Just like Jesus
Part 4
The heart of Jesus is compassionate, listening, led by an invisible hand, longs for God, worships God, and is a forgiving and focused heart. Today we will see that the heart of Jesus is an honest heart.
It is the job of a witness to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. It is up to the legal eagles to interpret, the jury to resolve, and the judge to apply. But it is up to the witness to tell the Truth. As Christians we too make a pledge, which is to tell the Truth. The Judge is unseen, but his word is with us. The jury is the world, which is watching us. We are subpoenaed by Jesus himself when he says; “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
As His witnesses we are called to testify to what we have seen and heard, we are called to tell the TRUTH.
Isaiah says; “He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:9). No false statements by Jesus, and we as his followers should have the same. God is direct when it comes to lying or deceiving. Prov 12:22 The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.
Remember from the list last week about the 6 things the Lord detests one of them was a lying tongue and another is a false witness. Judgment is swift concerning liars and deceivers. (Rev. 21:8) But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
Why does God take such a hard stance against lying? It is contrary to His character, it is impossible for God to lie. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged (Hebrews 6:18).
God speaks the Truth, when he makes a covenant he does not break it, and when he says something he means it.
Psalms 116:11 says “All Men are Liars” is this a trustworthy statement. Have we ever told half truths? Or have we ever omitted telling the whole truth? Look at this list
This comes from Psychology Today it was the results of a survey taken not long ago
1. More people say they have cheated on their spouses than on their tax returns or expense accounts
2. More than half say that if their tax returns were audited they would probably owe the government money.
3. About one our three people admit to deceiving a best friend about something within the last year; 96 % actually feel guilty about it.
4. Nearly half predict that if they scratched another car in the parking lot, they would drive away without leaving a note, 89% of them agree that it would be immoral.
Sometimes we hold back information, maybe the information would be upsetting to a person who is ill and needs to recover, sometimes the motives are right, even if the method is not.
There is an old story that has circulated for decades. It is a conversation between a husband and wife as she is about to come home from a trip.
How is my cat? Asked the wife. Dead replied the husband. Oh honey you could have broken the news to me slowly. How? You could have told me he was on the roof. And when I called you from Paris you could have told me he was acting sluggish, then when I called from London you could have said he is sick, and when I called from NY you could have said you took him to the Vet, then when I arrived home you could have said he is dead. Oh ok, I will do better next time.
Ok then, well how is my brother doing? Oh well he’s on the roof. (He actually was on the roof getting the toy the kids threw up there.)
The fact is we don’t like the truth. We ask the questions we really don’t want answers to. Apple polishing, stretching the truth, we say its ok, God says it is not. Look again at the story of Ananias and Sapphira.
We say we are glad God does not strike people dead for lying, I am not sure he doesn’t
Maybe not physical death but
Marriage= falsehoods are termites in the trunk of the family tree
Conscience= the tragedy of the second lie is that the first one was easier to tell
Career= Just ask someone who was booted out for cheating or embezzling.
Faith= consistent lying is death to faith.
How about intimacy, trust, peace, self-respect? Lying could be the death of those too. God says if we are faithful in little he can trust us in greater things. Can God trust us in the small things?
How about if I were to ask you about your Quiet time this week? How about if I were to ask you if what you placed in the offering was the whole tithe? These are small things, if we are faithful in them He will trust us in greater things.
The cure for deceit is face the music. Own up instead of lying, your character would be more respected. Remember even when we think no one is watching, God is.
Having a honest heart is essential to being like Jesus, we must also have a Pure heart. We spent much time on this before. Jesus said “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8)
PS 73:1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
Think of our hearts like a greenhouse. What would we put there? Ever wonder why some people are normally always smiling, patient, optimistic, and forgiving. Some of these traits I have to work on. Ever wonder why some are always “Gloomy Gus” characters. Well ask the question. What is going on in the greenhouse, are we sowing flowers or weeds? GAL 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
It is all on how we look at things, is the glass half empty or half full? Our thoughts run our lives. One problem I have been working on is what I call projecting. I call home and the line is busy I think “Ok Matt is on the internet reading ESPN that he just got done watching for several hours instead of reading a book.” Or this actually happened the other day, I called home and got the answering machine, right away I thought, Matt is in his room playing Playstation with his headphones on and his stereo blasting. I got angry and my response to the answering machine showed that. Loretta, always being optimistic and setting me straight, said “so what if Matt is playing with his Playstation and listening to his stereo, no need for you to get mad.” She was right. Actually what happened was that Matt was tired and took a nap and did not hear the phone. Be careful what we project, it is almost always wrong.
Two drivers stuck in traffic; one says that messes up my schedule, the other says “Good chance to slow down and listen to some music”
Two mothers face the same tragedy, one is destroyed: I’ll never get over this, the other is despondent but determined, God will get me through this.
Two people experiencing success; one grows proud and pats himself on the back, the other says “thank you Lord.”
WE are told “PR 4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Our thoughts control our lives, our heart is revealed in our thoughts.
How do we guard the doorway to the greenhouse?
Psychologist agree on this; We will be and think of ourselves what we think the most important person in our lives thinks we are.
we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor 10:5c)
What if we think that someone we hold in high esteem thinks we are a loser? If we let that thought in, it will find fertile ground and develop and capture our thoughts about ourselves. In this case Jesus disagrees, how do I know, I have read his word. He thinks we are special, first of all God does not make junk, and we are told in Eph 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We can kick that bully out
The next thought is a groupie “Oh you are so wonderful, the world is lucky to have you.”
Romans 12:3 tells us “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you”
So we must think of ourselves not so lowly but also not so highly. I like the attitude of Paul and Barnabas as they returned from the missionary journey’s “They told all of what God had done among the Gentiles and how God had opened the doors.”
So how do we guard the doorway, submit ourselves to Jesus’ authority and let Him answer the door.
A pure heart and an honest heart are what the Lord wants us to have.
If we give ourselves to the Lord, ask him in all earnestness “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”(Ps 51:10)
