Follow God

Follow God’s Example (Eph. 4:17-5:14) Bottom Line: As a child of God, you are a new person in Christ, SO ACT LIKE IT! Conform your attitude and behavior to match that of Our Heavenly Father “according to God’s likeness in righteousness, purity and truth” (Eph. 4:24; 5:1) As adopted sons of God, we have privileges, but we also have responsibilities Our “old person” was corrupted by deceitful desires Deceitful in the sense that they promise joy and fulfillment but deliver pain and emptiness by enticing us into sin As adopted sons, we should adopt the same values as Our Father, values articulated and demonstrated for us by Jesus Values: guiding constructs or ideas, representing deeply held generalized behaviors, which are considered by the holder, to be of great significance. Where do people get their values? – – – – – – – –

Home School Church (or other place of worship) Life Experience Work Experience Books News Media Entertainment Media

Which of these has the greatest impact on most Americans today? of

The average American, by the age of 65, will have spent the equivalent of 15 years their life watching television.

will

By contrast, over the same time period, the average weekly church-going American have spent only 8 months of their life receiving spiritual instruction. What are core Christian values? Honesty, respect, responsibility, fairness, compassion, perseverance and courage

Prov.

Honesty (see Ex. 22:10; 23:1–3; Lev. 19:11–12, 35-36; Deut. 25:13–16; 6:16-19; 11:1; 12:17-19 & 22; Eph. 4:25) Honesty Builds/Maintains Trust Fosters Community Makes Communication more Efficient & Effective Demonstrates Respect for the Dignity of Others “Honesty and transparency make you vulnerable. Be honest and transparent anyway.” - Mother Teresa

high

expression of

Respect: To give particular attention to, show consideration for, or hold in or special regard (Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary, 10th Edition) Human Dignity is the intrinsic worth that inheres in every human being. The source of human dignity is rooted in the concept of Imago Dei, in Christ’s redemption and in our ultimate destiny of union with God. Every human being should be acknowledged as an inherently valuable member of the human community and as a unique life, with an integrated bodily and spiritual nature. “Never look down on anybody unless you're helping him up.” - Jesse Jackson Responsibility

I

“I am only one, but still, I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. And, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do what can.” - Edward Everett Hale, American clergyman and writer (1822-1909)

the

“The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had the means, time, influence and educational advantages, but what he will do with things he has.” - Hamilton Wright Mabee

if he

“Any man’s life will be filled with constant and unexpected encouragement makes up his mind to do his level best each day.” - Booker T. Washington, American educator (1856-1915) “I long to accomplish some great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” - Helen Keller, American social activist, public speaker and author (1880-1968)

least a proper

Fair: just, equitable, impartial, unbiased, objective. Involves a elimination (or at minimalization) of one's own feelings, prejudices and desires, so as to achieve a balance of conflicting interests. Implies an equitable distribution of burdens and benefits. John Rawls argues in A Theory of Justice that rules are fair if they are rules that the people operating under them would have agreed to, had they been given an opportunity to accept or reject them beforehand.

make it American

“This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless we a good place for all of us to live in.” - Theodore Roosevelt, adventurer and 26th president (1858-1919) Justice: demonstrating fairness, equity, impartiality, righteous action, conformity to truth, conformity to law

are

a feeling, rahamanut, (coming from of the

“justice occurs on earth when power and authority between people exercised in conformity with God’s standards of moral excellence.” Gary Haugen, in The Good News About Injustice, InterVarsity Press, 1999. Compassion: "sympathetic consciousness of another's distress together with desire to alleviate it" [Webster's 7th New Collegiate Dictionary], fellow the emotion of caring concern; the opposite of cruelty, in Hebrew from the word rehem, 'womb', based on the idea of sibling love from the same womb) (see also Matt. 18:27; Luke 10:30-37 (Parable Good Samaritan); 1 John 3:17; Jude 1:22; Eph. 4:32, involves forgiving)

lament. to cry out happens in the what really matters."

