principles of christian living

Principles of Christian Living

Lesson 2

Lesson Text—II Corinthians 13:7

II Corinthians 13:7Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates.

Lesson Text—Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Lesson Text—I Thessalonians 4:12

I Thessalonians 4:12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Focus Verse—I Thessalonians 4:12

I Thessalonians 4:12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye

may have lack of nothing.

Focus Thought

We need to have honesty and

integrity in mind, actions, and

walk.

I. Honesty and Integrity in our Minds

CULTURE CONNECTIONA Hunger for Honesty and

Integrity How often do we speak of our desire

to see more honesty and integrity in our world? We want political leaders who will tell the truth and lead with integrity. We desire to buy cars from salesmen who are honest and who will not knowingly sell us a vehicle with mechanical problems. We want spiritual leaders who are sincere and true, absent of all hypocrisy.


We do not mind hearing the bad news politically or the real condition of a vehicle or what is necessary to be saved. Just tell us the truth. Let us know when you are speaking that you are trustworthy and not a hypocrite. We hunger for honesty and integrity in our world today.

As one author wrote in an introduction to his article, “It takes a big scandal to make a CEO take a public defensive stance for their company.


While scandals can be disastrous for a firm’s image, a public statement is often the last way to save face and quite possibly the best political move. Although CEOs are not legally obligated to do so, frank honesty shows integrity and helps to salvage corporate reputation. Here we look at five CEOs who have spoken openly about their scandals and what effect these speeches had on the companies” (“Scandals That Bring the CEOs Out,” Remi Alli, San Francisco Chronicle, April 7, 2010).


It should not take a scandalous problem to bring out honesty and integrity in a person, whether he is a company CEO or a representative in Congress. Just tell us the truth all the time; then you will not have to come out and put on a show of supposed honesty and integrity in the difficult times.


Contemplating the Topic

In this lesson we will look at the always relevant subjects of honesty and integrity. In the Bible, honesty is the state of being honorable or truthful, or upright and fair in dealing with others. When Joseph’s brothers arrived in Egypt, they explained that they were honest. They said, “We are true men, thy servants are no spies” (Genesis 42:11).

I. Honesty and Integrity in our MindsThe word integrity means “an

uncompromising adherence to a code of moral, artistic, or other values : utter sincerity, honesty, and candor : avoidance of deception, expediency, artificiality, or shallowness of any kind” (Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary). It also means that something is unimpaired, sound, whole, and complete.

I. Honesty and Integrity in our MindsGod rewards honesty and integrity,

and He will draw people to Him through the honest and moral lifestyles of His people. Believers have a responsibility to exhibit God’s holiness to this world through honest and sincere living.


Searching the Scriptures

Honesty and Integrity in Our Minds

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are

honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be

any praise, think on these things” (Philippians 4:8).

A. Honesty and Integrity Begin in the Mind

A. Honesty and Integrity Begin in the Mind

Modern psychology dresses an ancient truth in modern garments when it suggests that thoughts running over the same mental track repeatedly will create a permanent groove. This psychological theory only reiterates a fact voiced centuries ago when Israel’s king, under divine inspiration, said of a human, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).


Although the Bible is not primarily a book of science, it is scientifically correct. History itself is proof of the compatibility of true science and the Scriptures. Scientific research often has sought out its own way, but invariably its paths finally converge with the ways of God, whose ways are of old, changeless, and everlasting. Every thought that travels through our minds leaves its impression on the cortex (the thinking matter) of the brain. If we think the same thought twice, the impression becomes more pronounced.


If we think the same thought consistently, the impression becomes a veritable rut, and it then becomes increasingly difficult to reroute our thinking.

An old issue of Reader’s Digest told of a detour sign that read, “Choose well your rut; you’re going to be in it a long time.” We might well compare this statement to our thinking process. Vehicles traveling over a dirt road for the first time leave scarcely a trace of having passed that way.


However, the road soon becomes rutted because of continued travel over the same route. The wheels of the vehicles become confined to grooves of their own making. Our stream of thought, like the churning waters of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, digs away at the strata of nerve tissue until it fashions a mighty chasm with insurmountable walls to hold the thought captive. An individual may at first be master of a thought, but that thought eventually becomes his master.


Our thoughts mold us. Big ideas produce big people, while shallow thinking results in shallow people with shallow character. It is said that during his early years, David Livingstone had a large map of Africa on his bedroom wall. Long before he became a missionary, Africa had become his very life. Livingstone’s heart mingled with the elements of that continent where at first only his thinking provided a bridge over which he traveled to make it his world.

