Manton saw the seriousness in religion. He felt that disciples should be serious also. This daily devotional looks at how that seriousness applies to honesty — and it’s not what we think.
- Disciples should be trustworthy rather than liars.
- Disciples should not only walk righteously but should also act righteously.
- Our morality is about our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
- Disciples of Christ must focus on God.
- Disciples of Christ follow God’s laws and commandments to create order.
- Good lives are defined as being godly.
Nuggets
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the Moralities Lead to Godliness series
We are stepping through Manton’s sermon entitled The Moralities of Christianity to see what we can glean to aid us in redoing our character to be more like God’s character.
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There is a problem, though. I am totally confused on the verses Manton chose. So, I went to Nave’s Topical Bible and looked up honesty.
Well, I guess this is the reason we looked at lying during the first devotion of this series. Now, we are going to look at the flip side.
Let's Put It into Context
“Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy — dwell on these things” (Phil. 4: 8 CSB)
The definition of moral, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “of or relating to principles of right and wrong in behavior.” Morality, then, is “a doctrine or system of moral conduct.” When it is the plural form — moralities — it is a “particular moral principles or rules of conduct.”
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Our morals determine our character. Character, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is “the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation.”
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Honest, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is a “adherence to the facts” and “fairness and straightforwardness of conduct.”
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According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to lie is “to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.” Secker wrote, “Since actions and gestures, as well as words, may be employed to express what we think, they may also be employed to express what we do not think, which is the essence of a lie.
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Disciples of Christ Having Trustworthy Morals
“The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy” (Prov. 12: 22 NIV)
Disciples should be trustworthy rather than liars.
Prescott had an interesting take on the connection between truth and lies. He contended that we are being honest if we speak on an issue because we believe it to be true — even if it isn’t.
What I see Prescott saying is that the intent to deceive was not present, so our words are not lies.
We have a tendency, however, to sugarcoat things. We try to make them easier to stomach. The problem is we are not being totally honest.
It is really hard to live with someone who is not being honest. Prescott wrote, “No peace can be where there is no trust.” Lies are a quick way to destroy relationships.
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Still, as much as we value honesty, lies abound.
God, as Truth, despises lies. I am sure one reason is because sin entered this world because of a lie. Newton reported that lying is the sin most warned against in the strongest of terms.
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So, a lie is words, actions, and gestures knowingly and voluntarily used to promote something that is not true.
Dods told us about trustworthiness. He noted that the outcome wasn’t the issue. It is whether, as Dods said, “… we have shown the spirit which above all else a steward should show …”
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Hmmm. That isn’t much about trustworthiness.
Disciples of Christ Having Righteous Morals
“Those who walk righteously and speak what is right, who reject gain from extortion and keep their hands from accepting bribes, who stop their ears against plots of murder and shut their eyes against contemplating evil” (Isa. 33: 15 NIV)
Disciples should not only walk righteously but should also act righteously.
Okay, how much more general can we get than that — live and speak? Luckily, Isaiah does go on to say we shouldn’t extort, accept bribes, or murder. I don’t know about you, but those aren’t everyday temptations in my life.
But isn’t that how God works? He doesn’t give us a checklist of do’s and don’ts. He wants us to build our character so we have the integrity to make the decisions following His Will.
Spurgeon summarized what “… walk righteously …” (Isa. 33: 15 NIV) meant. He wrote, “The true people of God who in the time of danger will be preserved are a people who display a humble, patient, present faith in God.” We pray and wait for God to act.
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But let’s look at it this way. Isaiah talked about our mouths, hands, ears, and eyes.
We have to keep watch over our tongues. “For ‘Whoever desires to love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit’” ( I Pet. 3: 10 ESV).
We generally think about having clean hands before we eat. Youard noted that the Jews also stressed clean hands before worship.
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The explanation as to why clean hands are important is because we use our hands in so many of our activities. Being concerned with keeping our hands clean means we acknowledge that our conduct must be morally clean.
We can’t go through life with our eyes closed. We can, however, choose to not look on sinful things.
But where is honesty?
The Pure Heart of Disciples Show Disciples Being Moral
“The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god” (Ps. 24: 4 NIV)
Our morality is about our relationship with the Holy Spirit.
Okay, I have to process this. Holland wrote that being moral isn’t about our actions based on a certain standard. Instead, it is about our relationship with the Holy Spirit. He wrote, “As soon as spirit touches spirit there springs up between them a relationship which we call moral.” Our actions that flow from this relationship are considered morally good.
Okay. Part of me can see that. We aren’t operating under the worldview definition of moral. Instead, we are focusing on the new moral obligation that God expects from us.
Taking that a step further, Holland wrote, “The Church is a moral conception, a moral condition, by which we are to determine character.” Our character is to flow from our relationship with God.
