Sacrifices Part 3: Multiple Choice or True/False Christian Living
Scripture: Exodus 20:7-17; Matthew 5:13-7:27
Introduction
Last week I shared with you from Psalm 109 where David cried out to God for revenge. At the close of that message, I asked you a question. The question I asked was this: “Can your Christianity (how you live for Christ) be best described as a multiple choice question with one or more answers being correct or as a true or false question with only one answer being correct?” This morning as I continue with this series focusing on our making sacrifices, we will examine the choices we make pertaining to sacrifices. The definition we will use throughout these messages for sacrifice is “the giving up of one thing for the sake of another.”
So let’s talk about the question I asked you to consider. Each of you at some point in time has taken a test for school. The test contained questions that were either essay questions, multiple choice or true and false questions. Right now, as I told you a couple of weeks ago, everything you do matters. Because what you do matters, you are actually writing the answer to the first type of question, the essay question, everyday. The essay question is simple, “Are you really a Christian?” You are writing the answer to that essay question in how you live because everything you do is being recorded in books in heaven. But we will not be focusing on the essay question – we are going to break it down into small segments, where the smaller decisions diverge from God’s word.
Back in school, you took a test containing multiple choice questions. Those tests could have one answer that was correct or multiple answers that were correct for a single question. Depending on the number of choices (A, B, C, D, E), your percentage of getting the answer right (if you were guessing at the answer) was lower. For example, if you had five choices to choose from, you had a 20% chance of getting it right if you had to guest. If you only had three choices, you had a 33% chance of getting it right if you had to guess. Multiple choice questions are hard because if you do not really know the answers, you must guess between several options. But, if you have studied, those tests can be easier because sometimes if you have to guess, as you read the different choices, you might remember something that you may have read that leads you to the correct choice. Now when you took a test with true or false questions, regardless of how you chose your answer, you always had a 50% chance of getting it right if you had to guess. Although true or false questions increase your percentage of getting it right if you had to guess, they are much harder. These tests are harder because if you do not know the answer, you do not get a hint as to what the answer could be as you do when you have multiple choice answers in front of you. With a true or false question, you must know if the statement is true or false and it is equally hard to guess the right answer as guess the wrong if you did not know.
So let me remind you quickly of where I am going with these messages. Last week I gave you an example taken from Matthew 5:38-39. In those verses Jesus speaks of turning the other cheek. I called up Justin to be in my example and then I asked each of you what you were taught growing up about defending yourself. Most of you confirmed that you were taught that if someone hits you, you had the right to hit them back. But it did not stop there; some of you went even further. You said that if you turned the other cheek and then they slapped that one, you were free to give them a beating. You were released to do so because you had actually turned the other cheek and since Jesus did not say what to do if they slapped that one too, it was left open to interpretation. So let’s examine this situation as a multiple choice question and as a true or false question.
Depending on how you understand and view your life as a Christian will determine which question best describes your Christian walk. How you answer the question will be determined by how much you understand God’s word.
Many Christians live their lives for Christ as if being a Christian is a multiple choice question. What do I mean by this? Depending on the situation they find themselves in, they will choose the “best” answer based on what they think is the right thing to do – often not based on God’s teaching, but based on what they really want to do. Then there are Christians who live their lives for Christ as if being a Christian is a true or false question where they know that there is only one right answer or response for the situation they are facing. This person does not look for options or loop holes, but what is the right answer. The common denominator between both types of lives is whether or not a person understands what the right answer is versus guessing what the right answer “should” be. Whether your Christian walk is defined as a multiple choice question or a true or false question it speaks to what is in your heart. Regardless of which way you are currently living, the dangers of knowing the right answer in a situation and choosing the wrong one is very real. As I continue in this sermon series, we will examine some Scriptural references to determine how we are living. Once you understand how you are living, I pray that you will begin to make different choices as you understand what lies before you. Remember, our real sacrifice is choosing Christ’s ways over the world ways. This morning we will look at a few of the Ten Commandments from Exodus chapter twenty and some verses from Matthew chapter five.
