Modeling Godly Character
To earn the right to be heard,
we must consistently model godly character
that reflects the life of Jesus Christ.
Here's Dr. Gene Getz to explain this Principle:
Here is a wonderful aspect of Samuel's life
and his life story that is very, very encouraging.
The final speech that he gave before
the children of Israel.
In a sense they had rejected him.
At least he felt rejected.
But in rejecting him, God says they've rejected Me.
And so Samuel gives this final speech.
And let's look at it:
Then Samuel said to all Israel,
"I have carefully listened to everything you said
to me and placed a king over you.
Now you can see that the king is leading you.
As for me, I'm old and gray,
and my sons are here with you.
I have led you from my youth until today. ...
Now in a sense this sounds, I think, defensive.
But I don't think it really is.
I think this is what God wanted him to do:
...Here I am.
Bring charges against me before the LORD
and His anointed [bring charges against me]:
Whose ox or donkey have I taken?
Whom have I wronged or mistreated?
From whose hand have I taken a bribe
to overlook something?
[If I have,] I will return it to you." ...
And the response is really quite incredible:
..."You haven't wronged us,
you haven't mistreated us, [and] you
haven't taken anything from anyone's hand"...
You've never abused us as our spiritual leader:
...[And] he said to them,
"The LORD is a witness against you,
and His anointed is a witness today that
you haven't found anything in my hand."
"He is witness," they said.
They responded to that. They reassured him
that he had lived a godly life.
Not perfectly.
It shows in many respects that he was a good father--
modeled godliness before his sons.
Even though his sons, when they were
appointed judges 50 miles away in Beersheba,
they began to do exactly the opposite.
Because they took from these people inappropriately.
They violated trust.
They took advantage of those things in which
they were accused.
And they unfortunately, had done these things--
the sons of Samuel.
So we have a wonderful illustration here of a
godly model in spite of his humanness.
The interesting thing is that you don't find
too many examples like that even in the Bible.
Timothy is an exception.
From his youth, he learned the Word.
And he followed the Lord.
He became a believer.
Paul testified to that.
That from a young person
that he had followed the Lord.
He had followed the teachings of his mother, who was a
godly Jewish person who then became a believer.
But most of us, generally speaking in the world today,
have to look at where we are at this moment
in our lives rather than what we were.
And this is a very encouraging thing.
And that is our new life in Christ:
It's not what we were like before
we came to Christ, but what we are
now as new creatures in Christ
that defines our character.
We may have to work on our reputation.
We may have to develop trust
because of our past.
But in God's sight, it's what we are now in Christ
rather than what we were
before we came to Christ.
And the challenge is, then to develop trust,
to follow Christ. And to be able to practice,
at least in our lives, what Paul was able to say.
And this has always been a challenge to me
in terms of what he said in
1st Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 1:
Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
I think about that at times.
I'm not sure I would want to say that.
But I know one thing:
God wants me to live that.
God wants me to live that--my life, your life--
before our children, before other believers.
We should be saying through our life style:
Imitate me, as I also imitate Christ.
And that's one of the greatest ways, of course,
to develop a good reputation
and is reflecting godly character.
And so I leave you with this
Reflection and Response question:
What specific steps can all of us take to
establish our credibility as Christians
who are committed to living what we believe?
Regardless of our past.
Well one thing, I think, is public commitment.
We need to make a public commitment.
One of the beautiful ways in which we
make public commitment and one of
God's ordained ways is through baptism.
Because when we're baptized publicly in front
of everyone and give testimony,
we are saying: I have died with Christ
and I've been resurrected to a new life.
And the challenge now is to live that new life
in harmony with that public declaration.
Baptism is a public declaration.
There's something about making a public commitment
that develops accountability. If we take it seriously.
A public commitment.
Consistent Christian Living, Romans 12:1 and 2--
living that out.
And when we fail, one of the greatest ways
to build our reputation is to admit it.
To ask forgiveness when we fail.
Not to try to cover it up. To be honest.
To be open--even with our children.
And there are times in my own life where
I've had to go to my children and ask forgiveness.
Because I haven't handled things
as well as I should as a parent.
And you know what?
My kids forgave me.
They're so resilient, aren't they?
Don't try to cover it up with your kids.
Just tell them. They know.
If you try to cover it up, are you building
reputation or losing respect?
If they see through us, and they will--
very perceptive--
we simply need to admit it. Ask forgiveness.
And it's amazing that I've seen situations
where children have tolerated some
incredible problems in their parents,
when their parents have asked forgiveness.
And then consistently walk with Jesus
and live out the Christian life.
So we need to build that reputation.
And I think one of the best ways to build our reputation
is what we find in 1st Timothy chapter 3,
and Titus chapter 1.
And the reason I mention reputation is
that's where Paul begins. Where he says:
As spiritual leaders, or as Christians,
we must be above reproach.
And there, that means a good reputation.
How do we build that good reputation?
Well you have a whole list of things that God states
through Paul that will build that reputation:
moral purity, being a man of one woman,
self-control, being sensible, respectable,
hospitable, not addicted to wine,
not a bully but gentle, not quarrelsome, and not greedy.
How do we build a good reputation?
It's a lifetime process.
But God gives us very specific criteria
by which we can evaluate our walk with Jesus
and reflect who He really is.
And so let me just end by restating the Principle:
To earn the right to be heard, we must
consistently model godly character that
reflects the life of Jesus Christ.
In this Old Testament setting,
Samuel earned the right to be heard.
And to address these people because of
his godly character.
And you and I--that should be our goal.
To earn the right to be heard by living a godly life.