Sermon: Are You Sincere?

A lack of sincerity has existed since the garden of Eden, and it certainly exists today. How sincere are we in our communication? In our relationships with each other? With our neighbors? With our coworkers? And even with our Father, the Almighty Eternal Creator God?

Presented by David Evans
Cincinnati, Ohio - April 11, 2009 (64 minutes)

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Sermon Transcript

Every year during this time of the year, I remember an experience that I had basically every day, once, if not twice, while living in Pasadena, CA. I had the experience going to work. I had the experience coming home. I had the experience going to Sabbath services, coming home from Sabbath services, going to the library, coming home from the library, going out with friends, coming home from being with friends. I had it all the time, over and over; and it's something I cannot erase from my mind. And some of you may have had similar experiences, depending on where you live as well.

Basically, whenever I would get onto the expressway or get off of the expressway, I would see at least one individual standing or sitting or lying down at a traffic light or nearby with a cardboard sign that said something like, "Please spare some change," or it would say, "Will work for food." And some would say, "Army veteran, please spare some change." And they would have these different signs that I would see all the time.

Now, one time I remember a guy...I remember right where it was. It was on Orange Grove, if any  of you remember that; and there was an individual who had a sign that said, "I will not lie. I just want a beer." And, you know, he may have gotten more donations than a lot of the other people because he unquestionably was being honest.

A lot of people have seen these individuals and have seen these signs year in and year out. In fact, a study was done several years ago in a major metropolitan area where individuals who were on the street begging for food or asking for financial aid were actually followed back to their residences by, basically, spies, people who were not wanting them to know we're following you. They would watch them and follow them home, and they would follow them to an apartment that may be nicer than the ones the people were living in who worked from 9 to 5 every day at Circuit City, Target, or something like that. It had become a profession for them where they could earn more money, basically tax free since they didn't report it, and were living more high on the market than those who were working at a regular paid job. And so, seeing those signs every day, I knew that on quite a few of them, there was something lacking. Something was lacking on those signs.

I also had another experience several years ago that some, if not all of you, have probably experienced. I got a letter and it stated, "Dear Mr. Evans, due to your excellent credit record, you've already been accepted to receive our gold credit card, giving you X thousand dollars at your fingertips." Now, what made that so amazing to me was that I was a sophomore in college and had less than $300 to my name. And I was so tempted to fill that out. And when they had annual household income, just wait till they see this! But since that, I've heard—and maybe you have too—that some people actually have received these and then they take the name of someone in their house, fill it out for that individual living in their house, send it in to the credit card company, and then a card comes in the mail for their pet cat, their pet dog, or their hamster, because the credit card companies aren't even looking at anything. They just want to get people to get credit cards, buy into their plan, and spend a lot more money than they ever would have if they had not had the credit card.

But again, there is something missing in this letter, too. And especially since I had received it when I was so "unrich," I'll say. But I'm sure we've all experienced the same type of thing, whether in advertisements, in warranties, in statements made by our companies, communication with fellow employees, with friends, with family members, both in and out of the church, and in different situations throughout our lives, and also in relationships where something is evidently lacking. And I'm talking about sincerity.

Sincerity. Sometimes people don't mean what they say. Words are spoken without meaning, or even dogmatic statements or promises are made. Now, as most of you know, my wife is French Canadian. She's from Montreal, Quebec. She was called into the church at seventeen years of age. She was the only one of her thirteen brothers and sisters or parents or all the other relatives who was called into the church at that time. Her twin sister followed shortly thereafter, but here she had the opportunity to become a part of God's family and to develop these relationships with family members that were unlike any she had had her entire life, including in her own home. It was a fascinating experience for her.

She had lived in the same house since she was born. Nothing like...she and I did not have that in common, as you may know. But she had learned a certain thing from the culture she grew up in; and when she came to the United States, she had an experience that was startling to her. It was something she had not experienced, especially from her culture and also in the church where she attended. But I think many of us will relate to it because of our American background...and I'm not putting us down as Americans. I know it's the same in quite a few other cultures, but it was not the same in hers. And that is that when she was at Ambassador College, she was on the campus, and she would be walking to class or to the dining hall and she would cross paths with someone, and they would say to her, "How are you?" And she would stop and start answering and look up, and the person was gone. It was just, "How are you?" and keep going. And so, she just was not used to that; but we are, aren't we? It's just kind of a hello. The words don't carry the meaning that is actually within them. "How are you? How are you doing?" But we don't mean those words often in the American culture, and in others as well. In French Canada where she grew up, they meant something.