I. Do Not Change God’s Word!
Before we go into the examples for the next couple of weeks, I want to give you this warning – Do Not Change God’s Word! Jesus said the following in Matthew 5:19: “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” This does not just apply to ministers, bible study teachers and other Church leaders. It applies to every one of us. Remember the example from last week? When we teach our kids to do something that conflicts with or compromises what God’s word says we are guilty of what Jesus said here. I want to make this clear because it will become more important as we go through more examples during the next couple of weeks. Remember, the definition of sacrifice is giving up one thing for the sake of another – which in our case is giving up the world and choosing Christ. So let’s start with our first example for today from Exodus 20:16.
II. You Shall Not Lie!
The ninth commandment in the list of the Ten Commandments is found in Exodus 20:16. It says “You shall not bear false witness…” This simply means that you shall not lie. The Hebrew words for false and witness means lie and testimony. In other words God said that you should never lie, period, no if, and, or buts about it! Ephesians 4:25 says “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.” So telling a lie is a sin against God and if we are going to read this as fact, we need to understand by definition just exactly what a lie is. By definition, a lie is “making a statement you know to be false.” This definition seems very straight forward and simple – but let’s put this to the test.
Even though the Bible has made it clear that we are not to lie and that doing so is a sin, as Christians we have taught ourselves that it is okay to tell a lie as long as no harm is done. We have also taught ourselves that it is okay to lie as long as we do not get caught. We view lying as an abomination to the Lord but a very present help in the time of trouble. We are willing to lie if it benefits us but we will crucify someone else for lying to us. Although we now have categories of lies such as the jokes; the white lies; the lies we tell so as not hurt someone’s feelings; lies about Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and the “that looks good on you” lie; and of course the real lies we tell to get out of trouble. In each and every case, whether the lie is to get out of trouble, spare someone’s feelings or just to trick them, it is still a lie and therefore wrong. And I will admit to you today that I have been on all spectrums of telling lies – from getting out of trouble to keeping someone from getting their feelings hurt. Some I got away with and others I did not. But you know what is interesting: I have run into more trouble with people when I tell the truth versus when I lied. Sometimes people do not want to hear the truth, but is that our “pass” to not tell them anyway? Absolutely not! Lying is so common that we do it without thinking about it. It has become the acceptable way of living. Some of us have been lying for so long that our lives cannot exist without them and our world is made up of lies. As you consider your Christian walk, where it comes to lying, do your walk reflect the multiple choice question or the true or false question? Remember, when we chose to tell the truth even in the times of being in trouble, we are making a true sacrifice in that we are giving up the world’s standard and choosing Christ’s. Let move on to the next example.
III. You Will Not Commit Adultery
Now this one is interesting. We will read two verses of Scripture for this one starting with Exodus 20:14. It says, “You shall not commit adultery.” Now this seems pretty straight forward. We know that adultery is when a man or woman has sexual relations with someone who is not their spouse. It is pretty acceptable that this is wrong, even for those who are not Christians. There are many individuals who have done this according to this definition. So if I asked you this multiple choice and true or false question, many of you will get this one right with no problem.
When we read it from this view point, we feel pretty good about ourselves as many of us have never committed adultery or even truly considered it. We walk around with the “holier than thou” disposition because there is actually a sin out there that we have not done. But then we begin to read and study God’s word and we find that committing adultery is more than just the act, it is about our hearts. To prove this point, turn to Matthew 5:27-29. It states, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’; but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Jesus quoted what had been taught from the time of the original Ten Commandments, but He sheds a different light on the situation. We have been taught that it is okay to look as long as we do not touch. Jesus said that was not the case. We have been taught that it is okay to admire God’s handiwork, and it is, if you can do so without sinning. I was in a session Friday afternoon with some young boys and the topic was dress codes. The leader asked the boys (whose average age was12) how they liked to see a girl dressed. One of the boys said that he liked for girls to be dressed sexy. He could not answer why, but he knew that is what he liked to see. So, let rephrase the questions I asked earlier.
