Bearing Good Witness

I have the privilege of being a rotational pastor for a church that serves my hometown's downtown community. I understand that not everyone has interest in reading religious material on LinkedIn but I also know that many of us are using LinkedIn on a regular basis to find good things. So, I am sharing my sermons on here. Following is today's sermon.

Good morning, Joy Church! And, what day is it? Oh yeah, Father’s Day. Here’s something I learned recently … even though Father’s Day here in the good ole USA has been talked about since 1909, it did not become a permanent national holiday until 1972 and it wasn’t even a non-permanent recognized holiday until 1966. Wow, Father’s Day hasn’t been around as long as I have been. Seeing that I was born in 1963, I had my first three years until I had to think about getting my dad a card for the holiday, or perhaps a tie or something. And then it all started … year after year.

Mother’s Day though – it’s been a national holiday for over 100 years now, dating back to 1914 with its origins long before that, almost 50 years before I was born.

So, here’s how I look at it … we need to be extra special to dads today – seeing as how, compared to moms, we ignored them for over 50 years, right? Well, I don’t know, I have to hand it to moms … they kind of get the rough end of that parenting deal, I think … you know, childbirth and all … so maybe we owed them that 50 year head start in a national holiday that honors them.

In any event, I wish a Happy Father’s Day today to any dads we have with us. And I encourage you to go out and wish a Happy Father’s Day to anyone you run into today who played that paternal influential shaping role in the life of a child.

Of course, Father’s Day doesn’t necessarily bring up a lot of happy thoughts for some folks, and I sure understand that. My relationship with my father had its ups and downs. I was tremendously blessed though to work alongside him for over 20 years of my career. But, still, just like I am not perfect, my dad wasn’t perfect either. There were times he was not exactly the best role model for me, just like there have been times – many times – that I have not been the best role model for my son. So, I can’t hold it against my dad. It’s all part of life.

I think that any parent, no matter how well they show it, has a deeply held love for their children … but we’re human. We try to do the best with the hands we’re dealt in life and sometimes we fall short, don’t we?

There’s an old Dutch writing about how our thoughts of our dads change through the years, as we get older. You’ve probably seen this before but I wanted to share it today … perhaps you will see yourself in it.

How we view our fathers as we age.

4 Years: My daddy can do anything.

7 Years: My dad knows a lot, a whole lot.

8 Years: My father doesn`t know quite everything.

12 Years: Oh, well, naturally Father doesn`t know that, either.

14 Years: Father? Hopelessly old-fashioned.

21 Years: Oh, that man is out-of-date. What did you expect?

25 Years: He knows a little bit about it, but not much.

30 Years: Maybe we ought to find out what Dad thinks.

35 Years: A little patience. Let`s get Dad`s assessment before we do anything.

50 Years: I wonder what Dad would have thought about that. He was pretty smart.

60 Years: My dad knew absolutely everything!

65 Years: I`d give anything if Dad were here so I could talk this over with him. I really miss that man.

That’s some good stuff there … did you see yourself in it at all?

I think that one of the big things we learn from our dads is Character. If we grew up with a dad, there’s something very influential about watching them and their behavior and reactions. It all really influences and shapes our lives. Please tell me that I am not the only one here who, the older I get, the more I realize that I act and behave like my dad.

My dad was the king of what society now calls “dad jokes” – you know, those really stupid one—liner jokes that only a dad can deliver that make you grimace, cringe, groan, and yet giggle all at the same time?

Probably not a day goes by that I don’t find myself making one of those jokes. My business partner, who also worked with my dad for many years, always calls me out on them. Whenever I make one of those incredibly stupid jokes, he looks at me, shakes his head, and says, “you’re more like your dad every day.”

And a lot of times, I see my grandpa in myself too. I only knew one of my grandfathers but I was around him a decent amount growing up and he could have been a king of the dad joke but, for the life of him, he could not pull off a joke. Because his eyes would start twinkling and he’d start giggling long before he got to the punch line. I have to admit, I have that happen to myself sometimes too.

But, both our moms and our dads – as well as anyone who we respected growing up who we were blessed to have play those roles of influence and impact in our lives – they do shape us and, as we age, we see ourselves acting like them. The good thing is, we can also learn from them – there were undoubtedly some things we saw in our parents that we swore we’d never do or be like. And, that’s okay – because we have free will and we can guard our hearts and minds and thoughts against those things. No one is twisting our arms – we do not have to be like the bad things we saw in our parents, do we? We can copy the good things they did and learn from the not-so-good.

We can take the good things, weed out the bad things, and develop our own what we call Character. The other day, I googled “What is good character?” and here’s what I got:

Having good character means that you have such admirable traits as honesty, responsibilityand courage. It is beneficial for you to have good character. Being honorable and honest in the work you do and in your relations with others is essential in your life.

That’s good stuff, isn’t it? And it’s why we have been working our way through a sermon series called Character Under Construction. Developing Character in our lives – those admirable traits – is a lifelong process. I think they call it a journey, not a destination. We will never hit a point in our lives where we can sit back and say “wow, I made it – my character is fully developed and I am now the most incredible person I can possibly be.” Okay, that statement sounds a little like something Donald Trump might say but, fact is, none of us will ever reach that point. Because we’re human, God gave us free will, we strive to be on a journey toward consistently doing things of great character. Despite that, though sometimes we will mess up, won’t we?

But that’s where God comes into the picture – He gives us a plan for being of good character. We’ve already discussed it, we can’t 100% model anyone here on earth and have doing so lead us to being of absolutely perfect character, can we? Because none of us here on earth is perfect. But we have a heavenly father who never falls short, don’t we?

