceit—I don’t know if I could have done the same thing. Nevertheless, nothing excuses what Armstrong did just like nothing excuses my dishonesty or your dishonesty. However, as believers, we have the opportunity to be “transformed by renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2)” through the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. In order to do so, we must be prepared to offer all we have and all we are as a sacrifice to God; our pride; our egos; our wants; our needs; our goals; our fears; all our insecurities and all our mistakes. When we have sinned, we must have the courage to confess our sins quickly and without excuse or rationalization and trust in God’s mercy; asking for strength to endure the consequences of our sins not a solution to avoid them. Like all things we wish to improve on, it takes practice. And so it is with the practice of being honest at all time and in all circumstances. “Disciples of Jesus Christ know the truth (1 John 2:21), tell the truth (John 19:35), ‘belong to the truth’ (1 John 3:19), love ‘in the truth’ (2 John 1:1), and walk in the truth (2 John 1:4). Truth is not simply something that is believed or even spoken. Truth is the commitment of each individual and of the entire Christian community, verified by our actions—beginning with, but not limited to, the words that come out of our mouths.”[9] Eventually, with practice, the passage of time and the transformation of our hearts and minds, The Power of a Lie will lose its power in and over our lives and the lives of those around us.

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[1] Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), p. 718.

[2] Willem A. VanGemeren, Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Vol. 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), p. 466.

[3] Leslie C. Allen, Jeremiah, The Old Testament Library, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), p. 200.

[4] William L. Holladay, Jeremiah 1, Heremeneia-A Critical and Historical Commentary of the Bible, (Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press, 1986), p. 496.

[5] VanGemeren, DOTTE, Vol. 1, p. 637.

[6] VanGemeren, DOTTE, Vol. 2, p. 656.

[7] Ibid., pp. 656-657.

[8] David P. Gushee, 2006, “The truth about deceit: most lies are pitiful attempts to protect our pride,” Christianity Today 50, no. 3, p. 68, ALTASerials, Religion Collections, EBSCOhost (accessed January 22, 2013).

[9] Ibid.