As we come into the fullness of knowledge of Jesus Christ, we begin to learn that it not okay to have some things in your heart even though you have no plans to act on it. You may be thinking at this time that still it is okay to look as long as you do not lust, but that is a relative term. Some people, as with lies, have established degrees of lust. For example, suppose I see a pretty woman and I do not want to have sex with her – maybe I just want to kiss her. With examples like this we enter into the multiple choice type of life where we find shades of grey as to what is really right or wrong.
I want to make this perfectly clear to you because this goes against everything we see in the world around us. In the world around us it is perfectly acceptable to get your needs met elsewhere if they are not being met at home. In the world around us it is perfectly acceptable to look and lust after someone as long as you do not touch them. Someone made the statement that “I can window shop as long as I do not purchase.” This is the mentality that exists within the world and is slowly seeping into the lives of Christians. When we see these images on TV, in school, the workplace and everywhere else we look it becomes difficult not to let the world’s standard become your own. But remember what Jesus said as it pertains to adultery; He said the penalty is severe. He said “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” What this means is that it is better for you to lose an eye or both eyes if you having eyes will cause you to sin and lead you to hell. When you read this for what it says you begin to understand that it is not a multiple choice, it is one choice. It is not just about the act, but about what is in the heart.
Before I close out this message today, I want you to consider something else that Jesus said. I told you that He said that those who change His words would be considered least in His kingdom. What does it mean to change His words? It means that we take what He says and make it fit into what we want to do. We take the Bible and make it fit what we want to do. We justify our sins by using the world’s standard as our comparator instead of God’s. We have watered down God’s word so much that it is no wonder that you can find examples of almost every sin present in most Churches. I am not talking about past sin before someone was converted; I am talking about the present sins of the converted. If God did not care about His standard then we would be fine – but He does care. I will leave you with these words of Christ and I will continue with more examples next week. “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden…..let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-14; 16. May God bless and keep you.
Pretest to Message Today
Hitting Back
1. As a Christian, when someone slaps you, how should you respond?
A. Slap them back since they hit first.
B. Turn the other cheek and if they slap that one, knock them out.
C. Turn the other cheek and then walk away.
D. Both A & B are correct.
E. All of the above.
1. As a Christian, Christ approves of you hitting someone back when they hit you first?
True or False
Lying
1. As a Christian, it is okay to lie under the following conditions:
A. When it is just a white lie and no harm is done.
B. When you are in trouble and the lie will get you out of it.
C. When you do not want to hurt someone’s feelings.
D. It is never okay to lie.
E. A,B, and C are all correct.
2. As a Christian, it is not really a lie when I:
A. Stretch the truth just a little bit.
B. Tell my kids there is an Easter bunny.
C. Call in sick at work when I am not sick.
D. Add a few extra deductions on my income tax filings.
E. Not giving all of the information and allowing the other person to come up with their own conclusions based on the limited information I gave.
F. All the above answers are correct.
G. All the above answers are considered lying.
3. Any time you do not tell the absolute truth, it is a lie. True or False
Adultery
1. It is okay to commit adultery if:
A. You spouse is treating you bad.
B. Your spouse cheated on you first.
C. You find someone you like better.
D. You no longer love your spouse.
E. Committing adultery is never okay.
2. It is wrong to commit adultery. True or False
3. As a Christian, I commit adultery when I:
A. Have sex with someone who is not my spouse.
B. Have sex with the spouse of someone else if I am single.
C. Think about having sex with someone I find attractive.
D. All of the above.
4. When you look at someone as lusts after them, even if you never touch them you are
committing adultery in your heart and it is a sin. True or False
