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o Once there was a woman of great
wealth and prominence who decided that she would like to have a book written
about her genealogy. She contracted a well-known author for the project who
promptly discovered that her grandfather was a murderer who had been electrocuted
in Sing Sing, the famous maximum-security US federal prison. Knowing that her
grandfather could not be left of the book, with rose colored glasses, the
author wrote: "One of her grandfathers occupied the chair of applied
electricity in one of America's best-known institutions. He was very much
attached to his position and literally died in the harness." (Anders, Proverbs)
o
All of us are tempted to put the
best spin on things about our lives which are less than best, but that is
dishonest, insincere, and not genuine. In short, it's deceitful.
o
As we consider the book of Proverbs,
Solomon wanted his son to learn the importance of sincerity because God sees
the heart.
o
God sees both the heart that is
genuine and the heart which is not genuine. He knows us inside and out.
o
Therefore, since God sees my
heart, when I fear God, my inside will match my outside.
o
Let's take a look at a few Proverbs
which show that God sees what's inside.
o
First, Proverbs 15: 11, "Sheol
and Abaddon lie open before the Lord; how
much more the hearts of the children of man!"
o
If death and destruction,
representing the place of the dead, are easy for God to see through, then we
should never doubt his ability to see through our motives.
o
Death and destruction hold no
secrets from God, so it shouldn't surprise us to learn that God knows the
secrets hidden in the human heart.
o
Second, Proverbs 16:2, "All the
ways of man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord
weighs the spirit."
o
We seem to think that we do what's
right most of the time, but we read in the Psalms that "there is no one
who does good, not even one" (14; 53).
o
Contrary to our sense of innocence,
we don't do what's good as often as we like to think.
o
The Lord examines our motives. God
tests our hearts. He puts our spirits on a scale, weighing them. He holds up a
measuring tape and scrutinizes our intentions.
o
Solomon understood God as the one
who judges our hearts.
o
Third, Proverbs 20:27 expands on the
image of the Lord seeing what's in the heart.
o
"The spirit of man is the lamp
of the Lord, searching all his
innermost parts."
o
Solomon gives us a picture of the
Lord taking a lamp and examining each room, searching every nook and cranny of
the heart with his indescribable light, a penetrating light which exposes every
hidden motive.
o
Hebrews 4: 3 says, "Nothing in
all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his
eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable" (NLT).
o
We can't hide our motives from God.
o
God sees my heart: when I fear
God, my inside will match my outside.
o
Because he can see our hearts, God
wants us to be genuine in our relationship with, our worship of him, and in our
relationships with others.
o
Let's briefly look at these two
areas.
o
#1. Genuine in our relationship with
God.
o
Proverbs 21:3, "To do
righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice."
o
We can say, "We love God,"
and go through the motions of worship and our relationship with him by doing
our devotions and practicing spiritual disciplines.
o
However, if it doesn't translate
into doing what's right and just, then our relationship with God is a sham,
it's fake.
o
1 John 2:10 says, "Whoever
loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for
stumbling." Loving others proves that we live in the light, that our
relationship with God is the genuine article.
o
1 John 4:20-21 says, "If anyone
says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not
love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And
this is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his
brother."
o
When our relationship with God is
genuine, our relationships with others are transformed.
o
God sees my heart: when I fear
God, my inside will match my outside.
o
Well, what about a dishonest person?
Let's take a look at one negative example from Proverbs that describes what
someone who is insincere or less than genuine is like.
o
Proverbs 26:23-26, "Like the
glaze covering an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever
hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he
speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his
heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be
exposed in the assembly."
o
At first glance, the fancy glaze on
a simple clay jar makes it beautiful, but upon closer inspection the
imperfections show and we can see it's only a clay pot.
o
Flattery and feigned zeal are like
smooth glaze which can hide a malicious heart.
o
The seven abominations of such a
person's heart mean that they are completely given over to their deceit, and
such a person will eventually be exposed for all to see.
o
Solomon was deeply concerned that
his son learned to serve God with a genuine and sincere heart, and God who
loves us, greater than Solomon could love his son, shares that concern.
o
God sees my heart: when I fear
God, my inside will match my outside.
o
For many years Norman Rockwell did
the cover illustrations for The Saturday
Evening Post. On one of those memorable covers Rockwell painted a picture
of an elderly woman buying a Thanksgiving turkey at the butcher shop. The
turkey was on the scales, and the butcher was standing behind the counter. The
customer, a woman in her 60s, stood watching the weigh-in. The focal point of
the painting is on the faces, as each has a pleased look. Nothing out of the
ordinary seems to be going on. However, upon closer examination we see that the
butcher is pressing down on the scales with his thumb while the woman is
pushing up with her finger. We smile to ourselves because the little tug-of-war
seems harmless. We are given the impression that they're breaking even on the
deal and no one is getting hurt. What is really going on is less than genuine,
less than sincere. What's really going on in this picture is in fact deceitful
on both sides.
o
God sees my heart: when I fear
God, my inside will match my outside.
o
How can we apply what we've learned
today to our lives? Let me give us three brief thoughts.
o
#1.
Be honest with God, honest with others, and honest with yourself.
Anything less than honesty in these three areas is neither genuine nor sincere
and is, in fact, deceitful.
o
#2.
Be genuine in your relationships both with God and with others.
In other words, serve God and others sincerely. God knows when we're insincere
and sooner or later others will too.
o
#3.
Flee those who are malicious or dishonest who will
try to take advantage of you with their slick words lest you get hurt.
o
Haddon Robinson tells the story of a
married couple in New York City who had a cat. The truth is, the couple didn't
have a cat, the cat had her. She loved that cat. He, on the other hand, was
allergic to cat hair, he hated the smell of the litter box, he couldn't stand
the scratching on the furniture, and he couldn't get a good night's sleep
because the cat kept jumping on the bed.
o
Well, one day, while his wife was
out of town for the weekend, he put the cat in a bag with some rocks, dumped it
in the Hudson River, and uttered a joyful goodbye to the cat. When his wife
returned and could not find her cat, she was overwhelmed with grief.
o
Her husband said, "Look, Honey,
I know how much that cat meant to you. I'm going to put an ad in the paper and
give a reward of $500 to anyone who finds the cat."
o
No cat showed up, so a few days
later he said, "Honey, you mean more to me than anything else on earth. If
that cat is precious to you, it is precious to me. I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll buy another ad and raise the ante. We'll increase the reward to
$1000."
o
A friend saw the ad and exclaimed,
"You must be nuts; there isn't a can on earth that is worth $1000."
o
The husband replied, "Well,
when you know what I know, you can afford to be generous." (Anders, Proverbs)
o
It's obvious that deception is the
opposite of sincerity and genuineness.
o
When we are less than genuine with
God and others, it drives a wedge into our fellowship, breaking our
relationship.
o
God
sees my heart: when I fear God, my inside will match my outside.
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