WHAT A CHARACTER  

During the presidential campaign of 1992, it was a point of debate whether character should be an important issue. On the one hand we had President George Bush, representing the traditional values of America, including especially honor in service to country by serving in the military (if called or during time of war), and then honor in matters of personal conduct, particularly regarding fidelity to the spouse and trust while serving in public office. On the other hand we had Bill Clinton, who, along with his supporters, insisted that all of this morality talk was an irrelevant topic when considering qualifications for holding political office, and in fact would be considered meddling if personal conduct was used to evaluate ones qualifications for the office of the President of the United States.   Needless to say, a majority of those who voted gave the nod to the Clinton philosophy, apparently concluding that morality in personal conduct is not a considerable issue in politics. At least not for the highest office in the land. 

Recently, the press has been full of challenges to this philosophy, and the same group that defended Presidential Candidate Clinton against charges of immorality are leading the charge against personnel in the military who are accused of less degrading things (from the viewpoint of the world) than have been alleged against Mr. Clinton.  The female B52 pilot who faces court martial and discharge because of an affair with the spouse of an enlisted female member of the armed forces, and the General who is (was?) being considered for the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff will probably never realize this dream because of a past affair(s) in his life. The charges brought against military officers and enlisted personnel in two well known cases comes to mind. First there are those who practiced misdeeds at the U.S. Navy Tailhook parities and then the Aberdeen Proving Grounds case of Sgt Simpson. The cries of outrage are certainly justified in both cases. Sexual abuse and misconduct must never be condoned or made to appear relatively unimportant merely because they were perpetrated by soldiers and sailors just “having fun”. But by what standard of hypocrisy do we give a pass to the Commander in Chief of the entire Armed Forces who is involved in similar sexual activities in the White House ? 

Does character count? Of course it does. I know that, and so do you. What kind of character are you? How do you evaluate your character? Dr. Rudolph, one of my very dear professors at my Alma Mater; Reformed Episcopal Seminary in Philadelphia made a statement in class one day that impressed me so much that I have never been able to forget it.  He said, "True character is what is left when no one else is around."  When he said “no one else is around”, he meant that particular time at the end of the day when you kneel by your bed before God, and you know what you have done and have not done during the day, and you know also that God knows. 

One of the amazing things about the way God deals with us concerns this issue of character. I say amazing because by His grace God is willing to meet us where we are.  "Just as I am, without one plea" says the hymnist. This means that all God requires of us is that we "tell it like it is". Jesus has already paid the price for our sins. Provision has been made for wiping sin out in an instant of time. You are familiar with the verse in I John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive  us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

 I have developed a formula that may be used to evaluate just where you stand concerning character. It is

C + C = C. Confession plus Conduct equals Character.

If I am doing well in my relationship with God, following His Word, maintaining fellowship with Him, and generally satisfied with my walk, I may have a confession similar to Paul when he said "I have kept the faith." If however, I am doing poorly, being negligent in my obedience and failing to walk that straight and narrow path, I may need to confess accordingly. "Father I have sinned before thee, I am truly sorry for my transgressions, please forgive me based upon the shed Blood of Jesus Christ!"  The point is that our awesome God is ready to receive both of these confessions, and to be Father to both, and to forgive both. Let us dig deeper into this mater of CCC.

A popular saying in circulation for a time was "What you see is what you get!" That meant that you were being honest, and that there was no guile to be found in you.  We have learned that just because someone expresses that cliché does not necessarily mean it is true. I believe we can prove and confirm from the Bible our formula that Confession plus Conduct equals Character. Said another way, the degree of consistency between what we Confess and our Conduct in living it out will determine the purity of our Character. Now before you misunderstand me right off the bat, be aware that the standard by which everything must be judged is the Word of God. But I am talking about our character, the true us, which is established by our saying and doing. Exactly as in the situation with our President, all inconsistency in the formula must be considered hypocrisy. Let me illustrate my point from the Word.

In the Epistle of I John there are at least six situations where an inconsistency exists between what one says and what one does. They are:

1 John 1:6       If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

1:8       If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1:10     If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2:4       He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

2:9       He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

4:20     If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Notice that three of these verses start with "If we say", two start with "He that saith" and one with "If a man say". This is the Confession. The confession in each case is what the person speaking desires us to think he really is. But in each instance John states the truth of the matter and tells us that the speaker’s Conduct is the exact opposite of what he represents in his speech. John then gives a short description of the man's true Character in each verse. He is a liar in each instance!

