Living Life with Purpose – Session 3

Bethel Mennonite Church – Gladys VA

Honesty

Matthew 5:37 – Any time that your yes or no means more than yes or more than no… Jesus says that is unnecessary, indeed it is evil.

Ephesians 4:25 – Put away lying. It is an “old man” behavior.

Colossians 3, Revelation 21:8 – Honesty is a principle that should govern the life of every christian.

Hebrews 13:18 – Honesty isn’t all about speech. Living an honest life is something more than just what we say. We need to live our lives in a manner that is true to our conviction.

The definition of honesty or truth? Telling it like it is. This is more than just what we say with our words, it is what we say with our lives.

Are your life and actions governed by truth?

Examples

Achan – After the battle of Jericho there was a battle at Ai, and the odds seemed stacked in the favor of Israel. They lost badly. We know of course that Achan had sinned. Achan wasn’t living in honesty.

Acts 5 – Ananias and Sapphira – Both of Ananias and Sapphira were in on the scheme. They both failed to withhold the principle of honesty. God requires honesty of his people.

• Abraham lied about who Sarah was.
• Abraham Lincoln earned a reputation as an honest man when he was young and working at a store. When he made a mistake he would walk whatever made it right over to that person.

We have no control over a lot of things. However there is one thing that we can control, that being the value of our word. This is one of the most valuable things that we can have.

Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Integrity

Proverbs 11:3, Proverbs 4:25-27, 1 Peter 3:16, Luke 16

In everything you do, do everything to be trustworthy.

Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking. It is choosing the right thing. It is choosing consistently. It is the state of being whole and undivided.

You can’t have integrity and be one person when you are in one setting and another person in another setting.

Examples

Job was a godly man who was incredibly blessed. He lived a life of integrity.

Daniel was taken away as a young man to a foreign city. It wasn’t a rule given back in Jerusalem that kept Daniel from eating the kings meat… Daniel had purposed in his heart, it was integrity.

Paul’s life was one of consistency. Paul was who he was. No matter where he was. Paul didn’t change from city to city. He was consistent.

What was it that kept the three Hebrew men standing? It was integrity that wouldn’t let them. They could have been tempted to stay “standing on the inside,” but no, they kept standing and worshiped God in public just like they did in private.

It is extremely hard to respect someone who talks “the right talk” on Sunday but live an entirely different life the rest of the week.

Modesty

Modesty isn’t just about dress. That is an entirely too small of a focus.

Romans 12:3 – Think soberly. Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to.

Philippians 2 – Jesus was truly equal to God. It wouldn’t have been robbery for Jesus to say “I don’t have to deal with this, I’m God.” Instead we see Jesus coming to earth, as a man, and humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.

1 Corinthians 4:7 – Immodesty brings glory to ourselves. Modesty is reflecting and bringing glory to Christ.

1 Peter 5:5 – Modesty is the desire to not be glorified, to conceal any glory that we might have. If you are going to live a victorious Christian life, you must have modesty in your life. Humility is the currency in the kingdom of God.

Grace is the power of God to do the will of God. Jesus came to earth, and rose from the dead to give us the power of God to do the will of God.

If we are immodest. If we are proud. God resists us. This is one of the only times we hear God resisting a group of people. God also gives grace to the humble. God will give us grace, if we are humble.

It is critically important to live in humility and to have the principle of modesty in our lives.

What is modesty? Gratefully using what we have in a way that GOD ALONE is glorified.

Examples

Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament. He was one of the most prolific teachers and leaders. What does Paul say of himself? I am the least of all the apostles, I am the least of all of the saints. Why did God use Paul so powerfully? Because there wasn’t any pride in his life.

The meek man Moses, who didn’t think he could even speak, he is the one God used to lead the children of Israel through the wilderness to the promised land.

A modest person is keenly aware of where the abilities they have come from. Grateful people are those who are living life with a purpose.

Paul wasn’t super human. Paul was very human, but he was totally dedicated to living for God.

Nonconformity

Romans 12:2 – It is very hard (impossible) to find the will of God when we live like the world around us. It is only when we have a mind that is transformed that we can live the life that God has for us.

2 Corinthians 6:14 – I will be their God. I will walk with them. Come out. Be separate.

Ephesians 2:1-4 – To understand the principle of nonconformity, we have to understand that there are two kingdoms. There are two kings. There are two ways of living. BUT… we can, via salvation, switch from one kingdom to the other one. Everything is different. We pursue different things. We have different goals. There are no similarities between the kingdom of satan and the kingdom of Christ.

There is no third category. There is only the two kingdoms.

John 17:14 – We have received the words of God. The world doesn’t agree with us. In fact they hate us. If we fit in with the world, that is a serious problem.

James 4, 1 John 2 – When we love the world, it causes us to be an enemy of God. Why is it then that we are continually drawn towards the things that the world has to offer?

Luke 16:15 – Whenever something is extremely popular in the world, it probably isn’t of God. What is popular in the world, which is controlled by the devil, can’t be of God.

Don’t think of nonconformity as a negative word, it is the distinction of the difference between a person when they are non-christians and when they become christians.

Examples

Abraham and Sarah had a priority of a better country, of another place… that is what creates nonconformity. We aren’t following the same mold as the world. We have a destination and a goal that is beyond this world.

Moses refused to be called pharaohs daughter, instead he chose to align himself, and suffer with the people of God. He counted the things of God as more important than the pleasures of sin.

The kingdom of the world has an opinion about how to do everything. So does the kingdom of God.

Submission

Romans 13:1-5, 1 Peter 2:13-18 – All power, all authority comes from God. Submission doesn’t just apply to good leaders, it also applies to evil one. Have you ever had an unreasonable boss? That’s covered here.

This doesn’t mean that we do things that are contrary to our beliefs. However, if it is within our ability to do, and if our boss asks us to do it, we should do it.

Ephesians 5 – We are a body in Christ, submitting to one another.

What is submission? It is a surrendered will to God’s plans. It is the absence of rebelliousness to resistance.

Submission seems to be going “the way of the Dodo bird.” More and more, different levels of rebellion are being tolerated, we need to embrace submission.

Examples

Mary, when the angel told her that she was going to have a child. Her response? Behold the handmade of the Lord.

Naaman dipping himself in the river, his rebellion almost kept him from doing it. It didn’t make sense to him.

Jesus in perfect submission, “I came to do the will of my Father.” That is what he did.

Numbers 16:1-50 – Korah attempted to lead a rebellion. They set themselves against Moses and Aaron. Moses, when he heard the things Korah was saying, fell on his face. The rest of the story shows us what God thinks of rebellion.

God is authority. God has set up authority. When we rebel against authority, we are acting out of our own will and going against the will and authority of God.

The story of Korah doesn’t end here. The very next day there were others who murmured against Moses and against God. 14,700 people died as a result.

God can not and will not ever bless rebellion.

Make submission to authority, to God, a principle of your life.

The Series

This is part of a series of messages preached by Glenn Horst at our Youth Rally weekend in March 2016. All of the sessions are linked below.

• Living Life with Purpose – Session 1
• Living Life with Purpose – Session 2
• Living Life with Purpose – Session 3
• Living Life with Purpose – Session 4
• Living Life with Purpose – Session 5

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