“Character”
Romans 5:1-5
Objective
Statement: Every person can allow
God to use trials to build his character by following the example of David:
1)
Run to the battle
2)
Find strength in God
3)
Process life with friend(s)
Open: Welcome
back to Alliance Fellowship – “MSU Version”.
J We’re currently involved in a series of
messages entitled, “The Hard Knock Life”, which comes from Romans, chapter 5.
Let’s read this together…
Romans 5:1-5 Therefore,
since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. 2Through him we have also obtained access
by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. 3More than
that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces
hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s
love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
“This
is God’s word and we believe it.”
Thus far we’ve
looked at the idea that we can rejoice
in sufferings because God in the process of building us up. If we allow God to open the eyes of our
heart, he’ll help us tune into a deeper reality to life – that there is more
going on than meets our natural eye – that God can use things that have the
natural appearance of being bad for his good purposes.
We’ve also
looked at the idea that suffering produces steadfast
endurance or patience. When we
realize that life is made of seasons,
we have the patience to hang in there when we’re facing the transitions
of fall and losses of winter, knowing that God will bring the
growth of springtime and the abundance
of summer.
Today we want to look
at the concept of character. (“Suffering produces endurance
and endurance produces character.”)
Eg: The
Sailboat - Lamont
Moon tells the story of a man who sought to make a solo trans-Atlantic crossing
in a sail boat. After a few days at sea,
the people that he was in radio contact with no longer received dispatches. His loved ones feared the worst. A storm had risen in the
The sailboat had the appearance of being a sound
vessel, but it’s true character was compromised.
When storm winds blew
– when “The Hard-Knock Life” hit hard, the ship was lost because its character wasn’t sound.
The Greek
word that Paul used in this passage that we translate as “character” is the
word dokime, which can have the
following meanings: 1)
Proving or trial
2) Approved, tried character
3) A proof, a specimen of tried worth
Key Point - This morning I’d like to submit the idea that God uses trials and
suffering (the storms of life) to reveal
our character and that He uses the storms of life to prove, to try and strengthen our character so that
we’ll be able to face even greater storms!
Jeremiah 12:5 If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out,
how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you
manage in the thickets by the
-------------------------
Read the newspapers
and you’ll see that we’re facing a crisis of character in our
nation:
-
Business Page – Ken Lay & the Enron Crisis - Sports Page – Marion Jones
& Steroids -
Religion Page – Ted Haggard
Why are
we facing this crisis of character?
I believe the primary
reason is that as a people we’re focusing our attention and energy above the
water line. (Remember
the sailboat?) As a people we’re
spending more time looking pretty than we are on being sea worthy.
Above the water line
is what we seem to be. Above the water line is our reputation. Above the water line is our persona. Above the water line is our image.
Below the water line
is who we truly are. Below the water line is our character.
Blue skies and
sunny weather are good for our image,
and we might be able to fake what’s below the water line, but as sure as I’m
standing here today, storms will come and our true character will be revealed.
Our world tells us to
focus our attention and expend our energy on what people see above the water
line – on our image.
The ads tell us to
primp our hair, color our nails, slim our waistlines, Botox our wrinkles and go
to the gym to get a six-pack. (Didn’t we
used to get six-packs at the grocery store?) J
The ads tell us to get
a fast car or a beefy SUV. Vehicles
aren’t about transportation -- they’re about the image we project.
Even folksy Peyton Manning is telling
me to boost my image by putting number 19 on my mini-van and to buy bigger
shirts!
Back in the day, when
he had hair, Andre Agassi
was chief salesman for Canon and their EOS Rebel, with his tag line, “Image is Everything”.
I wonder if image is
everything now that Andre’s lost his hair and is no longer a top seed in the
professional tennis circuit. J
à The ads tell us to work on our image. The headlines tell us that it’s not working.
God wants us to work
on our character, and if we’ll let Him, He’ll use “The Hard Knock Life” to get
it done.
à Work on your image and you’ll
get hired. Don’t work on your character and
you’ll get fired.
Eg: King Saul – Let me give you an illustration from Scripture
of a guy worked hard on his image but
didn’t let God go to work on his character.
You’ll find this story
in 1 Samuel,
starting in chapter
8,
-
There
was a time – about 1,050 years before Christ, when
-
Over
time they told God and his prophet Samuel that they wanted to be able to have a
king just like the other nations around them, instead of having his sons lead
them.
