A Portrait of a Godly Christian
The Tools God Uses to Develop His Character within Us
INTRODUCTION:
- What makes a man of God? A woman of God?
- Certainly he must be saved and a committed follower of Jesus Christ, but what are the traits or marks that distinguish that person as being different to a lost world.
I. The Stamp of Integrity
Proverbs 20:7, “The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.”
- If you want to leave a legacy, you must do so through integrity. (“The righteous man leads a blameless life.”)
- “…Blessed are his children after him…” – If you and I are not impacting those at home, what difference does it make what impact you make elsewere.
- If you can’t be a good Christian at home, you can’t be a good Christian anywhere (and vice-versa).
o The most difficult place to live the Christian life is in the home (and yet it is the most important.)
What does it mean to have a life that is stamped with integrity?
- You must be Truthful and Honest
o I believe that the devil really works on us in the area of being honest and truthful
“A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape.” (Prov. 19:5)
Many times it is easier to tell a partial truth than it is to tell the whole truth
This is a snare that can that the devil can use to keep you from being what God wants you to be.
o ILLUS: Unemployed young man in desperate need of a job. A desperate Zoo Manager needed to replace his recently deceased gorilla. Hired a man to dress up in a gorilla costume and be swinging from the trees. He lost his grip, and fell into the lions cage. The lion straddled the scared young man and it looked like he was looking for a snack. Being scared of the lion and fearful of his life, he began yelling, “HELP ME.” The Lion immediately put his paw over his mouth and said, “SHUT UP OR YOU’RE GOING TO GET BOTH OF US FIRED.”
It’s just best to tell the truth isn’t it!
o The best lie is the one that most closely resembles the truth.
If I could use 1 word to describe God – Holy
If I could use 1 word to describe Satan – Deceptive
• Telling a half truth is deceptive. If you are being deceptive you are being like the devil.
o Prov. 12:22, “Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.”
o Leviticus 19:11, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.”
o ILLUS: A lady was being interviewed on TV and she was asked, “What would you do if you found a million dollars in cash lying on a sidewalk?” The woman thought about it and replied, “Well, if it belonged to a poor family, I’d return it.
- You Must be Pure
o You cannot spell integrity without spelling purity. (They are so intermingled)
o Not only purity in Motives but purity in Morals.
o P/T: Counsel to me as young pastor: 2 Areas that demand integrity from the Man of God:
Money and Morals
Gold and Girls
Finances or Females (I want you to get it in your mind).
One will bring you down just as fast as the other.
ILLUS: Man who committed adultery. 5 minutes of immorality cost me a 21 year testimony.
- If you want to go the distance and be the person God uses, you have got to have the stamp mark of integrity over your life.
II. The Crayon of Care
- The very nature of being a Christian is being a Care-giver.
o P/T: I love doing hospital visits.
- People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
- People know if you really, genuinely care for them or not! (They are perceptive about that).
o QUOTE: “A man can be no bigger than the number of people for whom he genuinely cares!” (Sherm Williams)
- To care is to set yourself aside and put others in that place!
o QUOTE: Dale Carnegie (This might be worth the trip), “You can make more friends in 2 months by becoming genuinely interested in other people than you can in 2 years by trying to get other people interested in you.”
- QUOTE: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” (Leo Buscaglia)
- DYK…Caring is often spelled T.I.M.E.
o To give people your time communicates “I care for you”
o To give people your attention communicates, “I like you.”
o To listen to people communicates, “I value you.”
- Another word for care is graciousness
o Psalm 86:15, “But You, O LORD, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abounding in mercy and truth.”
o Peter said, “You have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
o Graciousness is God’s grace, in your own life, turned Inside-Out.
o Graciousness is the outworking of God’s in-working grace.
So when you are gracious…it is a beautiful sign that the grace of God is active in your life.
III. The Pen of Generosity
- Generosity is the by product of an attitude of gratitude.
o If you are not grateful then you really don’t understand life.
o Pride is the barrier that keeps ourselves from being grateful.
One of the greatest dangers is to think that we deserve all that we have.
I want to always be grateful for what I have but never too good to go back to what I had.
Gratefulness makes you keenly aware of the fact that you don’t deserve all that you have.
P/T: (I want you to take this in the right spirit). The Lord has enabled me to give thousands of dollars back into this ministry through mine and Carrie’s tithes and offerings—but if I were to take 1 dollar…I’ve stolen.
- Luke 16:10, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”
If you don’t learn to give when you have a little, you will not give when you have a lot.
o ILLUS: It’s kind of like that man who said, “Pastor I praise God for that Building Campaign, If I had a million dollars, I would give ___ amount of money for the new building.
o He would do the same with a million dollars as he would with a hundred dollars.
o If you are not already giving in your poverty, you will certainly not be giving in your plenty.
- Generosity permeates every aspect of your life—your money, time, talents, and relationships (I want to be generous in all of them.)
- Legacy’s are made by giving, not acquiring.
o Did you get that?
o There’s no such thing as a legacy based on what a person had…Legacy’s are based on what he GAVE
o QUOTE: “No person was ever honored by what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave.” (Calvin Coolidge)
o ILLUS: Your candle loses nothing when it lights another.
o True generosity does not require great wealth; it requires a willing spirit!
- MAKE A BOLD STATEMENT: If you are not tithing 10% of your income, you are a materialist.
o The opposite of Generosity is Greed
o You can be greedy with not just your money but your time, resources, relationships.
o THINK ABOUT THIS FACT: All that is not given is Lost!
o ILLUS: Youth Pastor took his youth group to a garbage dump. Everything that you strive to accumulate will eventually end up here.
o QUOTE: Martin Luther said, “Everything that I held in my hand I lost; everything I placed in God’s hand, I still possess.”