Matthew 6:21

“For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew

6:21).


Never has anyone reached the heights of genuine success without having been driven there by a dominating thought. Luther’s realization of scriptural truth, “The just shall live by faith,” drove him to champion the Reformation. Wesley drew two continents closer to heaven with the forceful conviction that Christianity cannot exist apart from personal salvation in Jesus Christ.


Sam Jones, the South’s great evangelist, attributed his success to his being overpowered by the belief that the preacher is not a hired man of the people but an ambassador for the Almighty.

We can observe on the seamy side of life God’s warning that a person’s thoughts and character are inseparable. One could talk with the derelicts and outcasts and see this truth at work. One man asked a railroad tramp to tell him the biggest idea he ever had.


He scratched his dirty beard and replied, “Bud, I don’t think I ever had one!” One might talk to convicts and felons and those who pursue illicit practices and find that a thought of lewdness or lawlessness—at first their own brainchild—grew to monumental proportions within them and drove them to commit their godless crimes. The Bible is correct; our thoughts make us what we are! Right thinking is of inestimable value.


Banished Cain, disgraced Lot, sightless Samson, pitiable Saul, scheming Haman, remorseful Judas, frustrated Pilate—all bear testimony to the fact that a person’s thoughts can affect his life negatively. Honored Abel, favored and exalted Joseph, victorious Joshua, renowned Daniel, the famed eleven disciples, and immortal Paul lend as strong a tribute to the fact that a person’s thoughts may prove to be the highest virtue.


We should look at the early church to discover the secret of its virility and strength in evangelism of provinces that had become strongholds of evil. Out of those glorious years came Paul’s admonition: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2). His appeal to the believers of Colosse—and to us all—is an imperative for those who would truly change their world positively for Jesus Christ.


One can never divorce true Christianity from his spiritual affections.

If a person is righteous, clearly his thoughts are just; unjust thoughts never yield righteous conduct. Thoughts might seem as if they are nothing; they may seem to be fleeting like passing flecks of cloud or flocks of birds, which soon are gone. However, thoughts possibly are the most real things about our lives. Our thoughts fly out like birds leaving their nests, and they take their places in the world.


However, our heart is still home to our thoughts, and eventually they will return to dwell—along with the full impact of their influence, for good or for evil.

Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bear bad fruit, and every person is his own gardener. Character is the result of one’s thoughts. If we think morally high, we will live morally high. Whether our lives are full and helpful, or cruel and hurtful, depends entirely upon our thoughts.

I. Honesty and Integrity in our MindsOur thought life determines both our

character and our conduct. The mystic chamber of our thought life is the workshop where the divine sculptor chisels into a living form our whole being. This is where personality evolves, develops, and is disciplined.


Nineteenth-century British novelist Charles Reade penned these immortal words:

Sow a thought, reap a word.Sow a word, reap an action.Sow an action, reap a habit.Sow a habit, reap a character.Sow a character, reap a destiny.

It all begins with our thinking, so we must control our thoughts and thereby keep our hearts.

B. We Must Be Honest in Our Thought Life

B. We Must Be Honest in Our Thought Life

There are at least two important principles about keeping our thought life honest.

1. We must submit our thought life to the discipline of the Lord. Paul declared that we should bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (II Corinthians 10:5). The context of Paul’s statement is that we live in this human body, but we do not fight in the flesh.


Rather, we engage in spiritual warfare. Even our weapons are spiritual, not fleshly, and they are mighty through God.

Until we submit our thought life to God, imaginations control our lives. The devil is so cunning that he attacks our thoughts through every type of media with which we come into contact, attempting to crowd our minds with things that are contrary to the mind of God. Paul warned, “Let this mind [thought pattern, mental outlook] be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).


We should pray at the beginning of every day: “Lord, think Your thoughts through me. My mind is under Your control and Your discipline.” The believer’s life is a new life in which his mind, character, and conduct are transformed by Jesus Christ. We need Jesus Christ to be the Lord of all our thoughts.


2. We must submit our thought life to the direction of the Word of God. Only when Jesus is Lord of our minds are we willing to apply our minds to the direction of the Word of God. Paul offered spiritual guidance for controlling one’s thoughts to the Philippian church. (See Philippians 4:8.)

Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever

things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good

report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these

things” (Philippians 4:8).

I. Honesty and Integrity in our MindsWe are to think on things that

are true, not on things we think are true. What thoughts we are afraid to express to others, we should be afraid even to think before God.