These six verses cover a great variety of subjects. 1 John 1:6 speaks about fellowship with God.How many honestly believe that they have a relationship with God that is “Just as good as the next guy?” but pay no attention to walking in the light of the Gospel? They are living a myth! It is not enough to know the truth, we must do it. To live any other way is a lie. Once again let me remind you that if you are indeed walking in darkness and you are willing to confess that to God, He will help you escape from that situation and bring you into His glorious light. 1 John 1:8 tells us about those who say that they are in a state of  sinlessness. These are folks who deny that they are what God says they are, sinners.Until one is willing to confess that they are sinners in need of deliverance, God Himself cannot help them. This is followed in 1 John 1:10 by those who are convinced that their actions are never sinful, but on the contrary that they Abstain from all sin. To believe that you do not sin is different from believing that you have no sin nature. But both views are erroneous. 1 John 2:4 builds on 1:6 by implying a deeper knowledge of God. If we really know God, then we know what he expects of us, and if we would please Him, we do what pleases Him. What pleases Him is doing His commandments. The next reference 1 John 2:9 also builds on 1 John 1:6 but emphasizes our relationship with one another rather than fellowship with God. You cannot possibly love God and hate your brother at the same time. This verse aught to make us shudder! How often have we seen and heart hate among so called Christians. God help us! And He will, if we are willing to confess our fault in this matter. being in the Light requires more than just a relationship with God. The last relevant verse is 1 John 4:20 and involves us in that most important of subject, the love of God.  Meditate upon these verses at your leisure and see how easy it is to be a hypocrite, and hence of "bad character".

One of the clearest examples of character deficiency is recorded in the fourth Gospel, written by this same Apostle John. In John 9:39-41 Jesus says

For judgment I am come into this world, that they which
see not might see; and that they which see might be made
blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him
heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: 
but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

Jesus had just healed a man suffering with physical blindness since birth.  The meaning of Jesus' statement in verse 39 is that people who are open and honest about their true condition, and will admit that they need His help and will cry out for it, will be healed of their dilemma and will be saved from their sins. But those who profess to know it all and refuse to acknowledge their lost condition will thereby place themselves beyond the bounds of His saving grace. "Are we blind also?" they asked the Lord. An extended  paraphrase of Jesus’ response would be "If you were physically blind like this man that I just healed, you would drop upon your faces is the dust and cry for help. But now you confess with your mouth that you see (they mean spiritually, and that they see better than our Lord - an obvious lie), therefore, your sin remains, and there is no hope for you until you change your confession to match your conduct, which is spiritual blindness."

Are you getting it? If for some reason you find yourself way down on the “scale of spiritual progress”, that is not too good. But if you want Jesus to help you, you must confess that you are indeed down there, and cry out your desire to be lifted up by His mercy and grace! If you deny the truth, and brag about a status that you do not possess, He cannot help you. The principle is Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. James 4:10

One more verse to illustrate the C.C.C. concept is found in Rev 3:15-17 which reads:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would 
thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and
neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

Here we find a hard saying and difficult to receive. Jesus says that even if you are "cold", i.e. totally down and out spiritually speaking, He can help you - "I would thou wert" one way or the other. But “because thou sayest” “I am rich ...etc" and  do not even know that this confession of yours does not match your conduct which results in your true condition. You are in fact a people who are "wretched and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked". Your Character is like lukewarm water to the taste. It does not satisfy and will be spit out upon the ground.

The moral of this study is that an essential part of a right relationship with God is to realize just how helpless we are because of sin, to acknowledge that God is right when he condemns that sin, to confess our sins with genuine repentance, and to seek His forgiveness with humble thanksgiving for the shed Blood of Jesus Christ. Remember that Jesus’ Confession as Son of God matched perfectly His Conduct as Son of God, and  so His Character was declared by God to be "My Son, in Whom I am well pleased" We also have a place among those approved by God because it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Heb. 2:10

Notes:

The Greek word  translated “confess” in our English Bibles is  HOMOLOGEO, Strong’s #3670. It is made from two words, HOMO which means “the same” and LOGEO which in this case has the meaning  “To say” or “speech”.  The final idea is “To say the same thing” or “To agree”.  We say the same thing as God does concerning our condition, we are lost sinners in need of salvation. We agree with the Word of God that only by His grace and mercy do we have any hope.

The English word “character” is taken directly from the Greek word xarakth<r  CHARAKTER Strong’s #5481 The Greek word is used only once in the New Testament at Hebrews 1:3 where it means “express image” and of course refers to the Deity of Christ.  Jesus is exactly God!  He says so, He acts so, and He is so.

Heb. 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;