Monday: In Sincerity and Truth
Daily Lesson for Monday 22nd of December 2025
What did Joshua appeal to the Israelites to do (Joshua 24:14-15)? What does it mean to serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth?
Joshua’s appeal clearly expresses the fact that the Israelites have to decide whether, through loyalty to their Creator, to keep their uniqueness and live in the land or to fade back into being one among many idolatrous peoples, with no clear identity, purpose, or mission. The choice is theirs.
Image © Bible Adventure Collection at Goodsalt.com
Joshua’s appeal is twofold: Israel should fear the Lord and serve Him “in sincerity and in truth.” To fear the Lord does not mean a life of perpetual trembling and emotional insecurity. It rather refers to the reverence and awe that stem from the recognition of the unfathomable greatness, holiness, and infinity of God on the one hand and our smallness, sinfulness, and finitude on the other. To fear God is a constant awareness of the magnitude of His demands, a recognition that He is not only our heavenly Father but also our Divine King. Such awareness will lead to a life of obedience to God (Leviticus 19:14, Leviticus 25:17, Deuteronomy 17:19, 2 Kings 17:34). While “fear” describes the inner attitude that must characterize an Israelite, the practical outcome of reverence to God is service.
The service that is required of Israel is characterized by two Hebrew terms: “in sincerity” and “in truth.” The first term (tamim) is mostly used as an adjective to describe the perfection of the sacrificial animal. The second term that describes Israel’s service is “truth,” or “faithfulness” (Heb. ’emet). The term generally connotes constancy and stability. It usually refers to God, whose character is intrinsically characterized by faithfulness, which is manifested toward Israel.
A faithful person is somebody who is dependable and trustworthy. Basically, Joshua is asking Israel to demonstrate the same loyalty to God that God has displayed toward His people in the course of their history. It is not merely outward compliance to His requirements but what springs from an undivided inner consistency of the heart. Their lives should reflect gratefulness to God for what He has done for them. Basically, it is how we today should relate to Jesus, as well.
|
What does it mean to you to serve the Lord “in sincerity” and “in truth”? What are some of the distracting factors in your life that prevent your full devotion to God? |
The story is told that in Roman times sculptors would guarantee their marble sculpture was “sine cere”. Unscrupulous sculptors would cover up mistakes in their workmanship by filling them with wax the same colour as the marble. But a good sculptor would mark his work as “sine cere”, Latin for “without wax”. Their sculpture is without cheap cover-ups.
Modern etymologists have no sense of whimsy and have cast doubts on this story, saying that sincere comes from the Latin “sinecerus”, which means “clean”. That is much more prosaic. However, the folklore remains and its imagery is quite meaningful. It is really saying, “you get what you see.”
Nowadays, in Christian circles, we sometimes use the word sincere pejoratively to describe Christians who get up our noses with their Christian talk. That is unfortunate and it would be good to return “sincere” back to the notion of “you get what you see, no cover-ups!”
Today, Christianity is used in many ways as a meme for selling ideas or purposes that are highly suspect. We see Christianity as political weaponry, influencers on YouTube video clips, and so on. The use of Christianity as a brand commodity has degraded its value. We need to return to sincere, no “cover-up” Christianity, characterised by the absence of hidden agendas.
In East Africa:
Adventism is widespread,
churches are many,
Adventists language is everywhere.
But the real question is this:Is our Adventism real or is it performance?
When Adventism is used:to gain political power,
to make money,
to build personal influence,the gospel loses its power.The Church is called back to humility, justice, and integrity.
Sincere Adventism is a life that can be seen without wax, without cover-ups and without hypocrisy.Someone whose life makes the gospel visible.Lives in such a way that the gospel can be seen.Life reflects the gospel in action.
1 Peter 2:12 “Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices.Then they’ll be won over to God by your good works and be there to join in the celebration when He arrives.”
“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in truth.”(Joshua 24:14).
To begin with, what does the above statement mean? Secondly, what does its practical application look like? To “serve in sincerity and in truth” most likely means that our actions, motives, and commitments are genuine, honest, and in agreement with God’s will, and not merely outward or self-serving. This means that all that we do in our religious endeavours is rightly done for the right reason in the right way, for God’s glory and honour only. God looks at the sincerity of our hearts. The honesty, integrity and faithfulness towards His Word.