IV. The Paintbrush of Passion
Matthew 22:37, “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
- I am passionate about what I do—I not only have compassion for people but I am passionate about what I do and Whom I am doing it for.
- PRAYER REQUEST: Give me more passion
- We ought to be deeply passionate about Jesus Christ.
- Passion will make you a second miler -- And the second mile is the best to walk because it is not crowded. (Not many people are willing to go the extra mile).
o QUOTE: “Do you work with your whole heart and you will succeed – there is so little competition.” (Elbert Hubbard)
Do you know what the difference is between a person who is making a difference and the person who is not? (It’s not that they have more talents or have an edge on you—oftentimes, it’s just that they are more passionate about what they are doing than you are!)
Most people go about their day to day lives thinking, “What is the least I can do to get by.”
The Christian ought to go about their day thinking, “What can I do…I have only 1 life to live and I want to make the biggest impact on this world that I can!”
- Passion engages all your faculties and brings a burning commitment to what God has called you to do.
o QUOTE: “The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for your whole life.” (Henry Moore)
o P/T: I enjoyed your sermon—How long did it take you to develop that message? 10 years. When I go into my study I bring all that God is teaching me for the last 10 years to this message.
- If you don’t have FIRE in your heart, the skills and competencies you possess will have little impact.
o Passion is an unquenchable, all-consuming fire! (It’s hard to put it out!)
o P/T: I don’t have to do notes and PowerPoint. (It would save me a lot of time) but I want everything that I do to be marked with excellence.
I spend countless hours on my sermon preparation. (I’ve been to seminary, I could just get up here and wing it and you may not be able to notice. BUT HE KNOWS!!!)
o Serving the Lord in whatever area of life you are called to is not something to dabble in; it is something to be consumed with!
o ILLUS: Bob who owned service station. Won dozens of people to Christ. He had incredible service and every opportunity he had he shared Jesus.
o When you have decided what you believe and what must be done, then IMMERSE yourself in it.
Many Christians are looking at each other to figure out where they fit in the Body of Christ.
Why not decide to be who He has made you.
GUESS WHAT? You can be a better You than anybody else.
People follow Passionate People.
V. The Eraser of Forgiveness
Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”
- You cannot be a forgiver until you are first a giver
- It is far better to forgive and forget than to hate and remember
- An unforgiving spirit is a poison that destroys the vessel in which it’s kept.
- QUOTE: “Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” (Ron McManus)
- ILLUS: Ronald Reagan’s forgiving attitude after his 1982 attempted assassination made an impression on his daughter Pat Davis who wrote: “The following day after, my father said he knew his physical healing was directly dependent on his ability to forgive John Hinckley. By showing me that forgiveness is the key to everything, including physical health and healing, he gave me an example of Christ-like thinking.”
VI. The Highlighter of Encouragement
- Encourage means…
”En” = “to put in
”courage” = “bravery”
- Discourage means
”Dis” = “to pull out”
”courage” = “bravery”
- Encouragement fans the sparks of genius into the flames of achievement.
- A pat on the back is only a few vertebrae away from a kick in the pants, but it is miles ahead in terms of results.
- Some people bring happiness wherever they go. Others bring happiness when they go. (And Guess What…It’s your decision)
o ILLUS: Do you see people coming and it immediately puts a smile on your face (you will wait in line to get to see them).
Do you see the other kind of people in a grocery store and (you see them but they don’t see you) and you immediately turn your buggy around (TELL THE TRUTH!)
- My spiritual gift is hanging out!
- I’ve discovered that your greatest friends in life are also your strongest encouragers.
o There is only 1 qualification to acquire friends: Be friendly!
o “A man who has friends must himself be friendly.” (Prov. 18:24)
- PRINCIPLES ON FRIENDSHIP
o A Real Friend will love you in spite of yourself.
STATEMENT: As Chrsitians, our high calling requires us to be like Jesus—to love people in spite of their sins and mistakes. If you only love the lovely then your friendship may be for personal gain (which is not real friendship.)
“Lord who are the people with some ugly stuff in their life and I am loving them through it?”
o Friendliness makes people feel like they belong and endears them to you.
ILLUS: Used to hear preachers say, “On every pew there is a broken heart.” I thought to myself, “Is that true?”
No, it’s not true, “There’s SEVERAL!”
Sometimes when we find out they have issues, we want to go as far away as we can rather than embrace them.
We don’t have time to “play church”—Our prayer needs to be “Lord give me some people that I can embrace and encourage.”
o A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down.
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” (Prov. 17:17)
VII. The Marker of Influence
- If God has given you influence then don’t be afraid to exercise it. (Use it in the context of Gal. 5:22, “Fruit of the Spirit”)
- Build your influence bas and then use it for those things that God initiates in you as you walk with Him.
- John Maxwell says, “Leadership is influence”
o But I’ll tell you what else, Integrity is influence, Character is influence.
- What is important to the leader will be important to the follower.
o Don’t ever desire that something be important in someone else’s life around you that isn’t important to you.
o You need to want for others what you want for yourself.
- Be an example
o No one is more confusing than someone who gives good advice while setting a bad example.
o A drop of example is worth a bucket full of advice
- Philippians 3:17, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who walk, as you have us for a pattern.”
o Example has more followers than reasons.
o Titus 2:7-8, “In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.”
CONCLUSION
ILLUS: Little girl in Sunday School was drawing a picture. Teacher asked, “What are you drawing?” She said, “I’m drawing a picture of God.” Teacher said, “Oh, but honey, nobody knows what God looks like!”
Girl replied, “They will when I get through.”
May we allow the Holy Spirit to paint the image of Christ more profoundly on our lives so that the whole world can see the image of Jesus on us more clearly.
NOTE: All of these traits have one thing in common: They were all personified in the Lord Jesus Christ.