II. Honesty and Integrity in Our Actions

Honesty and Integrity in Our Actions

“Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear

approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, though we be as reprobates” (II Corinthians 13:7).

A. Thoughts Become ActionsA. Thoughts Become Actions

Jesus asked, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46). It does little good for us to watch our thoughts and words unless we also watch our actions. We all live in transparent houses. We cannot hide our lives from others. What we are within eventually shows on the outside. Therefore, we must actually be good if we want to do good.

B. We Must Have Honesty and Integrity in Our Actions

B. We Must Have Honesty and Integrity in Our Actions

Francis Bacon said, “He that gives good advice builds with one hand; he that gives good counsel and example builds with both; but he that gives good admonition and bad example builds with one hand and pulls down with the other.”


People judge us by our actions—not our intentions. A thousand words will not leave so lasting an impression as one deed. Action is the natural fruit of inner direction. Appropriate actions should always follow our good intentions. We may say whatever we wish, but if we do not act accordingly, we really do not believe it. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17).


“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8). Ben Franklin stated, “Nothing preaches better than this ant, yet she says nothing.” We earn respect only by righteous action, while on the other hand unrighteous action or inaction earn disrespect. The devil is willing for us to confess faith as long as we never act upon it or practice it.


When praying, we should simultaneously be willing to take the action God directs in the answer to our prayer. God’s answers to our prayers will always include some type of action. The Bible relates to us that action gives life to faith (James 2:26). Even a child is known by his doings (Proverbs 20:11). Many churchgoers sing “Standing on the Promises” when all they are doing is sitting on the premises. Too many people avoid discovering the secret of success because deep down they suspect the secret may involve hard work.


One of the tragedies today among Christians is that the accompaniment of their lives is drowning out their song. What they do speaks so loudly we cannot hear what they say. The truth is that much disparity often lies between what we say and what we do.

Ultimately, we are individually responsible for our actions.

A. Actions Become a LifestyleHonesty and Integrity

in Our LifestylesA. Actions Become a Lifestyle

We are building our lives. Job observed, “The waters wear the stones” (Job 14:19). We should never underestimate the power of routine. Water, which is not as strong as a rock, can by a constant routine of dripping wear a stone smooth and could dissolve it completely if it is given enough time.

I. Honesty and Integrity in our MindsThis also clearly describes the power

of so little a thing as a thought or an action. By themselves they are almost powerless, but over a given course of time, they form a routine and habit. These habits then make up our character. We build our lives each day with the bricks of habits we have formed.


According to Gary S. Topchik, author of Managing Workplace Negativity, the work of behavior modification practitioners Skinner, Thorndike, and Watson claims if a person does the same thing every day for twenty-one consecutive days, it will become a habit. (The same length of time is necessary to break a habit as well.) Day by day we are creating a life, for better or for worse; its quality is up to us.


The Old Testament provides an illustration that well describes the formation of character—the work of a potter as he molds clay upon his wheel. (See Jeremiah 18:1-4.) Pottery making was a common activity in the Near East, and Jeremiah used it to make a point. God works patiently with His people to make of them vessels as He intends them to be. As the potter shaped the clay, so God shapes—and even reshapes if necessary—human clay to suit His divine purposes.


Like clay, humanity is pliable and capable of being molded, formed, or shaped. All of us have been conscious of such forces upon our lives, shaping our lives and molding our character. The question is: What are the various forces and influences building in our lives?

Habits are like either cork or lead—they tend to keep us up or hold us down.


Unlike instinct, a person acquires habit by practice. Humans do have certain instincts, but they are not born with habits. They build habits over time. We have the opportunity of choosing what habits we form, whether good or bad. Good habits are important for the success of our spiritual life. For example, to appoint and cultivate regular hours for prayer, Bible reading, and church attendance edifies the Christian life. Such habits facilitate and promote devotion to Jesus Christ.

B. Our Total Life Must Be Honest

B. Our Total Life Must Be Honest

We should live with a conscious effort to make every action consistent with our profession. Too many individuals are careless about their consistent actions, seemingly unaware that the actions are forging habits. One wise saying has cautioned, “Habits are first cobwebs, and then they become cables.”


Habits frequently are not realized for years. It is similar to building a bridge across a river. While the bridge is being built, the workers have to wade through the water and work from barges or platforms. Although the workmen have been busy for months, the bridge is not available for use. One day, however, they lay the last section of the bridge, and one can walk across the span immediately. It seems like the work of only an hour, but the crossing would have been impossible without the toil of the many days that preceded that last hour.


