Principles for Life- Be Honest in All of Our Dealings

October 19, 2003, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM

Rev. Ronald Burcham

Typed from audio transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Cheating has gone high tech. Cheating in our schools has gone high tech. Everything from students using text messaging to pagers to hand-held computers, digital watches, and the Internet, cheating among students has gone high tech. Whether it's the old fashioned way of copying somebody else's homework, whether it's text messaging somebody in the other room the answers to the test, or whether it's simply printing off a paper from the Internet and putting your name at the bottom, cheating's gone high tech. And it would appear that cheating has become a way of life.

It seems that cheating now is more the norm than it is not the norm. In fact, recent studies show us that 74% of those in high school admit that they have been cheating. 70% of those in college say yes, they've cheated or they've used deceitful means by which they could get a better grade. More startling than that, 90% of them say they've never gotten caught. It seems that cheating is a way of life in academia today, whether it's high school or college, that's how grades are earned. That's how students look at it as a shortcut, as an easy way to get a good GPA.

Meanwhile, parents are just lost. Parents don't understand. They can't figure out why their kids are doing this. One day the phone rings. It's the office. You've got to come in. You've got to see the principal because your son or daughter was caught cheating on an exam. You put the phone down. You look at them and you say, "Where do you get that stuff from? Where do you get the idea that it's okay to be dishonest? Where do you get the idea that you can cheat on something like that? I don't know what I'm going to do," you say to them. "Reach over there and get me that pad of paper and pen I brought home from the office. I've got to write a note to your father. I've got to have him call Bill and tell him to log in for him and cover for him while he goes and sees your principal. I don't know where you've gotten this from?"

Where do they get it? God says to us in His commandments, "You shall not steal." What God is saying is that we are to be honest in all of our dealings. Stealing isn't just something that happens at gunpoint. Stealing goes way beyond just taking money or possessions. Stealing happens when we take credit for something that somebody else has done. Stealing is when we take ideas from somebody else. Stealing can happen in all kinds of ways, legal and otherwise. The principle that God gives to us this morning is that we are to be honest, honest in all of our dealings. It doesn't seem that difficult, does it? We learned that from the earliest of age, that we're supposed to be honest and we're not supposed to take things that don't belong to us. "Junior, don't take Tommy's truck. It's not yours." We learned that. We understand that. It's straightforward. It's simple. So we say to ourselves, "You know, I haven't held up a convenience store at gunpoint so I must be okay."

But what is stealing? When is it actually when we're breaking this commandment, going against God's principle? There are whole plethoras of ways we can steal. How about the time that those people that report to you come up with something and they work on a project? They send it over to your desk. With a few keystrokes, you've wiped out their names and you put your name on the bottom, and you send it off to the boss. Or how about those times you've worked on a team project, 4 or 5 individuals working on one project. Took 400 hours to complete. The only problem is you only put in 1 hour, but there's your name right down at the bottom along with everybody else. It's just the workplace way of copying somebody else's homework. It's the same concept. It's the same deal as cheating.

How about the time that you traded in your car? And so you're talking to the used car sales manager. It's a wonderful car, you say. There is not a thing wrong with this car. High mileage, I know, but they're all highway miles. No city traffic. No, huh-uh. It's in perfect condition, you tell them. I changed the oil every 1,000 miles because, after all, that 3,000-mile stuff, no, no, no. Taking care of this car from the day I drove it off the lot, it's in perfect condition. Really the only reason I'm trading it in is I'm tired of the color. I'd like something different.

How about the times that you degrade your competitors when you're vying for a sale? Maybe you forget to tell them about the fine print in your contract or you don't exactly lie but you don't exactly tell the truth about your competitor because, after all, it's a big sale and you want to get it.

How about when you're filling out your tax forms and your idea of what something is worth and the government's might be slightly different? The deductions that you think are valid that maybe could just be on the line?

There are so many ways in which we can be dishonest. The time that you go to the grocery store and all of a sudden when you get home, you discover they paid you to bring home the groceries because the gal at the checkout gave you too much money back. You consider that a bonus. Why take it back? You didn't steal it. You didn't hold a gun to their head. They just gave you the money after all. They can write it off, right? They're a big chain. It doesn't matter.

