SCRIPTURE
1 Kings 21:1-16 NIV
1 Some time later there was an incident involving a vineyard belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. The vineyard was in Jezreel, close to the palace of Ahab king of Samaria. 2 Ahab said to Naboth, “Let me have your vineyard to use for a vegetable garden, since it is close to my palace. In exchange I will give you a better vineyard or, if you prefer, I will pay you whatever it is worth.” 3 But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” 4 So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. 5 His wife Jezebel came in and asked him, “Why are you so sullen? Why won’t you eat?” 6 He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’ ” 7 Jezebel his wife said, “Is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” 8 So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. 9In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 10 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” 11 So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel directed in the letters she had written to them. 12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth in a prominent place among the people. 13 Then two scoundrels came and sat opposite him and brought charges against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed both God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death. 14 Then they sent word to Jezebel: “Naboth has been stoned to death.” 15 As soon as Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she said to Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite that he refused to sell you. He is no longer alive, but dead.” 16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up and went down to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard.
James 4:1-10
1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
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MAIN IDEA
Exchanging our internal desires for Christ sets us free from becoming a false witness
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GOING DEEPER
Questions from this weeks message.
1. What insight, principle or observation from this week’s message did you find to be most helpful, eye opening or troubling? Please explain.
2. Describe a time when someone spoke about you or a situation you were involved in and they completely misrepresented you, in a sense they were a false witness. How did that affect you?
3. Read 1 Kings 21:1-16. What caused Ahab and Jezebel to do what they did? Why do you think verse 10 called the false witnesses “worthless men”? Alvin mentioned that desire is a cruel master, because it is never satisfied. How has this shown true for you?
4. What ‘desires’ have the greatest pull on you?
5. Alvin mentioned that once we know which desires have a pull on us, it can help us be more aware to how we might misrepresent (false witness) people or situations to attain that desire. How have you seen this to be true in your life?
6. Read James 4:1-10. What sticks out to you about desire, where it leads, its end, and how God calls us to respond?
7. What would it look like for you to exchange your desires for Christ? How might that set you free from being a false witness?
8. Do you think there might be times that you have to “pull out” or refrain from speaking to a situation simply because you are aware of your own ‘desires’ and the tendency we all have to present information or a situation to benefit ourselves…to be a false witness. Why or why not?
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SUMMARY POINTS
God hates some things, not some ones.
It’s God’s love of the ‘someone’ that drives His hate of some things
Everything God hates is actually driven by His love for us.
The 6th thing on the list of things God hates from Proverbs 6:16-19 is:
A false witness
Here are two reasons we my fall for being a false witness.
1. We are more subtle in our false witnessing.
2. Not knowing what’s at the heart of false witnessing.
At the heart of being a false witness are: advantage & desire.
In James 4:7-8 we see how to counter our wrong desires
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Submit, put yourself under God, under his authority, stop with chasing your own way.
Resist: Resist the evil one and the evil that is within us. The things that would lead us to being a false witness.
Come near to God, he is the only one who can fill you, the only one who can satisfy you, and fill your every longing and desire
Exchanging our internal desires for Christ sets us free… from becoming a false witness.
Once we know what’s at the heart (desire and advantage) we can see how we might be tempted to be a false witness in subtle ways, in ways we didn’t even realize, cause our hearts can betray us.
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Prayer of Confession
Heavenly Father, I confess that I have given into my desire and been a false witness. I have sinned by misrepresenting people and situations for my own benefit. I pray that you would forgive me of my sin and take away my guilt.
Thank you for Jesus who has paid my debt of sin and it is through Him that I come to you now. I want to be a person of integrity, desiring you above all else. Help me to become more like you. Amen.
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CALL TO ACTION
If you are in a place where you want to repent of the ways you have been a false witness, and chased desire and advantage rather then God; Repent, Submit, put yourself under God, under his authority, and stop with chasing your own way.
