Untitled Sermon

Biblical Transparency

One of the most profound and awesome things that I really enjoy about being a Christian is having the capacity to see the world through a Biblical view and being able to compare world vs Bible. For example the Golden Rule vs Luke 6:31. Depending on translation it’s literally the exact same wording, but the world took Luke 6:31 and made it the Golden Rule so that they can still claim they’re not Christian. So when we look at how the world takes their version of transparency and tries to implement it, I can get a good laugh. When we think about transparency in society or the world today, we often ask what is this company doing, or what is this leader all about? And we start digging to see if they are actually being transparent. We look to see if there are any skeletons in the closet, any dirty little secrets that they don’t want anyone to know about. More times than not we look at something or someone who is claiming openness to the world and we say it’s too good to be true, and more often than not it usually is.

The world says that to be transparent, is to be completely open about what you are doing right now, and there can never be any mess ups, that you have to be perfect, and you can never ever under any circumstances let anyone see what’s in your closet, because your skeletons will bury you. And in the event that someone does out your dirty laundry, you deny, deny, deny, and then intimidate and coerce until either the problem goes away or is buried again. That’s what a worldly view of transparency is. But we’re not here to learn how to have a worldly view of transparency. If you want to learn how to have that kind of transparency, I know a few addicts that can help you out.

A theologian from the 1800s, J.B. Lightfoot was quoted as saying, “There is no persuasiveness more effectual than the transparency of a single heart, of a sincere life.”

Anyone who has spent more than ten seconds around any type of respected leadership or group of people deemed to be good’ will at some point hear, talk about, or bring up in conversation transparency of that leadership or group. In the church we demand it of our committees, and as Christians it’s expected of our teachers and pastors. Don’t kid yourself into thinking it’s not or that it’s not important. I promise you, if Rocky or I were to ever give the impression of hiding something, within seconds, someone is offended and calling a meeting. That’s just the truth.

There’s nothing wrong with transparency, or demanding it from our leadership. But how often do we just stop there? How often do we have the attitude of, “Well my pastor has the transparency that I demand of him and that’s good enough for me, I don’t have to have it, I’m not in leadership?” I’m guilty of having the attitude of demanding that others were transparent with me, but I, myself wasn’t even remotely close to giving others what I demanded. We put a lot of importance on transparency on our leadership so much so that you would think that every other word in the list of qualifications for from 1 Timothy and Titus was transparency. But is transparency only for those in leadership?

Did you know that transparency and any form of the word is only found in Scripture 1 time? Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

So why do we put such an emphasis on something with almost no actual mention in Scripture behind it?

I want to answer 2 main questions today.

1. What is Biblical transparency and

2. Who does it apply to.

We often talk about transparency as a single, let alone, stand by itself attribute that fits in with all other qualifications that make up a good leader or group. I like this company because they are transparent, I respect that leader because he is transparent. However when we go to the text, and start reading over different characteristics and qualities for people and roles we start to see that there are bits and pieces that all go into this thing called transparency that it’s not just one specific quality and you start to realize that like the Trinity, the name might not be in Scripture but that doesn’t mean that it’s not taught, discussed, or openly presented to you.

Turn with me to Matthew 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Who can say they saw that one coming? I can stop right here and all you need to know is that in order to be able to see God, whether on this earth or in heaven all you need is a pure heart.

Ask yourself the question though. What does it mean to be pure in heart? We talk about it a lot in Sunday School rooms, Bible studies, we mention it as one of the top most precious of characteristics that someone can have. But what does it mean?

The Greek word for pure is katharos. It means to be clean, blameless, unstained from guilt. The word can be applied to being pure as through fire or pruning, such as one’s walk in sanctification through Christ. The Greek word for heart is kardeeahreferringto the spiritual center of life. It is where thoughts, desires, sense of purpose, will, and character reside. So, to be pure in heart means to be blameless and undivided in loyaltyin who we actually are in God, having a singleness of focus on him, translating to also havingno hypocrisy, no guilt, no hidden motives.