How about the time that you spend at work surfing the net planning your next vacation? Making the hotel reservations, making sure you have a car. The plane is all set. Meanwhile, you're being paid to work but you're planning your vacation.

There are so many ways that we can steal, that we can cheat, that we can be deceitful. Do you understand that there are 138 synonyms for the world to steal? 138 synonyms! We've come up with so many different ways to be dishonest. We've come up with so many different facets of being able to steal and get something which doesn't belong to us, and God says no, we are not to steal. We are not to take things that don't belong to us, whether it's money, possessions, ideas, time from our employer, and a whole other list of things. The basic concept is to be honest in all of our dealings, but you know what the scariest thing about this is to me? I don't believe we take it very seriously. We look at the whole scheme of the Ten Commandments, the whole scheme of life and the ways in which we don't live up to God's standards, and I really don't think honesty ranks real high. I think we just pass it off. "Oh, so what's $5.00 that we get extra in change? So what, I did a little bit of surfing on the net while I was at work. Okay, so I fudged a little bit on my income taxes. It's not all that bad. I didn't hold up the bank. I didn't steal an armored car." We just don't take it seriously.

The prophet, Jeremiah, says, "Your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain." It's understandable really. It's understandable when you understand the motives that come behind our dishonesty. There are powerful motives in our life of what would lead us to be dishonest. The number one is greed. Every one of us has suffered from greed from one extent to another. Greed says that whatever I have, it's not enough. No matter how much you may have, whether you're the poorest of the poor or you're the richest of the rich, greed says that you don't have enough. There's always something else out there. Greed tells you that if you have one other possession, that if you have a little bit more money in the bank, then you can relax, then you can feel satisfied with life, then you can be content. But the only problem is, no matter how much you get, no matter what that next possession is, no matter how many zeros you add, before the decimal point, it's never quite enough. There is always more to be had. That's what greed is all about. Greed is not about what we need. Greed is about what we want. Greed tells you that the day you walk out of the store with your new cell phone and you open up the paper and you find out that now there's another model, instead of 16 million colors, it has a kazillion colors. And you're convinced it's better than the one you have. Greed tells you that when you drive your car off of the lot, all of a sudden you get into an accident because you're staring at the other car that looks nicer than yours. Greed tells you that after you bought your brand new house, you go over to a friend's house and you look at his place, you go, "Oh, man, he's got a finished basement. We don't have a finished basement, honey. I think we need to have a finished basement." Greed says you never have enough, and it's never satisfied. Greed gets to the point where you're willing to be dishonest. You're willing to bend the rules to get what you want.

The second motivator we have is laziness. Nobody wants to admit to that, but all of us are lazy at one time or another. Laziness says this is what I want, but I don't want to work for it. Laziness says I want good grades in school, but I don't want to study. I want to play Nintendo. So laziness says there must be a shortcut. There must be an easier way to it. Laziness says I want a promotion at work. I want to land that sale. I want to do really well. I want to increase my salary. But laziness says I don't want to put in long hours. I want to go golfing this afternoon, so let's look for a shortcut. Let's look for a way we can be just a little bit dishonest, not illegal, mind you, just a little bit dishonest. Take a shortcut so we can seal the deal. We can get the raise. We can get the promotion. Laziness says there has to be an easier way. And that's what leads us to being dishonest.

The third motivator is the most perplexing one to me, and yet I'm guilty of it just as you are. The third motivator is pride. And it is a warped sense of pride when you really think about it. It's being proud of the fact that you conned somebody out of something, that you didn't pay the fair value of something, that you were able to finagle, you were able to wheel and deal, and somehow you got something for less than what it's really worth and you want to tell the world about it. You want to tell the world how you went to a garage sale and there was an antique dresser, but you know what, the owner had no idea what it was worth. "I picked it up for $15, and it's worth a grand. Can you believe that?" People slap you on the back. You feel proud about that. Proud about the fact that you wheeled and dealed. You finally wore the sales manager down that he finally just took a loss on the product and let you have it, and we brag to all of our friends about what a great deal we got, what a steal we accomplished. We have a warped sense of pride when it comes to taking things that don't belong to us, when it comes to being dishonest.