Now, I had something similar happen to me except it was from the other end, and that was when I was in the hospital thirty years ago...I know I don't look that old, but actually I was in the hospital thirty years ago, very serious illness. Some of you probably remember me telling about it a little bit, and I won't go into any detail; but when I started recovering, when I was on the road to recovery, I'm starting to feel better, I'm starting to think more clearly because of how the illness actually affected my thought patterns, which some of you still find quite questionable...but every morning the doctor would come into the office and he'd say, "How are you doing?" And I'd say, "Fine. How about you?" And come in in the morning, "How are you doing?" "Fine. How about you?" And all of a sudden I started thinking, "OK, wait. He's the doctor. He actually wants me to tell him how I'm doing. I think I'd better tell him, let him know." But I wasn't used to it at all. It's kind of a funny thing.

Now, also, any of you who have studied other languages, usually one of the first things they teach in communication is how to say, Hello, how are you? I studied Spanish. And in the textbooks that I had, they basically taught, How are you? Fine, how are you? However, when I started studying French, I noticed in one book and then I looked at others; and that is not what they had at all. And if any of you are interested, go check out a French...I'm not putting down the French at all, or I would be in a lot of trouble! But it, again, has to do with the meaning of words, what they really mean. The first French book I looked in, it said, How are you? I am not well. That is too bad. And I thought, "Boy, that's strange." I went to get another one. Same thing. I thought, "Boy, these Frenchies are sick people. Not doing that well at all. But at least they're willing to admit it!" But maybe it was because the words had more meaning to them, and they wanted the conversation to have more depth than it often did in other cultures, just because of the way it was.

Another expression that Marguerite was surprised at hearing but, then, seeing no followup to, "We'll have to get together." And then she'd think, "Oh, good, yes, we'll have to do that," and then she would never hear from the person again. And I think it's just part of the American culture where we think, "You know, I'd like to get together with you, but I don't really know whether or not it's going to happen, so I'm not going to make any commitment to you. I'll just say, 'We'll have to get together sometime,' and then we'll see what happens."

One instructor I had said, "Whenever anybody says that to you, take out your calendar and say, 'When?'" If they say, "We'll have to get together," then, "Yes, we'll have to do that. When?" But again, a lot of time, it's just a kind of meaningless expression that we use frequently. And you know there is a lot of doubt in people's minds when they hear certain expressions and when they hear promises that are made or statements that are made in a relationship or in an exchange between employees, employers, coworkers, friends, family members, new acquaintances, and that doubt is shown in phrases that perhaps are overly used, such as, "Do you mean it?" "Really?" "Honest?" Because they don't know whether or not the person is really meaning what they're saying.

A lack of sincerity has existed since the very garden of Eden, and it certainly exists today. How sincere are we, brethren, in our communication? In our relationships with each other? With our neighbors? With our coworkers? And even with our Father, the Almighty Eternal Creator God? We may think we are more sincere than we truly are, and that's something we're going to look at this afternoon and, also, how we can and must become sincere in all areas of our life. I think you know why I chose this topic at this time.

Let's turn to I Corinthians, chapter 5. This is a book that, apparently, was written, the entire book—or the entire letter, I should say—to the Corinthian church, that was written by the apostle Paul, apparently, during the Days of Unleavened Bread. There are certain elements that we find throughout the book that show evidence of that. Also, we know that the Corinthian church was predominantly gentile; and there are certain words that Paul uses, certain expressions, that they would have had no understanding of. He would have stirred more questions than provided instruction with these words, if they weren't keeping the Days of Unleavened Bread, if they were not keeping God's holy days and His feasts. In I Corinthians, chapter 5, we'll read verse 8 at this time. Paul wrote:

I Cor. 5:8 – Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
Here we are, just about at the middle of the Days of Unleavened Bread, and we are instructed by Jesus Christ through Paul, the apostle, to keep this feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. What does that mean? We're going to take a look at the history of the word "sincerity," not only in our language, but in many others as well, and also, we're going to look into the Greek and see where we stand regarding the subject of sincerity, and then look into how we can become more sincere Christians as we have been called to be.

A couple questions to keep in mind as we go through this subject: Am I sincere as a Christian? (repeats question) Am I sincere in my relationship with God? (repeats question) Am I sincerely following the way I have been called to and have committed my life to? Am I sincerely following the way I have been called to and have committed my life to or am responsible for since I know the truth? We saw the video, the campers video, and to me it is so stimulating to see these young people who are learning that God's way is THE way, that God's way works; and when they have that knowledge and then see it in action, practice it and see the fruits, they see the incredible plan of God unfolded before their very eyes in their lives and with each other, which is even more exciting as well.

