We have a good friend who just put out a new c.d. and she called it "Without Wax". We were wondering where she got the name for it. As I read the Revive our Hearts message today, it explained it perfectly. What a neat analogy!!!---------------Do you remember in the old days (they don't do this very much anymore) how we used to sign letters "Sincerely" or "Sincerely yours"? We don't have much of that today, but that word "sincere" is an important word in the process of revival, and it appears in the New Testament in some significant passages.One of those is 1 Timothy Chapter 1 verse 5, where the Apostle Paul says, "The aim of our teaching [the aim of our command, the aim of what we've been teaching you] is love." [paraphrased] We want you to love God and to love each other, and that love comes springing forth, it "issues," from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.Now those are all requirements if we're going to experience love - love for God and love for one another. So the goal is love, and that comes springing forth out of a heart that is pure, a conscience that is clear, and a faith that is sincere. Paul said in Philippians chapter 1 [verses 9 and 10], "I pray ... that you may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ."Now the word "sincere" comes from two Latin words, sin cerus , that mean "without wax." Someone suggested that it relates back to a picture used by the ancient pottery makers, particularly in the city of Corinth. That was a lucrative business.The pottery would first be formed, and then it would be placed in an oven to harden. Then well-respected potters would take their piece of pottery, after it had been put in the kiln, and see if there were any cracks that had come about through the hardening process. If there were any cracks in that pottery, they would toss the piece of pottery and start all over again. That would make it really valuable, if the pottery had no cracks.Now there were some potters who were trying to make a cheap buck, and they cut corners; they were less respected ultimately. They would take a blemished piece of pottery and they'd rub some wax in the crack, and nobody could see it. It would "fix" the piece.You know, you've had a piece of china or pottery or something that is broken, and it's irreplaceable, so you glue it back together. And maybe nobody could see, but it's weakened at that point. It's just not as fine a quality piece once it's had that imperfection covered over.Some of these potters would sell the pottery with the wax in it as if it were first quality. And with the naked eye, if you didn't look at it carefully, you wouldn't know the difference. They were undercutting the sincere pottery makers, those whose pottery was without wax, sincere.So the honorable pottery makers began to hang a sign over the entrance to their stores that said Sin Cerus. That means, this store sells pottery without wax. It's pure, it's clean, it's wholesome; it doesn't have imperfections in it. You can hold it up to the sunlight and it still will be seen to be clean and whole and pure.I think of my windows when I think of things being tested by sunlight. You could think they're so clean, till about 4:00 in the afternoon; that late afternoon sun has a way of just showing up things that you wouldn't see until it's tested by sunlight.Jesus is the light of the world. He shines His light into our hearts. God is light; in Him there is no darkness. When we get into His presence, His light shines on us, and the question is, what does the light show? Are we sincere? Are we without wax, without pretense, without covering?Or have we tried to patch up the problem parts of our lives, the imperfections, patching them up so no one else can see? But then God comes in with His all-seeing, all-knowing, illuminating eye and says, "I see that. There's some covering up, there's some pretending. That's not a pure piece of pottery. There's some wax there." This is the real thing; it's what we want God to be able to say when He shines His light on our hearts.Now the opposite of the word sincere would be the word hypocrisy, or hypocrite. That word comes from a Greek word that means actor. It means to play a part, to pretend. The stage players in Greek plays would use a mask to impersonate a character. They put a mask over their face, and you wouldn't know who they were; they were pretending to be somebody they really weren't. They were counterfeit.The hypocrite is somebody who pretends to be something better than what he really is. Do you remember that Jesus' strongest criticisms in the New Testament were not toward people that everybody knew were sinners - the woman caught in adultery, the publican, the tax collector, the thief? They knew they were sinners.Jesus' strongest criticisms were to the people who were holding up masks - the hypocrites, the people who were playing a role, the Pharisees. That's what that word has come to mean to us, isn't it? A hypocrite, somebody who plays a part; they were usually people pretending to be more religious than they really were. They wore a mask to cover up the corruption of their hearts.------------In His love, Chanin
