Sermon Tone Analysis

Series Values to Live By

Today we want to talk about honesty.

We all say that we value honesty and when asked what we want our kids to be, honest is always at the top.

Survey’s have shown that 90% of Americans lie regularly.

How can you even trust the survey?

There are opportunities every day for you and I to lie… research says about 200 per person per day.

Every interaction with anyone is an opportunity to lie.

Here are a few great American Lies...

The check is in the mail.

I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.

The doctor will call you right back.

It was good to see you.

One size fits all.

This hurts me more than it hurts you.

Your table will be ready in just a minute…

Tell them I’m not here.

Dishonesty is promoted in our culture

Our culture endorses untruth… embraces untruth… and practices untruth consistently.

We have come to expect dishonesty and that’s pathetic.

We expect a degree of untruthfulness in our political system.

We expect that.

We expect a degree of untruthfulness in advertising.

We know over years and years of watching different advertisements that they lie to us.

They are dishonest.

Old spice… the babes didn’t come running like they did on the commercials..

We expect a degree of untruthfulness in business.

Seven out of ten business people surveyed said they compromise their values to conform to company standards.

It’s amazing to me how many people struggle with honesty in their businesses.

People will cheat and lie to win a prize in a contest.

A kid won a contest with a 11,000 pound bull, but had it taken away when it was discovered that he filled the bull with air… don’t ask how…

Dishonesty is every where and one of the reasons it runs in our culture is that it’s in our nature.

Dishonesty is present in our nature

There is a flaw in human nature that draws us to untruth.

At the core, people are dishonest.

If you have read the Bible, this is no surprise because it says that we have all sinned.

It also say that our hearts are deceitfully wicked.

It’s part of the fallenness of the human race.

Dishonesty is part of our spiritual structure

It’s light versus darkness… good verses evil… Satan verses God.

You and I are the object in a Spiritual battle.

Truth vs. Falsehood.

God is the father of truth while the devil is the father of lies.

God is on one side … the side of truth… and Satan is on the other side… the side of lies or untruth.

They are oppose to each other and we have a choice… do we follow God, who is truth or do we follow Satan who is a liar?

Listen, when it comes to God, God hates dishonesty.

It’s a perversion of His character.

God places high priority and premium on truthfulness and he wants you and I to have a love affair with honesty.

The question we have to answer is why.

Just because God wants us to be honest, do we need to be honest?

Let’s look at what’s happened because of dishonesty.

Affects of Dishonesty

1.

We are skeptical

We have been lied to over and over, so we always wonder if what the other person is saying is the truth.

2. Trust has broken down

We are a culture of people, a nation where we don't trust anybody any more because of continual and consistent lying.

3. Dishonesty has made us insecure people.

People are looking for the security that the truth brings and in the absence of truth, we become insecure.

Remember Cross your heart and hope to die… stick a needle in your eye.

They wanted the truth…

A lot of people say… Honesty… that’s a nice concept.

LISTEN TO ME.

Honesty is a command from God.

He loves you and I so much and he wants us to have security… to have trust in relationships… security in our businesses… security in our churches… security in our families.... and we will not have security until we feel like we are being told the truth.

When we feel like someone is lying to us we feel insecure and frustrated… defeated and shattered.

It keeps us from living the way God wants us to live.

When we lie and deceive people, it actually wounds our souls.

The more we deceive the more we do it and the easier it becomes.

Remember our hearts are wicked…

We were created in the image of God and while the Fall of Man scarred that image, there are some steps we can take to lead us back to truth.

Steps Toward an Honest Life

The truth is worth whatever the cost.

Pay the price to be known as an honest person.

What’s the price?

1.

Take an inventory of your truthfulness

This could be difficult because too many are so used to being deceitful.

It may take some work.

ILL - Mole on my face… didn’t pay attention until it began to hurt when I would shave… then had it checked to make sure it was ok.

It’s the same with truthfulness.

It may take a little surgery to get the bad stuff out.

Ask yourself 3 questions:

1.

When am I being dishonest?

Marriage… work… friends… myself… lifestyle… God

2. How am I being dishonest?

Protecting others… People come up to me a lot and say, I don’t know if you remember me… I usually say, you look familiar… leater realize they don’t but why did I say that… didn’t want to hurt their feelings.

slander… expose and defeat.

exaggeration… Greek word resume - means we exaggerate to make ourselves look good.

silence… when I know something that will help you but don’t say it.

deceit… shading the truth… you tell your kids to tell a caller you are not home…

cheating… motive… compromise… use of time… flattery… justifying

Next we have to ask why...

3. Why am I being dishonest?

fear - Peter lied because of fear…

insecurity ___ personal gain___ greed ___ pride - Cain lied because of pride… his was wounded.

outside pressure___ convenience ___ expediency ___ selfishness___ anger ___ insecurity ___ jealousy

2. Make an honest evaluation of your gains and loses

There are some gains when you are untruthful.

I can cheat on my taxes and gain more money.

I can lie about something and gain more time… until you get caught.

But when you look at those gains, we have to determine if they’re more appealing that the truth.

If they are, we are living the world’s way.