Sound familiar? These are all attributes of transparency. As a matter of fact the pure heart is marked by transparency, and vice versa. You can’t have one without the other. When we truly repent from our sins and turn to the Lord, he forgives us. The key word is truly. It’s about opening our entire self up, laying it all out in the open, or putting it all on the table and saying here I am Lord. He makes us clean, and blameless, and guilt free through forgiveness, and thenHe purifies our desires, and purpose and will, and we are made new. We are able to bask in the openness of who we are because of and in Christ.Psalm 51:7,10says: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be white as snow... create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

The definition of what a pure heart is, is having a clean, blameless, guiltless center of desire and character that is unashamedly seeking after God and his will in our lives so that we may become molded into his image.

Transparency, more accuratelyBiblical transparency,is how that pure heart is shown to those around us.

I’m going to take us backwards through this definition of a pure heart and define what the main attributes are of Biblical transparency.

That makesour firstattribute of transparency: humility. Humility helps to free us from our guilt. In order to lay ourselves open we have to first be humble. We have to admit we’re not God, we have to admit that there’s something wrong with us, we can’t hide from or avoid the fact that there’s wrong in our life or that we have or will mess up. We have to have humility to be able to face andto show our flaws and mistakes. World says we can’t have flaws and mistakes to be transparent, scripture says it’s demanded that we show ours.

Let me ask you this. Without humility how can we seek forgiveness? We can’t. Without humilitywe just keep building ourselves up in order tocompensate for and hideour failings. It’s no different than building a mansion of fool’s gold on a heaping pile of dung. No one with a secret can ever be well or clean. James 1:21: Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

How do we do that? Well James answers that question. 5:15-16: And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.

In order to have the openness of being transparent you have to be humble enough to admit your sins and seek forgiveness. An amazing thing happens through this process. You lose the shame of your sins, and they lose their power over you. When that happens you’re able to not only face them, but show them. You don’t have to hide away and hope no one sees what you’ve done.

When I was on the tail end of working my first 12 step program, I was working up at Bomgaars as a manager. It was a slow day,so I was talking with my cashiersabout being sick in our secrets and how being able to admit my wrongs and my sins had given me freedom from them. I was able to lay myself open for all to see who I had been and wasn’t ashamed of it. She said she didn’t believe me. With my back to the door I admitted to her that in my addiction I had been an angry abuser. That I had beat my kids, and mentally crushed my wife. Pretty heavy stuff, so I wasn’t surprised when her eyes got really big. Then I turned around and there stood an older couple looking like they just walked into a train wreck. One was ghost white from shock and one was deep red from embarrassment, both had big eyes and jaws on the floor. I asked them if they needed help finding anything. Those three were more embarrassed than I was supposed to be by my admission. But it had no effect on me, I was able to present who I was, who I had been, and I didn’t have to feel ashamed about it, because mostimportantly it opened the door to speak about who brought me out of that pit because those past sins have no power over me anymore. That’s the power of being able to admit your sins, it’s that they no longer have power over you. I don’t carry around that shame anymore, and you don’t have to either, but you can’t have that kind of opennesswithout first humbling yourself, otherwise your sinwill still hold that guilt over you. Humility will lead to being unstained by guilt by allowing us to seek forgiveness through admittance of sin.

In the definition of having a pure heart which holds with Biblical transparency you have to be blameless. Now before anyone says that Pastor Jacob said you have to be perfect in order to have Biblical transparency… I’m looking at you, youth group. This isn’t a matter of perfection. It’s a matter of accountability coupled with willingopenness. There are two dictionary definitions that are referred to when we talk about Biblical transparency. The first one deals directly with accountability and openness. The definition of transparency is the quality of being open to public scrutiny.

Yeesh, as if being humble wasn’t enough, now I have to let everyone see me for who I am, and open myself up to judgement? Yup. No one said being a Christian was easy or comfortable. As a matter of fact we’re promised persecution and hatred from the world because of who we serve. 1 Peter 4:16: Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.

Will there be times that you mess up? Yup. Will people who have no authority or position over you hold you accountable for when you mess up? Yup. If you’re holding yourself accountable to Christ and the church and you’re open about your flaws and mistakes, and when you mess up can anyone hold you in reproach? Nope.