Am I sincerely following the way I have been called to and have committed my life to or am responsible for since I know the truth? How can I grow to be sincere? (repeats question)

Let's take a look at one of the disciples who seemed the most sincere. He spoke confidently, boldly to Jesus Christ, trying to correct Him, dogmatically promising his faithfulness, an image of sincerity that none of us can doubt...or can we? Is there something we can learn from part of his life and what he went through? I'm speaking of Peter.

Let's turn to Luke, chapter 5, to begin with; and at this point, we are dealing with his being called to the discipleship of Jesus Christ. Luke, chapter 5, and a very interesting experience that Simon Peter had. Luke, chapter 5, beginning in verse 1:

Luke 5:1-2 – So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him, Jesus Christ, to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them...day's over, or I should say, night's over, as we'll see, and were washing their nets. They were done.

Verse 3 – Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

Verse 4 – When He, Jesus Christ, had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."

Verse 5 – But...I find that an interesting word here, But Simon answered and said to Him, "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."

Verse 6 – And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. And it went beyond that, as we see in verse 7, So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

Verse 8 – When Simon Peter saw it...now, he said, "According to your word, I'm going to do it." Did he have great expectations? Probably not. But what happened? When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" How sincere do we see Simon Peter at this initial introduction to the Son of God?

Let's look at a couple other examples that shed a little bit different light on the experiences that Peter was going through at this time. We'll begin in Mark, chapter 8, where we read that Jesus Christ was beginning to instruct His disciples in a way that really jumped out at them. He had been instructing them for quite some time, but now He was getting into some of the details that He had not covered with them in the way that He was doing. Mark, chapter 8, beginning in verse 31.

Mark 8:31 – And He, Jesus Christ, began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Verse 32 – He spoke this word openly. So, there was more that He said about what He was going to go through with His disciples. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

Peter didn't want to hear what He was hearing, and he had such an urgency in his heart that he began to rebuke Jesus Christ. Did he mean what he said? Was he sincere? How can we even ask that question?

Let's take a look at another example, though. You might want to hold your thumb there because we'll be coming back. John, chapter 13. We reviewed this, the instruction that Jesus Christ gave to the disciples at the Passover, the feast of the Passover, in which He gave them the New Covenant Passover and the instructions regarding it and showed an example to them that they had not previously seen. John, chapter 13, in verse 4. We see that Jesus was wrapping the towel around His waist, He was pouring water in a basin in verse 5, and then we read beginning in verse 6:

John 13:6-8 – Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet! You shall NEVER wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."

Peter had such an urgency, such meaning in the words that he said. It was obviously an example of humility and sincerity, devout heart-felt meaning from within...or was it? And that's what we'll look into. You might want to hold your index finger there, and we'll turn to Matthew, chapter 26, one of the most well-known stories about Peter. I know that Peter was not French. I know he was not French Canadian, but I know he was very expressive. The words we read from the scripture show that, that he expressed what he was feeling from his heart quickly. He let it be known where his heart was, where his thoughts were at the time. Matthew, chapter 26, beginning in verse 31:

Matt. 26:31-32 – Then Jesus said to them, "All of you," He's talking to His disciples, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee."

Verse 33 – Peter answered and said to Him, "Even if all, all those other guys over there, the other disciples, even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble." Never! Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times."

Now, remember what Peter had just said? Remember where his heart and mind were, and he answered Jesus Christ's statement again in verse 35.

Verse 35 – Peter said to Him, "Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!" And so said all the disciples.

Peter was seen as a strong example, an example of faith, an example of exceptional sincerity; but I think we all know the rest of the story, and we'll look into that a little bit later. But before looking at the ending of each of the last three instances, let's now look at what sincerity is all about.

I'm going to read from an article from the Good News from several years ago—and I know we're dealing with a subject that may be a review for quite a few of you but maybe is going to go a little bit further than you have seen before or have thought of recently, and others of you may have not heard this before—but this is the article from an old Good News on the topic of sincerity.

