BIBLE STUDY OUTLINE

MARCH 2013

SUBJECT: HONESTY

INTRODUCTION:

Our second Bible Study Preparatory class with our Man of God in the year 2013held on the 17th of February 2013. This Bible Study Outline has been developed for all leaders of the Cell Ministry to serve as a guide for our Bible study meetings in the month of March. The outline is on the subject of ‘Honesty’ as taught by our Man of God during the Bible study preparatory class.

This outline is in 4 parts. Part 1 explains what honesty means, some synonyms and Antonyms of honesty and the reason for our study on the subject. Part 2 gives us examples ofmen in the Bible who served God with a perfect heart, as well as those whose hearts were imperfect;and, the importance of honesty. Part 3 acquaints us with more scriptures on honesty and how tithes and offerings in the house of God should be handled; while Part 4 shows us the consequences of dishonesty, giving reference to certain Bible characters; it also further expounds on the consequences of mishandling tithes and offerings in the house of God.

All Bible study class teachers and cell leaders are to ensure that their members have their Bibles; all the Scriptures in the outline are read during the meeting; and the members look into their Bibles while the Scriptures are read. In addition, as clearly stated by our Man of God, don’t rush through the subject as you teach; remember that our intention is to have every member of the class understand the subject matter so that they can know what the Bible teaches on the subject, and can become acquainted with the Scriptures.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  1. Honesty Part 1…………………………………………..3
  2. Honesty Part 2…………………………………………..10
  3. Honesty Part 3…………………………………………..16
  4. Honesty Part 4…………………………………………..21

-HONESTY (PART 1)-

Introduction

At the end of this class each member should:

  • Know themeaning of honesty, and be able to define it.
  • Know thesynonyms and antonyms of honesty.
  • Understand thereason for our study on honesty.

The meaning of honesty

Honesty is the quality of being honest. Thus it is important to define the word honest.

The word honest means to be marked by truth or truthfulness, without pretentions, dissimulation, to be frank without fraud.

Honesty means being truthful, trustworthy, loyal, fair, honourable, genuine and sincere,but most importantly, it means to be dependable.

To be ‘dependable’ is the most important quality of honesty, because it ties all together. That is to say, someone who is not sincere cannot be dependable; if you are not genuine you are not dependable; in addition, if you are not trustworthy you cannot be dependable. Therefore, an honest person should have a dependable character.

Synonyms and antonyms of honesty:

Synonyms:

  • Genuineness
  • Frankness
  • Sincerity
  • Candour
  • Truthfulness
  • Openness
  • Trustworthiness
  • Integrity
  • Uprightness

All these qualities come out of your heart.

Antonyms:

  • Dishonesty
  • Deceitfulness
  • Corruption
  • Fraudulent
  • Duplicity
  • Lying

These are all negatives.

An honest person will be true, fair, honourable, reliable,dependable, conscientious, decent, trustworthy and impartial; while someone who is dishonest will be mendacious, prevaricating, untruthful, and deceptive.

Prevaricating- means to be purposely ambiguous with the intention to deceive. There are people who are purposely ambiguous in order to mislead others; they are deliberately unclear with the motive and idea to mislead.

Mendacious-is to be given to lying; some people are given to lying as a way of life; they are very misleading in their communication. These qualities are unacceptable to the Lord.

The Purpose of our Study on Honesty

Vessels of honour

2 Timothy 2 v 2: ‘and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also’.

Faithful men here means ‘honest men’; men of honesty are faithful.

2 Timothy 2 V 20 - 21: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour, If a man therefore purge himself from these,he shall be vessel unto honour sanctified and meet for the master’s use and prepared unto every good work’

There are different vessels, he says, in a great house, and these vessels are of different qualities. Now remember that he is teaching about human beings; that is, about people in the house and particularly this time, he is talking about those in the house of God. So in a great house, in God’s house, there are vessels not only of gold and of silver but also of wood and of earth. Which means that there are different vessels made of different qualities of material.

Wehave vessels of different metals, vessels of plastics, wood and so on; however, what really matters is not what the vessels are made of, but their use. Some vessels are used for water, others for waste, food; there are also vessels for different kinds of substances that you might want to preserve. So he says in a great house there are vessels of gold and of silver and also of wood and of earth and some to honour and some to dishonour.

