CHRISTIAN VALUES

Building Christian Character on Faith

It has ever been God's will that we be like Him in nature and character; thus, all of the commandments, both in the Old and New Testaments, are designed to reveal His character.  When His people obey those commandments in faith, they become increasingly like Him. God says repeatedly, "Be ye holy, for I am holy."  In other words, "Be like Me." In my last article, I suggested from the context of 2 Peter 1:1-11 that in building Christian character, we partake of the "divine nature."  In this article, I want to show that we build Christian character on the foundation of faith.  You remember Paul says faith is the "substance" (or foundation) of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1).  After saying we must share in the "divine nature", Peter says, "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love" (2 Peter 1:5-7).  Scholars say the word "add" is better translated "supply".  You are to supply "in your faith" all the traits of Christian character. Faith is the basis of all the Christian characteristics.  It is the root from which all the qualities of Christian character spring.  James Hastings remarked, "All true morality is born of spirituality, and all complete morality is born of the spirituality created and maintained by Christian faith."  The Christian life is begun, continued, and consummated by faith.  We are saved by faith; we walk by faith; and some day, we shall receive the end of our faith (Romans 5:1; 2 Corinthians 5:7; 1 Peter 1:9). True faith is related to the Person of Christ In building on faith, we first must see that faith is related to a Person -- Jesus Christ.  As faith in Christ is the means of receiving God's grace in building Christian character.  It is faith in Christ that makes a Christian, and it is faith in Christ that makes it possible to live like a Christian.  It is Christ who gives us spiritual victory, but our access to this victory is through our faith in Him.  Paul says, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).  But John reminds us, "... And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith" (1 John 5:4).  Faith has been compared to the coupling between a powerful train engine and the cars it pulls.  Our link with Christ is faith; take away the link, and the power ceases. The apostle Paul, whose faith in Christ was strong and abiding, recognized the source of all spiritual power is God.  He knew his labors with the Lord were simply the cooperation of his faith with the power of divine grace.  He says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, "But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." What are the characteristics of faith? What are the characteristics of a faith that make possible the successful development of Christian character? First, there must be the recognition of Jesus Christ as the Only Begotten Son of God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).  No child of God can possibly be even remotely concerned with the building of Christian character unless he believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He is the Lord and Master over his life.  Jesus is the way to Christian character and the truth about Christian character, and His life is Christian character itself. Second, the faith that brings spiritual victory in Christ must be a personal faith.  It cannot be a faith imposed by one person upon another.  Nothing worthwhile is accomplished by getting people to accept Jesus Christ as the divine Son of God blindly.  Parents must certainly bring up their children "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4), but the faith that is meaningful to those children must be a faith that truly is theirs personally.  Each one must weigh the evidence and make up his mind for himself.  It's not just "Faith of Our Fathers," as the song goes, it must be "faith of our own." Third, true faith is trust in Jesus.  It must be more than belief in the reality of Jesus' deity and power; it must be the means of depending on Him -- trusting in Him for the power to develop Christian character.  One's trust must not be in self, but in Jesus. D.I. Moody wrote: "In what do you trust?  Trust in yourself, and you are doomed to disappointment; trust in your friends, and they will die and leave you; trust in money, and you may have it taken away from you; trust in reputation, and some slanderous tongue may blast it; but trust in God, and you are never to be confounded." One who truly trusts in the Lord for power to supply in his faith the graces of Christian living, looks to Him as the sole means of making such living possible.  He views himself as the clay and Jesus as the potter.  Thus, his constant prayer is, "Lord, mold me and make me after thy will."  Because he depends on the power of God through Christ for the development of Christian character, he enjoys a full, rich prayer life.  In prayer, he humbly admits that he is weak and God is strong.  Prayer proves trust.  Prayer declares that "God is able."  He is able to make all grace to abound toward us (2 Corinthians 9:8).  He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).  So we will pray always (Ephesians 6:18).  We will pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).  A Christian will pray for wisdom to understand the true meaning of the Christian qualities, and he will pray for power to make them real in his life.  James advises, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). In the early days when civilization was moving westward, a lone traveler came to the banks of the Mississippi River in the twilight, but the road ended at the water's edge, and there was no bridge.  It was bitterly cold; and, rather than face the prospect of spending the night without shelter, the man went down on his hands and knees and began trembling as he crossed the frozen surface, thinking any moment he might fall through.  He was about halfway across when he heard the sound of singing, mingled with the clap of iron horseshoes on the frozen surface of the river.  Looking back over his shoulder, the traveler, to his amazement, saw a four-horse team pulling a big load of logs.  Where he had been creeping with fear, one who knew the strength of the ice came along with a mighty load, singing.  Many a Christian creeps trembling out on God's promises, where another, stronger in faith, goes singing through life upheld by the same Word.  God can help us to be and do all these things; but it takes true faith, which is trust in and dependence upon Him. Faith is obedience.  Thayer defines faith as "a steadfast trust conjoined with obedience."  It should be stressed that true obedience to the will of God must be prompted by faith.  We often sing the beautiful old song "Trust and Obey."  That is the way it should be.  However, some live it differently.  Some seem to sing "Trust and Trust," and others "Obey and Obey."  It takes both trust and obedience.  Any attempt to build Christian character apart from faith will end in defeat.  "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).  The context of this passage illustrates the connection between acceptable obedience and genuine faith.  We call Hebrews eleven the "faith chapter," but it does not teach a "dead faith" (James 2:24).  "By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain"; "By faith Noah... prepared an ark for the saving of his household"; "By faith Abraham obeyed" (Hebrews 11:4, 7, 8).  True faith obeys. It was not the obedience per se of Abel, Noah, and Abraham that pleased God, but rather the obedience that was prompted by faith.  Our text commands that we practice virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love, but only in connection with our faith in God (2 Peter 1:1-11).  This kind of faith in Jesus avails in the building of Christian character because it is a "faith working through love" (Galatians 5:6).  Thus, diligence in the building of Christian character must be focused on faith.  Although obedience is not the means of producing faith, it is the only means of proving that faith is really alive.  James says, "But someone will say, 'You have faith, and I have works.'  Show me your faith without your works and I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18).  A Christian can never prove to the world be a mere verbal affirmation of his faith that he is a follower of Jesus.  It is only when his faith is translated into obedience to the Word of God that his influence will reflect the holiness of Jesus. Faith means visions, aspiration, and transformation Faith in Jesus means vision -- the vision of Jesus' perfection.  When we live a life of faith in the Son of God, we live in the presence of moral and spiritual perfection.  When we catch a vision of Jesus, we see the possibility of our lives reflecting the holiness of Him who is the paragon of purity and goodness. Faith in Jesus means aspiration.  We not only catch a vision of Jesus' perfection, but that vision creates in us a passionate desire to possess it.  We want to be like Him. Faith in Jesus means transformation.  With this vision of Jesus filling our minds, and the aspiration to be like Him directing our lives, we are changed into the likeness of our spiritual vision and aspiration.  We are transformed into the likeness of Him in whom our faith is grounded.  "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). What is the status of your faith?  Do you truly believe that Jesus is the divine Son of God, and that He supplies power for Christian living?  Are you truly dependent upon him for power to build Christian character?  Faith is the answer.