Picking out a good quality clay pot wasn't an easy task for a housewife in ancient times. Dishonest tradesmen would disguise their inferior pots by covering the cracks and blemishes with wax before selling them. On the outside, a pot would look perfect; and the housewife often wouldn't find out just how flawed it was until she tried using it. As soon as she poured in hot water, the wax would melt; and the pot would begin leaking. Honest tradesmen began labeling their good quality pottery with the words, "sin-e" and "cere," literally meaning, "without wax." Any housewife who bought a pot "sin-e cere" knew that the clay would be solid the whole way through. Sin-e cere, "without wax," is the root of our English words "sincere" and "sincerity." We no longer connect this word to wax, but the reasons behind the root of the word can shed a lot of light on its true meaning.
That gives quite a different impression of the word sincere, doesn't it? It goes beyond honesty, as we'll see, when we look at some of the examples of what appeared to be sincerity. From this scripture and the scripture we started with in I Corinthians, we see that we are to be keeping this feast at the beginning of God's sacred calendar, of His sacred year, that we are to be keeping this feast and, in fact, living our lives without deceit, without deception, without blemish, complete and whole, solid, solid. And we can also see through the examples that we read about here that he was truly lacking sincerity at that stage in his life. Although what he said and did was heart-felt, it wasn't pure. It wasn't solid. It wasn't without some self-deception, as we read in Jeremiah 17, verse 9, The heart is deceitful above all things.

Let's go back to the rest of the story with Peter. Mark, chapter 8, perhaps your thumb is not still there. Mine isn't. Mark, chapter 8, here we read about Peter rebuking Jesus. In verse 32 we read that Jesus had spoken the word openly, and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him.

Mark 8:33 – But when He, Jesus Christ, had turned around...so He was taken aside by Peter and then He turned around and Helooked at all His disciples, so they could see Him and He could see them, and then, He rebuked Peter, quite strongly, I might say, saying, "Get behind Me, Satan!" After Peter had shown such sincerity? No, after Peter had said what was in his heart that wasn't without blemish, that wasn't pure. "For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

So Jesus Christ actually had to rebuke Peter for what he had done, with well intention, but with flaw that had to be corrected, that had to be changed.

John, chapter 13, where we read about the Passover service, John chapter 13. After Jesus Christ had given him instruction this time, he accepted the instruction. At least he did in a certain way, but not yet in the right way, because of this stage in his development in his life. John 13, verse 9:

John 13:9 – Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, verse 10, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you."

Again, Peter had to be corrected, that he was not thinking along the right lines, as Jesus intended him to be and said that he would not understand yet but would in the future. But Peter was so diligent to express himself at this point that he still had some cracks in the pottery that needed to be corrected.

I'll just refer to Matthew, chapter 26, because that is the story where Peter was saying, "I will never deny you," and then Jesus said to him, "Yes, you will, and here's how." And then Peter came back again and then we know the rest of the story that before the cock crowed that Peter denied Him three times. So even though he felt so strongly about what he said, the words did not carry the solidity that he thought, himself, they did. He was devastated by this experience that he went through; and he wept very terribly because he had denied Jesus Christ after saying explicitly, "I will never do so and I will even die with you." Imagine the feeling that he had at that time, being a servant, a student of Jesus Christ. But, again, we're dealing with that stage in his life.

How can we have sincerity? We have to ask ourselves, how can we have sincerity and keep the feast and our lives with it? In our relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ and, thus, in our relationships with each other, with our husbands, our wives, our parents, our children, our family members, friends, coworkers, all that we deal with, how can we grow to have this sincerity that we are to have?

I mentioned in that article about the pottery how some were deceived by the potters until they got home and tried out the pottery; and then, when they poured the hot water in, which we'll look at a little bit later, as well, they found out the truth of the matter. There was also another way of checking out the pottery, and that was to hold it up to the sunlight to see if there were any areas where light would come through, because if it's solid pottery, if it's solid clay that has been baked, there will be no way light can get through it, so they would pick up the pottery, if it wasn't a cloudy day, I presume, and hold it up to the light. They might look at a piece of pottery and say, "Wow! That is beautiful! I think I'll get that one. That one looks good. That will fulfill my needs," and when the salesman smiled and turned to another customer, they'd pick it up and start holding it up to the sunlight to get that light shining in, turning it around, looking at the bottom to see if there were any cracks in it, to see if there was wax in it, or if it was "sin-e cere" pottery before they would purchase it.

The Greek word for "sincerity" used in the New Testament comes from a root word heile, meaning "the sun's ray," and krino, meaning "judge" or "determine." The English word "sincerity" translated from this Greek word with the roots heile, meaning "the sun's ray," and krino, meaning "judge" or "determine," the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament defines it as "found pure when enfolded and examined by the sun's light." Found pure when enfolded and examined by the sun's light, and we're not talking with the salesman here. We're talking about the pottery. We're talking about the pottery being sinecere, "without wax, found pure when enfolded and examined by the sun's light," solid, pure.