Now what can make a vessel a vessel of honour or dishonour? The answer is Purpose. Whether or not a vessel is in its place; is the vessel serving rightly? Is the vessel in the right place?

Well, the verse 21 tells us something. V21: if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be vessel unto honour, which means we can decide or determine whether or not we are going to be vessels of honour or dishonour. Why is it so? Because we are all vessels in the house of God and were made for honouring God. None of us was made for dishonour because we are members of the body of Christ, and each one of us has been raised for His honour and glory, but we can decide whether we are going to be vessels unto honour;it’s our responsibility.

The Scripture says if a man would purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and qualified for the Master’s use. Sanctified means separated; this means if you would prepare yourself by purging yourself; that is,putting yourself where you ought to be, you will be sanctified, set apart and qualified, ready for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work. You’ve got a responsibility to be ready for God’s use. We have to prepare ourselves for whatever God is going to do with our lives.

Let’s look at the Scripture from the amplified version of the Bible.

2 Timothy 2: 20-21: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also (utensils) of wood and earthenware, and some for honourable and noble (use) and some for menial and ignoble (use). So whoever cleanses himself (from what is ignoble and unclean, who separates himself from contact with contaminating influences)will (then himself) be a vessel set apart and useful for honourable and noble purposes, consecrated and profitable to the Master, fit and ready for any good work.”

This means you ought to be in a state of readiness, because you don’t know what more God wants to with your life, and this is the purpose we are dealing with this topic, so we can raise unto the Lord a people that are ready for the Master’s use; a people that would be ready to do whatever God wants; people that will be qualified and fit for any good work.

Key Things to Note

There are certain key things to bear in mind in dealing with honesty;

1. Faithfulness: When we are talking about honesty, we are dealing with faithfulness, but honesty is in a class of its own. If you talk about someone who is honest, you also dealing with his/her faithfulness. No one who is faithful can be dishonest; it’s not possible. Only faithful men are honest. However, faithfulness needs to be clearly defined because sometimes you could find people who are faithful in certain areas. A person can be a faithful student, but that doesn’t mean he is faithful in other areas of his life. You can be a faithful sports man, and so you do everything that is required in your sports. You can be a faithful banker, but that may be different when it comes to other areas of your life. However when it comes to honesty, it’s got to do with your personality;your character. An honest man is honest irrespective of any situation. You can’t be honest in some areas and dishonest in other areas. Honesty is something that follows you, anywhere you go, and in everything you do.

2. Your heart:Another thing to bear in mind when dealing the honesty is the state of one’s heart. When the Bible talks about a perfect heart, it’s dealing with a man that is honest, because honesty is a state of one’s heart.

An honest heart is a perfect heart; it is that heart that has received the Word of God, and has allowed the Word of God to carry out the changes and metamorphosis within the heart. This heart is filled with love, with kindness, and with courtesy; this heartcan be touched by the Spirit of God and be corrected by the Word of God.

A child of God is teachable and will always yield to the Word of God because the Bible says all scriptures are given for reproof and for correction (2 Timothy 3 v 16). Thus a true child of God is always willing to grow and to yield to God. There are people who are unyielding. We should only be unyielding to the devil and to negative things. But amongst one another we should not be unyielding.

Notice that all these synonyms we stated earlier: sincerity integrity, candor, truthfulness, openness, genuineness, uprightness,are all the things that come out of the heart.

God expects us to be sanctified and fit for His use and for every good work. We read in 2Timothy 2:2, where Paul said to Timothy to get faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Meaning that they were to be men who should already be accounted to be faithful as in that state, they would be prepared to receive what Timothy was going to be passing out to them, so they would teach others also. Thus, it’s so important we are in a state of readiness for God to do something with our lives. People who are dishonest are not ready to be used of God. They may learn and get acquainted with things of God; they probably even also have the Holy Spirit and but that doesn’t mean God is pleased with such people and therefore using them. You can use the power of God without God using you. For example Jesus said on the last day there are those who would come to Him and say Master we did many mighty things in your Name; we even performed miracles, and He would say I never knew you depart from me you workers of iniquity. He never knew them becausethey never had a relationship with the Lord. Praying and fellowshipping with the Lord are two different things. You can pray; in prayer you are talking to God, the question is, does He talk to you? Is there a fellowship or a relationship? When you are dishonest, don’t you hear the voice of God’s Spirit correcting you of your dishonesty? So what is your fellowship with the Lord like?

