Is Being Sincere Good Enough?
Sincere means “free from pretense or deceit; proceeding from genuine feelings.” People who are sincere are said to be honest or unhypocritical. The sincere person will state what they genuinely believe without trying to deceive or be hypocritical.
On the other hand, insincerity is a form of hypocrisy. Therefore, insincerity is wrong. Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites and condemned them because they gave alms, fasted, and prayed to be seen of men rather than to please God (Matthew 6:1-8). They would teach one thing but do another (Matthew 23:3). This is why Jesus warned His disciples not to follow them. “Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch” (Matt. 15:14).
Sincerity of heart must be the attitude behind one’s motive in obeying the Gospel. One must be sincere in their confession of belief in Jesus as the resurrected Son of God. They must genuinely repent of their sins. They must be baptized for right reason.
From the time one becomes a Christian they must be sincere. Their motives most be pure. Whatever we do must be done not only by the will of God and in the name of Jesus (Col. 3:17); it must be out of love (Gal.5:6) and from our hearts (Rom.6:17; Eph.6:6). Paul commanded the Philippians “that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ” (Phil 1:10). When we come to God who knows the hearts of all men, we must do so with a sincere heart. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Heb 10:22).
Some will argue “it doesn’t matter what you believe so long as you are sincere?” Sincerity is necessary, but sincerity alone is not sufficient for salvation or to be pleasing to God. Sincerity is not more important than truth or is it a substitute for truth.
The plea of sincerity does not automatically absolve men and women of their bad choices in everyday life. When it comes to defending oneself in court for an accidental homicide, sincerity is not going to set one free. Claiming “I didn’t know it was loaded” will not bring the dead person back to life and free the shooter from the criminal penalties. If I hand someone a ten sincerely thinking it was a twenty-dollar bill, will the store just accept it as a twenty? No, they will want full payment. If a baseball player strikes out, he cannot return to the dugout claiming he sincerely thought he was going to hit a home run. No matter how sincere you are five plus five does not equal nine. A doctor is not going to get away with removing the wrong leg by saying, “I sincerely thought I was to remove your right leg.” Sincerely claiming to have paid your taxes will not suffice with the IRS.
If sincerity worked to turn error into truth the world would not be able to function. All weights and measurements would be subject to sincere thoughts. Sincerity is good as a motive in the heart. But sincerity does not work as a standard for truth.
Does God accept the sincerity of one’s heart instead of obedience to the truth? In chapters twelve and thirteen of 1 Kings is the story of a young prophet sent by God to rebuke the idolatry of King Jeroboam of Israel. He was instructed to go one way and return a different way without eating or drinking anything while he was traveling through the kingdom of Israel. As the young prophet was returning home, an older prophet sent word to him saying, “I also am a prophet as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word of Jehovah, saying, Bring him back with thee into thy house, that he may eat bread and drink water. But he lied unto him” (1 Kings 13:18). As the young prophet continued on his way home, a lion slew him. But why did he have to die, he sincerely believed the old prophet?
The sincerity of a Muslim who blows himself up taking the lives of “heathens” may be sincere in his religious convictions, but God will judge him for murder. A woman may be sincere that the baby she is aborting is nothing more than a growth – like a tumor and just a part of her body, but God still sees the death of an innocent soul. Sincerely believing the world is flat does not alter the shape of the globe. Nazis in World War II may have been sincere in exterminating Jews, communist, gypsies, Jehovah Witnesses, etc. This did not save them during the Nuremberg trials.
Being a sincere Buddhist, atheist, Hindu, Muslim, etc. will not change the fact that without Jesus, they are lost in their sins. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).
Others will argue that “It doesn’t matter who or how you worship, so long as you are sincere?” When Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, both sides were sincere. Elijah did not tell them, “Okay, I see that you are sincere in your worship of Baal with your human sacrifices and sex rites as part of our sincere worship. So, let’s just call it a draw and you go your way, and I will go mine.” Sincere belief in Baal did not make this god real. These priests of Baal where about 450 in number. They cut themselves with knives and cried out for hours, but there was no response. Their emotional zeal may have come from the heart, but Baal did not come. But the true God of Israel did respond to the sincere efforts of one lone prophet. This story found in 1 Kings 18 is a reminder that sincerity does not change false worship into acceptable worship.
Sincerity is also claimed to cover those who honestly believe they have been saved from their sins regardless of the plan of salvation as outlined in the New Testament. Sincere men and women will contend they have been saved by faith only or by being baptized as a baby or at the point of Holy Spirit baptism which was affirmed when they began to speak in tongues. Yet the Bible list several sincere people who were good and very religious, but they were still in need of obeying the Gospel in order to be saved from sin.
Consider the example of just a few of those in the Bible who were sincere in their faith but still in need of salvation. The treasurer of Ethiopia was so devout he traveled perhaps a thousand miles by chariot to worship according to the best of his understanding at Jerusalem. However, God sent for Philip the evangelist to “preach Christ” unto him from the very scripture where the man was reading.
Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, “See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” Then Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he answered and said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him” (Acts 8:25-38).
When the Ethiopian’s sincere heart was faced with the facts about Jesus being the Son of God, he responded not by changing his sincere heart but obeying the Gospel.
Peter was also sent by God to teach a religious and sincere man, named Cornelius. He was “a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always” (Acts 10:1,2). An angel appeared to him to tell him to send for Peter “who will tell you words by which you and all your household will be saved” (Acts 11:15). Peter came to preach to Cornelius and his household about Jesus Christ. Peter told them that “whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:43). Then the apostle “commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:48). He was religious and sincere but still needed to be baptized for the remission of his sins (Acts 11:15; cf. 2:38).
Before he became known as the apostle Paul, he was Saul the pharisee who persecuted Christians. Paul often claimed that he persecuted Christian from a sincere heart. “Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” (Acts 23:1). “I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men” (Acts 24:16). Yet he also knew that sincerity was no excuse for sinning against God. “Although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:13-15).
God did not accept his sincerity. Jesus met him on the road to Damascus while he was on his way to imprison more Christian. He sent him to a house in Damascus and had him wait for someone to come tell him what to do. A preacher by the name of Ananias found Paul and said, “And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord” (Acts 22:16).
Sincerity alone does not make one right about what one believes and practices. Sincerity does not make worship acceptable to God and does not prove one his saved.
– Daniel R. Vess