Pastor Powell's Column

April 2011

Character

We make hundreds of decisions every day. Some big ones, but many small ones. Many times we think we need to know God’s Will for the Big Ones. But the others? “Oh that’s an easy decision, Lord. I’ll take care of that one by myself.”

Big mistake!

We live most of our lives in the area of small choices. That’s where His Lordship counts the most. If God’s Will is relegated only to the 5 or 6 big decisions of life, then we could hardly claim he is “Lord of all.”

But think of this: the vast majority of actions we do are not a matter of a specific command or prohibition in Scripture. Draw a circle to represent your life. Shade the right edge to represent actions specifically commanded by God. Shade the left edge to represent actions specifically prohibited.

What should we do about all that white space in between?These are the actions we do each day that are neither commanded nor prohibited. How should we make choices when there is neither a “Thou shalt” or a “Thou shalt not”? There are two common answers.

Answer One: Anything goes! As long as God has not spoken, you’re on your own. Go to church. Don’t tell lies . . . As long as you cover the bases with a relatively small handful of religious and moral duties, you are totally free beyond that to do as you please.

Answer Two: Yikes! That kind of freedom is dangerous. The only way to avoid it is to expand the shaded portions of the circle. Let’s fill up as much white space as we can so that there’s a rule for every situation we face.

Well, that’s pretty scary, too! Are these the only two answers – anarchy or legalism? What is the Bible answer?

The emphasis in Jesus’s teaching was not just on the outward actions, but on the heart. His Pharisaic opponents were all about multiplying rules. Jesus taught a righteousness that must exceed the righteousness of scribes and Pharisees. And He didn’t mean more rules. The answer was not in quantities, but in qualities.

Jesus was about the transformation of the heart. He poured out His blood on the cross to cleanse the heart of sin. Then the resurrected Christ poured out His Spirit to bring new life to hearts dead in sin, and to transform them incrementally – “from one degree of glory to another” – into the image of Christ.

Christlike character is his plan for filling that white space. It’s not more rules, but virtues that we need to guide daily life. These virtues are found woven throughout the Scriptures. The famous list of virtues given by Jesus in Matthew 5 has become known as the Beattitudes. Paul’s list in Galatians 5 is the Fruit of the Spirit. Micah 6 gives a simple three-fold list of what God requires of us. Other virtue lists are found in Colossians 3, 1 Timothy 3, and 2 Peter 5.

Peter’s list makes it clear that the Christian is to give diligent effort to the cultivation of virtue. As these Virtues grow in the heart, they are, root and fruit, the gifts of God’s grace. When a Christian has by long practice (Hebrews 5:12-14) made the Virtues his habit (character), how does he make a decision in the no-command zone? How? He reasons: What is the honest thing to do? What is loving? What is just? What is temperate? What is humble? In other words, it’s the Virtues that guide him when there is no specific command.

The virtues cover a much wider swatch of life than rules ever could.

It is foolish to ignore the Virtues. This is how Christ’s Lordship and Kingdom (Romans 14:17-18) is established in all of life.

Not just in the Big Decisions.