Words – stop and think about words. Words are a wonderful gift from God. Words make it possible for us to speak, to communicate. Words can be conveyed by voice or by sign, by sound or by vision. Words are a wonderful gift from God, but since the fall into sin, words are also a dangerous weapon.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones but words/names can never harm me" It’s a nice saying, and it is good to teach children not to react to teasing. But ultimately, this old saying is just not true. Words are powerful – whether used for good or for evil.

God wants us to use words only for good, so He gave us the 8^th Commandment. Let’s read the Commandment and meaning together (from the back of the bulletin). You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

God put this commandment in our hearts to protect people’s reputation and good name. This is the 8^th Commandment as a CURB. We need this protection. Luther said our honor and our good name is one of the indispensable treasures God gave us. He said: it is important that we not live among people in public disgrace and dishonor.

Our honor, our good name, our reputation – all this basically has to do with what other people think about us. It is easy to harm a person’s reputation with lies or slander or half-truths. It is not so easy to rebuild a reputation once it is damaged. To harm a person’s reputation could ruin their business, destroy work opportunities, could even turn family and friends against them.

Writing about the power of words, James wrote in chapter 3: (5-8) Likewise the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With such a destructive power in each of us, we surely need this Commandment as a CURB.

God gave this Commandment also as a MIRROR – to show us our sin, our need for forgiveness, our need for a Savior. What is included in the Commandment as a Mirror?

Lying in court – the literal meaning of "false witness." Remember the false witnesses brought against Jesus? Who knows how much "false witness" goes on in courts today? Probably much more than we want to know. Some people might lie to cheat others. Some might lie to get a friend out of trouble, or to get an enemy into trouble.

Lying about our neighbor. This occurs in gossip – something that never seems to stop. Someone defined gossip as "careless" talk, or talking about others for personal pleasure. Lying about our neighbor also occurs in slander. Slander is somewhat different than gossip. Slander means that lies or half-truths are being told about someone with the intent to hurt or harm them.
Sometimes we harm our neighbor when we use careless generalizations about them. Here are a few examples: - all old people are feeble-minded. –all young people are wild drivers. – all black people, or all white people, or all deaf people, or all hearing people, or whatever category (and then you fill in the blank). These are words that are intended to hurt.

Lying TO our neighbor for the purpose of hurting him. Obviously this is sin. Under this category Luther includes preachers who do the following:
- those who twist the Word of God.
-those who deny heaven or hell.
-those who deny the mercy of God or the wrath of God.

If you were the one hurt by the wrong done by the relative, the teacher, the neighbor’s child, or the co-worker, either have the courage to tell them in person, or tell no one at all. Christ wants us to deal with one another personally, not behind their backs.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, and Words and Names – Sinful Words – can harm me. My own sinful words can condemn me to hell. For all these sinful words which you and I have spoken, our Lord Jesus suffered and died. Because our tongues run wild, His tongue was parched on the cross. Because of our sinful words, He prayed, "Father, forgive them."

Now our tongues can sing: Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow! Because Christ has forgiven our deadly sinful words, we can use our tongues in God-pleasing ways. Because Christ has given us new life, the 8^th Commandment can serve as a GUIDE. What can we do or say to show our thanks to God?

In his explanation Luther says it this way: defend him(our neighbor), speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything – or explain everything in the kindest way.

Defend – when was the last time you spoke up to defend someone who was being attacked by sinful words? They are usually not there to defend themselves. Defending others verbally – that is pleasing to God.

Rev. Rodney Rynearson, former Counselor for Deaf Ministry for the Missouri Synod, and before that Superintendent of the Lutheran School for the Deaf in Detroit, once told us something about the application of this commandment. Frequently some staff or student would come in to complain about what someone else had done. "Wait," Dr. Rynearson would say. "Have you spoken to that person about this?" Very often the complainer’s answer was "no." Dr. Rynearson would answer, "Then I CAN’T listen to any more until you do that first." We see in his practice another angle of Matthew 18, first speaking to the person face-to-face.

Defend – speak well of – if they are not present to defend themselves.

Explain everything in the kindest way. It is so easy to misunderstand things – so easy to misunderstand a situation that we see. Maybe there is a reason we don’t know – a reason why they said this or did that… a reason why they didn’t say this or didn’t do that … a reason we don’t know. It is so easy for us to jump to conclusions. Christian love, however, uses courage to defend and speak well of our neighbor. Christ’s love in us uses self-control and discipline to bite our tongue, and wait and see what the real reasons are, and to explain everything in the kindest way.

Let’s read the Commandment and meaning once again. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.

May God forgive our unholy words against our neighbor and our lack of support for other people. May God grant His Holy Spirit to strengthen us to speak loving, holy words in support of others, that we may protect their name and honor. All because in Christ, He has given us new names – Redeemed, Saints, Children of the Heavenly Father. Amen.