The Ten Teachings - Nine - Heroic Honesty
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The Ten teachings – 21
Message – Heroic Honesty
July 6, 2008
By Dave Thompson
The
Guest at The Vine
I. Intro to heroic honesty
Good morning! Happy 4th of July weekend. Hopefully you’ve had a great time celebrating, getting to relax a bit on this holiday where we celebrate our independence as a nation. If we haven’t had a chance to meet, my name is
It’s great to be back with you. To give you a little personal update, my wife and I are still expecting our first little one. We don’t know if it’s going to be a boy or a girl. Hopefully in the next few weeks we’ll be experiencing the joys of parenthood and the lack of sleep.
Since it’s 4th of July weekend, let’s start with a little True or False game based on some American History. I’m going to make some statements about American History, and you tell me if it’s true or false, alright?
1. True or False? On July 4th, 1776, the United States officially declared independence from the British Empire.
2. True or False? In 1776, John Adams published a political pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with
The answer is: False. Thomas Paine published a political pamphlet entitled Common Sense arguing that the only solution to the problems with
3. True or False?
The answer is: False: The Declaration of Independence was signed in
4. True or False? It was Patrick Henry who stated “Give Me
It was in a speech made to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
The speech was given March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia, and is (credited with having swung the balance in convincing the House to delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War.
5. True or False? On December 25, 1776 - Gen. George Washington led his troops to cross the Potomac River as part of the American Revolutionary War.
December 25, 1776 - Gen. George Washington orders leads his troops to cross the Delaware (Potomac) River and land on the Jersey bank as part of the American Revolutionary War.
6. True or False? As a young boy George Washington chopped down his father's cherry tree and when confronted about it said, "I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet."
False: This was a fable and part of a book of stories authored by Mason Weems published after
How’d you do? 4 were false, 2 were true. Anyone get all of them right? Anyone 5? Anyone lying?
Now, George Washington was a man of high moral character who laid the foundation for our nation, who probably lived a heroically honest life.
Even though this story about him wasn’t true, he is known in history as a historically honest man about his convictions. When people talked about him, they knew him as a very honest man.
What would people say about our own lives?
How about in our daily decisions? Would people say we are honest or dishonest?
Would people say, Man, when that person faces a decision they are always honest about it? You know you’re going to get the truth from him!
Or would they say, Boy, I’m not so sure I’d trust ‘em as far as I can throw ‘em.
Are we known as people of heroic honesty?
Every day we face decisions about how honest we will be. Sometimes they come at us so fast we have to react.
Here’s the bottom line: Christ followers must live heroically honest lives.
II. Principle
If you’ve been here at the Vine, you know that you all have been going through a series on God’s Big 10. The 10 commandments. And today’s is on the 9th commandment.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Ex. 20:16
Essentially, this came from when a person was in court. So, God was saying speak the truth when you’re on the witness stand. Don’t slander someone else or make something up just to bring them down.
Most likely not all of us will be on the witness stand too often, tempted to slander someone. But, our lives are always fully open before the Lord. And this commandment does speak to the importance of heroic honesty.
The 9th commandment says, Don’t give false testimony. And Jesus turned it around for the positive and said, Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes’, and your ‘No’, ‘No’ (Mt. 5:37).
So, for those who call themselves, Christians, this fact remains.
Christ followers must live heroically honest lives.
We’re going to look at a passage of Scripture where two people chose to go down the path of dishonesty, and the results of that. Then, we’re going to catch a vision of what living a heroically honest life could look like.
IV. The Dishonest way
a. Story of Ananias and Sapphira
The story is right at the early beginning of the church. And it was an exciting time. People were flocking to the church, the body of believers, because amazing things were going on. People in the church were so open with their possessions that the Bible says, “No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” In fact, from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles (or leaders) feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.” (Acts 4:32,34-35).
