BUILDING GODLY CHARACTER – Part 1 – Honor God

Read 2 Peter 1:1-7. KJV

Loved ones, the dictionary defines character as "moral excellence and firmness." The highest standard of
character is set forth in Scripture and exemplified in Jesus Christ. All who are serious about following
Christ are exhorted to attain moral excellence through a life of trusting God and resisting the evil
influences that surround us and arise from within us.

Take note, such character is NOT built overnight; it is developed through a process involving experience,
hard work, and learning from past mistakes. The apostle Paul brings to our remembrance this kind of
character when he admonished Timothy to "exercise thyself rather unto godliness… but godliness is
profitable unto all things" (1 Timothy 4:6-9). Paul knew that Godly character comes only through
resisting evil influences and impulses and focusing FIRST on the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
(Matthew 6:33).

Many of today's popular TV and INTERNET Evangelicals claim that all a person needs to do to be saved is
“just believe." Some go so far as to say that if a person who has truly accepted and put His trust in Jesus
reverts to his old sinful ways, he may lose some "rewards," but he will never lose his salvation. He will
"go to heaven," they claim, no matter what he does.

ARE YOU LISTENING?... Scripture teaches that Christians will be finally saved by the blood of Jesus only if
we "continue in THE FAITH grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the
gospel…” (Colossians 1:23). God has only one faith (Ephesians 4:5)… the faith that comes by hearing the
word of God (Romans 10:17; Jude 3). God’s faith is the ONE “Christian faith” that justifies or saves
(Romans 5:1-2). God’s faith is Not “Christianity,” which is simply all the man-made denominations.

Building Godly character is NOT about "earning" salvation through works. Ephesians 2:8-10 teaches that
God’s free gift of salvation has two parts: 1. God’s part – God’s grace given through Jesus. 2. Man’s part:
Man’s faith in God’s word (John 1:1-4, 14; John 17:17; John 8:32).

The brother of Jesus wrote, “I will shew thee my faith by my works” (James 2:18) – his WORKS of
obedience… his works of doing what God’s word says. We can only show our faith by being obedient to
God’s word. Therefore, we also know that a person can lose his salvation by what he does or does NOT
do by faith. “For whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23).

1
Jesus taught in the Great Sermon on the mountain that there are two types of hearers of the word: 1.
those who obey what they hear the word say, and 2. Those who do not obey what they hear the word
say (Matthew 7:24-27). Those hearers #1 are wise and are building their life and character on Jesus, the
solid Rock, the word of God. Their house will make heaven their home after all the trials and tribulations
pass away at the 2nd coming of Jesus.

Those hearers #2 “shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.” They rebel
at the word of God and refuse to obey it. Their house will wake up in the torment side of hades (Luke
16:22-23), and at the second coming of our Lord, they will be ushered into their eternal home, the lake
of fire, the 2nd death (Revelation 20:14-15).

These truths are where character building comes in. When we speak of “building Godly character," we
are speaking of the process of growing ever closer to God and relying on Him to assist us in our efforts to
resist and avoid those things that would cause us to stumble. We mean strengthening ourselves, with
God's help, against the evil influences that would lead us back to a life of sin.

James urges us to “Lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the
engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,
deceiving your own selves" (James 1:21-22). That’s the essence of building Godly character—doing what
the King directs His children to do (Luke 6:46).

In this series, with the Lord’s help, we will consider some fundamental truths of Godly character
development.

HONOR GOD

The first tenet of righteous character is to honor God. At first blush this is obvious to Christians.
Christians should naturally honor God. The real problem is that we may know God exists, but we often
do not honor Him as we should. Do we really put the First and Second Commandment first in our lives?
(Matthew 22:36-40).

Hebrews 12:28-29 states, "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have
grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming
fire." Do we have the fear of God that we should have? (Ecclesiastes 12:13). More importantly, do we
revere and honor God? (Psalm 111:9-10).

