Character Development in our Midst
I want to share with you today we're living at crucial times
I've been talking about for years about where we are as a culture
the problems we've had in the past is why we are at a place we are
I believe as we have sought God for answers and as we have prayed and as our culture has continued to sit declining as far as morals and ethics and values that I think God has given us a gift and
I believe that people are ready for something
This is coming for a public schools
It is called character counts
now you know me, I hope you know me. I am not a social preacher.
I get stuff in the mail for all kinds of things
Some county group sent us a pretyped sermon for the whole county to preach on soil conservation in church one Sunday.
I don't think so
That is not one of the apostolic revelations that the church has been charged with.
It is a good cause. It is worth mentioning. But there are other avenues to present that to a society.
so I am not a social preacher
back in the 60s and 70s I sat through a lot of church services where it was all social gospel
the church has a message.
It is the message of salvation
It is the mystery revealed to the church age that we are the guardians of in the Scriptures
but because of where we're at in time and the things that I've preached for the last 20 years this character education or character counts as has been introduced
I've been railing on it and we are in a serious situation I believe
you're free to think you're
free to decide
it is ok for you disagree
I think it is a work of God
I think God has provided an opportunity for our nation and we'll talk about that today
the Fourth of July is about freedom and as we begin this we need to understand that without freedom you can not accept the gospel of Jesus Christ
there is no way you can place faith in Jesus Christ without freedom
our country is based on Christian principles but if for the minute our country becomes a religious state in the sense that we demand that you sign the papers saying that you are a believer we have made a mistake.
We have seen this mistake in church history when they were in error because they did not understand the word of God or their eschatology was messed up
we have the Crusades as an example of an error in freedom.
we have time where nations were forced to be Christian
during the inquisition individuals where forced to be Christian.
you can force people and you can even make the rules but this is not faith.
We are talking about faith in Jesus Christ
for our nation to be a Christian nation and for the church to accomplish its mission we must maintain freedom
that is the freedom to except Jesus Christ and the freedom to reject Jesus Christ
we appreciate the freedom to present the gospel
the church's mission can not include forcing people to Christianity
we can't force the message. No, that would be wrong
but we must proclaim it
we must have the freedom to proclaim the message and you must have the freedom to respond.
in Judges chapter 5 we have a story of Deborah going to war with Barrick against the the Canaanites
that at the time in the history of Israel that the men were cowards
in this nation the people had chosen different gods
Judges 5:8 says,
“When they chose new gods, war came to the city gates, and not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel.”
The choosing of new gods meant the culture switched to a new philosophy of life and a new ethical system which led to a new way of dealing with situations and solving problems in life.
One of the things this verse tells us they apparently did was disarm militarily. They relied on treaties and negotiation instead of standing up and defending themselves. They became a soft self absorbed culture. Other results of having new gods is seen in 5:6:
“in the days of Jael, the roads were abandoned; travelers took to winding paths. Village life in Israel ceased.”
Crime and chaos ruled the land and the villages as a result of the values and lifestyle established by these new gods.
war came to the city gate as a result of turning away from the ways of God
not a shield or spear was seen among 40,000 in Israel
they had some kind of national disarmament or something
they completely lost their national identity
The men themselves where not just unable to protect their society because they didn’t have any weapons.
In the very souls of these men was cowardice that was rooted in the false philosophies of their new gods.
The men would not stand up and protect their people, instead they could only look to meet their only personal desires.
This was the way it was in the days that the Canaanites from the area of Northern Israel oppressed the land of Israel.
But yet there was hope.judges 5:7; goes on to say:
“Village life in Israel ceased, ceased until I, Deborah, arose, arose a mother in Israel.”
She is identified not as a great leader, not as the warrior queen, not as a unique individual that every so often appears on the stage of history. Deborah was a mother in Israel. Deborah was a mother in Israel whose country had failed her. Whose national military had collapsed. A mother who knew things were not right and simply began to do something about it. In that sense then this mother was unique on the stage of history, she was capable of leading and did become the great warrior queen. She had held to God and his ways when a nation had allowed themselves to become helpless and corrupt by the philosophies, values and practices of false gods.
