series: (co)re values

title: ten:character

teacher: Jacob Bender

date: December 3, 2017

scriptures: Matthew 25:31-40, Matthew 6:1, Proverbs 20:6, 1 John 1:9-10

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this line right here… “in order to be seen”

This is a reference to the theater.

a better translation here would be: “in order to be a public show for them.”

In that day, theater had really begun to take off… about 500 years before Jesus there was a man named Thespis… he is where we get the word “thespian” from… a word we still use today for an actor. Many people believe Thespis to be the first person to actually stand on a stage, and play a character that was different from who he actually is in real life…

but acting, of course, has come a long way since the days of Thespis… in those days, theater was usually ONE person who would stand on a stage, and play the role of several different characters merely by wearing masks, and switching out the masks.

And do you know the word was for an actor in that day? You do if you have been here even a little while…

“hypokritēs”

translated in English as “hypocrite.”

Which actually means “an actor or a stage player”

So Jesus tells us, when you do good, don’t be like the Pharisees, who only give as a way of putting on a show in order to impress and gain leverage over others. What Jesus is doing here is he is saying that, when he looks at what people are doing WITH these works of righteousness, to him, “it looks like theater.” It is not real. Its not the real them. They are doing it for all the wrong reasons.

and he is using a term that everyone would have been able to understand… they would have right away had an image of an actor putting on a mask, in order to perform. In order to play the part of someone who was not actually who they are.

Theater is great to go and watch a show… but when you live your whole life there, it is not very attractive. and what Jesus was saying about the Pharisees was that their whole lives were an act.

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Character means that We live publicly like we do in private. We write the Word of God on our hearts, practice generosity, and prioritize integrity.

Commission means that we are a sending church. We honor the past, while we work for the future. And we always believe that everyone’s brightest days are ahead of them.

connection is living a life of constant community with God.

He is our supplier, who is as close to us as the air that we breathe.

conversation means that we bind and we loose together, we learn together, we serve together, and we grow together.

We welcome each other’s perspectives, and we depend on each other’s accountability.

collaboration is all of us working together to create something better than any of us could create on our own.

Contribution understands that everybody has a role, and there is room for us here. We know that the gifts we are given matter to the body of Christ, and we so seek to discover where we each fit.

We honor the contributions of others, knowing that God perfectly crafted each one of us, and only together are we truly the church.

Community is a body, committed to all its parts.

Compassion sees the world through the eyes of others, and it is stirred to action by what it sees. It can not sit by while injustice is done around it.

communion is a common union of broken people, who are made whole by the body and blood of Jesus Christ. We are united by our differences, and there is a seat for everyone at the table.

Courage goes to the places that nobody else wants to go, and works to create places that everybody wants to be. Courage loves the one who nobody else wants to love…

if you have no gauge on what is important, then you have no way to measure whether or not you are on the right track. That is what Core Values do… they keep us disciplined… they keep us on mission… they give us something the bounce whatever it is we are doing, off of, and see… IS THIS FURTHERING THE MISSION?

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