God gives us a principle for life in this commandment. He says be honest. Be honest in all of your dealings, whether you're dealing with money, possessions, ideas, thoughts. Be honest. God wants to protect us and provide for us in this commandment just like all the rest.

First of all, what God protects us from is the obvious. You know, when we're on the winning side, it's great. But if we're on the losing side, it's a different story. If we're the one that had to take a loss, if we're the one that got conned out of our money or possessions, then it's a different story. God says no one is to do that. All people are to be honest. God seeks to protect your possessions, your money, your thoughts, your ideas. God seeks to protect you in this commandment. But God goes beyond that. God wants to protect more than just your material possessions or ideas. God wants to protect you. He wants to protect your character. Dishonesty shows a character flaw. If we are consistently dishonest with people, they will not trust us. They will not see us as a trustworthy person. Our integrity is lost. God wants to protect you from that. God wants to protect your self respect. He wants you to be able to feel good about yourself, to feel good about the accomplishments that you have. He wants to protect you from the feeling of saying, "Sure, I got the promotion; but I lied, I cheated, and I slandered to get it." Now who can feel good about that? Who can walk in with their head held high to work the next day? Who can feel good about the fact of paying $10 a page on the Internet, printing off an exam, putting your name at the bottom? Sure, you got an A. God wants to protect your self respect. What He wants to do is provide for you a godly pride. You and I know what it is to complete a task and to know that we've done our best and then to get credit for that, to know that we didn't take shortcuts, that we went ahead and went the extra mile. We did the work, we did the studies, we made sure that we made all the right contacts, that we gained that promotion by hard work and sweat, that we got the grade on the final exam because of the work we've done, and you can take pride in that, take pride in the fact that you've worked hard and now you're receiving the rewards for that. God smiles upon that. God wants to give that to you, and that's why He gives you this commandment. He says, "Don't be dishonest and take that away from yourself." But be honest. Put in the work. Don't take shortcuts. Have that godly pride about knowing that you've done your best and used God's abilities to the best of your ability.

And God's doing something else, too. God will use you as a powerful witness. Have you ever thought about it that way before? If all Christians would become honest in all their dealings, do you know what a powerful witness that would be to the world? If we as Christians decided that we were going to be honest in every aspect of our life, can you imagine the convenience store clerk when you drive back 5 miles to give back to her the $10 over change that she gave to you? You'll never see it because all you'll see on her face is a stunned look as you walk out the door; but, after you leave, she's going to think, "You know, tonight when they tally my register, they're not going to take $10 out of my paycheck because that person was honest, because they were willing to come back." That makes an impact on people. God provides us in this commandment an opportunity to witness. To witness to the changed lives that we experience because of our faith in Christ.

That's why God this morning wants to give you a fresh start. Every one of us, me included. We want to call it what it is. We've been thieves. We've stolen things, whether it's thoughts, ideas, money, or possessions. One way or another, we've done it. That's why God wants to give us a fresh start this morning so He can provide those things for us. Recall with me Jesus on the cross, Jesus as He hangs with literally the weight of the world upon Him. On either side of Him are two thieves, two people who spent a lifetime stealing what wasn't theirs. One thief hurls insults at Jesus continuously and makes fun of Him. The other thief, though he's been dishonest his entire life, decides to look at the world honestly; and he decides to become honest with the world. And he says to the other thief, "You and I, we're getting what we deserve; but Jesus is not." And then he looks to Jesus for mercy, and he says, "Jesus, remember me." And Jesus, as He is dying for that man's sins, forgives him and promises him paradise. He says today you'll be with me.

This morning, let's get honest with God. Let's admit to Him those times when we've been dishonest or we've stolen in any number of ways. But if we look to Him in honesty for His mercy, the same love, the same grace, the same forgiveness and compassion that Jesus showed to that thief, He'll show to this thief and He'll show to you. Jesus this morning offers you a fresh start. He offers you forgiveness for all of your sins, for all of your dishonesty and all of the other ways in which we have not lived up to His expectations. That's why He died, and that's why He rose again. And then God gives to us an important principle to live by. Once we have that fresh start, God says, "Be honest. Be honest in all your dealings." Amen.

Copyright 2003 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church