The Art of Loving: Drawn to Truth (1 Cor. 13:6)

The Art of Loving: Drawn to Truth
1 Corinthians 13:6

INTRODUCTION:
The philosopher Socrates said, “The shortest and surest way to live with honor in the world is to be in reality what we appear to be.”

Three turtles went out on a picnic. One had the sandwiches, relish and dessert. The other carried the “turtle-aide.” The third didn’t carry anything. All of a sudden, they felt a few drops of rain. You can’t have a picnic without an umbrella (if it’s raining), so they thought about who should go back and get the umbrella. They odd-turtled out and the empty-legged one lost, so he was chosen.

“I won’t go!” he said. “Just as soon as I leave, you’re going to eat all the sandwiches and all the dessert, and there won’t be anything left for me.” “No, we won’t do that,” the other two assured him. “We’ll wait on you - no matter how long it takes.” “No matter how long it takes?” “No matter. We’ll wait.”

All right, then.” he said, “I’ll go.”

So they sat there and waited for him. They waited an hour, two hours, all day, two days, a week, and finally two whole weeks! At last one of them said to the other, “You know, I think we might as well go ahead and eat.”

Just then a little voice came from behind a bush saying, “If you do, I won’t go!”

Sometimes it’s hard to trust people. It seems to be getting more and more true. For example, back in 1924, a magazine called Liberty magazine sent a dollar to 100 people with a message: “Here is your refund that you requested.” They wanted to see how many people would be honest enough to admit they had not requested a refund. They got back $27.

The magazine did the same experiment in 1971 - 50 years ago - and they got back $13. I don’t know if they have tried that experiment again.

As we study the “art of loving” each month this year, we observe in 1 Corinthians 13:6 that “love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.” This means that “loving hearts” are committed to honesty. They have integrity. They can be depended on to do what they have promised.

Something destructive is going on in our country - in the halls of Congress, in corporate meeting rooms, in the cities and on the farms. We are becoming a nation of cheaters. We cheat in the classroom; we cheat on our taxes; our country is cheating on their spouses and on their employers.

RELATIONSHIPS ARE BUILT ON TRUST:
We can not live without trust. Every time we get into a car, we trust the engineers who designed it, the factory which built it, and the mechanic who serviced it. When we buy food at the store, we trust the farmer who grew the grain, the workers where the food was processed, the truck driver and the store personnel - all who handled that food - that they did it in a safe and sanitary way.

Trust is the essential ingredient to marriage. Trust can be damaged but repaired. If trust is destroyed, the marriage explodes. You simply cannot have a healthy marriage which is not built on trust. Young people, when you decide to get married, that guy or that girl has to do more than make your heart race. Drinking too much coffee can do that. Is the person trust-worthy? And the best test for that question is what is his or her relationship to Jesus Christ? That’s the most important question. Love is blind but it doesn’t have to be stupid.

A pure heart is more important than a pretty or handsome face. What is that person’s character? If that person does not have integrity, your future will be better off if you walk away from that relationship. In fact, you should run!

What if the world had no trust in it? You could trust any of the products we use every day. You couldn’t trust your spouse. You couldn’t trust the other drivers on the road. You couldn’t trust your employer. Or your employees. Life would be impossible. We simply can’t live in dishonest relationships.

That’s why trust is such a foundational quality for healthy and lasting relationships. Trust has to be maintained, even repaired constantly. Loving hearts know that and we work to keep our integrity in tact so that we are trustworthy - by everyone, from our spouse to the stranger on the street.

GOD IS TRUTH:
Among the many “I am” statements Jesus made is the one in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” When Jesus made that statement, He affirmed Himself to be deity, to be equal in essence with Jehovah God. No human being can make that statement. He clearly set Himself equal with God…

In Deuteronomy 32:4, Moses said of God, “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness (or truth) and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.”

Again, in Numbers 23:19, Moses said of God, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

God should not lie; indeed, God cannot lie Paul tells us in Titus 1:2 and in Hebrews 6:18, the writer says it is “impossible” for God to lie.

God is one - that is the fundamental confession of the Israelite religion: Deut. 6:4. Because God is one, then there is no division in His nature; therefore there can be no falsehood in Him. There is no division between God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit. If there were, then there would be falsehood. But there is no division. God is one.

God does not change. Jehovah does not change (Malachi 3:6). Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). Because God does not change, there can be no falsehood in Him.

If we are to be like God, then we cannot lie. We must be truthful. We must be honest. We must be dependable. Toward everyone - not just our family and friends.

Honesty comes from within. The Great Wall of China was built to keep out the barbarous people from the north. It took 2 1/2 millennia (2,500 years) to build the entire Great Wall. It took 24 years to build the first main section. The wall is between 16-26’ high and 13-16’ thick. Despite the impressive features of the Great Wall, China was invaded at least three times from the north. How did that happen? Did the invaders break through o climb over? No. They just bribed the gatekeeper.

Our spiritual downfall might just begin with us not being honest. Not honest with ourselves. Not honest with God.

Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the late Taiwanese leader said, “If the past has taught us anything, it is that every cause brings its effect, and every action has its consequences.” You and I are the sum total of our words and actions. You can’t fake character.

The temptation is strong to be dishonest, especially when we find ourselves backed into the corner. When we lived in Romania, it was common to sign two contracts when you rented or bought an apartment or house. One contract contained the real amount you paid and the second contract was for a smaller amount, the amount that the owner would use to pay his taxes. This was dishonest. But, it was so prevalent that even our lawyer told us to sign the second contract. Rachel and I paid $60 a month more in rent when we rented our apartment so we would not have to sign that second contract - in effect, paying our landlord’s rent for him.

But he fussed every 6 months, every time we had to sign a new contract. When we finally decided to buy an apartment so we could stop that hassle, we were at the lawyer’s office and that second contract was set in front of me. On one hand, I told myself - “This will be the lsat time we have to deal with this second contract” On the other hand, I also knew it was dishonest. Because we humans find it easy to rationalize our behavior, I signed that second contract! I knew it was wrong but I reasoned that I would not have to do it again. I don’t remember why, but we had to go back to the lawyer’s office the next day. That evening, Rachel pointed out to me - That wasn’t right. And I knew it. So, the next day when we want back, I told the lawyer that we could not send that contract. I had done something wrong. The lawyer said, “But everyone does it and no one will know!” By which he mean the government would not know. But I told him, “God will know.”

Satan had tempted me and he had succeeded for a short time. But if we’re going to be honest people, we’ve got to be honest all the time, in every situation. That’s the art of loving. Love rejoices in truth.

HONESTY PAYS:
You know well that if a company is not honest with you, you will find another company to do business with. Donald Douglas had bulit a reputation for honesty in his aircraft company. At one point, he was competing with Boeing to sell airplanes to Eastern Airlines. Eddie Rickenbacker was the founder of Eastern Airlines and still ran the company at that time. Rickenbacker told Douglas that his specifications and claims for his DC-8 were close to his competitor - Boeing - but he needed to reduce the noise level. He gave Douglas one last chance to out-promise Boeing.

Douglas consulted with his engineers and reported back to Rickenbacker that he could not make that promise in good conscience. Rickenbacker responded, “I knew you couldn’t. I just wanted to see if you were still honest.” He then awarded Douglas a contract worth $135 million.

It does pay to be honest. It strengthens your integrity, which strengthens the foundation of your relationships with others.

Stick to the truth. Follow the rules. Decent people will side with you rather than against you. Love the truth and people will have a hard time controlling you. You give them no leverage.

When John says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), that requires honesty with ourselves. It requires us to be people of integrity. It requires us to true. God already knows the truth. He is not surprised by anything we do. He just calls on us to be honest with ourselves and with others.

It is also costly to be dishonest - if not in this life, then in the life to come. God has promised that all liars will have their part in the lake of fire in Revelation 21:8. That’s a price that we surely do not want to pay for whatever advantage we might find here on earth.

Two high school students got spring fever one beautiful morning so they skipped class and had a great time. They went into class that afternoon and told the teacher, “Sorry we’re so late. We had a flat tire on the way to school.”

The teacher, who knew it was a con job, smiled and said, “That’s fine. No problem. You missed a test this morning, but that’s OK. I’ll let you make it up right now. Just take separate seats.”

Once the students were seated, the teacher smiled again and and continued, “Alright. Question number one: Which tire was flat?”

There was a butcher who had a lady visit him to buy a chicken. The butcher reached into a case and pulled out a chicken and set it on the scale. He gave her the poundage and the price. “You know,” she said, “that’s really a little smaller chicken than I think I need. Do you have a larger one?”

Well, that was the only chicken the butcher had. So, he took the bird, put it back into the case, bumbled around a little, making some noise, and then pulled out the exact same chicken. When he put it on the scale, however, he put his thumb on it and gave her a new weight and price. The woman thought for a moment and then said, “You know, that’ll be good. In fact, I believe I’ll just take both of them.”

“Do not be deceived,” family, “God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). If we live a life built on lies because of the temporary gain we might receive, God will see to it that we receive what He says we deserve. That’s not a good trade.

HONESTY FOR OUR CHILDREN:
If we want to raise our children to be godly, solid citizens of our community, we have to instill in them God’s love and desire for honesty. And we teach that by example. When you allow your child to lie in small things - like lying about their age to use some social media platform - you are teaching your children that the standard for truth is their own desires and wishes and that lays a very weak foundation in moral character.

When Rachel was a little girl, she took an eraser from the store. In the parking lot, when her dad saw what she had done, he made her go back into the store and confess what she had done and give it back. It’s those types of decisions parents have to make if they want their children to grow up to be people of integrity.

The apostle Paul is not our standard of morality - Jesus is - but, Paul said when he was on trial: “I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men” (Acts 24:16). That conscience has to be educated by the truth of God, otherwise we are simply “policing” ourselves. But once that conscience is educated by the word of God, then we must live consistent with it. That’s the art of loving.

Take home message: Love always rejoices in truth. And honesty. And integrity.