2
In 1 Samuel 2, Hannah, Samuel’s previous barren mother, in prayer gives praise and honor to God: "My
heart rejoiceth in the LORD…There is none holy as the LORD... neither is there any rock like our God…let
not arrogance come out of your mouth: for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are
weighed” (vs. 1-3).

“The LORD killeth, and maketh alive…The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich…He raiseth up the poor
out of the dust…He will keep the feet of His saints, and the wicked shall be silence in darkness…The
adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces…the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and He
shall give strength unto His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed" (vs. 6-10),

We have to realize that Jesus has placed us in our exalted position to reign with Him as kings and priest
His Kingdom (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). We need to hold Jesus and the Father in very high esteem. God has
the ultimate power over us in all situations in our lives (Romans 8:28). This knowledge should lead
everyone to honor God.

Paul, in his letter to Timothy, adds this: "Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man
can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting.
Amen" (1 Timothy 6:16).

In Exodus 33 we learn that Moses was privileged to see the Lord’s backside. "20 And he said, Thou canst
not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place
by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I
will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 and I will take
away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen" (vs. 20-23). When
Moses came down from the mountain, his face was so bright he had to cover it (Exodus 34:29-30, 33-
35).

The brilliance of Jesus Christ's presence reflected back on Moses! To think that a man's face would glow
from just looking at the backside of the Lord our God is awesome! That is just one demonstration of the
power of God. Think of the power, the majesty, the brightness of Jesus Christ. Before God made the Sun
He said, “Let there be light,” and His brightness lit up the universe (Genesis 1:3-5; 1 John 1:5; Revelation
21:23). How can we as fledgling Christians not bow our heads to the ground when we hear the name of
Jesus Christ?

Jesus Christ is our Creator, Savior, Bridegroom, and, in one sense, our Parent. Children are commanded
to honor their parents (Ephesians 6:1-3). The Lord certainly has honor due to Him. The Christian has to
give a conscious effort in giving honor to God and recognizing Him for who He is. Our honoring of God
should be manifested in our worship services.

3
There should be a reverence when we come to worship. Our minds should be on worshiping and giving
honor to the One who has done so much for us. There should not even be a hint of strife or contention
among us. Our language should be of thanksgiving and praise to this Being who holds our eternal life in
His very hands.

Our honor of God should manifest itself in marriage and child rearing, on the job, with our families, with
the lost, and with each of our brethren in Christ. We have to think about and glorify God in all we do (1
Corinthians 10:31). Our daily lives in the workplace and in our association with this world will lead us
away from God unless we choose to give Him first place. “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16).

Pride, profanity, pleasure seeking, and a hedonistic lifestyle are NOT of God! When our minds are
continually on pleasure, lust, and things of this world, we are not of the Father! Who then is our father?
For the not so surprising answer, the Holy Spirit says, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it”
(John 8:44).

The daily thought process needed for properly honoring God has to start early in the morning as we ask
God to help us honor Him in all we do and say. Our morning prayers must be attuned to honoring God.
Our evening prayers should be occasions to ask and thank God for forgiveness, and to praise Him for all
the blessings that He allows us to have.

Would any man want to criticize his wife? Would any woman want to talk mean spiritedly to or about
her husband? Of course not! We should feel the same way about God and let His name be Hallowed
(Matthew 6:9). It takes thought, and we have to reinforce our thoughts daily to absolutely honor God in
the way that He expects from us. Remember, "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29)! We owe
Him everything! So, if we want to have Godly character, we have to honor God with all our substance—
with our talents, offerings, and in every facet of our lives. To be continued with Part 2 – Seek God,
Produce Fruit, and be Profitable.

To the God of heaven be the Glory as His Will is done (1 Corinthians 10:31). Please pray for wisdom, for
me and my wife, Cynthia, and the Liberty NW church of Christ meeting in Portland, Oregon, USA. We are
praying for you, and we love you all so much. Samuel.