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That character comes from our heart, stressing the need for it to be pure. We want our hearts to be pure because we know how much God hates sin. We want pure hearts like God’s heart.
As usual, we need to use God’s definition of pure in heart. Our’s usually isn’t the same as His. Youard wrote, “By a pure heart is meant not simply a chaste heart, but an altogether uncorrupt heart, of which chastity is only one of many forms.”
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Macmillan wrote, “Impurity in him is caused by the loss of spiritual life. He has broken the law and order of his existence, and his whole nature has disintegrated in an atmosphere of sin.”
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The Object on which Disciples of Christ Focus
“Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you” (Prov. 4: 25 NIV)
Disciples of Christ must focus on God.
Spurgeon contended that Solomon was not limiting that only our eyes were fixed on God. He believed Solomon meant that all of our bodies need to be focused on God. We need to watch every aspect of our lives to ensure we are in God’s Will.
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The way we do that is to choose to imitate Jesus. That has to be our singleness of motive.
Roberts said that we look straight ahead through faith. Faith is the conviction that the doctrines revealed in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them, a belief which impacts our lives.
Woo hoo! Roberts finally mentioned honesty! He wrote, “It [the text] is an exhortation to a close and constant obedience to the revealed will of God, and to the duty of Christian integrity — to an honest, upright, guileless conduct in all our dealings with mankind.”
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Pursuing Justice to be Moral
“Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Deut. 16: 20 NIV)
Disciples of Christ follow God’s laws and commandments to create order.
Justice is order in creation. I would say that would equate to everyone following God’s Will. Therefore, everyone would be benefitting by being children of God.
Hmmmm. Let’s try this. The just are those men and women who have been regenerated and who live lives showing evidence they are following God’s laws and commandments and fulfilling every moral obligation.
Okay. Caussin helped us out. He wrote, “To be just is to be all that which an honest man may be, since justice is to give everyone what appertaineth to him.”
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Being just is equated with honesty.
Living Good Lives Means Being Moral
“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (I Pet. 2: 12 NIV)
Good lives are defined as being godly. Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people.
We have to live godly lives no matter with whom we come into contact. We can’t act one way with believers and another way with non-believers. We have to be consistent because we may be witnessing without knowing it.
Our actions must not depend upon other’s reception of them. They are going to judge us based on worldview definitions. God is going to want us to use His definitions.
Arnot defined honest for us. He wrote, “The modern meaning of honest is, that you do not cheat in a bargain; but as used here, and in ancient times generally, it signifies beautiful — first a material and then a moral winsomeness.”
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So, what Arnot is really saying is that honest behavior is really good, godly behavior.
Making the Connections
That makes me feel so much better. I was just telling my Insomnia Buddy that, even though these verses were listed under the honesty topic, they generally don’t say anything about honesty.
That is because I was using the don’t-lie definition. I wasn’t using the be-godly definition.
But let’s look back. We talked about trustworthy, walking in the Spirit, keeping our eyes fixed on God, being just, and being a good witness.
To me, that makes the definition of honest as being a genuine child of God.
How Do We Apply This?
We can’t expect God to just automatically reward us. He is going to expect us to be trying to imitate Jesus.
That means we have to strive to be pure in heart. Mottet and Spurgeon told us how to do that.
- Resist evil thoughts and imaginations.
- Watch the company we keep.
- Watch what we read [and I would add what we watch on the screen].
- Look to God instead of man.
- Don’t have ulterior motives.
- Put away sinful things.
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We need to continue to pray to God, even if our prayers are not immediately answered. God isn’t a gum ball machine where we put in the quarter and immediately get our candy.
No, it isn’t going to be easy. Satan will try to derail us whenever he can.
We have to choose God instead.
Father God. We do choose You. Help us to be pure in heart. Help us to be honest and genuine. We want Your character. Amen.
Heading
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The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
If you have not admitted that your relationship is not right with God,
have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Savior,
and have not confessed your sins,
please read through the Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
Related Links
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
Don’t know what your spiritual gifts are?
Take this Spiritual Gifts Inventory
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
The Disciple’s Job Description
Complete Job Description
Individual Description
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Job Duty #1
Be a Living Sacrifice (Romans 12: 1-2)
Job Duty #2
Work Out Our Salvation (Philippians 2: 12)
Job Duty #3
Bring Him Glory (Matthew 5: 16)
Job Duty #4
Proclaim the Gospel (Mark 16: 15)
Job Duty #5
Love People (John 15: 12)
Job Duty #6
Make Disciples (Matthew 28: 19-20)
Job Duty #7
Other Duties as Assigned
(Ecclesiastes 3: 1)
It Was Enough
Vocalist: Elaine Guthals
Keyboard: Chris Vieth
What do you think?
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