These are the notes taken live during services as captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing. This is not a word for word transcript. For the exact wording, please consult the audio recording.

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In September 1983, an art dealer by the name of Gianfranco Becchina approached the J. Paul Getty Museum in California. He had in his possession, he said, a marble statue dating from the 6th century B.C. It was what is known as a kourous – a sculpture of a male youth standing with his left leg forward and his arms at his sides. There are only about 200 kouroi in existence, and most have been recovered badly damaged or in fragments from grave sites or archeological digs. But this one was almost perfectly preserved. It stood close to 7 feet tall. (I’m 6 feet; it was another foot above me.) It was an extraordinary find. Bechhina’s asking price was just under $10 million. A geologist from the University of California name Stanley Margolis came to the museum and spent two days examining the surface of the statue with a high-resolution stereomicroscope. He then removed a core sample from just below the right knee and analyzed it using various x-rays, scope and probes. The statue was made of a special marble from the ancient Cape Vathy quarry on the island of Thasos. Margolis concluded, and the surface of the statue was cover in a thin layer of calcite – which was significant, Margolis told Getty, because the special marble can turn into calcite only over the course of hundreds, if not thousands of years. In other words, Margolis concluded the statue was very, very old.

The Getty museum reviewed historical documents. They were satisfied. So, after 14 months, they paid $7 million for the statue. The statue had a problem. Frederico Zari served on the Getty’s board of trustees. He stared at the fingernails of the statue. Something did not look right. They seemed wrong. Evelyn Harrison an expert on Greek statues looked at it. She had a hunch something was amiss. Thomas Hovey was taken to see the kourous. He made a note when he saw something new. He remembers the first word: fresh. That was not the right reaction for a statue that was supposed to be 2000 years old. Today, I want to talk about sincerity. What is true sincerity? Being honest? Following through on commitments. Are you sincere? Is it important to God? On what level? For what reasons? Let’s define some terms. We can use it, but what does it actually mean? The GN said in 1997, the English word “sincere” is from two Latin words. “Sine” and “cere”. “Sine” means without. The word “cere” means “wax”. It literally means, “Without wax.” That doesn’t make a lot of sense. You are without wax?

Back in Corinth, there were a lot of pottery makers. It was known for its pottery. With that came a lot of dishonest merchants that were trying to sell previously damaged pottery. If a vessel was cracked, they would melt wax and put it into the cracks. They would repaint it, and sell it like it is new. You would see it, and think you could boil water in it. It looked good. But depending on who you bought the vessel from, it may have cracks into it. You would not know that it was cracked. Merchants began to advertise that their poverty was sincere. It was without wax. It was pure. It was whole. It did not have any cracks. It leads us to an interesting self examination question. How often do we try to put wax in the cracks in our character? Nobody saw that! I’m still pretty. I shoved some wax in there. Little white lies to smooth some things over. We falter as humans. That crack is exposed. Sincere also means genuine. Without deceit. Without blame. Legitimate. Without corruption. Imagine if the leaders of our society were sincere. Think what a difference that would make. Another definition: Purity of motive. That goes to what is in our heart. What are our intentions? How pure are our motives? Is there a spin behind things when we say them? Sincerity is not just about good intentions. We can’t just have good intentions to come to church. I won’t go today, because I have something to do tonight. I’ll just read at home. That is not what God says to do. We can’t skimp on our tithing. The bills were tight. God doesn’t give us a checkmark next to our names because of good intentions. Sincerity is 100% commitment. It is giving up our lives to help others conform to God’s commands. How sincere are our motives and thoughts?

Luke 18:10-14 Vs. 10 – Here we have Christ starting a parable. One is a Pharisee; the other is a tax collector. The Pharisees knew the law very well. Christ said to do what they said because they knew the law very well. They added things to the law, and Christ was all over them about that. But they knew the law. The tax collectors were the scum of the earth. The Roman Empire imposed taxes on the citizens. The collectors collected the taxes. They didn’t receive a high wage. So they saw you with something new, they just charged you a higher tax. You couldn’t balk; that would bring the Roman government down on you. They were looked down upon. So Christ compares and contrasts a Pharisee who was always at church and doing the right thing, and a tax collector. Vs. 11 – This is almost dripping with pride. Thank you that I’m not like this person. I don’t steal people’s money. Vs. 12 – Pharisees fasted on Mondays and Thursdays. They would be seen looking like they were striving and trying to get sympathy for their condition. Vs. 14 – Christ once again attacked the actions of the Pharisees. They were not sincere. They did things – not because it was what they wanted to do – but to be seen. They wanted people to blow trumpets when they fasted.

