Radical Honesty (Ephesians 4:25)

Radical Honesty (Ephesians 4:25)

We now begin to look at what we must lay aside and what we must put on.
Lay aside lying
The Christian life is built entirely upon Jesus Who is the Truth (John 14:6.) Any lie is from the devil who is the father of lies (John 8:44.) As such lying has no place within the Christian’s life. It all must be completely discarded.
Put on honesty
It is not enough to quit telling lies. We must go beyond that and put on honesty. We must be a people that are known for telling the truth. This must not just be in our preaching, but in every aspect of our lives. We must go beyond not lying and actually tell the truth.
Speak truth with
Lest we should become a rude or overly confrontational people we are told to speak the truth WITH our neighbor. The idea here is a open and honest dialogue not an in your face blow up. The truth must be spoken in love, and our goal is to open a conversation where all sides concerned can come to an understanding of the truth.
Reasons we are not honest
Ultimately, we are not honest because our thinking has not been renewed by the Holy Spirit. We are still following deceitful lusts. There are lies we believe that make us think that telling the truth is sinful or not preferred. Some of these lies are:
                         To preserve peace
                This deceitful lusts tells us that all conflict is wrong. Peace at all costs, even at the expense of truth.
                         To preserve unity
                We can believe that we should not speak the truth if it might cause conflict within a marriage, family, or church. Unity is more important than the truth.
                         To protect someone
We can believe that hurting someone is more sinful than withholding the truth from them. Making people happy can be our number one concern. We can sacrifice someone’s long term wellbeing for a few moments of happiness.
                         To achieve a lofty goal
                We can become pragmatists who view some lofty goal as worth sacrificing the truth for. Some examples would be church growth, political power, reputation, to gain influence, etc.
                         To be holy
                Many people have been taught a form of submission that requires the one submitting to do so in silence, no questions, no feedback, no objections. This is taught as “holiness.” However, this is not what Jesus taught us. Christians should always speak the truth even to those who are in authority over them. Christians should say hard things. Refusing to speak the truth is not holiness.
We are all in this together
Paul’s reasoning for radical honesty is simple, we are all in this together. We must work together and help each other to advance the cause of Christ. As such we need to make sure that everyone is on the same page. We cannot let someone fall to the way side for some false reason; we must go to them and be honest with them. Loving someone requires us help them see their wrong behaviors.
Application:
Who do you need to be honest with? Will you be honest with yourself concerning your need of a Savior?

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