Firm Footing
Key text: Acts 5:12-14, Acts 6:1-7
Series: Vertigo: Discovering Your Direction through Service:
1.The Way Up is Down
2.Firm Footing
3.A Little Does a Lot
4.Inside Out
Written by Steve Miller, with prep and collaboration through the NRHC Carolina Network, (pastor@centergrovebc.org)
Introduction:
Imagine if we were suddenly on ice. You would definitely be scared, inching your way to the exit. You might even want to help someone else, but without firm footing of your own, you just can’t get very far very fast.
Now imagine if you are on thin ice with some moral issue in your life. When it comes to helping other people you’re not going very far. If people see that you have some slippery moral issues they’re not going to trust you. …Some vulgar inconsistencies in your testimony, Your influence in their lives doesn’t go anywhere.
Take for instance Mel Gibson’s unfortunate situation. You’ve heard of assignation of character? Don’t bother, this was character suicide. And it points out that even if we desire to be a positive Christian influence in the world around us, and we don’t have a firm footing or a Godly stability of character, then we may actually lose ground.
Mel is just an easy target for us today. But any time you don’t use firm footing, you’re setting yourself up for a fall. If you desire to have Christian influence on others, character counts!
Today we’re going to look at some of the first leaders selected by the church. And what you’ll find is that they chose people of Godly character.
READ TEXT Acts 5:12-14, Acts 6:1-7
The church needed leaders to help with food distribution, but what they got was a lot more than just waiters. These servants were great influencers for the kingdom of God. These men teach us that the level of influence you can have is directly related to how solid your character is.
There is an eternal truth at work here: Influence is built on reputation, reputation comes out of Godly character, Godly character leads to lasting influence.
I. Influence is built on reputation
A. Read again 6:3…Reputation was one of the first prerequisites for selecting leaders. (NIV omits this word) They had to have a good reputation before they were going to have Godly influence in the kingdom.
B. Does that mean that the reputation I am stuck with limits me as a leader? (There are numerous examples where people have been able to change their reputation…Mary Magdalene and Paul to name a couple)…But …
1. Unfortunately, the answer is yes. (Mary and Paul really never got away from their pasts) Like it or not, your influence on those around you is highly tainted by your reputation. It is the inescapable truth that our past can haunt us. As Christians your sins are forgiven, but more often that not we must live with the natural consequences of our sins.—you can be a forgiven murderer in the eyes of God and still spend the rest of your natural life behind bars for that crime.
It is the same when it comes to our character. If you become loose with truth-telling, or gossiping, if you’re not dependable, you may never recover a reputation that will allow you to become a highly effective leader.
“If you lose your testimony, you will be fortunate if you live long enough to restore it”—J. Hunt
2. We must be protective of our character and we must test the character of our church leadership: That is why Paul recommends a list of character tests for church leader such as deacons and elders in his epistles to Timothy and Titus. 1 Timothy 3:1-7 (NLT)
3. But what if I want to change? What if I’ve got a bad reputation that no longer fits who God grown me to be? What if I have walked too often on morally thin ice, but I want to turn that around? What if I want God to use me but everyone keeps throwing my past back in my face?
There is hope for you. Christ is in the recreating business and His church understands all about receiving and giving grace.
You should recall that Peter devastated his leadership among the other Apostles, and certainly felt like he could never serve the Lord again because he deserted and denied the Lord after His arrest. And yet, the resurrected Christ lovingly reinstated him into full time service, and His influence is often characterized by his failures.
The gospel is that when you accept Jesus, he recreates you, and puts you into the service He has designed for you, warts and all.
Trans. That promise however never gives us a license to play fast and loose with our reputation; remember, influence is built on reputation.
II. Reputation comes out of Godly Character
A. It’s not all about your reputation. It’s not a contradiction... Influence is built on reputation, but it’s not all about reputation. To be a Christian of influence, it has to go deeper than what others think of you. Your firm footing is helped by a good public opinion, but your influence must ultimately come from who you are on the inside.
Here are a couple things that trump reputation…
1. First, public opinion is often wrong. We give people in Hollywood a good reputation for giving hundreds of thousands of dollars to charity, when in actuality it only represents less than a percent of what they make per film.
2. Secondly, The word for reputation here is martyreô which means to “bear truthful witness”. It is very similar to our word martyr. And that tells us that these men authentically proclaimed the truth of Jesus Christ, even to the point of risking their very lives, just by the way they lived from day to day.
