Thank you, friend, for inviting us into your home for Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way. We believe the Lord's way to become and to be a Christian is revealed to everybody to read in the Bibles-- and in the Bible alone. We pray God will richly bless both of us as we study together today.
Welcome, my friend, to our Bible study program In Search of the Lord's Way to become and to be a Christian. The Holy Spirit commended the people of Berea who heard the apostle Paul preach, because "they were more fair-minded than the people in Thessalonica in that they received the word of God with all readiness, and they searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” We read about that in Acts chapter 17, verse 11. And you are to be commended, too, my friend, for joining us for a search of the Scriptures today. And we're grateful to you, and we feel honored that you have chosen our program from among the many you have available.
Oh, I'm so thankful, too, for the way the Lord continues to bless this ministry. The volume of our mail and telephone calls is increasing by the week. We are hearing from every quarter of the U.S. and beyond. But, most of all, we're thrilled to hear from people whose lives have been changed and blessed by something said or done in these programs. You see we are not in this ministry for monetary gain and we don't ask you to send us money; the other kind of mail is the reward that we receive for our efforts-- here in this life, of course; but we expect to be rewarded again by seeing those folks in heaven. Let us hear from you this week.
Sincerity is a fundamental to every virtue of religion. It's absolutely essential to a right relationship with God, to building interpersonal relationships in the family, in business, at school or anywhere else; and it is indispensable to peace within. Sincerity will be the subject of our study today; and I'll be back for Bible reading and prayer after Ken Helterbrand leads us in singing.
Our Bible reading today is from the book of Philippians, chapter 1; and we will begin reading with verse 9 and read through verse 11. “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” Now we are going to go to God in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we offer to You the thoughts of this Bible verse that we have just read; the sermons of our heart as well in our prayer to You today that we may be sincere above all things in what we do in our study of Your word and our acceptance of it and our profession of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. This we know will be exercise then in our obedience to Your will in all things. We pray in the lovely name of Jesus, Amen!
When I said a while ago that sincerity is the fundamental virtue of religion, you might have disagreed. You have every right to do that if you want to really if that is your choice. But, well anyway, you're thinking that, perhaps you are thinking about the basic truth of everything the Savior taught is love. And that is true, but the Scriptures teach us in Ephesians 6:24 and other places even love can be insincere. So, even more basic to Christianity than love, is sincerity. That's true, in spite of the fact that it is nowhere recorded in the gospels that Jesus ever spoke the word “sincere" or "sincerity" or "sincerely." And these words appear nine times in the entire New Testament, only three times in the Old Testament; and they were never used by our Lord. The word means “sunlight" or "to judge." The ancient shopping centers were very poorly lighted and the customer often found it necessary to take the merchandise out into the sunlight and inspect it for the flaws, possible flaws or imperfections in it, before making the purchase. If the pottery or the glassware, or the cloth, whatever, stood the test in the sunlight it was said to be sincere, and that is how the word came into use. Well, you may be thinking, it's strange that if this is the most basic virtue of Christianity that Christ never used the word, “sincere”.
But, think a minute of the vice that Jesus denounced most frequently and in the strongest terms. It's the opposite of sincerity, isn't it? It is hypocrisy. It's interesting that this word is used twenty-six times in the New Testament and of those twenty-six times, Jesus used it twenty-three times. Originally the word "hypocrite" was a good word. It means "a reader, a reciter or a play-actor." In the days before Christ, when there was no printing press, books and plays were not readily available to the public. So, copies were rare and very expensive. The people often gathered in the theaters to listen to a skilled reader, read or recite or maybe "act out" the best literature of the day. But, by the time of the Messiah, because these actors were found, well, not to be the kind of characters they were acting out on the stage, the word had fallen into disrepute, and Jesus is often heard saying, "Be not as the hypocrites," or "Do not do as the hypocrites do," or "Woe unto you hypocrites!" He referred to them as "whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness." So, a hypocrite is not the kind of a person on the inside that he parades himself to be on the outside. Therefore, Jesus teaches us not to be a play-actor about our faith, but to be genuine or sincere.
