I have a funny friend.  I have a musical friend. I have a wise friend.  I have a trustworthy friend.  I have a vagabond friend.  I have many, many, many other types of friends.

Do you know what I DON’T have?  A friend who’s really honest.  Not that my friends aren’t honest- I’d say most are way above average!  What I mean is that I don’t have a friend who’s strongest describing characteristic would be his honesty.

Then again, it wouldn’t be mine either.  Honest- it’s a lost policy. It’s something that we, as men, have pretty much tossed to the wayside.  We love to cut corners.  Cheat whenever we can.  Lie if necessary.  If we won’t get caught.  We manipulate.

Some of us are too honest.  So blunt in fact, that we hurt others and sin with our ‘honesty.’  We use the over-spiritualized, totally-BS ‘I’m just being honest’ to get away with murder.  We’re just being evil.

In 2 Kings 12, the Israelites are rebuilding the Lord’s temple, and this is what is says about the godly men on the job: “No accounting of this money was required from the construction supervisors, because they were honest and trustworthy men.”

CAN YOU IMAGINE?!

Hundreds of dudes, zero calculators.  Pure and complete and holy trust.  Honesty was their highest and best policy.  They realized the weight of their actions, and the height at which God valued their truthfulness.

As men, we need to start making honesty one of our godly pursuits.  Complete truth at all times, minus the bullcrap pretense of hurting someone with truth.  Grace-filled honesty is the best policy. And it doesn’t come without rewards.

Proverbs 2 says that “He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.  He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.”

Let’s find where we went wrong, get back on track, and become men that can be trusted with the great things of the Kingdom of God.

Jay

About 10 years ago I heard a song by the Newsboys (I think?) and the chorus said “when we don’t get what we deserve, it’s a real good thing.” I told my dad I totally disagreed and that it was a stupid song.  He asked me to explain.  I educated him in the fact that I should always get what I deserved.  He then reminded me what I actually deserved, in light of my life and my sin.  I’ll never forget it- it hit me like a ton o’ bricks.

Read this out loud…

I don’t deserve love.

I don’t deserve a girl.

I don’t deserve sex.

I don’t deserve intimacy.

These things aren’t rights.

I deserve nothing.

Scratch that.

I deserve death.

I deserve hell.

I deserve punishment for my sins.

But wait.

There is one who loves me.

There is one who can save me.

There is one who can wash away my sin.

There is one that can heal me.

There is one who can forgive me.

He name is Jesus.

And He offers a second chance.

A new life.

A chance at love, fulfillment, and intimacy.

It’s not a right.

I don’t deserve it.

It’s a gift.

And I humbly accept.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no man can boast.” -Ephesians 2:8-9-

At my most recent session of marriage counselling, my me and my fiance had an assignment for each other; to share a verse to help us to grow and mature.

I had been thinking about this for a long time. It was assigned to us at our first sessions a couple months before, and I still hadn`t found the right verse despite reading one-year Bible every day, reading blogs, listening to podcasts …. and still I couldn`t find the right one. Then I clued in: um, maybe I should pray about it. And then it hit me. About a minute afterwards.

Song of Solomons 1:5: I am dark but beautiful, O daughters of Jerusalem.

I had heard a pastor (probably Perry Noble) preach half a message on this verse. In the days that this book was written, when a woman was tanned it meant that she worked. Other men saw that as unattractive; fair women were attractive, dark and tanned was viewed as used.

This woman was dark but she had attitude … Guys don`t think I`m gorgeous, but I know I am. I told my fiance that was what I wanted to help her get to. Every time she says I am dark I will say but you are beautiful.

This is a challenge for all you guys with a significant female in your life (not your mother, that her husband`s duty) remind her that she is beautiful. Start with your little sister if you need to practice.  Tell her she’s beautiful.  That`s not only what she wants; it`s what she needs! She needs to know that she is beautiful.

But she has prettier eyes than me. But she`s NOT beautiful to me; YOU are.

That`s something she needs to hear.

Aaron

God calls the play.  You do your part- go deep. Cut left.  Hook right. Block hard. Run a fake into the middle of nowhere.  Just trust the quarterback.  He called the right play.  Sometime you get to be the star.  Other times, not so much.  Doesn’t matter.  We’re looking for a team win.  Just play your absolute best.  It’s what you were trained and designed to do.

The captain calls the plays.

Now where did you put that playbook?!

So the Israeli King Saul takes 210,000 and absolutely ransacks the Amalekites.

Problem is, he disobeys the priest’s word from God and spares their atrociously evil king, plus all the livestock.  He tries to make himself feel better hosting a huge worship service where they sacrifice all the animals.  Doesn’t work.  There’s alot more to this story, but 1 Samuel 15:22 sums up where we’re going with this today- “obedience is better than sacrifice.”

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

It’s better to stop masturbating than to volunteer at your youth group.

It’s better to stop cheating on your taxes than to tithe at church.

It’s better to quit looking at porn than reading your one-year Bible.

It’s better to end that sinful relationship than lead worship on Sundays.

It’s better to actually love people rather than to donate $1 a day.

It’s better to drop that addiction rather than to attend the mid-week prayer meeting.

Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Our ‘acts of sacrifice’ mean NOTHING if we’re not being obedient to the words of Jesus Christ laid out in Scripture.  NOTHING.

We’ve got a few options…

Stop wasting our time by sacrificing and giving stuff to make ourselves feel better and just reject God completely.

Start obeying.

We must move now.

Jay