How does to “serve in sincerity and in truth” practically look like as citizens, parents, employees, employers and leaders? As citizens, we are expected to obey the law (Romans 13:1–2), reject corruption, bribery, and all forms of dishonesty. Also, we are expected to seek the common good and not selfish gains (Jeremiah 29:7). At all times, we should speak truthfully and act justly (Micah 6:8). As parents, we are required to train and instruct our children in the way of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). As parents, we should model sincerity and truthfulness. As employees, it is our obligation to “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people.” (Ephesians 6:7). We should work diligently with utmost honesty. As employers, we have a solemn responsibility to be fair, respectful, transparent and lead by example. “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them.”(Ephesians 6:9). We should use our power responsibly without manipulation. Finally, as believers, we are admonished, “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”(1 John 3:18).
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”(Ecclesiastes 12:13, KJV)
Thank you for the study and lessons drawn outfrom Monday ‘lesson. Recomit and with God’s help live, practice
what is revealed to from His word.
In a world where the odds of broken trust are extremely high, disappointment has become the main currency in many interactions, and the probability of heartbreak is at an all-time high, Joshua points us to a God who stands as a beacon of hope. He calls His people to choose faithfulness and to be dependable, committing themselves fully to Him (Joshua 24:14–15). God remains the one constant in our lives, continually providing assurance, security, and stability amid chaos, and He calls us to stand tall publicly by leading others through our example (Joshua 1:7–9).
Recognizing that there is a fine line between pride and desperation, Joshua’s clarion call challenges us to reflect on a God who calls us to reject both self-reliance and manipulation, and instead to serve Him with sincerity and truth (Joshua 24:14). Whenever we are proud, we tend to depend on our own strength, skills, and abilities to fix situations instead of trusting God to work things out for us and relying on His presence and promises (Joshua 1:5–6). Many times, we have depended on our own strength, skills, and abilities, and have even gone as far as manipulating people and circumstances to get our way, rather than living by Joshua’s declaration, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” and becoming people God can count on to stand firm in obedience and truth in all circumstances (Joshua 24:15).
“Reverence to God is service” – that’s the key phrase of the Lesson today! May we all have this experience, of understanding that God already did so much for us, that the best we can do is to render our complete service to Him. If we fully recognize what God has done in our lives, our response will be “in sincerity and truth”.
To serve the Lord “in sincerity” and “in truth,” the Lord will require us to exhibit unquestionable belief towards His commandment, as that might enable us to refrain from pretense, deceit, and hypocrisy, which tend to prevent us from serving the Lord in truth. If we are gods before God, and He wants us to groom our souls with His commandment for us to be faithful immortals after death, then we should obey Him because God will find it difficult to control a disobedient god. The scripture says we are gods and the children of the Most High in Psalms 82:6. Jesus Christ stresses the statement again in John 10:34-35 with much emphasis that if we are gods and we contain the word of God, then we must not break the scripture.
Is it important for the children of Israel to be grateful for having been lead out of Egypt onto this incredible journey into the land promised to their forefathers? Yes! ‘Sincerity’ or ‘truth’ does not stand on its own; it needs to be supported by substance – knowing what am I grateful for and why – Psalm 100:4-5
Sincerity: ‘the quality of being free from pretense, deceit, or hypocrisy.’ [Oxford Languages]. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”, declares Joshua. What prompted his choice to declare that he and his people will serve the Lord? Was it not because he believed and trusted with all his being that God is real, that he is benevolent and trustworthy, that it is He who brought all of them this far? 1Sam.7:12.
Unless and until this trusting relationship between God and the believer is acknowledged and established, the cruel winds of doubt will blow the ship off course to strike all types of hidden obstacles; requiring to battle to keep the ‘ship of faith’ upright. Gratitude, faith, trust and hope in the Grace of God is an ‘all or nothing’ proposition; its our life’s compass for survival – Rev.3:15-16; Prov.17:22; John 17:21.
Mostly I agree with what today’s lesson says about sincerity and truth, I disagree with this statement – “Such awareness will lead to a life of obedience to God”
It sounds good, but it’s quite problematic. Why? Because recognizing the “magnitude of His demands” or acknowledging God’s faithfulness will not make us obedient any more than a child realizing how strong his father is will make him lift more. Just knowing what God is like does not make us obey Him. In our humanness we don’t have that ability. In fact if we could meet the demands of God or be faithful like God on our own, we would be equal to God.
We can want to obey God and live the way He wants us to. That is the first step. But the second step is not to try to do it. That will always fail. We will either be proud of our “supposed obedience” or give up in discouragement. The solution is to depend on God and allow Him to work in us to obey.
I think that is why Joshua tells the people in vs. 19 that they are not able to serve the Lord. (Yes, I realize I am jumping ahead.) I don’t think it’s a rhetorical statement. I think Joshua, having a personal relationship with God, truly realized that God’s power is required to be faithful. We need to realize that too.
This is NSAMBA JAMES from Uganda East Africa thank so much for your contributions.