Well, Jesus didn't say much about sincerity, but he did denounce its opposite frequently, vigorously and in the most scathing terms sometimes! We don't like "negative preaching" today. In fact, we prefer the positive approach to all discussions, don't we? But, in this instance as well as in many others, the Master Teacher was a negative teacher.
There's a lot of play-acting, pretending, deceitfulness, going on in virtually every segment of our society today-- in politics, in business, among families, and-- well, we would like to think that it isn't as common in the church as it is without the church, but that may be wishful thinking, too. One of the charges most commonly lodged against the church is that there are too many hypocrites in it. And that's true. If there were only one, well, that would be too many, wouldn't it? We have every right to expect Christians to be sincere or genuine, and the disappointment is so great when just one person, one Christian, proves to be otherwise, well, the problem is magnified in our minds, and all the others become suspect. It would be foolish to try to deny or even to justify the presence of hypocrites in the church. It's as foolish as judging all of Christ's apostles by Judas. Wherever we find it, insincerity is to be recognized for the evil it is. And there is nothing about religion that's of any value, if it isn't characterized by genuineness. It just has to be that way.
When asked by a critic what was the first commandment in law, "Jesus answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). Love of God is the first commandment in religion. That is the beginning place, and that beginning must be sincere. It's difficult to imagine how a person could love God insincerely, but it can be done. We know it can because in the very last sentence of Paul's letter to the Christians at Ephesus, he said, "Grace be with all those who love the Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen." That implies some people may only pretend to love the Lord, doesn't it?
How can we know if our love for God and Christ is sincere? Well, here's a little test: Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." And, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me" (John 14, verses 15, 21, 23 and 24). I once had a friend, and I’ve told you about him before who is now deceased, who when I went to see him, and I did go to see him frequently, within a few minutes he would repeatedly say, "Brother Mack, I love the Lord. I do love the Lord. Oh, I love the Lord. Brother Mack, I really do love the Lord." And, I believe he did. I believe he sincerely tried to follow Jesus in all his ways, but his persistent telling me so, isn't what convinced me of it. I observed from his ways that he loved Jesus. I see bumper stickers that say, "I love Jesus." And the driver may very well love Jesus; I don't know. But one thing I do know about his love for Jesus is verified, not by the bumper sticker, but by whether he does the will of the Lord, what the Lord teaches. The person who says, "Oh, how I love Jesus," and does not do what He says, isn't being exactly genuine about it, friend. He's insincere; Jesus said "hypocritical." Well, ok, we'll take the Lord’s word for that.
Likewise, we need to stop pretending love for one another. Romans 12:9 says simply, "Let love be without hypocrisy." As the case is with the Lord, genuine love for husband, or wife, or, child, or parent, or employer or employee, friend or business associate isn't measured by how many times we say it, but by our actions. It's good to say it, alright and to say it often. We're reminded of the old fellow whose wife, after many years of marriage, asked him if he still loved her. And he replied, "I told you when I married you I loved you, and if I ever change my mind, I'll let you know." Well, that is the way many of us live, and later we live with regrets for not having said it more often.
And, we must never lay our hand on a person's shoulder and say, "I love you, brother," while stabbing him in the back with the other hand, or with the words of our mouth. In fact, we can't be sincere about our love for another person even by just refusing to do him evil. Genuine love is expressed in doing him good! The Bible says in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 22, "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart." That's the Christian way. It is the best way, friend. Wouldn't it be great if we had more fervent, unpretended love from pure hearts!
Well, the Scripture also teaches us that we must be sincere about our worship. Jesus spoke of those people in His day who worshiped Him with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him (Matthew chapter 15, verse 7 and 8). He said that by teaching the commandments of men, they had rendered the word of God of no effect and their worship vain. Oh say, friend, that's strong language! You know, in more than sixty-six years of preaching, I've read that-- oh how many times I have read it. And I couldn't even begin to estimate. But, when I quoted Jesus just now, it occurred to me-- that well, well yes, that anything that's rendered "void" is "made vacant or empty." Was the Lord saying that to preach doctrines and commandments of men actually really renders God's Holy Word void? Empty? Worthless and vain? And was our Lord, who loved us so much that He died for us, was He saying that our worship of God could be vain or worthless or even rejected by the God of heaven by our own doing-- by our insincerity? By being self-pleasing-- or for a show-- a mere performance as a crowd-pleaser-- to draw a crowd? Oh me! Anything "vain" is "worthless,” it’s useless. In other words, those people were going through the motions of worship, but it didn't have any meaning whatsoever to God. Jesus told the woman at the well that true worship, must consist of three essentials. It must be offered-- not to men, but, to God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). In the absence of any of these, worship is meaningless; the worshiper is not built up-- and God is not glorified. The truth part of it is doing it the way the Lord says do it. And some people don't think this is important. Others don't see the importance of worshiping God in spirit. If you will notice when you're reading your Bible, as in 1 Corinthians 5 and 8, there's a close relationship between sincerity on the one hand and truth on the other.