We must come to sincerity. It is something we must be working on our entire lives, and we cannot do it on our own. We must search for and find the wax that is evident and that which is not evident to us; in fact, some that we may assume doesn't exist, and at times we might think we're pretty solid, or we ARE solid. We're complete; we're whole, sound as they come. But we have to get real, don't we? And that's what self-examination is all about. What we are to be doing, not only before the Days of Unleavened Bread, but also keeping a watchful eye during the Days of Unleavened Bread, and remembering the meaning of the leaven in the analogy that we have been given, that leaven is symbolic of sin. And I find that fascinating.

Every year, around the Days of Unleavened Bread I think what better example could there have been than leaven picturing sin. And when I'm doing the cleaning—this, by the way, is the 49th Days of Unleavened Bread that I have observed. I don't remember the first few that well. I didn't have to de-leaven my crib or anything; but every year, whenever this time comes, there are certain things that just jump out at me, even if I've learned them before, I haven't thought about them or they haven't come to mind until I deal with the experience of de-leavening, or of finding leaven during the Days of Unleavened Bread. And isn't that the way, sometimes, it happens, that it shows up, of all the times during the year, it shows up during the Days of Unleavened Bread in places we never imagined it would. I'm sure quite a few of you have interesting stories about things popping up, showing up where you never expected them to be, or experiences that you've had that really showed how profound the analogy of leaven is to sin.

I remember when I was in seventh grade, living in Newark, Delaware, we used to get special treats for the Days of Unleavened Bread. One of them was, I guess it was toasted coconut on top of marshmallows, kosher marshmallows, with coconut on top that was roasted. It had the brown color. Some of you have probably seen that. And to us it was a big treat. So we'd get this and it was fun to eat and it was exciting to eat as well, so I remember taking it to school one day and I was in art class. We had our lunch breaks in our classrooms as we shifted about to the different classrooms during the day. Didn't go to the cafeteria. We ate in whatever class we were in when it was lunchtime.  I remember just like it was yesterday. I'm sitting across from a friend of mine and I'm eating my lunch, you know, and I don't remember what I had; but what was interesting was, I had those marshmallows. And I pulled one out of the bag, and as I pulled it up, my friend said, "What's that?" And I said, "Oh, it's a marshmallow and it has roasted coconut or something or other burned, whatever they did to it." And he said, "Wow! That looks cool!" And I said, "Yeah, it's really good." He said, "Do you want to trade it for my Twinkie?" I said, "Yeah, sure! That's cool! I've got something you've never had, now I get something that...my parents don't feed me those things." So here I am and I have his Twinkie or whatever it was, and he's looking at this and I'm picking this up—forgot totally about the Days of Unleavened Bread—and I pick it up and I take a big bite and just as I have half of it already in my mouth, of course, that's when it comes to light. "Guess what, Dave! Days of Unleavened Bread!" So I spat it back out, and he's looking at me saying, "Don't you like it?" And I say, "No, not really," and put it away. Just different things that happen at different times during our life.

I have an admission to make, what happened this year. And, again, it jumped out at me this year. My wife, daughter, and I left early Tuesday morning to drive up to Michigan. We figured about a seven hour trip, so we were planning to leave early in the morning; and because of different schedule conflicts, illness in the family, and whatever other excuse I might come up with, I had not yet de-leavened my car. And so Monday night, I thought, "I'll have to de-leaven it before we go on this trip, of course, so tonight I'm going to do it." So I got out my handy little minivac and I was in the garage. It was night. It was already dark. The garage door was closed. I had my trunk open because I figured I'll start here because this is probably the biggest dirt that I have to get, because I had had some mulch in there; and, of course, one of the bags had had a hole in it, which I discovered as I was removing the bag, and a trail was left behind. But, anyway, I had tried to scoop it up and get rid of it, and then I thought, here's where I'll start.

