"MORAL ISSUES CONFRONTING CHRISTIANS"
Dishonesty
INTRODUCTION
1. A survey of 29,760 students in USA high schools revealed the
following about stealing...
a. 30% admitted stealing from a store within the past year
b. 23% said they stole something from a parent or relative
c. 20% confessed they stole something from a friend
-- Josephson Institute's 2008 Report Card on the Ethics of American
Youth
2. In the same survey addressed the subject of lying...
a. 42% said they sometimes lie to save money
b. 83% confessed they lied to a parent about something significant
-- ibid.
3. Again, the survey revealed the following about cheating...
a. 64% cheated on a test during the past year
b. 38% cheated two or more times
-- ibid.
4. Amazingly, these same students have a high self-image when it comes
to ethics...
a. 93% said they were satisfied with their personal ethics and
character
b. 77% said that when it comes to doing what is right, they are
better than most people they know
-- ibid.
[Such dishonesty is a problem confronting our society, and certainly not
just young people (e.g., elected officials, employers and employees,
etc.) and likely affects many Christians as well. So let's consider...]
I. THE PROBLEM WITH DISHONESTY
A. IN GENERAL...
1. Condemned by God's Word
a. In the Law of Moses - Lev 19:11; Pr 6:17-19; 11:1; 12:22
b. Liars will have their place in the lake of fire - Re 21:8
2. Common wisdom tells us that "honesty is the best policy"
a. False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect
the soul with evil - Socrates
b. The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied
later a thousand fold - Aristotle
c. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom - Thomas
Jefferson
d. No man has a good enough memory to make a successful liar
- Abraham Lincoln
B. IN PARTICULAR...
1. Destroys reputations
a. Once you are caught lying, stealing, or cheating, you will
rarely be trusted again
b. Even if you do it for someone, with someone - you prove
yourself untrustworthy
c. With lies you may get ahead in the world, but you can never
go back - Russian Proverb
2. Demolishes families, friendships
a. Relationships depend on trusting one another
b. If you marry a man who cheats on his wife, you'll be married
to a man who cheats on his wife - Ann Landers
c. Even if we lie for one another, we are undermining that
trust
d. Who lies for you will lie against you - Bosnian Proverb
3. Disrupts workplaces
a. Some believe that lying, cheating, stealing is necessary to
conduct business
b. If I am willing to lie for you, how do you know I won't lie
to you (the same for cheating and stealing)?
c. Once a company implements a policy of dishonesty to
customers, employees will employ it against employers
whenever convenient
[The problem of dishonesty in the form of lying, cheating, and stealing
is really self-evident. Only those blinded by pride and greed can deny
the harmful effects of dishonesty. In God's Word we find...]
II. THE SOLUTION FOR DISHONESTY
A. PUT AWAY LYING, STEALING...
1. We are to "put on the new man...in true holiness and
righteousness" - Ep 4:24
2. Which involves "putting away lying" - Ep 4:25; cf. Col 3:9
3. Which includes no longer stealing, pilfering, etc. - Ep 4:28;
Tit 2:10
B. SPEAK THE TRUTH...
1. "let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor"
- Ep 4:25 2. "let your 'yes' be 'yes,' and your 'no,' 'no,'..." - Mt 5:37 C. LOVE ALL MEN... 1. One does not lie, steal, or cheat those they love 2. We are to love one another - Ro 13:8 3. We are to love our enemies - Mt 5:44-45 D. PURSUE WHAT IS GOOD... 1. Both for ourselves and for all - 1Th 5:15 2. Whatever we want others to do to us - Mt 7:12 CONCLUSION 1. How much better, more pleasant, would life be... a. If everyone lived honest lives b. Not lying, stealing, and cheating c. Following the principles taught by Jesus and His apostles 2. Indeed, the same could be said concerning all the moral issues we have examined... a. The truth for moral issues is in Jesus - Ep 4:21 b. For Jesus is the light of the world - Jn 8:12 b. Those who walk as children of light bear the fruit of goodness, righteousness, truth - Ep 5:8-9 Follow Jesus, and we will have the light of life and truth, guiding us through the maze of moral issues that confront us daily...!