Miracles were happening among followers of Jesus, and no one was in need. Imagine being at a dinner party, and you’re talking with your Christian friend. It’d be like this in a modern day sense. Imagine you were one of the folks who lived on a lake, or on a river, where recently we experience a ton of flooding. You’re at a 4th of July picnic, and this happens.
- You’re friend asks, So, How’s it going?
- You’re like, tough times. The flooding came up over the bank.
- Your friend sympathizes with you. See him talking with his wife later.
- On the way out, he’s like, “Hey, my wife and I talked, we’re going to sell the family cottage. So, whatever you need, it’ll be covered.
- What?
And this was normal. People were joyfully giving the proceeds of their property away because they had an overflowing love for God.
In fact the Bible says that people would sell their property, bring it to the church leaders, and then they distribute it to anyone that needed it.
Then, we come to a scene, where 2 Christian people came to that fork in the road, and they chose to take the path of falsehood.
Let me just warn you, this is a heavy story.
1Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet.
3Then Peter said, "Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God."
5When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.
7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?"
"Yes," she said, "that is the price."
9Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also."
10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.
Whoa! God’s serious about honesty! If this passage doesn’t get your attention, it’s time to wake up. God was and is sending a message to His followers through this passage.
Christ-followers must live heroically honest lives.
Let me say that this story is not normative for the church. If this is your first time with us, please don’t think that’s God’s heart: What? You lied today? Game over. No, this was in the start of His church, and it’s safe to believe that the two people went to heaven. Yet, God wanted it to be very clear that Christ-followers must live heroically honest lives.
Context: Ananias and Sapphira were people who were a part of the church. And, they were seeing all of this going on around them: people selling their stuff and that was getting noticed. We don’t know their total motives, but we do know it was planned ahead of time that they would hold back part of the money and say they were giving it all.
b. This passage reveals 3 reasons why we must live heroically honest lives.
The first is this: No matter what we think, do or say…
i. The truth will come out.
E: In this passage, the husband and wife sold their piece of property which is totally fine. Then, they chose to give part of the money to the church. But with his wife’s full consent they intentionally plotted say they gave all of it, but only to give part of it. Their sin wasn’t in that they didn’t give it all. They could’ve kept it and that was their prerogative. Their sin was that they lied about how much they gave. They exaggerated. But, when they said one thing and did another, God could not tolerate that with His people. And the truth of their plot came out.
V: Somehow, Peter knew what had happened. They said they gave it all, yet they intentionally held part of it back. Peter confronts them: you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money (v3)
You see the truth of our intentions will eventually come out.
Ill: This past May, “Fast Company” magazine ran an article about two 26-year old entrepreneurs who started a non-profit company called GiveWell. The intention was to gather and disseminate information on the effectiveness of charities. So people would know how donations were being used, and thus able to made better decisions about where to donate. Basically, they would tell people who you can trust with your money. They wanted to bring the truth out about these charities.
There was a big need, and they got a big buzz through the Wall Street Journal, NY Times and others.
Unfortunately, the real truth came out. Two weeks after the media buzz, they were caught using other’s email addresses to promote it. They would use fake names on-line, posing as someone else to promote their company. One of the guys would send out emails in other people’s names, promoting this “truth finding” company.
They championed honesty, but didn’t live it. The intention was to tell people who you can trust; and they proved they weren’t trustworthy themselves. The truth came out.
App: Eventually, everything that we do, say or think is going to be out in the open before God. The Bible says, “You reap what you sow”. If we build habits of exaggeration, slightly veering to falsehood instead of heroic truth, it will come out.
And if the truth in our hearts are not revealed in this life, they will be in the life to come.
There will be a day when we will stand before God, and the Bible says, “judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. I Cor. 4:5
Now, for the person who has chosen to follow Christ, this fact remains: There is forgiveness of all our sins, past, present and future because Jesus Christ died to forgive us our sins. And the follower of Christ has accepted that forgiveness.
Yet, the truth most likely will come out as to how we live in this life. And if we don’t, we can seriously damage the reputation of Christ.
