HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY
Leviticus 19:35-37
35 "'Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. 36 Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
37 "'Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord.'"
NIV
There is an old saying that Honest Is The Best Policy
I believe that if you live a life of honesty, you can sleep well at night.
Every day we have to make a decision to be honest.
Every day we have to be aware that world is not about honesty.
There is always a new scam. Somebody is trying
to get to your money.
Everyday we are we are faced with products that have an evaluation
We never know what scale they used to come up with the price
If you buy a 5 pound bag of sugar, is it 5 pounds?
At the service station, are you really getting a gallon of gas?
Weights, scales, and measures are to be according to God’s standard of justice. No Christian need to be reminded of this in his/her daily life.
The world for the most part it, is void of righteousness.
In the hearts of believers, righteousness finds its value.
In the Word of God, there are balances which weigh moral and spiritual things.
We need examine ourselves by God’s scales of justice.
The scales of righteousness weigh our own and other men's characters, and they are accurate. We have a tendency to see ourselves in a brighter light than we see others.
Often times we are blind to our own faults. Jesus illustrates this
Matthew 7:3-6
3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
We measure others by own elevated standards which we do not live by
We see our own ounce of goodness as monumental, and other persons' barrel of excellence as a tablespoon. We don’t use the same weights and scales
for others as we use for ourselves.
By the same token, How do we weight our trials and tribulation
Jesus is the weight and the scale
His sacrificial death on the cross paid for our sins.
How do our troubles measure up against His scale.
Daniel 5:25
You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.
We are found wanting because we complain at the slightest
interruption in our lives.
If it rains too long, we which it would stop.
If there is the slightest hint of a drought, we pray for rain.
No praise in troubled times.
Proverbs 16:11-12
11 Honest scales and balances are from the Lord;
all the weights in the bag are of his making.
Scales and balances are set by the Lord
There can only be one standard.
IF God left standards to men there would be no standard because
every person would have his own standards.
The weight belong to the Lord
The Lord owns everything. We are just users of God resources.
He made the standards known to every human being.
Every human being was made in His image and His likeness.
The United States started with honest scales. But changed to
dishonesty
Franklin D Roosevelt was president in 1933.
The government held the $35 per ounce price until August 15, 1971, when President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, thus completely abandoning the gold standard.
After 1971 the scale and weight was ended for Us currency. The Treasure could print more money without gold backing it up.
MAN IS WITHOUT EXCUSE FOR BEING DISHONEST
Romans 1:18-21
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
The worst criminal in the world, who never stepped inside a church and never
picked up a Bible has knowledge of God and His righteousness.
No one has an excuse for doing wrong.
Dr Martin Luther King quoted:
There is some good in the worst of us and some bad in the best of us.
This follows, all have sinned and fall short of the of God’s glory.
Every human being was made in the likeness and the image of God
Any good in the best and any good in the worst of us comes from God.
When we talk about weights and scales we are talking about honesty.
HONESTY IS THE BUSINESS OF GOD
Honesty should cover every aspect of our lives
Listen to what the Queen of Sheba said to King Solomon
1 Chronicles 29:17-18
17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.
(side note: How did knowledge of God get to Africa? Matthew 12:42)
1600 miles away
HONEST WITH GOD
We should be honest in how we deal with God.
Proverbs 16:13-14
13 Kings take pleasure in honest lips;
they value a man who speaks the truth.
From the beginning of the church, God demanded honesty.
Acts 5:1-5
Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With 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.
3 Then 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? 4 Didn'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."
5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died
HONEST IN THE CHURCH
Before the church was formed, God demanded honest.
Malachi 3:8
Will a man rode God?
God commands us to give 10% of our income.
Do we give as He commands or do we make excuses why we can’t give
Lets say you make 50 thousands dollars a year. God commands 5000 dollars
The average christian gives 3 percent which is 1500 dollars.
5000 minus 1500 equals 3500 dollars robed from God.
God promises to return of 10 to 100 fold. Therefore you rod yourself a minimum of
50,000 dollars
HONESTY IN BUSINESS
2 Kings 12:15-16
They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.
In Business today are you a robber?
You agreed with your boss to work 8 hours a day at a certain wage
Let’s say you work only 7 hours a day for your reasons
1 hour per day at 20 dollars an hour times 5 days times 52 weeks equals
5200 dollars you took from the company.
Put the shoe on the other foot. Would you want you boss to pay your for 7 hours
when you worked 8? That would be 5200 dollars out of your pocket.
HONESTY WITH EACH OTHER
We should be honest in how we deal with each other
Genesis 30:32-33
They will be my wages. 33 And my honesty will testify for me in the future, whenever you check on the wages you have paid me. Any goat in my possession that is not speckled or spotted, or any lamb that is not dark-colored, will be considered stolen."
When dealing with each other do we all ways speak what we know is the
truth? Or do we speak what we think is the truth.
Either way we can injure the other party.
Proverbs 12:25-26
An anxious heart weighs a man down,
but a kind word cheers him up.
A righteous man is cautious in friendship.
Friendship is worth more than gossip.
HONESTY WITH OURSELVES
When dealing with ourselves do we always speak the truth or
do we disregard the truth to make ourselves fell good? Are we
honest with ourselves?
You will know the truth and the truth will set you free
We should be honest in how we deal with ourselves
Job 31:6-7
let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless—
Proverbs 24:26-27
26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.
SUMMARY
Let’s consider three points
1. HONESTY IS THE BUSINESS OF GOD
We can only be honest with God if we follow His commands.
Anything less is dishonesty.
Deuteronomy 25:14-16
Do not have two differing measures in your house — one large, one small. 15 You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
NIV
2. DISHONESTY IS OFFENSIVE TO GOD
Proverbs 11:1, 20:10
3. HONESTY IS ACCEPTABLE TO GOD
Colossians 3:23-25
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.
4 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.
CLASS QUESTIONS
1. What are some ways we can be dishonest at work?
2. What are some ways we can be dishonest with others?
3. What are some ways we can be dishonest with ourselves?
4. What are some ways we can be dishonest in the church?
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