3. Biblical reputation isn’t about your level of business success, your level of speaking ability, or not even your number of failed moments…It is about whether you are authentic enough to show that you are a sinner by nature, saved by the grace of Jesus Christ. You’re not perfect but through service to Christ Jesus, you will be!
See how Luke tells us the rest of Stephen’s story in Acts 7. We’re going to unwrap more about Stephen next week. But you know how this servant-leader went on to be stoned for living his life for Christ. He died a martyr because his when your life authentically bears witness to the truth, it impacts others.
Does your life bear witness to the truth of Christ to the point that it impacts others? Could someone tell that you are a Christ follower by watching your life? What about when you’re under pressure? If you want a life of Christian influence your life must exemplify the truth of the Gospel no matter where you are and what you’re doing.
Trans. still under the topic, “Reputation comes out of Godly character)
B. Now take a look again at the rest verse 3. Acts 6:3 (NKJV) 3 Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business;
It tells us that besides reputation, they required men who were Spirit–filled, Wise, Capable, and Willing—These are Godly characters that we must have if we intend to have a positive Christian influence.
1. Spirit-filled—your life must also represent that the Spirit is in your life. Can you tell that by looking at someone? Do their halos shine a bit brighter? No, but we can tell if we’re spirit-filled by examining if we’re spirit-controlled. Romans 8:9 (NLT) 9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit … Again and again in the New Testament; we are told to be controlled by the Spirit of God, to walk by the Spirit and to exhibit the fruits or actions of the Spirit. And in John’s first epistle (4:1 (NLT)) he says, that we shouldn’t allow spiritual leaders that can’t pass the test for being spirit-filled.
2. Wisdom-if you are to be an influencer for the kingdom, you must be characterized by wisdom. Wisdom is not represented by scholastic degrees. In fact, it has less to do with dealing with knowledge and a lot more to do with rightly dealing with people:
WISDOM IS IS UNDERSTANDING OF HOW TO CONDUCT ONESELF IN THE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES AND SITUATIONS OF LIFE. James tells (3:13-20 (NKJV)) 13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. …17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
3. The last two are really part of the same idea. Capability—(Whom can do the task) & Willingness—(Whom we can put in place). This is the same thing that I have also heard from Jimmy Neal when he speaks about “ability & availability.”
These men had to be men capable of the job.
a.) Of course, I believe that God has made us capable for a variety of service, but we must find our unique place in ministry. That will be the subject of the fourth week in this series.
b.)Also we are capable of more than we think we are. Look at what Jesus did with his rag-tag group of disciples. He turned common fishermen into fishers of men and from mere waiters came the first Christian martyr, and the evangelist to nations (Stephen and Phillip)
Along with capability, must come the attitude of willingness. This often becomes a problem for us in our yearly nominations of workers and deacons. People are capable but unwilling, and some have doubts about their capabilities, but are unwilling to try.
In conclusion, here is the concept: Influence is built on reputation, but reputation comes out of Godly character, so then …
III. Godly character leads to lasting influence
A. We learned last week that to live lives of significance, it begins with servanthood; remember, the way up is down. But how will you ever gain a positive Christian influence if your character isn’t on firm footing?
B. If you wanted to help a person who had fallen through a piece of thin ice, you couldn’t save him unless you had firm footing yourself. And you can’t be a good influence unless you’ve got a solid character on the inside…Galatians 6:1-5 (NKJV) 1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. 4 But let each one examine his own work…
C. God desires for you to become a greater positive Christian influence, and He desires that to be built on the firm footing of a Godly Character.
D. Protect that character that God wants you to have so that you will be ready when he has someone He wants you to influence.
E. If you’re carrying around a reputation, it may be a very tough road to travel—think about the Apostle Paul when he was saved, and felt appointed to God to serve. The Christians didn’t want to trust him because of his recent past of persecuting them. It took grace and the Holy Spirit to straighten it out. And even then, he wore his past as a badge of shame for the rest of his ministry.
F. If you’re carrying around a reputation, there is hope. You may not have the level of influence you want right now, but what you do have is the opportunity to begin bearing witness to Christ in spite of the ups and downs of your checkered past. You can begin building an authentic life that embraces that we are all sinners, but through Jesus there is now a new start from the inside out.
G. Here’s the deal: YOU TAKE CARE OF THE DEPTH OF YOUR CHARACTER BY LIVING CLOSE TO HIM AND HE’LL TAKE CARE OF THE BREADTH & HEIGHT OF YOUR MINISTRY & INFLUENCE FOR HIM.
H. The Apostles, Stephen, Philip, (and the others) were men of Godly character. They walked with God. They lived for God. Their influence stretched across the globe, and across history, and is still going strong!