The tax collector acknowledged that he was a sinner. He asked for mercy. He prayed for forgiveness for breaking God’s laws. If you have painted a room, you know it lasts longer when it is in its full form. If you painted a wall but watered it down. It would fade. It wouldn’t last as long. The wall with the real paint is the sincere wall. We shouldn’t be watering down God’s way of life. We should show God we are sincere. That we are like the wall painted with pure paint. We must show God that we are the real deal. We are trying to follow Him. God wants us to stand up for His way of life. He wants to see that we are sincere; that we are pure. What about us? Do we act differently around school friends than at church? At work? Paint mixed with water looks like paint. But it has been watered down. You can’t just look at people and see which ones are sincere. Hi, you are looking really sincere today! It doesn’t work that way. Sincerity comes from the heart. Joshua 24:1-2 Vs. 1 – Joshua was nearing the end of his physical life. Vs. 2 – Read this chapter later. Joshua reminds them how God was always there for them. He reminds them of the choice they have. Joshua 24:19-21, 14 Vs. 21 – The people said they wanted to serve the Lord. Vs. 14 – You can’t serve two masters. It is either the other gods, or the God. Any form of belief and worship won’t do. It must be sincere. It must be founded biblically. It must be true.

Titus 2:7 My dad worked at GM. The parts he made as a tool and die man had to line up. Every part had to have the same pattern. Paul told Titus he must be a pattern of good works. He must be consistent. How often are we consistent? Sometimes, we falter. We can pray and overcome. But God expects us to try to be consistent. We must be consistent in doctrine – our example. Reverence means honesty. Incorruptibility means sincerity, the word we are discussing today. Paul tells Titus to shape his life after that pattern. The Getty museum had concerns about the expert’s concerns over the statues. They called a meeting to evaluate. They continued to raise serious concerns over the sincerity. It was a spectacular statue. The meeting concluded it was a fake. Not long afterwards, the supporting documents began to unravel. The documents used to establish this statue’s history turned out to be fake. One letter had a postal code that was not in use for two decades after the letter was supposed to have been sent. The calcite could be aged in a few months with potato mold. It was made in 1980. Now, in the Getty catalog, there is a picture of it. It has the notation, “About 530 BC, or a modern forgery.” That leads to an interesting question. It turned out to be a $7 million forgery. Are we are spiritual forgery? If we are not sincere, we are a spiritual forgery. Do we go to Church just because? Or because we deeply want to follow God’s way of life? Are we zealous to live the way of life God wants us to live? Or do we just do things only when it is convenient. God intentions will not get us into the kingdom. Forgery is the act of counterfeiting arts or other works in order to deceive. A forgery is used to deceive. Let’s read about a famous forgery in the Bible.

Genesis 27:1-6 This was a grand forgery. Vs. 4 – It was common for the father to give a blessing to his first born son. In this case, it was Esau. Vs. 5 – Rebekah connived a forgery. Vs. 6 – They came up with a plan. Esau was a hair man. So they put skins on Jacob’s arms. And they made a stew. And Jacob got the blessing. The donation of Constantine is believed to be the first forgery that significantly altered history. It was supposedly sent from Constantine the Great to the Pope. It says the emperor had converted and gave vast authority to the Pope. It gave the Pope Rome, Italy, and the western regions. Constantine’s conversion is a fact; he did convert to a form of Christianity. But the letter was a fake. Various Popes used it for centuries to justify their power. It was revealed as a fake in the 14th century. But for 700 years, it gave the Catholic Church power over that part of Europe. Ephesians 4:22 The phrase, former conduct, could be translated, former behavior. At baptism, we should put off our old habits and ways of doing things. We should put off being insincere. God wants us to put on the new man and be transformed into something better. God wants us to become sincere. We are not to just cover the cracks. We are to put off our former way of doing things. A few years ago, I had pain in my right side. I was checked into the hospital. They couldn’t find anything. The pain went away, and I believe I was healed. But before that, I had a CAT scan. You lie on your back. Cameras circle around you. They can take cross sections of your body. That is pretty cool. Think for a minute if God had a spiritual CAT scan device. Lie on this bed, and let me see what happens after I scan you. What would God find? Old habits that are lingering? Old sins that you think are too big for God to forgive? What would God find if He scanned you? Grudges you can’t let go? Yeah-buts? What would God find? Let’s read what God should find.