Well, the world also needs to see more sincerity in our preaching. In this same chapter from which we have taken our text (vs. 16), Paul wrote his Christian friends in Philippi, "Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good will: The one preach Christ of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds." And if I had said that, you might have thought I was being censorious or jealous or perhaps both. You might have even thought that I was being mean-spirited and unkind, but these are the words of the Holy Spirit by the pen of the apostle of Jesus Christ. And though they were written more than 1900 years ago, they are as timely as if you had read them in Dear Abby's column in the morning's newspaper. We preachers must guard against wrong motives in preaching. In the same book (chapter 3, verses 18-19), he continues, "For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-- who set their mind on earthly things." And, that's a very apt description of much of the preaching of our own day, isn't it?
Well, Paul's prayer for the church at Philippi, with which we began this program, would be an appropriate prayer for the church today. "And this I pray," he said, that (1) your love may abound more and more, (2) that you may approve the things that are excellent, and (3) that you may be sincere and without offense, and (4) that you may be filled with the fruits of righteousness.
Having said all that let me say, that we must not fall into the mistaken notion that sincerity alone is sufficient to salvation. Many have been so deceived, and they are sincere, no doubt about it, who have been sincerely mistaken in the direction they have taken in life. There's no better example of that than Saul of Tarsus, the apostle Paul, who verily thought he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus, which things he also did he said in Acts 26:9 and 10. And, he lived in all good conscience while doing it he said (Acts 23 and 1). Yet he was chief among sinners he said (1Tim.1:15) and lost. Sincerity is vitally important, even essential to acceptable, meaningful religion. But it isn't the only essential. If we're sincere about our relationship with the Lord, we will hasten to follow his teaching in seeking our forgiveness and a new start. We'll get our lives turned around in repentance and be baptized into Christ at once as we read in Galatians 3:26-27 to live as God's children until He calls us home. Let us pray. Thank You, Lord, for this teaching and for these hours of mediation and for everyone who is studying with us. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
The story's told of a musician who, following one of his performances, wept while the huge audience applauded, but one man very noticeably did not applaud. When he was asked why he was so affected by the one man's refusal to applaud the performance, he replied, "He's my teacher."
Well, it will be to our sorrow; too, if by pretense, hypocrisy and deceit, we manage to draw the approbation of the whole world, and fail to gain the approval of the Master of men. And it's certain we will never gain His favor by saying one thing and doing something else, by acting one life and living another. Furthermore, we'll have problems with the person we see in the mirror every morning, as long as we know that our life is a mere charade, a pretense. It's impossible to build solid social and business relationships while putting on a front without the quality of genuineness. If you can't depend on my being what I seem to be or I, you, then we have nothing on which to interact or to build.
Thank you for seeing the SEARCH program today. Our program is presented by caring Christians in some churches of Christ in the viewing area of this station. And they would also like to have you worship with them in a congregation near you. We would like that, too, you know! If you'd like an audio cassette tape, a CD or a printed transcript of this program, you may have it free, free, of course, simply by writing us. Our address is In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Our e-mail address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may want to read, or to hear or see the program-- and some other things-- on our website; that is at www.search tv.org. We are glad you were with us today. If you would like to enroll in our correspondence course, we would love to have you as a student there. We have people who are grading them every week; and you just tell us you want to enroll and then we will send you the first two lessons. And while you are working on number one and you send it in, and then while they are grading it, well, you can be working on lesson number two. And you will work your way through it. Until next week, we are praying God's blessings on you. We love you.
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