This week, as part of our Character Under Construction series, we are going to talk about how to bear good witness to the world and those around us. And that’s exactly what we were talking about earlier with our dads – sometimes they really showed great character and substance to the world. They were admirable, honest, upright … but sometimes, we must admit, they fell short. And their story is exactly the story of our lives as well – sometimes we fall short. But, by following God’s plan for our lives, we can be on a journey of ongoing character growth.

To do so, we have to set the high bar though. The world around us is fallen and pretty messed up, isn’t it? If we try to just show the same character as the world shows, well, that’s not a real high bar. As we look around our lives, our community, and the world, we see people doing stupid and wrong things every day, don’t we? As we try to be the best we can be, we must measure ourselves against God’s expectation, against His calling on our lives, not against what we see in the world around us, right?

It’s an incredibly high bar for us but here’s what 1 Peter 1:15-16 says:

But just as He Who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Being holy in all that we do – that’s a high bar, isn’t it?

But, you know, as Christians, one of our biggest responsibilities is to share with others the story of Christ. To best do that, as much as possible, our lives must model good, positive character that makes people stand up and take notice. That make people want to have what we have – Jesus.

We have all heard it before but if we as Christians live lives that look just like the rest of the world, people are not going to see anything in our lives that they want to pursue or copy, are they?

Here’s what Paul said about this … in the second chapter of Galatians, verse 20, Paul wrote:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

That’s big stuff – it’s our Character under Construction. Living and growing to be more like Christ and, let’s be honest and not kid ourselves here, to be lesslike the world and the culture in which we live. You and every one of us is called by Christ to stand out from the world!

And that standing out is called Bearing Good Witness to the world. As Christians, this is pretty important stuff for us. Here’s how I look at it: We’re not perfect, but, with all God has done for us, we must do our best to live our lives in a way that strives to make Him smile, not frown.

One of the 12 Disciples, Matthew, takes this who thing of personal witness extremely seriously though. Here’s what Matthew says in Chapter 18, verse 6:

If anyone causes one of these little ones (referring to anyone young in their faith journey) —those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

If we do not bear good witness for Christ, if instead we look like the world and lead people toward the ways of the world rather than lead them toward the ways of Christ, it would be better for us to be drowned in the ocean. Matthew is saying … rather than to have a Christian lead someone the wrong way, we’d be better off to have that person not be around to do anything! That certainly causes us to see just how seriously we need to take our character and how we appear to the world, doesn’t it?

So, what does this whole thing of bearing good witness mean? How do we do that?

Of course, the Bible is full of lessons and stories and direct teachings that tell us how to represent Christ to the world. But, for a great, concise summer of how God calls us to behave, let’s look at what Paul says in the first six verses of Ephesians Chapter 4.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Humble. Gentle. Patient. Loving.

Let’s think for just a moment about these words and compare them to what we see in the world around us. When we look at the stories we see in the news, when we look at politicians and other celebrities … are these the words that come to mind? Humble, gentle, patient, loving.

Probably not, huh? But that is Paul’s definition of Christian character.

Think back to someone who has had a great positive influence on your life … maybe it is your dad or maybe your mom. Perhaps a grandparent or an aunt or uncle, a school teacher, a pastor. When you think about that person … my guess is that these words do come to mind, don’t they? Humble. Gentle. Patient. Loving.

You see, God wants us to have this behavior so that it blesses those around us. So that it points them toward Him, toward a better way of living, not toward the world’s ways.

So, we’ve all heard of John the Baptist, right? Some Christians call him John the Forerunner, because he ran before Jesus. Before and as Jesus started His ministry, John the Baptist traveled around and told people of this man who was to come – this Jesus -- who would be life-changing … this man who would set the world on a different path. John the Baptist came before Jesus but He bore great witness for Jesus. We could spend a lot more time than we have today and talk about John the Baptist because I believe that our calling is to point to Christ, the same way that he did. In the interest of time, though, let’s look at one bit of scripture about John the Baptist.

Now, this is from the book of John – which was written by a different John – John the Apostle … but he’s talking about John the Baptist. This is from the first chapter of John, verses 6-7.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

My friends, this is bearing witness for Christ to the world. Your name may not be John – or maybe it is. My name definitely isn’t John. Unlike John the Baptist, I do not have a life of traveling around the countryside. Also unlike John the Baptist, I do not wear a coat of camel’s hair nor do I go around eating locusts and wild honey. I don’t have folks following me around so I can baptize them in the Jordan River.

But, the calling on my life is the same as the calling on John the Baptist’s life … to be a witness to the light that is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, pointing those around me to the Light that has changed my life, the Light that changed John the Baptist’s life, the Light that changed Paul’s life, and the Light that can change their life. This is part of our Character – do we point people toward God or toward the world?

I read something once that supposedly a school teacher wrote in her students’ yearbooks many years ago:

Reputation is what men and women think of us.

Character is whatGod and angels know of us.

This Character thing is a journey for us, isn’t it? Does anyone else remember the old Bewitched television show? Remember how Samantha would twitch her nose or her mom would wave her hands and suddenly something would happen – things would be very different. Maybe Darren would turn into a mule or he’d develop spots on his face or his ears would grow?

How I wish that developing Christian character worked like that. That just suddenly and magically, my behavior would change and my old ways would be gone. But, it doesn’t really work that way. As we grow in Christ, He has lessons for us. As we work to improve our character, God allows us to see how bad character hurts and tears down ourselves while good character builds up not only ourselves but those around us.

Humble. Gentle. Patient. Loving. From the words of Paul, these are the things that call the world to Christ. I’m glad that you’re on the journey with me.