THE  COSTLY CHARACTER THAT COUNTS...CHRIST’S!

PERFECTION OF CHARACTER

 

 

   One can have either a good or bad character.  Character consists of attitude, attitude and more attitude!  This too can either be good or bad.  Character is more than merely one’s personality.  It is also the state of a man’s heart.  Will power, emotions, intellect and soul all go into the “soup” that makes a man’s character.  In the next months we will consider the costly kind of character that really counts – Christ’s own perfect character.  In particular we will examine and explain one by one each of the character trait that the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum uses to train its students.

     Walter Scott is the famous evangelist of the Restoration Movement  which in the 1800s attempted to restore the Lord’s church to the pattern laid out by the apostles in the scriptures.  He is the first man in recorded history to preach the ancient gospel (Acts 2:38) in 1827 at Lisbon, Ohio.  According to Scott, perfection of character was to be the great end result of all the work of those restorationists. In 1840 he wrote:

    “Character describes an individual as he is in the presence of God; reputation describes him as he is in the presence of man; and it is character and not reputation merely that the Scriptures everywhere inculcate….Reputation dies with a man; it is temporary in its duration; but character is an eternal thing, and will follow or accompany us to heaven.”

    Evangelist Scott also wrote that conversion and perfection are completely different doctrines.  Perfection of character he boldly declared is as necessary in order to enter heaven as is conversion in order to enter the church – God’s kingdom on earth.

     “Perfection of character,” he wrote, “begins in our resurrection to a new life and righteousness.  In the one (conversion) we become dead to sin, in the other (perfection of character) we come alive to holiness.  The first (conversion) therefore consists in ceasing to do evil, and the last(perfection) in learning to do well;  they are of course as distinct as life and death.”

     Character, then, is essential to prepare one for eternal life!  Therefore the church is to equip its members with the necessary tools – by teaching and the leaders examples to become as mature as “the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13)  This is doubly necessary in the post-modern relativistic age in which all things are opinions for discussion with no enduring values base of ultimate truth.  ( “I feel” and “it seems to me” etc.)

  Christ Jesus set the example from his childhood that character does count. “And the child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” (Luke 2:40)  In our children’s educational program, we have seen the vital importance of instilling character traits in our young disciples. Happily the ACE curriculum has 60 such character traits woven into it.  In the next year will examine each of these in the light of the scriptures. By getting a better understanding of each separate trait, we can then also grow into the Christlikeness that our Lord Jesus desires for each disciple. 

    May the Lord Himself write His law upon our hearts and may His Holy Spirit fill us with Christ – who is all in all.