And if it isn’t in this life, God will lay it all out in the open in the life to come.
God has been convicting me that exaggeration is sin. You see, there’s something about the story of Ananias and Sapphira that I identify with. I’m just guessing, but they probably saw what other people were doing in giving stuff away, and the reaction of the church leaders. Maybe their intentions were good at first. But in the end, they wanted to please people and not God.
Ever told a story, changed it just slightly to get a laugh? Man, I have. And God has been convicting my heart about that. And the root of that is really a desire to please people and not God.
Here’s a couple examples from my own life that you may identify with:
- I call my wife and say I’ll meet her at home. She asks, “What time will you be there?”
I say “ 15 minutes.” Knowing full well that I still need to shut down the computer, knock down a couple tasks, it will at least take 30 minutes. But, in an effort to make myself look better than I am, I clearly still take the path of falsehood.
- Have you ever said, I’ll pray for you. And not done it? I sure have. It’s not heroic honesty.
- Or, I get this question: How many people were at your event? There were at least 50 people there. When it was around 30. So, we throw in a “give or take”.
- Anyone ever take your kids somewhere, your child’s just turned 13. Big sign that says: Adults: $10. Children under 12: $6. We may lie about their age, and we sell our integrity to save 4 bucks.
You may think, Ah, C’mon. We’re all getting ripped off anyways. I’m paying them enough. It’s not that big of a deal.
Listen, God takes it seriously. The truth will come out. If it doesn’t come out right then, it will come out in the next generation of kids who’ve observed that a person can say they’re a follower of Christ and live a dishonest life.
We must live heroically honest lives.
Another reason we must live heroically honest lives is that…
ii. Dishonesty hurts our relationship with God.
E: Peter, although he exposed the sin, showed Ananias that the real person he lied to was God Himself. You have not lied to men but to God (v3) Ananias had lied to people, but in essence, he had spit in the face of God.
Before we do that, let’s just clear the air here. This isn’t a confession time. So, if someone says something, don’t think, Oh, I didn’t he did that. Let’s wash our hands clean.
What are some of the things that God hates?
Murder
Pornography
Lust
Anger
Divorce
Idolatry
Adultery
Now, if we would place an order to these, as to which ones are worse, what would we put at the top of the list?
Listen, this is how God feels about it. Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV) - Put these on the side of the wrong road.
16 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.
Pride, lying and murder, wicked plans, evil actions, falsehood, a person dividing friends. God hates them all. Now, each of them have different consequences.
App: Listen, we don’t want to be the kind of people where God hates what we’re doing. When you feel guilty for thinking or speaking falsehood, God is trying to bring you back to Him. Because he hates when we do that.
We want to live the kind of lives that God can get behind. The Bible says, For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. My guess is that you want to live the kind of life where God would scan across the earth, lock eyes with you, and say, That’s someone I can give strength to. Because I know she is fully committed to living a heroically honest life for Me.
When we live heroically honest lives, it guards our relationship with the King of the Universe.
Another reason we must live heroically honest lives is because
iii. Dishonesty drags others into the destruction.
E: Ananias made a decision. He flat out lied, and his life was destroyed. His wife followed his decision. When confronted with the question, Is this the full price? She flat out lied and said, Yes. She allowed herself to be dragged into the same sin. And as a result, she experienced the same consequences.
V: “with his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself” (Acts 5:2)
In college, I met a guy who had a fresh new relationship with God. He quickly became one of my best friends. And he gave me permission to tell his story. He had such a magnetic personality. People loved to be around him. He get heavily involved in our Christian ministry, and eventually after college decided to go on staff.
He shared his faith with other people, had a great up front presence, and really was reaching people that were far from Christianity. As part of the ministry, he went to another country that was opposed to Christianity, with the intention of telling others the good news about Jesus. There he met a wonderful young woman on the same ministry team, and they began to fall in love. Their wedding was a joy-filled event.