I turn on my power vac and, [whir] you know, the annoying noise that it makes, and it's echoing in the garage, and I start vacuuming away. All of a sudden, I started smelling something that smelled like something was burning or melting, burning is what it smelled like. I didn't see any smoke, but I knew something might be wrong. And here I'm on my first step of de-leavening my car at the last minute. Now, can any of you imagine preparing for the Days of Unleavened Bread without a vacuum cleaner? I mean, we rely on them, don't we? But that's another subject. So, here I am, and I'm...and all of a sudden the sound became even more obnoxious than it already was. And I figured out, I've got to stop, because I know why this happened. A little piece of wood or a little stone or something has gone up into the engine and is stopping it from working properly, and this thing might explode, so I'd better stop. I had had it happen before. It hadn't exploded, but I was able to fix it...but this time, I thought, it's too late. I've got to stop this, and I'm in my garage, so the door's closed and I'm smelling the burning smell, and knowing there are fumes of gasoline in the car, I knew I had to stop quickly—but I thought, "I'll have to do it in Michigan. It's too late to do it tonight. I still have to pack, I still have to prepare. I'll do it in Michigan."

So here, it's all the last-minute stuff, and I kept thinking more about what if I didn't have a vacuum cleaner, what would I do? So we drove up to Michigan in my dirty, leaven-sinful car, and we were there for the Passover service; and I knew on Wednesday, I've got to de-leaven the car. And for some reason, the people I was staying with would not let me use their vacuum cleaner. For some reason or other, I guess they were already done, so I knew I had to go to a carwash. So I went to the carwash, and they have the supervac, right? It's like, my first thought is, I'll just open the window a little bit, close the car, turn it on and let it suck away...but, of course, we know that's not how it works, is it? So I went in there and diligently started de-leavening. Brianna was with me. I asked her if she wanted to go along, and she decided to be my supervisor, because there was only one hose. She wanted to help me, but I said, "Well, it's getting along in time. I've got to get this going." So here I am, vacuuming diligently. And here, she's saying, "Daddy, you missed a spot." Because she would see something that I hadn't seen, and so, "OK, thank you, Brianna, that's good," and I know this is a lesson here. Other people sometimes see things we overlook. But it's not supposed to be my nine-year-old daughter! Anyway, so I'm vacuuming away, and I finally reached the point where I thought I was done. And so, "Ah! I'm done!" Went around to the other side of the car on the driver's side, opened the door, "Oh! I didn't see that. There's leaven right there." I mean, it was pretty obvious, but I couldn't see it from the other perspective, and I thought that's another lesson.

Sometimes we don't see things in our lives until we're in another situation and we're seeing things differently, and they show up. We see them and have to realize that even if we thought we were done or things were going smoothly and solidly, they're not always going that way. Even on the carpet that I had finished, from another angle, the way the light hit it, I saw I did not do as complete a job on this as I had thought.

I have to make a semi-confession here, because we don't do confessions, right? But I had a thought enter my mind, and I knew it was not a godly thought, and we know that thoughts enter our minds that are not from God, and we have to get them out of our minds, dismiss them, push them away immediately. We have that in many areas of our lives. But here's what I thought while I was cleaning one section underneath the seat, and we've all gone through different experiences in our past where we may have had thoughts like this—well, maybe none of you, but I know I have before—and I had that supervac and it did not suck up that leaven, and the thought that entered my mind was, "Oh well, I just can't do it. I can't get to it, so it's no big deal." I almost hit myself! How ridiculous! How can you say that you can't get something that is so evident, that is there, you see it! It's not the hidden sins that you're not aware of. It's right there! How can you say, "I can't get to it and I'll just have to say I did a good job," and so I thought, "You know, maybe I'm not looking at it in the right way." Well, I knew I wasn't looking at it in the right way. I have to try from a different angle to conquer this leaven. I have to try diligently to do what I can in the current situation I'm in, or I have to find tools that will help me take care of this problem that is evident. It's right there. I have to try to get rid of it.

I prayed about getting leaven out of my car, knowing what it symbolized. It was right there. And I worked and I did it, and I felt, "What a stupid thought I had!" But isn't that the way our minds sometimes work? That we think, "Oh well, thank You, Lord. We rely on You and we know that You make up for our mistakes." If it's evident, we have to work on it! And we're supposed to even strive to seek to find the things that are not evident, with God's help, aren't we? That's what our lives are about, to be working toward this calling that God has given to us, to become more pure, to become more solid, to remove any blemish, with God's help, to get rid of any crack and to have it replaced with the solid, solid core, the pure clay, as we'll look into a little later, that God wants us to be, to be sin-e cere, "without wax." We are to be yearning for sincerity and realizing that we are not yet complete.

