RESET Your Character: Renewed Holiness
When Jon first mentioned this Reset series, I was reminded of a message I preached in chapel nearly 20 years ago entitled “Calibrate Me.” Like a reset, calibration is what we do with thermostats and television sets, compasses and computer monitors to make a needed adjustment or to fine tune them for accuracy. I have felt for some time there is a need for Christians and churches on a regular basis to refocus and fine tune for the future. So, I like the metaphor in this series of pushing a reset button.
Last week Jon focused on resetting the heart and our need for inner surrender and specifically the role of the Holy Spirit Who works within us as our Advocate, our Mentor. In the over 800 times in the Old Testament and 150 times in the New Testament where words for heart (lab and kardia) appear, seldom do the writers refer to the literal, physical blood-pumping muscle. Unlike our obsession with heart equated with emotions, more often it refers to the intellect, but it encompasses the very core of our being.
In fact, David Naugle in his book Worldview: The History of a Concept proposes that the term heart is Scripture’s original term for worldview which we use for a way of seeing and understanding all of reality. The Biblical notion of heart includes all that makes up the inner person that is expressed outwardly: our beliefs, thoughts, values, desires, commitments, and actions. We may also call this our character. Though there are nuances to each word, I will use the inseparable terms, heart and character interchangeably in this message as they get at this all-encompassing concept of renewed holiness.
Today our topic is resetting our outer world, our character and conduct. I know of no greater need than to constantly renew our hearts and our holiness. When I realized my topic in this series was character, I scanned my bookshelves to see how popular the topic is. I found David Brooks’ The Road to Character, Os Guinness’ Character Counts, Chuck Swindoll’s The Quest for Character, Dallas Willard’s Revolution of Character, and N.T. Wright’s After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters.
I want to share a few insights from some of these authors before we look at what God the Author of the authoritative Word has to say about this topic:
Os Guinness captured the essence of character in his book, Character Counts where he provides some definition of the term: “Character is clearly distinct from such concepts as personality, image, reputation, or celebrity. It is the essential ‘stuff’ a person is made of, the inner reality and quality in which thoughts, speech, decisions, behavior, and relations are rooted. As such, character determines behavior just as behavior demonstrates character.” Then he adds, “Character always has consequences.”
Dallas Willard in Revolution of Character defines character as “that internal, overall structure of our self that reveals our long-running patterns of behavior.” He further states, “Character develops from our will [or our heart] as specific choices become habitual and, to some extent, automatic” Then he adds, “Character is revealed most of all in what we feel and do without thinking.”
Robert Mulholland in The Deeper Journey: The Spirituality of Discovering Your True Self describes Christian character in terms of what it means “to be like Jesus, as it is portrayed in the New Testament, as “a matter of both ‘being’ and ‘doing.’ It is being in a relationship of loving union with God that manifests itself in Christlike living in the world.” He contrasts the “two ways of being in the world as the ‘false self’ and the ‘true self.’” He offers this personal confession, “I was a mud pie with a thin layer of Christian frosting trying to pass myself off as an angel food cake, but the mud kept seeping through! I needed God to take that mud and breathe into it the breath of life.” We need that Spirit that Jon talked about last week to breathe into us and transform us so that righteous acts can be displayed from the inside out.
Then Mulholland observed that as Christians we need to rethink repentance as not merely being sorry for the things we have done but being sorry that we are still the kind of people that do such things. What we need is an ongoing inner transformation that shapes us into Christlikeness. That is why when we are adopted by the Father and redeemed by the Son we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The purpose of the Holy Spirit Who is at work within us is to make us holy as God is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16).
Heart shaping and our pursuit of holiness is a lifelong, ongoing, never-ending process. Look at this progression in Hebrews:
Hebrews 10:10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. We have been made holy (perfect tense, completed).
Hebrews 10:14 because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy. We are being made holy (present tense-“continually being made holy”).
Later the Hebrew writer said in Hebrews 12:14–15: 14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Grounded in grace with no bitter root growing up in us, we are to make every effort to be holy (present tense imperative—"Keep on making effort”).
In his book The Road to Character, David Brooks illustrates the effort required in his helpful contrast between those who “achieve success by winning victories over others” with those who “build character by winning victories over the weaknesses” in themselves. He observes, “People who live this way believe that character is not innate or automatic. You have to build it with effort and artistry….You won’t even achieve enduring external success unless you build a solid, moral core. If you don’t have some inner integrity, eventually your Watergate, your scandal, your betrayal, will happen.”