Yet there were things happening under the surface though that had not come out. He got involved in on-line pornography and other destructive desires. He had a lot of internal thoughts that he promised to never share with anyone. And these destructive actions were actually symptoms of a much deeper disease: pride and pleasing people over pleasing God.
And his dishonesty, or unwillingness to admit certain things with God and others, dragged his wife into the destruction. These things came out. Through some very painful times, their marriage ended in a divorce a few years ago. Her parents were angry with Him. And he and his wife literally moved to opposite ends of the continent. He went to
Friends, these were missionaries, people in ministry, people who read their Bibles. And dishonesty played a part in destroying their relationship. None of us are impervious to the devastation that can happen by living a dishonest life. It has a ripple effect.
App: Dishonesty drags others into the destruction.
Dishonesty destroys. You and I must be honest about who we are. Let me give you a few practical steps:
1. Have at least one person with whom you have no secrets – I heard Larry Crabb an author and speaker suggest this one time to a group of pastors. He told us to “drop the pastor label and get involved in 1 real relationship to be authentic with. Where you say, “I have no other agenda than getting to know you.’” And when I engaged in it, it was so freeing. Friends, it changed me. Confession is great for the soul.
2. Surround yourself with a group of Christians - That’s why having a small group is so essential. If small groups aren’t meeting for the summer, take the initiative, and ask for a few people to come together for lunch, and say, How can we pray for each other. We need a safe place, where we can be honest, and wrestle through the things that tempt us to veer from the path of walking with God.
Friends, when we do live heroically honest lives, there is victory and freedom on the other horizon. George Washington and his troops had to fight for our freedom. When they did cross the river, their were ice blocks floating down the river. The men had frostbite. Some turned back. But, they had to fight for freedom.
My friend who lost his marriage had to fight to be heroically honest. He got honest about it. He got into a program that helped him. He surrounded himself with some good Christian community. Because of his heroic honesty, he began to see victory.
He and his ex-wife began talking again. They started talking over the phone. And there was a lot of distrust that needed to be mended. Her parents were very resistant, understandably because they were protective of their daughter. Yet, he kept things openly honest with her.
After a long while of conversations and visits, they then decided to move to the same area, and began dating again.
And, after dating for some time they decided they were ready, and this past spring they were reunited in marriage. Her parents saw the change and came to the wedding.
Their marriage is now strong and growing. Now, they are going to create some stability by moving close to her family. Her Dad’s welcomed this new re-marriage.
I was talking with Him yesterday and he said, You know, it was daily living in heroic honesty. E.g. the car pressure.
What led me to think about all this today was I stopped by gas station to check the air pressure in the tires of Kari's car. The back right tire was low, so I put in more air.
I remember in November, before we drove to CO, she asked me if the air pressure was ok in the tires. My reply, "I don't know. I've never checked air pressure tire before. Can you show me how?" She knew how and showed me. (pretty bold for a guy to admit that)
Now I know how to do it and I do this regularly for her.
The significance of this little story is huge. Why would such a seemingly unrelated story be so signifcant for someone with porn/ destructive thought problems and an out of control life?
When God broke down pride and replaced it with increasing humility, along came tons of honesty, to an extent I never imagined.
When we were first married, I would have replied to the air pressure question by saying, "Yeah, I looked at the tires, they look fine." I would have posed because I was too pride to admit I didn't know something about cars that my wife did. And fear of what will she and what others think (if she tells them) came into play
Honesty is like the limb of a tree. And that tree is humilty.
When the tree of humility grows, honesty is one of the most extensive branches, because we are free to be ourselves and be honest- with no shame or guilt or fear.
Friends, we can live heroically honest lives as Christ-followers.
By the grace of God we can live heroically honest lives, and see victory and freedom.
Let’s pray:
Jesus, we need you to shine the lights on our hearts so to speak and show us how we need to be honest with you and others. May you be so pleased with how we live our lives that people would want what we have, and they would turn to you. Use us this day to live heroically honest for You.
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