The verses go on to tell us more about where the answer came from:
“You who ride on white donkeys, sitting on your saddle blankets
(this is the rich and wealthy people of the land),
and you who walk along the road
(this is the poor or middle class)
consider the voice of the singers at the watering places.
(everyone in society had to get water everyday, they would all be frequent visitors to the watering places)
They recite the righteous acts of the Lord, the righteous acts of his warriors in Israel.
(The singers were reminding the people of the great things their former God had done and also, what some individuals who followed God in their lives had accomplished)
Then the people of the Lord went down to the city gates.
(The people who repented and returned to God from among all the classes of society went to the place where the officials of the city and the governmental leaders sat which was the city gates)
Wake up, wake up, Deborah! Wake up, wake up, break out in song! Arise, O Barak! Take captive your captives, O son of Abinoam.”
(The people whose hearts had been changed by the message they heard at the watering place brought about a change in their society.)
What will turn this nation around is the voice of the singers at the water places.
The singers are the people who communicated the historic values and noble character to the souls of the public.
The watering places are the place where everyone had to go.
The public began to think again about righteousness and people’s hearts were stirred
the people went to the city gates.
The city gates are the place for the courts and for the leadership.
That was where the city's leadership sat
The people said, “we remembered there was an absolute standard.
it changed their culture and they immediately begin to demand a change in philosophy, a change in their gods, a change in the way they solved problems.
potentially we are looking at the voice of the singers at the water place in this character counts or character education
the voice of the singers may be the people who are communicating this to the next generation.
the singers reciting the righteous standards of what is absolute
Character counts is talking about absolutes.
You cannot have right and wrong and you can not have absolute truth unless there is an absolute being. By admitting to an absolute standard you are confessing the existence of a God.
What has developed on our culture over the last 100 years is the philosophy of a new god that says there is no God at all. Where there is no God then there is no absolute. Where there is no absolute there can be no consistent standard by which to judge good and bad. Thus we ended up with the “whatever feels right to you” approach to ethics.
This, of course, has been disastrous to individuals, families, schools and society as a whole.
At this time there is a movement for character education called character counts in the public school arena. They are reciting at this time in public schools some absolute values or in, other words the righteous character of God which when appearing in the lives and actions of humans would be the pillars of character: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.
For those who can’t make the connection and need this translated into Christian terminology it is similar to the fruit of the Spirit: faithfulness, gentleness, patience, goodness, kindness and self-control. (These are in Galatians 5:22 along with love, joy, and peace being added to the list) The lists are not a perfect match but close enough for a good foundation upon which to build a society today that will support the continuation of the church and the gospel message tomorrow. The six character traits stressed by the public schools are something believers should be able to demonstrate in their lives and encourage in their communities outside the Christian circle. Who would argue that if these six character traits where demonstrated by everyone that ours would not be a much preferred culture to live in?
Character Counts material describes these six pillars in more detail this way:
1)Trustworthiness – Be honest, don’t deceive, cheat or steal. (did you notice that this one pillar picks up two of the ten commandments now forbidden in public schools: ‘Thou shalt not steal.’ And ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness.’)
2)“Respect – Follow the golden rule” (if you remember from Sunday School this is a Christian code phrase for Jesus’ teaching to ‘do unto others what you’d have them do unto you.’)
3)“Responsibility – Do what you are supposed to do. Use self-control. Be accountable for your choices.”(This is basically a theme through out the Old Testament prophets – ‘do what is right.’ Don’t you know most churches today would break out in revival if the pastors where preaching and the believers where living this pillar: Do what is right, use self-control and be accountable!!)
4)“Fairness –Don’t take advantage of others.”