-
Samuel
knew that this would not please the Lord, but God told him, “Give them a
king. It isn’t you they are rejecting, it
is me.”
-
They
found a young man who was impressive and handsome, even a “head taller than all
the rest.”
-
Young
Saul was all you could hope for in a king, if you were basing your choice on
image.
-
Trouble
is, Saul had some character issues.
-
-
Samuel
shows up on the scene to find Saul won the victory and had begun to set up a
memorial in his own honor. Samuel also
found Agag and many animals alive.
-
Samuel: “Why didn’t you obey?”
-
Saul: “I did obey. And I brought many animals back
to sacrifice!”
1 Kings 15:22, 23 But Samuel replied:
"Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than
sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion
is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because
you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."
What Samuel was
telling Saul was this: “You didn’t obey
God in the small stuff. You saved the
animals so you could come back and sacrifice and make a big show of things.”
“Saul, you’re a lot
more concerned about your image than you are about your character.”
“Your image got you
hired, your lack of character is getting you fired.”
---------------
Image is what we project to others
of what we seem to be, character
is who we truly are.
If there’s a
difference between the two, we’re seeing a problem with integrity.
The word character
and integrity
are inextricably linked.
Let me give you an
illustration:
The Greek word, dokime is a noun.
The word dokimos is an adjective:
1) accepted, particularly of coins and money.
2)
accepted, pleasing, acceptable
In the ancient world there was no banking system as
we know it today, and no paper money. All money was made from metal, heated
until liquid, poured into moulds and allowed to cool. When the coins were
cooled, it was necessary to smooth off the uneven edges. The coins were
comparatively soft and of course many people shaved them closely. In one
century, more than eighty laws were passed in
“Integrity” – comes from
the word “integer”, which you mathematicians know is a whole number, as
opposed to a fraction.
Dokimos - Were giving the whole
weight of the coin, instead of a fraction of it.
Rod Handley
- God is into whole numbers, Satan is into fractions.
When I have integrity of character, it means that
what I project – what I seem to be
and who I am are the same.
Eg: Oak chair vs. particle board cabinet
How then, do we let trials build our character?
Welcome them!
James 1:2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of
many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your
faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish
its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
Eg: Shots for
When we run into hard
times, suffering, trials, difficulty – we often want
to run!
Eg: Burke Park bench “The Good Road and the Road of
Difficulties you have made me cross. And
where they cross is holy.” -- Black Elk
--------------------------
One of the tools that
writers can employ to make a point is to use the tool of comparison and
contrast.
Saul was a man who
focused on his image at the expense of his character. One of his contemporaries worked on character
at the expense of image. His name was
David.
Once God had rejected
Saul as king, he had Samuel go to
When Eliab, the oldest came out, Samuel surely thought it was
him. But God said,
1 Samuel 16:7
"Do
not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD
does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance,
but the LORD looks at the heart."
God can see below the
water line – and when he looked below the water line at a young boy named
David, what he saw was good.
In
describing David as a king…
Psalm 78:72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful
hands he led them.
If we do a little
comparison and contrast ourselves with Saul and David, we can learn something
in terms of how they handled difficulties and trials.
1)
When
faced with enemies: a.
Saul – wrung his hands, waited b.
David – relied on God, ran to the battle!
2)
When
called on to lead: a.
Saul – hid! b.
David – humbly reported for duty
3)
When
faced with difficulties: a.
Saul – took them on himself, got depressed b.
David – leaned on a friend (Jonathan) was encouraged
4)
When
he didn’t know how to proceed: a. David – sought the Lord b.
Saul – went to a witch!
Saul shows us how not
to handle trials. David is the poster
child for the right way to handle difficulties.
Psalm 121:1, 2 I lift up my eyes
to the hills—where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the
Maker of heaven and earth.
David
let God use the trials of life to build his character and that’s why he’s known
as a man who was after God’s own heart.
Close: Back in February, a group of us attended the Men’s Advance put on
by the Rocky Mountain District in
One of the guys who went was impacted in a profound way.
Andy Baber’s Baptism
Invitation / Response
Song - “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”
Benevolent Offering
– “Holiness”
Benediction Colossians 2:6, 7
So
then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, 7 rooted and
built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing
with thankfulness.