What are you willing to do for £10 million? Most of us would like to say that 10 million isn’t enough to convince us to do wrong, at least if asked in public. But anonymously, you’d get rather interesting results.
In the US this same question was asked in a survey for a book called “The day America told the truth”. And what were the results?
- 25% would abandon their family
- 23% would become a prostitute for a week
- 7% would kill a stranger
Let’s think about it. In a room of 100 people, 7 would be willing to kill for the right price.1 in 4 people would pack up and leave their family forever, and that is nearly the same for becoming a prostitute for a week. “Well that’s the world, what do you expect?” “That’s why we as Christians have to do better, because everyone else is so wrong”
How different do you think the results would be if done by Christians only, anonymously of course? Very Different? Only a little bit? Or pretty much the same?
Well, there is little statistical difference between the ethical practices of the religious and the nonreligious. According to the book “Keeping Your Ethical Edge Sharp, Christians are pretty much just as likely to:
- Commit plagiarism (Yep, you, the uni student who left their coursework until the last day)
- Illegally copy a computer program
- Stream Music/Video illegally
- Tell people what they want to hear
But why?
Not to make excuses, but we as humans are fundamentally dishonest. No one had to teach us how to lie or deceive, and this was the case for Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5). Who?
To put it in today’s context. Ananias was a property owner, alongside his wife Sapphira, who recently got paid for a property he had sold. He told his wife about his plan. He was gonna take some of the money, and then give the rest to the church, almost like an offering.
“Well that’s nice of him. There’s nothing wrong with keeping some for yourself. You’ve gotta take care of yourself too”. Ananias would agree.
However, it’s the way he went about it. Let’s set the scene. Ananias waited until mid-service, the hymns were being sung, and Peter was at the altar. In the background you could hear “I surrender all to you”, and Ananias saw this as the perfect time. He came in front of Peter and gave the leftover money and said “I wish I could give more to the church Peter, but this is all I can afford right now”.
“Yes, that’s a little dishonest, but he still gave right. It’ s better than nothing.” I’m sure he’d agree.
But it’s never that simple.
3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”(NIV)
And Ananias just couldn’t believe it. He was appalled. Dismayed. He could just drop and die.
And he did.
And what about his wife?
8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”
“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”
9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”
10 At that moment she fell at his feet and died.
This probably shocked a lot of us, because it appeared to be such a small lie. “Yes, they lied about their profits, but why death?” “I mean at least they did give – that’s more than what a lot of people do”
The Church cannot thrive with deception amongst its members. We’ve seen what can happen to a church, where its leaders put money and deception ahead of their promise to God. Integrity is a must have within a church. If members cannot fully trust the one’s in a position of leadership, how can they later come to them in times of need? How could they be fully submissive in a church where they still feel apprehensive? In a world of deceit and lies, how can the church not hold a level of integrity?
I don’t think the Scripture’s intent is to rule out having fun with our friends with playful banter or even telling creative stories. But we can’t be careless about the truth. We’ve got to be careful with our words. And I know it isn’t easy, as a heavy user of sarcasm. If we lie, we should just admit to it immediately, not only to stop the deceit, but to avoid creating a habit.
Rather that lying habitually, let’s try to aim for habitual honesty – integrity!
WANT MORE? PART 2
My Sunday Skl 