ASKED TO BE UNETHICAL
1. At one time or another most of us are asked to do something unethical.
2. People may ask us to lie, cheat, steal, or do something else that is inconsistent w/the gospel.
3. When people are asked to do these kinds of things a decision must be made.
4. The kind of situation being described can be especially difficult for Christians.
5. Week after week we come together to talk about ethics and Christian living.
6. What do we do when we are asked to violate the things we believe?
7. What happens when people say “Do you want to keep your job or abide by your principles?”
MOST ARE FULLY AWARE OF THE FACT THAT AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER THEY WILL BE ASKED TO DO THINGS THAT ARE WRONG, OR THINGS THAT VIOLATE THEIR CONSCIENCE.
A. If people engage in what they know to be wrong they will face problems.
B. Those who say “yes” to unethical acts may involve themselves in illegal activities.
C. The conscience may become burdened.
D. Doing what is unethical may result in a series of lies or cover-ups.
E. Not doing what someone asks can also lead to problems.
F. People may lose a job, be passed by for a promotion, or be demoted.
2. How should we deal with the situations where we are asked to do something unethical?
3. Let’s first realize that these kinds of situations are fairly common.
4. For our scripture reading we heard part of Prov. 1.
A. At the end verse 11 the text tells about people who were presented with a request that was not ethical.
B. Some were asked to associate with others who would lay in wait to take advantage of others.
C. These people encouraged others to join them.
D. People were asked to do what was wrong so they could accumulate wealth.
5. Today the requests for unethical behavior may not be exactly like this.
6. They will, however, still be made.
7. They will be made because this kind of thing has gone on for a long time.
8. Many who are here will recall the story about Rebekah.
9. This wife decided to be unethical with her husband.
10. She told her son Jacob to get a couple of goats.
11. She used these animals to help Jacob appear to be his brother (Gen. 27).
12. She asked her son to participate in an unethical scheme.
13. Another story that describes a lack of ethics is found in Gen. 34.
14. Jacob’s sons said that some people (who had committed a crime) needed to be circumcised.
15. It was said that some men needed surgery.
16. According to Gen. 34:24 every man of Shechem had this surgery.
17. After any surgery people are not quite themselves. A little recovery time is needed.
18. Before these men recovered, the sons of Jacob got out their swords and killed the men (verse 25).
19. People agreed to circumcision because they were told that this was a condition for a wedding.
20. The real reason for the procedure was to incapacitate these men so they could be easily killed.
21. This was unethical.
A. In the New Testament we read about deceit on the part of Herod.
B. Herod told the wise men, “Find out where Jesus is so I can come and worship Him.”
C. We know that worshipping the Lord was not what this ruler wanted to do.
D. Herod was not ethical.
E.
In Mt.
F. These people were not interested in having a real question answered. They were unethical.
G. They used a question about tribute to try and snare Jesus.
22. Other parts of the New Testament show that people were asked to do things that were dishonest.
23. Religious people asked certain men to provide false testimony against the Lord.
24. People were asked to lie about Jesus.
25. In Mt. 26:59 it is said that the “whole counsel” sought to find false witnesses against the Lord.
26. The council tried to find people who would do something unethical.
27. In
Acts
28. People were asked to lie about this Christian.
29. When we look at the Bible the subjects of honesty and ethics are common topics.
30. In some of the examples I cited people were asked to be unethical.
31. In other cases people like Herod were deceitful and unethical in their dealings with others.
32. AS WE LOOK AT THE WORLD WE FIND THAT NOTHING HAS CHANGED. THINK ABOUT THE RECENT NUMBER OF CORPORATIONS THAT HAVE BEEN EXPOSED FOR VARIOUS REASONS. PEOPLE ARE STILL UNETHICAL. IN SOME CASES PEOPLE ASK US TO JOIN THEM. IN SOME CASES PEOPLE EXPECT US TO BE AS UNETHICAL AS THEY ARE OR EVEN MORE SO.