Here’s the thing about being accountable and open to people. It can be and always will be scary doing it. But don’t miss this. I’m going to impart some wisdom of the ages onto you right now. Don’t miss this.If you’re living the way you’re supposed to be living… you can’t get caught. We’ll get into integrity in a minute, but think about this. If you’re truly living like you’re supposed to what do you have to hide? It took me almost a year after I was completely sober, and had turned myself over to the service of God before my hands stopped sweating every time I saw a cop while driving. One day it hit me. I’m not drunk, I’m not speeding, I have my seat belt on...why am I afraid if that cop sees me or not? Now I wave to them. If you’re living the way you’re supposed to be living you can’t get caught. More than that though.If you’re living the way you’re supposed to be living, and you fall here or there, but are open and accountable about your fall, and you truly repent, and go back to living like you’re supposed to… no one can say anything.

But you have to be living right, which means accountability and openness. The world says you have to be perfect if you’re to be transparent. The Bible says from 1 John 1:8-10: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

We have to welcome accountability, seek it even, and when held accountable openly confess your sins. Then seek forgiveness. The awesome thing is that if you’re being open you won’t have to wait for someone else to hold you accountable, you’ll hold yourself accountable and do it on your own.

Unfortunately, something that I’ve heard and seensomeleaders in ministry claim is that beingabove reproach from 1 Timothy 3:2means that no one can confront them or call them out because of their position in ministry or the church. They can do as they please because they’re a pastor or a leader or an‘insert whatever fancy title they claim’, and because they are above reproach how dare you go against them. Oh it’s not just leaders though. There are lay people who do it to. Do you know how long I’ve been coming to this church? I was one of the original people or from an original family, how dare you correct me or hold me to standard!

That’s not right living, that’s not what being above reproach means, and if that’s the attitude that you have you need to take a serious look at your heart’s desires because that’s not how that works.

From 2 Peter 1:5-9: For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. (this is right living) For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind.

This isn’t being legalistic, this is not holding anyone to a way of living under the Law. This is a list of divine qualities that every Christian should be striving to live with and by. These qualities speak of a changed heart, and renewed spirit in Jesus Christ. To live without them is the equivalent of being blind to God. So when a Christian, and especially a church leader or teacher, is living outside of these basic qualities that are evidence ofa regenerative heart, and they aregetting offended when they are called out and held accountable for their actions… that’s a scary position for any professing believer to be in.

But that’s where the openness comes in. If you’re leaving yourself open to scrutiny, here I am this is who and what I am and am doing, then no one can say a word against you. With openness comes accountability, so if you start to slip there’s grace to be given there. Hey brother you’re starting to slip a bit, let me come along side you and help you get back to what’s good. Hey sister, I noticed you’re taking some questionable actions, let me come along side you and guide you back to what’s good. In order to be transparent we have to be open and accountable. If you still think I’m crazy, look at the qualifications for church leadership as laid out in 1 Timothy 3:7: Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil. How many times have you said or heard, “Hey I thought so and so was a Christian? Did you hear they didx, y, z?” It does matter what we do, and how we do it. If nothing else than because we are always an example. Good or bad, we’re always an example. This isn’t for salvation sake, but for our testimony sake. How are we making God look? Are we being a good example of who he is or are we not? In order to claim Biblical transparency you have to be accountable and open. That’s the only way to be blameless.

The last defining attribute is probably the most integral to having a pure heart and Biblical transparency. Pun intended. All the attributes are equal in importance, but without integrity and honesty itsall just fluff. You can show people a ton of stuff of and in your life, and claim it’s everything that you have to show, while secretly, deceptively keeping some things hidden. The world says that’s what you have to do. Keep everything you want hidden, hidden, and then show only the parts that you want to be seen and call that being transparent.

Jeff Iorg, the former president for Gateway Seminary said this about maintaining integrity, “Some leaders have a view of integrity that is too simplistic. If they have not had an affair or stolen money, then they have integrity! Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Maintaining integrity means more that appropriate sexual and fiscal behavior. While those are important issues, integrity touches all areas of a leader’s life.”

The point he’s making here is that integrity isn’t just focused on one or two areas of our life, the areas that I might add are always the worldly focus, but it’s making our actions, our speech, our mindset, everything we have and areto be bent to the will of God. That takes honesty as well as integrity. Integrity is the state of being whole, and undivided, of having the quality of being honest and having moral uprightness. To be honest or have honesty is to be free of deceit and untruthfulness, morally correct or virtuous.

