The Importance of Virtue
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Intro:
Intro:
Good evening.
As I mentioned this morning, we are going to begin a Sunday evening sermon series tonight, talking about the importance of Christian virtues.
Let’s begin by noticing a few Scriptures that deal with this idea of virtue, and then we will talk about why I wanted to do a series on this.
Ruth 3:11 Boaz says to Ruth:
And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.
Proverb 12:4 says …
An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones.
The KJV renders that - “A VIRTUOUS woman is a crown to her husband.”
Notice also the comparison and contrast in this proverb between the virtuous and the one who causes SHAME (not virtuous).
Of course, who could forget Proverbs 31:10
Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.
Those are the three instances of the word “virtuous” in the Bible — Now for the word “Virtue.”
Mark 5:30
And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
(This was said of the woman who had touched the hem of Jesus’ garment.)
She had an issue of blood for twelve years, and she knew that if she could just touch the garment of Jesus, she would be healed!
Notice, some “VIRTUE had gone out of him!”
Luke 6:19 similarly says:
And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
(If you look at the Greek in both of those verses, by the way, it is the idea that Jesus was SO FULL OF GOODNESS, of VIRTUE, that there was MIRACULOUS POWER that just emanated from Him — He just EXUDED with it, is the idea!)
That makes sense when you think about it, because we are dealing with an all-powerful (omnipotent), all-knowing (omniscient), all-good (omni-benevolent) God!
Luke 8:46 is another account of the same thing we read in Mark 5:30 about the woman touching the hem of His garment.
Php. 4:8
We talked about this one recently when we said that we need to make sure our entertainment choices pass the Philippians 4:8 test!
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
And then a couple more:
2 Pet. 1:3
as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
And 2 Pet. 1:5
But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge,
Etc. Etc.
If we were to define virtue, how would we do so?
Well, it comes from a Greek word “arete,” and it means according to Strong’s:
“Manliness (valor), that is, excellence (intrinsic or attributed): - praise, virtue.”
Thayer’s Greek lexicon defines it as:
“A word of very wide signification in Greek writings; any excellence of a person (in body or mind) or of a thing, an eminent endowment (In other words, it just EXUDES from someone, TCG), property or quality. Used of the human mind and in an ethical sense, it denotes:
1. a virtuous course of thought, feeling and action; virtue, moral goodness;
2. any particular moral excellence, as modesty, purity; Used of God, it denotes his power: 2 Peter 1:3.
Thus, a fascinating side note when you really think about it — 2 Peter 1:3 shows us that you can’t separate God’s GOODNESS and His POWER!
Again, “as His divine POWER has given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us by glory and virtue!”
Translation — God EXUDES power and goodness (virtue!)
And He shows US how to exude virtue (as best we can) through the power of His WORD!
I just learned that and made that connection in studying for this sermon!
Isn’t God’s Word amazing?!
You learn something new every time you read it!
Well, why did I want to preach a sermon series on this topic of virtue on Sunday nights?
Simply put, because we live in …
A Society that Largely Has Lost Its Virtue:
A Society that Largely Has Lost Its Virtue:
Think about how many good, virtuous character traits society used to take for granted, but not a lot of people have anymore these days:
Things like honor, and hard work, and honesty and integrity, and gentlemanly behavior (chivalry) and ladylike behavior and reverence and respect and …
And the list could go on and on!
We have lost a lot of virtues in society, and the devil loves to have it so!
How did it happen?!
Little by little, and piece by piece as the Devil has slowly stripped away at the moral fabric of our nation.
I want you to think about this for a moment:
When was the last time you even used the WORD virtue?
Has it been a while?
Maybe even never?
If not, why not?
Maybe because we have been lulled into slumber by the Devil as the morals of a nation have slowly declined further and further?
We’ve come a long way from one curse word in Gone with the Wind until now!
Nowadays, it’s hard to go to the movie theater to find a movie that doesn’t have MULTIPLE curse words — Some of them HUNDREDS of curse words, among other moral filth!
Why?