"The word 'care' finds its roots in the Gothic 'Kara' which means The basic meaning of care is: to grieve, to experience sorrow, with.. . . A friend who cares makes it clear that whatever external world, being present to each other [now] is [Henri Nouwen, Here and Now, p. 105]

word, all of

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, which have the potential to turn a life around.”--Leo Buscaglia

limited the most neighbor Upon seeing climbed what he had helped him cry." I Let Grellet,

Leo Buscaglia discovered that the capacity for compassion is not to wise elders. He was once asked to judge a contest to find caring child. The winner was a four year old whose next door was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, onto his lap, and just sat there. When his mother asked him said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just “I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.” - Stephen French/American religious leader (1773-1855)

"Men are only great as they are kind.” - Elbert Hubbard, American entrepreneur and philosopher (founder of Roycroft) (1856-1915) "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” - Edith Wharton, American novelist (1862-1937) German

“Compassion is the basis of morality.'' - Arthur Schopenhauer, philosopher (1788-1860)

Hill,

All we need in order to be moral human beings is compassion. - Nina Rosenstand summarizing the view of David Taylor in Good and Evil, from The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, McGraw2004. Perseverance/Fortitude - steadfast determination to continue on despite adversity usually over a long period of time. Some Biblical References: Job 17:9a, the righteous one holds fast to his Hos. 12:6b, endure to the end, John 8:31-32, 2 Cor. 13:5, keep proving Gal. 5:1–4, stand fast; Gal. 6:9, do not give up in doing what is fine; stand firm, striving side by side; Phil. 4:1, stand firm; 1 Thes. 5:21, what is fine; 2 Thes. 2:15–17, stand firm, maintain your hold; 1 Tim. pursue endurance; 2 Tim. 2:12, go on enduring; 2 Tim. 3:14, continue things you have learned; 2 Tim. 4:7–8, fight the fine fight, finish the course; Heb. 2:1, pay attention to what you have heard that you not drift away; Heb. 3:14, make fast your hold to the end; Heb. 10:23, 35–36, hold fast to the declaration of our hope, you have need of endurance; James 1:2-4, must finish its work, 2 Pet. 3:17, do not fall from steadfastness.

way; yourself; Phil. 1:27, hold fast to 6:11–12, in the

perseverance

seems that

will

fear or

"When the morning’s freshness has been replaced by the weariness of midday, when the leg muscles quiver under the strain, the climb endless, and suddenly nothing will go quite as you wish--it is then you must not hesitate.” - Dag Hammarskjold, former U.N. Secretary General “Nothing in the world can take the place of perseverance. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Genius not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” - Calvin Coolidge Courage: the ability to disregard fear; bravery. The Latin root of this word is cur, which means heart. Courage literally means to “take heart”. Fear exists along a continuum. Courage involves recognizing a reasonable amount of nervousness, facing it and then taking an intelligent risk.

emotional mental the

Moral courage involves standing up for one’s principles, in spite of possible adverse consequences to such things as reputation or well-being. “Courage is a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger and a willingness to endure it.” - General William T. Sherman (for whom Sherman tank was named). “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” - John Wayne “Courage is the greatest of all virtues; because, unless a man has that virtue, he has no security for preserving any other.” - Samuel

Johnson “Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.” - Clare Booth Luce (1903 - 1987), in Reader's Digest, 1979 “Courage is the footstool of the virtues, upon which they stand.” Robert Louis Stevenson virtue at

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every the testing point.” - C.S. Lewis

threatens

“Courage is strength of mind, capable of conquering whatever the attainment of the highest good.” - St. Thomas Aquinas “We must constantly build dykes of courage to hold back the flood of fear.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

potential. consistency. Angelou strives place victory

“One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” - Maya (1928 - ) “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena... who valiantly... who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Anger Be Angry and do not sin (Eph. 4:26) It’s o.k. to have, but not to act out of. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, and don’t give the Devil a foothold (Eph. 4:26-27)

It’s o.k. to have, but not to hold. “Anyone can become angry, but to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy.” Aristotle Don’t Steal There is all kinds of way to steal Do honest work with your own hands Avoid “Rotten talk” Including profane, abusive, impure, insulting, degrading, slandering or otherwise hurtful (including gossip)