Jeremiah, chapter 17, I referred to earlier, let's take a look there. Jeremiah, chapter 17, and what I quoted to you is a memorization verse that is well known. It's one that is quoted often, but the context adds a lot to the meaning, during these Days of Unleavened Bread, during our calling, during our entire lives.

Jer. 17:9 – The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? Verse 10 gives us the answer. I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.

Now, some might read that and think, "How negative!" But, you know, God calls us to His truth, He reveals to us the fruit of His Spirit, He reveals to us His way that has such positive results, that yields such incredible fruits that the more we learn, the more we grow, the more we see that that way [our way] wasn't paying off, and in the end, the payoff is not looking too pretty. But with God's way, when I do His way, when I walk in His way, it yields incredible results, including eternal life in His family and an awesome goodness that is beyond our comprehensive. That's God's intent. That's what He's called us to. And that's what He wants to do, to give to us according to our ways so that we can see and learn that His way is THE way. His way is the way that works. His way is the way that brings forth the results that lead to eternal life, true happiness.

Let's turn now to II Corinthians, chapter 1. We won't go into the entire meaning of that which is surrounding this verse, as it led into the letter that Paul had to write to the Corinthians about some of the difficulties they were facing that he was trying to help them through and had to in quite a strong way in some areas, and also the wonderful results of his previous teaching and what it yielded already, but we'll just read verse 12 to see a certain phrase that is used here. Verse 12 of II Corinthians, chapter 1, Paul wrote:

II Cor. 1:12 – For our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

When we see the phrase, "godly sincerity," that clues us in that there are other forms of seeming sincerity which are not godly, and we must seek that [godly] sincerity from Him. We will not come to it on our own. We will not have that fullness, that completeness that He desires us to have. Again, when we're dealing with sincerity, we're not dealing the salesman; we're dealing with the pottery. We're dealing with what you and I ARE, and that is the meaning here.

Now, the way I mentioned that was one way of testing the pottery was to hold it up to the sunlight, you know; and you couldn't do that on a cloudy day, right? Well, what I would probably do in today's day and age is to use some of our advanced technology, because I'm not going to just rely on the sun on a sunny day. That might not be the day I'm going to shop. But if I want to check out a piece of pottery, I would probably get me a big old light bulb, a big bright light bulb, and I would take that light bulb and I would stick it right in that pot, because if that light, that bright light, were inside the pot, it would show me wherever the cracks were. Wherever there was any wax, the light would shine out. The only thing I might have to do is pick it up to see the bottom, to see if there is any light shining there; but if I did that, I would have an amazing result with just one big old light bulb showing me where the cracks are, showing me whatever is not solid there. And that advance technology is analogous to the amazing spiritual technology of Jesus Christ being the light of the world, that He is the light that we are to have within us through His Holy Spirit. Much more can be discovered when there is light from within than when there is light from without. Much more can be seen, much more can be discovered when the light is within and not without.

Peter, in the examples that we read, had the light around him at those times; but he did not yet have the light with him of God's Spirit. Many of us also are aware that when we come to that point of repentance, when we are called to repentance and we are beginning the process of becoming sinecere, without deceitful blemish, either of our own selves or of the deception that we live in, when we begin that process, when we are washed clean of our past sins at baptism and are given God's Spirit, we begin, as we seek God's help and as we have His Spirit within us, we begin to see things that we never knew before about ourselves. Here we think or have in our minds, we have come to repentance, we have repented of all things that we are aware of, and then when we are baptized, we begin to see other things that Christ reveals to us through His Spirit that we need to work on, that we need to overcome, that we need to develop; and we know that the examples of Peter were before he had God's Spirit within. And we also know that he grew to become the chief apostle and that also when he gave the sermon on the first Pentecost of the New Testament church, when God's Spirit was given, that he was directed by God's Spirit entirely and that that sermon was pure. That sermon was solid and without blemish. Peter, however, as further examples show, still had a life of growth and development, just as we do. And God has called all of us to become His eternal sons and daughters and servants, standing with Peter, having learned and grown in these ways to become teachers in the coming Kingdom of God. We are to have the light within us and also use God's word as a mirror.

Let's turn to James, chapter 1, where we read about using God's word as a mirror. We'll begin in verse 21.

James 1:21-22 – Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

It's not just, "I know that. I'm committed to it. I'm going to live it." No, we have to be doers, day in and day out.

Verses 23-25 – For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

So we have to not only be seeking to see what we are, but, with God's help, use God's word as a mirror and remove the wax. But it must be replaced with something else.