Because we live in a society that has lost its virtue!
The reason I decided to preach this sermon series is because we have been studying through a book with the kids most nights called In the Way they Should Go by brother Jeff Miller.
I highly recommend it, by the way.
In that book, Jeff talks about how he wants to train all of his children (Prov. 22:6) in various virtues that are critical for the Christian life.
So in the book, after the introductory section, he list a bunch of Christian virtues by chapter, and talks about the importance of each one, Biblically, and how to train for these virtues, and what will happen if we NEGLECT to train those virtues?
Again, HIGHLY recommend it!
Anyways, I got to thinking — I don’t think I use that word nearly enough — VIRTUE!
So we’ve been trying to use that word in teaching our children since then.
And I thought, why not preach a sermon series on it as well!
After all, if Peter says we must add to our faith VIRTUE (2 Pet. 1:5), then it must be pretty important!
Alright, last thing we want to do for this introductory sermon tonight on Christian virtues …
I want us now to do a little mental exercise of discernment.
Heb. 5:14 says:
But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
In other words, we through our study of God’s word must be able to discern whether any given thing is good, or evil (a virtue, or a vice)(or perhaps neutral in and of itself/can be good or evil depending on how you use it).
So let’s do a little exercise I’ll call …
Virtue, Vice, or Neutral:
Virtue, Vice, or Neutral:
What we are going to do is I’m going to say a word, and hopefully you will be able to say in your mind very quickly — “That’s a virtue,” or “That’s a vice,” (a bad thing, a sin), or “that’s a neutral thing” (can be good or bad depending on how you use it).
So we want to do this exercise to test our DISCERNMENT skills!
So … Virtue? Vice? Or Neutral Thing?
Let’s begin:
We’ll start with an easy one!
Lying — Vice! (“All liars will have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone” - Rev. 21:8).
Temperance — Virtue! (Temperance in the Bible is the idea of maintaining sobriety and self control)!
Humility — Virtue!
Pride — Vice (To be proud of oneself is described quite often in the Bible as sinful).
Reverence — Virtue! (Read the book of Malachi!)
Modesty — Virtue!
Gratefulness — Virtue!
Gentleness — Virtue (and a fruit of the Spirit)!
Generous — Virtue!
Watching television — Neutral (but oftentimes a vice since a large percentage of television content is really bad).
Using money — Neutral (Can be used for good or for bad; the LOVE of money is the root of all kings of evil - 1 Tim. 6:10)
Alright, here’s a hard one!
Timeliness — I’m actually going to say … Neutral — (And this is one Brother Miller points out in the book that got me because I had never thought about it) —
(Obviously, timeliness can be important and we should be on time as best we can, but … What was more important in the parable of the Good Samaritan? The Samaritan being on time for whatever he was going to do, or stopping and helping?)
Also, there’s an instance of Jesus being late on at least one occasion in the Bible — Can you think of it?
He was a few days late to saving Lazarus — [Because instead of saving him from dying, He was going to raise him from the dead! — John chapter 11]
So that’s a trick question I suppose! (But you can blame brother Jeff Miller for that one!)
A few more:
Rudeness — Vice! (1 Cor. 13 says that love does not behave rudely).
Lustfulness — Vice! (Jesus said a man who looks upon a woman to lust in his heart has already committed adultery with her in his hear - Matt. 5:28)!
Patience — Virtue! (Famous saying about how “Patience IS a virtue!”)
Mercifulness - Virtue! (Just like we want God to be merciful to us!)
Introversion — (Somebody is naturally a little more shy than others) — Neutral (That’s a matter of personality, not right and wrong).
Extroversion — (Not shy!) Neutral (same thing).
Homosexuality — Vice! (Romans chapter 1 and many other verses)
And finally purity — Virtue!
And we could list many more!
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
As you can see, this has the potential to be quite the long series (even longer than our Genesis series)!
We will see where it goes!
I do know that I would like to do quite a few topical sermons on various virtues that we need reminding of, so be on the lookout for those in the coming weeks!
(Give invitation).