Beyond the practical possibility of such a blowup there is an eternal reason why this quest for holiness matters. Because “without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
This constant pursuit of holiness prompted the wise sage centuries ago to advise his son in Proverbs 4:23: Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
Jesus echoed this idea on several occasions. Here are a couple of them: Jesus addressed the Pharisees in Matthew 12:33-35: 33 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the over-flow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
It is not just words that flow out of the heart. Jesus also said in Matthew 15:19: For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
The heart is the source of all these things and so much more. On a positive note, in The Quest for Character Chuck Swindoll speaks of the heart as “the inner person. Down deep, where hope is born, where decisions are made, where commitment is strengthened, where truth is stored, mainly where character (the stuff that gives us depth and makes us wise) is formed.”
The heart is the master control center for our lives so we must pay attention to our hearts. To use another metaphor in computing and other spheres, the principle is “Garbage In … Garbage Out.” Incorrect or poor-quality input will always produce faulty output applies not only in the technological realm but also in the spiritual realm.
Do you remember how Paul framed his discussion of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:19-23: 19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
In contrast to the works of the flesh in which we used to live, the Holy Spirit dwelling within us produces His fruit that is evident in our character and our conduct—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
Our character, our conduct, and our commitments all flow from the core of who we are. In other words, the fruit grows from the root.
I like the story of the middle-aged business executive who approached the front entrance of the office building in which he worked. A young woman came up at the same moment, so he stepped back and held the door open for her to pass through. She looked at him and said with annoyance, “Don’t hold the door for me just because I’m a lady.” To her surprise, he looked right back and replied, “I’m not. I’m holding it open because I’m a gentleman.” We who are Christians must always act toward others on the basis of what we are in Christ Jesus, and not on the basis of what they may or may not be. Who were are (our character) oozes out of us as the Holy Spirit lives within us.
I want us to look again at Proverbs 4:20–27 to see some practical implications of this principle at work in our everyday lives—20 My son, pay attention to what I say; listen closely to my words. 21 Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; 22 for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. 23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. 24 Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. 25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. 26 Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. 27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.
David Hubbard in His commentary on Proverbs has suggested that the nouns in these verses provide a lesson in the anatomy of discipleship. It reminds me of a children’s chorus we sang in Sunday School—“Oh be careful little eyes what you see …“ (verse for various parts of body—eyes, ears, mind, feet, hands).
• The “ear” must hear and pay close attention to the words of the wise teacher (v. 20).
• The “eyes” must be riveted on them in their written form (v. 21) and must at the same time be fixed on the path to spot any obstacle along the way (v. 25).
• The “heart” (the core of our being) serves as a vault where the treasures of wisdom are to be stored, guarded and from which they are to be withdrawn and skillfully employed (vv. 21, 23). This text reminds me of Psalm 119:11 where the Psalmist declares: I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
• The “mouth” and “lips” are the conduit from which wise decisions and sound observations of the heart flows (v. 24).
• The “feet” do the actual walking, following directions of the heart and eyes; the safety of the journeyer depends on their ability to implement quickly the commands they receive (vv. 26–27).
• The “right [hand]” and the “left [hand]” (the literal Hebrew) symbolize the tendency to roam aimlessly to one side or another of wisdom’s chosen path (v. 27). This echoes God’s call to unswerving obedience in Deuteronomy 5:32 and Joshua 1:7.
Do you need a character RESET? A heart RESET? Renewed holiness? How do you know? There are times it sneaks up on you (White Oaks Mall parking story). At other times you can see a crisis coming. In the conclusion of my chapel message mentioned earlier “Calibrate Me” I called on my family and my colleagues to hold me accountable if I need to be calibrated. I identified the warning signs, the lights flashing on the dashboard of our minds that I will reframe as when you know it is time to RESET.
● If you begin to lose your learning posture and stop growing, it is time to reset.
● If the attractiveness of your character begins to wane, it is time to reset.
● If you stop living by your convictions, it is time to reset.
● If it appears that you will fail to leave behind an ultimate contribution, it is time to reset.
● If you stop walking in the awareness of your influence and destiny, it is time to reset.
● If you begin to lose your once vibrant relationship with God, it is time to reset.
(J. Robert Clinton, Leadership in the Nineties: Six Factors to Consider, 1992):
● If you have words without actions, it is time to reset.
● If you display busyness without purpose, it is time to reset.
● If your calendar fills without a Sabbath, it is time to reset.
● If you have relationships without mutual nourishment, it is time to reset.
● If you resort to personality without self-examination, it is time to reset.
● If you depend upon natural giftedness without spiritual power, it is time to reset.
● If you develop an enormous theology without an adequate spirituality, it is time to reset.
(Gordon MacDonald, “The Seven Deadly Siphons” Leadership, Winter 1998)