Now I mentioned that the way to test the pottery, one of the ways, was with sunlight; and then we looked at the light within. Another way to test it, as was briefly mentioned in the article, was with hot water. Now, someone could buy a pot and use cold water in it and it would seem like a good pot for months, maybe even years; but as soon as they put hot water into it, then the flaws would be revealed. And isn't that an interesting analogy for us when we get in hot water! How we can think we've got it together.

I am a very patient man. I will tell you that. I am an extremely patient man. I'm a spectacular example of patience—when everything's going OK. But as soon as I am pressed to show my true character of patience, it doesn't always work that way; and then I see, "Oh! Here I thought I was so patient! But now that I'm in this hot water, I'm seeing, 'YOU need to work on that more!'" I need more of God's help. I need to replace that impatience with godly patience. I need His help. I need to work on this. And again, as I mentioned, it's not only removing that which is wrong but replacing it with that which is right.

I Corinthians 5, verses 7-8, state that we are to "keep the feast with sincerity," which we have defined more clearly, but also "and truth." And truth, so not only must the wax be removed but it must be replaced with fresh, pure clay and solidified or it will be useless. Anyone here who has taken a pottery class or has done any pottery work in art class knows, once you take the clay, once you shape it, once you cook it in the oven, once you bake it, if there is a crack in it, it's garbage. You can't really fix cracked pottery. It's always going to be flawed in that way. But we have the Almighty God, the Creator, the giver of life and sustainer, the one who has already worked miracles in every one of our lives in various ways and works miracles in us to replace the cracks, to replace the flaws, to replace the blemishes with fresh, pure clay and heal it so that it becomes solidified and becomes one. That is what God can do, that is what God wants to do with us, and that is the miracle that He is doing in our lives. That is what His goal is.

Let's look at Isaiah, chapter 29, where we do see the analogy of pottery, and we know that there are a few teachings about God being the master potter, the miraculous potter that can do all kinds of things with us and seeks to do so. He called us when we were yet sinners and is seeking to have us diligently seek to become solid, to become pure, to become what He wants us to be. Isaiah, chapter 29, beginning in verse 15:

Isa. 29:15-16 – Woe to those who seek deep, trying real hard, to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark... "Nobody sees me. I'm on my own now." ...They say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?"  Remember the story of Jonah? "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?" Surely you have things turned around! You've got them mixed up. You've got them messed up, the way you're seeing things, as God is the Master Potter. Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made, the piece of pottery, say of him who made it, "He did not make me. I'm not important to Him. It doesn't matter"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding. He doesn't know what's going on"?

Hopefully, none of us is so foolish. We know God created us in His image, after His likeness. He has revealed to us the purpose of His creation. He has given us the Days of Unleavened Bread and the Passover and Night to be Much Observed and the beginning of His sacred year, the sacred calendar of the beginning of the year, to get us off on the right start, to see what we need to look at seriously in planning the year ahead and remembering where we are in our lives and where we are to be going. That is His goal for us, that is His desire. He wants to complete the package, and He wants us to be aware of that, acknowledge that, and work diligently, with His help, to achieve that goal.

Galatians, chapter 2, the apostle Paul wrote some words that we probably have read quite a few times. Galatians, chapter 2. This is very timely for us to look at these words again, as we have just observed the Passover and the Night to be Much Observed and are now in the midst of the Days of Unleavened Bread and are now at the beginning of the year, according to God's calendar. Galatians 2 and verse 20, Paul wrote:

Gal. 2:20 – I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

How well that fits in with the Passover, the Night to be Much Observed, the Days of Unleavened Bread, with our entire lives, with the subject of sincerity. And here we are, as fellow brethren, and we should be able to ask ourselves, "Can I read these words with sincerity and truth? Can I speak these words with sincerity and truth? Will I be able to state it more sincerely tomorrow? Next week? On the last day of Unleavened Bread, and on the next Sabbath? And on all the days following, will I be able to state it more and more sincerely, as I strive to become what God desires me to become?" And, yes, we can. And that's what God reminds us of, of His plan for us, of His purpose, and how we are to be diligently seeking to fulfill that incredible purpose that He has blessed us incredibly with in this day and age we live in, in what we see around us. What a great, incredible blessing it is to be called to this marvelous truth.

So, brethren, let us strive with more diligence to become complete and whole, to become solid, to become pure, in our relationship with God, in our prayers, in our thoughts and actions toward Him, toward each other, toward our neighbors and all we deal with, as the light of the world with the light within us, and to keep the rest of this feast and the rest of our lives with sincerity and truth.