So it is also in the moral sphere. For years we have been contributing actions, and one day the final work is done. For good or for evil, the habit is formed and its results become apparent.

Some people become content with their good external habits, but they neglect to form good inward habits of mind and consciousness. Some people are particular and tidy in their outward appearance, but negligent toward their inward state.


They are punctual at the office, yet they may not be so particular about possessing a well-ordered mind. They may allow any and every thought to flit across their mind and recall them often and repeatedly.

Like habits of the flesh, habits of the mind come little by little—one thought at a time that eventually builds into a mindset. We can have a negative mindset by constantly thinking negatively. Further, we can have an evil or profane mindset, or we can have a pure, holy mindset—one that is godly and righteous.


On what we concentrate determines the kind of mindset we possess. We become what we consistently think about. The wise man wrote, “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7).

Living honestly requires at least three vital things.

1. We must first believe that God is good and His intentions for us are good. Because of the evils that exist in the world, it is difficult for many people to embrace the idea of the fundamental goodness of God.


The lack of one’s wholehearted belief in His goodness paralyzes that person’s growth and progress toward living with complete honesty.

Consider the story of temptation in the Garden of Eden. Satan focused on a restriction and used it to blind Eve to all of God’s blessings. There was only one tree in the Garden that Eve could not enjoy, but there were numerous good trees from which she could enjoy the fruit without restriction. Did Satan point out the many trees from which God had permitted them to eat?


Hardly! He focused only on one perceived negative restriction, and Eve subsequently forgot about God’s generosity and grace. So it is today. Satan urges people to focus on one issue, one aggravation, or one restriction. He then tries to convince them that God’s way is not best.

Do we doubt God’s goodness? Are we fully prepared to accept that the will of God is perfect? Embracing these fundamental aspects of God’s character is primary and essential to living with complete honesty toward God and others.


It is virtually impossible to break sinful habits if we do not believe in God’s goodness. If we doubt God’s goodness we will not want to change. Doubting the goodness of God will convince a person that He wants to rob us rather than enrich us.

2. We should accept responsibility for our behavior. All people are born with a propensity to avoid blame for their wrongdoing. Parents observe this tendency in their children. Children can invent creative excuses for their deeds of misbehavior.


This human tendency began in the Garden of Eden when God asked Adam if he had eaten from the forbidden tree. The question was straightforward, and Adam could have answered it with just one word. Instead, Adam responded by blaming both God and the woman, who also shifted the blame to the serpent when God confronted her. (See Genesis 3:11-13.) Adam blamed both God and his wife before he admitted that he also was party to the deed.


Was it really God’s fault? True, God created the tree, the woman, the man, and even Lucifer, who became the devil. God could have created a garden without this forbidden tree and could have barred Satan from entry. A sovereign God could have done it all differently. However, He left mankind with a choice, and both Eve and Adam chose their individual destinies. Thus, God caused them to bear the full responsibility for their choices.


In the Garden, the matter of human responsibility was settled forever—each individual must take responsibility for his own choices.

3. To please God, we should live by godly principles within the confines of ethics. The character of a godly person is marked by honesty and integrity. We should speak the truth, mean what we say, and be as good as our word.

At the age of twenty-four, Abraham Lincoln served as the postmaster of New Salem, Illinois, for which he was paid an annual salary of $55.70.


Even then, twenty-four years before he entered the White House, the rail splitter was showing the character that earned him the title of “Honest Abe.” The New Salem post office was closed in 1836, but it was several years before an agent arrived from Washington to settle accounts with ex-postmaster Lincoln, who was a struggling lawyer not doing very well. The agent informed him that $17 was due the government. Lincoln crossed the room, opened an old trunk and took out a yellow cotton rag, bound with a string.


Untying it, he spread out the cloth and there was the $17. He had been holding it untouched for all those years. “I never use any man’s money but my own,” he said.

We should be trustworthy and as good as our word—people of integrity and honesty. As believers, our testimony is supremely important. It is what our lives say to those who are watching. Everyone in our spheres of influence should speak of us in the highest moral sense possible.


Internalizing the Message

Honesty and integrity begin in the mind with our thought life. Thoughts soon become actions and actions become habits. Habits then become our character, or lifestyle. The believer should possess unquestionable honesty and integrity.

I. Honesty and Integrity in our MindsIf we are to win our world to

Jesus Christ, it is imperative we live above reproach. Those who know us should be able to admire us and want to live like us. They should see our transparency and honesty, and be drawn to Jesus Christ through our lives.

principles of christian living

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