God wants us to be ready; He’s looking for hearts that are right, and that’s why we are dealing with this subject.

Discussion questions:

  1. Can someone with a perfect heart do wrong things?
  2. Can a perfect heart be unwilling in something of God or of the Kingdom?

Answer to discussion question

  1. Yes, it is possible for someone with a perfect heart to do something wrong. In this case it will be an error of his actions but not of his heart. The reason is because one who is honest can make a mistake and can be wrong. Remember, having a perfect heart and being perfect in your actions are two different things; so you may be perfect in your actions and not have a perfect heart, but you may have a perfect heart and not be perfect in your actions. But if you have a perfect heart, you will want to be perfect in your actions, because if you have a perfect heart and you are truly honest in your heart you will want to grow in the things of God by studying more of God’s Word. Remember, you judge the perfection of a man’s heart by purpose and intent.
  1. No: one with a perfect heart cannot be unwilling in the things of God.

-HONESTY (PART 2)-

Introduction

At the end of this class each member should:

  • Understand more clearlyfrom examples of men in the Bible what it means to be honest and dishonest.
  • Understand the importance of honesty.

Study scriptures:

We’ll look into some scriptures that give insight into the lives of men of old who walked with an imperfect heart and those that sought the Lord with a perfect heart.

In 2 Chronicles 25 v 1 the Bible says,‘Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a perfect heart’.

Amaziah the king did what was right in the sight of God but not with a perfect heart. His actions were so good that they were right in the sight of God, but the Bible says God looked at his heart and said his actions were not carried out with a perfect heart. A perfect heart can be judged with several things, one of which is provocation. Provocation is one of the ways to know a true heart. Money is another way to test a perfect heart. Some others are tested with power, which will determine if they will be honest or dishonest.

2 Chronicles 12:13 – “So king Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned: for Rehoboam was one and forty years old when he began to reign and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord’.

This man went in the wrong direction because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.

We find something rather different in1 Chronicles 28 v9 ‘And thou Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever’

This was David’s counsel to his son Solomon. He said, I want you to know the God of your Father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches the heart. He doesn’t see the way men see; he searches the heart and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. The Bible says the logos of God isthe discerner of the thought and intents of the heart. God understands the imaginations of your thoughts, so you can’t have an imagination that passes by the knowledge of God.

Now this is the thing Rehoboam didn’t keep to; he didn’t prepare his heart to seek the Lord. Of course from the teachings of Solomon it is obvious that he must have instructed Rehoboam(who was his son) in the same way, but he didn’t keep to what was instructed. He didn’t prepare his heart to seek the Lord and as a result lost ten tribes of Israel, out of the twelve.

Ezra is a good example of one whose heart was after the Lord. He was one of the great reformers of the Jewish era. In Ezra 7:10 the Bible says,‘For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord,and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and Judgements’. Ezra did what Rehoboam didn’t do, Ezra sought to know the law of the Lord; he sought to do it and to teach it. This should be your desire to know God’s Word, to do it and to teach it.And that is the purpose of the subject: to prepare your heart to seek the Lord, to do His word, and then to teach it. To be made ready for every good work, sanctified and fit for the Master’s use.

The Importance of Being Honest

Why is honesty so important to God? The reason is that when God wants something done, He looks for honest men. Now even if the Lord has a calling for your life, you will not be able to fulfil it until you are honest.

In 1 Timothy 1 v 12 the Bible says,‘And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry’

‘Faithful’ here covers being honest, and that characterises his personality. Before God put him in the ministry he already counted him faithful; He didn’t put him in the ministry to find out if he would befaithful, rather He saw him faithful which was a quality of his personality. This is why you should prepare your heart so you can be fit for the Master’s use.