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We want others to see our good deeds.

* Charitable

* Spiritual

* Sacrificial

They Took for Themselves God’s Glory

They Took for Themselves God’s Glory

What did King Nebuchadnezzar of ancient Babylon and Nikolai Ceausescu of present-day Romania have in common? Both were ruthless dictators who fell after boldly exalting themselves.

Nebuchadnezzar brazenly declared that he had built the great city of Babylon by his own power and for the honor of his majesty (). God humbled him by driving him into the wilderness with a mental illness.

Ceausescu, after years of cruelly persecuting Christians and killing all potential threats to his power, instructed the National Opera to produce a song in his honor that included these words: “Ceausescu is good, righteous, and holy.” He wanted this song to be sung on his 72nd birthday on January 26, 1990, but on December 25, 1989, he and his wife were executed. Although his overthrow was part of the anticommunist revolution that swept through eastern Europe, many Christians see his sudden downfall as an act of God. One Romanian, Peter Dugulescu, said that it was “because he took for himself the glory of God.

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

Why do we feel the need for others to see when we do good?

* Desire to control outcomes

* Longing for significance

* Unbelief in God and His eternal justice

* Hypocrisy and deceit

What are the benefits of quietly living right?

Character Endures

Fame is a vapor,

Popularity an accident.

Riches take wings.

Only one thing endures,

Character.

- Horace Greely

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

* God sees and rewards

* We develop character

* Others trust our character

* Everyone reaps benefits

Character Kept

• Character is much better kept than recovered. - Thomas Paine

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

How can we do good quietly?

1. Have faith in God, vs 9

2. Desire God's will be done, vs 10

3. Depend on God's provisions, vs 11

4. Take responsibility for personal competence, vs 12

5. Live by truth and values, vs 13

6. Live close and transparently with love ones, vs 4, 6, 18

Folly of Glory

Some men become proud and insolent because they ride a fine horse, wear a feather in their hat or are dressed in a fine suit of clothes. Who does not see the folly of this? If there be any glory in such things, the glory belongs to the horse, the bird and the tailor. - St. Francis de Sales

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

Reputation & Character

Reputation & Character

Character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next. The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation; the truth you believe determines your character.

• Reputation is what you are supposed to be; Character is what you are.

• Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community; Character is what you have when you go away.

• Reputation is made in a moment; Character is built in a lifetime.

• Reputation grows like a mushroom; Character grows like an oak.

• Your reputation is learned in an hour; Your character is does not come to light for a year.

• A single newspaper report gives your reputation; a life of toil gives you your character.

• Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor; Character makes you happy or makes you miserable.

• Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone; Character is what angels say about you before the throne of God.

• Your character is what God knows you to be. Your reputation is what men think you are.

William Hershey Dav

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

CONCLUSION

Personal Character

In 1789 an uncertain George Washington is urged to seek the presidency by Governor Morris, a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Morris writes Washington: “No constitution is the same on paper and in life. The exercise of authority depends upon personal character. Your cool steady temper is indispensably necessary to give a firm and manly tone to the new government.”

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.

Lack Character

Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf:

I’ve met a lot of leaders in the Army who were very competent—but they didn’t have character. And for every job they did well, they sought reward in the form of promotions, in the form of awards and decorations, in the form of getting ahead at the expense of someone else, in the form of another piece of paper that awarded them another degree—a sure road to the top. You see, these were competent people, but they lacked character.

I’ve also met a lot of leaders who had superb character but who lacked competence. They weren’t willing to pay the price of leadership, to go the extra mile because that’s what it took to be a great leader.

And that’s sort of what it’s all about. To lead in the 21st century—to take soldiers, sailors, airmen into battle—you will be required to have both character and competence.

Speech to the Corps of Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy, in Reader’s Digest

Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press.