Go back to thedefinition of a pure heart. A clean, blameless, guiltless center of desire and character that is unashamedly seeking after God and his will in our lives so that we may become molded into his image.

One can’t serve both God and money, you will love one and hate the other. Matthew 6:24. Back to 2 Peter, the very first quality we are to supplement our faith with is virtue. Titus 1:15-16: To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Going back to 1 John. 1:6-7: If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

I can do this all day. Integrity and honesty. Not being divided, and free from deceit. How does this fit into transparency? We can’t be open without honesty, we can’t be truly humble without integrity, we have to be free from guilt which means no untruthfulness or worldly loyalty can reside in us. When we truly have that and we are transparent, we can shine. The second definition of transparency is the quality of allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen.

Luke 8:16-18: No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light.

Gospel ministry and Gospel knowledge will shed light on and drive away dark areas of sin. Living for Christ, being true to God and the Holy Spirit will show light into us revealing in us the places in our life that still need to be touched by God’s sanctification. Us being transparent with God, not that he doesn’t know our secrets already, but us being open and honest about them allows for his work to take hold in our lives. Transparency works both ways, when we are open and honest and have integrity in and for Christ, that light will also shine outward to an unbelieving world like a giant beacon. A true testimony isn’t effective because of the dirt in someone’s past, it’s effective because there is transparency of what used to be, but now is different, and it only happened through and by the power and blood of Jesus Christ. That’s what makes it effective. But it takes us having integrity and being honest to allow for the other attributes to come together so that we can come to the foot of the cross so that Jesus can make us clean. I’m not talking about salvation, this is about right living.

Which will bring us to the second question to answer today. Who does Biblical transparency apply to? It absolutely applies to every single leader, teacher, preacher, pastor, mentor, elder, deacon, trustee and whatever other title fits into church leadership. We are called to carry that mantle as an example of the same transparency that Christ himself shows. But it’s an example that should be and needs to be followed. If you’ve been paying attention, all these qualities and attributes that show a pure heart, that make up Biblical transparency, are all evidence of a regenerative heart. Of a heart made clean in Jesus Christ along with a renewed spirit. Biblical transparency walks hand in hand with a pure heart and they are both evidence of a walk in sanctification. God’s work in your life, the process of you becoming molded into the image of Christ, and being made holy is evidenced by a pure heart. Matthew 5:8: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. But wait there’s more. They shall show God too. There’s always a consequence to everything whether it’s good or bad. Through God’s work in our life, and our becoming more like him, we will show those around us God in our lives. Jesus taught that what goes into the mouth doesn’t defile, but what comes out, because the mouth is controlled by the heart. Paul echoed that in saying if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart, because with the heart one believes and is justified. When our heart is made pure through the work of the Spirit, and by God’s grace and mercy, then Jesus will be shown in and through us. That’s Biblical transparency.

The phrase clear as mud is a common one, and often times funny, but when you stop and think about it, it perfectly describes how skewed and twisted the world has made transparency. When you take Christ out of anything it either dies or becomes twisted and dark. The world likes the idea of transparency where we can be open and honest with one and all, but they take Christ out of it. When you take the light out of anything you get darkness, and so their transparency is only as far as they will let the light shine on them. It’s clear as mud, and without that honesty that they claim to desire.

Christian, if you’re hearing anything today, hear this. Don’t be afraid to let that light shine. If there’s anything holding you back from shining the light of Christ, cast it to the foot of the cross. Take that step and embrace Biblical transparency. Show the world Christ through you.

If you’re here today and you desire the freedom that comes with being transparent, if you don’t want to be clear as mud anymore, to be able to shine that light too, it’s never too late and there’s never too much darkness. Christ is there with open arms.

Paul teaches that through our actions the world will know we are Christians then we are to open our mouths and leave no doubt. That’s one of the amazing benefits of Biblical transparency. There’s no doubt about who we serve. In a day and age and society where people are so scared of taking a firm clear stand on anything because of how it will effect their image or because they’re afraid of offending someone, we can show the courage that the world lacks by planting our feet and showing them where we stand.