5)“Caring – Be kind. Be compassionate. Express gratitude. Forgive. Help people in need.” (Is somebody using the Bible to come up with these definitions? Here is a simple and incomplete scriptural list to confirm each of these definitions as scriptural:
- Be kind – ‘The fruit of the Spirit is . . .kindness.’ Galatians 5:22
- Be compassionate – ‘Be kind and compassionate to one another.’ Ephesians 4:32, ‘love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.’ 1 Peter 3:8
- Express gratitude – ‘sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.’ Colossians 3:16
- Forgive –‘Forgive whatever grievance you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.’ Colossians 3:3;
- Help people in need – ‘Share with God’s people who are in need.” Romans 12:13
6)“Citizenship – Make your school and community better. Get involved. Obey laws and rules. Respect authority.”
- “Get involved” – ‘Live such good lives among the pagans that, . . .they may see your good deeds.’ 1 Peter 2:12
- “Obey laws”- ‘Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient.’ Titus 3:1
- “Respect authority” – ‘Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities.’ Romans 13:1 (1 Peter2:13)
They are saying some things are right and some things are wrong.
They are holding up men and women of integrity as examples.
Why now? Because when we look at schools we see something is drastically wrong with our behavior. In fact, if we look at the world of business, politics, sports, even in church leadership we see something is wrong.
the reason I'm sharing this with you is because I believe we need to support this we need to believe in this we need to get onboard.
The values identified of character education are the values that God has established for societies in every age. These are the values established by God, the absolute being.
Some would say that the values of character education are nothing more than the conscience of man. The question is "if your conscience has absolutes then do those absolutes exist outside your conscience as an identity of their own?"
1) if they do then you have not created those absolutes but have discovered them similar to a mathematician discovering the answer to 2+2=4. The mathematician did not create the answer but instead discovered the truth that exists. 2+2=4 is true every time with or with out the mathematicians existence and with or with out his discovering the absolute answer. It is always true.
2) if absolutes exist and they can be discovered and believed in then they can also be unknown or rejected. The rejection of the absolute in the conscience of a human does not mean the absolute does not exist or that it is not completely absolute. It would mean the person who does not know or has rejected it has the wrong values. Again, 2+2=4 but a person may make an error and believe that 2+2=5.
3) A person who believes that 2+2=5 is wrong but in their conscience believes they have discovered the absolute answer. Now you have an example of a religious group who believes in a false God, believes in wrong values and applies them to their life. They have the wrong answer. Just like a mathematician can arrive at the wrong answer so can people establish wrong morals or "absolutes".
4) Just because the students all turn in different answers for 2+2=__ does not mean they are all right nor does it mean "4" is not the absolute answer.
5) Character Counts I believe has discovered some or part of the absolute values that exist outside of the human conscience.
6) These same values appear to be the same values of the God of the Jewish and Christian Scriptures.
7) The absolute values of God, the creator, can be discovered in the created world that we live in and in the written revelation that he gave man.
That may be a wrong conclusion and we have to ask another question:
Now, we ask the question, "in what condition to these absolute values exist?"
a) Are they eternal and exist on their own? If they do then they are in and of themselves a form of a God since they have the attributes of God such as eternal and self-existing.
b) Were they created or established? If they were then there is a force greater than them that did so and may itself be eternal.
c) Did they evolve in the social conscious as man became a social creature? Then there must be different levels and collections of absolutes depending on how evolution progressed through the different races and societies. Which means absolutes values do originate in the social groups conscious which means they really aren't absolutes. Thus, you have two "non-absolute" absolutes of two different cultures colliding in the Muslim-Western conflict.
Some would ask how do people know God’s will if they are not Christians and if they do not have a Bible? There are two levels of Revelation. There is what we call general revelation and there is special revelation
The eternal God has revealed to mankind in two ways of Revelation.
General which is general to all people and then there is special and that is special revelation that comes to the believers that comes through Israel in the Old Testament through the apostles in the church age in the New Testament. Special revelation comes through the written word of God. It deals with things that cannot be seen or found scientifically. It reveals things they cannot be revealed with logic. Special revelation is a department that has been given to the Church in the New Testament. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ dying on the cross. It is the revelation of the indwelling spirit in the believers. Science can not prove these things. Things revealed by the power of the Spirit to the believer are called special revelation. Paul tells Timothy, “God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Timothy 3:15)