Matthew 22:37-40 This is what God should find on your CAT scan. He should find that you are sincere. That you are doing these two commands. That is what God needs to find on our spiritual CAT scan. Not double mindedness – I’ll do this but say the other later. God’s CAT scan should not detect any forgeries. When we find we have sins, we repent, Christ’s blood washes it away, but we have to put something back in. I have a tree stump behind my house. When I get it out, it will leave a hole. Unless I want someone to fall in, I’ll have to fill it. It is the same with us. When we get sin out, we must put something else in. 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 When we sin, we put the sin out, and God forgives us, we must put something else back in: sincerity and truth. We have to try not to sin the next time. We have to stop filling our vessel with wax. We have to have the truth and be sincere. We can’t have one without the other; it must be both. If you have the truth, but are not sincere, you are like the Pharisees. They were the ones blowing the trumpet; he look at me, I’m fasting! What about someone that is sincere but has no truth? Take Mother Theresa. She was sincere. She went into parts of the world most would never think of going. Was God working with her? Not right now. She didn’t know the truth. We must be sincere, and we must have God’s truth. We must have both components. Title: The Gig is Up. At some point, all forgeries are discovered. There are two ways to reveal forgeries. Remember sincerity is without wax. 1. By light. The buyers in Corinth would hold up the pottery to the light. That would reveal any cracks.

Philippians 1:9-10 Vs. 10 – “Sincere” here means “judged by sunlight” or “tested as genuine”. We need to be looking for the flaws in our character by holding our lives up to the word of God. Show me where things are not right. We must deeply desire to know the truth about our character. Sometimes, we just want to brush them under the rug. But we need to hold ourselves up to God’s word and let God look at us through that light. Maybe you have heard, “I can see through that person’s motives.” “I can see what he is trying to do.” Maybe these originated in testing pottery. Our weaknesses can be exposed by light. Ephesians 5:13 God wants to reveal to us the cracks in our vessels. We have to hold ourselves up to God’s word. We can’t be our own judge. When we are our own judge, we make exceptions. The yeah – buts. If we want to be part of God’s kingdom, we have to hold our character up to the word of God. Homework: Study Psalm 15. There are only five or six verses. But it starts with a powerful question: Who will be in my kingdom? Then it lists character traits of those that will be in the kingdom. Let’s study that together next week. God wants us to conform to His way of life. As a Christian, we must hold our actions up to the word of God, and say how does this match? Psalm 119:105 Proverbs 6:23 We need to examine ourselves up against God’s word.

John 3:19-20 Vs. 20 – Do we want our deeds to be exposed? It is hard. I don’t like for my character flaws to be exposed. But we need to do it. We should all desire this. We should want our lives held up to the light so we know where we stand. 2. By heat. That is not always the most pleasant way. The buyers in Corinth could put hot water in the vessels before they bought them. If there was wax, it would melt the wax. The hot water would go right through. God is described in several places metaphorically as fire – as heat. God wants us to see our character flaws. He sometimes uses trials to bring those flaws out. 1 Peter 1:7 Trials are a good thing, but it is hard when we are in the middle of them. Why does God allow trials? Why can’t He just say, “That person is committed; he is good to go.” He wants to make sure that we won’t falter under any circumstances. Satan had a fascinating story. Read about it in Ezekiel. When he decided to rebel, it was all about “I”. He had no concern about the other angels or God. God wants all of us to become sons of God. We get to be a God. If we weren’t fully tested and tried, imagine what would happen if we decided to rebel. Think of the problems and mess that would make for God the Father. God wants to make sure our vessel is crack free. He wants to make sure He won’t have another worse-than-Satan on His hands. There is a reality show on TV about chefs. They are trying to prove they are the best chef. It gets hot and steamy in the kitchen. When the pressure is on, you see how easily someone can fly off the handle. God uses heat to see if our vessel will hold water.

1 Peter 4:12-13 God tells us to rejoice in our trials because it reveals the cracks in our vessel. It shows where we can fine tune some things. Don’t think it strange. Don’t think, “Whoa! Where did this trial come from?” Man wants to cover up the cracks. But God has called us to be different from the world. Proverbs 28:13 He who covers his sins will not prosper. Let’s acknowledge our sins, and attack them with God’s help. Let’s ask God to help reveal our sins and help remove them. The gig is up. At some point, all forgeries are discovered. On August 3, 2007, there was a van Gough painting that was discovered to be a fake. It was titled, “Head of a Man.” It had been bought and sold many times. But then it was found to be a fake. At some point all forgeries are discovered. Sincerity is about pure motives. Let’s allow our character to be shaped by the light of God’s word. Ephesians 6:24 Here, Paul is ending his letter to Ephesus. The word “grace” here means favor, or worthy thanks. Sincerity means genuineness. “Worthy thanks to those that love our God with genuineness.” Let’s be true to the plan God has for us to become members of His family. The gig is up. It is time to ask God for the help we need to overcome our sins and put on His character.