33. Since this still occurs, what should be our response?
A. The Bible tells us.
B. Back in Prov. 1 there is a small but important point at the end of verse 15.
C. The writer said “refrain thy foot from their path.”
D. The verb “refrain” is described as “the antithesis of giving” (HEB, 4:529).
E. That is, the person who is being asked to do something unethical has the power to be unethical.
F. In Prov. 1 this means that people were capable of joining a gang.
G. Today we might use lying or stealing as the illustration.
H. A person might say to us, “Lie for me. Say that you were with me. Say that you saw this or that.”
I. We have that ability. We have the potential to fulfill the requests for unethical behavior.
J. The people in Prov. 1 could do what others wanted but they were to “refrain.”
K. Instead of giving in and consenting, the right course was to say “no.”
L. This choice may have been hard to express and even dangerous to make.
M. It was the right choice.
34. The point we find in Prov. 1 is similar to the first psalm.
35. This psalm is only 6 verses long but the point is very clear.
36. Here is what the first verse says – READ Ps. 1:1.
37. At the present time people are asked to engage in unethical acts.
38. These requests can be related to what this verse says.
39. Requests to do things that are wrong are “the counsel of the wicked.”
40. The “way of sinners” is associated with unethical acts or requests.
41. The “seat of scoffers” is another description of where unethical requests come from.
42. God says that the person who does not give in to these things is “blessed.”
43. A further description of the people who do not submit is in verse 3 – READ.
44. This verse tells us the right way to go when people ask us to do something unethical.
45. This is the way that we need to proceed.
46. What happens to the people who ask others to do things that are not unethical?
47. What happens to those who decide to engage in unethical acts?
48. Verses 4-6 – READ.
49. Long before we ever arrived, people were asked to engage in unethical deeds.
50. Great people of God found the right way to deal with this type of problem.
51. One of the places where we read about this in the Old Testament is Psalm. 119.
A. This Psalm is a great psalm.
B. When I was in school a teacher required us to quote a Bible verse each day.
C. Many of the students would quote Psalm 119:99.
D. If this whole verse is quoted it is not difficult to see the point.
E. The students only quoted the first part of this verse: “I have more wisdom than all my teachers.”
F. Two verses after this we have these words: (verse 101): -- READ.
G. The ASV uses the word “refrain” in both Ps. 119:101 and Prov. 1:5.
H. In the Hebrew text the words are not the same.
I. A somewhat unusual word is found in Ps. 119:101.
J. This word is also used in Gen. 8:2. After the flood God “stopped” (refrained) the waters.
K. The idea is that the natural movement of an object was restricted.
L. When people ask others to be unethical the natural course is often “okay; I’ll do that.”
52. The information in Ps. 119:101 says, “No so. Wait a minute.
53. We do not go down that road. Why not? The writer said so we can keep God’s word.
54. If we are asked to choose between an unethical request and obeying scripture, there is only 1 choice.
55. To this someone may say, “It sounds so easy but I find that doing this is difficult.
56. Can you provide me with something else to make the right choices?”
A. Yes. There are some other things that can be said.
B. Let’s think about what an unethical request actually is.
C. The New Testament teaches that Satan is a schemer.
D. This creature always has some kind of idea to ensnare us.
E.
In Eph.
F. The KJV says “craftiness” (this is a better rendering of the word).
G. The word that Paul used is the basis for our English word “method.”
57. Satan has several methods and they are very shrewd.
58. He sets ambushes for people.
59. Satan tries a variety of tactics to lure God’s people away from what is right.
60. One of his tactics is the subject being discussed.
61. He can try to reach us by through people who want us to do something unethical.
62. We can learn to view unethical requests as a request from Satan.
63. Instead of being a request from the boss, a mate, a child, this type of thing is from the devil.
A. My family has taken tickets at the county fair for a few years.
B. The admission price during these years has remained constant: $5 a ticket.
C. If children are under a certain age (I believe it is 10) they get in free.
D. Year after year I witnessed something at the ticket booth.
E. Parents would go up and the ticket taker would ask about a child.
F. More than once I heard a parent say that their child was 10 or under.
G. Then the parent would look at their child and say, “Tell her you are 10.”
H. I can’t prove it, but in at least some of these cases it seemed obvious that this was a lie.
64. Parents wanted to save $5 so they lied and then asked their children to confirm it.
65. This put the children in a very difficult position.
66. As the years go by things only seem to get more complex.
67. As people we make choices each day of our life.
68. If we are a Christian we need to make up our mind in advance concerning unethical requests.
69. This type of choice allows us to serve God as He desires and to retain a clean conscience.
70. Are we a Christian? Are we trying to serve God to the best of our ability?
71. Do we need some help?